Latest / She Speaks Life - Christian Women, Strengthen Your Faith, Bible Study, Grow Spiritually In Christ / Magnifying Jesus In A Self-Focused World With Morgan Krueger
Transcript
- 0:00Hey friends, welcome back to She Speaks Life.
- 0:02I'm so grateful you are here today for a conversation that I
- 0:06know is going to minister to so many hearts.
- 0:10Have you ever felt the pole to live for approval, to keep up
- 0:14appearances or to chase success in a world that constantly tells
- 0:18us life is all about you? Or maybe you felt the pressure
- 0:22to be the perfect mom, look a certain way, achieve more or
- 0:26prove your worth. If so, today's episode is for
- 0:30you. I am joined by Morgan Kruger.
- 0:34She is the author of made to magnify choosing to live for
- 0:38Jesus when everything tells you to live for yourself.
- 0:42In this powerful book, Morgan invites readers to move beyond a
- 0:46self focused life. Resist the temptation to chase
- 0:49personal glory and praise and step into the joy, peace, and
- 0:54fulfillment God intended for each one of us.
- 0:57She shares how Jesus frees us from the unrealistic pressures
- 1:02of culture, whether it's appearance, motherhood, success,
- 1:06or more, and invites us into a life changing freedom found only
- 1:12in Him. Through her personal journey
- 1:14from shame to surrender, along with biblical truth, Morgan
- 1:18points us to lasting change, renewed confidence, and a life
- 1:22that truly magnifies Christ. This conversation is honest,
- 1:28encouraging, and full of hope. So if you're ready to stop
- 1:32striving and start living for the One who created you, let's
- 1:37dive in. Here's my guest, Morgan Krueger.
- 1:40Hey Morgan, welcome to She Speaks Life.
- 1:43I'm excited about our conversation we will be having.
- 1:46Thanks, Jamie. Thanks for having me.
- 1:48It's so great to meet you and just getting to chat a little
- 1:50bit before this and get to know each other's hearts and
- 1:53different seasons of life and different States and all of
- 1:56that. But so sweet to just connect
- 1:58with a sister that yeah, we have so much in common on a heart
- 2:02level. So it's been great to be here
- 2:03already. Yes, absolutely.
- 2:06And I love your message that you have written about.
- 2:11You have a newly released book called Made to Magnify Choosing
- 2:15to live for Jesus when everything tells you to live for
- 2:19yourself. And you know, I can relate.
- 2:23Years ago, I was just strangled by the worldly things and the
- 2:27materialism and just fall in that trap of not knowing my true
- 2:33identity and just really self focused.
- 2:38And I think we see this a lot everywhere we go.
- 2:42And it's it's a culture that we live in and we're gonna just get
- 2:48into the nitty gritty of this important message.
- 2:52But before we do, I always love to ask each guest what is a
- 2:57scripture verse that is resonating with them and why?
- 3:01Yeah, thanks for asking that. And I feel like I have to share
- 3:05the verse that has honestly shaped the past two years of my
- 3:09life. And it comes out of Luke 1,
- 3:12verses 46 to 47. And a little bit of context.
- 3:16It is spoken by Jesus's mother, Mary.
- 3:19And you know, we're both Mamas, Jamie.
- 3:21We can relate with just this idea of preparing for life and
- 3:26getting to step into something new.
- 3:27But I'll read it and then I'll kind of share the why behind it.
- 3:32But basically she says, she says, my soul magnifies the Lord
- 3:37and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
- 3:40And I think it's easy to read this and be like, oh, what a
- 3:43sweet verse. But if we understand the
- 3:45cultural moment and the context behind this, it's actually
- 3:49pretty amazing. Basically, you know, Mary has
- 3:52been visited by the Angel, been told that she will carry the Son
- 3:56of God, And then on top of that, her cousin Elizabeth comes and
- 4:00just prophecies and blesses her with this prayer of who Jesus
- 4:04will be and the life that he will live.
- 4:07And Mary had every single cultural reason to fear.
