057 Stop Waiting on God (Hyper-Spiritualizing Your Decisions)

A direct, honest conversation about faith, obedience, and the danger of hyper-spiritualizing our decisions. In this episode, we explore waiting on God, discernment vs. fear, obedience without guarantees, and how clarity often comes after movement, not before.

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ABOUT THIS EPISODE

So many Christians are stuck, not because God is silent, but because they’re waiting for certainty instead of walking in obedience. In this episode, Justin unpacks one of the most common mistakes believers make: hyper-spiritualizing decisions instead of trusting God with forward movement. Drawing from Scripture, personal experience, and years of creative leadership, this conversation challenges the idea that faith always waits for clarity.

We talk about:
→ When waiting on God is wisdom, and when it’s fear
→ Obedience without guarantees
→ Why God often moves after we step out
→ The difference between discernment and paralysis
→ How this applies to creativity, calling, business, and faith

If you’ve been stalled, hesitant, or waiting for a “clear word” before moving forward, this episode is for you.

ABOUT JUSTIN RIZZO

If you’re new here, my name is Justin Rizzo.

I'm a worship leader, songwriter, and filmmaker based in the Midwest, USA. I'm the founder of the Worship Leader Academy which has helped hundreds of worship leaders grow and develop through online community and one-on-one coaching.

How I got here…

7 yrs old: Love for music began with the recorder.
9 yrs old: Started drum lessons.  
12 yrs old: Parents taught how to lead worship.
13 yrs old: Led an original song at church.
13 yrs old: Vowed I'd never do it again. 
16 yrs old: Began to really love leading worship.
18 yrs old: Became a full-time worship leader.
19 yrs old: Broke my vow and began writing again.
20 yrs old: Recorded my first record.
23 yrs old: Leading began to feel like a burden.
24 yrs old: Blogged about worship leading.
25 yrs old: Started therapy and found healing.
26 yrs old: Called to produce musicals and films.
27 yrs old: Wrote and produced my first musical  
29 yrs old: Started my own production company.

Today: I live full-time as a worship leader and creative. I've written and produced three award- winning musical films, had millions stream my music, and travel the world leading worship and spe

Chapters

• 0:00 The One Mistake Many Christians Make
• 0:20 New Film Announcement: Deborah
• 0:33 Road Updates And Creative Work
• 2:03 Why Deborah’s Story And Why Now
• 6:02 Scope, Budget, And Distribution Plans
• 8:38 Wrestling With Fear And Calling
• 10:11 Power Follows Obedience: Bible Frames
• 13:03 Use What’s In Your Hand
• 16:04 Building Team And Strategic Partnerships
• 18:05 Trusting God With Outcomes
• 20:18 Move Or Wait: Discernment Questions
• 23:13 Examples Of Waiting And Moving
• 26:02 Clarifying Your Call And Next Steps
• 29:03 Invitation To Partner And Final Challenge

