Priscilla Shirer, Lisa Osteen, and Nona Jones discuss how God puts purpose in your life and equips you for your future, even when you are not ready.
I can’t be more interested in quantity
than I am with just quality time with
God remember it’s not about finishing
this is about you having a friendship
with God so that you can be sustained
and encouraged and sense the presence of
God in a practical way not in theory but
no a friendship with God where you feel
and know that he is speaking to you
through his word you gotta step out and
do something if you wait until fear and
nervousness is gone you will wait
forever but if you’ll just be willing to
take a step of faith and say God even if
I get rejected I’m gonna do it whatever
you call me to do and when you begin to
step out in faith and just step out and
and be strong and courageous God is
going to do great things through you
amen amen the first sermon I ever heard
the pastor preached out of I think it’s
Psalm 68 and he said God is a father to
the fatherless and man that thing hit me
because I didn’t have a concept of God
but I knew I was fatherless and so I was
like well then who is God because I
don’t have a father so who is God and
that placed me on the path to learning
more about who God is and who am I in
God and who is Jesus and around the age
of 12 I accepted Jesus as Lord Of My
Life
[Music]
sometimes you know we can look at
people’s Instagram feeds and man their
quiet time Looks So Perfect don’t it
they’ve got their little white couch and
their little white coffee cup and
everything is so beautiful and amazing
and immaculate it looks like the most
beautiful photo shoot you have ever seen
in your life that could be discouraging
to regular folk who have you know like
dinner dishes sitting over there from
last night that we didn’t get to or
we’ve got all the toys from all of our
toddlers sitting around it or all the
homework papers from our teenagers that
are still scattered across the kitchen
table from all the online schooling or
we got the laundry sitting over there
every single load that you know we
washed and dried but we dumped it out on
the floor hoping that somebody was going
to come fold it at some point but there
it still sits still waiting on us and we
look at the chaos of our life and we
think
can I really have quiet time in here can
I really expect God to speak to me in a
space like this the answer is yes
the enemy always wants you to think and
me to think we’ve got to have something
different about our space or different
about our lives in order to actually
meet with God intimately and personally
ourselves but listen if the bathroom is
the only place where you can find some
silence and some Solitude I gotta be
honest with you and tell you that for
many years when my children were younger
I would sit on the edge of the bathtub I
would close the bathroom door I would
lock that door and I would sit there and
that’s where I would have time with the
Lord I have a friend when her children
were young she used to tell me that she
would go into her closet like she made
her actual closet her prayer closet and
she said listen I would sit right under
the blouses where the blouses were with
a flashlight that’s the only space that
I could find to have a little silence
and a little Solitude for many of you
it’s it’s in your car I mean you’re in
your car anyway why not make that car a
sanctuary a place where you can meet
with God because you’re in that car
anyway and you’re by yourself there why
not make that an opportunity where you
can make that space a Sacred Space to
meet with God
you’ve seen people who are doing that
you know they’re driving down the
freeway and you just see them worshiping
God and you see their hands outstretched
and you see they’re having a whole
prayer meeting a whole church service by
themselves in the car they have made
their car a place that can be a
watchtower where they can meet with God
around his word
position yourself
oh more now than ever brothers and
sisters we’re gonna have to prioritize
positioning ourselves we’re getting a
word from everybody else from the
newscasters from the media from the
politicians from our friends from
opinion makers we’re getting news from
everybody else we’ve got to position
ourselves not just to hear them but
we’ve got to prioritize positioning
ourselves to hear a word from God so
once you position yourself and you’ve
got your Bible or you know you’ve got
your electronic Bible in front of you
and you’re looking at a particular
passage of scripture I want to encourage
you to choose a passage not just you
know one verse here one verse there here
a verse there verse everywhere verse
verse it taking little verses out of
context like that can be incredibly
dangerous but what you can do is take a
whole book of the Bible
started verse 1 and go all the way
through
took me about two years to go through
the Book of John like this I would take
one verse or two verses a day and I
would make sure that I read right
through so as to not take anything out
of the context not only of the chapter
that it’s in but the book that it is in
because the story that God is telling is
linear meaning not only is every word
and every verse God breathed but the way
it is located in the scriptures is also
God briefed so take a whole book of the
Bible maybe one that stood out to you
recently that your pastor preached from
and it was from the book of Ephesians or
