What to Do When the Future Is Foggy

Are you feeling lost, uncertain, or anxious about the future? 

Join the pastors of Allison Park Church as they share biblical wisdom for navigating the "foggy future." 

In this episode, they discuss how to grow in trust, surrender, faith, and obedience when the path ahead is unclear. Discover the power of naming your year, standing on God's promises, and taking the next right steps - even when the big picture is hazy. 

Don't miss this encouraging conversation about walking by faith, not by sight. Learn how you can take important steps to find clarity for your foggy future.

LinkTree:
https://linktr.ee/AllisonParkLeadershipNetwork
Email:
Jeffl@allisonparkchurch.com
Davel@allisonparkchurch.com
Instagram:
@Jeffleake11
@Dave.Leake

Transcript

Unknown: 0:00

Today we talk about how to navigate through a foggy future, whenever it's full of uneasiness and, you know, a little bit of fear what's going to happen, what's happening, you know, in our country, and how do I navigate personally through disappointments, through regrets? Last year didn't go the way that I wanted to, as much, we're just starting off a brand new year, and we are going to talk today about how to follow God through a foggy future, how to get a word for your year, how to make sure that you are following the path that God's covering for you. So if you'd like to hear more, tune in. Hey everybody. Welcome to the Allison Park leadership podcast, where we have our culture creating conversations. My name is Dave

Jeff Leake: 0:39

and my name is Jeff, and glad you've joined us today. Hopefully you had a wonderful holiday season, and we're kicking off a brand new year today. Come on. Oh, we are kicking off a brand new season six. Yeah, we're recording this pre Christmas. So my mind just had to jump through some hoops. It's like, Wait a minute. Yeah? So, you know, Dave and, of course, father and son, that's part of what makes this podcast work. We're both pastors on staff at Allison Park Church. We talk about issues, challenges, doctrines, controversies, anything that you're interested aliens, dinosaurs, like whatever and and so we try to talk about stuff that is where people live, and have a conversation around some of those things. So what do we what do we kind of address today in the beginning of season

Unknown: 1:22

six. First we have to address our gratitudes. Oh yeah, come on. You know, grateful for a great past year, grateful for our listening and viewing audience. And you know, one thing that we would be very grateful for would be your assistance in helping us to spread the word. So, you know, just getting this out of the way, we always talk about a number of ways that you can help us to spread the word one would be leaving a five star review on any of the money the platforms you're listening on, and if it's on Apple podcast, we would love to give you a shout out, because we can see your name. You can also like it, subscribe on YouTube or share it in any one of the ways that you can do it, even if it's just word of mouth. So thank you for your help in getting the word out. Yeah,

Jeff Leake: 1:57

and I our producer, Matt, sent us the Spotify wrapped, and I think what they said in some of the stats there is, I think we gained 25% of our audience joined us last year. So that means that, you know, 1/4 of people who are listening are new to us, and we're really glad about that. So glad to have you,

Unknown: 2:14

yeah, and if it's your first time listening in 2025, Happy New Year. Happy New Year. Welcome, welcome. I should be. Yeah, I guess I'm not on the I think we're released in this January 2. So you know, welcome to the new year. Today we're gonna be talking about what to do when the future is foggy. And we were just having a conversation about this, but it's like, or, I guess this, we weren't talking about this part yet. But I think every time a new year starts, you either feel like, inspired and excited, or you feel like, oh boy. Like, here we go again. You know what I mean, another turn on the merry go round. And I think I've been in both of those places before, you know.

Jeff Leake: 2:55

So you said you like, here we go. Like, I'm excited about this upcoming year because maybe something new is on the horizon for you. You start a new job, a new relationship, or maybe you're just glad to get the last year over and you're ready to turn the page. That's That's one side of things, and the second is you're going into something that's intimidating or confusing or difficult, or maybe the recent times have been a struggle, and you don't expect that struggle to end. Yeah, there's a lot of there's a lot of those feelings people have,

Unknown: 3:21

or I'd even just say it's the feeling of, I hoped for a lot last year that didn't happen. Yeah, it's like, because, you know, anytime it's the New Year's it's resolutions, but it's also regrets. Oh man, I really wanted to lose that weight, I really wanted that promotion, I really wanted to start a podcast, or whatever it might be to meet that person, to at least be in a relationship and not be lonely again for another New Year's, and then it's like, is it really worth getting up for this again? You know what I mean? I think that's sort of the feeling. But we definitely believe that God has a plan and a future for you, even if you don't know what that is. One

Jeff Leake: 3:59

of the things I have to say that I'm really excited about has to do with the shirt you're wearing right now, which is our Chelsea shirt, because they're really doing well. And I'm excited about 2025 Yeah, that's a little distraction. So yes, we are beginning a brand new year. Maybe you're listening to this the first few days of the year. And you know, a lot of people make resolutions, and then a lot of people don't. A lot of people don't even want to think about the fact of what's coming. And some people are really excited about it. But the topic we're getting today is a lot of times the future in general, whether it's a new year or not, just feels foggy, yeah,

Unknown: 4:33

and there's a lot of change, and there's a lot of reflection. You know, for example, one of the things that we were talking about as a topic, which we'll get in here at some point is we have a new president coming into office not too far away. That's crazy. The old president, the new old 45 has become back in he's also old

Jeff Leake: 4:54

physical age. Yeah, we probably will talk about that at some point in the new year.