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

A lot of Christians are making this one mistake. So many times we are waiting on the Lord when in actuality the Lord is waiting on us. Have this kind of mindset, hyper-spiritualize things. Lest I get like a clear word from the Lord. I'm not gonna do this thing, I'm not gonna move, I'm not gonna do whatever it is. God is asking for obedience with no guarantees about the outcome. Hey, welcome back into another episode. Excited to talk today about a big announcement that I just made with my production company about our brand new movie. I'll talk about that here in a second. But first, a couple updates. I was on the road for six weeks, did a songwriting symposium at Asbury Theological Seminary, which is which is amazing. Having just these students were so, so hungry, a lot of talent in the room. So we talked a lot about uh the theology of songwriting, how to write songs from scripture, and then we also did some co-writing training, and then we had people break up into groups, and uh it was just awesome to hear the songs that came out of that time. Went right from there to um a songwriting retreat. I hosted my first ever songwriting retreat in the Smoky Mountains, and it was amazing. We rented a huge house up there, had about 12 people come, a couple uh people brought their spouses with them, sit in a huge cabin and just wrote together and co-wrote together for about two and a half days. 18 songs came out of this songwriting retreat, and it was just an amazing, amazing time. If you're interested in uh going to the one next year, uh contact us via social media and we'll get you on the list for that. There's quite a long wait list to go to that for next year. It was an amazing time. And then uh led worship, a couple different churches, and then had some time with family over Thanksgiving, and it's good to be back home now. Lots of moving parts, lots of things are happening in life, but I want to focus today on um probably one of the biggest ones that's happening is my production company announced the brand new movie that we are moving towards producing, and it is a movie based on the life of Deborah. Okay, so if you don't know a whole lot about Deborah, it it would make sense. There's literally two chapters in the entirety of scripture about this woman. Uh, but what's really, really interesting, uh because we've been praying since January of this year, Lord, what is the next step? You know, we produced these three movies in three years. We did the Christmas show. Um, I'm not looking for you know more busy work to do. I really wanted the next step to be clear from the Lord. And so as we prayed and kind of talked as a team, Deborah kind of kept rising to the surface. And so we began to do some real strong ideation about her life and study about her life um several months ago. And um, and now we have a story crafted around her that is fantastic, very, very impactful. And to our knowledge, uh, someone hit me up if I'm wrong on this, but all the research we've done, there's no movies or TV shows about her life at all. There's a couple, I think, like women's devotionals, a couple uh fictitious uh novels about her life, but nothing has ever been on the screen. Again, I could be wrong about that, but from our pretty extensive research, we've not found anything like that. Uh again, there's only two chapters in her life, but there's a lot packed into those two chapters about her. I won't go through her whole story, but I mean you can go read it right now if you want in the book of Judges. Two chapters. But what was so interesting to us as a writing team, as we looked at it, was the second chapter of the two chapters was all a song that Deborah sang over the nation of Israel. And so just fascinating as this will be a musical movie that we're not just like making a character sing, she actually, you know, wrote songs, right? And that was you know a common thing, you know, Miriam's songs in the Old Testament, other people had songs in the Old Testament, but the to these two chapters, the whole second chapter is all a song. And so that was so fascinating to us and the story that we've crafted. I'm so excited to share with you guys. And so along these lines, really what I want what I want to talk about today is if you follow my my journey, it might sound like a broken record, but I'm I'm just I'm submitting my heart, my life, my time to the Lord, and this message keeps rising to the top. And I think it's largely because I keep putting myself in situations and scenarios where this message has to rise to the top. And so for my my sanity, for my foot going in front of the other, uh, this is what the Lord keeps dealing with my heart on. And so this is what I'm gonna be sharing on the podcast today. And I believe that a lot of Christians are making this one mistake. And I think it's it's a pretty large mistake, is that so many times we are waiting on the Lord when in actuality the Lord is waiting on us. I think so many Christians have this kind of mindset. Uh and we'll look at some Bible verses here that it does show that, you know, it's it can be both hand. There are times in scripture when the Lord commands us to wait, right? And and I can't be the one to, you know, to tell you here uh on this podcast of whether or not you should move forward with your idea or not. But I think for myself growing up in a Christian home, you know, being in in uh within the four walls of full-time ministry, you know, we're all in full-time ministry, I believe, but within the four walls, full-time ministry for most of my life, I think it's really, really easy to uh hyper-spiritualize things and to say, well, unless I get like a clear word from the Lord, I'm not gonna make this movie, I'm not gonna write this book, I'm not