the Book of John or the book of habakkuk
and just decide you’re going to start
right at the beginning
and the second P actually has two P’s in
it I want you to pour over the passage
and paraphrase the major principles
pour over the passage and paraphrase the
major principles when I say poor over
the passage I mean that real
specifically I mean that as in
opposition to scan the passage when I
say poor I mean to meditate on it to
read it not just once but to read it
twice to read it in two or three
different translations so that you can
see different nuances of words that
maybe need to stand out to you in a
different way I mean that you open up
opportunity for you to have space and
time to think through what it would be
like if you were the woman that was
caught in adultery in that passage that
you just read see how it would feel to
have God speak over you Jesus say to you
go and sin no more it means you mull
over it for just a little while
now what this means at least what it
means for me is that if I’m really going
to pour over a passage not just scan it
but meditate on it and think about it
and wait for the Lord to speak to me
through it that means that I can’t do
that with a chapter or two at a time it
means I can’t be more interested in
quantity than I am with just quality
time with God remember it’s not about
finishing this is about you having a
friendship with God so that you can be
in sustained and encouraged and sense
the presence of God in a practical way
not in theory but no a friendship with
God where you feel and know that he is
speaking to you through his words so
most of the time that means one verse or
two verses
and I read those two verses and then I
read them again and then I might
underline whatever words seem to LEAP up
off the page then I might look those
words up and I might think through the
scenario that is surrounding them the
context around them for example in
Joshua chapter 1. when Moses has just
died and the children of Israel are now
being led by Joshua into the promised
land God says to Joshua over and over
again be strong and courageous he says
be strong and courageous be strong and
courageous and then he says
be careful not to let the word leave
your mouth but keep it close to your
heart and close to your mind and
meditate on it day and night meditate
means to ponder it meditate actually
means to press your mind upon it to
think through it to evaluate it
do whatever you have to do to spend a
little time not just saying well I read
a verse a day and you know a verse a day
keeps the devil away this ain’t a
checklist
this is you developing a friendship with
God who is longing to speak to you
once I pour over a passage a verse or
two then I’ll paraphrase the major
principles I usually just have a
notebook that’s sitting nearby or I’ve
got the notes app on my phone or however
you want to do it and I just for each
verse write down a sentence or two that
paraphrases exactly what that verse said
now I want you to resist the urge to try
to be deep or to try to make it Rhyme or
sound clever you’re not trying to be
clever you are literally just taking the
words right out of the verse and writing
down a paraphrase of what that verse
says
usually when I get to this point in the
five piece I will close my Bible and
I’ll put it aside and now I’m just
sitting and I’m looking at the
paraphrased rendition of what the verse
actually says that takes me to the third
p
pull out the spiritual principles
this is where I prayerfully look at
those paraphrases
and I look to see what spiritual
principles are hidden in the paraphrase
I asked God to show me is there
something he’s revealing about his
character
is there a promise here that I’m
supposed to heed is there a directive
I’m supposed to follow
is there Insight that I’m supposed to
uncover what is it that the verse says
that’s the paraphrase but now I’m asking
what does this verse mean
you will often find that there are
spiritual principles that are hidden you
would not have uncovered this is the way
God begins to speak you won’t uncover it
until you ask yourself what does this
mean
is there a direction that I’m being
given is there something about God’s
character that I’m supposed to believe
and that I’m supposed to trust in
prayerfully pray and ask the holy spirit
this is what the old preachers used to
call illumine the word ask the Holy
Spirit to illumine it and you will find
that there are spiritual principles
tucked there that begin to direct you
tell people a little bit about what you
do at meta sure
um
so first and foremost I do not have a
background in Tech the fact that I even
landed at meta is a god story in and of
itself I’ll save that for another day
but currently today my team supports
houses of worship all around the world
to ensure that the various tools and
apps that meta creates are meeting their
needs and ultimately helping them build
community and I think we saw in the
pandemic just how important technology
can be to enabling us as Christians to
stay connected to one another and to our
local churches and so that’s a huge part
of what my team does is really think
about okay what does the future of Faith
look like and how can the apps and the
products that meta creates enable that
for people of all faiths but of course
the church too of course on the faith
side I I think it’s amazing that
Facebook Instagram that they’re doing
