193. How to Know What God Wants You To Do

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Yo, what's up? It's your boy, D. Starks PERSON. Starks, artists. You were now tuned in to the Just Different podcast where we talk everything, faith, life, and culture. As you can see, in this episode, we're going to be getting into how to know what God wants you to do. And this is very fitting, although we weren't planning on it landing on this date, but I know right now this is a very transitional period for a lot of different people.There are a lot of people who are graduating college, high school, or just going into their next season of whatever it may be. And in the midst of this, there's a lot of questions of what's next, what am I going to do, what decisions should I make, and or where should I live, or what job offer should I partake in? And I know in this mode there can be a lot of uncertainty, fear, worry, and wanting to make sure that you're making the right decision and not stepping outside the will of God for your life. And this goes very muchbeyond just a transitional period of school or graduating. But this applies to all of life. You're always going to be presented with different opportunities, different moments, and seasons where you're really wanting to know what the heck am I supposed to do here and where should my feet land. So that's what we're going to be getting into for today's episode.It's really breaking this down in terms of how you can co-labor a guide to make decisions with him and allow him to really guide your steps. And with that, I want to start with this verse that I feel really lays out the blueprint foundation and approach that we should be taking when it comes to trying to figure out what God wants us to do. And it's in James 1, verse is 5 through 8. And it says, if any of you lacks wisdom, to guide him through a decision or circumstance. So if you're asking God for an answer, you're looking to find what's next to what you should do. He is to ask our benevolent God who gives to everyone generously and with that rebu or blame, and it will be given to him.But he must ask for wisdom or these answers in faith without doubting God's willingness to help. For the one who doubts is like a billowing surge of the sea that is blown about and tossed by the wind, for such a person ought not to think or expect that he will receive anything at all from God, being a double-minded man, unstable, and restless in all his ways, and everything he thinks, feels, or decides. So I wanted to start with this because I feel this lays the foundation on how we shouldnot just be going about making these decisions or seeking these answers, but also how we should be approaching God in it. First, we must understand that God is generous to give us answers and direction and guidance for what we're looking for and being solidified in that, in his heart, and his empathy toward us, that he doesn't want us out here confused in the days and or just looking around in complete anxiety. But whenever we have anunderstanding of that and we are seeking him, we are asking him, we must do it in faith. We must do it with certainty and expectation that he will provide an answer. And this is important because sometimes we can come to God with our own thoughts on how we want it to go and or maybe pride or arrogance thinking that we actually know better. And in those instances, he won't provide an answer.And they're going to be left to our own devices, our own thinking, which makes us double-minded and uncertain. Because you will always find what you're looking for. And so even if you're going to God, if you're really looking or trying to find answers from within yourself, that's exactly where you will find it. And so that's what this verse is saying that at the point that we cut God and or remove him from this process in our life, we're left to our own understanding.And in our own understanding, that's where the confusion comes, the uncertainty and all the anxiety that we feel. So for me, I know definitely in this season of my life, as I'm going through these transitions and trying to make these decisions, I found myself extremely discouraged because I feel that I wasn't getting the answers that I needed from God. But it's because I never really came to him in faith. I came very prideful and arrogant and doubtful because I wanted it to happen immediately. And I felt as if he had forsaken me that he wasn't there and or really didn't care. And so I came to him with that attitude looking for an answer. But of course, if I didn't have faith in it, it never was going to come.So I had to essentially revisit my approach in terms of how I was coming to the throne and having faith in the fact that he will provide an answer. And off of this idea of having faith, I wanted to mention another verse. And I mentioned this idea, maybe last week, but it bears repeating. And it's in Romans 1017 LAW that says, faith comes from hearing and hearing the word of God. What I put down is, my faith is determined by what I know about God's word.If I don't understand that he gives wisdom generously, then I won't be an expectation of it. And so I start with this chapter in James because we have to understand the promises of God to even be able to walk it out and seek after it in our everyday life. So sometimes we'll go on just with our life, trying to figure out everything on our own because we don't believe that God will actually provide an answer. And we have to take it into our own handsbecause we don't think it's sufficient enough in his. But we have to lean on, as it mentions, and James I PERSON, that he will provide generously, and that's what we can put our faith in and our hope. And it doesn't have to be from ourselves and or what other people have saidor what people teach on or speak on. his word clearly states that this is it and so we can have faith in that and start to walk into it and see it begins like really manifest and coming to fruition