gonna do this thing, I'm not gonna move, I'm not gonna do whatever it is. And I think so many times it's because of a wrong mindset and a wrong view about the Lord, and we view him more, you know, as a um kind of a Zeus taskmaster guy up in you know heaven somewhere, and he's like lording over us and you know, paying attention to every single detail, as opposed to, you know, an amazing father who wants to bless his children, who wants to see his children um grow, wants to see his children succeed, and wants to see his children, as it says in Matthew chapter 6, bring his kingdom to the earth and see it enacted here on this side of eternity. And so uh again, we're gonna we're gonna look at some Bible verses on that, but the biggest thing I'm talking about is when you make a movie of this caliber, uh, which to kind of give a really, really broad stroke, like take a big ish on this, right? This movie, this Deborah movie that we're making, will be kind of like The Chosen Bible series, if you guys have seen that, and it'll kind of be like the greatest showman-ish with the singing and dancing. It'll kind of be like the gladiator movie-ish with some some more you know battle-intense type scenes. You know, those are very ish things, so you know, don't freak out on me there, but kind of those three, those three worlds combined are gonna kind of make up this this Deborah movie. And so it is way more ambitious, way bigger of a budget than we've ever done before. Again, if you follow my journey, we've done three movies in three years. Uh, the past four years, we didn't last year, which is the fourth year, we did a live Christmas show uh that I wrote, and so this is now the fifth large-scale production that we're doing in five years, and um, it's gonna be$2.5 million. Now, as I'm saying that, you know, to some of you guys that might be like, oh my gosh, like that's crazy. But you have to, you know, for me, again, that that is a large number, just let me say that. That is a large amount of money, okay? I've I I recognize that. But at the same time, it's it's really not that much money in the in the realm of business, in the realm of film specifically, it is a very, very small budget. I know some phenomenal movies that were made, you know, in a couple million in that range. Um, and what we're seeking to do really, it's it's about an eight to eight and a half million dollar movie that we have then condensed down into this, you know, two to two point five million, not so much by cutting corners in terms of quality, but of cutting corners of who we're choosing to work with and who we're hiring to produce this movie and make this movie with us. And so there's a lot of strategic planning that went into that. Um, and uh I think the outcome of it is gonna be incredible. Definitely better than anything we've ever done. And uh, we're already having you know distribution talks is obviously with with everything, with music, with with uh books, with movies, whatever, whatever you produce, right? The goal is to distribute it. Now you can do it yourself, you know, you can get your music on Spotify yourself, you can get your book on Amazon yourself, you can get your movie out on YouTube. Obviously, YouTube is the largest streaming platform in the world for free and just you know, throw well, it's not you know, very, very minimal cost. You can get it out there. But obviously, the goal is to get a distributor to um to do that work for you and to get it into different places, um, you know, the digital service providers to to stream your movie, to watch your movie, to pay for your movie, whatever it is. And so we're already having some conversations along those lines. So this 2.5 million is you know bigger than anything we've ever done, but at the same time, you know, is is not that much money. And so I had this this conversation with the Lord recently while I was driving on this latest trip and just had this moment of like, you know, what in God's name am I doing? Why, why am I causing myself more stress? Why am I choosing to press go on this thing? I have I have a worship leading career that I'm doing with songwriting and producing music and traveling. I have a worship leader and creative coaching career that I'm talking to worshipers and creatives all over the world every single day. Why am I, you know, subjecting myself to do more stuff, to go and raise more money to have the stress of this thing upon you? And was having a stressful moment, right, thinking about all this, right? And um one thing I can say is, and if you've been around the Lord and done some things, whether it's business or projects, whatever, hopefully you have the same testimony that I'm I'm quicker to recognize, okay, you're in worry. You're in you're giving yourself to anxious thoughts. I'm quicker to correct that and say, the Lord is a really, really kind father. And he does, he's not gonna leave me out here to dry. And I believe the Lord specifically is asking me to do this. And again, that's what I'm gonna talk about today of knowing how do I know if the Lord is asking me to do it or if I should, you know, wait on the Lord for this season. Um, how do you how do you know the difference in that? And so I had this moment while driving and just really corrected myself, you know, went into kind of just praying and said, Lord, this this is you. Like I am, I'm pressing go on this, not because Justin wants to do cool things and spend a lot of time raising money and spend a lot of time producing a f a film. I'm doing this because I feel that you have called me to do this. And so for me, uh before I get into kind of my my thoughts for today, for me, this call came in April 2009. So that's years ago, years and years ago. So I'm still operating on a call I felt over 15 years ago from the Lord in April 