Cultivate Podcast
Step into the world of "Cultivate," where we're all about growing together – personally, spiritually, and in our businesses. Join our heart-to-heart conversations as we share stories, laughter, and genuine insights on building connections that truly matter. Discover how nurturing relationships can be the key to unlocking your personal potential, finding spiritual fulfillment, and achieving success in your business endeavors. Let's grow, laugh, and learn together on the journey of a lifetime with Cultivate.
Cultivate Podcast
When God Seems DISTANT | How to Find God in our Everyday Life
Have you ever yearned for a sign from God in the hustle of your daily life? That's precisely what we explore on this episode of the Cultivate Podcast. We begin by delving into the raw, emotional tale of Lazarus, drawing connections between our own cries for connection and the profound empathy Jesus demonstrated. It's a conversation about the power of vulnerability, revealing how our deepest moments of desperation can become the very catalysts for encountering God's comforting presence.
I share from the trenches of my own experiences, moments of surrender that led to profound clarity and relief. We reflect on the peace that comes from letting go of self-imposed hurdles and embracing the liberating guidance that only comes from full trust in God's benevolent plans for our lives. Join us on this enlightening path, and don't forget to engage with our community through your thoughtful comments and by hitting the subscribe button for more inspiring episodes just like this one.
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Hello everyone, welcome to the Cultivate Podcast. I'm your host, larell Komozak. I'm so glad that you guys are listening and tuning in. We're on episode six. Yeah, it's been six episodes already on the new Cultivate Podcast. We probably got about four more to go until the season ends and then we're about to go crazy on season two. But, guys, thank you all so much for tuning in and for reaching out and commenting and all that good stuff. But today I want to get right into it.
Speaker 1:There was a comment that was asked. They asked me how do you find, how do you seek and find God in everyday life? And I understand the question because life is hard. A lot of us who are listening right now are going through the struggle, are going through what's happening in the United States or what's happening across the world in other countries. Wherever you may be, life is hard. Life can generally be a struggle and at times it can feel that God is extremely distant. It can feel that God is not really there. We may be asking God questions, we may be talking to him, but it may seem like he's not listening or he's not answering our questions or he's not talking back to us, and that can be discouraging sometimes to ask God questions and to feel like he's not talking back to you. And I feel like David understood this where he said, god, hear my voice, hearken unto my cry. If you read the Psalms, you'll hear him say that quite often he's like God, I'm talking to you, hear me. But I think that it's in those moments when we cry out and we hearken to the voice of the Lord and we surrender and we literally lay it all at the table, god begins to answer our desperation. Because a lot of times we say, okay, god, can you do this for me? And if he jumped every time that we said jump, I don't think we'll really appreciate him. I don't think we'll really understand the weight or the magnitude of his greatness and of his glory in our lives. So there are going to be times in our life where we're going to have to be desperate for the Lord, where we're going to have to cry out to him and we're going to have to do some things. That challenges our faith, that challenges our will, and understand that the will that we have isn't enough. We're going to need the will of God in our lives, and God answers to desperate calls.
Speaker 1:If you look at the story where Lazarus died, the scripture where it says Jesus wept the shortest scripture in the Bible. It wasn't the fact that he didn't get there in time, because I feel like he knew what he was doing. He was taking his time, he was very patient, he stayed an extra three days before he went to go to Lazarus, but he was already dead. The reason why, I believe, the reason why he wept, is because he felt the concerns of others. He felt the hearts, he was very empathetic to all of those people who felt the loss of Lazarus. They were like you know, jesus, if you had been here he wouldn't have died. If you had just came here earlier, he would have still been alive.
Speaker 1:No-transcript it even better because I feel you and I think a lot of times we don't think that God feels us. I feel like a lot of times we go through life, going through the struggle, and we're desperately waiting for God to do something in our life and we feel like God isn't hearing us. We feel like God don't feel us. We feel like God is man I don't think you hear me, bro and we get to this place where we get upset and I feel like it's okay to get mad at God. I think it's okay to express your concerns to him, because I think that's what he wants. We really want to have a relationship with God. If we really want to have a relationship with God, we got to talk to him for real. It can't be fake.
Speaker 1:God, I'm upset right now, dude, for example. God, I'm mad, bro, what's up? You were supposed to be there. What's happening? Somebody may be going through a foreclosure. I'm going through a foreclosure in my home. God, what's up? Why didn't you give me wisdom to help me through this?