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in our life you said something at the top of your point that I think is really good and I want to reiterate and it's so simple but when you recognize it it's like dang god doesn't want us out here looking like goose God doesn't want us lost God doesn't want us out here looking like goose. God doesn't want us lost. God doesn't want us anxious. So I think even having a mindset that's rooted in that realization, there's a lot of confidence that can come from that.When I realized that, God really loves me. He don't want me just out here confused. Then that can give me that confidence that when I go to him, oh, no, he's actually going to guide me and direct me. And another verse that I've also always loved when it comes to this topic is Proverbs 3,6 LAW, and it says, in all your ways, submit to him, and he will make your past straight.And I'm also always reminded of Matthew 633 LAW when I think about this verse. They always kind of come in pairs to me and my mom, which Matthew PERSON 633 says, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. And I sort of have this mindset that's like, yo, if I'm seeking first his kingdom, that's where I'm always going to be. Like, if that's genuinely the thing that's on the forefront of my mind with the decision that I'm making, I am never going to be outside of his will. Because when you think about the verse and proverb, just saying, if you are submitted to him in all your ways, your paths aregoing to be straight. And to my first point that I started with the confidence, that's another piece of confidence that can be added to that prayer, to that going before the Lord is recognizing. I know my heart and I know I'm seeking first his kingdom. I know I'm genuinely submitted to him. So it's like I can have confidence that I'm going to receive this answer. I can have confidence that my path is going to be made straight because I know what time and I'm on. I know where my priorities are. I know that I'm seeking first as kingdom. And there are three instances when I wasthinking about these two verses and this idea of God redirecting your steps, God making your past straight and everything that you do. The first one that came to mind was Joseph and Mary, and this is talking about basically when Jesus PERSON was born. It's in Matthew 119 DATE. I'm just going to paraphrase this. In Matthew 119 DATE, if you want to go read this, where it starts.Essentially what happens is an angel comes to Mary, says she's going to have a son named Jesus PERSON. She's a virgin, so it's like, oh, what's happening? What? So Joseph PERSON finds out, and Joseph is thinking of divorcing her quietly. It says that he hasn't voiced this to anybody, essentially, when it says he's planning to divorce her quietly.This is something he decided in his mind when she told him that. So he's planning to do this, and then guess what happens? He's decided on this. He's decided, you know what, I'm going to divorce Mary. Then what happens is an angel the lord comes to joseph and basically explains him the situation and redirects his path redirects his decision so joseph makes his decision angel the lord comes him and to redirects his path makes his path straight so that's the firstexample that came to my mom and then another one was in Acts 18 versus 1 through 11. And this was when Paul was opposed in Corinth GPE. And I'm also going to paraphrase this one. But I quoted the address to go read it for yourself. So essentially what happens here, Paul goes to Corinth GPE. He's going to the synagogues. He's preaching to the people, as he always does in the cities he goes to. And he's opposed. It talks about how the people in the city became abusive with him. So he's preaching the word.They become abusive with him. It says he gets up, shakes the dust off his clothes. He says, you know what? If y'all not going to listen to me, I'm going to go somewhere else. So he decides he's going to leave Corinth GPE. He's done.It's packed up. These people don't want to listen. That night when he goes to sleep, an angel of the Lord comes to Paul PERSON. He says, you're safe here. He says, don't leave. I'm going to protect you. Stay here. Guess what? Paul ended up staying there for, I think, a couple years, if I'm not mistaken. So that was the second instance I thought of. So just like the first example, Paul PERSON makes a very specific decision. He says, I'm going to leave Corinth GPE. And guess what happens? Angelthe Lord comes to him. Redirects him. Says, no, I'm going to make your path straight. You're going to stay here. And then I also thought about Paul again on the road to Damascus GPE. And this was more of like a, like kind of like a literal redirecting his path. It's in Acts chapter 9 versus 1 through 7. And we know this story. He's on the road to Damascus literally to go persecute some Christians NORP and the Lord shows up to him in a very amazing way redirects hit literally his purpose he's literally on his way to persecute someChristians NORP he says no go to this town an Anonias is waiting for you I'm going to make you I'm going to use you as my chosen instrument. So essentially, I wanted to give these biblical examples because I think, when I think about the verse that I mentioned, Proverbs 3,6 LAW, and your waist and midst him and he'll make your path straight, I think about instances in the Bible WORK_OF_ART like that. And I think about times in my life where similar things have happened, where I was stuck in between two decisions, or maybe I had just made a decision that wasn't in God's will. But because I was seeking first his kingdom and I was submitting to him in all his ways, what happened was he redirected my steps and made it very clear to methat that wasn't the direction that I should be going in. And I think for me, there's a lot of peace when I read stories like this, and that's where the confidence is for me. Like, God isn't going to leave you. God isn't going to forsake you. Even if you're in situations where there's been times in my life where I was kind of on a time crunch with a decision I had to make. Where I have days to make this decision, I go before the Lord, obviously.But he didn't come to me in a dream or come up to me at the gas station and tell me what to do. I'm not exactly sure. Like what's the next move? And I think in moments like that even, still having that confidence that God isn't going to leave me or forsake me. He's going to give me the direction I need to go in, even if it's through his spirit.Because the spirit, the word talks about how the spirits are helper, how the spirit is our guide. So even in situations where I'm on a time crunch, prayed i went before the lord and i got to make this decision i'm going to trust that the spirit is going to give me the inclination i need to make this decision and that i'm going to be where i need to be at the end of the day and off of that you can never come to

