Developing a Personal Vision

[00:00:02] Speaker A: Welcome to the YA Podcast. Lean in as we dive into the practicals of life with Jesus as spirit filled young adults. Welcome back everyone to the YA Podcast. We're back with season six and we've been having a lot of fun talking about vision as we launch into the year. And today I'm so excited to talk about how we apply that personally. How do we have personal vision for our lives? And I have none other than the Declan Cawthorn. [00:00:47] Speaker B: The Declan Cawthorn joining me today. [00:00:49] Speaker A: Declan, why don't you introduce yourself? [00:00:51] Speaker B: Hello everyone and hi, Jesse. My name is Declan. I work at numa. I'm on staff as the worship support. You might have seen me on the platform, but I would love to come and meet you if I haven't met you already and excited for today. Yeah, let's get into it. [00:01:08] Speaker A: Tell us more about yourself because there's something exciting happening in your life. [00:01:11] Speaker B: Well, this is little thing called my wedding which is coming up. Yeah. I think it's 52 days now. Just under eight weeks and. [00:01:21] Speaker A: And. [00:01:21] Speaker B: But who's really counting? Because I'm definitely counting. I'm definitely am. [00:01:25] Speaker A: No, you should be. [00:01:27] Speaker B: I'm very excited and by the time [00:01:28] Speaker A: that this episode is live, it'll be even less than that, so. [00:01:31] Speaker B: Oh yeah, definitely. I can't wait. [00:01:34] Speaker A: Very, very exciting times for you. And we love. So she is also a part of our team and just such an incredible gift. I did live group with her last year and it was so fun. So fun. I miss it. [00:01:45] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:01:45] Speaker A: Anyway, but we, we love you and we're so excited that you're on this episode with us. Welcome to the the YA team. [00:01:53] Speaker B: Watch out. [00:01:54] Speaker A: So you serve in youth? You serve in creative. [00:01:56] Speaker B: Yes, I served in youth for pretty much the moment I came out of youth, I was back in youth. I. I don't remember the last time I had a Friday that was free. You know, it's a blessing. I love youth. [00:02:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:02:08] Speaker B: That's also where I learned all of my. Oh, that's where I stewarded all my worship abilities and yeah, come on. [00:02:13] Speaker A: Safe space to learn. [00:02:15] Speaker B: Oh yeah, definitely. If you're just most youth just like the fact that there's noise so you just, you can play whatever and so if you want to join team, welcome to the youth team. [00:02:25] Speaker A: Oh, it's so great. I love that. [00:02:27] Speaker B: Awesome. [00:02:27] Speaker A: Well, I, yeah, I really actually felt prompted to ask you to be part of this because I think you're someone that, that carries this topic really, really well in. Yeah. Having, having a vision for your life and having Plans and. Yeah. Giving them to the Lord and letting him lead them. I don't know about listeners, but I mean, it's kind of a. Like nearly two whole months into the year, so it's a bit late. But some people I heard this year, I don't know about you, I had. February's a new January. Everyone was like, is it really? [00:02:57] Speaker B: This is a new thing. [00:02:58] Speaker A: I don't know. Apparently January is the write off and so you're not really like figuring out your life until Feb. Anyway, so we're not too late to be talking about this. [00:03:07] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:03:08] Speaker A: Did you do anything like coming into the year, did you have any, like New Year's resolutions or goals? [00:03:12] Speaker B: Yes. [00:03:12] Speaker A: Okay. [00:03:13] Speaker B: Yes. Okay. I don't do New Year's resolutions because the years that I have done them, I never stick to them ever. That's. Most people isn't like. I think it's. Yeah. Anyway, there's some statistic out there. Don't do resolutions. But I do do goals. [00:03:25] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:03:25] Speaker B: Because I like having things to work towards. I like, I like being driven in that sense. So for this year, I had a few things. One of my goals was to get married. And so that's going to be accomplished in April. Praise the Lord. On my soul. Uh, but I also, like, it's just. You look back, I look at it now and I'm like, this is so cringe. But it's also not because it's good to work towards, but it's things like, I want to read a book. I don't read very much, so I'm gonna not a book in the year. I want to read. Like, I want. The goal was to read like a book every couple of months because I never, I never really read ever. But I actually enjoy reading when I get into a book. So I'm reading. I'm reading a book by Soph's dad, who just actually published a book, which is cool. It's called how to. How to Pray the Lord's Prayer. So cool. And that's been really good. [00:04:15] Speaker A: Yes. [00:04:16] Speaker B: And so I'm gonna try and finish that every couple