Unknown: 4:59

I know that's cost. For either anxiety or excitement for some people, but yeah, and ultimately, I think, I think that probably a lot of people would say my future feels foggy, and we've, we've touched on a lot of things like this and over the past years. But you know, how do I get a word from God we talked about, you know, maybe we'll talk even about this today, naming your year. What's God asking for me? Which promises from God should I be really expecting? Or what happens whenever I what

Jeff Leake: 5:26

goals should I set? What? Yeah, hope Should I have? What changes should I make? Yeah, but you know the so even when the fog, even when the future seems clear, it might actually be foggy. So even as we're coming up with this title, I'm remembering back to the beginning of 2020 and everyone's every pastor, was leveraging the unique 2020 vision, 2020 vision for 2020 and we all had these clear pictures of what the future. We had no idea they were getting better, ready to get by a two by four with the pandemic and all of that who could have ever predicted what happened in 2020 the fact of the matter is, no one knows what the future holds. And not to scare you to death, but none of us knows what's

Unknown: 6:10

coming up 2020 that's just kidding. Maybe

Jeff Leake: 6:13

this is the 2020 that we were hoping for in 2020 right? So, but none of us really knows what happens for us, personally, relationally, financially, politically, nationally, whatever. Spiritually, we all are walking into the future by faith and for so for everybody, in a way, it's foggy, yeah? And that's part of the that's part of what's like, I guess normal is that idea.

Unknown: 6:36

Yeah. So we have so many directions we could go with this, but it's kind of fun. It's a new to New Year. We can go wherever we want. So the podcast is foggy, yeah, no, no, I don't think it will be, but we got a lot of options. We could start with. Why don't we? Why don't we start by addressing fog? We gotta have a lot wait. I'd say we have a lot of like solution oriented, moving forward oriented, type of tangents we can go down. But why don't we just start with with this idea of of fog? You know, specifically, those who are dealing with an uncomfortable feeling of unease, you know, dealing with disappointment of what didn't happen, or being you call, you call something like you have a whole analogy of the foggy middle. Yeah.

Jeff Leake: 7:22

So I actually, I think that there is this myth that we often operate off of, which is that if I'm doing life right, the future should be clear to me, and if I'm doing it wrong, it's it's foggy, that that, and maybe we almost see it like this, I am the only one in the world that doesn't know what they're doing with their life. Everybody else has a plan, and I don't have a plan, and then we sort of spiritualize that it's probably because something's seriously wrong with me, and I'm not really where I need to be, and God doesn't speak to me like he speaks to other people, and it's harder for me, and I don't know why it's harder for me, it must be because of something that's broken in my life. Okay, a lot of people get into this loop of talking themselves out of clarity and and and there is this feeling that fog is the exception to the rule. But the reality is, if you study the Scriptures, and the longer that I walk with God, fog is the norm. Everybody's foggy. Everybody's foggy. So if you feel a fog about the future, that's normal. You are in. You're exactly where you're supposed to be. So here's what I say. God gets really clear with he gets crystal clear, like detailed, crystal clear about your next few steps, and he gets somewhat clear about your long range dream. So you get this target on the wall of what day one, what one day we will be okay, that God is I think he's calling me in this direction one day, it's it's still foggy, but it's a little clearer the more that I look up on the horizon, and then I see the immediate next steps, like I gotta start working out. I gotta start my prayer life. I'm gonna start a Bible reading plan. I need to change my attitude on these particular things. I probably need to take this action step to go and apologize some to someone I've heard like they're the things that we know we're supposed to do, the next steps, next right, things that are in front of us. God is explicit about those things, and he's somewhat clear about the future and everything in between next steps. And the future is nothing but a big fog. And I don't think it ever stops being a fog. I don't think there's ever a time in our life when the middle between the next step and the long range dream ever stops being foggy. And if you're expecting the fog to clear, I think you have unreasonable expectations of how God operates,

Unknown: 9:37

okay, but it's the fog, okay. If you're speaking about the fog in terms of being clarity that might not clear, but there's like an uneasiness that comes with the fog. Yeah, that, I think, is what people mostly want relief from. It's not that everybody wants to know their exact future, day by day for the next 30 years,

Jeff Leake: 9:56

but what do they want to

Unknown: 9:59

know? And. Search is going to work out. Am I going to be all right? You know, am I going to get on the right track? Am I on the right track? Am I Am I doing this right? Is God leading me the right direction or no? Am I following God the right direction? That's more like the question. It's like the there's unease over, well, if I, if I can't see it, but it's all going to be fine, great. But how do I know that that's, I think the the feeling of fog is unease, the fog might never clear.

Jeff Leake: 10:27

Okay, so why do you think God allows it to be that way?

Unknown: 10:34

I think, I mean, there's a lot of reasons. There's so many reasons, um, think some of it is the tension of uncertainty forces us to trust God, yeah, and it forces us to reckon with the reality that we're not in control of the world the way that we want it to be. Yeah, which is awful.

Jeff Leake: 10:56

It's beautifully awful.

Unknown: 10:58

Yeah, it will. It's beautiful in hindsight. Well, no, it's beautiful

Jeff Leake: 11:03

in the moment. Because here's the thing, if you really trust Yeah, you get intimacy with God, yeah. And that's beautiful. Doesn't necessarily take away the reality that the world's still out of your control, and you don't know if you're on the right track, and you're hoping for things so, but it's beautiful in that, in that you get close to him and you feel His peace in the middle of it. So that's a beautiful it's like beautifully awful. It's, it's a wonderful kind of discomfort. Yes, it is and that. And so if you're foggy, but don't lean in to God, then you miss the beauty in it, yeah, I also foggy and just panic. Then there's nothing beautiful about that, right? Yeah, I

Unknown: 11:47

also think it sharpens us, you know, like James one, one, where it talks about, you know, rejoicing in trials, for it forms perseverance. You know, that you might be perseverance builds a cure in every way. Yeah? Gives us hope, right, right? Yeah, that's Romans

Jeff Leake: 12:05

chapter five. There's another reason for it, and that is, we're supposed to walk by faith, not by sight. So here's,

Unknown: 12:13

here's what I've been thinking about with walking by faith recently. Faith is like trusting God, that God's in control, and that it's going to be all right. But the thing that I think it makes it uncomfortable when it comes to walking by faith in a foggy season, because it's always somewhat foggy, but there's more fog. Like, there's a scale, right? But I think you know what I'm saying, like, how dense the fog is. Like, what am I going to do? Like, that's like, because it's always like, Well, you never fully know, but you think you might know. But I think in the in the the walking by faith, when it's more important, What's hard is like, even if God is in control, what if the control and direction he's taking to you is different than where you want to go? Because the by faith is also faith that God has a plan that's better than mine, and I'm okay with that, like, I accept that that's the case. Yeah?

