Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:04 Welcome to the Life Refresh podcast. My name is Ryan Robinson, and if you are looking for a podcast that is designed to uplift, encourage and revive your heart, mind, and spirit. You're in the right place. Welcome to the journey of Becoming the version of You God designed from the foundations of the earth. Now, let's begin.
Speaker 1 00:00:31 Hello ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to Life Refresh podcast. Uh, I think by now you know who it is on this podcast today. So excited <laugh> to be back with you again. We just completed a five part series on living a lean life, and if you haven't, uh, listened to it, please make sure you go back to the last few podcast. I think this such a powerful, very powerful, uh, teaching around what does it mean to live a life that is meaningful, that is lean. There's a quote again that I'm gonna always go back to. It says, the people that have lived the most purpose filled, profitable, impactful life have lived a life that's lean. They only bring with them the things that they need for the journey. And I hope that in all of this, the the five areas of spiritual leaning, mental, emotional, relational and physical, that we've garnered and gained some insight that perhaps we may not have gotten before or never seen before.
Speaker 1 00:01:41 Um, but there's a piece of this that I really want to nail down for us because there are some things that as we're going through, I recognize this is not as seamless as it could be. Meaning you go from one space to the next, you know, you, you accomplish the spiritual transformation, then you conquer the mental transformation. All of that stuff sounds good, right? But what we forget oftentimes is that there is a fear that is tied into each of these areas, okay? So if anything, I could maybe name this purpose over fear and, um, it, it is at the end of all of this, or let me rephrase this, fear and purpose. The challenge with all of this, all the lean living, is that at some point something's gonna have to go away. We talked about this previously, that the new life that you want is going to cost your old one.
Speaker 1 00:02:53 But what most people don't understand is, or maybe not understand, maybe they don't realize that it is actually going to be a level of change that's gonna take place. That you will see a version of yourself that you have yet to see. Most people have lived overly stuffed, full and filled lives, and that's for them. At that point in time, it's okay. But once you find out that you can't really live well or have the quality of life, a purpose-filled life the way that you want it to, there's gonna be a point where you decide, you know what? I think I need to get rid of that. But the challenge is, have you even realize what you look like or who you would become if that particular item isn't there anymore. So what we do instead is that we fear that losing this thing, this item, this role, this job, this title, this certification, whatever it is, it will no longer define you.
Speaker 1 00:04:01 And what we've done, y'all, is we've put so much emphasis and so much power to our titles, to the roles that we've played, to all the things the accruments that life has given us. There's just so many things that we just get skills for, we develop for, we do all the things that we need to learn. We get the degree, we get all the things that we think we need in order to be accepted. But when you're asked to drop that thing, the thing that you worked your butt off to get the thing that you've worked, blood, sweat, and tears, lost sleep at night for when God asks you to give that up, what do you choose to do? Do you choose purpose or do you choose fear? Now, let me be clear with this. Fear in many cases is actually a good thing, right?
Speaker 1 00:05:06 So there is a reason. It actually helps protect us. It makes us alert to dangers and pre, uh, prevents us from doing something crazy, but also prepares us for what is to come so that we may be able to deal with it effectively. So you have multiple things, right? You have your flight, which is you take off running <laugh>, fight those stay individuals. Some individuals stay and do battle, uh, with whatever is coming as a response to a threat. Or you have your freeze moment, which is, I would say, fairly new where you are just paralyzed because you don't know what to do. So with all of these things, with our responses, those responses are actually needed in order for us to survive in a world, uh, in, in the world really, since our bodies are world conscious or or earth conscious, we are aware and we have a fear.
Speaker 1 00:06:09 Many of us of heights, 'cause we know if we drop, we die. That's a very clear one, right? You should be afraid of bears. Um, I don't think anybody's gonna be out there wrestling bears unless some of y'all know how to do that. But at this point, <laugh>, at this time, I don't think, uh, anyone is gonna be wrestling a bear. So you probably should run or maybe not run. I don't know. There's a instruction somewhere. Just Google it on how to respond to <laugh> a bear that just kind of sneaks up on you. So, so we have those kind of, of responses that are natural to us. But the thing is, our bodies, our minds cannot determine or differentiate a bear from someone talking negatively about you at work. I'm gonna say that again. Your brain cannot, cannot differentiate a threat from a bear and someone talking negatively about you at work.