of months. But also it's things like I want to evangelize more. So I'm like, I'm over the gold. Like, like chat to people about Jesus like this amount of times a month. You know, things like that. [00:04:26] Speaker A: That's so cool. [00:04:27] Speaker B: And then also I couple them with belief. So I'm like, I'm believing that I will see a salvation in the first couple of months of this year. [00:04:33] Speaker A: Amen. [00:04:33] Speaker B: Because I've never seen. I've never had the honor of leading someone to the. Yeah, so. Oh, my Lord, I'm believing. I'm believing for that. So, yes, different to resolutions, but similar. Yeah, kind of. [00:04:44] Speaker A: Actually, it's not like. [00:04:45] Speaker B: Isn't that kind of the definition? [00:04:46] Speaker A: It's kind of the same thing, but I think resolution has attachment to it that, like, you're not actually going to do it. It's just like, you want to, but you don't actually follow through. [00:04:54] Speaker B: Yeah, I guess. But I just kind of explained a New Year's resolution. [00:04:58] Speaker A: You did, But I feel like you're saying you're in faith. [00:05:01] Speaker B: Like, I'm in faith. It's coupled with the Holy Spirit. [00:05:03] Speaker A: Amen. I have similar. Actually, mine are kind of similar as well. I did a bingo card. It sounds really bad, but. No, it's her prize. 25 little squares. The prizes. I color them in with my Bible highlights every time I complete them. So I do have, like, yeah, I would love to see someone saved. I have a number of books that I would like to read. I love to read. I actually hated reading when I was a teenager, and I got so into it as an adult. So I've got a book goal that I want to hit. [00:05:28] Speaker B: Oh, come on now. [00:05:29] Speaker A: And, Yeah. A bunch of, like, health and fitness and. [00:05:33] Speaker B: Yeah, that's everyone. Everyone kind of has to have. [00:05:35] Speaker A: Yeah, you have to, like, I mean, if you don't, no shame. [00:05:38] Speaker B: But yeah, exactly. [00:05:40] Speaker A: Yeah. So fun. All right, well, love that. Love our fun goals. But also, like, I think sometimes as Christians, we can go, oh, like, should I, like, plan out all the details of my life? Or am I, like, do I need to wait for the Lord to tell me? Like, I think sometimes we hear people say, oh, like, the Lord told me to move to Spain. And, like, sounds so holy and so awesome. But then we don't just want to be, like, sitting around doing nothing. And the Lord actually does tell us to plan our lives and to steward our lives. So I just want to ask you, like, how do we. How do we establish a personal vision? And how do we actually walk that out with the Lord as Christians? What does that look like for us? [00:06:18] Speaker B: Well, I think you kind of hit the nail on the head already. It's like, first of all, we don't compare, I think. I mean, I've been in the same boat where you hear someone who goes, I feel like the Lord's told me to go and sell everything I have and move to Spain, like you said. And I'm thinking, I. I Don't know if I could ever do that, first of all. And second of all, I don't know if the Lord has been that clear in my direction of life ever. Yeah, I don't think I've ever heard the Lord audibly say do this, do that, and people, and I'm not denying that people have had that. But yeah, I think we can get so we can start comparing and that's not what we want to do. And so I think the first step is to understand, like, how does the Lord communicating and speaking to you in that? And for me, and especially with goals, I, I often will pair my life with kind of what we were talking about before this as well, but my passions and hearts and desires, I think there's nothing wrong with having desires and passions in life. And too often I see many young adults get caught up in, oh, like, I need to hear from the Lord audibly what I'm going to do with my life. And they ignore what God's already placed in their hearts. [00:07:32] Speaker A: Yes. Wow, that's really good. [00:07:34] Speaker B: I would say. Yeah, first of all, it's understand how you, how the Lord speaks to you and grow that communication with the Lord. But after, it's actually listen to what is your heart and your passions in your life. And so for me personally, I'm studying cybersecurity at the moment, which is very fun. And I chose that because I thought it'd be really fun. And as I looked into the course, I thought, this is going to be a really great career opportunity and a goal and helps me serve my family in the future. And as I thought more about it, I got more excited and I felt really passionate about it. And so that's why I've decided to go to uni and study that. But I never heard God say, thou shall study cybersecurity. Rmit. [00:08:18] Speaker A: So then is it wrong to do that if God didn't give you a [00:08:21] Speaker B: booming voice and say, absolutely not, because so I I, the way that I go about this is I'll have a desire in my heart or have a passion or I have something I want to do. And the first thing I, I, I, I ask