Jeff Leake: 13:04

Well, you're actually talking about several different words. One is trust. Trust says I believe in God's character and goodness. Surrender is I'm gonna let him take me where he wants me to go, yeah. And faith is I have a conviction that what he's promised he's gonna bring to pass, and those three, and then there's a fourth word, which is obedience, which is, now I'm going to do what he's asking me to do. Yeah, right. And I think those are the four guiding terms for us, right? I trust you, God. I don't understand this right now. I surrender to you. You can lead me however you want to lead me. I believe you, God, what you promised. I know you're going to bring to pass, and I'll obey you. God, I'll do what's what's next. So outline

Unknown: 13:43

the steps that they go in procedural order. Yeah. Where do you start surrender? Oh, really. Okay, probably because I think, to me, it's so it's, you said, faith, surrender, obedience was it was a trust, trust, yeah? Well, maybe, maybe it's trust, maybe it's trust, yeah, God, I trust that, that I can place my full weight of my future, my cares, and your hands, it takes us from fear to a place

Jeff Leake: 14:10

of decision. You're right. I'm not going to be afraid. I'm not going to worry. I trust you with this, yeah. And then God says to us, can I lead? Yeah? And then we have to say, well, maybe in some ways,

Unknown: 14:24

we'll just talk about this stuff. I'd rather feel uncomfortable right now than actually have to make a decision. Yeah, so, so probably, probably trust who God is. Then it's probably surrender, yeah.

Jeff Leake: 14:36

And then he says, can I lead? Can I take you where I want you to go? Can I open up some doors? Can I talk to you about some things? And so then we have to say, Yes, I surrender. And then I often ask, when I get to that place, what now? Like, how do I make it through this? Like, okay, I surrendered. Am I just gonna have to keep coming back to that? And then often, that's when the Holy Spirit gives me a. Word this is, this is what I'm proud if you'll if you'll trust me, if you'll surrender this to me, this is what I'm going to do in your life. And then I receive that, and I grab it. That's faith, the conviction of what God's promise is to you. And then with that comes obedience. Then it becomes like, how do I walk this word out in my life. Yeah,

Unknown: 15:21

obedience is act active. Yeah, that's good. That's a good framework to to sort of walk through, trust in God, surrender to whatever he's asking for you. I feel like some of that is like dying to the but this is what the future that I want. It's like, well, what if God doesn't want that? Yeah, okay, that's all right. And then it's, well, God, I'm putting my faith in what your promises are, and now I'm gonna walk wherever you're leading to step into that promise,

Jeff Leake: 15:48

yeah. And then we when, then we hope this. And as soon as I do that, the fog will lift, right? And then the but the answer is, no, the fog will still. It will stay. The fog will stay. We're gonna get some things done. We're gonna you're going to be able to see some things that are now, you know benchmarks, or you know breakthroughs that will occur in your life that you'll be able to trace and say, look at that. That's amazing. And for that moment, the fog kind of lifts, but then it comes back again where you have to keep walking that out that never really leaves in the journey that God has you on. So

Unknown: 16:21

why don't we talk about how to increase in each one of those four? Okay, as our first starting point of this topic, how do you grow in your trust? I don't think trust you grow in, you know? I think you do. I think you either are trusting or you're not. I to me. Okay, then let me. Let me counter. I think that sometimes there's lies we're believing about who God is or who he might be, and we learn to trust Him as we get to know the character of God. Okay, so it's, it's some of that is the truth that we step into God. I know you're not an abusive father, or I know you're not distant, okay, I believe that you do care, because it's something that, well, he's able, but I'm not really sure that he cares or, or it's sort of like, you know, sacrifice the one for the good of many God, just like, you know, I'm just that he's gotta just let me go, probably because he's I want more things to do, but it's like, no you matter to God. You're his child. And trust, I think, is acknowledging the truth of who he is and his character.

Jeff Leake: 17:16

So the more you learn about the character and nature of God, the more you are willing to trust Absolutely. Okay, that's good, very good insight. Okay, then we get surrender His goodness, His faithfulness. Yeah, you know, his His love, His mercies, Grace, all of those things that are His faithfulness

Unknown: 17:38

is, yeah. I think, I think, you know, like, the way that he designed you on purpose, yeah, that

Jeff Leake: 17:46

he has a plan for you, that you're not the exception to the rule, that somehow he's left out. Like, I like how you said that, like you're the one person he's going to cast to the side, that he's consistent and He's holy, he's always good. And you can read about the stories in the scripture where he was faithful to somebody else, and then you can say that, you know, I believe that he's the same God today,

Unknown: 18:07

yeah? And then you trust Him when, when you say he's worthy, like, worthy meaning he is above me, and I'm okay with that. And that needs to be the case, yeah? And that and that, to follow him like, like that. There are things I'm going like, it's, it's not surrendering yet, but it's the acknowledgement of, I will have to surrender. But that's worth doing, because he's trustworthy. Yeah,

Jeff Leake: 18:29

there's this great word in the Hebrew in Isaiah chapter 40, where it says, David, wait on the Lord will renew their strength. Yeah, they'll mount up on wings like eagles. Just preached on that past weekend, yeah. And the word in the Hebrews qua, which is to tie into something, yeah, it's like, I always use the example. They have this ride in the local amusement park where you harness into something and they hoist you up, yeah. It's almost like a bungee jump, but you swing out rather than drop. Yeah, yep, yep. And when they pull the lever, because you are tied into the harness, you put your weight on the harness, and when you feel like you're free falling, it catches you. And so waiting on the Lord, trusting in the Lord, is that idea of tying into his, his character's nature and trusting Him, putting your whole weight on him.

