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Empowered: Gods Blueprint · Sandra Elizabeth - The Leadership Collective

• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: One of the greatest truths that you as a believer can ever discover is that your life is not an accident.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Long before you were born, before your parents knew your name, and before you took your first breath, God had already established a purpose for your life.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: You were created intentionally, formed carefully, and designed specifically for an assignment that only you can fulfill.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: The world may tell you that life is random, but scripture reveals something entirely different.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: God is a God of purpose, and every person he creates is born with divine potential and a heavenly assignment.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now I know we heard this over and over.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, you were born for an assignment.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Many people spend years searching for significance.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: They move from job to job, relationship to relationship, and opportunity to opportunity, hoping to discover why they are here.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Purpose is not something we create, it is something we discover.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, God is the author of our lives, and He alone understands the full blueprint that He designed for us.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Just as an architect understands every detail of a building before construction even begins, God already understands every detail of your future, even before you step into it.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Sandra Elizabeth, and today's podcast is God's Plan for Your Life.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: The Prophet Jeremiah received a powerful revelation about God's intentional design.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: God said, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Before you were born, I set you apart.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: So these words alone reveal that purpose begins long before performance.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: God does not choose people because of what they have accomplished, He chooses them because of what He intends to accomplish through them.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: This truth alone should bring encouragement to you.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Too often people disqualify themselves because they focus on their weakness, their limitations, failures, or lack of experience.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: People believe that God only uses the talented, the educated, the wealthy, or the influential.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: But scripture says otherwise.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: God repeatedly chose ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Moses struggled with insecurity.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Gideon saw himself as weak.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: David was overlooked by his own family.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Esther was an orphan.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Peter was an impulsive person.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Paul he carried a very painful past.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yet God used every one of them because his calling is not based on human qualification, but on divine selection.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: So when God places you in a role, whether it is in ministry, in business, in leadership, family, education, or even service, he does so for a reason.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing catches God by surprise.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: The position that you hold today may seem overwhelming, but God is not surprised by the responsibilities that he entrusts to his children.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: He knows the challenges before they even arrive.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: He understands the obstacles before they even appear.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: See, God sees every battle before it's fought.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: If he called you to the assignment, he already possesses the wisdom, the strength, and the resources necessary for you to succeed.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: If I look back at my journey, I look back at God's plan for my life, I become overwhelmed.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because when I started out life, I didn't know what the ending was.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: I knew that there was a start and an end, but I didn't know what was going to happen in between.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: I went through challenges, I went through obstacles, but it never held me down.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: I still go through challenges, I still go through obstacles, but I know that God is with me every step of the way.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: My life took a turn, my life's journey changed.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 3723 says, The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Though he may stumble, yet he won't fall.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: For the Lord upholds him with his hand.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: God is with you every step of the way.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: He deals with those who pull you down.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: He deals with those who think you disqualify.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: But always remember that your assignment will always attract opposition.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: This is why every believer must understand that opposition is not evidence that God has left them.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: More often it is evidence that they are moving in the right direction.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: The enemy will always recognize the impact that you can have even when you don't.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: He understands the lives you may influence, the people you may encourage, and the difference you may make through simple obedience to God's leading.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: The enemy comes in the form of close friends, family, people that you trust.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yet, even while the enemy attacks, God remains faithful.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: You may get angry for a moment, you may be upset for a moment, but every challenge becomes an opportunity for growth.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Every obstacle that you go through becomes a lesson in trust.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Every delay becomes preparation for something that is greater.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: God never wastes a season of your life.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: You may try to waste it by doing foolish things.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: We're all human, we will do things that we should not do.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: But the experiences that seem painful today often becomes the very tools that God uses tomorrow.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Your story is still being told.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: My story is still being written.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: God has not forgotten you.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: He has not forgotten me.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: He has not overlooked us.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: He has not changed his mind about you.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: The role that he has given you was not assigned by accident.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: He chose you deliberately.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: He called you personally.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: The role I played in life was not something that I would have chosen personally, but God chose me for the job.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then when people decide to discard you, when people decided to discard me, he changed the direction of my journey.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: So you may not feel ready where you are, you may not feel strong enough, you may not feel qualified enough.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: But God has never depended on human ability.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: He specializes in taking ordinary people and accomplishing extraordinary things through them.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: I have to remind myself every day that my assignment is not proof of my greatness.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to tell you today that your assignment is not proof of your greatness, it is proof of God's confidence in his ability to work through you.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: The journey ahead may include storms and tests and disappointments and lonely seasons, but it will also include growth, it will include your transformation, it will include miracles and victories.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: So every step will shape you into the person that God designed you to become.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: The question is not whether God has a purpose for your life, the question is whether you are willing to trust Him enough to walk in it.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: When you do, you will discover that the one who called you is also the one who sustains you, who equips you, who strengthens you and leads you every step of the way.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: One of the most comforting aspects of serving God for me is knowing that He sees the entire picture of my life while I only see a small portion of it.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: We often evaluate our lives based on our current circumstances, but God evaluates our lives based on our ultimate destination.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: While we focus on the present challenge, he is focused on the future purpose.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: While we worry about today's obstacle, he is already making provision for tomorrow's victory.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: As believers in Christ, we often become discouraged because we cannot understand why certain things are happening in our lives.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: We question delays, we question disappointments, we question closed doors, and we question unexpected things, unexpected hardships.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yet, if we see what God sees, we would understand that many of the situations that we call setbacks are actually setups for something greater.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Joseph in the Bible understood this principle.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: As a young man, God gave him a dream that he would one day become a leader.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: However, the path to that dream was far different from whatever he could have expected.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: He was betrayed by his own brothers.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: How many times have you been betrayed by family?