Speaker 1721.38s - 748.94s

god with your mind made up because sometimes we'll be asking God for direction or guidance or clarity, but we've already made a decision on what path that we want to go down and no one can tell us differently. You know how sometimes you'll be in a situation, maybe in your own life with your own relationships, with your peers, your acquaintances, your friends, or family, and you already know what you're going to do. You already know if you're going to

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take them back or not, if you're actually going to get into that relationship, if you're going to go here, if you're going to go out this place, but you'll ask them, already knowing that, you already

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made your mind up, but you're just, I don't know, doing that for accountability sake or for

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credibility to make them feel as if they're actually included when they actually have no influence over your decision.

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And we can do the same with God. That's something that I'm struggling with and working through right now. And I mention that because it's important to us to come to God completely empty. One, that's what true surrender is. And two, adding to Jordan PERSON's point of he can only direct your pathif you allow him to.

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And so that whole framework of having confidence and okay, if I do make a decision, he's going to always give me a signal or sign on where I really need to go if that's not it. That only works if I come to him with a certain level of humility.

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If, okay, I may have a plan, I may look at the decisions that I need to make or what needs to happen. And I like, all right, look at it based on the word, my relationship with him and what I know is aligned with, like, my purpose and whatnot. But I always have to surrender that to him no matter what. There's no issue with us ideating, having a dream, putting some things to paper.But at the moment he says move, at the moment he says to redirect and or change, revise, we have to be open to that. We have to say yes to that. And the only problem comes inwhen we're making our plans idols, whenever what we put down on paper, our milestones, our goals, what we want to reach every single quarter, the city that we say we want to live in, the type of family, we say we want to have our X, Y, and Z is when that takes president over what he has to say, when he wants to revise a plan and or put a little cork in what you thought it should be. So that's also important too, which is like this humility and a goodsignal and or barometer to see if you have that or not is, all right, if you do have a plan and you're bringing that to God, you have to ask yourself, if he says differently, will you follow? Right. You have to ask yourself, if he says differently, will you follow? Right. And being completely honest with yourself on whether or not you would.And that's the position I've been in because long story short, I have this idea for a show that I want to do, that I'm looking to get into, and that I really want to bring into the world. And for a very long time, my decision was made. It didn't matter who told me no, that it couldn't happen, that it was impossible. I had the name. I had how it was going to be produced, who I wanted to talk to and everything else down to a T. And there was nothing wrong with that. But the issue was, I was coming to God looking for him to bless what I had already planned. And if he had told me to do something different, if it was, all right, well, actually, I'm calling you to be a missionary. I need you to go to this country, go to this city.I need you to be a pastor here. No, you need to serve in this place or in this capacity. I would have said no. And that's when I knew, okay, this dream had a stronghold over me that is taking God's authority away from my life. And I had to come back and humble myself to say, Lord, not my will, but yours be done. That's what that heart posture is.It's like, all right, like, I have a thought of what this could be, of what I want. But at the end of the day, it's you. You have final say. And so I know that I've, at this point, after months, I've been freed from that because it's like, all right, any direction you say go, I will genuinely follow. And so I also think that's important this conversation. It's like,don't come to God in these situations, which your mind already made up to. Because at that point, like, even if he's trying to tell you something

