Owning the Power of Purpose X Sarah Jakes Roberts

Sometimes we feel pressured by the world to have everything figured out, to pop out of the womb with purpose in our hands ready to take on every challenge that comes. But if we are honest with ourselves, having a strong grasp on our purpose is not always the case. Sometimes purpose can be staring us right in the face and we don’t see it. That is why we have to have a healthy foundation before we even think about mastering our purpose. We MUST find comfort in who we are before we figure out why we are.

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We do not become history makers unless we are empowered by something that is bigger than us to do something that is gonna change the world or change the future for someone coming behind us and thinking about history and power, we’ve decided to label this revolutionary power, but we wanna focus on 5 things in specific in which revolutionary power shows up hour life.
So I’m doing this podcast with Cadine Ellis, and she’s talking about her life, and she’s talking about her family.
You guys already saw the podcast.
I won’t go into her whole story, but there’s this moment that stood out to me.
And in this moment, Cadine says that she was waiting on purpose.
She was waiting on purpose to, like, hit her and to come in with the flag and announce that it had arrived, not realizing that she was literally standing in her purpose and didn’t even realize it.
It’s kind of like being on a field trip with your kids or your cousins or your nieces and your nephews because I know she’ll Not some of y’all’s ministry yet, and god bless you for it.
Okay? But you’re in the car, and what did the kids say over and over again? Are we there yet?
Are we there yet? Are there yet.
They ask it over and over again, but the moment you pull into the garage and you are finally at wherever you’re supposed to be, maybe it’s home, maybe it’s a relative house, they’re knocked out in the back seat.
They missed that along the journey, all while they were asking, are we there yet? Are we there yet?
That they were making progress. Not only were we making progress when we arrived, they didn’t even realize it.
I feel like that’s what happens to us when comes to purpose. We’re so anxious to get there.
Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Is this it? When is it coming?
When are we gonna get there?
And then if we aren’t careful, will look up and will miss the fact that this very moment we’re standing in is full of purpose.
As you know, the Womene Evolve team sends out a to go plate every week.
It’s called our to go plate, and it’s a breakdown, a Devose of different women in the Bible who have demonstrated revolutionary something.
Right? This month, we’re talking about revolutionary power. With Deborah.
Deborah was the 1st woman judge for the children of Israel, and I love this narrative about Deborah because it tells us about a woman walking in her power.
As we launch women’s history month at Woman Evolve, we’re gonna be sharing different aspect of Deborah’s story, everyday women’s story, but also perhaps pieces and glimpses of your story.
So I’m gonna turn to a scripture in the Bible that is the out Deborah’s life.
I’ve got it up here on my laptop, but I also, you know me, I like to pull it up in the word.
I don’t know why. I don’t know if it just feels a little bit more oily or something when I got my bible.
I don’t know. But I just wanna pull this open.
So in judges 4, judges 45, they introduced us to Deborah.
Deborah is a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time.
And judges 45 said and she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim, and the children of Israel came up her for judgment.
I have this vision in my mind of Deborah Sitting underneath the tree, stately, and queenly.
Owning her power, owning her purpose, and allowing those who were in need of her purpose to come to her.
Isn’t that isn’t that what we all want?
We wanna sit comfortably in our power and our purpose waiting for those who need us to be attracted to us.
But, you know, there are some nuances in this story that I think are going to be beneficial for you if you’re seeking to live a life full of power and purpose.
The first thing is facing after those who may need her.
She’s not sticking her nose and other people’s situation to determine whether or not they need her to judge it.
She is sitting comfortably in who she is waiting for the need to arise for her to utilize the gifts and the talents that are assigned to her name.
So many of us want purpose, but we aren’t comfortable within our own that if I have purpose, then I will be comfortable, not recognizing that purpose is not a band aid.
It is not a cozy little blanket.
It is not a pillow that’s gonna keep nice and warm and cuddly at night.
Purpose requires everything you have and don’t have.
So before you embark on the journey of purpose, gotta be comfortable with what you’re starting with.
I wanna talk to you. The person who has a weakness, who has a struggle, who has an insecure that they ethatic way possible.
Purpose will not be your surgeon.
Purpose will be the tool that you use in order to do surge for other people, which means instead of asking for purpose to come and make you whole and for purpose to make you feel better, We have to ask the deeper question.
And that deeper question is, why am I aching so bad for this validate or affirmation or acknowledgement or fame that I think will come with purpose.
