Priscilla Shirer, Lisa Osteen, and Nona Jones discuss how God puts purpose in your life and equips you for your future, even when you are not ready.

I can’t be more interested in quantity

than I am with just quality time with

God remember it’s not about finishing

this is about you having a friendship

with God so that you can be sustained

and encouraged and sense the presence of

God in a practical way not in theory but

no a friendship with God where you feel

and know that he is speaking to you

through his word you gotta step out and

do something if you wait until fear and

nervousness is gone you will wait

forever but if you’ll just be willing to

take a step of faith and say God even if

I get rejected I’m gonna do it whatever

you call me to do and when you begin to

step out in faith and just step out and

and be strong and courageous God is

going to do great things through you

amen amen the first sermon I ever heard

the pastor preached out of I think it’s

Psalm 68 and he said God is a father to

the fatherless and man that thing hit me

because I didn’t have a concept of God

but I knew I was fatherless and so I was

like well then who is God because I

don’t have a father so who is God and

that placed me on the path to learning

more about who God is and who am I in

God and who is Jesus and around the age

of 12 I accepted Jesus as Lord Of My

Life

[Music]

sometimes you know we can look at

people’s Instagram feeds and man their

quiet time Looks So Perfect don’t it

they’ve got their little white couch and

their little white coffee cup and

everything is so beautiful and amazing

and immaculate it looks like the most

beautiful photo shoot you have ever seen

in your life that could be discouraging

to regular folk who have you know like

dinner dishes sitting over there from

last night that we didn’t get to or

we’ve got all the toys from all of our

toddlers sitting around it or all the

homework papers from our teenagers that

are still scattered across the kitchen

table from all the online schooling or

we got the laundry sitting over there

every single load that you know we

washed and dried but we dumped it out on

the floor hoping that somebody was going

to come fold it at some point but there

it still sits still waiting on us and we

look at the chaos of our life and we

think

can I really have quiet time in here can

I really expect God to speak to me in a

space like this the answer is yes

the enemy always wants you to think and

me to think we’ve got to have something

different about our space or different

about our lives in order to actually

meet with God intimately and personally

ourselves but listen if the bathroom is

the only place where you can find some

silence and some Solitude I gotta be

honest with you and tell you that for

many years when my children were younger

I would sit on the edge of the bathtub I

would close the bathroom door I would

lock that door and I would sit there and

that’s where I would have time with the

Lord I have a friend when her children

were young she used to tell me that she

would go into her closet like she made

her actual closet her prayer closet and

she said listen I would sit right under

the blouses where the blouses were with

a flashlight that’s the only space that

I could find to have a little silence

and a little Solitude for many of you

it’s it’s in your car I mean you’re in

your car anyway why not make that car a

sanctuary a place where you can meet

with God because you’re in that car

anyway and you’re by yourself there why

not make that an opportunity where you

can make that space a Sacred Space to

meet with God

you’ve seen people who are doing that

you know they’re driving down the

freeway and you just see them worshiping

God and you see their hands outstretched

and you see they’re having a whole

prayer meeting a whole church service by

themselves in the car they have made

their car a place that can be a

watchtower where they can meet with God

around his word

position yourself

oh more now than ever brothers and

sisters we’re gonna have to prioritize

positioning ourselves we’re getting a

word from everybody else from the

newscasters from the media from the

politicians from our friends from

opinion makers we’re getting news from

everybody else we’ve got to position

ourselves not just to hear them but

we’ve got to prioritize positioning

ourselves to hear a word from God so

once you position yourself and you’ve

got your Bible or you know you’ve got

your electronic Bible in front of you

and you’re looking at a particular

passage of scripture I want to encourage

you to choose a passage not just you

know one verse here one verse there here

a verse there verse everywhere verse

verse it taking little verses out of

context like that can be incredibly

dangerous but what you can do is take a

whole book of the Bible

started verse 1 and go all the way

through

took me about two years to go through

the Book of John like this I would take

one verse or two verses a day and I

would make sure that I read right

through so as to not take anything out

of the context not only of the chapter

that it’s in but the book that it is in

because the story that God is telling is

linear meaning not only is every word

and every verse God breathed but the way

it is located in the scriptures is also

God briefed so take a whole book of the

Bible maybe one that stood out to you

recently that your pastor preached from

and it was from the book of Ephesians or

