Trust the Process or God?

Hey, this is Tim Pratt Jr. and I want to welcome you to the Student of Life Podcast. Listen, we're going to get into so many transferable truths throughout the content of these episodes that I believe God is going to use to help you apply, because he's going to reveal what's already been there the entire time. Enjoy. Yo, what's up? So this is Tim Pratt Jr. and I got a good one for you today. Oh, shucks, I have a good one for you today. Uh, listen, I'm gonna keep it me. I'm gonna talk Ebonics. All that professional stuff, I, I get it, you know. I have to speak like that a lot, especially in ministry context. But hey, let— this is the Student Life Podcast. Like I say, minimum to no editing, and it's just raw and uncut because I just like to flow, uh, on this format. And nevertheless, I do have a power-packed episode for you today. Uh, now this one, straight up, it's just straight free lance. And like, I'm speaking fresh from the heart. This will be no editing whatsoever. Uh, so right now, uh, we're gonna call this episode Trusting God or the Process. Now, I don't want to pick them apart really truthfully, just no secrets. You can really do both, uh, but I just kind of want to throw a title on there, uh, because like I say, you know, we, we do live in a clickbait thing or whatever. You have to kind of do little techniques or whatever, stuff like that. But it's trusting God or trusting the process. And, uh, in this context though, I will say we want to trust God more than the process, but nevertheless, we know that we're being processed and refined and pruned. We know that it's a process to certain things when it comes to God. So, uh, jumping into this episode, like I said, this is just straight from the heart. So I kind of shared with you earlier, and I'm going to get into like the foundational scripture for this one, but I share with you, you know, kind of what's been going on. So My wife, you know, she's a First Lieutenant, she's in the Army Reserve, and she's a chaplain candidate where she's in Fort Jackson, South Carolina, Columbia, in, uh, Fort— at the Fort Jackson base, uh, right now in the midst of training. Uh, she had to go to BOLC, you know, she had to put it on hold because we had our daughter and things like that. And she's been awesome, she's been phenomenal, and, you know, this is something that's deep in her heart. Uh, she was in the Army Reserve before we got together, and, um, I personally might want to get her out of there, but nevertheless, uh, if it means something to her, I'm always support her dreams and what God puts in her heart. And you never know, I mean, you know, depending on our life and our context, uh, she, you know, we might do active duty, we might not, we just don't know. We, we try to truly be led by God. And as much as I say Uh, I hear him clearly or see him clearly. Sometimes I don't know, it's really stepping out on faith. Uh, but nevertheless, uh, she's out there. I do get to go see her, uh, at the, at the time of this recording. I'm recording this probably about like 2-3 weeks early, uh, but I will— matter of fact, I, I would have already seen her by the time this episode comes out. Uh, so, um, I'm really looking forward to that. Then, you know, go down there a few more times and she might have to just live with it because I might have to pop up pop out there like one or two more times. So that's my wife, man. That's my one. This is my best friend, uh, I, I love rocking with her. We have been through so much, man, and just, it's just the grace of God, man, that we're still together, uh, today. And, and I'll get into some of that as well, man, where God is leading us and, uh, just the ministry that he has for us, uh. But like I say, you know, 3 beautiful children, uh, my wife and I, we came in this thing one plus one, very similar stories. Got married young in the name of religion, got divorced, maintained, you know, uh, relationships with these type of people, uh, that we're— that we were with, you know, uh, back and forth, back and forth. And then we rocked and became friends, uh, then, you know, we got serious, uh, me not being serious, serious, not being serious, and so on and so on. And then, you know, we got married, uh, still went through some, some challenging times there. I won't get into the details, but some very challenging times, uh, with that. And, uh, then, you know, time goes on, we refine, we refine, and then we have a beautiful daughter together. Um, and so it's been a lot, man. But like I said, God has been faithful. Has it been challenging mentally? Uh, has it been sitting here questioning like, Lord, you know, how, why did it have to be like this, and so on and so on? Yes. I mean, let's just be real. Uh, yes, man, it has. And now we're here. Now we're here. And like I said, it's just it's been messy, but at the same time it's, it's beautiful. And so I'm not trying to ramble here, just really trying to set the stage for, like I say, this episode. And so, uh, all of that being said, she's there and we're going through this, you know, and co-parenting relationship, so that helps some. And, you know, of course, like I said, having our daughter, uh, but at the end of the day, it's still trying to navigate, you know, kids, trying to navigate work. You know, I can work a pretty demanding job at times I'm a senior agile delivery manager at 360 Insights as well as an associate pastor. And then of course, I, you know, support my father-in-law when I can, uh, coaching my middle son now. He's not the youngest anymore, coaching my middle son now. Uh, my oldest is playing conference ball, so I have to go to his games to the week, then turn around, you know, practice, and then, um, you know, get ready for my middle son, uh, games on week— the weekend. And, and