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Waiting
30 Plays6 days ago
Vernon discusses the concept of "waiting" with Kyle Jenkins. It can be challenging when things don't seem to be going your way, especially after praying and seeking the Lord. Perhaps this podcast can encourage you while you wait. You can find out more about Grace Ministries International at https://gmint.org and download our free app at https://lifeuntangled.com
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Walking Free' and Waiting on God
00:00:22
Speaker
Hello everybody this is Vernon and We've got another edition of Walking Free. And today we're going to talk about a challenging subject. And I've got a guest, one that many of you are already familiar with um over the last a year or so. And I want to introduce Kyle Jenkins. So Kyle, welcome. Hey, Vernon.
00:00:54
Speaker
Hey, we're doing it again, but this time with video, and of course on our podcast feed, it'll be audio only.
The Role of Faith in Economic Uncertainty
00:01:03
Speaker
What we're gonna talk about today is this idea of waiting. And it's waiting on the Lord, and it's waiting during all of these tough times, especially in the economy, when we talk about i' looking for a job, when we um when we're trying to make ends meet, when we're trying to ah maybe look at another place to live or relationally, we're trying to get that relationship um settled and we're looking for a relationship or trying to fix a relationship and we're waiting on the Lord. And
00:01:44
Speaker
That's what we want to talk
Navigating Job Search and Faith
00:01:45
Speaker
about. And Kyle, I know you're in the midst right now, real time, in the midst of a job search. Is that right? Yes. Yep. In in the waiting. In the waiting. And you know, when we talk, in fact, before we get just into the um discussion. Let me just show you a verse. And this is a verse that we thought Kyle and I talked about to start off with that we hope will encourage. And it says, blessed be the Lord who daily bears our burden. The God who is our salvation. God is to us a God of deliverance says plural and to God
00:02:36
Speaker
to God the Lord belongs escapes from death. And this is something that we need to understand that God is the one who is daily bearing our burden. He is the God of our salvation. And that is something that when you're in those times of waiting
Unique Divine Communication
00:03:04
Speaker
and nothing's happening,
00:03:07
Speaker
And Kyle, I don't know if you've been there. It's like, you're just waiting. Nothing's happening. What is that like? Yeah. Is then you start questioning, Oh, did I make the right choice? You know, did I go the right way? God, did I, did I really hear from you? Was that really you? You start feeling like Gideon wanting to throw out a fleece. You all this other. Show me a sign. Show me a sign. Show me a sign. Yeah. Yeah.
00:03:37
Speaker
And it's like, man, it's, but it's been cool. Cause you get to see, it's like, well, how does God personally uniquely speak to me individually? Each of us have their own unique because God knows how he made me, how he made us, what we're going to uniquely respond to. Um, in a phrase he, he'd recently given me, uh, you know, when sharing this type of hearing from God with people.
Finding Peace in God's Presence
00:04:05
Speaker
It's like, well, when your creator says it to you, it's, it's like, well, how do you know? It's like, Oh, you'll know, you know, you'll, you'll just know. It's like, if the creators taught, you know, that always, of course, we just got done with Halloween. So, you know, Frankenstein and Frankenstein monster. It's like, well, when your creator starts talking to you, you kind of perk up and it's like, Oh, the one who made me, you know, I guess Frankenstein might not be a good analogy because we're not monsters.
00:04:32
Speaker
but you I'm not even go there. i yeah Oh man. Um, and it's, ah you know, and it's ah in the season, the of what I'm in right now. And it's like waiting and I've been looking, filling up the applications and it's like, Lord, you know, what are you leading me to next? You know, like a shepherd, you know, what are you, what are you leading me to? Was this the right step? So of course that just, you know, it sets up for the enemy to want to bring you all the doubts, all the fears, um,
00:05:04
Speaker
very can be very challenging and yet being able to see God encourage me through this. um Some thoughts I wrote down is like just peace in the waiting. Like yesterday I remember just kind of hit this moment and just filling out applications, um trying to network, do different stuff and And it was kind of later in the evening and just, I had this just awesome sense of peace. And he was like, well, I don't really understand why this is going on. You know, but the Lord was showing me, it's like, ah you know, cause he is my peace. Jesus is our peace. And so no matter what's going on, I get to experience and you know, and it's not the, and it's not the zippy feeling. It's just the knowing that it's like, you know what? God loves me. God is for me and he's in control. He's running the show and, um,
00:05:53
Speaker
you know One of my favorite passages, the ah you know Matthew 6, it's like, well, you know look at the birds. They're not striving and straining. They're not worrying about life. How much more valuable are you than the you know the animal kingdom? And so it's you know just getting me back to that place, seeing how God's used this waiting time. It's just for me to just grow more in the awareness that God loves me and that He's for me and that He's with me. I've got the unlimited resource.