you know stuff like this because when I
think about these companies I think one
their goal is to make profits and two
maybe they’re maybe they’re bad for
Faith or maybe they’re bad for our
morality but then I hear that they’re
hiring someone like you you’re a pastor
you love Jesus you’re a Bible believing
born again Christian you you preach the
gospel and they want you to be a huge
part of this faith faith thing it’s a
it’s like a weird question mark in my
mind you know like well I will say this
um you know I’ve talked with a number of
pastors through the years and they’ve
they’ve expressed similar sentiments and
the thing I always like to tell people
is
I wasn’t hired in spite of my faith I
was hired because of it because I I
deeply understand what it is to be a
person of faith and how important it is
to connect with like-minded Believers
and worshipers not only in your local
church but also around the world and so
yes that is a to me that’s such a a
popular
misconception is that these companies
especially you know men and Facebook and
Instagram that oh they’re they’re not
for the faith community when in fact
there are thousands of Christians that
work at this company and so and there
are thousands of Christians like myself
who utilize Facebook and Instagram to
reach an audience with the gospel and I
do it you know I I think every Pastor I
know has a Facebook and Instagram and
they use it to to share their faith to
share their story to share encouraging
things so it’s cool to hear that there’s
some of that going on before we get um
too much into that because I want to ask
about how social media affects this
comparison sure thing you know obviously
it’s something you’re able to witness
firsthand I’d love for people to hear
your testimony it’s you’ve gone through
a lot of tough times you’ve got you seem
like you’re you are a super successful
person but people may not know behind
the scenes some of the challenges that
you’ve faced and how did you come to
Faith yeah wow
um you know I am a statistically
improbable product of God’s grace
um you know I think a lot of times we
walk into the successful chapter that a
person’s life is on and we’re like oh
that must be their whole story but you
know I didn’t grow up in a Christian
home
I didn’t know anything about God Jesus
Bible we didn’t go to church as a matter
of fact my father passed away shortly
before my second birthday and my mother
she met a guy who became her live-in
boyfriend and shortly after he moved in
I was around five years old he became
sexually abusive to me I’m an only child
and so there was a tremendous amount of
trauma and pain that I endured and I was
around the age of seven when I told my
mom what was happening and she had him
arrested and I thought everything was
over but on the day of his release from
jail she took me with her to pick him up
and brought him back home and the abuse
resumed shortly after that and around
the age of I think nine I tried to end
my life
I didn’t know what was on the other side
of death but you know in my mind it was
better than whatever I was facing in
life and so that was unsuccessful I
tried again at the age of 11 that was
unsuccessful and shortly after that
second suicide attempt a classmate of
mine in the sixth grade invited me to
church and you know not knowing what it
was I was like oh we’re gonna go to her
house play a thing called church I
didn’t know and I’ll never forget Bobby
like man walking into the doors of that
church
people were so welcoming and their smile
was so genuine and for the first time in
my life I really felt wanted and loved
you know people should know that because
of my trauma I had acted out in school
you know Elementary School I was labeled
a problem child I didn’t know how to
process what was happening to me so I
would act out Middle School similarly
was labeled a problem child but that
experience with that church Community it
fundamentally changed the trajectory of
my life and I remember the youth pastor
at the time he said to me he said Nona
you know there’s an anointing on your
life he was like I don’t know what God
has called you to do but I can tell that
you’ve been set apart and about five
years later I got licensed into the
gospel ministry as a minister of the
Gospel I started preaching how many
years later yes five years later I was
17 years old yeah I was preaching at all
these like youth conferences and even
when I was in college I was preaching
and so I I just thank God for his redeem
gaming power because you know the last
thing I’ll say is I recently took an
assessment it’s called the adverse
childhood experiences assessment it’s
like a social services uh survey and
what it does is it looks at the
probability that a child will have
adverse outcomes in their life because
of trauma and that could be like drug
addiction premature death incarceration
it’s a scale of like zero to ten and
you’re considered high risk if you score
a three I scored an eight and so the
fact that I’m sitting here with you you
know I mean I just I give God all the
glory because it could have been so
different and that is not lost on me and
I thank God for his grace every day the
fact that I’m in Ministry and my husband
and I get to lead a local church
together and I get to serve at this huge
tech company and support houses of
worship around the world and help other
people connect to inspiring content it’s
just such a such a gift every day so