then, like I said, just, just navigating life. And so, uh, I had had the opportunity to preach a message called Prune for Greater. And it's just amazing, man, how when we go out here, whether we're preaching or, you know, when God pairs scripture with our life, uh, and we go out here and it's like, wow, you know, this word comes back and now it's hitting me in my life. It's, it's really like where God is like really pruning me and cutbacks, and it hurts. And but at the same time, you know, uh, in this process, in the— in this, this sanctification, and on and on and on, it's all going to make sense, you know. Somewhere my prophetic vision, or like I like to say, somewhere the lesson is in there somewhere. And so all this stuff is going on, but I, I know some things are being dropped off. I know some things are being cut off because it's all about shaping us into his image. So this is why I said you can trust the process, but as you trust the process, you need to make sure that you trust God too, because trusting the process without trusting God, you're not getting anywhere. You just— it's really just producing willpower in you. But when you trust God and the process, and trust God in the process, man, your heart posture is fixated on him, and, and he's cutting down everything that doesn't look like him. He's refining you and shaping you to look more Christlike. And it's all inclusive, it's me too. So the verse that I want to kind of use is Proverbs 3:5, just one verse. Proverbs 3:5: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. I'm gonna read it again. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. And I'm reading from the New King James Version. So that verse, trust in the Lord with what all, all— optical word there— all your heart, and lean what? Not on your what? Own understanding. Now, what is not in there? I'm just calling out. So keywords: trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. That's easier said than done when we have all this access information, we have all this intellectual ability now. We can just Google things, we can talk, we can read. We're just— the way we consume and compound information now at the rate is, is just crazy. And to be truthful, it's really hard to sometimes trust in the Lord with all our heart and not lean on our understanding. Like, let's be real, is it because we are intellectual? Like, I'm like, I can look at this and tell you what I'm supposed to do. And then now we know how to like wordplay things, you know. A lot of us have become wordsmiths and we know how to construct things. And so now it's like, you know, even our prayers is like trying to instruct God on what we're gonna do and more so make him conform to his— make, make him conform to our will versus us conforming to his. And this is why we have to be processed and developed. And, you know, like I say, man, I'm, I'm going through some things, and ladies, uh, I'm going through some things that, um, you know, right now I have taught and preached on submission, uh, and in my workplace, you know, when it's misalignment and disagreement and, and found myself, you know, over the last few weeks feeling this tension in this divide, and, you know, where it's starting to affect and drain me to the point where I was even considering making a change, a drastic change in my life. But I had to get back, and, you know, and I felt myself becoming toxic. And so I had some time to myself when I was driving up to meet with one of the teams I serve in, in our company. And I needed that time, that 3-hour drive, about 3-hour drive at that time, because God was really dealing with me and I had to repent. I had to, you know, just talk to him and, and just honest prayer, like, you know, my frustrations, I'm upset, and drive those things out because he already knows. And, you know, God, man, he's not going to develop who we pretend to be. He's going to develop us where we are into who he wants us to be. And so it's just this book that I was, uh, or this YouTube video that's watching, When Prayer Becomes Real. And you know how it goes through the Psalms and how, how David prayed, even to the point where it's like, God, I hate you for being in this situation. Now, I don't hate God, but you know, truthfully, if that's how I'm feeling, I just need to say it because he knows. He knows the, in the deepness of our hearts. And Now that I have took this posture recently, uh, it's helping me in my marriage, man. It's helping me with things that— self-inflicted things that, you know, I have done, um, just not just to my wife, but just old stuff that tries to come up and revisit, you know, the way I see myself and, uh, the battle between the attention and the struggle and, you know, afraid of this and that, to the point now where I'm at in my life, you know, even with my kids and so on. It's process. It's processing me and refining me. And, you know, bringing it back full circle, like I told you, you know, submission don't feel like submission until you have to submit. And I'm a firm believer in a person that you champion your leaders in public and you challenge them in private. Uh, but at the same time, you know, if I go back and forth with my leader and I don't agree but a decision is made then as much as I might not want to, I, I have to try to find a balance of honoring that leader because a decision has been made. And although I have this conflict with inside of me, you know, and but like I also have encouraged people, if, if it's that much misalignment and it's to the point where you're losing yourself, then you pray because it might be time to move. And these are the decisions that, you know, I say like I don't really know, uh, you know, at one point it's like, well, God, is this just me not wanting to submit Uh, is this me being developed, or is this where I have reached an area of my life where I need to be under somewhere that's more aligned where I believe that you're trying to take me? Because I do have a different and unique leadership style, uh, and just throughout my years, you know, I, I can be passive, not afraid or anything. I can challenge anything, but I am a back of the room type person, and I truly believe in servant leadership. But I also have grown in areas where it's like, okay, you know, just listen. Like, no, you got to take things by the horn here. You can't just sit and be passive here. So I'm learning what I like to say, the, the right leader at the right time. That's where I'm really at with things. And I'm trying to demonstrate in practice because, uh, I'm, I'm getting out of my customs, you know. This is even showing in, in the way I teach and preach the gospel. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, you know. Like, I used to just be flatline, teach, like, teach the scripture. But now more my emotions and the way I, uh, just see the scripture, how God is using me, uh, in that area where it's developing me outside of my norm. And I look at it with an athlete, you know. When an athlete is learning a new skill, they have to challenge themselves. It, it's, it's dirty, it's messy, it's uncomfortable, uh, and then they add that to their game. And you, and you look at them over the course of the game, it's like Wow, man, that looked like that's been them the whole time, uh, but they had to leap over and deal with that uncomfortable and their tension within themselves. And so this is once again trusting the process, you know, trusting God. And, and on top of that, what do you do when God is not speaking, where he's just quiet in that moment? And it's— and, you know, he's like, God, I'm talking to you, I'm praying, but it's like you're not telling me what to do. And this is the thing, you know, but even when he's not speaking, he's speaking. And, you know, and, and practically what I mean by that is that maybe he just wants you to dig in more. Maybe he, he's processing you to just pray honestly. Maybe he's not speaking because, like, no, you're still not being real with me, and you're— or your, your, your, your heart posture is still focused on what you want, and I have spoke, but I'm not going to keep telling you the same thing. And so we have to lean in more and more, uh, and that, that's what I'm just learning about the God that we serve. And, and these are the things where I say, you know, like, trusting in the Lord with all our heart and leaning not on our own understanding. And the practical side of it is that, look, let's just be real, it's hard. It's hard. And so right now, you know, what I'm going through with my wife not being here, like, our daughter, you know, thank God to my, my my parents and both set of parents, my in-laws, man, and just how everybody is like truly helping step up. But going through this, and this is like a very vulnerable thing, I, I, for a time I had a very promiscuous lifestyle, um, very promiscuous. I, you know, never was faithful, um, for the most part, and I've got into pornography and just, you know, start really start objectifying women, uh, just some unattended things that was, you know, wasn't ever dealt with, never sought the proper counseling and therapy. And so as my wife was leaving, I was so afraid of messing up this marriage because I was like, man, you know, my wife is like a huge part of my accountability, uh, huge part. Like, she's my best friend, and while I spend a lot of time with her And, you know, I'm like, man, like, I know God has been processing me with things, and— but this is big, man. I don't want to slip back off into this stuff, you know. And so then it got to the point I was like, no, I'm just— I'm gonna have my daughter a lot. And then, you know, but I was drained. I was tired because I'm navigating, you know, trying to take care of her, trying to work, trying— as soon as I'm off of being— trying to take care of her, then trying to finish schoolwork, and, you know, missing my wife, and then, you know, trying to coordinate things with my other kids and and so on and so on. And now here I am, I'm like, Lord, you know, I'm trusting in your strength. I'm trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, to help me maintain the level of self-discipline I need, to help me think with the level of clarity I need. I'm submitting everything to you. And then it's like I had these moments where I start to feel this tension, you know, just straight up like this tension of like, man, you're, you're gonna fall, you're gonna fall. But Hey, you know, these voices are like, hey, you know, man, just take it to the grave. You know, you could do this and relieve this and do that. And the tension would be just more and more and more. And then it's like, you know, I— so I talked to the appropriate people, you know, because— and I'm not going to share like the gritty details of it, but I, I talked to the appropriate people. Accountability. Yes, I had the vertical relationship, but I had to talk to certain people, and to the point where I had to talk to my wife. And boom, here it goes. Like, man, it's like a weight was lifted. And how my wife embraced me with grace, no judgment. And, you know, and I know she's praying as well. And you would just— we just had a conversation and it's drawing us even closer. And so once again, here we go, it's trusting the process and getting myself out the way. We're saying, God, I'm going to trust you. And I know that the work— that it's a finished work, but the work that you're doing in me right now, and the way you're processing me, the way you're pruning me, is for something greater that I have not yet experienced. Because I don't want to