the Book of John or the book of habakkuk

and just decide you’re going to start

right at the beginning

and the second P actually has two P’s in

it I want you to pour over the passage

and paraphrase the major principles

pour over the passage and paraphrase the

major principles when I say poor over

the passage I mean that real

specifically I mean that as in

opposition to scan the passage when I

say poor I mean to meditate on it to

read it not just once but to read it

twice to read it in two or three

different translations so that you can

see different nuances of words that

maybe need to stand out to you in a

different way I mean that you open up

opportunity for you to have space and

time to think through what it would be

like if you were the woman that was

caught in adultery in that passage that

you just read see how it would feel to

have God speak over you Jesus say to you

go and sin no more it means you mull

over it for just a little while

now what this means at least what it

means for me is that if I’m really going

to pour over a passage not just scan it

but meditate on it and think about it

and wait for the Lord to speak to me

through it that means that I can’t do

that with a chapter or two at a time it

means I can’t be more interested in

quantity than I am with just quality

time with God remember it’s not about

finishing this is about you having a

friendship with God so that you can be

in sustained and encouraged and sense

the presence of God in a practical way

not in theory but no a friendship with

God where you feel and know that he is

speaking to you through his words so

most of the time that means one verse or

two verses

and I read those two verses and then I

read them again and then I might

underline whatever words seem to LEAP up

off the page then I might look those

words up and I might think through the

scenario that is surrounding them the

context around them for example in

Joshua chapter 1. when Moses has just

died and the children of Israel are now

being led by Joshua into the promised

land God says to Joshua over and over

again be strong and courageous he says

be strong and courageous be strong and

courageous and then he says

be careful not to let the word leave

your mouth but keep it close to your

heart and close to your mind and

meditate on it day and night meditate

means to ponder it meditate actually

means to press your mind upon it to

think through it to evaluate it

do whatever you have to do to spend a

little time not just saying well I read

a verse a day and you know a verse a day

keeps the devil away this ain’t a

checklist

this is you developing a friendship with

God who is longing to speak to you

once I pour over a passage a verse or

two then I’ll paraphrase the major

principles I usually just have a

notebook that’s sitting nearby or I’ve

got the notes app on my phone or however

you want to do it and I just for each

verse write down a sentence or two that

paraphrases exactly what that verse said

now I want you to resist the urge to try

to be deep or to try to make it Rhyme or

sound clever you’re not trying to be

clever you are literally just taking the

words right out of the verse and writing

down a paraphrase of what that verse

says

usually when I get to this point in the

five piece I will close my Bible and

I’ll put it aside and now I’m just

sitting and I’m looking at the

paraphrased rendition of what the verse

actually says that takes me to the third

p

pull out the spiritual principles

this is where I prayerfully look at

those paraphrases

and I look to see what spiritual

principles are hidden in the paraphrase

I asked God to show me is there

something he’s revealing about his

character

is there a promise here that I’m

supposed to heed is there a directive

I’m supposed to follow

is there Insight that I’m supposed to

uncover what is it that the verse says

that’s the paraphrase but now I’m asking

what does this verse mean

you will often find that there are

spiritual principles that are hidden you

would not have uncovered this is the way

God begins to speak you won’t uncover it

until you ask yourself what does this

mean

is there a direction that I’m being

given is there something about God’s

character that I’m supposed to believe

and that I’m supposed to trust in

prayerfully pray and ask the holy spirit

this is what the old preachers used to

call illumine the word ask the Holy

Spirit to illumine it and you will find

that there are spiritual principles

tucked there that begin to direct you

tell people a little bit about what you

do at meta sure

um

so first and foremost I do not have a

background in Tech the fact that I even

landed at meta is a god story in and of

itself I’ll save that for another day

but currently today my team supports

houses of worship all around the world

to ensure that the various tools and

apps that meta creates are meeting their

needs and ultimately helping them build

community and I think we saw in the

pandemic just how important technology

can be to enabling us as Christians to

stay connected to one another and to our

local churches and so that’s a huge part

of what my team does is really think

about okay what does the future of Faith

look like and how can the apps and the

products that meta creates enable that

for people of all faiths but of course

the church too of course on the faith

side I I think it’s amazing that

Facebook Instagram that they’re doing