what an amazing story I almost don’t
even know what to say to that except I
feel like if people are at home who’ve
experienced that and there are a lot of
children who went through something like
that it’s shocking and sad how many kids
had to face that and they carry it the
rest of their lives like I’m sure you
still carry it with you even today in
many ways and when I think about just a
baby I mean like a five-year-old
seven-year-old picking up that Monster
again and you’re wondering why your mom
would do that
you know in this book I love this book
um killing comparison it just come out
with this and you’re talking about in
our in our faith Journey how we so often
compare ourselves to others do you feel
like some of the challenges that you
faced when you were a kid even though
you came to Faith and even though you
know Jesus and even though you know that
he loves you just as you are and not as
you should be that that there was some
other part of your life that you still
felt like you had to prove yourself or
that you never felt worthy that’s a big
part of your story isn’t it oh 100 Bobby
um so as a matter of fact one of the
concepts I discussed in the book at
length is the Power of Words the words
that are spoken over us especially in
our formative years as children they
fundamentally shape our understanding of
our identity and who we are I think we
all know you know in Proverbs there’s
the verse that says you know the the
power of life and death is in the tongue
right
um but if you look at the Hebrew word
that’s translated power there it’s the
word Yad which means hand and so when
you put it all together it’s really that
in the tongue lives the hand of life and
death so the the tongue has the power to
shape it has the power to mold it has
the power to create because it’s like a
hand and when you think about a hand I
mean a hand it can build houses a hand
can create Priceless works of art but a
hand can also destroy a hand can kill
and so our tongue the words that we
speak carry power they carry the power
to shape identity and so for me what
happened to me as a child you know he
hearing my mother as an example when I
confronted her about the whole thing and
I was just like look this really
bothered me she basically said it was my
fault wow you know and hearing her say
that it fractured my identity her the
hand of her tongue fractured my identity
such that I think as I reflect back on
my life the way that I saw myself was
broken because I saw other people as
more worthy than me how could I how
could I be worthy you know my mother
brought this man back who hurt me and
she said these very negative things
about me and how it was my fault and so
yeah I do think that those situations
and those experiences they shape our
identity and when our identity is
fractured we begin to look externally at
other people to figure out where do I
measure up am I as good as this other
person or am I less worthy than this
other person so yeah I think there was a
study that was done that said something
like all of us never compare down we
always compare up so even if you’re the
CEO of a huge company you’re gonna
compare yourself to the CEO of a bigger
company and never compare yourself to a
vice president for example yes is that
something that you’ve struggled with I
mean you’re obviously super successful
do you still compare up or do you find
yourself struggling with that here’s why
I love what you’re saying because
something I realized as I was going
through my own journey to get free from
comparison is that
um success never has a period it only
has commas yeah because with every
higher level of achievement all you
realize is that there’s somebody who’s
achieved more right you get you get more
visibility into the fact that there are
other people who have done more than you
and so yeah
um and one of the concepts I discuss in
the book is this idea of insecure
foundations one of the revelations God
gave me about insecurity is that even
though as a society we tend to think
it’s a function of self-esteem
insecurity isn’t about self-esteem
insecurity is about identity and
fundamentally it’s a question of what
your identity is secured to okay so if
you secure your identity to something
that is insecure something that is
fickle it’s subject to the shifting
opinions of people you’re going to be
insecure so in the area of you know
professional achievement that’s an
insecure Foundation because to your
point let’s just say that you aspire to
One Day become a manager well you become
a manager then you realize oh wait
there’s a director you become a director
and then it’s like oh wait there’s a
vice president so you become a vice
president oh wait but there’s a CEO the
CEO bigger company so it never ends and
there are people who they’ve retired
from their career and they feel
completely lost why because they had
secured their identity to the insecure
Foundation of their job
we’re just gonna just spend the next
maybe 20 minutes or so just talking
about how we have stood in storms or how
we’re still standing in the storm
I think about my sister-in-law Lisa and
how I’m telling she’s the woman who
stands that’s all I can say I’ve known
her for 32 years she’s been my
sister-in-law as little as she is
what’d I tell you the other day I said
you’re one of the strongest people I
know
one of the strongest people so much
Victoria I appreciate you I love you
