The James Series | Episode 4: Under the Heat — Humility and Surrender

In this episode, we’re taking things a little deeper.

This is one of those conversations that doesn’t just sit on the surface… it gets to the heart. The kind of heart check that challenges you, stretches you, and invites you to grow.

If you’ve been in a season where you’re trying to figure out what it really looks like to surrender, trust God fully, and stop trying to control every outcome… this one is for you.

Take your time with this episode. Sit with it. Let it speak to you.

And when you’re done, don’t just move on — come talk to me.

Head over to Instagram, send a message, leave a comment, share your thoughts… I’m building a community of women who are growing in their faith together, and I want you to be part of it.

If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who might need it too.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Hey girlies! Welcome back to Gospel Girlies, the Gospel Center podcast for women. I'm your host, Angel, and around here we're about honest faith, real life, and choosing obedience even when the road doesn't make sense. So get ready to have your hearts filled, your souls lifted, and your faith ignited. If you're new here, welcome home, girly. If you've been here, you already know the vibes. Hey girl, hey! Hey y'all, they cutting grass outside, so if you hear the dog bark or the lawnmower, that's what's going on. But a quick life update because your girl has been doing a lot behind the scenes. I am officially getting ready to launch something that has been on my heart for a long time. And it's called the Bright Academy. It's a mentorship program focused on supporting and guiding youth through real connection, life skills, and just being that extra support system that a lot of kids need. And right now, we're preparing for our very first back to school initiative where we'll be providing backpacks, school supplies, and really pouring into these students as they go into the new school year. So if you've ever wanted to be a part of something meaningful, whether that's donating, supporting, or even just sharing, this is your moment. I'll have more details coming soon, but I just wanted to bring y'all into what I'm building because this is truly meaningful and matters to me so much. And honestly, this is just the beginning. Like I really see this growing into something bigger, and I'm excited to bring y'all along for the journey. Alright, let's go ahead and get into the episode. We're continuing the James series from Heat to Harvest, a series about learning how to live what we say we believe. Quick question. Have you ever wanted something so bad that when you didn't get it, it frustrated you? Like real talk, you prayed about it, you thought about it, you planned for it, but it still didn't happen. High heat burns the outside and leaves the inside raw. And sometimes that's exactly how we live. We look fine on the outside, but internally there's still pride, frustration, and things God is trying to work out of us. And if you're honest, it started affecting your attitude. Your patience got shorter, your peace got a little shaky, and you started wondering, God, why not me? That's exactly where James chapter four meets us. Not on the surface, but in the heart. James 4 starts off asking a question. Why do you fight? Why do you argue? Why is there tension? And the answer is simple but uncomfortable. There's our favorite word again. It's because of our desires. Not just wanting something, but wanting something our way. And that's the part we don't always want to admit. Because it's not always obvious. Sometimes it looks like wanting control, wanting things to happen on your timeline. I'm gonna be married and have kids by thirty, wanting validation, wanting comfort, and when those things don't happen, frustration shows up, conflict shows up, tension shows up. This is where the process shifts. Because spiritually, this is the slow cooking stage, not rushing, not reacting, but letting God work on you evenly. And then James says something that really makes you pause. You have not, because you ask not. And when you do ask, you don't receive because you're asking for the wrong reasons. Now let's sit there for a second. Because this doesn't mean God doesn't hear you, God doesn't care, or that God is ignoring you. I know it may feel like it sometimes, but I promise y'all it doesn't mean that. It means your desires might not be aligned yet. God is not against you wanting things, but He is concerned with how you're being prepared for what you're asking for. Because if the inside isn't ready, high heat will expose it. God is against the selfishness behind the wanting. Because sometimes we're asking God for something that we haven't let him prepare us for yet. Because I've prayed for a husband, I've prayed for children, and like I prayed and asked him for those things, but I also prayed and asked him to prepare me to be the woman that I need to be to become a wife and to become a mother. But I also had to ask myself, is this desire about alignment or is it about fulfillment? Because wanting to be a wife and a mother is not wrong. The real question is, is this about God's purpose or is this about my timing? And some other questions are can I want this? Actually, it isn't just can I want this? It's am I willing to let God prepare it first? And this doesn't just apply to relationships. For me, this even connects to where I am right now, looking for new employment, going through job interviews, waiting, not knowing what's next, and learning how to say, if the Lord wills, not