2009 when he asked me to do arts and entertainment, which I said no to back then. If you know my story, I've shared it a lot, so I won't share it again here. But I said no. I had zero interest in doing this. I wasn't not excited, it was I was like, no, I I do biblical things like prayer, worship, discipleship. I don't do Hollywood for Jesus, right? So here we are all these years later, and that is still the word from the Lord that I feel in my spirit to continue pursuing. And I think, you know, one of the greatest lessons I've learned as I produced these movies, as we've done these live shows these past several years, is that God releases his power after walking in obedience actually begins, not before it. I've just seen that so many times that God releases his power in my life, whether it's through funding, bringing a team of writers, bringing a team of actors, um, you know, bringing the correct uh co-writer if you're a musician, the right uh the best person to co-author your book, whatever it is. He brings the people around you, he provides the resources, the money, whatever it is, as you walk forward in obedience and not necessarily before it. And I love this verse in Joshua chapter 3, verse 17. He says, The priest who carried the ark stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan. All Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nations finished passing through the Jordan. And the the point of that is the water of the Jordan River didn't part until the priest stepped foot into the water. They didn't just wait on the banks of the river and say, you know, God, would you please cause this Jordan River to dry up so we can all pass through it? As they stepped into it, the Lord then dried up the river. Um, again, Exodus chapter 14 uh with Moses, he said, God said, Stretch out your hand over the sea, and it was it was divided. Moses had to do an act. He didn't just kind of stand there and mentally pray, Lord, make it happen. Like the Lord had him do an act, and he stretched out his his uh rod over the sea, and and it parted. And so I think so many times um we have to to grapple and to wrestle with that fact that God may not begin to move on our behalf, though He He maybe maybe He's preparing the way, He's you know, softening people's hearts or whatever. But I can tell you this like I just got off a call even with you know a potential uh investor donor for this Deborah movie. And you know, one of the things I even expressed in the follow-up is, you know, I am um I invite you to pray about it. You know, here's the need. I'm asking you to to give towards this need to make this film. I am just simply asking. I'm just a steward, but um, the Lord is the one who prepares that person's heart. But so many times, if you don't ask, the heart that's prepared won't really know, like you have no idea where people are at. Maybe someone uh that I don't even know, the Lord gave a dream to and dropped the number 2.5 million. Like I've heard stories in my life, guys, with with the millions of dollars of money, where uh, you know, hey, uh I had a dream with the number 2.5 with an M, 2.5 million. Okay, I have that money, I have no idea what that's for. And then if if you call that person that day, that week, whatever, and say, hey, the Lord's, you know, doing this, da da da da da da da, you're like, okay, great, what is your thing? Or we're making a movie. Okay, how much is it? Well, it's$2.5 million. If I hadn't done my part in obedience, stepping my foot in the river, um, it wouldn't have dried up. And that person, perhaps, God, obviously, God can do anything he wants, but it was through obedience that that river dried up. And I believe it's through obedience that this Deborah movie movie will be made. And my question to you, whether you're listening to this or watching this on YouTube, what is the thing in your life that the Lord may be asking you to step forward and to do? And again, I always say this when I talk about this topic: like, I'm not here to cause stress, like, please hear my heart. I'm not here saying, Do more, do more, like get up off the couch, do more. You have to be led of the Lord. And I'm gonna look at some Bible verses here on both sides of the aisle where God says, wait. But I think one of the greatest challenges I already said with the church is that kind of our mode of operation is I'm just gonna wait until it's really, really clear. And then so many times, five, ten, fifteen years go by, and it's like, well, I think it's now time to move, or it's definitely not clear. God never said, you know, it's like maybe God was waiting on you. Just maybe. Again, only you can know that. And I really encourage people in my mentorship programs, when I'm preaching about this or whatever, we want to operate from a place of rest. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 11, take this yoke upon you because my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So I'm I'm not trying to create stress in your life or my life. I'm seeking to walk forward. I know a good friend of mine said it this way, a very successful CEO, he said, rest is moving at God's pace. Rest is moving at God's pace. What does that mean? It might mean that you feel perpetual rest while you're moving. It might mean that there's some stressful moments, but you know you're moving at God's pace, and that is the rest that God has to you in that in that season, in that time. Again, only the Lord can can truly um you know speak that to you. Another biblical principle that we find in Exodus chapter 4, verse 2, the Lord said to him, What is in your hand? And he responded, Moses, a staff. So sometimes people are asking God for the more. They're asking God for this thing, like, God, would you just give me this, whatever? When in actuality, he's like, No, like