Latest / Jesus Girl Gang Kingdom Business Podcast | Faith-Led Strategies for Christian Entrepreneurs / Stop Trying to Launch Your Business (Surrender Is Your Next Best Move)

Transcript

Stop Trying to Launch Your Business (Surrender Is Your Next Best Move) · Jesus Girl Gang Kingdom Business Podcast | Faith-Led Strategies for Christian Entrepreneurs

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is the Jesus Girl Gang Kingdom Business Podcast, where faith finally meets real strategy to launch your online business.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Jesus Girl Gang Kingdom Business Podcast.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Erica Pyle.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I am a pastor of a local church, Revive Church of Tampa, here in Tampa, Florida.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm also the founder and the lead, the senior leader of a women's ministry called Revive Woman.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm also a breakthrough business coach.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I have a community of women called the Jesus Girl Gang.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: And inside of that community, I host something called the Build with Faith Mentorship.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: And over the last few weeks, we have welcomed new women into our community.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: And it's been really exciting.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that happens when we open the doors to the mentorship and we start welcoming new women in is that I'm reminded of our foundations.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm reminded of the reason why I started that community and of the foundations of how we operate as kingdom builders, as women who are building something big, bold, and beautiful in the earth for Jesus and his kingdom.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: And as Jesus girls inside of this Jesus girl gang, I talk a lot about being a Luke 8 lady.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I've talked about that here before, but that that concept that we find inside of Luke 8, verses one to three, where Jesus is traveling around and he is ministering.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: And that passage says that he's traveling with his disciples, but it says, and also these women, these specific women.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it talks about how these women go along with him.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: And this is the key.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: It says, and they provided for him out of for his ministry, out of their own substance, out of their own substance.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: So what this tells me is that we as women have this ability, that we have this God-given ability to make well that we can turn around and we can sew into the ministry of Jesus in the earth.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: And that can happen even today.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so that gets me real riled up.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: That gets me really riled up because if you are a woman who has an entrepreneurial spirit in you, if you're a woman who has the call of God on your life to launch a business and scale a business online, then first and foremost, you're my girl.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: You're my girl.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: The Jesus Girl Gang Kingdom Business Podcast is for you.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: But also our community and the mentorship that I host is for you.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so one of the things that we've been doing over the last little bit is hosting this workshop.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's a it was a new workshop that I created this last month called the Call to Build Workshop.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: And inside of that workshop, I reveal the four things, the four pillars that every kingdom business needs to launch successfully online.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I ran it a few weeks ago and it was, it was wonderful.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: We had such an incredible time.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: And if I had any questions about whether it was a good, effective, spirit-driven kind of event, 20 minutes into that session, I got a migraine, an ocular migraine, and couldn't even see my notes.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so I am teaching a brand new workshop, brand new, and can't even see the notes.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now that's a testament to it actually being a word that's written on your heart because I couldn't look at anything.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: All I could do was point my face in the direction of the screen and just preach out of my heart what God had placed there.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it just was a real reminder to me, you would think that like, because I I had the migraine.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I when you get an ocular migraine, you um see like bright lights and like these, these uh like these little things in your in your sight line.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, I I think this might be for everybody when it comes to an ocular migraine, but for me, it creates, um, it gets bigger and bigger and bigger and it starts to occlude your vision.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so as it's coming closer, as it's coming closer, it's starting to cover all of your vision.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is where I was for, and that goes on for about 20 to 30 minutes, and there's no pain at that point.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's just really disconcerting.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Disconcerting because you can't see anything.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: And you're and also in the back of your mind, you're like, the pain's coming, the pain's coming.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so, and that's what happens.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: So after 20, 30 minutes of that, then I'm sitting in the in the meeting, and now the pain comes and that disrupts your ability to focus.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: That disrupts your ability to look at bright objects, specifically a laptop screen, right?