Unknown: 19:19

Yeah, that's good. So we learn to grow in our trust.

Jeff Leake: 19:23

Second one surrender and surrender, and you develop surrender, or is that just a leap off the cliff?

Unknown: 19:29

I think that you can, because there are always more areas, sort

Jeff Leake: 19:35

of, like, partial like, I'm half surrendered. Like, Well, I

Unknown: 19:39

think, I think how surrender grows as you become more aware of the areas you still haven't surrendered. Okay? Because some of it's ignorance. And so it's like, you like, let go of that thing. Yeah,

Jeff Leake: 19:49

in a way, you're right. It's like, it's like, there are some things that you've been holding on to that you're tight about, and then the Holy Spirit has to uncover that so that he says this. Area, and

Unknown: 20:00

you're like, oh no. He's like, yep. They're like, ah, because I think it's like, that's part of what it means to grow more and more, like Jesus is it's like, things get exposed. If you, if you got everything exposed at once, you'd have to surrender immediately. I think your head would explode, like, what I didn't even know that about myself like to render this thing because we're not even I think the Holy Spirit brings awareness and enlightenment into who we need to be, to be like Jesus. Yeah, so there's it's, by

Jeff Leake: 20:29

the way, in January, this is a big reason why we take some time to fast and pray, because fasting has a way of sensitizing you to some things that you wouldn't be aware of otherwise. And when you're hungry and you're not eating and you're spending extra time in prayer in the word, that's often when God uncovers things for me that I that I didn't know before. Yeah, and the and the constant self denial of a fast pushes me into that place of surrender a little bit more aggressively, because I'm I'm I'm already not eating. You know what I mean, am I supposed to surrender to you? It makes me a little more ready to yield everything over to God, it does. I'm dying to myself in a very natural sense,

Unknown: 21:12

yeah. And it also, it clears your head up a little bit. Yeah? It also, it also makes you foggy for normal mental tasks. It's true, but you get clearer. Mind

Jeff Leake: 21:23

gets foggy, your spirit gets clear. Normally, it's the other way around. Isn't it weird, because

Unknown: 21:27

you think way better about some stuff. You're like, Yeah, whoa, whoa, whoa, connections. I'm like, It's seeing them all over some stuff. You're like, I can't, I can't calculate what that tip would be, yeah. I know it's Yeah, exactly. So okay, so that that's surrender, and then it's faith. Faith is number three, yeah, and faith

Jeff Leake: 21:50

is this thing. So I think this is good for us to talk about. I don't know if we ever talked about this on this podcast before, but Melody and I have had this practice that we learned from somebody years ago called naming our year, yeah, whereas you're fasting and praying and meditating about the future, you ask God to give you a specific promise based assignment that you that you label for the upcoming year. So 2020, for instance, for me, was a time where I was began the year fasting and praying, and God gave me a word to name my year. And I didn't like this word when I first showed up, but made so much sense when I got into 2020, and it was the year of pruning. Yeah,

Unknown: 22:29

well, boy was that ever Yes, it was. And

Jeff Leake: 22:31

it was based upon the promise John, chapter 15, verse nine. So it basically talks about the idea that the gardener, the father prunes us so that we can be more fruitful, like like the gardener prunes of a vine. Verse nine says, this is to My Father's glory that you would bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. So the thought was, I'm going to prune you so you can be more fruitful. So in the middle of all of the loss and trauma of 2020 I kept claiming that I had named my year the year of pruning, slash fruitfulness. And so there was comfort that came with the clarity of the problems in 2020 Yeah. So God can speak to you about a whole bunch of different things that are your assignment for the year based upon a promise he's made in your life. Yeah, that's good. Do you have one that stands out for you? They

Unknown: 23:23

have a year? Yeah, yeah, two years ago. I'm just looking at different translations here, I think. And New King James is the best for this. But Psalm 3723 says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord He delights in His way. And so I had, I think my word was ordered for the year, you know, in the sense or not like that. I was ordered around, but that God was putting things in order for you, yeah, and allowing my life to be, you know, and that you needed to keep in step with that, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, it wasn't just a promise. It felt like it felt like God is getting my life in his order. So submit to this and and allow my life it's, it was the idea almost of bringing what's in chaos into order, yeah, you know, bringing order into disorder. And that was, that was very healthy year for me. So,

Jeff Leake: 24:19

so this is intimidating for many, many people, getting a word. So we've talked about this many times, I guess, in the last couple years here on the podcast, that hearing from God, getting a promise from God, clarifying a word or naming your ears, oftentimes very intimidating for people, because so I'm already in a fog. I'm trying to address God with all this, and now you're you're telling me, I get to get a word. And I don't know how to do that. I think it's good to understand that that comes in several facets. One, it comes from, often you're aware of something in your life that needs addressed anyway. Many times it starts there, yep, then it comes out of. It gets birthed, often, out of community. So. So I know, like you, Dave, talk a lot to your mom, my wife, right? So you start to feel something, and you'll, you'll call her and say, What, like this is what I'm sensing. Can you pray for me? Yeah, sure you hearing anything for me. It's better not to let someone else give you the word in this kind of an instance, you almost need your own discerner to get a little sharper. But yeah, I