just you just surrender what's already in your hand. I already gave you that ability to do that, right? So uh again, for from my story, but again, this will apply to you in many different ways, whether you're a producer, a writer, a songwriter, a book writer, whatever it is, like um, if you have crafted a the ability to write lyrics and to write melodies, that might be the staff in your hand. If you've crafted a uh a book in your brain from a life, from a hellacious season that you've gone through as a as a human being, whether from the time that you were young or from the time that you were old, whatever, maybe that is the staff that's in your hand. And that is write the book. Like you don't need a writing degree to write your book. Like the staff in your hand is you overcoming by the butt of the lamb and the word of your testimony, right? Like maybe that is a staff in your hand, whatever the scenario is. But for me and my team, like the staff in our hand is this ability to craft amazing stories together with amazing melodies and lyrics and to create these musical movies. That's one of the things that we are pursuing. We have a bunch of different irons in the fire. But right now, that is the Deborah movie. That is the previous movies that we've done. It has been these musical movies, and so many times it's like, God, if you would just provide this, if you just provide this, and so another real practical application. So if you're a creative or an entrepreneur listening to this, this has been huge for me. Like, pay attention to this point. Is it's not just what you have in your hand, it's also, I believe, who you know in your surroundings. Okay. Everything that I've done with these films, everything I've done with really with my music career, my worship leading career, the songs I release on Spotify in the worship realm. Um, well, real quick on the worship songs, they're they're co-written. And then I take this co-written song, like 99% of my songs are are co-written. I take this co-written song that I wrote with two to three or four other people. I take it into a studio with someone called an engineer, producer, and then I get, you know, background vocalists there. I get players in to play the different different parts, whatever. That is, those are all like, if you will, staffs in my hand, if you will, because they're people I'm connected with and I know on this journey who are excellent in their craft. And then we create these songs, right? It's not the Justin Rizzo, you know, doing it all, you know, for himself and you know, whatever. Like that has to be my way or the highway. I lean into what my producer says, I lean to what my engineer says about the song and the lyrics, whatever it is. And then on the musical side of things, every single film and musical that I've done has been a co-written piece of work. And then like on our uh most recent movie, the Eden movie, it took about over 90 people between cast and crew and writers to get that movie across the finish line. So I shouldn't be asking God for for more when right around me, or a phone call away or a Zoom call away, is an incredible person with a talent in their field that I can team up with to say, let's make this Deborah movie together. And again, I'm seeing with this fourth movie that we're doing, the Lord has brought a team of people. I didn't have to like, you know, go to LA and just sit in a coffee shop and lurk for a couple of days and look, or you look like a director of photography, or you look like a good actor. Sure, do you, you know, it's like it's not that mystical unless God tells you to do that. But it's not that mystical. It's like there's people around you in your world that really, the staff, if you will, reaching out your hand to the staff, it's as simple as picking up the phone. It's as simple as sending a text to say, hey, like I had um one of my clients in my my Worship Leader Academy world randomly messaged me months ago and said, Hey, I know a guy who's worked on these three or four movies, you know, and so I went to their IMDB, it's like, oh my gosh. And this person's very talented in their in their craft, in their field. And so I said, I would love an introduction, you know? And this is before Deborah was quite clear. This is even early spring, I guess. This is before Deborah was really clear. Deborah became kind of clear around like June, Julyish. Um, and I just had a conversation with this person and we connected, built some rapport together. And now I, you know, called this person back uh just a couple of weeks ago and said, Hey, we have more clarity now. It looks like it's gonna be this. Would you be willing to, you know, hop on the team to do this? And they're like, dude, I'm in, let's do it, right? And so the staff, what you already have in your hand to work with, it's not just like your money, your talents, or whatever, it is that, but it's also who is around you, the other staff holders around you who can join you. In your fight to make something creative and amazing for him. And then the third thing that really has been, the Lord's kind of been putting on my heart is I have to trust God with the outcome. So I'm going to get up off the couch and I'm going to move forward. I'm going to use what's already in my hand or the people around me and partner together. And then I'm going to trust God for the outcome. I'm not going to try and manipulate the outcome. You know, I am obviously we're seeking to raise$2.5 million to make this movie. That is an outcome that is needed to pay this long Excel sheet of a budget I have to pay all these people to make this thing excellent, to market this movie. But I think a lot of uh Christians specifically will stall out at this at this juncture, even if they get up off the couch and they use the tools in