the Lord is, lord, is this a closed door? Are you closing this door for me? [00:08:43] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:08:43] Speaker B: Is this, or another way to think of it, is it a red light? Yeah. Are you telling me, don't do this? And often the way that Lord speaks to me is again through how I feel. So there's actually, I was looking into this before this podcast, Aristotle, and had this thought philosophy of Placing yourself in a scenario and understanding how your. Your body reacts to that. [00:09:07] Speaker A: Oh, interesting. [00:09:09] Speaker B: Saint Ignatius, I don't know if you. Have you heard that name before? Yeah, in the 16th century, he had a similar thing where you imagine yourself in a gospel scene and how does your spirit react to that? [00:09:19] Speaker A: So that's Ignatian meditation. [00:09:20] Speaker B: Yes, yes, exactly. And so often if I start to think about a certain scenario or a certain direction in my life and I start to feel uneasy, I don't feel any peace about it. Or even as I don't get excited about this, often I feel like that's an. Or a nudge from the Lord of like, hey, don't pursue this. [00:09:41] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:09:42] Speaker B: Because it doesn't actually bring. It doesn't feel like it's bringing life into me. And that's kind of the first step, I would say, is, Is the Lord giving you a red light? If not. Okay, great. Now we go to the next point. So this is where a lot of young adults will get stuck. They're waiting for the green light. So they're like, okay, Lord, I want you to tell me to do this. [00:10:04] Speaker A: I want to. [00:10:04] Speaker B: I want to go and do this, Lord. Give me a confirmation, do this, do that. And more often than not, no one's really going to get a green light or a. A very sure sign of a confirmation. [00:10:14] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:10:15] Speaker B: And so I just feel like. [00:10:17] Speaker A: Sorry, I'm just thinking about this, like, in the metaphor of, like, we feel like we're driving, but we're actually walking. I don't know if this is. This makes sense, but, like, when you're driving, you need green lights and red lights to keep going and to stop. But we're actually walking with Jes. So walking step by step, because driving is like, I'm in full control. Walking is like, okay, I'm going at a certain pace. And when you're walking down the street, you just keep walking. You just keep going until you get to your destination or whatever. The only time you stop is when you get to a road. You get to a red light. [00:10:45] Speaker B: That's a. That's a great way to put it. I've actually never heard that. That's fantastic. You actually just come up with that. [00:10:51] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:10:51] Speaker B: That's brilliant. [00:10:51] Speaker A: I think, in metaphors. So that's how the law. [00:10:54] Speaker B: I'm an analogy kind of guy. [00:10:56] Speaker A: Yeah, there you go. [00:10:57] Speaker B: It annoys Sophia so much. But, no, you're right. It's. It's. It's just walking with Jesus. And then like you said, if you're walking, you actually Stop when there's a red light. You don't really stop otherwise. And so that's actually also not a bad thing to keep looking forward. [00:11:12] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:11:14] Speaker B: Kind of like what I said before. You're not waiting for a green light. You're just walking your life out. [00:11:18] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:11:19] Speaker B: You are actively walking your life out. So why you stopped in your plans and desires and visions and dreams. And so, like you said, we often wait for a green light, but how do we hold this tension of. God hasn't said yes, but he hasn't said no. So is it disobedient if I go with this? [00:11:37] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:11:38] Speaker B: And how I live, how. How I live my life is actually through Proverbs 16, verse 9. I was just about to click there. [00:11:46] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:11:47] Speaker B: Come on now. Is it? Yeah. [00:11:49] Speaker A: Sixteen, verse nine. [00:11:50] Speaker B: Yeah. So the heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. And I was chatting to Zoe and Caleb the other day. Love them, shout out. But they were talking about how a lot of people and young adults that I've talked to, they will often just focus on the Lord establishes his steps or my steps. So, Lord, do what you want to do. But there's actually. It's not a sin to plan your way. [00:12:16] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:12:18] Speaker B: And what the way that I live my life is, I will have this plan. I'll have this vision. I have the desire, for example, going back to cyber security. I'm gonna study this. I'm gonna be there for the next two years. But I am so ready at a moment's notice for the Lord to call me somewhere else. [00:12:36] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:12:37] Speaker