Unknown: 25:21

mean, I for me, well, okay, the conversations with my mom is a little different. We're like, let's all zoom in on getting a word. Yeah, I think so we're talking about four. It's funny that it became four steps to dealing with the foggy future. That was just, that was not at all the direction that just kind of but to me, that's that second step surrenders, where usually a word starts from, actually, okay. It's almost always like, okay. So it's like, here's how I feel. Like it goes for me. It's like, it's like, Okay, God, what are you asking for this year? I like, I trust that you are working it out. And I don't know what it looks like yet. I'm not sure what you're asking, but I believe you're gonna do it. So like, what are you asking? And then it's like, out of an open handed heart, you know, whatever you want, God, whatever you want, and that sort of, sometimes it's like, real. It could be like, more aggressive, you know, like, like, something for me to do, like, I don't, I don't know, I don't know my wording for this year's commitment right now, at this point we're recording, but it's something like led by love, is what I feel like you and I've been talking a lot about, you know, like the gifts the spirit, and how First Corinthians 14 says, follow the way of love and eagerly desire the gifts of the Spirit, you know, especially prophecy. But the middle chapter between 12 and 14 is all about love. And hey, if you do anyway. So I sort of feel like God is asking me to, like, work on my love, which is more of a It's not that's not a surrender thing, that's not a pruning thing, that's just like, here's what he's building in me. But that starts out of a surrender or, like, the ordered is like, what? All right, I'm bringing order where there's disorder. The word one of my friends got a word for this year. We're currently in right now, 2024 that was all about pruning as well. I think pruning was his word. So it's like, whatever you want, and then I feel like the faith comes with you. Feel like there's an Aries poking at like this thing. If you don't start with surrender, it becomes ambition, that it's a goal, that it's like a god, how

Jeff Leake: 27:25

words are different than a goal. It's it's what God's trying to do in you, and it's what he's asking you to do with what he's trying to do in you, and in any what you're believing for. As a result of that,

Unknown: 27:35

it's usually, yeah, it's usually not ambitious. Yeah, I'm gonna feel like I kicked butt if I accomplished my god given word for the year. That's, that's a goal. Yeah, that's a goal, right? Resolution. So to me, it starts with surrender, before it becomes faith. And then I have, I have the, oh, this is the direction. And then, you know, hey, Psalm, 3723 that's my that's my promise. Tell

Jeff Leake: 27:57

you one that I that I received a couple years ago that I didn't do very well on and that was margin.

Unknown: 28:05

What was that your word a couple years ago?

Jeff Leake: 28:09

Don't overwork, don't get too cluttered. I did good for a couple months, and then I got off track, and I kept having to come back to that. And I was like, I know, I know, I need to get back. This is probably my word for 2025, I just have a sense. You know, pruning was one thing. Margin is different. Margin is boundaries. I set, limits I set for myself that allow for me to have enough breathing room in my life to be healthy. You've done better with that than you. I go up and down, yeah, yeah. But there were points in your life where you had no margin. It's true for like, a decade. Yeah. So

Unknown: 28:44

I think in general, you're so

Jeff Leake: 28:46

we're getting to the root of it here. So if there's stuff in your life, God's been working on you about something. So this is different than I'm determined to change myself. That's a resolution. A word from the Lord is I need help with this. God wants me to work on this, yeah. And it's not that I'm gonna do it for God. It's that I'm gonna, I'm gonna start to work in this direction, believing that God is gonna do work in me.

Unknown: 29:09

And it's, it should be directed by a sense, from the Holy Spirit,

Jeff Leake: 29:13

because, and it might not necessarily be an achievement kind of thing, one year it for me, it was the year of joy. Yes, right, right. Like, what God was saying to me is you are not enjoying what I'm doing in your life enough, and you're oftentimes living in dread because there's stuff coming up you have to deal with. And I want you to stop living in dread and start living in the joy, because the joy of the Lord will be your strength. Yeah, and that didn't require any action step on me, other than to just pause enough in my day to breathe deep and enjoy my life, and that that was a great, that was a great. I did really well with that one.

Unknown: 29:46

I think Mom said she had one about guarding her mouth this year, tongue, yeah, yeah. This is your which is funny, because she's not the kind of person that that's a big problem for

Jeff Leake: 29:55

no but because she's trying to lean into this prophetic part. Of her calling. Yeah, she's recognizing more and more that her words carry weight, right? And so God was saying to her, strain out and filter out all stray words so that you're only speaking like I would speak, yeah, yeah. So

Unknown: 30:15

these, I hope you're getting the flavor. These aren't goal oriented kind of things. They're they always reflect the nature of Jesus, and if it happens, you will look more like Jesus at the end, at the beginning.

Jeff Leake: 30:30

But they're not. Oftentimes, they have a like. When you get it, it's like, yeah,

Unknown: 30:37

that's why I'm saying you start to surrender. That's usually the surrender appeals with the fog. It's like, okay,

Jeff Leake: 30:43

yeah. And now the promise. I don't want to just to get the assignment. I want the assignment with the promise. Like when I had the word the year of joy, there was a promise that came with that, which is the joy of the Lord. Be a true strength. You're gonna, I'm gonna make this year of strength in your life. So I needed the promise, which leads us into the third phase of this, which is faith, conviction, that what God said, I think it was two years ago I felt like the Holy Spirit said your your year is the year of the trumpet, yeah, and the trumpet means, I want you to raise your voice and declare things in faith and in prayer over your people, yeah, because that will lead to breakthrough. And so don't, don't, keep your mouth shut, raise your voice. So that was a, that was a that was a good one for me. So you need to carve out some space in the early parts of this year and figure out somewhere in between surrender and faith. What is God asking you to believe this year? What does he ask you to work on? What's the theme for what he's trying to do in your life and start the journey with a name. It

Unknown: 31:44

should be a it should be a short either should be a word or a short phrase. You don't want to be a sentence like or a paragraph. The Lord is asking me, yeah, you know, it's

Jeff Leake: 31:54

something easy to remember. Mel talks about, you know, this illustration of you guys being at the ocean when she's sitting on the beach and the current is carrying you down, and she kept calling you back to where she was so that you wouldn't go too far away. That's what a word is. You keep coming you the current of life takes you downstream a little bit, and you have to look up and say, Oh, I'm not working on margin. I better get back over here now. Like, I haven't really worked on Joe, I better come back over here. So it's like a, it's like a something that's rooted in you for this year, that you keep coming back to to stand on and pray on and work on and let God work on in your life.