Speaker 1:Sometimes it's your fault, but you know, either case, either case like, we go through things in life that's hard and that's challenging and we have these requests to God and we have these cries out to God. We just want God to feel what we feel. I said before in another episode. I told God Lord, sit with me, you feel me. You know how desperate I am. Sit with me, man. I just want you to feel what I'm feeling. I just want you to feel what I'm feeling. And I feel that once we ask God the right questions and ask him, lord, to feel what we feel, to sit where we are, I feel that will ignite something within him, not like he wouldn't do it already, but I feel like it will ignite something in him to create even a more relationship with you, and I think that's one of the meanings of draw nigh to God, and he'll draw nigh to you. If you come to God with your concerns, he'll come back with you understanding. Ok, I hear you, I feel you, but we can't discredit our cries and our requests to God just because we feel like we didn't hear him the first time.
Speaker 1:Sometimes it's a continual thing. So in order to find God in our everyday life, we have to draw to him. We have to constantly seek him in our pain, seek him in our successes, seek him in our losses, not just in the good things, but in the bad things too, because a lot of times what we do is we'll try to seek God when things aren't going well in our life, but we'll never reach out to him when things are going well. That's why we need those challenges, because it's when we have those challenges that we realize that we can't do it on our own. We realize real heavy when we experience a loss or when we experience failure.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, I can't do this by myself, because pride and ego is part of our human nature. We have this thing within us, innately within us, that we feel like we can do it on our own. We feel like we can make it by ourselves. Oh, it's my inner strength, it's my inner ability. I got this.
Speaker 1:I think for a lot of us, we think that we can do it on our own, and so when we're faced with challenges and we're faced with struggles in our life, we keep trying to plow the ground, we keep trying to till the ground, we keep trying to do it ourselves. And the more we dig and the more we get the shovel and keep shoveling, the more we keep picking up the pieces, the worse off we become. The more worn out we become, the more we realize we really can't do this by ourselves. We are literally powerless to the things that happen in our life, like the only thing or the only person, the only being that can really help us and strengthen us in those times of weaknesses is God. The more we seek God in life, the more we'll understand that we can't do life by ourselves.
Speaker 1:Because I can tell you now, I've tried doing it by myself a lot of times. My father passed. I tried to live life by myself, try to do it my way. When I experienced failure, when I had a business failure, I tried to launch a business. That didn't work out. I tried to do it myself. What if I did it this way? What if I did it that way?
Speaker 1:When I experienced loss, I tried to do these certain things and try to put these strategies in place, and that didn't work. I turned to so many other different things and trying to find love in other places and other women and I thought that was going to work. That didn't. It didn't suffice. I get married. I'm thinking that marriage is going to help change some things that I was dealing with in my life, just ignorant to that. That didn't work. I really had to seek God. I really had to find God in those challenges and in those struggles that I was facing in my life. The more I plowed, the more I tried to fix it myself, the worse it became. I made it worse. I made it worse. I wasn't relying on the strength of God.
Speaker 1:So I was telling my wife about a story in John, chapter 21, about how Jesus, after he's resurrected, is sitting on the seashore preparing fish and bread. His disciples don't know this. They're out in the sea fishing. Jesus sees them struggling to catch fish and he says cast your net on the right side of the ship specifically. And after they did that, their nets began to be filled with fish. And what caught my attention about this story is that it was customary in that time to fish on the left side of the ship because, culturally, your right arm is the stronger arm to pull the net onto the boat. It's harder to pull the net from the right side of the ship because now you're using what's generally your weaker arm to pull the net onto the ship.
Speaker 1:So what Jesus says is fish on your weaker side. Don't fish from your stronger side, because I can't use you when you're using your own strength. I want to be able to use you when you're in your weakest moment, when you're in your most vulnerable moment, when you're in the most your struggle and your challenge. So I want you to fish on that side, on that side where you feel like I don't know if I should do this, because it's going to be hard If my neck gets filled with fish. It's going to be hard to pull from this side. It's not my strong side, it's my weak side, but that's the area where God wants you the most. He wants you on your weak side, because if you're at your weak side, he can fill your net. Because he filled it, he can help pull it back onto the ship. And too many of us are trying to pull from our strong side and we don't leave any room for God to pull with us.
Speaker 1:And what God is saying is I want you to pull from the right side of the ship, want you to pull from the right side of the ship. I'll fill your net. Your net will be filled. Your promises will be made. I will hear your request. You're going to be successful. I'm going to show you the world. I'm going to answer everything that you've wanted and desired in your life, all the desires that I've given you. I'm going to make sure they come to pass.
Speaker 1:But I want you to pull from your weak side. I want you to pull from the area where you feel like you're inadequate. I want you to pull from the area where you feel like you have a disability or you have an inability to do things, because it's in your inability that God is able to do the things that he needs to do in your life. Allow God to use your weaker side. Be vulnerable with him. That's what he needs. That's what he requires. He doesn't require your strength. He doesn't need that. He doesn't need you to be strong. Why, well? Why would you need God if you were the strong one?