B: And I don't. I don't hold on to that. And so back to the analogy points. [00:12:40] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:12:40] Speaker B: I think in analogies. So I think of an open palm, or I have my hand in front of me, and I think of this career in cyber security in the palm of my hand. [00:12:49] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:12:50] Speaker B: And my hand is open. It's just resting on top of my. Of my hand. [00:12:53] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:12:54] Speaker B: If I was to walk in disobedience, it would actually be to close my hand and not allow God to take that out and place something else in there. And so how I would suggest what I tell a lot of young adults to do is, hey, why don't you go and pursue that desire in your heart? Go and study. Go and work this job. But just hold it with an open palm, ready for the Lord to shift and change and take you where he wants to go. If he wants to take it out of your hand, great, because that means he's got something better for you. And it's, it's, it's almost erring on a, a trusting of the Lord and what he wants to do, but also trusting that if you're going down the wrong path, he's going to, like, he loves you enough to tell you. [00:13:39] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:40] Speaker B: You know what I mean? [00:13:40] Speaker A: Yeah. Just having an open ear, open heart to let the Lord redirect your steps at any moment. Yeah. To be like, hey, we're actually going this way. [00:13:48] Speaker B: Like, yeah, absolutely. And so good. Yeah. It's that trust God. God's not going to let you go down a path that's going to hurt you. Or at least he's not going to direct you. He's not going to direct you there. Absolutely. And he wants the best for you. And so when we plan out our lives, like Proverbs 16, verse 9 says, he will establish your way, but it's also good to us to plan your path and, and know the direction of where you're going, but allow him to take you in another way should his will desire. [00:14:21] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, like the scripture says, without vision, people perish. [00:14:26] Speaker B: Yes. [00:14:27] Speaker A: So we need to have vision. We need to have direction for our life in order to be going somewhere. Because once there's movement, then you can direct the movement. There's no movement, there's stagnation. You're not going anywhere. And then you're not even giving the Lord the opportunity to redirect. And so we have to be doing that. So then how do we hold that intention with Jesus saying, deny yourself and like, are we supposed to have desires? Like, why do we, like, why do we even have desires? Yeah. [00:14:53] Speaker B: So I don't know if you know this, but before I was studying nursing. Sorry, before saying cybersecurity, I was studying nursing. [00:15:02] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:15:03] Speaker B: And so I also used to live in Perth as well. And shout out to Perth. Shout out Perth, right. She go there. It's pretty good. Better than the Gold coast, in my opinion. [00:15:13] Speaker A: I would agree with that. [00:15:14] Speaker B: Yeah. Great. But when I was in Perth. Exactly. That I had. I'm a big dreamer. I love to dream. I, I, you can tell me one thing, I'm like, great. I can, I can now imagine a whole world that's around this thing. It's. I love it. It's. And so that's, that's such a strength that the Lord has given me that I can really dream and imagine and picture life and different scenarios and things like that. [00:15:41] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:15:42] Speaker B: And so back in Perth, when I was living there, I basically had a vision and a dream and a plan. I had I'm pretty sure I had like a five, ten year plan. [00:15:51] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:15:51] Speaker B: Back in Perth. And I was like. So at the time, I was studying nursing. [00:15:55] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:15:56] Speaker B: And I was loving it. I had a plan of where I wanted to work for in a hospital. I had contacts there, like, ready to. To help me out. And I had, like, good, good, solid mates and my family was there. Like, everything, everything matched with my plans in my way. And I was like, this is so good. And I still had. The philosophy was like, I was gonna hold it with an open palm, like, whatever's gonna happen. But then it all changed. No, initially, my family or my parents felt God at the. At the time they were pastoring a church and they felt God, tell them to lay it down. And that was the first part of, like, oh, okay. Like, things are changing. Like, I thought, we'll be in this church for the rest of our lives. I've moved house like, two, three times in my life. Like, things are going to change. And then Mum and Dad came over to Melbourne and they were like, yeah, we feel the Lord calling us to move to Melbourne. And so now I had this choice. I either was gonna stay in Perth and move out. [00:17:03] Speaker A: I