Unknown: 32:29

Okay, so, so frame again, we're looking at, how do we deal with a foggy future that's in front of us, and especially the unease in that fog. And we talked about trusting God, surrendering to God, standing on a promise, and then obeying, I think, with faith. So that's a that's a good specific, um, specific direction to talk about is the the word for the year. But maybe we're, maybe somebody's listening to this in the middle of June now, or even if you have a word, you might still have other promises you need to stand on, like, what? What can we just spend a couple minutes talking about, like, what it looks like to grab a promise from God to know it actually applies to me. You know, though this, this is a promise for me, and I can stand on this. And what does it look like to actually, you know, use that every time there's discouragement or frustration or fear or so let's,

Jeff Leake: 33:21

let's make it this really, really simple to start with, so that you can so sometimes we're looking for a God breathed promise, like something in the scripture that God breathes to us, specifically in a moment of inspiration, Holy Spirit, inspiration that we know is a now word for us today. But let's just start with a general one that's easier. So remember that faith does is not faith without a word. Faith is always in an object. It's never just an emotion, right? So it's not hope. Hope is an emotion. I hope things get better. Hope things work out. Faith is I have a conviction that what God said is true. I'm relying upon it completely. So faith is always attached to a promise. It's never it doesn't exist without being resting in the promises of God or the person of Jesus. Christ always has an object. So let's just start with one my favorite life promise, Philippians, one six, Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it into com onto completion until the day of Christ. Jesus, in fact, let me just suggest, if you don't have a word for the year and you want one, just grab one, rather than stressing over it, why don't you just grab this one, the book of Philippians, chapter one, verse six, what God starts? He's going to finish? Yeah, God started something good in me. He's going to keep on working on it until he completes it, or Jesus returns. So how do you how do you take a word like that and put faith to it? Well? You meditate on it, you memorize it, you quote it, you pray it. When you feel down, you come back to it when you're discouraged, you speak it to your soul, and you you say, would you agree with me on this verse? I'm going to pray, pray with me on this that God would fit. Just the work he started in me. You aim it at particular things, like God in my marriage. I pray that what good thing you started in us you're going to complete with my kids. I pray that what good thing you started you're going to complete so it you work it right, like you're constantly taking that indication from God of his will for your life, and you're working into every circumstance it's good, and that that's how faith enlarges and grows and becomes stronger when you put it in something very specific, like, like a promise, like that. You

Unknown: 35:27

know, I think faith often is also related to patience, isn't it? When it comes to life circumstance, there's, there is such a thing as faith for a moment, like faith for the supernatural to happen right now. But a lot of times faith is, is like trust over time. You know what? I mean, God promised this. I still believe it. I know it hasn't happened. I'm still believing. I'm still waiting, and it's not allowing discouragement to derail the road trip. Yeah, like, Ah, maybe I missed it. Maybe God didn't mean that for me. Maybe he won't do it. Maybe he can't do it. It's

Jeff Leake: 36:00

like working out in a way, like you pump against the pressure and your muscles grow stronger, yeah, when you pump against the the pressure of it hasn't happened yet, but you're standing, you're standing, you're believing. You're believing. It's like your faith grows. It's in its strength during the waiting season.

Unknown: 36:17

Okay, so trust in God's character, surrender to His requests, there's demands, whatever his direction, yeah? Faith for the word that he's given, the promise he's given, and then obedience. Let's talk about obedience now. Yeah,

Jeff Leake: 36:31

obedience. Well, so that's the clear part. It's the crystal clear next steps. And so you say, what is it that you know you're supposed to do you haven't been doing recently, or haven't done yet. Almost always that's abundantly clear,

Unknown: 36:44

or well, or it's or it's okay, okay. I know all this is there in the future, but in the meantime,

Jeff Leake: 36:50

it's the it's the basics, like, yeah, and tomorrow I will get up and pray. What do we have to do? Yeah, in the mean day, I will forgive my offender. Yeah, you know, today I'm going to read the Bible. Yeah, today I'm going to give that money that I've been holding on to, and I know have probably should have given it, and I haven't, like, today I'm going to whatever. Like, it's the stuff you know that you need to do, or that comes out of the surrender moments, yeah, where God says, Alright, now that you surrendered, here's what I want you to do. You really can't do the obedience without that first surrender. Yeah, it is true, because you don't really even know what to actually obey until it's like, here it is. Well, and many times in my life, I'll come to God with a particular problem I have, and I'll say, God, what do you want me to do with this? And the Holy Spirit will say to me, what have I told you to do that you haven't done? And you and sometimes you don't get another word till you do the last word. Like, God's not going to stack words on you, that you're not going to do with anything without with anyway you have to actually activate by your actions those faith steps that you're taking. Yeah, I heard a

Unknown: 37:55

really good teaching on this where it's like, you know, when we stand before God, one day, we'll be judged for everything that we knew that we didn't act on. So there is like, there is like, there's, well, there's, there's a grace for ignorance, though, like some things we don't know, and because, because, I mean, you just see this, like teachers are judged more strictly. There's, there's like, a curve that God grades on. And I think if you do know more and you are taking more responsibility, there's more rewards too, but there's also harsher judgment. So like, if God speaks to us words that we don't act on, it's not just that he's like, Oh, you're not listening to me. It's like he's actually shielding us from more judgment. Because if he were to reveal other things without no but follow, it's a grace. No, it makes sense. You know, if you know, if you were to review other things to us without us actually acting on the first thing, he's just adding more to the list of things we'll be judged for. So it's like, I'm just gonna spare you until you're ready for this. Yeah, it's actually a more loving thing. So the

Jeff Leake: 38:52

more you become obedient, the more you make progress to receive the next assignments. Maybe the reason why things aren't moving forward for you is because you haven't done the last thing God told you to do? Yeah?

Unknown: 39:02

Well, I mean,

Jeff Leake: 39:04

honestly, I mean, okay, it's not the only it's not the only reason, but it's a possibility. It's 100% of possibility.