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is what I was dealing with.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then if that wasn't enough, I got off.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: I did all the things when I was done.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: I did all the things that I needed to do to calm that kind of a migraine.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I got a second round.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I got a second aura, I got a second ocular piece to that migraine.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: That is like, I've only ever had that happen once before in my life.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just really got a sense that there was warfare happening.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that, like, there's not always the devil behind everything.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's not always this big like spiritual battle or whatever.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: But I happen to know that when it comes to me getting out into these internet streets and teaching kingdom women how to position themselves properly to launch a successful business online, that is something that the enemy, that the kingdom of darkness, is gonna come against.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: And that's absolutely what happened.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: So here's here's how I deal with that.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like when you want to come against me like that, I'll I'll ask God.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'll ask God about it.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna do it without permission.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: But when God gives me permission, I'm gonna do it twice and take pictures.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna do it harder.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna do it harder.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so, guess what?
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: We're running the call to build workshop again on Tuesday, October 6th.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna do it again and we're gonna do it harder and we're gonna do it better, we're gonna go bigger.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: The ads are gonna go bigger, we're gonna gather more kingdom women, more kingdom women are gonna hear the sound and be drawn into this free, equipping, empowering workshop called Call to Build.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are a Kingdom woman who is launching and building a business online and you've been feeling stuck, you've been feeling, you've been feeling the warfare, you've been feeling the pressure, you've been feeling rocked back, you don't know how to keep on moving forward at this point.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've considered quitting a couple of times.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're just like, okay, Erica, I've tried everything.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: I have switched strategies, I have tried multiple times, I have gotten to 80%, and I've been stalled, and I don't know what's holding me back.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Sister, this is for you.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to come to the Call the Build workshop on Tuesday, October 6th.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's absolutely free.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's 60 minutes.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: You will have a seven-day replay if for any reason you can't make it live.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Although I would encourage you to get there live.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: The energy in that room is beyond the sharpening quality of getting into the room with other kingdom women that are building something.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: There is something really special about that.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: God shows up.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so I want to encourage you, be in the room on Tuesday, October 6th at 7 p.m.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Eastern if you can be.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: So to register for that, go to Jesus Scrollgang.com slash called to build.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Get in the room.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Get in the room.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: There's there's no reason to not because it's free and you get a replay for seven days.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: There's no reason to not join because I want to share with you the four of pillars, the four things that you absolutely need to launch a kingdom business online.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: And here's the thing: I'm gonna give you a little bonus training as well on that workshop because when you set up your business before you do anything, you want to make sure that the foundation is firm.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: And there are three things that you need to establish, that you need to set in the ground before you build a thing.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Before you build a thing.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm gonna teach you those three things that you need in your foundation before we bring the four pillars to stand on top of them to build your business.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's what's going on for the Call to Build workshop that's happening on Tuesday, October 6th at 7 p.m.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: Eastern.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: So if you need to get into that and come on, sister, there's no downside to this.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: So go to Jesus Girlgang.com slash call to build.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what I want to talk to you about today.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: I want to talk to you today about stop trying to launch.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, wait a minute.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: You just told me that you wanted me to come to a workshop where you're gonna show me and you're gonna reveal and you're gonna teach me these six pillars that I need so that I can successfully launch a business.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: So what what what are you doing, Erica?
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: Why are you telling me not to try to launch?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's in the word that we're putting emphasis on.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: Stop trying.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: Stop trying.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's what's wearing you out.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: The trying.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, Erica, I won't be able to launch and scale a business if I don't put in some effort.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, sis.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing: before you do that, I believe that you need to pick up the rhythm of the root.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: The rhythm of the root, the rhythm of the root.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: You need to know the rhythm to build by.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: You need to know the rhythm to build by.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: So how did how did I come up with this?
