Consistency Wrapped in Obedience

Hey, what's up? This is Tim Pratt Jr. I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to this content today. I hope you hear something that adds value to your life, shaping your perspective, faith, and hope, as well as the application to see it through on this thing that we call life.

Enjoy.

Episode 3: Consistency Wrapped in Obedience.

So before I jump into this episode, I actually want to take some time to just thank you all for the feedback that's been received over the first 2 episodes.

And one of the biggest ones that I got was finding a pace.

Because in all honesty, look, I know I can get passionate and start talking very fast, especially when it comes to just ministry, personal finance, self-help, and just general type of topics that I just take interest in, that I just develop a passion and just want to share my experience as well as just things I've learned through listening to, listening to people.

And so with that being said, I promise you Starting with this episode 3, I'm going to slow it down some and really just, you know, hopefully you'll be able to take time to just digest as well as if I need to speed back up, just let me know.

Like I said, I just want to be open to feedback and just cultivate it in a way and just find my own because, hey, I'm trying to get better and stay consistent with this.

So speaking of that, kind of transitioning to the point of this episode. So consistency and obedience actually kind of runs parallel to me.

And I've had a lot of conversations, you know, all of us I feel like have struggled at some point with a lack of being consistent as well as obedient.

You know, even one of the sayings goes, delayed obedience is disobedience and stuff.

And so with me, what I started to realize is that I would consistently try to consume myself with more and more information. And a lot of times, you know, it was redundant and I already knew what to do. I just lacked the level of consistency needed to see it through.

And so one of my favorite books that you probably heard me reference, reference, and you often hear me reference a lot is because it's arguably to me one of the top 5 books that's ever written. It's The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. And one of the things that he pointed out was that his competitive advantage, his competitive advantage in the marketplace actually comes from being consistent. It's not so necessarily wrapped up in how smart or dynamic he is. And I like what he pointed out.

In a particular chapter called The Power of Consistency, where he talked about a power tool to launch your flight. And he used it basically airplanes as an example. If he was going from LA to Manhattan and he took off, say, and stopped in between at every state in between, but got back up and went 500 miles per hour versus the person that took off but stayed consistent and went all the way through going at 250 miles per hour, that person that's going 250 miles per hour will still win by a big margin because they stayed consistent. Because it just takes so much, you know, in airplanes terms, gas. But in our terms, it just takes so much energy to keep starting and stopping.

And so from his perspective in that one, he was like, that's one of the main reasons he felt like that we lack consistency.

And I wholeheartedly agree. I mean, for example, like, think about financial terms with the—

the book is called The Compound Effect. So compound interest, consistency compounds.

John C.

Maxwell always says that, and that's actually starting to become one of my favorite things to say. But like I said, getting to the point at hand is that when you look at financial terms, the people that win, you know, in their 401s and investments and things like that, It's a numbers game, man.

It's just consistent over a period of time.

And then like I just said, it ends up compounding. And that's one thing about the lack of consistency, like, or in better terms, that we're always being consistent in something. So if I'm not eating healthy, if I'm not going to the gym, I'm actually consistent in it. And vice versa, you know, if I'm pouring my money into investments, trying to grow, trying to work out, trying to run, I'm consistent in that..

And so I really feel like that's a very important principle to just understand and live out.

So now it's kind of transitioning to more of a biblical narrative. Uh, when you have some time, I want you to read 1 Kings 18:41-46 by yourself, and it kind of give you some context behind it, is that basically Elijah had just finished a showdown, if you want to, for lack of better terms, with some prophets, uh, prophets that really want, or want weren't of God. And so basically in this passage, you know, basically was dealing with God sending the rain.

And so in it, what I really want to note out is that Elijah had basically told his servant to go up and look toward the sea, and his servant didn't see anything. And so after that, Elijah told him to go back and keep looking 7 times.

And one thing about them, when you read that same passage in the Message translation it pointed out, "if necessary." And so basically by the 7th time it was there. And so bringing it all together on why I chose that passage, being led by God, is that it's kind of 2 key things. We're caught up in such a culture that want to see results right away. In other words, a microwave society versus an oven-baked society.

And that, you know, like I said, when the servant came back and he didn't see anything, it was like basically keep going, you know, if necessary.