their hands. A lot of times they won't press the button to send it to Spotify. They won't press the button to send the book to Amazon. They won't press the button to go on to a film, whatever it is, whatever your field is. They won't press the button to buy a business because well, I'm just not sure. Like, what? Like you've gotten up off the couch. You have the the courage was was like you know born inside of you. You have the talent, the ability, whether through a degree or the school of hard knocks, whatever it is, but now you're not sure about the outcome, so you're not gonna like move. Um and uh I believe that obedience to God is it with no guarantees. Okay, God is asking, I believe, for obedience from us with no guarantees about the outcome. And again, it's a that's a hard um wrestle to walk it in our soul. Uh a verse on this, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 6 and 7. Um I planted, Paul says, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So this is like this releasing of hey, I planted this piece, this guy came in and watered this piece, but ultimately the growth was up to the Lord, right? And so for me in this Deborah movie, I I am um planting it, if you will. Um, people are coming around with me to water it and to make it the best means possible in this greenhouse to produce this film and make it, you know, mind-blowingly awesome in the music and the film, uh, the cinematography and the actors and everything that we're we're piecing together. But at the end of the day, um, when an investor comes to me or when a potential donor comes to me and says, So uh am I gonna make X amount back? You know, and because we have we have three tiers on our deck, you know, hey, we have um low, mid, high, a potential return on your investment. And obviously, we'd all love to see the high one. We'd all love to say, like, hey, I guarantee at least the low return on your investment in the next 36 months you're gonna get this much money for sure. You can't guarantee that. Um, and no business can guarantee that, really. Like, obviously, there's more businesses to have like a bit more, you know, uh substantiated, you know, outcomes of their return on their investments. But for this, it's like we are gonna steward this thing to the best of our ability, aka pursuing distribution deals. But at the end of the day, the the outcomings of this belong to the Lord, and we're trusting him to see the fruit come forth from this Deborah tree, if you will. And she sits under a tree a lot, she prophesies under a tree. Um, so a couple of biblical examples just to kind of show both sides. I I'm a I'm a you know teacher guy, so I love this kind of back and forth. If this stresses you out, just stop listening or stop watching at this time. But uh, a couple examples of where um you moved first in the Bible and then power came, obviously the Red Sea. Um it parted when Moses actually lifted his staff, and also you could also argue and say they had to actually leave Egypt, which is a big one. Uh John chapter 9, uh his eyes weren't healed when Jesus spoke, though I'm sure they could have been. Um, they opened when the man washed his eyes, he had to go do an act. Um, Luke chapter 17, um, the lepers were not cleansed while standing still. They were healed as they went on their way. Uh, Gideon's army, the widow's oil. I mean, there's so many examples we can give. And I also wanted to spend some time on this this other side here, because if especially this is like stressing you out listening to this, there are times when you wait on God. Absolutely. And um, again, to apply it to my life and my story, I would say that since January of 2025, and I'm releasing this thing in December of 2025, we had a solid like five or six months where we weren't doing anything, I wasn't raising funds, I wasn't actively writing the next show. We were we were kind of tooling around with some different ideas. It wasn't until June, July of this year when it really, really became clear and then things began to you know fall into motion. So I would even say that there was a season of waiting on the Lord, but it was it was active waiting. It wasn't um now. If we had had a clear word of like, hey, 2025 is just gonna be a do-nothing in this you know uh film realm world. I'm just gonna work my other you know two or three businesses, then that'd be a different story. But we had the season of waiting on the Lord, and then we we pressed go and now we move. But uh some examples, uh David didn't touch Saul. When David had the opportunity to kill Saul when he was sleeping, he didn't do it. Um, and that's a beautiful example of waiting on God even to slay one of your enemies. Um, even Jesus himself uh delayed the healing of or the raising of Lazarus uh in John chapter 11. The disciples in Acts chapter 1, again, this is a hard one to argue, you know, biblically fully. Um, we know that they waited for the endument of power from the Holy Spirit when it came upon them, etc., etc., flaming tongues of fire. Um Abraham waited for his promised son to be born. So there are examples on both sides of the aisle, if you will. Um, and so really I would ask this question, I've asked it to myself and even preparing for this podcast. How do you know if you should wait on the Lord? Or how do you know if you should um be actively, you know, even just pushing through like with a machete and just clearing out the the shrubbery that's kind of like in this path of like, you know, like raising$2.5 million? I would love it if it was like a beach front, just water, there's waves, and you're just like walking forward in like perfect peace and like money's falling from the sky. And again, you might be watching this and you're like, dude, I can pen a$2.5 million check right now. Let's go. And I believe that the Lord's