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this morning I was studying in Romans chapter 15.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 15.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: And in verse 12, it brings something up.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: So first the first seven verses of chapter 15 of Romans is called the example of Jesus Christ.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so he's talking about the servanthood of Christ and how to pattern ourselves after Christ as a servant.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I love this for kingdom builders because one of the things that you've got to remember, and I'm gonna give you a little sneak peek into the three things that need to be in your foundation.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: So one of the things that you need to know before you launch a business is you need to know that there is a people group that God has called you to serve.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: You are assigned a people group.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: So if he's given you a business to build and launch in the earth for him, then there is going to be a particular people that you're called to serve.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so, first and foremost, in that, you need to have a servant heart.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you look at Romans 15 and you look at verses one to seven, there is uh there is a discourse there from Paul that speaks to how do we operate as a servant like Christ?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: How do we become an example of Jesus in the earth?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: How do we do that?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what that is.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then when we get into verses eight to 13, he starts to unpack that Christ is the hope of both the Jews and the Gentiles.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: Now, when I'm in the New Testament and I'm seeing something like that, and I'm seeing the words Jews and Gentiles, the thing that I need to think about is the saved and the unsaved, the believer and the non-believer.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because at the core, it, you know, in the Old Testament, we were looking at those who were chosen and brought into the family of God and those who were not.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: And when they were under the law, this was this was the way that we segregated.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: But in the New Testament, in these end times post-resurrection, yeah, there is this different delineation, which is are you a believer or are you not a believer?
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's what sets us apart, because Jesus said, I am the only way to the Father.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so if we want to be in the beloved, if we want to be in the family of God, then we have to believe on Christ.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so when we're looking at scriptures that speak to this differentiation between Jews and Gentiles, well, as Christians, what he's building on here in Romans 15, if you go back into Romans 9 and I think 10, what you'll start to see is him building the context for how we as Gentile believers were grafted in.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: So he's talking about, you know, look, the Jews, their eyes were blinded so that the fullness of the number of Gentiles could be brought in.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you go back in Romans, this is what Paul is talking to us about is look, there is a point.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: You cannot just look at Jews that in this time, in the biblical times, he says, don't look at the Jews and say to yourself, oh, they're ignorant.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: They're, you know, they are um, they're hopeless, you know, because the reality is this was part of God's plan that he would blind the eyes and deafen the ears and harden the hearts so that they might not see the current.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, in what in what Paul was trying to explain there, it's like if you are gonna see the legalistic way of doing this, then you're gonna get locked into that.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: And that's gonna wind up being an unholy limiter.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so what God did is he blinded the eyes and and um doled the hearts of the Jews so that they would be almost like set in this crystalline space so that the fullness of the number of Gentiles could be brought in by faith.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then that faith that those Gentiles had that brought them in would shift um the view and the perspective of the Jews, and it would actually serve the Jews and they would come in because God is preserving a remnant.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Now, why do I go back there and explain that and then say, because back there, what what what Paul is saying is look, if you're a Gentile, if you are not a Jew and you believe, you've literally been grafted in to this vine.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: You've been grafted in where Jesus is the root.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is, he is the vine, and he is the root.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: And when that happens, something in us changes.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's actually a physical change.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was being reminded of that because in verse 12, it says, the root of Jesse will come, because in this passage, he's talking about the the Jew and the Gentile, and he's talking about why the example of Christ in us as servants will speak to both the Jew and to the Gentile, both to the believer and the non-believer.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now keep with me because you're like, Erica, I thought that this was for kingdom builders.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, but it is.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, but it is because we're talking about foundations and we're talking about roots this morning.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: And here's the thing: your effort on top of foundation, your effort on top of a thing, it actually doesn't have as much um impact as you think that it does.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: I need you to understand something.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Our effort is actually worthless for what we think it it's made for.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: As human beings, we have this thought that goes, I have to do or I won't produce.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's not exactly true.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like if God is telling us to move, if God is telling us to do a thing, then yes, that will move the ball forward, but only because we moved in trust and obedience with God, with the word of God.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: That effort in and of itself is worthless.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: That effort in and of itself will not produce anything.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's faith without works.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, no, no, no, no.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: But works works without faith.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: Both are dead, both do not work.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: So we have to start to understand that just because we saw some strategy online that worked for somebody else and they're doing a similar business to us, or they're doing a similar ministry to us, or they're building a similar project to us, and we just go, you know what, I'm just gonna overlay that and I'm gonna do the same work.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I would, I would, I would call you into a place of prayerfulness and consideration before God, because there are just some things that are never gonna work for you until you tap into the rhythm of the root, until you tap into the rhythm of the root.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, what do I mean?