remember this time I was like, I'm coming. And I think it was. [00:17:06] Speaker B: Yeah, I was. I think I was freshly. No, I was 18, about turn 19, deciding whether or not I was gonna move to Perth, stay in Melbourne. Stay in Perth or move to Melbourne. [00:17:17] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:17:20] Speaker B: And it was really hard because I. I didn't. I hated change. I didn't like that change. And yeah, to uproot my whole life and go to Melbourne with no uni I'm studying at, no jobs, no friends, no community. We didn't even have a house at the time. [00:17:34] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:17:35] Speaker B: And I'm. I was freaking out. And so I had to hold this tension of I have this vision and dream for my life, which isn't a bad thing. I'm not. Like, it was like I was planning a job. [00:17:45] Speaker A: Yeah, great job. [00:17:46] Speaker B: And now there's a possibility of my life changing. And so I. As I. As I sought the Lord, I really was actually asking him to tell me to stay. I was like, lord, tell me whether I'm supposed to go stay. And I. I wanted him to tell me to stay. [00:18:04] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:18:04] Speaker B: But the more I thought about it and prayed about it, the more I felt peace about going to Melbourne until eventually I had a beautiful encounter with the Lord where I knew that God was in Melbourne for me and that was my future. [00:18:21] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:18:22] Speaker B: And so now, then it turns to this choice of okay, I can now act in disobedience because if this is my plans or I can go and walk with him. [00:18:31] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:18:33] Speaker B: And here I am. [00:18:35] Speaker A: You are. [00:18:36] Speaker B: I moved to Melbourne and. Yeah, quit. Quit Unique job. Said bye to my friends. [00:18:42] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:18:43] Speaker B: Thankfully, my family came with me, which is lovely. And then I had to basically restart my whole life. [00:18:49] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:18:51] Speaker B: Yeah. And then even now, like, as I. In 2024, I was like, I'll go back to uni. I got into. I think it was. I think it was Dakin, actually. [00:19:05] Speaker A: That sounds right. [00:19:05] Speaker B: I think it was Deacon. [00:19:06] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:19:07] Speaker B: I got into Deacon and I thought, okay, I'm gonna go back to nursing. Like, I'll finish off my degree, whatever. It's fine. And then again, I felt this passion to do New school the Spirit at the time. And so yet again, I'm faced with a. Okay, I can either go with my plan of just finish nursing, please, or go with this new, like, heart desire to do barber college. [00:19:35] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:19:36] Speaker B: And I had to again wrestle with this. Eventually I landed with New School of Spirit. Great choice. [00:19:43] Speaker A: Very good choice. [00:19:44] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think back to your question. What I have learned in my. My walk in life as a not very old, as a 22 year old, uh, it's with a lot of wisdom, I might add. Thank you. Thank you. Um, but I guess what I've learned is going. Going the Lord's way is always so much better. [00:20:09] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:20:10] Speaker B: And it's. It sounds cliche and it's like, oh, every person will tell you the Lord's way is better, but. [00:20:16] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:20:17] Speaker B: I have seen it in my life firsthand that going with what God has planned for you is infinitely better than what you ever could imagine for your life. [00:20:27] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:20:28] Speaker B: And I look back from my life in Perth to my life now, and everything's changed for the better. The community here is so beautiful. And I want to start crying. Sorry. [00:20:43] Speaker A: It's okay. [00:20:44] Speaker B: I did not expect that. Oh, my gosh. I. Yeah, I just look back at where my life was and. And who I am now and the path that God has taken me on and everything he's given to me, it just. It. It's so much better. And I never could have imagined where I. To be where I am now. [00:21:10] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:21:12] Speaker B: I didn't expect to cry. [00:21:13] Speaker A: That's so crazy. I like. No, that's beautiful. It just shows, like, that genuine heart that you have to like to please God. And also, like, the plan that you have for your life that you had then was good, but maybe there was deeper heart stuff that the Lord wanted to deal with that. He required you to do something different to get there. And yes, he might be 22, I'm 28, but I have a very similar story of I knew exactly what I wanted to do. And some people have no idea what [00:21:38] Speaker B: they want to do. [00:21:39] Speaker A: They don't know how to dream. And they wrestle