Unknown: 39:10

That's, I mean, we talked about this, like, a little bit ago. It's like one of the soap boxes I get on. But sometimes, if, like, the worship songs that we have in culture are always, like, breakthroughs coming, you know? I mean, if he did it, he'd know, yeah, break through his right? Or there's a, there's a, there's a new elevation song that says, like, Miracle after miracle, open door after open door. You know, get ready, because another one's on the way. And it's like, well, I love that it is provided that, like, you know, I'm saying it is provided that what's stopping it isn't God stopping it for you because you're not doing the first thing? Yeah. You know what I mean. Like,

Jeff Leake: 39:44

if it's a precondition to

Unknown: 39:46

Yes, yeah, yeah. Well, if once we're in my sitting with God, and once we're in the flow of His grace, then yes, that is absolutely true. But I feel like some that's that's in the in the and this is not, just want to be totally clear, this is not an L. Elevation targeted thing, no, no. Because in the sometimes you need to sing those songs, yes. But in the in the shallow business model, American church, the easy thing to sell is breakthrough, breakthrough, breakthrough, without really talking about surrender, surrender, surrender, because that's the thing that won't build a crowd as much, but it is a precondition for the breakthrough anyway. So back to obedience. So obedience is just we have the direction of the very next step, and we're going to be aggressive in taking the and you know what? I'll say this, by that step, I feel like a lot of the unease in the fog lifts at least a little bit, oh yeah, because it's all the

Jeff Leake: 40:41

fog doesn't lift. I don't think the fog lifts, no, but the unease does. The unease does. That's what

Unknown: 40:45

I'm saying. Because you're like, I don't know what's gonna happen, but I do know what I can do right now. I'm just doing it, and I'm active, I'm moving, and I do trust God, what

Jeff Leake: 40:53

happens is you move through the fog. Yeah? When you're obedient, yeah, you're right, you're moving towards the eventual dream down the road, yeah. So Eugene Peterson wrote this book called a long obedience in the same direction. Yeah. And he's the guy that is the one who paraphrased the message, paraphrased. So I can truly say, having lived all these decades, that I've ended up towards a lot of things I saw way down the road in sort of a fuzzy picture from the for the future. I've arrived at a lot of those things, but not because it like there was no is in the Mario Kart game? Is it the mushroom that makes you go a little faster, or the star that makes you like both conquer Okay, yeah, technically, there is no mushroom button for the plan of God. Yeah, right. It stays this steady, long obedience in the same direction. Yeah. And if you keep on taking steps, one little mini step after a time, eventually you get way down the road and you're like, Wow, this has actually happened. Look at this. There's no, like, jumps. Typically, sometimes there's like, nothing's there, nothing there. Then God opens a door. But it's because you've been walking out of pace in the right direction, yeah, and you end up in the right place doing what he wants you to do, because you've been obedient in the foggy moments all along. So in that sense, breakthrough is coming. Miracles are on the way. If you're stationary, disobedient or walking in the wrong direction, you don't get all of a sudden, you pass go and collect five$200 and move into your space and like there is no chance card that you pull from the game that all of a sudden advances you, you you can't get further without daily steps of obedience. Now, God often gives us grace and mercy for things we've never earned or deserved. But the rule of thumb is obedience postures you for the breakthroughs ahead by those little mini steps you're taking all the time. That's good.

Unknown: 42:52

I think we have gotten so far into this one that it might be better to save the politics and what do we do about our future of the president? Oh,

Jeff Leake: 43:00

yeah, no, no, no, I don't think that's okay. How in the world could we cover that? No, we actually were just talking about a future episode where we would talk about, what do we do with with a President Trump, really? I guess it could have been a president Harris, or really, any president. It's more a matter now that this election has happened, what's the posture of a Christian moving forward? But that's a teaser for an upcoming episode, yeah?

Unknown: 43:22

Because too deep into this one to go that direction, yeah, I think, man, I feel like we've covered that tension pretty well. This is to be a little shorter than some of our more recent ones. But anything you want to add or close on or final thoughts before we this is such as,

Jeff Leake: 43:37

so don't waste January, this great time of the year. Press into God. Schedule some time of fasting and prayer at Allison Park, we're going to have a 21 day season where we're pushing people to start a Bible reading plan, pray every day and consider some kind of fast it'll go from the fifth to the 26th I'm going to do a 10 day, you know, the last 10 days, from the what is it the 16th to the 26th So, but if you've never fasted before, maybe consider a lunch or a day. If you've done a day, maybe consider three. If you've done three, consider five. No,

Unknown: 44:13

let's push yourself. I'll ramp you up. Do at least a day. That's my challenge, at least today. And if you've already done today. Go three. You can do it. It's really good for you. I know it's hard. Pick, find a partner, Find a buddy a week if you've done three. Yeah, I push my middle school pastor pushed me middle school, high school Pastor, I guess, but he was youth pastor through through a lot of that season for me. Colin Allison, pastor for each church, talked to him, like a few months ago about this, but he pushed me, as a middle schooler, do five when I did it, and it was tough. I think I was eighth grade, you know, me and Jordan, cleric who does the ministry of alpha pit now, yeah. And that was formational for us, so you could do it, yeah, absolutely. If

Jeff Leake: 44:52

you have a medical condition, you might need to talk to your doctor. But if you know all things are equal and you're in a state, consider doing a fast. Right? And start your year right. Start with good habits and disciplines. And while you're fasting and praying, start asking these questions. You know, am I trusting God? Am I surrendered to God? Am I believing God for something specific that he's promised in my life, my being obedient to what he's asking me to do? Yeah, journal about that. Write it down, make a record of it, and as you do, it can become a road map for for the upcoming year, yeah?