Speaker 1:Sometimes, god has to show us that we're weak and he's the one that's strong. That's why we deal with challenges. That's why we go through what we go through, so that we realize yo, we really can't do this on our own. We didn't come here by ourselves. We didn't tell my mom and dad, hey, I want to come into the world today. No, that's not how this works. We came into this world not by our own will, but not by our own might. So if that's the case, then there's somebody greater that we need to look toward to help us in life. If we didn't get here by ourselves and too many of us we have this idea that we got here by ourselves, and if I got here by myself, then I'm my own God. So we have to change how we think about our struggle. We have to change how we think about the things that cause us to feel weak or to be weak, and we have to ask God, lord, can you use that? Can you sit here with me and use the weaker side of me? And I really feel within my heart that God can use your weakness. I believe that God can use your struggle, your pains, your adversity. God can use that and fill your net. God can use everything that you're dealing with in your life and turn it all the way around, because you're allowing God to do it for you.
Speaker 1:And this whole scripture was incredible because it just reminded me of life. It reminds us of what we do. We do what's customary, what's supposed to work. I'm supposed to fish here, but it ain't working. I'm going to keep doing this all night. And we do the same routine over and over and over again, thinking it's going to work because it's customary. God wants us to do something that's not customary.
Speaker 1:Throughout the whole Bible, I believe, even through Jesus' walk his journey, he did things that was kind of contrary to customs and beliefs. He challenged the belief system. He challenged what they thought was supposed to be. He challenged all of that. Why, on the Sabbath day, he's healing? You ain't supposed to heal on the Sabbath day and he's doing everything that's kind of opposite of what we believe and our customs and what our traditions, and he's trying to get us out of this religiosity, trying to get us out of this cult like system, so that we can have our faith solely relying on him and not on the system.
Speaker 1:I believe that some of us, we put our faith in systems, we put our faith in political powers, we put our faith in what we believe and what we've believed our entire lives. And God says I want to challenge that, because you think that's what makes you strong. You think that's what makes you who you are. And God said let me remove some stuff, let me have you go through some tests and some trials so that you can realize that those things that you thought made you aren't the things that made you. It was God who made you. It was God who allowed you to be this strong. It was God who allowed you to grow and to be powerful. It was God who allowed you to get to this place and to this level that you thought you could never be, and it was God. It wasn't the political system, it wasn't your government system, it wasn't your religion, it was God. Man, we have to really understand that God wants to use you, but it's not going to be through our own strength. Hey, god, I got these tools you gave me, and you know what I'm saying. I'm good. Now, though I got it, god's like what? Well, let me remove some of these tools, then let's see how you work without the tools. Let's see how you work.
Speaker 1:And I think another point of the story is obedience is that they heard a voice. They didn't know who he was. John knew, at the end of the day, but they didn't really know who was telling him to cast it on the other side of the city. It was obedience they heard the voice of God and they obeyed. They listened to him.
Speaker 1:And too many of us, if I can be frank, we don't listen to the voice of God. And too many of us, if I can be frank, we don't listen to the voice of God. We hear what he's trying to say, but we're not obedient. We're like no, I don't think that's going to work. I'm going to keep doing it my way, because it don't make sense to do it that way. And too many of us are just drowning in things like getting stuck in stuff, thinking just stubborn, just trying to do it your way, plowing the ground your way, and God's like yo, it's not going to work. I need you to do it my way. We keep making these mistakes and keep making these errors because we keep trying to plow the ground the way we've always thought it was going to be.
Speaker 1:I mean, I grew up thinking you know one way, because my mom and my dad taught me. I'm glad that he taught me the things that he taught me, but there were some areas in my life where I feel like yo, this just doesn't make sense to me. I was thinking saved was one way. Saved was about what I wear. Saved was about who I'm connected to. Saved was about my environment. But saved isn't about all that. Saved is about having faith in God. Saved is about your relationship with him. Saved is about being repented and being humble and growing in your relationship with God. Like connecting. I feel like man, like life is a challenge within itself, but it becomes more challenging when we get in the way and God's saying listen to me and get out the way.
Speaker 1:We have to be obedient to the word of God. That's the only way we're going to find him in our everyday walk is that we have to be obedient. What's the hardest thing to do? What's the hardest things our kids do Like for me, what's the hardest thing for my kids to do sometimes is to be obedient. Hey, please don't touch that. It's hot. That's going to be a hot stove. Please don't go over here in the kitchen it's hot, but what is? What is? What is the first thing they do? They go to the kitchen and they try to touch it after you tell them it's hot, it could burn your hand. But if they're disobedient, their hands going to get burned. But if they learn what obedience looks like, they'll go the opposite direction.