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: First and foremost, if you look back into Romans 9 and 10 and Paul's discourse around being grafted in, we have to understand that a Gentile, a non-believer, when they get grafted into this root, they're not doing anything to change.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: We have to understand that when we get grafted in, ultimately, the roots are what is transforming us.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's what is is uh determining the growth.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's determining because to the extent that the roots are pulling in the the nutrition and pulling in the water and pulling in what's needed in order to give the plant energy to grow.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: So we are like these shoots that are coming out.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: We've been grafted in our growth, our potential, our ability to produce, it's all connected to the root.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so in chapter 15 of Romans in verse 12, when it says, and the root of Jesse will come, we get to be grafted into this vine where the root is actually Jesus.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: He is the master root.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: And here's what's interesting all fruit that we produce is determined by the root.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Even though we look different, if we listen, listen, if we will surrender our striving, a different fruit can come out of us, even though we are of different stock, even though we're of different stock and we got grafted in.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: If we will surrender, then the fruit of the new root that we've been grafted into can come through.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: So we've been taught in our human world that your effort determines your output.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: Your effort determines the fruit that you will produce.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of a scheme and a strategy of the enemy to convince you that it is your effort alone, that it is your striving alone.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm here to tell you this morning that there is a truth in our kingdom as we submit under King Jesus that is no, actually, the root actually can produce the fruit if you will surrender.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Now, can I share with you a real life story where I saw this in action?
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: It confounded me.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: So listen to this.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: So years ago, um, this is many years ago now.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is like 18 years ago.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: So my husband and I, we bought a home in Staten Island, New York.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: So listen, I am Brooklyn born, Brooklyn raised, moved to Florida, um, went to school in Georgia, moved out to California to start my career.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then through this beautiful divine intervention, God caught me up into a managerial development program at the big four accounting firm that I was working in.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: And he brought me back to New York City.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I began to work in this um, in this position and found an incredible church.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: And in that church, I found my husband.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so we lived in the heart of New York City for a couple of years.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: He had been living in Brooklyn.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: I was living in the West Village at the time, and we purchased a home right off of Union Square, an apartment, a condo.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it was this incredible apartment.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: It had a, it had a back uh patio.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: It was a, it was, it was this incredible find in the heart of New York City.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: And we had a 600 square foot apartment, one bedroom apartment when we got first got married.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then you walked out onto this elevated patio and you walked down these stairs, and it was a back patio of another 600 square feet.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so I would garden and stuff.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: And um, so we had this garden in the middle of New York City.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we wound up having our first child, Jacob, and he was about six months old, and we realized like this isn't gonna work because we were in a 600 square foot one-bedroom apartment.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: And we thought, you know what, we need more space.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, I had family out in Staten Island, and so we moved to Staten Island, and we moved to this house on Bishop Street, and um, it's so incredible.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like this house had been built, it was a labor of love.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: And we walked in, and it was, it was how I would paint the walls.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: It was so incredible.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: And out in the back was this, I mean, wait for it, above ground pool.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's dirt.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: So there was this concrete patio that had a nice paper patio, and then it walked down into a concrete slab.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then beyond that was a shed all to the left, and then there was like this just dirt area and this above ground pool.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: And here we are coming out of New York City.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: We have an infant, okay, at the time when we moved in, he was nine months old.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, what are we gonna do with this pool?
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what do we really need to be keeping this pool?