00:06:23
Speaker
Jesus in me and you know everything that I'm doing is righteous unless I'm sinning and He's already got stuff set
Balancing Action and Faith
00:06:30
Speaker
up. And the most thrilling and exciting things I get to do is still sharing the message with others, you know getting to talk with either you know other believers or non-believers and just sharing with them you know who God is really to us, the God who comes to live inside us.
00:06:49
Speaker
um and the peace and security that we got. And so even though the enemy's been, you know, trying to use all this for my bad, um all the doubting and then of course the you know identity attacks of self-worth, maybe I'm just a loser and nothing's gonna work out for me. um But seeing how God's been just faithful to bring that encouraging word to me, whether it's just time sitting still with him or through a brother or a message or writing or something um different, all grace teachers that I listen to,
00:07:25
Speaker
um And how it's just been, he's been just pulling me through it. Each step at a time, I wake up and just add it again. And what's the moment it's okay. when When you're in this period, I mean, when we talk about waiting on God, is that just like, okay, God, go. You do nothing, you know? Yeah. What what is this thing? What does it look like?
00:07:57
Speaker
I mean, for me, it's just it's just the daily waking up. It's, you know, having to be reminded, or reminding myself, just letting God remind me, it's like, okay, I'm offering myself to you, God. yeah I'm just making myself available. What's the next step? You know, bring to my mind, what do you and, you know, what do you view God? I was reading one of my favorite authors, John Lintrey, recently, and he was like, you know, what does God have you interested in right now?
00:08:24
Speaker
because any of those desires, well, that's all coming from him anyway. So, you know, I've been going into the insurance field recently. So, and it claims adjusting and really just getting excited about it. I'll watch videos, do some extra certification stuff. And so just moving towards things that excite me, that get my attention, that that I'm interested in, along with, you know, doing worship music and,
00:08:52
Speaker
you know, different devotional writings and, uh, you know, different books that I've been working on slowly, but surely. And so just things will come to mind and, and it's just like, I'll just go with it. Whatever's got me interested. Um, and yeah, so it's not just, you know, the waiting is not doing nothing, but realizing it's like the burden is not on a me to get the stuff done and still still having to learn to rest.
Trusting God Over Self-Effort
00:09:21
Speaker
in Christ in me to get the doing done. Yeah, to do the doing. And as you said, realizing that it's the Lord who daily bears our burden. it's He is the God who is our salvation. The verse that you gave us, that God is to us a God of deliverances. It's knowing that
00:09:47
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. When when when we we've got the world system and, you know, the, you know, the deception of, or, you know, just trusting yourself. You know, just trusting yourself. You can do it. You know, all this self help kind of talk. And, yeah you know, I'm thankful for the verse, one of the verses you brought it up earlier, is the you know, second Corinthians chapter one, eight and nine of Paul kind of showing, you know, a declaration of what he went through. It's like, look, but things were bad. You know, we don't want you to be, uh,
00:10:21
Speaker
Unaware of what we were going through Paul talking. It's like all the burden and it just the excessively burden beyond their strength You know, so all the trouble they're going through but this is where they're good. This is so that they would not trust in themselves But in God who raises the dead and so let me just show Because something what you said there is so important that we sometimes get to the point that, hey, the old saying, if it is to be, it's up to me. And it's like, no. ah But then there's the that sign where some say, well, I'm just going to sit here, quote, wait on the Lord and let him just, you know, let's miracle this thing out. Let's just see. And it's not that we don't do anything. It's that we move forward with as
00:11:16
Speaker
as things come to our mind, as the Lord, you know, what are the wise things to do? And we we step out in those areas, but the burden, the weight, is we're just giving that, releasing that to the Lord. He is our burden bearer. And in fact, here, hume as we talked through 2 Corinthians 1, 8, said, for we don't want you to be unaware, brethren, of our Affliction, people don't like that word.
Enduring Afflictions with Divine Support
00:11:50
Speaker
Our affliction, which came to us, and this could be, for some of us, an economic affliction. It could be just a career affliction. It could be a relational affliction. It could be an actual physical affliction, a financial affliction, all kind of ah whatever word is in your particular context of life right now.
00:12:15
Speaker
Paul is telling the folks in Corinth, I don't want you to be unaware of the affliction that came to us in Asia. We were burdened excessively. This is big words burdened excessively beyond our strength so that we despaired even of life. I mean, have you ever felt that? It's like,
00:12:40
Speaker
I'm to the point of just, I got nothing left. That's like, I'm gonna lose my life. yeah and i mean And Paul literally was there. Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves. And that's interesting. um It's not that I'm dying to myself. A lot of churches will say, hey, you need to die to yourself. well No, you already died.