- 4:12She had every reason in that moment to make a narrative and
- 4:16make the story about herself. You know, technically during
- 4:20that time there was a death sentence for having a baby
- 4:24outside of marriage, and there was so many complexities to the
- 4:28situation. But Mary, the mother of Jesus,
- 4:30she was so fixated not on herself, not on her
- 4:33circumstances, but on her Savior that she could not just say,
- 4:37God, I trust you. She went above and beyond to say
- 4:41my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit not only accepts
- 4:45what's happening but rejoices in God.
- 4:48My savior and I just, you know, a couple years ago when I read
- 4:52that with fresh eyes, it's crazy.
- 4:54The word being living and active.
- 4:56We can read it so many times and then there's just parts
- 4:59throughout our life and our seasons that I'm like, have I
- 5:02ever read this before? I've memorized it, but have I
- 5:05ever read it? And so I just was so struck,
- 5:09Jamie, by that word magnify. And I was like, OK, what does
- 5:13that mean? What was Mary really trying to
- 5:15communicate? And the most simple definition I
- 5:18could find of the word magnify just simply means to make great.
- 5:22And so I was like, wow, Mary's heart and her life is so
- 5:26postured and fixated on Jesus that her sole focus is to make
- 5:29great the name of Jesus. And she, as we know, we know the
- 5:33full story. She went on to do that in some
- 5:35of the most beautiful ways as his mother.
- 5:37And so that's a verse that I feel like the past couple years
- 5:40has just been kind of a banner verse over my life and the the
- 5:44real wrestle and the cry of my own heart, which obviously the
- 5:47book came out of. But I just I I love the whole
- 5:50idea behind that of like a magnifying and a rejoicing that
- 5:55super Caesar circumstances. I love that.
- 5:58That's beautiful. You're giving me this fresh
- 6:00insight as well just by sharing that and blessing my heart with
- 6:03that, you know, And just the magnifying to me too, is just
- 6:07this praise, right? Praise over who he is.
- 6:11And you said rejoice. And she's just filling herself
- 6:15up with joy. And we know that joy that
- 6:19strengthens us, right? And so let's hear about that cry
- 6:23of your heart, like share a little bit of your back story.
- 6:27Why is this message so important to you?
- 6:30What has God done in your heart in this area?
- 6:34Yeah. Yeah, I feel like, you know,
- 6:37the, the the topics that we choose often times to talk about
- 6:41are the ones that we need the most.
- 6:43You know we don't. Speak.
- 6:45I know for me, I'll just speak for myself.
- 6:46I don't speak out of a place of here I am.
- 6:49I'm the expert on this topic. But hey, wow, I'm just another
- 6:52girl who needs this topic so badly because I'm living it
- 6:56right. And I think for so many of us
- 6:58women, we can just relate. Like you said in the beginning
- 7:01of this conversation, just that tension that we all woke up with
- 7:05this morning, even to make great something, you know, we, we are
- 7:09created to magnify. We are created to make great.
- 7:12We're going to magnify no matter what.
- 7:13But the question is, and the question for me years ago really
- 7:16became, am I going to make great my own name?
- 7:19Am I going to make great my own achievements and my own
- 7:23reputation and my accomplishments, or am I going
- 7:25to wake up and make great the name of Jesus?
- 7:27And a couple years ago, I really went through a lot of change.
- 7:30Jamie, I, I was in a job that I transitioned out of.
- 7:34We moved from one state to another.
- 7:36All of a sudden I was becoming a new mom.
- 7:38And there were so many things and, and these weren't bad
- 7:40changes, but what happened was I realized there were a lot of
- 7:44things that I was putting my identity in that were no longer
- 7:46a part of my story. And I think I remember in that
- 7:50season, God kind of brought me to Ephesians 4.
- 7:54And Paul is very plainly, kind of lovingly as a father of the
- 7:58faith, kind of calls him out. And he's like, do not be like an
- 8:02infant who is tossed to and fro by the waves of every, you know,
- 8:06cultural doctrine and idea and, and, and, you know, kind of like
- 8:11moment of this day. And he kind of calls them
- 8:15higher. He calls them to not be a infant
- 8:18in the faith who's just tossed to and fro by our own feelings
- 8:21and thoughts and cultural moment.