Speaker 1 00:07:16 The body responds in the same kind of way. Alright? So most of the times, the fear that we have, whether it paralyzes us, causes us to fight or, or run from, is something that can actually derail us from our purpose. The Bible says in, I wanna say it's first Timothy. So yeah, second Timothy chapter one, verse seven says, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. Now, I want to make sure we differentiate this because what I just communicated to you is not a spirit of fear. It is actually a healthy thing to fear certain items. If you are to fear a venomous snake is healthy <laugh>, it is for survival to, to, to, to avoid a bear or to be afraid of a bear or a lion or whatever. Those kinds of things where, where your survival, your natural survival is at risk.
Speaker 1 00:08:21 That's safe, that's important, that's a natural alarm for us. But what happens, again, as I talked about, we hide, our brains get hijacked by what we feel when we're in communication or have dissension with someone, or whether we have dissension or not conflict, sadness, what have you, your response to it is subjective to who you are. But that can perpetuate a habit that keeps us from actually going through and getting what we feel we've been called to on the other side 'cause we're afraid of it. My daughter, um, is she's getting ready to go to kindergarten and um, she's at that age now where we talk about monsters under the bed and all kinds of stuff like that. And, um, the biggest thing that I have to remind her is that if you believe that they're there to make you feel bad or make you afraid, you will actually believe your own story.
Speaker 1 00:09:47 So one fear gives you this innate power to make the thing that you are afraid of bigger than the actual circumstance. My daughter says like, I'm so scared of the monster's, daddy, I don't know what to do. And then I ask her, I was like, well, how big is it? She's like, oh, it's big, it's back. Well, okay, well that means you can kick it in the knee <laugh>. So I try to start giving her solutions so that she can no longer be afraid, because this is the thing, the more information I give her about or ask of her from what she's seeing and what she's feeling, and I start giving her solutions, giving her understanding, giving her all the things that she needs to understand that this is what I'm afraid of. She's actually probably more aptt to a, excuse me, she's more aptt to respond more positively to it because she's not working off of half truths am ambiguity.
Speaker 1 00:10:58 So her mind is not wondering and thinking about the hardest, biggest, ugliest monster that's coming around. Now she's just thinking, I asked her to describe it. So now she's like, okay, it has this, it's this, this, this. And then I'm like, well, you can actually kick it if it's not that, if it's that big. So I start giving her solutions. Now again, she's, she's young, so, you know, imaginations of young people can just go all over the place. But the thing is, with lack of information, we will make our own determination of what those circumstances look like and be afraid of them. Okay? There is the feeling that you run into, and then there's the fact that you need to evaluate. This is something in, in psychology that is taught is that there is a feeling that you feel those feelings in themselves are extremely valid.
Speaker 1 00:11:54 What you feel is real. Now, what is the fact of what you are feeling? Is what you are feeling rooted in fact? Or is it just what you feel? Okay, um, let me give an example here. Okay? Someone in their school or a young person may think they're not smart enough. Like, I feel dumb. I don't feel like I'm doing everything I need to do to be an ex excellent student. I feel, I mean, I mean, I feel like I'm doing good, I'm doing good, getting good grades, but I just, just feel dumb. Okay? I don't feel smart. That's a feeling. Okay? The other part is, well, is that rooted? In fact, that's what you have to ask yourself is my fear and feeling rooted in fact, okay? We had the example, like I said earlier, I'm just gonna keep reiterating this. If there is a bear and it is chasing you, there's a fear, a feeling of fear, and then there's an actual fact, there is something chasing you.
Speaker 1 00:12:57 Therefore, you're valid in your response. But if you are feeling one way, like not feeling smart, but the facts show that you're in AP courses, you've been in an honor courses, you've made the honor roll, you've done all these things, most of us ignore the facts and just stick with the feeling. But if we happen to look at the facts, we will actually demystify the feeling because then we can regulate our feeling with fact. Okay? Now, I, I wanna go back to the scripture for two Timothy, uh, chapter one, verse 17. Uh, sorry, verse seven, excuse me. And I'm actually going to, I think I want to go ahead and read, Ooh, I think I wanna read that whole, whole chapter. Alright? So encouragement to be faithful. And I think I'm gonna read, Paul has this letter. So let me, let me give some context to this.