Unknown: 45:25

And I think, as it's possible, go all in as much as you can this season, yeah? Because I think, like, January is the time we're reflecting and we're planning, we're thinking about the prospects of the future. And, you know, there is an element of a walk with God. That's done at a discipline, but the base level is done out of, like, a passion or a hunger that you foster. You know where it's I want to know God. And sometimes that's not like, you're like, I want more of that. It's not always all the way there, but you actually get hunger by asking for it. God, give me more of your presence. Make me hungrier for you. It's a relationship. It's a relationship. Yeah. So you can't have a strong relationship without spending time. But if you go after and spend a lot of time this month, and it's something that you want and desire, God will meet you there. He's

Jeff Leake: 46:10

actually longing for that with you. He wants to know you. Wants to be intimate with you. He wants that sweetness that comes when you trust him.

Unknown: 46:17

I just think, I'm like, all about no more baby steps. You know what I mean? Like, you don't need the baby steps. You listen to this podcast, you know, you get this stuff all the time, like, go for a big old man step, or a big old woman step, you know, like, like a big boy step. Like, because I think there's more that God has for you. Why do the incremental little pitter patter down the three yards here, one yard here? You know what I mean? We can take a big shot right now, and God has so much more for us this year. Why not let this be the year of breakthrough? Instead of baby steps, bring it strong. Dave, you know, do it Bible plans quickly. I'll touch on this. There's two that we're recommending to our whole entire church. If you've never really read the Bible, Bible before and you want an easy thing, there's a Bible in one year or just a New Testament in one year plan that we'll have links to on our website. If you have the YouVersion app, you

Jeff Leake: 47:04

version, you need to look you need to download app as soon as, yeah, if you have the

Unknown: 47:08

YouVersion app, you can just search Bible project, New Testament in one year. And that's the one word that's sort of the like, I don't know the Bible at all. All right. Hey, that's that's an easy way to start. If you have been a Christian for a little while, or you're hungry, there is one that's very reasonable to do, that's a Bible in one year. And I would recommend you know that to the fullest extent, it's called the Bible recap. You'd like this. Jordan just told me about it yesterday. Jordan's been doing it for like, five years. I've probably done it two or three years. It essentially what it is is it's so try to describe this, because it's a good thing to pitch the Bible the way it's laid out in the Old Testament. You know, Genesis through Malachi, Malachi, the last one, yeah, Malachi. Genesis through Malachi is not laid out in chronological order, where, you know the beginning of Genesis is year one, and then Malachi is here, whatever, like 2000 or 4000 it's not like goes like that. There's there's jumps, and some of the, some of the chapters intermix with other books. And you know, for example, like Genesis one through 11 is probably the beginning of all the whole story. But then maybe after Genesis 11, we have the book of Job between Genesis 11 and 12, for example. And so it's laid out in a way that in terms of dating, in terms of dating, but if we're telling the story from beginning to end, the chronological order makes the narrative easier to piece together. Yeah, all that to say, the bio recap is a chronological plan, and there is a podcast. It's like a seven minute, six minute podcast each day that explains what you just read in a very easy to understand, like, quick synopsis. That's cool. So you don't get stuck in Leviticus. You don't get stuck in, you know, the trickier parts of the Old Testament, really doing some learning while you're reading. And it's, you don't have to be a Bible scholar, yeah. You could have never picked up the Bible in your life. And this will make like, oh yeah, I get this, yeah.

Jeff Leake: 49:00

I have never done a chronological reading plan that I liked, so I might probably gonna try. I really

Unknown: 49:04

like this one. Okay, I really do, you know. And the chronological plans for me, really help when you get into the book of First and Second Kings, yeah, because then you're like, so where is, you know, where are these prophets, and who are they talking to and then where's Esther and all this, and where's Ruth and, like, you know, I'm saying, like, the period of after they get out of Egypt, until return from Mexico. If you're doing

Jeff Leake: 49:30

this as a newbie, you don't want to start with the New Testament. Yes, if you've done the New Testament, you might want to consider the Bible in one year. If you have done the Bible project before, and you're looking for something fresh, maybe try the Bible recap. I actually

Unknown: 49:45

would recommend this one more than the the, whoa. I really would, because I love, love, love the Bible project. I am the biggest fan. This is actually a female commentator, right? She is, yeah, terribly couple. That's cool. She's, she's very. Good. That's

Jeff Leake: 50:00

also another reason to dive in on because you actually don't find a lot of female theological scholars out

Unknown: 50:07

there. She so Tim Mackey will go a little, sometimes a little deeper, because he's like Mega PhD kind of guy, but she goes deep, but it's very easy to understand. Okay, so even, even a beginner could get the site, yeah, all right, to start that, those are, those are my pitches. Okay,

Jeff Leake: 50:27

start your right. God wants to do something new in your life. If you're in a fog, it's normal. But remember, you got what's the four steps? You got to trust, you got to surrender, you got to believe in the word faith, and you gotta obey, and if you do, he's going to lead you into a good place this year, and he,

Unknown: 50:46

we believe he will regardless, but it's just worth the worth following him on the journey makes it less painful. So hey, well, we're glad you're joining us for a brand new year. You know, Lord willing that the year is here. He hasn't returned yet. Wouldn't that be cool? This never got released for that, but I'm sure it probably

Jeff Leake: 51:03

will. I'm going through the Tribulation this podcast. This

Unknown: 51:08

is free, so we're thankful that you've been a part where we hope you will continue to join us this coming year, and as we always say, we would so appreciate your help, if you still got a little bit of that holiday cheer leftover, you know, in your stocking, and you want to dish them out to us. It really does make a difference, because we're not, you know, we're not sponsored right now. We're not trying to blow this up. We're not all over social media. Our goal is really just to spread a resource to try to help people, and you are a huge part of that. And so you can do a lot of things that'll take you less than two minutes. If you're watching this on YouTube, you can like and subscribe, and you know, the like and subscription count actually helps to boost the video. You can obviously leave us a five star review on any podcast platform you're listening on, again, we'll shut you out if it's on Apple podcasts, because we'll see your name. You can share with a friend, you can post social media, any of that kind of engagement helps us spread the word, and it makes a big difference to us. So thank you again for joining us. We'll see you guys again next time you.