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: Winters in New York City are, you know, they're harsh.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: And you gotta close down a pool and then you gotta open up a pool.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I'm not about that.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, let's get rid of the pool and let's create a grassy area and let's border the grassy area with a rose garden.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: With a rose garden.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then I brought the roses not only in the border of that grassy area, I also brought up onto the patio, that um paver patio, I brought different containers.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: And in this one container on the patio, so that when we were sitting in our den or when we were sitting in our dining room, because there were windows and sliders so that you could see, I placed this one rose bush in a container and it was gorgeous.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: It was this beautiful bush.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: It was a JFK rose bush.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: And if you know anything about roses, if you know about JFK roses, these are beautiful miniature white, cream white roses.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I just loved it because when you looked out of the den or when you looked out from the dining room, there were um, there was green behind it.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so it was just this beautiful cream white, and it was against a stark background of green.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I just remember always looking at it and thinking, it's so gorgeous.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: It just felt so clean.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: It felt like life to me.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, this is amazing.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so we lived in that house for about three years.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: And for the first two years that we had that rose bush, I would care for it and, you know, we would prune it and we would cut it back and then it would come back.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: And it was this and it was growing and it was thriving in this um in this white.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what's interesting was I had I got pregnant and had a very difficult second pregnancy with my second son.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: Very difficult.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: And at the same time when I got pregnant with him and we were going through the winter while I was carrying him, we had a very difficult winter that year.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, this was the year that um there was like our our house, like nine feet of snow.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like my husband was out there.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: He was like, this is for the birds.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a very difficult winter.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: But I was also having a very difficult pregnancy.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't just about the pregnancy.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: I was um, I I had was how having health issues.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: There were a lot of relational issues going on in my family at the time.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: My father had had a widowmaker heart attack in the midst of this.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I thought that he was dead for 20 minutes because I wasn't getting communications back.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: I was in New York, he was in Florida, and we were trying to, like, my siblings were trying to communicate with me.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so I literally thought for 20 minutes he was dead.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: I was dealing with the death of my father only to find out that they had brought him back.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: I wound up on a plane, going and seeing my father and spending time in Florida, all while I'm like three months pregnant with my second.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, things were going on for my mother, my two sisters, my brother.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: I was having relational issues.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: My husband was having trouble with his business.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: And this was the a time when the real estate market had crashed and we were in real estate, and now we were um we were struggling financially.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm sitting here um carrying this child, and it was the most difficult time for me, but it was also a difficult time in the weather and in our just a difficult winter.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I remember that when the spring came, and I looked outside and that bush began to bloom.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: Listen, wait for it, because this is shocking.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, if you've never had this happen before, and it's it's not very common, but it does happen.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: So check it.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: I look out there and these blooms are starting to open, and they are blood red.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: Blood red.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, what is happening?
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, is this a miracle?
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: A miracle of God?
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: Is there some meaning in it?
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: And the thing is, yes, there is some meaning in it, but there's also a reason for it.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: There's an actual natural reason for it.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: So being me, I hear the voice of God say, Go research this, because there is a natural reason for it, but I am sending you a message.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so I go looking, and here's the thing: here's what happened.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what happened.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: The rootstock of that plant, of that rose bush, took over and started blooming out of the root.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, Erica, what does that mean?
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: So when you buy a rose bush commercially, when you buy a rosebush from a commercial gardener, what generally happens is that in the nurseries, when they are trying to produce a rosebush that isn't naturally very hardy, they will actually graft in, graft in a portion of a plant that is a less hardy plant, like the JFK, and they will graft it in to a very hardy rootstock.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: And in this case, it was probably something like Huey's, which is this blood-red, extremely hardy rose.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: And they graft it in.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: They graft it in.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: And here's the thing: as long as, as long as that top plant, the one that was grafted in, as long as it doesn't experience anything too difficult, anything too stressful, as long as it's given exactly the food that it needs, exactly the water that it needs, that it's exactly pruned the way that it needs to be pruned, it can go about its life and it can keep on producing its own blooms.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: And you would never know.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: You would never know.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: You would never know.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: You would, you would never know because it never had to rely on the root, and therefore the root never changed the top plant fruit.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: You with me?