- 8:23And I remember it resonated because I was like, that's
- 8:26what's been happening. I'm walking with Jesus.
- 8:28I love Jesus. But if we're not careful, we
- 8:30wake up and our natural drift is not toward the things of God.
- 8:33It's toward the things of self. And I realize over time, even
- 8:37these good things, I had a good, I had a great job in ministry.
- 8:41I had and have a wonderful marriage.
- 8:44I, you know, I was so grateful for all these good things in my
- 8:47life, but I was started to put my identity in them.
- 8:49And if we have that order wrong, if it's, you know, work,
- 8:52marriage, accepted all these things above our identity in
- 8:57Christ, then it's just going to lead to anxiety.
- 8:59It's going to lead to kind of the tossing to and fro the
- 9:01waves. And so that's really what
- 9:02happened a couple years ago. And I just cried out to God in
- 9:05that season. I said, I don't want to ride the
- 9:07waves anymore. I know that I'm going to need
- 9:10to, you know, we're going to ride the waves throughout our
- 9:14lives just when it comes to like we're not going to master this
- 9:17topic because we're going to need Jesus everyday and we're
- 9:20going to fall short. But I just was like, God, would
- 9:22you grow me in this area? Would you sanctify me in a way
- 9:25to where I look back years from now and I realize that I have
- 9:29built my life on a firm foundation of you and I'm not so
- 9:32easily tossed by human opinion or circumstances changing or
- 9:37that desperate longing that so many of us have for the need for
- 9:40approval, right? And so that's really where it
- 9:42all started for me. And I just became a girl who
- 9:45needed the message. And so the Lord just really
- 9:47again, brought me to Luke 1, brought me to Ephesians 4,
- 9:50showed me the characteristics of Jesus that we can learn from and
- 9:54be formed by to be somebody who did what Jesus did in the best
- 9:58way possible, which was magnify the Father.
- 10:01And so anyways, that's kind of where it started for me.
- 10:03But it's a journey, right? Like that's what I will say.
- 10:06I didn't crack some code of like, hey, here's my 10 steps to
- 10:09magnifying Jesus. But what I did find is from, you
- 10:13know, studying of the word and Jesus, the life of of Jesus
- 10:17himself, I found an invitation, which is so much better than a
- 10:20strategy. I found an invitation to come
- 10:23and to sit and to lay my burdens down and my heavy ladens and to
- 10:26find rest in him and his identity.
- 10:28So that's where it started for me.
- 10:30And it's been a journey. It's been fun, but it's been a
- 10:33daily invitation because it still falls short.
- 10:35Like you said, you mentioned there's freedom when we choose
- 10:39to glorify him and to focus on him and that, you know, obedient
- 10:45life with him and choosing the right things.
- 10:49And you know, I think of seek him first and everything else
- 10:54will be added on to you. And it's so it's so true how
- 11:00satisfying it is to walk inside his will versus doing things on
- 11:07our own and having that inward, you know, self focus and trying
- 11:13to do things on our own strength or ability or really letting our
- 11:18mind get in the way, because that's where you know the
- 11:22reasoning and what you think you should do.
- 11:25Instead of going to the Holy Spirit and asking, Lord, you
- 11:30give me the direction, what should I do?
- 11:32Take it to him. And that is so common to forget
- 11:35to do that in the little details, the little things, you
- 11:39know, we may think of the bigger things to go to him, but he
- 11:43wants to be in every arena in our life.
- 11:46So we often sometimes even can start out well, like seeking
- 11:52him. And then all the sudden we got
- 11:55derail, we got a little off track and we just assumed this
- 11:59is where God was taking us and it wasn't.
- 12:02So every time we go to him, that's magnifying him.
- 12:07I mean, he just gets thrilled when we're coming to him.
- 12:10And that's so counter cultural, right?
- 12:12I think that, you know, we woke up in a world today that
- 12:17glorifies strength on our own, our own strength.