Speaker 1 00:13:55 So, um, second Timothy, Timothy is a spiritual son to Paul, meaning he's been under his tutelage for years. Now, Paul is writing this letter to him in prison. This is one of two letters, and essentially you are hearing these, the, the words of a father, spiritual father speaking to a son and encouraging him to be faithful. You know, obviously it kind of starts off with pleasantries, but I want start off, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna start at verse five and read to verse nine with verse seven being our anchor. And this is again, Paul is reminding Timothy of the facts, okay? Because Timothy is actually timid, that's what his name means. It is something that is hesitant, an individual who's hesitant. So Paul is trying to exhort him and to encourage him to be who he's been called to be. So let me read this, starting at verse five, two, Timothy chapter one, starting at verse five.
Speaker 1 00:14:56 I remember your genuine faith for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. And I know that same faith can continues strong in you. So the first piece that Paul does is he reminds him, Paul reminds Timothy where he got his faith from. These are the facts, okay? And these are confirmed by Paul, who is the apostle to the Gentiles. Okay? Then verse six, this is why I remind you to fan into flames, the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. Okay? So again, he's reminding him that this is the fact is that you got this gift from your family, from your grandmother and your mom, and I'm encouraging you to fan the flame, get it going again, continue to cultivate it, continue to make sure that it is lit and that it is growing.
Speaker 1 00:15:52 Okay? And then he says this, for God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and a self and self-discipline or a sound mind in some translations. So that verse eight. So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord and don't be ashamed of me either, even though I'm in prison for him, with the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the good news, for God's saves us and called us to live a holy life. He did this not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. Okay? So I'm getting, I want to give this series of scriptures gives us an indication that if we are who God says we are, it's not how we feel about the matter, it's about what do the facts say about the matter.
Speaker 1 00:16:58 Okay? We get overwhelmed. We can feel certain kind of ways. Again, all your feelings are justified. Don't want to say or negate or belittle what you feel 'cause feelings are real. But if we don't regulate those feelings with the facts, we could be making decisions in our emotion that could actually derail us and actually keep us from the best things that are designed for us. Okay? I want to, I'm truly, it's hard for me to say how important this is because a lot of times we have said things because we felt that we need to say them. We have made decisions because we felt that we needed to make the right decision. You're not saying like you don't have intuition. I'm not saying all that. I am saying though, many of us at one time or another have made decisions, made commentary, made negative assumptions about people based on how we felt.
Speaker 1 00:18:07 Not the facts, not the facts. That's what we're after. Facts have an ability to make fear less scary. But the thing is this, and I don't want to get too far into this particular topic yet, we gotta tune into the next podcast for this. But the thing is, my daughter, I'm going back to the example of the, the, the monsters. My daughter, I told her she could kick the monster in the knee if it's that big, right? She said, well, daddy, I, I, I'm, I'm still scared of it. So the next thing I do to her, uh, do for her is I remind her who she is every single time. I am big on meanings of names. I know names are powerful, some names sound beautiful, but if they mean most names, <laugh> mean something. So I truly believe when you name a child, that meaning manifests in that individual.
Speaker 1 00:19:20 I believe that because in the book of Genesis, chapter one through two, one and two, God gave man the ability to name that which he had dominion over. So when God gives me a name for my kids, I'm gonna name them the way I felt God called them to become. So Emery, my daughter's name is Emery Sloan, and her name Emery means brave. Sloan means warrior. So every time I said, what does your name mean? She says, brave warrior. I said, and that's who you are. Remember that, and this ladies and gentlemen is where we get derailed. We feel the feelings that we have. Forget who we are in the moment. And when we forget who we are, we lose our power. We lose all the facts, and we get lost in our emotion and make decisions that we probably wouldn't have made if we had a clear understanding of the facts. You have been gifted with a name, you have been gifted with skill. You have God-given ability and talent. You are good at certain things that others may not be good at. Those are the facts. And the Bible says, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, which is a perpetual state of being afraid and being timid, but of power, love, and a sound mind. Those ladies and gentlemen are the facts that disrupt fear
Speaker 1 00:21:16 And dis disassemble. It actually power love in the sound mind. Okay? So what we're gonna do in the next podcast, we're going to unravel two Timothy chapter one, verse seven, that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love in the sound mind. So we're gonna talk about those three items in the next podcast. Make sure you keep it locked, make sure you tune in, make sure we tell somebody. I think we're on a heck of a roll right now with some great stuff. And I hope and pray that this content actually is helping you grow and live a life that God has designed specifically for you. We'll see you in the next pod. Peace.