with that because they're like, what do I even go. But for those of us that, like, have a plan and have a dream and we go after that. Yeah, just allowing the Lord to redirect is so powerful. Like, I had so many dreams when I was a kid, and one of them was I really wanted to own my own, like, hospitality business, cater catering or cafe of some sort. And I started going on that path. And then I met a girl at church and she invited me to come and work for her. And that was in events and floristry and ended up doing that for a while. And then I thought, what on earth am I doing here? This is not. This wasn't the plan I had for my life. But then the Lord used that to then eventually redirect me to Numa and, well, I was already coming here for church, but offering me a job here. And the Lord just opened those doors all for me. And the thing that I love is, like, now who I am. Like, young me actually dreamt of this, but. But maybe it felt impossible. And so then I went for something that I felt like I could do, and that was still good. And I actually still feel there's parts of that that the Lord still yet wants to be fulfill. But my point in saying all of this is that the Lord doesn't waste any season with us. And even the things that you would have learned in those years in person and going in, in that trajectory of nursing, like, there's still things in that that I'm sure you apply to your life today. Like no season, no season is wasted. But it's. It's holding intention. These two truths that we've got to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus. We've got to lay everything down to do whatever he says, but also that he fulfills the desires of our heart. Like we love to quote Psalm 37. Four, that God. Let me just actually quote it. Let me correctly quote it instead of off the top of my head. It says, delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. And yes, he fulfills our desires, but I also think he changes them. [00:23:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:23:34] Speaker A: And he brings them into alignment with Him. And the longer we go on this journey, so long as we're submitted and committed to Jesus, this, that he will continue to form and shape our desires. And I'm sure there's things that you desired today that you never would have desired or dreamed of. [00:23:48] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, definitely. I. I was convinced I'd never work at church. [00:23:53] Speaker A: Same. [00:23:56] Speaker B: And here we are. [00:23:58] Speaker A: Probably most people, like, most pastors would say that. Yeah, yeah. But, yeah, I just also want to bring into the picture that, like, desires aren't a bad thing. That, like, if we're walking with the Lord, that as we allow him to shape all of us, that he actually can change our desires, that he gives us the desires of our heart could also mean that he is putting the desires there. And of course, we have. We're all born in sin, but we've been redeemed. Yes, we're still sinners, but that's not our identity anymore. [00:24:30] Speaker B: Yep. [00:24:30] Speaker A: And so we actually recognize that our old sinful desires have been crucified with Christ. It doesn't mean that I never wanted to do something wrong or out of alignment with God's will. Like, still, every day we all wrestle with that of, like, oh, I want to do something that isn't what God wants me to do. But asking him the question is, like, what you were saying before, with the red light of, like, to walk in step with him and allow him to lead us and fulfill our desires is me going, I have this desire to do X, Y, Z. You know, let's just use the moving overseas one. I have this desire to move overseas. I present that to the Lord, and in his kindness, he'll be like, you're running away. You know, like, he'll actually help us understand, and then we'll reform our desires. And so I hold deeply in my heart Galatians 5, verse 24. It says, those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. And I believe that we can truly, as we journey with Jesus, that our desires can be more closely aligned with Him. So that as we are dreaming about our life, as we're getting a vision, as we're setting goals, are doing all of those things, that the things that he desires for us would be fulfilled in us and through us. And it's good that we have different desires to one another. It's good that the Lord wants you to study cyber security and potentially one day work in that field, because Christians are needed there, too. Like, not just in the church. Like, he needs us everywhere, and he is kind enough to give us different desires to Go into different spaces of life so that all the different members of the body can represent Jesus in their different spaces. [00:26:06] Speaker B: I think. Exactly. I think we can only we sometimes we can get so caught up in the one dimensional. Like just our lives and yes. Everything else. But actually walking in. Walking in your desires to eventually get to a field where you can be a light where it's needed. Like you actually have no