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: How many times have you been betrayed by your best friends?
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: How many times have you been betrayed by people that you trust?
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: How many times have you been betrayed by the very people you think are close to you?
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: But here was Joseph.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: He was betrayed by his brothers, he was sold into slavery, he was falsely accused and forgotten in prison.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: At every stage of his journey, it would have been easy to conclude that hey, where's God?
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: God has abandoned him, yet God had not abandoned him, God was already positioning him for something greater.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: The pit was not the end of his story, the prison was not the end of his story, the betrayal was not the end of his story.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Every painful experience was preparing him for the palace.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: So no matter what you're going through right now, every painful experience that you are going through is preparing you for what God has called you into the future for.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: So every difficult situation was increasing Joseph's capacity to lead.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Every challenge was developing qualities in him that would be necessary for his future assignment.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: You cannot desire the palace but resist the process.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: We want influence without preparation.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: We seek promotion without development.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: We want the platform without first allowing God to build the character necessary to sustain it.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yet God is more concerned with who we become than with where we arrive.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Character is the foundation upon which purpose is built.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Without character, success can become destructive.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Without humility, your influence can become dangerous.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Without wisdom, opportunity can become overwhelming.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: And this is why God often spends years preparing us, preparing every person for an assignment that may only take a few years to fulfill.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: That calling will always be tested.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: Every calling, every purpose is tested.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Many people assume that once they discover God's purpose for their lives, everything will become easier.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: But in reality, discovering your purpose often marks the beginning of a new level of testing.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: Tests reveal what is truly inside us, they expose our strengths, they expose our weakness, they teach us dependence upon God, they help us develop spiritual maturity.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: Abraham was tested when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Moses was also tested in the wilderness.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: David was tested while running from Saul.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Esther was tested when she risked her life before the king.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus Himself was tested in the wilderness.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: So the tests are there to develop us, it's not there to destroy us.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, just as a muscle grows stronger through resistance, faith grows stronger through challenges.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: Every difficult season presents an opportunity to trust God at a deeper level.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Every obstacle provides an opportunity to experience his faithfulness.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: The problem is that many people quit during this process.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: They interpret the test as rejection rather than preparation.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: They assume that the difficulty means they have missed God's will, when in fact the difficulty may be confirming that they are exactly where God wants them to be.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: So the test is not proof that God has left you, the test is often proof that God is preparing you.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: Let me remind you today that the enemy is after what you carry.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: One of the realities that we as believers must understand is that spiritual opposition often accompanies spiritual purpose.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: The enemy does not attack randomly, he attacks strategically.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: He seeks to discourage, distract, intimidate, and to derail those who are pursuing God's purpose for their lives.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: The enemy is often fighting your future before you even arrive there.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: This does not mean that you should live in fear.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, it reminds you that no obstacle can stop God's plan.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: No weapon formed against God's children can ultimately prevail when they remain faithful to Him.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: So the enemy may create resistance, but he cannot rewrite God's destiny for your life.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: As I come to the end of this podcast, I want to remind you today that you have a purpose.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: That purpose will come with storms and challenges.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: You may be facing a storm today.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you that I am facing a storm today.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: I have faced many storms, I have faced big storms, but God has continually taught me how to carry more responsibility.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: He has taught me how to manage greater influence.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm reminding you today that he is teaching you through your circumstances how to trust him at deeper levels.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: The very thing that feels difficult today may become one of your greatest strengths tomorrow.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: When the storm eventually passes, you will discover that you are not the same person who entered it.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: Your faith will be stronger, your wisdom will be greater, your character will be deeper, your dependence upon God will be stronger than ever before.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that is exactly what God intended from the beginning.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: I want to leave you with this the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.