- 12:21And I was talking to a friend yesterday and we kind of got to
- 12:24this conclusion that weakness and neediness is actually a
- 12:29superpower because whether we lean into it or not, we are weak
- 12:35people, whether we acknowledge it or not.
- 12:37We are neat. We're created to need.
- 12:40But that is such a crazy concept to culture today of don't let
- 12:46anyone see your weakness. Go out and be a boss, babe.
- 12:49You can determine your destiny. You know, all these different
- 12:52ideas. And no one's over there like,
- 12:54hey, actually, like I'm going to boast like Paul did in my
- 12:58weakness. Because when I'm weak, when I'm
- 13:00willing to just embrace the fact that I'm weak, that's when I get
- 13:04a strength that's so much better than my own, a strength from the
- 13:08Holy Spirit. And so, yeah.
- 13:09And I think so. I think it's like like you're
- 13:12saying just that idea of coming to him and saying I need you
- 13:17again and again and again. That is a huge way actually to
- 13:20magnify Jesus to the world around you because it will be
- 13:24shocking to people how you embrace your weakness instead of
- 13:28trying to fight it. And I know for me, I'm a fighter
- 13:30in that I'm like, no, I can white knuckle my way through
- 13:33this situation, but God gets the glory and God is truly
- 13:38magnified. He's made great through our
- 13:40lives when we are willing to come and just be weak because
- 13:42people, we'll see that and say, oh, that's a little different
- 13:46than what I'm seeing around me. So even some of the basic stuff
- 13:49like that can make a huge difference to our communities
- 13:52and within our homes and, and and beyond so.
- 13:56Yes, and you know, you often look at an eagle and how they
- 13:59fly. They fly in higher altitudes
- 14:03away from the rest of the flock. And I had heard not too long
- 14:08ago, being an eagle Christian flying at higher altitudes and
- 14:14being that that eagle that's set apart from the rest, right, And
- 14:19not looking like everyone else. And you had mentioned in your
- 14:23book, there's the cycle of self. And so how explain to us how
- 14:28this keeps us from the self focus instead of focused on what
- 14:31God is doing in our lives? Yeah, you kind of touched on
- 14:36this beautifully earlier when you were saying that it's so
- 14:40easy for us to just keep our eyes on our self.
- 14:43And really anything that keeps our eyes on our self keeps our
- 14:47eyes off God. And so the cycle of self that I
- 14:49talk about is just some of the biggest hindrances, I think, to
- 14:53the believer and the non believer.
- 14:55But even us who are walking with Jesus, we struggle in these
- 14:59areas because they just keep us fixated and focused and anxious
- 15:04on our lives instead of looking up to the one who's writing the
- 15:07better story for our life. So the cycle of self, like I
- 15:10like to call it, is 3 different areas.
- 15:13The 1st is pride. I know, you know, I've heard it
- 15:16said before that that the, the people who are most prideful are
- 15:21the ones that say they don't struggle with pride, You know,
- 15:23because the reality is, I don't know that I've never met someone
- 15:26who's truly immune to the struggle of pride.
- 15:31And I see this play out the most in my marriage, honestly.
- 15:34You know, we're raising little kids, we're trying to figure
- 15:37out. And pride is just basically
- 15:38saying, I know best. You know, pride was one of the
- 15:41original sins in the garden because the serpent convinced
- 15:44Adam and Eve that they know better, that he knows better.
- 15:46They know better. Who is God to say what's best?
- 15:49You know, And that pride just, like, snuck in there.
- 15:51And their eyes right after that, what happened when they ate of
- 15:54that fruit, their eyes were just on themselves and they realized
- 15:56they were naked and they hid themselves.
- 15:58And so pride is just a huge area that separates us from God.
- 16:02And then the second is fear. And I feel like fear is a little
- 16:05bit more of a delicate one, but the reality is like also, I've
- 16:08never met someone who is fully immune to the struggle of fear,
- 16:14pride, fear. And then the last one is doubt.
- 16:16God is the one who can speak into every fear, every doubt,
- 16:19every area of pride that we have.