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you'll still miss it that's really the only way that any of this works in your walk with god you have to

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be surrendered i can speak personally for myself i want the comfort that comes along with knowing

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what god wants for me but i don't want the discomfort of being surrendered because there's a level of dying to yourself you got to kill your pride and you have being surrendered. Because there's a level of dying to yourself. You've got to kill your pride and you have to be humble. And there's an uncomfortable aspect of that. And it's like you don't want to do that, but you want the security of having God on your side.And it's like, well, you know what I mean? Like that's not how that works. The only way that this conversation works, knowing what God wants for you, having that confidence. The only way that works is if you're fully surrendered. Like I mentioned in the verses, like submit to him in all your ways. See first his kingdom. The submission comes first and then and then everything that I mentioned.I also like how you were talking about how you can't go before the Lord with these like precepts of what you already want to do. And there's ways I've done that, but not necessarily in that way. There's been times in my life where I went to the Lord with expectations of how I wanted him to respond even, like in a very specific way. And what I mean by that is because I'm asking him for direction, but he isn't showing up to me in a dream or I'm not flipping open my Bible WORK_OF_ART and finding a specific verse for exactly what I want. And so like what I mean is even in the form and the way in which he's responding,we can even have an idea of how we want him to do that. Like, oh, God, like, give me direction. Like, I'm going to go to sleep tonight. Show up to me in a dream. And it's cool, but you also have to be open for however he wants to respond to you. You also have to be open to that.And you can't have these preconceived notions of how you want him to show up. And if he doesn't show up in that way you're just not hearing it because that happens too. You're looking for him over here and he's respondingbut because you're not simply listening but you're selectively listening in specific areas and not others you're not hearing him. He is talking. So even in that way I've done that tooand it's been subconscious sometimes where I didn't recognize it but because he wasn't showing up in the most divine way, like he showed up in the Bible to the people in the cloud and the, in the dream to Joseph PERSON, because he didn't show up in this way. I'm not hearing it. So I think that's also important, too, because I've made a mistake of doing that. One thousand percent, and I think I just want

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there to be an emphasis for everyone listening on this whole idea of trying to figure out what God wants you to do is to take all of the anxiety, worry, and just anxiousness out of it. Because at this point in my life, I feel so free when it comes to decision making and what my future is going to look like and what's going to happen. But for the longest time, I didn't for so many different reasons. As I mentioned, of going to God with my own precepts in mind and my own thought process, becoming an idol. And then what Jordan PERSON's saying is like pitching hoeing God in the way that he can speak the way he wants to show up and what he wantsto do of thinking that, you know, because he speaks to show up and what he wants to do of thinking that, you know, because he speaks to my friends really differently. I have one friend that has dreams, visions, very specific prophetic words that comes to him. God don't speak to me like that. And for the longest time, I thought I was doing something wrong that my relationship with him wasn't as potent or real or authentic because he didn't speak to me the way that he spoke to my friends or even my mother or my father.And I had to come to grips with, there's a specific way that he speaks to me in different ways and different seasons. I have to be completely open to that and not just be so stringent and so boxed into the way that he can show up. And also the way that I can just live and walk into freedom. Like there shouldn't be an anxiety that comes along with trying to figure out what's next in the future.And I know that sounds counterintuitive to what we're so natural to. I think sometimes we just accept what we think is supposed to be normal, the way that things have always been or what the world tells us. But if he's the Prince of Peace, then it's very counterintuitive for me to be completely overwhelmed