shortchange the process. I don't want to circumvent the process and not go through these things, and then it's like, oh wow, you know, now I'm not prepared because I rushed it. I rushed the pruning, and now I'm trying to be developed in an area where I possibly can fall because I didn't respect the development that God was taking me through here. So learning to just trust him in the midst of what I'm going through, uh, and I pray that this is touching you, or just really like whatever you're struggling with, whatever you're dealing with, whatever you feel like God is processing you in right now, uh, if you're just in the secular, you know, if you're like, man, I don't even believe this faith stuff, but I, I know that I'm in the middle of some tension and stuff, man, I just get in a quiet place. And it just sucks, you know, and I'm just being real with you because I'm like, who, who do you turn to? Who, who is your heart posture focused on if you don't know Christ? But if you don't, I just encourage— I said, man, get in a quiet place and talk to yourself and, you know, use the, the many different, uh, personal development and self-help techniques out there. But I also want to encourage you Man, just try to pray. Just, just, just commune with God. Um, and you know, if you're not saved and you didn't— you don't believe that Jesus died for your sins, let's talk, man. Let's chat. Let's have a conversation. I'm not going to try to coerce you into anything. I'm here to help. And so, uh, I just want to encourage you, man, to yes, you know, trust the process, but trust the God of the process. Trust God in the process and trust him after the process. Because at the end of the day, it's only a matter of time before we go through it again. And so, like I say, this one was straight off the hip, straight, just straight from the heart. Uh, you know, I just want to encourage you, man, to, to continue to, you know, not quench the Holy Spirit that lives in you. If you're a born-again believer and you have accepted Christ, you know, the Holy Spirit never left you, but you can be quenching him. And it's a he, it's a him, it's not a, it's not an it, you know. It's, it, he is a living person He has intelligence, he has emotions and feelings. And so just tap into him and lean into him because he wants to work through you. He wants to work through you, whoever you are. So my brothers and sisters, man, listen, I just want to encourage you to continue to trust God. Like when Jesus was talking about, you know, abiding in him, and, you know, uh, he is the, um, he is the vine and his, his Father is the gardener, and, you know, we are the branches. And anything, uh, that's dead, you know, the gardener cuts off. Uh, and then the ones— and the ones that's, uh, I need to go back and like read again. I literally just preached on this bad, but, but nevertheless, um, but even the ones that are producing fruit, he cuts them back even more to produce more fruit and much fruit. And so to the point where it's almost like we're walking in fruit, we're— and that's the fruit of the Spirit, not the works of the flesh. And so we live in this fleshly body, and it's always going to oppose the will of God. Like, your flesh is always going to be in contradiction with God. But through the power of God and being processed and developed and pruned, we look more and more like Christ, and we can bring this flesh under subjection through the power of the Holy Spirit. And this is why the process is so important. It will forever be a process as long as we in this body until we have our glorified bodies where we are removed from the presence of sin. So yes, we have been justified for our sins, and then we have this ongoing sanctification where we have power over sin, where like sin doesn't have power over us. The power of sin has been broken in our life through the power of Holy Spirit. But however, although it's a finished work, we are— we haven't been placed in our glorified bodies yet. And when that happens, we won't even know sin anymore because it won't even be present. And so I just want to encourage you, man, until then, listen, just lean in the process. Whatever you're going through, whatever decision that you're facing, just lean in and continue to commune with God. And like I said, last but not least, I'm gonna just be redundant here: trust God more than the process. Yes, you can trust the process, but make sure you're trusting God more than the process, and you're trusting him in the midst of the process as well as after of it. So it's nothing wrong not making neither one of them more than the other one, but you don't— you do not want to trust the process and not trust God, is all I'm saying. So listen, I hope this blessed you. I, I hope it challenges you. Uh, if, like I said, if you want to talk, reach out to me. You can connect with me www.timothyprattjr.org, and it's a link to every social media— LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, whatever. If you want to talk to me, just reach out and, uh, let's just go from there. Because like I say, I just want to see us win in life, man, and, and win on this side as well. And what I mean by that is just not winning for just winning our sake, but helping win souls for Christ, because they look at our life and see Christ. So be blessed, man. I love you all, praying for you all. And, uh, man, just keep doing the will of God in the midst of whatever your process is. Be blessed. Hey, what's up? I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to the Student Life Podcast today. If this content has impacted you in any kind of way, please take some time to share it on your social media feeds. And also, if you want to connect with me or just learn more about me, go over to www. Www.timothypratt.org. Once again, thanks.