- 16:21And he is the one. He's the way, the truth, the
- 16:24life. Nobody comes to the Father
- 16:25except through Jesus. So Jesus is the truth.
- 16:28He's going to set our doubts straight.
- 16:30He is going to be the one to speak truth into them.
- 16:32So that's the cycle of self. I know there are more topics
- 16:35that kind of keep us navel gazing or inward focus, but you
- 16:39know, based on just research and conversation and Scripture, I
- 16:41feel like those are the themes that we really struggle with.
- 16:45And, and you know, any of those that keep our eyes on our self
- 16:48are going to keep our eyes off God.
- 16:49And so when we are willing to just be honest and have these
- 16:53real, honest conversations with each other and with God, I think
- 16:56that we are magnifying Jesus again, one upward gaze at a
- 17:00time. Yeah, that's so good.
- 17:02Those are the three majors, you know, pride from the beginning,
- 17:07you know, fear. That was one of those that you
- 17:11said, you know, I don't know why.
- 17:14You know, I've read the scripture verse over and over
- 17:16again and all of a sudden like a light bulb goes off, right, Like
- 17:20you haven't read it before. And that was years ago for me
- 17:25when I realized, oh, for God has not given you a spirit of fear,
- 17:30but a power, love and sound mind.
- 17:31Well, I saw spirit of fear and I'm like, wow, fear is a spirit,
- 17:36you know, and that kind of fear is a spirit.
- 17:40And so I looked at that and I'm like, Oh my gosh, well, I don't
- 17:45I don't need to receive that. You know, that's not that
- 17:48doesn't belong to me. That's not my inheritance.
- 17:51That's not me being Co heirs of Jesus.
- 17:55And and and so when I recognize that that was the spirit that
- 18:01helps me to go, okay, I can look at all these scripture versus
- 18:05all these promises and attach it to whatever fear is happening,
- 18:11you know, in my life, right. And you know, of course, you
- 18:15know Jesus, he's a scripture for his written and you know, and as
- 18:20you were talking about doubt, you, you read that scripture
- 18:23verse, you know, those who believe and have faith and
- 18:27believe and then speak it out and do not doubt in the heart.
- 18:30You know, you can say to this mountain move.
- 18:33You know, this mountain is like the obstacles in our life,
- 18:36right? And he knows what I love about
- 18:41the Lord. And his word is He knows already
- 18:45our humanity and the struggles that we will be going through.
- 18:48So that's why he's saying do not doubt because faith is like what
- 18:54you need and it can be as small as a mustard seed, right?
- 18:58And he's reassuring us that we can rely on what he says, who he
- 19:05is and, and what he says in Scripture.
- 19:08And so I always love that scripture verse too, that
- 19:11reassures me that he's got this, you know, and I could do my part
- 19:17by, you know, sharing and, and speaking out.
- 19:21I mean, this podcast called She Speaks.
- 19:24Like. Speaking life, speaking truth
- 19:27and and then and then leave, living it out.
- 19:31But I think that revelation comes not just by speaking.
- 19:37I think there's action behind that.
- 19:39We could we could say and speak and and declare, but also
- 19:44there's a requirement for actually us doing what the word
- 19:48says and then that and not just be hearers like it says in
- 19:51James. And then that's when the
- 19:53revelation and that root really like sinks into our hearts,
- 19:57right? And we actually start looking
- 20:00like that eagle Christian set apart.
- 20:04Good. That's good.
- 20:05It makes me think of the, the time I love the story when the
- 20:09disciples are, you know, in the, the storm and Jesus just
- 20:14casually comes up on the water and he and Peter's like, tell me
- 20:19to come, Lord, you know, he's so eager for the moment and Jesus
- 20:21says come and he gets out and he starts to sink because of his
- 20:27fears. And I would say his doubt, he
- 20:29probably was struggling with pride, fear and doubt all in
- 20:31that one moment. And he starts to sink and he
- 20:34does the thing that I think is what we're talking about.
- 20:37He just calls out to Jesus like he he's willing to take the step
- 20:41toward Jesus in the midst of his fear of his outs of his pride.