And sometimes, honestly, my interpretation of that, if necessary, in The Message translation is go until, you know, go until you start to see results, go until it compounds.

And that's basically what ended up happening when the rain had came.

And so many times in our life, I feel like that we pray for a harvest but we fail to show the level of consistency wrapped in obedience that's needed, if that makes sense. Uh, even the Bible says the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few, meaning that we have to work, we have to cultivate, we have to get out here and embrace the grind at times, but we trust God to bring the rain.

That's his specialty, not ours.

And in verse 44, uh, specifically calling that one out, it started out with a little cloud, going back to the consistency compounds. And Elijah basically instructed him to go on. But one thing that really pointed out, that was really pointed out to me and important was that can we prepare and take charge on the little? Or in other words, can we move on when it's small? So it's like when I go to the gym or even say for better terms, I'm more of a financial guy.

When I started investing in 401 and say things like it's only a few hundred dollars. And, you know, by the end of the year, it's probably still a few hundred dollars or just switched over to $1,000, but it's not the tens of thousands and the hundreds of thousands. Can I stay faithful over that and keep going? Can it multiply? Will I allow the law of consistency as well as being obedient to the laws and principles that govern this land in order for it to operate? That's what it's all wrapped in to me from my perspective and my understanding.

Kind of going back to consistency, you know, one of the things he pointed out in the latter part of that chapter was that consistency often leads to Big Mo to show up, which is how I refer to a lot throughout this episode of John C. Maxwell, say consistency compounding. But, you know, the interesting thing—

and I love that perspective, don't get me wrong, I totally wholeheartedly agree with it— but from more of a spiritual perspective, I feel that God is already there. He doesn't have to show up like Big Mo, but because of our lack of being consistent as well as obedient to his word, that we don't give him the opportunity. Like, we rob him of showering, of showering us. And let's say, Vince, he is showering us, he is sending the rain, but we didn't labor, which can't bring forth the right harvest. But the rain, like I said, he's sending the rain. And so I just think that that's something to really ponder on and think about and to tie in, you know, with your level of consistency as well as being obedient.

And so, like I said, I'm a practical guy and I always want to, you know, give you a sense of practicality in all of these episodes.

I feel like that if I just give you a whole bunch of hype or just a whole bunch of just information without the handles, then, you know, what point am I really serving?

And so dream big.

I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but also challenge yourself to take the realistic steps, you know, and being obedient to make God's vision come to pass.

So for me, I just try to think of things like this.

If I like with this podcast, for instance, launching this podcast, it was an undertaking, not so much because I have a pretty good technical background. But it was an undertaking of basically bringing it all together, you know, topics and consistency, you know, being faithful to it.

And so I just started to take actionable steps that led—

like, I look at it like Lego pieces. Like, basically every Lego has a purpose. And so for me, it's just sometimes having that bird's eye view, but then getting into the details after that.

And I feel like having that bird's eye view basically the big dream was kind of like, has— it helps us guide in making the right decisions.

Because honestly, like I say, everything to me is an act of faith because we all honestly, for the most part, are making it— we're making this thing up as we go. And then just being sensitive to the spirit, you know, as well as just the mentorship and the guidance and the direction that we receive.

And so like I say, just start small, take practical steps, If you fail, if it doesn't work out, lessons learned. Spend some time with that.

You know, in project management we call it a retro perspective, and we just try to learn in order to be better the next time, as well as just help us set up the team to be more consistent going forward. So with that being said, I hope I've conveyed the intent of this message to get over with you having a better understanding of how I look at consistency and obedience and how I feel like that it really can help, help us achieve more success in our life, not just tangible, but, you know, inward success as well, which is basically going to help produce the external.

And so just bear with me.

And like I say, I don't want to do too much editing on these episodes.

It's not saying that I want to just put out—

put anything out there, but I also want to show that level of transparency that, look, hey, we all— we're all in this thing together and we're growing and just trying to win at this thing that we call life. Hey, what's up?

So once again, I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to the content today. Also encourage you to subscribe subscribe to the podcast as well as share with family, friends, and on your social media platforms. Also check out www.timothyprattjr.org for more information about this thing that we call life.

Be blessed.