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus will allow us, God will allow us to operate in our own effort.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: As long as things are not too difficult, as long as the sun is shining, as long as we're getting everything that we think we need, we can just keep going along in our own energy and effort, and nothing's wrong.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: But when you hit a season of difficulty, when you hit a season where it is like, I don't know if we're gonna make it through.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: And in that winter, it was so bad.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: We had to cover plants, there were things dying.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: It was like, it was insane.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it happened in that moment that when it became unbearable, here is what that plant did.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: It surrendered.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: It surrendered.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so when we're in our businesses, when we're in our ministries, when we're in these things that God has called us to build, and we are going along and we're like, look, I'm so good at this.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so this, look, I can do this, I can multitask, I can produce.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then God goes, all right, let's let the wilderness come now.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: Let's let that scorching heat come now.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: Let's let that winter that's gonna just, you know, just about take her out come in now.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: And we're like, things that I'm doing aren't working.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: I have to go harder.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: Understand something.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: We need to take from the example of the JFK Rosebush right now.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because your best move right here, sister, is to surrender.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: Your best move is to surrender because you actually need the root to take over right now.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: You need the rhythm of the root to take over.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you keep on striving in this energy, you want to know what will happen and what does happen.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: The top part of that plant died.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: This is the visual picture of I have died to my old self.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: I have died.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: The old man has died, the new has come, and I am putting on the new.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: That is what we need to do.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: We need to actually take on the rhythm of the root.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: When you're feeling like you're pushing and like you're striving and like you're trying your hardest and you're doing the most and you're not producing anymore.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like actually going the other way, and you feel like you're dying.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: You probably are.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: And the message that should be coming through is it's time to surrender.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's time to surrender because that's what happened to that JFK bush.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: It net listen, it never came back.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: It never produced the fruit of its own striving ever again.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: It was always a blood-red, blood of Jesus looking plant from there on out.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because the rootstock overtook when when that plant got got grafted in, that became the option.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because here's the thing, sister, you can keep on striving.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's what this picture shows us is that you can keep on striving, but eventually you're gonna hit the place and God's gonna allow it because it's not good for you that you keep on going in your own striving.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's better that you hit the hard place and you surrender so that the root stock can take over.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because the fruit that you because look, I thought that white rose bush was the most beautiful thing.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: The most beautiful thing.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna cry.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: But when the snow would come, when the snow would come, you couldn't see the JFK bush.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: You couldn't if there was any fruit that was left on it, because that could happen, is like, you know, it could it it could the snow would come before it was done.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: And the snow would ball and it would disappear.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: It would disappear.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: But those red blooms, it was breathtaking.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: It was breathtaking, absolutely breathtaking.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: And knowing the story behind it, when the Lord showed me this, I was like, oh my goodness, I am not my own.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not my own.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: And that means that I also, because I'm not my own and I was bought at a price, that the Lord will put through me better fruit.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: But I have to surrender.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: I have to surrender my own effort and my own unction, and I have to rely on the root.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's what I mean when I say to you, you've gotta, you've gotta stop trying to launch this thing.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta stop trying to produce because your best next move is in surrender.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: See, in Isaiah 11:1, which is where Romans 15, 12 is based on when it says the root of Jesse will come, it's quoting Isaiah 11.1 that says, There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: A branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus was the capital B branch, and he was every man.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: He is our example, and we step into his place.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: We become ambassadors of him, we become examples of him.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so we get to be branches that are grafted in, like Paul said in Romans.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: And just like Jesus, we get to be this living, walking, breathing example of the power of God, because that's what that scripture in verse 12 and then into 13 says is if we're doing it for his glory, that we might bring him glory.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: So the question is this are you producing all those that effort because you want approval, because you want praise, because you want the accolades, because you want the applause?