you know stuff like this because when I

think about these companies I think one

their goal is to make profits and two

maybe they’re maybe they’re bad for

Faith or maybe they’re bad for our

morality but then I hear that they’re

hiring someone like you you’re a pastor

you love Jesus you’re a Bible believing

born again Christian you you preach the

gospel and they want you to be a huge

part of this faith faith thing it’s a

it’s like a weird question mark in my

mind you know like well I will say this

um you know I’ve talked with a number of

pastors through the years and they’ve

they’ve expressed similar sentiments and

the thing I always like to tell people

is

I wasn’t hired in spite of my faith I

was hired because of it because I I

deeply understand what it is to be a

person of faith and how important it is

to connect with like-minded Believers

and worshipers not only in your local

church but also around the world and so

yes that is a to me that’s such a a

popular

misconception is that these companies

especially you know men and Facebook and

Instagram that oh they’re they’re not

for the faith community when in fact

there are thousands of Christians that

work at this company and so and there

are thousands of Christians like myself

who utilize Facebook and Instagram to

reach an audience with the gospel and I

do it you know I I think every Pastor I

know has a Facebook and Instagram and

they use it to to share their faith to

share their story to share encouraging

things so it’s cool to hear that there’s

some of that going on before we get um

too much into that because I want to ask

about how social media affects this

comparison sure thing you know obviously

it’s something you’re able to witness

firsthand I’d love for people to hear

your testimony it’s you’ve gone through

a lot of tough times you’ve got you seem

like you’re you are a super successful

person but people may not know behind

the scenes some of the challenges that

you’ve faced and how did you come to

Faith yeah wow

um you know I am a statistically

improbable product of God’s grace

um you know I think a lot of times we

walk into the successful chapter that a

person’s life is on and we’re like oh

that must be their whole story but you

know I didn’t grow up in a Christian

home

I didn’t know anything about God Jesus

Bible we didn’t go to church as a matter

of fact my father passed away shortly

before my second birthday and my mother

she met a guy who became her live-in

boyfriend and shortly after he moved in

I was around five years old he became

sexually abusive to me I’m an only child

and so there was a tremendous amount of

trauma and pain that I endured and I was

around the age of seven when I told my

mom what was happening and she had him

arrested and I thought everything was

over but on the day of his release from

jail she took me with her to pick him up

and brought him back home and the abuse

resumed shortly after that and around

the age of I think nine I tried to end

my life

I didn’t know what was on the other side

of death but you know in my mind it was

better than whatever I was facing in

life and so that was unsuccessful I

tried again at the age of 11 that was

unsuccessful and shortly after that

second suicide attempt a classmate of

mine in the sixth grade invited me to

church and you know not knowing what it

was I was like oh we’re gonna go to her

house play a thing called church I

didn’t know and I’ll never forget Bobby

like man walking into the doors of that

church

people were so welcoming and their smile

was so genuine and for the first time in

my life I really felt wanted and loved

you know people should know that because

of my trauma I had acted out in school

you know Elementary School I was labeled

a problem child I didn’t know how to

process what was happening to me so I

would act out Middle School similarly

was labeled a problem child but that

experience with that church Community it

fundamentally changed the trajectory of

my life and I remember the youth pastor

at the time he said to me he said Nona

you know there’s an anointing on your

life he was like I don’t know what God

has called you to do but I can tell that

you’ve been set apart and about five

years later I got licensed into the

gospel ministry as a minister of the

Gospel I started preaching how many

years later yes five years later I was

17 years old yeah I was preaching at all

these like youth conferences and even

when I was in college I was preaching

and so I I just thank God for his redeem

gaming power because you know the last

thing I’ll say is I recently took an

assessment it’s called the adverse

childhood experiences assessment it’s

like a social services uh survey and

what it does is it looks at the

probability that a child will have

adverse outcomes in their life because

of trauma and that could be like drug

addiction premature death incarceration

it’s a scale of like zero to ten and

you’re considered high risk if you score

a three I scored an eight and so the

fact that I’m sitting here with you you

know I mean I just I give God all the

glory because it could have been so

different and that is not lost on me and

I thank God for his grace every day the

fact that I’m in Ministry and my husband

and I get to lead a local church

together and I get to serve at this huge

tech company and support houses of

worship around the world and help other

people connect to inspiring content it’s

just such a such a gift every day so