- 20:45And it says that that the the Greek word is euthaeos.
- 20:48It says that he immediately reaches out his hand and grabs
- 20:52Peter. And that's what I love Jesus
- 20:54isn't saying, hey, go journey it on your own.
- 20:56He's like, just take a step toward me in your weakness, in
- 21:00your doubt, in your fear, take a step toward me and I euthaeos.
- 21:04I immediately, without hesitation, will reach out and I
- 21:07will pick you up and I will lead you on the path with me in my
- 21:11strength. And so, yeah, it is like there
- 21:14is a role to play, but I think the role is almost like fall
- 21:17into Jesus, like fall toward him, call out to him, call upon
- 21:22his name and his spirit and rebuke that spirit of fear.
- 21:25You know, we need to be women of boldness, knowing that we have
- 21:29the Holy Spirit inside of us to rebuke spirits of fear, to
- 21:32rebuke a spirit of, of even doubting, and to call the name
- 21:36of Jesus to be able to, you know, give us that strength.
- 21:40Yeah, absolutely. And going back to the story of
- 21:43walking on the water, you know, it just shows us don't put our
- 21:47attention on the fear, on the on the problem, right.
- 21:51He's like when he focused on the storm, you know, then it's like,
- 21:55oh, he left his eyes from Jesus, right.
- 21:58Then he focused back on Jesus. But then it's like Jesus doesn't
- 22:03go, oh, you're on your own. Sorry.
- 22:05You looked at the storm, you looked at your circumstances.
- 22:09I can't help you. But no, he like reaches out with
- 22:11that compassion. And when you are sharing that,
- 22:14it was just showing me how compassionate and merciful our
- 22:19God really is. And so one of the things you had
- 22:25brought in detention on this book is about blame.
- 22:29And I couldn't help when you brought up the pride in Genesis.
- 22:33Now Adam immediately is like blaming the woman, you know.
- 22:38And, and so there's a lot of blame going on right in the
- 22:42beginning of creation. So there are some of us out
- 22:46there that can blame culture for our struggles.
- 22:50Well, I can't help it. It's everywhere.
- 22:52Are you know, everyone's doing it, you know, or is it really a
- 22:56sin, you know, because culture makes it so acceptable?
- 23:00Why is this such a dangerous road to journey on?
- 23:05What did you get out of that bit of wisdom there that you put in
- 23:10your book? Yeah.
- 23:11Well, Jamie, you said it so well.
- 23:13I mean, we can track so many of the things that we're talking
- 23:16about in this conversation. Just back to the beginning.
- 23:18You know, there was a spirit of blame from the start.
- 23:22Like you said, Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent.
- 23:24And it just kind of could. I bet it would have gone round.
- 23:27Have you ever been in like, a silly conversation with your
- 23:29spouse or with like a friend or whatever?
- 23:31And the conversation, the argument, she's going round and
- 23:34round and round and, yeah. And all of a sudden you're like,
- 23:36how did this start? What are we even saying?
- 23:38I sound so silly, you know, And I bet that's kind of a little
- 23:41bit what was happening in that situation.
- 23:43But, you know, we did wake up in a cultural moment this this
- 23:46morning that I think we need to be aware of.
- 23:49There's no such thing as being unformed.
- 23:51We are being formed by every single thing around us.
- 23:54But I think there is a danger in kind of looking and saying, Oh,
- 23:57well, the problem is out there. That's the problem.
- 24:00I walk outside my door and I see this.
- 24:03I see the polarization of of two sides politically.
- 24:05Or I walk out my door and I see, you know, I'm, I'm so met with
- 24:09the brokenness of of, you know, the way that we are idolizing
- 24:13ourselves. And, you know, it's so easy for
- 24:15us to do that. But the reality is it's not just
- 24:17out there. It's in here.
- 24:19Like I woke up this morning in my spirit with a war being waged
- 24:24to either magnify myself or magnify Jesus.