she’s my sister in love just like
Jennifer is too and I just man this is
such powerful words from everyone here
but you know I wanted to speak into the
call of God upon your life because God
put purpose and greatness inside of you
and you know I think back on my life and
how uh you know when I knew God had a
call on my life there’s always there was
always this voice of inadequacy you’re
not qualified this fear and I just want
you to know that when God calls you to
do something he’s going to help you do
it and but you will fight this fear
these feelings and I learned a long time
ago that you just have to do it anyway
no matter how you feel and uh amen
because because the feelings the fear
will always be there but I remember you
know when I first even as a teenager
started to pray with people you know I
was afraid I was going to say the wrong
thing and then when I I first started
speaking you know I was so nervous and I
I just thought I’m not qualified but you
know I learned this that no matter how
we feel God will anoint us to do what
he’s called us to do and he doesn’t call
the equipped he equips the called amen
if he calls you he’s going to equip you
and he’s going to anoint you to do it
and God said to Joshua who as soon as he
was to take over from Moses after Moses
died you know think about the fear that
that Joshua was feeling the how he had
to step into Moses feet and three times
God said to him don’t be afraid be
strong and courageous he ended up saying
I’m commanding you Joshua don’t be
afraid but be strong and courageous and
I know that God has been speaking to you
to do certain things maybe it’s just an
act of obedience maybe he is calling you
to take this a great step of faith and I
want to say to you that God is saying
don’t be afraid be strong and courageous
don’t listen to the lies of the enemy
because even though you may be
unqualified God will qualify you and he
will be with you and he will help you
every step of the way I was just
thinking about some of the funny uh
Victoria because when I was in college
you know I was always grew up it’s hard
to believe it but I grew up sort of shy
and quiet and when I was in college my
first year I really wanted to do
something for God I was out on my own
and so I applied at the end of the year
to be a chaplain in a dorm over 30 girls
and my brother Paul was a chaplain
director and you know and I just had a
desire to do something and I thought you
know I’m probably going to get it I mean
after all Paul’s in there I’m at Osteen
you know everybody loves my dad you know
and but would you believe after I
interviewed and all that they they said
that they didn’t think I was qualified
and they rejected me you know
and so I just thought well that’s okay
but they said this they said we feel
like uh you’re a little too shy and
quiet right now and the truth is I was
shy and quiet but something in me was
saying God was saying I want to use you
I want to do something through you and
so I took that step of faith and I
applied but I got rejected but let me
tell you something people the women when
God when people close the door God will
open another door and so I just took it
you know I went through the summer and
right before school started I got a call
from the chaplain’s office and they said
hey one of the chaplains can’t come back
to school and we want you after all and
so
I thought well I wasn’t their first
choice but I was God’s choice
and the truth is I was not qualified but
God didn’t care and he wanted me God
chose me even though I wasn’t qualified
God chose me even though I wasn’t ready
and so I didn’t even feel ready to be
the chaplain but I stepped out and I’m
going to tell you something women you
got to step out and do something if you
wait until fear and nervousness is gone
you will wait forever but if you’ll just
be willing to take a step of faith and
say God even if I get rejected I’m gonna
do it whatever you call me to do and
when you begin to step out in faith and
just step out and and be strong and
courageous God is going to do great
things through you amen amen yes we
receive that no matter what you’re going
through today God wants you to love your
life he he gave you life the scripture
says that Jesus came to give you life
and life more abundantly not everything
goes our way we Face challenges we Face
difficulties but God doesn’t want you to
stop living he doesn’t want you to stop
pushing he doesn’t want you to stop
pressing because in those difficulties
you will find God and you’ll come out on
the other side of that difficulty
stronger than you ever thought possible
I want to say to be encouraged to all
the women because even though it may be
a difficult season right now God is
birthing things in you that are going to
just surprise and shock you in such a
great way and he will bring you through
it he promised he said that he will he
will provide a way of Escape through
whatever you’re going through he’s your
deliverer he’s your Refuge he turns rock
and just remind yourself of those
wonderful characteristics of God because
he’s there for you but I just want to
encourage you to just enjoy when you’re
living the season that you’re living in
and just do what God speaks in your
heart to do if God tells you to do
something people can’t change what God
told you to do but I want him to say
about us all women men and everybody
that’s serving God very well done my
good and faithful sir