what an amazing story I almost don’t

even know what to say to that except I

feel like if people are at home who’ve

experienced that and there are a lot of

children who went through something like

that it’s shocking and sad how many kids

had to face that and they carry it the

rest of their lives like I’m sure you

still carry it with you even today in

many ways and when I think about just a

baby I mean like a five-year-old

seven-year-old picking up that Monster

again and you’re wondering why your mom

would do that

you know in this book I love this book

um killing comparison it just come out

with this and you’re talking about in

our in our faith Journey how we so often

compare ourselves to others do you feel

like some of the challenges that you

faced when you were a kid even though

you came to Faith and even though you

know Jesus and even though you know that

he loves you just as you are and not as

you should be that that there was some

other part of your life that you still

felt like you had to prove yourself or

that you never felt worthy that’s a big

part of your story isn’t it oh 100 Bobby

um so as a matter of fact one of the

concepts I discussed in the book at

length is the Power of Words the words

that are spoken over us especially in

our formative years as children they

fundamentally shape our understanding of

our identity and who we are I think we

all know you know in Proverbs there’s

the verse that says you know the the

power of life and death is in the tongue

right

um but if you look at the Hebrew word

that’s translated power there it’s the

word Yad which means hand and so when

you put it all together it’s really that

in the tongue lives the hand of life and

death so the the tongue has the power to

shape it has the power to mold it has

the power to create because it’s like a

hand and when you think about a hand I

mean a hand it can build houses a hand

can create Priceless works of art but a

hand can also destroy a hand can kill

and so our tongue the words that we

speak carry power they carry the power

to shape identity and so for me what

happened to me as a child you know he

hearing my mother as an example when I

confronted her about the whole thing and

I was just like look this really

bothered me she basically said it was my

fault wow you know and hearing her say

that it fractured my identity her the

hand of her tongue fractured my identity

such that I think as I reflect back on

my life the way that I saw myself was

broken because I saw other people as

more worthy than me how could I how

could I be worthy you know my mother

brought this man back who hurt me and

she said these very negative things

about me and how it was my fault and so

yeah I do think that those situations

and those experiences they shape our

identity and when our identity is

fractured we begin to look externally at

other people to figure out where do I

measure up am I as good as this other

person or am I less worthy than this

other person so yeah I think there was a

study that was done that said something

like all of us never compare down we

always compare up so even if you’re the

CEO of a huge company you’re gonna

compare yourself to the CEO of a bigger

company and never compare yourself to a

vice president for example yes is that

something that you’ve struggled with I

mean you’re obviously super successful

do you still compare up or do you find

yourself struggling with that here’s why

I love what you’re saying because

something I realized as I was going

through my own journey to get free from

comparison is that

um success never has a period it only

has commas yeah because with every

higher level of achievement all you

realize is that there’s somebody who’s

achieved more right you get you get more

visibility into the fact that there are

other people who have done more than you

and so yeah

um and one of the concepts I discuss in

the book is this idea of insecure

foundations one of the revelations God

gave me about insecurity is that even

though as a society we tend to think

it’s a function of self-esteem

insecurity isn’t about self-esteem

insecurity is about identity and

fundamentally it’s a question of what

your identity is secured to okay so if

you secure your identity to something

that is insecure something that is

fickle it’s subject to the shifting

opinions of people you’re going to be

insecure so in the area of you know

professional achievement that’s an

insecure Foundation because to your

point let’s just say that you aspire to

One Day become a manager well you become

a manager then you realize oh wait

there’s a director you become a director

and then it’s like oh wait there’s a

vice president so you become a vice

president oh wait but there’s a CEO the

CEO bigger company so it never ends and

there are people who they’ve retired

from their career and they feel

completely lost why because they had

secured their identity to the insecure

Foundation of their job

we’re just gonna just spend the next

maybe 20 minutes or so just talking

about how we have stood in storms or how

we’re still standing in the storm

I think about my sister-in-law Lisa and

how I’m telling she’s the woman who

stands that’s all I can say I’ve known

her for 32 years she’s been my

sister-in-law as little as she is

what’d I tell you the other day I said

you’re one of the strongest people I

know

one of the strongest people so much

Victoria I appreciate you I love you