- 24:27And so I think there's an ownership that that, you know,
- 24:31if, if we want to be sanctified, if we want to look more like
- 24:34Jesus, we have to start there. We have to say it's not an out
- 24:37there issue. You know, Ephesians 6 touches on
- 24:40this. We are not at war with flesh and
- 24:42blood. Our neighbor are like the people
- 24:45who oppose us and oppose Christianity.
- 24:47They're not the problem. Psalm 139, David just cries out
- 24:52to God, search me, Oh God, try me, know me, like point out
- 24:56anything in me that grieves your heart and lead me in the path of
- 24:59everlasting life. He's desperate for that Search
- 25:03me like the problem is right here and I need you, Jesus.
- 25:07And so I think that's where that's a great place for any one
- 25:10of us to start is to say, let's lay down kind of the the battle
- 25:14lines that we might be drawing in culture or when we walk
- 25:17outside of our door and let's just start right here.
- 25:20And if each of us, I know it's so much easier said than done,
- 25:23But if each of us, especially us in Christ, if we are willing to
- 25:26survey our hearts and bring them before the Lord, and then not
- 25:30just inward gaze, but also just look up, then I think that
- 25:34that's where the work of life change and sanctification really
- 25:37happens. So I think as women, we're
- 25:39called to be aware of our cultural moment, but we're also
- 25:42supposed to understand that just like Adam and Eve, the origin of
- 25:45the sin is, is, is right here. You know, Isaiah talks about
- 25:49that like we, like sheep have gone astray, every single one of
- 25:53us. But the good news is that God
- 25:55has laid on him, on Jesus, the iniquity, the sin, the
- 25:57brokenness of us all. So that's where we find our
- 26:00hope. But we have to start knowing
- 26:01that it's, it's in here. And that's the that's the hard
- 26:03stuff, right? That's not always easy, but it's
- 26:07it's holy work. It totally is.
- 26:09And I can't help but think of we're in this world, but we're
- 26:13not of this world. And I can't help but think also,
- 26:17so many people don't want to go through the the hard right, the
- 26:24sacrifices. They want convenience.
- 26:27And, you know, our human nature wants that not necessarily to be
- 26:33in obedience in every arena in our life, right?
- 26:37Because, you know, maybe that seems harder and we want to do
- 26:42things easier, but we want the benefits and we want the awards
- 26:46and the blessings and the favor that God gives us when we do
- 26:50walk in alignment with him. So I think, you know, this
- 26:54culture, you know, obviously you've got everything at your
- 26:59fingertips. And I just think that sometimes
- 27:03us believers, Christians, we, you don't want to actually lay
- 27:06down those things that we may enjoy or their habits that
- 27:12you're stuck in and you can't get out of.
- 27:15And you want to get out of it, but you haven't actually gone
- 27:19through the hard part to get rid of.
- 27:23You know what we're talking about sin or things that are
- 27:26not, you know, holy godly, there's a sacrifice there.
- 27:31There is a sacrifice. And I think I think as women, we
- 27:37we do struggle with this fear of like, God, if I make this change
- 27:41or I let this go or I focus less on myself, like who's going to
- 27:45take care of me, right? And I think that this idea and I
- 27:49just want to speak to the listener that just resonated
- 27:51with what you said, Jamie. Maybe they have something in
- 27:53their life that feels like a habitual struggle, or they're
- 27:57just like wrestling their deep need for control, whatever it
- 28:03may be. You know, as women, we, we
- 28:05genuinely struggle to to let go of this stuff because we're
- 28:09doers. We're doers.
- 28:10Give us a good list and we can get it done and we're work
- 28:13horses and we love the doing. But you know the the ask of
- 28:17Jesus when he says in Matthew 11, come to me, all you who
- 28:22labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest.
- 28:24His invitation is basically saying you can let go of this
- 28:29stuff. You can let go of these
- 28:31struggles, this brokenness, this need for control out of a deep
- 28:35trust that as you look to your Heavenly Father, He's going to
- 28:39take care of you. He sees your true desires.
- 28:42He sees the path to sanctification.
- 28:44He sees what needs to happen to restore you from the areas of
- 28:49life that have caused some hurts along the way.
- 28:52And so I think it just feels scary.