00:13:08
Speaker
You already died. He said we had the sentence of death that, hey, no matter what happens to me, even if I die, okay, so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, that God's the one who's in control. Things are coming at us. They're out of our control. I'm gonna trust the one that even if I die, he can raise the dead.
00:13:34
Speaker
and who delivered us from so great apparel of death, and will deliver us he on whom we have set our hope.
00:13:48
Speaker
And this is huge. Where's your hope? If our hope is in our efforts, efforts if our hope is in the thousand resumes that we sent out, some of them in nice color, um some with pictures, some, I mean, if that's what our hope is in, uh-oh, our hope is in God who loves us more than any. And he will yet deliver us.
00:14:15
Speaker
You also, and this is where Paul's bringing in the community, you also joining in helping us help through your prayers so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many.
Active Trust vs. Passive Waiting
00:14:38
Speaker
He's saying, wait, I'm afflicted.
00:14:40
Speaker
to the point of, I'm just despairing for my life. Yet he's saying, the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many. You know what? Where's your hope is the question. In these challenging times, we're not sitting back. We're not doing nothing. We're moving forward. We're active and as for a walk that we're walking, we're trusting. That's why it is a walk of faith. It's not a sit through, scroll through Netflix of faith. It's actually a walk of faith.
00:15:11
Speaker
Okay, it's not a sofa of faith. It's a walk of faith. That means we're trusting he's our burden bearer and we're setting our hope on him. And even if we die, he can raise the dead. That is what we are talking about. Have you had, you know, the moments again, and you talked about like right now, job search. You're doing stuff. You're out there putting resumes out, right?
00:15:42
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. The things that came to mind, and it's like it's like God understands all the fears and the doubts and you know emotions that we're feeling, feeling like it's all hopeless, what's coming to mind. it's like you know well It's like, well, the Lord's allowing this to happen. It's not like he's not in control or sovereign over what's going on in you know, something something he had showed me through different authors and, you know, different messages. And it's like, well, whatever's happening, it's like God's allowing this to come into my life. What would the purpose of that be? but To get my eyes back on Jesus. Right. And like the old ah missionary Mike Wells used to say, it's like, well, if I got if i got my problems, you know, on one hand, issues, needs, sins, whatever, on one hand, then I got Jesus on the other.
00:16:34
Speaker
Well, if my problem is my focus, you know, I can't really see Jesus out in front of me. But if I just change the focus, then it's like the problems don't overwhelm me. And I can, you know, I can attack, I can approach my whatever the thing is from a place of hope and victory. Not saying that the stuff's just going to go away.
00:16:56
Speaker
um But from a place of security and victory, it's like, yeah, but Christ is my life right now. He's with me. He's in me. Whatever this thing is, okay, Lord, what do you want me to know? What are you trying to show me? ah You know, what are you wanting to do in and through me in this? um And it's like realizing like in the waiting, it's like, well, the Lord's the one that's going to give us the assurance and the hope in it because we got our eyes fixed on it.
00:17:24
Speaker
excuse me Our eyes fixed on him. So it's still even in the waiting. It's not like we're doing this alone. it's It's not like God's way over there and we're way over here. And, you know, I'm trying to get close or, you know, get into his presence. It's like, no, he's in me. He's in us. We've got the unlimited resource need meter in us. God, what do you want to show me? So.
00:17:52
Speaker
all the valley seasons and hard times, it's like, oh, great. This is just a new opportunity for me to really understand and be aware of God's presence and how much he loves me and cares for me. And it's going to be my encouragement through this, like that verse, um you know, that he himself is our encouragement, our greatest encourager. And so just,
00:18:16
Speaker
Continually learning to feed off of the life of Christ in us. And it's like in God's initiating all this. And it's like He's doing it. He's seeing it to completion. Every single facet of our walk with Jesus is still the burden. It's still on Him. And we're just becoming more aware that that's really how He is. And so there's no checklist. or have i Did I pray enough today about this situation? or If I read enough scripture, to you know, all that kind of checklist stuff.
Personal Challenges and Trust in God
00:18:48
Speaker
you seen It's him, it's him moving us, you know, it's, you know, I've said it before, but you know, the Christian life is definitely not for sissies because
00:19:01
Speaker
it It is challenging. We think, oh, you know, we're you trust Jesus and and now life is just gonna be all blessings and and and all the good stuff. And so, you know what? Life just hits without regard, Christian or non-Christian. Life comes at us, the enemy comes at us, the world um comes at us. there' There's some people in the world who just don't like us.
00:19:28
Speaker
for whatever reason, not just because we're Christian, maybe, or they're just having a bad day, things come at us. and um But God's always in us. God's in us, and he can handle it. ah We can't always handle it. He can, and hes he's in us, with us in the journey. And that's something we need to realize. We're not promised all this ease, comfort, and pleasure. That's not the promise.