idea what the Lord is going to do in you through you. [00:26:24] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:26:24] Speaker B: In a space that needs the Lord. And yes. Jesus actually shown. I think you touched on it really well. It's. It. Having desires and having vision is actually not like. Sorry, having desires. Having. Having vision without confirmation is not a sin. And that's actually not walking in a lack of faith either. That's. That's actually a complete lie. That's a complete lie from the enemy. That leaves people stuck. [00:26:49] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:26:50] Speaker B: But allowing to continue to have it surrendered to Jesus. [00:26:56] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:26:57] Speaker B: And allowing him to do what he wants to do with your desires in your heart is good and like that. That ultimately is actually where we should be living our lives from. [00:27:05] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:27:06] Speaker B: Is it kind of always comes back to that surrender. It's like I have faith, Lord, that my. That my offering my surrender. My life is leading me in the way that will continue to have me formed into the image of Jesus and allow me to be a light. [00:27:21] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:27:22] Speaker B: To the place where you place me. [00:27:24] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:27:25] Speaker B: Enough said. [00:27:26] Speaker A: So good. And just to circle back to what you said at the start like killing comparison of going, well, that looks more holy. So that must be the Lord. Like obviously as we're talking about just go and just walk out the thing that, you know, there's a desire or the skill set or whatever that Lord's on your life. Also looking through the lens of like, is this biblical? Is this. You know, we don't. We're not saying the Lord tells you to do something and it's like super sinful. Like go do it. Yeah. The Lord's not gonna tell you to do something sinful or he's not gonna set you up in a direction that's going to be detrimental to your life. But back to the comparison thing. Like yet don't just choose something because it sounds holy. Like obedience is better than sacrifice. Obedience to what the Lord is telling you to do is better than what looks like the holy thing to do. And you can read about that in 1st Samuel 15, Saul and, and the prophet Samuel. And that whole. That story is a powerful one. But just coming back to not what seems right. Like there's a way that seems right to the man, but actually following the Lord's leadership as we go listening to his voice. And as you said, we all hear him differently. Learning how to tune yourself into the voice of the Lord, knowing whether it's a gut feeling, whether it's visions, dreams, the voice in different ways that we hear his voice. [00:28:46] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:28:46] Speaker A: And having peace. I think that's a really important one as well. Of being led by peace. [00:28:51] Speaker B: Yes. [00:28:52] Speaker A: And just keep going. Like, just do the thing that the Lord's telling you to do and do the thing that you are walking and keep walking in it. Don't just throw it away, but keep walking in that thing until he redirects you. Because ultimately we're getting at. [00:29:06] Speaker B: Yeah, I think. Yeah. There's. To take what you've said and also what I've used in my life, I've often lived my life with. Or when I'm looking for confirmation, when I'm looking for direction. [00:29:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:29:23] Speaker B: There's like three. There's three things or three tick boxes, I guess, if you want to put it like that. [00:29:28] Speaker A: Sure. [00:29:29] Speaker B: First one is. Yeah. Is there peace in this? Do I. Do I feel like God is in this? Or has communicated in a way that God's in this. [00:29:37] Speaker A: This. [00:29:38] Speaker B: So, you know, like you said, it's either peace, sometimes it's a prophetic word or dreams or visions and things like that. The second one, and I, I, I can't remember the verse now. Top of my head. It's in Proverbs. But having mentors and counselors around you. [00:29:57] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, in the multitude of counselors. [00:29:59] Speaker B: Yeah. Multitude of counselors. There was safety. Safety or whatever it is, man. If you're not sure and you're like, oh, I'm not really sure. Take it to a mentor. [00:30:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:30:08] Speaker B: Take it to a leader. Take it to someone you trust who speaks into your life because, like, they will give you. They will give you some, like, beautiful advice. [00:30:16] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:30:16] Speaker B: When I've made big decisions or. And I've decided to change ways in my life, I've always taken it to a mentor and, and said, what do you think about this? This is what I'm feeling from the Lord. How do you see it from your point of view? As a