- 28:54It can feel scary for us to let go, whatever that thing is for
- 28:57you, who, whoever is listening, whatever that thing is for you.
- 29:00I know it can feel scary, but what if we have such a deep
- 29:04trust for our heavenly Father that we know that we can let it
- 29:07go because he is never letting go of us.
- 29:10And I think that's where the ask to come to him because kind of
- 29:16get some legs to it if like, oh, we're not just like blindly
- 29:19trusting, but we were deeply trusting in the God of the Bible
- 29:22and that he's the God of our story.
- 29:24Yes. And we have so many testimonies
- 29:27and scripture and we came and look back on our own past and
- 29:32see where he's been faithful. And that's why it's so key to go
- 29:36to the word and read all about who our Creator is, who our God
- 29:42is, that we serve. OK, I'm to have to come to this
- 29:46conclusion. I love chatting with you.
- 29:48This has been so much fun, but I love going to the take away,
- 29:52something that the listener can ponder on or take action in and
- 29:56where people can buy your book. Oh, that's such a good question.
- 30:02The take away, Well, I always, I'm going to go a little bit
- 30:05practical because it's so easy to have these kind of like faith
- 30:09conversations and all this has been so good.
- 30:11But I know for the reader, I mean the listener sometimes
- 30:14like, OK, now what? You know, what do I do?
- 30:16And I will just say this, you were never made to magnify
- 30:20alone. We are made to magnify Jesus by
- 30:25the power of his Spirit, but also the gift of community.
- 30:30God has modeled for us before the beginning of time that he
- 30:33existed and he still does today in community.
- 30:36How much more powerful is it when we magnify Jesus?
- 30:40We make great the name of Jesus alongside others who can run
- 30:44that race with us. And so whether that looks like
- 30:48accountability, whether that looks like confession, whether
- 30:51that looks like reaching out for prayer.
- 30:53What is 1 action step that you can take today to magnify Jesus
- 30:58in the in the in the community that God is calling you to?
- 31:01And maybe you don't have that person.
- 31:02That's a really good place to start praying.
- 31:05Pray for just one person. I'm such an advocate for not
- 31:08everyone needs to know everything about our story, but
- 31:10everybody needs somebody who knows everything about our
- 31:13story. So who could that be for you?
- 31:15Don't magnify Jesus alone. And so I hope that's a practical
- 31:21kind of action step for anyone listening.
- 31:24And then you're so sweet to ask about my book.
- 31:26You can pretty much get it anywhere.
- 31:27Books are sold online. And then it's also in stores at
- 31:31Barnes and Nobles around the country.
- 31:32So and then if people want to stay connected, they can just
- 31:36learn more about my heart and what God's done through my story
- 31:39at my website, morgankruger.com. I love it.
- 31:42Thank you Morgan. Is this your first book?
- 31:45This is my second book, yes, second book, yes, second baby.
- 31:50It's called goodbye hiding, hello, freedom, trading your
- 31:53shame for redemption and Jesus. So yes, yeah, just super honored
- 31:58to write that. And I feel like there was
- 32:00little, little Nuggets of of that journey that God put me on
- 32:03that we talked about today too. So I hope that the listeners
- 32:06encourage. 2 great books right there.
- 32:08So thank you Morgan for coming on here and sharing your book
- 32:12with us called Made to magnify. I loved having our conversation.
- 32:16You're so precious. Having me, Jamie, thank you so
- 32:19much. Thank you so much for listening
- 32:22today, and I trust that God has encouraged you through this
- 32:26story. Did you know this podcast is on
- 32:28YouTube? Hop on there and subscribe and
- 32:31you can see a live recording of each episode.
- 32:35And For more information on this ministry and to access free
- 32:39downloads, please visit my website at jamieelizabeth.com.
- 32:44That's JAYE meelizabeth.com and let's connect beyond this
- 32:49podcast by going to my Instagram handle.
- 32:52Jamie Elizabeth, She speaks life or Facebook.
- 32:55Until next time, my friend, I hope God reveals himself through
- 32:59your own life story.