just with my words, but with my heart. Then Jabe says something strong. If you are a friend of God, my bad, I said that backwards. If you are a friend of the world, you are an enemy of God. Now, that doesn't mean you can't have things, okay? It just means you can't depend on things more than you depend on God. Wow. Y'all should write that down. Yep. We're at the point where we pause and ensure that you have your notes open, your sticky notes lined up, your napkin stacked, your white t-shirt prepared, your palm open wide, your favorite color dry eros eraser. Oh, Lord, can't talk today. Your favorite color dry erase marker for the mirror or that random piece of mail, like whatever it may be, so that you can write things down and revisit later. Now, let me say that again. If you are a friend of the world, you are an enemy of God. And it doesn't mean you can't have things, it means you can't depend on things more than you depend on God. Because when something becomes your comfort, your identity, your escape, or your way of coping, it starts replacing God. And this is what James is addressing. But I love this part because James doesn't just call it out. He gives us the solution. Submit to God, resist the devil, draw near to God, humble yourself. Now, this right here, for real, y'all, you might want to write this down. Submitting is letting God lead. This means I stop trying to control everything and actually trust God's direction, even when I don't fully understand what He's doing. Cause man, I know I've had times in my life where I've been like, all right, um, this is a little shaky guy. What's going on up there, big dog? Like, um, but I'm like, all right, I'm taking my hands off it, I'm letting you do your thing. Also, resisting is choosing not to feed what's pulling me away. This looks like recognizing what's tempting me and choosing not to entertain it, even when it feels easier to give in. Moment of transparency. Um, so the one thing that I feel like I dealt with previously was in those moments of frustration and like confusion and uncertainty. Um, I would go to my little pen. And if y'all know what I'm talking about, y'all know what I'm talking about. And when I say immediately after work, I was I was on it from the time I walked that sat my booty in that car to the moment I pulled up into the house. Well, not in the house, because in the house means like literally I drove my car through the house. I didn't do that, but as soon as I pulled up in the parking lot and entered into the house, and then even hours after I got home, I was on that. And whoo, y'all. I said, okay, I had to take a step back. I had to tell God, alright, I'm releasing this. I can't do that. Now, why y'all wait till 5 49 p.m. to blow um what is it called? Because I was gonna say blow dry, um, doodle leaf blower and all that. Y'all had all day. And if y'all hear Blaze barking, he's about to go crazy because they at the door. Anyways, sorry y'all. But also, drawing near is being intentional about my relationship with God. This is about spending time with God on purpose, not just when I need something, but because I actually want to be close to him. I had moments of where, you know, I really was not praying like I was supposed to, like I literally was only coming to him when things was a little bit shaky, and I needed him to do his big one. And I just really have started, you know, being in my word and like really approaching him, really approaching him more and like being intentional about being in the space with God because you just can't hit him up and be like, hey God, yeah, um, I need a thousand dollars in my bank account tomorrow, and then don't talk to him after that thousand dollars get in that bank account, and lastly, humbling myself is releasing the need to be in control. Humility is letting go of pride and accepting that I don't always know best, and being okay with God leading instead of me, and I know a lot of us, myself included, struggle with this one. Letting go and letting God, you know, we like to say that phrase all the time, but do we really let go and let him, or do we let go and then he be taking too long, in your opinion, and you'd be like, Well, let me see, let me see how I can just turn this to the left and then maybe turn it to the right, and then you know, bump it up a couple notches, and then yeah, yeah, yeah. No, friends, let it go, let God lead, okay, because the promise, God will lift you up. That is what surrender looks like not forcing outcomes, not rushing timing, but trusting that God knows how to prepare you better than you can prepare yourself. Then there's a shift from our desires to how we treat people. It says, don't speak evil on one another, don't judge each other. Because when you do, you're listening, you're stepping into God's role. Yeah. And we don't always realize it, but when we judge people, we elevate ourselves, we lower them, and we remove God from his place. Then it goes into something that really puts things into perspective. It says, don't say today or tomorrow, I'll do this or that. Because you don't even know what tomorrow holds. Your life is like a mist. Here for a moment, gone the next. So instead of saying I'm going to do this, we should say if the Lord wills. Also, y'all, when I was reading this, I read it in three different versions: King James, um, C E V, and then the N I L R V. And when I read the King James version, I was like, okay, do they have a typo, or is this just you know how they did things? So when they spelled out the word today and tomorrow, they separated T-O from the word. So it literally read today, tomorrow. And