Speaker 1:And then there's a promise on the opposite end of obedience, and I think that's something that we miss. We forget that there's a promise at the end of our obedience to God. There's a negative consequence to our disobedience. That's why the Bible says obedience is better than sacrifice. I'd rather be obedient because there's a promise at the end of it. And the more I find myself being disobedient to the word of God, like my children who I tell to do things and they don't do it, they get a consequence, they get something removed from them. You know things, of things of that nature. The same thing happens with us. But God chastens those he loves. We have to have those consequences. Because he loves us, he has to shape us out until it's like yo, I can't have you keep being disobedient. You can't walk in the promise that I have for you if you're walking in disobedience.
Speaker 1:I remember getting to a place where I thought that it had to be my way. I was stubborn. My wife would tell you I can be a stubborn individual. It got to be my way. But it's when I had to surrender and tell God like, ok, it's on you, because I'm weak right here. I'm weak in this moment, I'm weak in this area. It got to be on you. At this point. It can't be me.
Speaker 1:I had to fully surrender. I really had to go on a fast. I had to read the word. Had to cut off social media, had to cut off entertainment and basketball that's something that I love. I love basketball had to cut that out, like during the playoffs. I had to cut out certain things because I realized that my focus was on my own strength, but my focus was not on God's strength.
Speaker 1:I need God's strength, man, because I got big problems, man, and my big problems need a big God. They don't need a big Larell call, they need a big God, bro. Some of y'all got some big problems. Some of y'all got some big issues, some big struggles, some big sicknesses. I got a big doctor for you. I got a big lawyer for you. I got a big God man who can handle all that, who can handle all your struggles. We just got to hand our weaknesses to him and allow him to fill our nets. Bro, like this.
Speaker 1:We make it so much harder than what it needs to be. It's not that hard. We make it extremely hard because we are just in our own way. In order to really fully seek God, we got to get out the way. We got to hand over the keys. We literally have to get out the way, and for us, it's like God trying to enter into our doors and we like stopping him, like we guarding the door, uh-uh, god, you can't get in here, and God's like I'm trying to get in, you can't get in. So you dodging, you moving and doing all kinds of stuff to to stop him from getting in, and that's that's that's our life. I got this, god. I got this. No, no, no, are we doing here? I created all of this. All this wouldn't be here without me, but I got it, god, I got it, I got it. I got it, god.
Speaker 1:And so what God does a lot of times is watch us struggle and waits until it's time for us to say I surrender, because he's just waiting on us. Very few times God's going to interject. He's waiting on us. He's waiting on our hearts. He's waiting on our ego to be removed. He's waiting for our pride to be eliminated. He's waiting for a surrender.
Speaker 1:I want you to think about this message. How do I get to the next level in my life? How do I get into the next level of my relationships, in my marriage with my kids? It's going to be through your surrender and it's going to be through you handing your weaknesses over to God. You're going to have to hand all of your inabilities to God and realize he's the only one that's able to do exceedingly and abundantly in your life. You're going to have to understand that concept or we're going to continue to find ourselves in the struggle we're going to like.
Speaker 1:It's like going to be a hamster on a hamster wheel, just constantly running, constantly running, wearing ourselves down, constantly running. And god says I just I don't want you on that wheel, bro. First of all, you're not a hamster. What I'm saying is he wants to get you off that wheel. He doesn't want to see you struggle. God does not want to see you going through. He doesn't want to see you struggle. God does not want to see you going through. He doesn't want to see you facing adversity. That's not where his heart.
Speaker 1:God has great plans for you. He has thoughts of good things for your life. He doesn't have plans of evil for you. That's not his plan, that's the devil's plan. So if God has good things in store for you, good thoughts for you, that means we have to tap into who God is, so that we can understand those thoughts too, if he has good plans. God, I want to know your plans and put my plans aside, because it's not my plans that matter, it's God's plans that matter.
Speaker 1:This is how we seek God. This is how we find God in every day is to allow ourselves to give it up, give up control and allow God to push us in the direction that we're supposed to get into, so that we can be all that God called us to be Hope. This episode was good for you, good to you. Yes, that's just, guys, give it up, Give up control and for the rest of the week, practice that. Practice those techniques of allowing God to move in your weaknesses, and I guarantee you you'll see some results that you've never seen before in your life. You'll see God blow your mind simply because you allowed him to move in your weaknesses. I'll holler at y'all to the next episode. Make sure you like, comment and subscribe. I'll holler at y'all in a minute. Till next time, peace.