spiritual oversight in my life. How does this feel with you as well? And the third one, that often, often God will either choose to fulfill or not. But I. [00:30:45] Speaker A: Anyway, I think I know what you're gonna say. Yeah. [00:30:47] Speaker B: Is it prophetic words? Is what I was gonna say. [00:30:50] Speaker A: I was gonna say, like, confirmations, like, looking for signs. Yeah. [00:30:52] Speaker B: I think I don't. Don't let prophetic words be the one thing you go off of, because we have to wait up with the Lord, with scripture and where the Lord's taking. [00:31:02] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:31:03] Speaker B: A lot of the time in my life when I've had. Needed confirmation, the Lord's brought prophetic words to my life for people to encourage me in a very specific way. And it's like, oh, that's really weird that you said that, you know, X, Y, Z today and encourage me in that because I've been praying about that, actually, and that just feels like a little encouragement or prophetic word from the Lord right there for me. So we can hold that with whatever tension you want to hold it in. But I think especially those first two is peace from the Lord. And has the Lord communicated to you because he loves to talk to you. [00:31:36] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:31:36] Speaker B: And bring it to mentors as well. [00:31:38] Speaker A: So good. [00:31:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:40] Speaker A: Yeah. You reminded me of the Scripture. And again, I wish I knew the reference off the top of my head, but by the mouth of two or three witnesses, a word will be established. And so the Lord should speak to you and through someone else to confirm and establish his word. [00:31:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:55] Speaker A: And direct you. So that's awesome. I love it. Is there any final practicals? I feel like you've kind of already touched into any final practicals that you want to leave our listeners with? [00:32:07] Speaker B: Love, Jesus. That's enough said. Honestly. No, I'm joking. [00:32:12] Speaker A: No, that's. [00:32:13] Speaker B: That's. That's. That's. Yeah. I think, like, I said chat to like this. This is the new young adults. Right? This is just worldwide young adults. [00:32:23] Speaker A: I mean, who knows? [00:32:23] Speaker B: Who knows? [00:32:24] Speaker A: You're listening from. [00:32:25] Speaker B: Not new listening from Norway. No, we. [00:32:30] Speaker A: I. [00:32:30] Speaker B: We are. So you have no idea how blessed we are, the community we have here at Newmar. Yeah, it's. It's unreal. The, The. The way that we love each other as young adults in this community is so beautiful and unique and unfortunately, it's rare. [00:32:50] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:32:51] Speaker B: Which is actually really sad. I think as a community, we can really lean on each other to. To actually ask each other to pray and to ask, like, kind of similar to counselors, but also that, hey, I'm feeling this for my life as someone who is my close friend or in my community who knows me a lot better than most people do. How does this feel to you? Like, genuinely speaking in my life and again, touching on mentors. Like, I am the biggest advocate for spiritual mothers and fathers and mentors in your life. Yeah, biggest. Like, I, I will not go my life without meeting up with someone. [00:33:30] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:33:31] Speaker B: Regularly talking about, hey, what have you seen? Can you speak into my life? Call me out on things. [00:33:36] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:33:37] Speaker B: But in terms of vision, I think the biggest one is don't get stuck. [00:33:43] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:33:43] Speaker B: And allow your heart to be changed by the Lord and the Holy Spirit. But hold it with that open palm. [00:33:50] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:33:51] Speaker B: Pursue. Pursue desires. Pursue those hearts. Heart desires, but allow the Lord to. To take them out at his will and place new things in your heart at his will. [00:34:01] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:34:02] Speaker B: Because as soon as we hold on, it's almost like we think it's safer to hold onto things. More detrimental. It's like the opposite. [00:34:12] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:34:12] Speaker B: And so that's what I would say. [00:34:14] Speaker A: That's really, really good. And I'll just add one more thing onto that is having our dream, having our vision, and then breaking it down in such a way and. And saying, what is the thing that I can do right now to move towards that goal. [00:34:32] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:34:32] Speaker A: I love it. It's awesome. Declan, thank you for sharing your. Your story. Thank you for sharing your. [00:34:37] Speaker B: Someone got something out of it. [00:34:39] Speaker A: I'm sure they did. I've got something out of it.