00:19:57
Speaker
The promise is that He will never leave us nor forsake us. That's the promise. And that's what we need to hold on to. Is there anything else that as you've been in this journey um that God has just spoken to your heart around over the years? Anything that the Lord just encouraged you in this waiting time?
00:20:23
Speaker
um
00:20:26
Speaker
You know, a lot of it's been, yeah, just the Lord, of the Lord just really cementing even more just my identity, you know, our identity in Him. So it's like the hard stuff comes, you know, sometimes, maybe most of the times, it's like all flesh response, you know, knee jerk reaction, I'll get worried, get fearful, you know, get anxious. But then, man, it's it's like knowing that it's like, man, he's never gonna let go.
00:20:56
Speaker
I can't, we can't even turn from him. um Sadly to say, I was recently accused of apostasy. And if people know that word, you know, from the book of Hebrews, it means to completely turn away from Jesus. And it was really because I just had a disagreement with a guy on certain passages of scripture. And he took the extreme road of one of Nicki's like, that's what you're currently doing. I'm like, oh man, not this, you know. And so, um,
00:21:24
Speaker
My knee-jerk reaction was to, okay, build a case, show him where he's wrong. You've clearly misquoted this stuff out of context and go, and it's like, and the Lord was like, wait a minute, who's who's defending who here? Are you, you know, it's like the Lord said, it's like, are you my defense or am I your defense? And it's like, that's right, Lord, you defend me. nowhere in Nowhere in the Bible does anybody ever have to defend you. And I like like how Bill Gilliam used to put it. it's the God's not like,
00:21:53
Speaker
I need your help. You know, know you know there goes so-and-so off to help me out. I don't need any help though. You know, I'm God, hey. um And that was encouraging and I was able to just affirm the brother in who he really ah is. And it's like, look, I'm tempted to want to try to defend myself and self-protect. I don't have to do that. I'm secure in Jesus. You know what? And so are you. And there's still no shame, guilt, condemnation, or punishment for you, brother. And, you know, take care. and yeah And so seeing this just come up in different areas, and it's like, man, I'm going through the hard time already, and then to have to experience that, you really start seeing the excessive burden.
Encouragement and Faith During Trials
00:22:34
Speaker
um And a lot of it's just been kind of, you know, a nice reset to get back to the foundation. It's like, wait a minute, who is my home? You know, who is my defense? Am I trying to defend myself here? You know, the world's screaming,
00:22:49
Speaker
do better, be more, try harder, you know you know, get all your ducks in a row. But then the sweet gospel is, hey, relax kid, I've got you.
00:23:00
Speaker
Just relax. Watch where I'm leading you. Watch what I can do. I am the God who does the impossible. Just watch me do it. Rest. you know look for you know ah Just keep moving forward, looking for my leading, trusting me as your life. Jesus would say, you know I am your life source. you know And for me, a lot of my career, it's like, okay, well, then how do you want to love them through me today? you know How do you want to love this person? What do you want me to share? I'm just making myself available. And You know, I don't have to fall for the comparing. Oh, well, so-and-so is doing better than me financially or this and that kind of stuff. yeah And we really find our hope and our center in Jesus. That's the bottom line, I think. it's Again, as you said, it's um where's our hope? And if our hope is anywhere else other than Jesus, then we're watch out.
00:23:58
Speaker
because it's probably gonna crumble. So I appreciate you sharing that and on this just idea of what are we doing in the waiting? And I would that say this, that if um the Lord is speaking to your heart, if you're watching or listening and said, all right, I'm in this void, in this space,
00:24:26
Speaker
And I don't know what to do. First of all, pray, seek the Lord, um and with open hand say, Lord, lead me, direct me, and then i and then start moving forward. don't You don't need to wait on the waters to part or look for that burning bush, you know hopefully not too close to your house or where you live.
00:24:51
Speaker
um But you can just say, you know, Lord, I'm going to just start walking with what I know. I'm seeking you. I'm going to move forward and and I'm just going to trust you along the way. And you're placing your hope in the one who loves you so much and cares for you and who says, I will never leave you. I'm not going to forsake you. And sometimes life does get tough.
Conclusion: Steadfast Faith and Hope in God
00:25:21
Speaker
It really does.
00:25:23
Speaker
And what we need to be doing is encouraging ourselves, as David did, encouraging ou ourselves in the Lord that he is our defense, he bears our burden, and our hope is in him no matter what. So my encouragement for you that might be listening is to Look to the Lord, take your steps of faith that you know, and place your hope solely in the God who loves you. Yeah. You've been listening to Walking Free, a production of Grace Ministries