she’s my sister in love just like

Jennifer is too and I just man this is

such powerful words from everyone here

but you know I wanted to speak into the

call of God upon your life because God

put purpose and greatness inside of you

and you know I think back on my life and

how uh you know when I knew God had a

call on my life there’s always there was

always this voice of inadequacy you’re

not qualified this fear and I just want

you to know that when God calls you to

do something he’s going to help you do

it and but you will fight this fear

these feelings and I learned a long time

ago that you just have to do it anyway

no matter how you feel and uh amen

because because the feelings the fear

will always be there but I remember you

know when I first even as a teenager

started to pray with people you know I

was afraid I was going to say the wrong

thing and then when I I first started

speaking you know I was so nervous and I

I just thought I’m not qualified but you

know I learned this that no matter how

we feel God will anoint us to do what

he’s called us to do and he doesn’t call

the equipped he equips the called amen

if he calls you he’s going to equip you

and he’s going to anoint you to do it

and God said to Joshua who as soon as he

was to take over from Moses after Moses

died you know think about the fear that

that Joshua was feeling the how he had

to step into Moses feet and three times

God said to him don’t be afraid be

strong and courageous he ended up saying

I’m commanding you Joshua don’t be

afraid but be strong and courageous and

I know that God has been speaking to you

to do certain things maybe it’s just an

act of obedience maybe he is calling you

to take this a great step of faith and I

want to say to you that God is saying

don’t be afraid be strong and courageous

don’t listen to the lies of the enemy

because even though you may be

unqualified God will qualify you and he

will be with you and he will help you

every step of the way I was just

thinking about some of the funny uh

Victoria because when I was in college

you know I was always grew up it’s hard

to believe it but I grew up sort of shy

and quiet and when I was in college my

first year I really wanted to do

something for God I was out on my own

and so I applied at the end of the year

to be a chaplain in a dorm over 30 girls

and my brother Paul was a chaplain

director and you know and I just had a

desire to do something and I thought you

know I’m probably going to get it I mean

after all Paul’s in there I’m at Osteen

you know everybody loves my dad you know

and but would you believe after I

interviewed and all that they they said

that they didn’t think I was qualified

and they rejected me you know

and so I just thought well that’s okay

but they said this they said we feel

like uh you’re a little too shy and

quiet right now and the truth is I was

shy and quiet but something in me was

saying God was saying I want to use you

I want to do something through you and

so I took that step of faith and I

applied but I got rejected but let me

tell you something people the women when

God when people close the door God will

open another door and so I just took it

you know I went through the summer and

right before school started I got a call

from the chaplain’s office and they said

hey one of the chaplains can’t come back

to school and we want you after all and

so

I thought well I wasn’t their first

choice but I was God’s choice

and the truth is I was not qualified but

God didn’t care and he wanted me God

chose me even though I wasn’t qualified

God chose me even though I wasn’t ready

and so I didn’t even feel ready to be

the chaplain but I stepped out and I’m

going to tell you something women you

got to step out and do something if you

wait until fear and nervousness is gone

you will wait forever but if you’ll just

be willing to take a step of faith and

say God even if I get rejected I’m gonna

do it whatever you call me to do and

when you begin to step out in faith and

just step out and and be strong and

courageous God is going to do great

things through you amen amen yes we

receive that no matter what you’re going

through today God wants you to love your

life he he gave you life the scripture

says that Jesus came to give you life

and life more abundantly not everything

goes our way we Face challenges we Face

difficulties but God doesn’t want you to

stop living he doesn’t want you to stop

pushing he doesn’t want you to stop

pressing because in those difficulties

you will find God and you’ll come out on

the other side of that difficulty

stronger than you ever thought possible

I want to say to be encouraged to all

the women because even though it may be

a difficult season right now God is

birthing things in you that are going to

just surprise and shock you in such a

great way and he will bring you through

it he promised he said that he will he

will provide a way of Escape through

whatever you’re going through he’s your

deliverer he’s your Refuge he turns rock

and just remind yourself of those

wonderful characteristics of God because

he’s there for you but I just want to

encourage you to just enjoy when you’re

living the season that you’re living in

and just do what God speaks in your

heart to do if God tells you to do

something people can’t change what God

told you to do but I want him to say

about us all women men and everybody

that’s serving God very well done my

good and faithful sir