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: Be careful, be careful in thinking about that, because even if it's like, I want to do this because I want to feel fulfilled in my purpose, that ain't giving glory to God.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: To say, I am a servant of the Lord, let it be to me according to his word and walking in accordance with the rhythm of the root.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: Then when that fruit comes, it's truly, it's truly to the glory of God.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's truly to the glory of God, because it's not, I want to bloom this way so that, I want to bloom this way so that my family is proud of me, so that I can resolve this financial issue, so that I can get the accolades, so that I can finally prove that I am this person, so that, so that, so that, so that.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-uh, uh-uh.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: I bloom this way because of the root.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: And the only way that you get there is when you surrender.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9, Paul is talking about the thorn in his side, and he is talking about how he prayed that God would remove the suffering, right?
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: And what does God say back to him?
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: In verse 9, he says, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing: the only way that God's power can come through in your weakness is if you surrender.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: And if you've been experiencing a next level weakness, a next level wearing out, a next level that may not just be the enemy, because all wearing out, all overwhelm is from the enemy.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: But it's the kind of wearing out and weariness that God allows to continue.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: You got to start looking at that and saying, is God allowing this for a purpose?
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_00: Because God will only allow that kind of weariness and overwhelm for a good purpose.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe, like this scripture says, that He wants to be made perfect, his power to me be made perfect in your weakness.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: But you're gonna have to surrender.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna have to surrender, so you're gonna have to stop trying to launch that thing, stop trying to make that thing happen, stop trying to produce fruit, and instead find the rhythm of the root.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: And that takes surrender.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: That takes surrender.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you are the woman who is standing at the precipice of something, you know that God has called you to build it, you know that God has said, this is for you, this is your lane, and you need to put your hand to this.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: And when you put your hand to it, it will prosper.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's the promise.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: But you are experiencing struggle.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: You are experiencing overwhelm.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: You are experiencing that like unending difficulty.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: Then I want to suggest to you that right now you consider surrender to God, not to the circumstances.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: Don't bow to the circumstances, don't bow to the lies that the enemy is trying to put in your head.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, you're gonna produce, you're gonna get there, you're gonna get to the finish line.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: But right now, the next best step is to surrender.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: And the way that we do that is by bringing ourselves before the Lord and surrendering.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so right now, Father, we come boldly into your throne room because of Jesus, because of his love, his sacrifice, his victory over the cross and the grave.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: We get to come boldly before you.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: And Lord, as we come in, before we ask for a single thing, we surrender.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: We surrender.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: We lay prostrate before you.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you, Lord.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you, Lord, that you are the red carpet that leads us into this throne room.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: But our natural response in coming into the presence of God is to worship, is to acknowledge the one who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, who is the capital S source.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I thank you, Father, for the grace, the grace that extends out of this throne room.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_00: That that is why Jesus has created a way for us to come into this throne room to receive mercy and grace.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so, Lord, as we come here and we lay down our burdens and we lay down these things that haven't been working, and these things that have tripped us up and that have kept us stuck, and the tentacles that have wrapped around our ankles and have made us to not be able to move forward as we lay down the barrenness and/or the bad fruit that's been coming out of our lives.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: We surrender.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: We surrender and we come into alignment with your rhythm, the rhythm of grace that's extended to us.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: And Lord, I pray right now that you would begin to produce the fruit of your holy root, Jesus Christ, into their families, into their finances, into their businesses, into their ministries, into their health.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' mighty name.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: All right, friends.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that that was helpful for you.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_00: We've got to learn how to stop trying so much, right?
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: Just surrender from the trying and step into the rhythm of the root, which is grace.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_00: Surrender and step into the rhythm of the root, which is his grace.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, thank you, Jesus.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: So, alright, that's what I got for you today.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I will see you again next time.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: Bye for now.