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with the fact of, oh, my God, what am I going to do? What's going to happen next? Oh my God's not going to happen fast enough. God's not showing up. I'm not going to get my answer.

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God does not want that for us. And so I'm glad that Jordan PERSON pointed to that piece of it. And that just really expands to this entire conversation. Don't pigeonhole God in the way that he can show up, how he wants to do that and ultimately what he wants you to do. And allow your own emotions to just overwhelm or overtake you in this process either and just being very secured in as a son and a daughter who's genuinely walking this out. God is going to come

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through and provide. It's not conditional based on our perfection or what we've particularly

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gotten right this week or these last few months is really about our heart posture, the way in which we're seeking him, how we're approaching him and the faith that we have. So that's what I kind of want to end with on this latter part of this is like what we talked about,

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confidence in him and the security and how he is going to show up.

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And just making sure that our heart's in the right place when we're approaching him with our petitions and what's what we have going on next.

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Yeah, I think I want to say just kind of as my last point, I really like how you said that, bro, because I'm going to be honest. It's something that's been happening to me. And I'm not, I didn't really recognize it until you said specifically what you just said. But as I've been at work, I just think other people's mindsets about life has been kind of like rubbing off on me in a wayI think there's this idea that adulting just has to come with anxiety like growing up paying bills doing what you know taking care of responsibilities there's like this idea amongst a lot of my peersthat I've seen especially at the age we're at like we're at this age where you know your 20 mid 20s you're really starting to make moves like you're starting to move out you're starting to graduate you're starting to do these things there's this idea this really strong idea that all of that has to come with anxiety like that you like you almost got to hate your life during the season like no

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there can be

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no peace no clarity no joy at all and like I said it's been kind of rubbing off with me but I just I want to say like don't settle bro like don't settle for that that idea that people are trying to sell you like don't settle for that because that's not the life that God wants for us at all. At any given point, like, I do believe that obviously with transitions, there's obviously a level of, like, discomfort because it's new. You're having to navigate different things for sure.But don't settle for this all out, like, other end of the spectrum. Like, you just got things just got to be terrible. Like, no, like, that's not how it works. And I think there's probably a lot of people who are experiencing that as well because I am. And people are talking about school and talking about exams and talking about finals and all that stuff. I'm like, yeah.And it causes me to settle for this version of this season that God doesn't want me in. So now I'm in this place where I'm stressed out about certain things. I don't need to be stressed out about. But because it's normal for everyone else, I'm settling for the stress. I'm holding on to the stress because everyone else is holding it. Oh, I guess it's normal for everyone else i'm settling for the stress i'm holding on to the stress because everyone else is holding it oh i guess it's normal no i don't you don't need to be holding thatjust because everyone else is holding it don't mean you can't set it down so yeah as my last point i want to say that when it comes to making these decisions and navigating life it's like like like we said like we've been saying like Darren PERSON's been saying which i love that that's kind of like the foundation that episode like bro god loves us like this episode. Like, bro, God loves us. Like we're sons and daughters. God doesn't want us to be stressed out.God doesn't want us to be lost. And sometimes we can convince ourselves that he does. And he just doesn't. So yeah, that's really what I want to tend.

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That's it. Just rely on the Prince of Peace and lean on him. So hope you all enjoy this and it's blessed y'all. Y'all know what it is. Stay you. Stay real. And stay humble. We'll catch y'all enjoy this and it's blessed y'all. Y'all know what it is. Stay you. Stay real.And stay humble. We'll catch y'all Friday. Much love.