I was like, okay, is this a typo? And come to find out, no, back in the day, that's how they really spelled those words. And I was just like, okay, because I was gonna call the people and be like, hey, y'all got some typos over here, y'all need to fix this, but that part really convicted me though, because I saw a homeless man standing outside one day um in the cold, and I think this is when I had gone to Target to buy a TV for my living room, I think, and y'all that day, man. My um, first of all, the TV was too big to go in my car. And at the time, my cousin was staying with me. So I had to call my cousin to be like, hey, cousin, I love you. Can you come um help me with this TV? And y'all, the TV almost didn't fit in his truck, and I was like, okay, well, maybe it's not meant for me to have this TV. But eventually we did get it, and y'all, while we struggled to put that TV in the car, I feel like I had frost, frostbite. It was so cold out there, and it was not that cold before my cousin got out there, but it was so cold. So when I saw that man standing out there, like I felt really bad because at the time, and I think this is I think this is the time that I saw the man. I'm really not sure. Um, but if it was, y'all, it was so cold, and I felt bad because I didn't really have anything to give him at that moment. And it really bothered me. But then I started thinking about other moments where I did respond. Giving someone food, giving someone money, and even being willing to give my boots. Not just shoes, my boots. And if y'all listen to, I don't even know what episode that was, maybe episode three in season one. Um, about the boot story. And how, you know, I still responded even when it made me uncomfortable, and I I was a little a little hesitant. And I realized God isn't asking me to be perfect. Because He knows the only perfect is who? Jesus. And James says, if you know what is right and don't do it, it's a sin. Not because you're a bad person, but because you ignored the prompting. So even something small like this. So on Sunday, I felt led to check in on someone I know. Um nothing major happened, but like their energy just felt a little off to me. And, you know, usually after church, like we talk, we linger, we connect. But that day, you know, we spoke, but it was different. And then it kind of just left. And I noticed that. And I didn't think too much of it at first, you know. I'm like, okay, maybe they had something to do, blah, blah, blah, blah. But it just I couldn't shake it. So I felt led in my spirit to reach out. And, you know, I basically was just like, hey, I know you said you were good, but I just want to check in and make sure you were really good. You know, not assuming anything, not accusing anything. Like I just wanted to make space for them to be honest if they needed to be. And they said they were okay. But that moment reminded me of something that it's about listening, being aware, and acting when God nudges you, even if it's small, even if it's uncomfortable. And I also recognize that this isn't guilt. This is growth. Because I'm becoming more aware, more sensitive, and more responsive. So here's your reflection for this week. Where are you trying to control the timing in your life right now? Is that starting that relationship so that you can become a wife? Or pushing your spouse because you're getting you're getting a little up there and you want to have children, or you're in a position where you really need to find a job and you're looking at the reality, and you're like, all right, God, let's speed this up a little bit. Or what would your surrender actually look like today? Like, sit sit with that. Today we talked about conflict, often starting within our own desires, how pride and misalignment can affect our prayers, and how God is calling us into humility, surrender, and obedience. Conflict, pride, and lust are like stuffing gone wrong. They can ruin the recipe if we're not careful. So this week, practice humility, resist temptation, and draw closer to God. Because when your heart is aligned, everything else begins to follow. Don't rush the process, let it cook. Next time we'll step into James chapter five. Oh my gosh, I can't believe we're already on chapter five, y'all. Whew. Learning patience like a slow cooked chicken. Waiting for the Lord's perfect timing. Really quickly, ladies, this Friday on the 27th at 7 p.m. You already know life class live will be happening. If you've already registered, I'm so excited for you, and I truly pray that you get everything you're hoping for, and even more. If you're attending in person, please let me know because I will be in the building and would love to meet and greet with you. And if you're attending virtually, I'm not gonna leave you out. Still reach out to me so uh so that we can connect on Instagram. I would love to see you, talk to you, and just be in community together. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. As always, you know it means so much that you chose to spend some time with me and listen to me blah blah but learn something at the same time. So if this episode resonated with you, please, please, please leave a review and let me know how it connected with you with your real life. And don't forget to follow the podcast and follow us on Instagram at GospelGirlies for encouragement and updates. As always, adventure and faith begin today. Remember to walk boldly, live faithfully, and step into God's plan for you. Because it is greater than anything you could ever imagine. I'll see you next time on Gospel Road, Wednesday at eight PM Eastern Standard Time. Bye.