How can I be comfortable with who I am now, where I am positioned now so that when it is time for me to live in my security?
I wanna share some of my notes with you.
Part of the reason why it’s so important for us to find ourselves in a place of comfort when moving into purpose is because purpose is for the long haul.
So, okay, let’s do an extra says, right? I want you to think about your life.
I want you to think about your life, and I want you to think about the areas of your life that you feel like purpose will somehow heal.
It will make you feel more fulfilled, and it will make you feel more valuable.
It’ll make you feel more worthy.
Now I want you to consider that purpose is actually the thing that may make you feel more insecure.
Me finding my purpose, me finding the thing that I believe god created me to do meant me confronting so many of my insecurities and so many of my anxieties that I still have moments now where I’m like, I don’t know if I can do this, but before I discovered purpose, I was completely fine living in my comfort zone.
I was just content as content can be.
But in order for us to go the long call, we have to know first comfort.
Comfort teaches us where home is. Comfort Teachers has had to live in a state of contentment.
It helps us to not abuse purpose because we found a way to be will before it.
But from that place of comfort, we are stretched into our purpose because is for the loan call.
You need a balance of comfort and confrontation in order to do purpose well. Comfort is where we retrieve to.
It’s where we what’s the retreat to? Comfort is where we retreat to when purpose has been taxing.
Purpose is not supposed to all due 247. Purpose is not supposed to deplete you.
You gotta do purpose for the long call. Deborah said, what I’m not gonna do is sit underneath this sun.
What I’m not do is stand up all day.
If I’m gonna be in purpose, I’m gonna find a way to make sure that I’m comfortable.
You need comfort and confrontation. And so first, let’s master the art of comfort.
Let’s get comfortable where we are, and then let us not shrink when it is time for us to confront the fears and adequate inadequacies and insecurities that make us feel like I can’t be in purpose.
This beautiful dance have come for confrontation produces purpose that goes the long call.
So I never want you to be in a position where you are regretting where you are now or grieving where you are now.
Find comfort in it. Find joy. Find a way to sell separated.
And then also, when those moments come for you to speak up, when those moments come for you to put out a new idea, when you have to build that website, when have to expose your gifts and talents to other people, those are the moments where it’s gonna feel like confrontation.
I don’t wanna want to see this area of deficiency. I don’t want anyone to see this area of weakness.
Those are the areas that help you to strengthen your power and purpose.
I love that Cadine had to work through so much to get to a place where she finally found purpose.
To me, that such a testimony to what we moments where it’s scary, but then we’re comforted by those who got us brought into our life for a season.
There’s one more scripture I wanna share with you.
And this one, I think, is gonna be very helpful because it just underscores the idea of finding finding comfort with where you are before you are introduced to why you are.
Did you hear that? You gotta find comfort with where you are.
You gotta find comfort with who you are before you figure out why you are.
I’m gonna prove it to you. In the new testament, Jesus comes up to Simon Peters. Simon Peters Fisher.
Mine his business. And Jesus says to him, follow me, and I will make you fishers a man.
Now it seems like a simple sentence But what if Peter would have been hating being a fisherman?
What if he’s like, I hate fishing. I hate sitting out here. I hate waiting on to catch the hook.
I hate pulling in the net. I hate everything about my life because it doesn’t seem meaningful.
He would have missed the bridge that would lead him to purpose.
Jesus had to trust not just in who he was calling Simon Peter to be, but also trust that he could build from who Peter was in that moment.
Because Peter had a healthy consciousness on who he was in that moment, when Jesus says, I’m gonna make you a fisher of men He was able to take that next step.
It was still new. It was still foreign.
He was still gonna have to become a student again, but he was equipped with the foundation of knowing I have had comfort in this life before.
I have found a way to be content with who I am right now.
And if is I’m gonna take who you are right now, and I’m just gonna demonstrate it and and allow it to be seen in a different area, a different arena, then I’m gonna trust even with the awkwardness, even with the uncomfortableness, that God waste nothing.
Who you are right now, wherever you are right now is purposeful. You, my friend, are there yet.
You’re here. You’re exactly where you need to be He’s gonna do it with the pieces that you have right now.
So my prayer for you, my hope, my earnest expectation is that you would lean into the power that exists in this moment.
The power that reveals your strength, the power that reveals your insecurities, the power that reveals how god is developing you.
And if I can just tell one thing.
You don’t have to be envious of other people in purpose. You don’t have to be jealous.
You don’t have to feel like you’ve been forgotten.