gonna provide for this Deborah film in that kind of supernatural way. Uh and again, we're taking donations for the film, 5123 nonprofit tax write-offs are here in the US, but we're also taking investors for the film. We're gonna get a piece of the pie on the back end of this film when it has uh distribution and uh and that it will have distribution and it will be fantastic, and I believe it will make a ton of money. So get it on it if you want to be in on that 2.5 million. Um, but how how do you know? If God has already spoken it to you. So, like I said earlier in the show, in April 2009, the Lord spoke this to me. And so right now, it's like if I was on a highway, the you know, Justin is going to produce musicals, films, arts, and entertainment. Okay, that is clear. It's a highway I'm on, right? I so now I believe right now I'm picking out am I gonna drive a purple car or a red car? That's my that's my only decision, right? I I know I'm on the highway. There are times when you might get off at a at an exit at a little rest stop, re-gas your vehicle, then you hop back on and you keep going. But so for me, it's not like, man, am I am I stupid for doing like my fifth, you know, thing, for doing another show? Like to me, it's like, no, like the Lord called me clearly to do this. So has the Lord called you to do something? Um, because I don't think he's he needs to like recall it again, like reconfirm it, you know, 17 years later, like, are you sure if he's called you to do it? Um, I don't think you have to wait for a new confirmation. Okay, so that's one way you can kind of know has God already spoken clearly to you? You are an author, you are a business person, you are a writer, whatever it is, right? You have knowledge, the world needs to hear, create an online course. If God has spoken that clearly to you, like why have you not created multiple courses, right? Um, second option, um, just you can kind of seek your own soul with the Lord and talk this through with Him. Um, are you waiting for God's permission or are you waiting for God's guaranteed protection before you move forward? Um, is fear the thing that's making you stand still? Um if it's fear and you can you can consciously say, I have a spirit of fear over doing this project, then I would say it's it's time to move. It's not time to like wait on God to take your fear away. I said this on an episode a couple episodes back, that uh courage is born in the place of prayer, but courage is formed as you're in the gut-wrenching, heart-pounding, oh my God, what am I doing with my life type scenarios? And and again, I I have chosen in different areas of my life, I'm trying to make it a lot less, but I've chosen at times to say, I'm gonna still wait for that courage to just be formed as I'm sitting in the secret place with the Lord and then I'm talking to him every single day and reading Bible verses about this or that. At the end of the day, it's like it'll really be formed in you, Justin, when you begin to move, right? So are you waiting for permission from God or are you waiting for this like you know divine protection to be a hundred percent guaranteed before you move forward? Uh, another great question, great question you can ask yourself is is the delay in pursuing what God's asked you to do producing peace in your soul? Or is it producing anxiety inside of you? Um, I believe that waiting on God will produce a peaceful restraint, but if there's a restlessness or restless anxiety as you're waiting on God, it may just be time for you to move. Um uh another thing that I would look at is does moving require faith or does it require presumption on your end? Faith responds to God's word. Okay? Presumption moves on without it, right? So a great example of this would be like so everything in my life that has been formed and uh been my path forward in this realm of creativity. I've been a you know musician since I was nine years old, been a worship leader and a songwriter since I was 12 years old, um, been making movies and doing musicals and stuff like that since you know for the past 16 years. And so it's pretty clear to me that like I have, you know, there's no presumption in me writing a song, right? Like it's like, but it might be presumption if it's like now I'm gonna suddenly go start a you know uh empanadas business and buy a you know a storefront location here where I live and I'm gonna start making empanadas, right? Like I'd probably need a pretty clear word, my wife and I, before I pivoted my business that much. Like, well, God's with me. I presume He will be he'll make me successful in the food business of making empanadas. Because that's I know nothing about it, I have no history in that, whatever, right? Now, again, like this already happened to me once, worship leader, and then April 2009. I was not a filmmaker, not a musical producer, whatever. So what I did is I you you take the baby steps, right? Like I didn't take out these like you know massive projects for millions of dollars in 2009. I did things within the context of my church, where it was like basically no money at all to spend, and I used people right around me or whatever. So I slowly worked my way into this realm of like faith. I didn't just like go buy a theater, move to LA, you know, and and do all these types of things, unless the Lord, you know, concretely said to do that. Um and then the the last one, I already mentioned it, but are you willing to obey God with your creative venture, even if the outcome is unclear? So many times, again, as I open the show with, one of the greatest mistakes I see so many Christians make, a lot of my friends who are creatives make, is the outcome isn't clear. And I see pitfalls on both sides of this. I'm not gonna move. I just I just I just don't know. I don't have that I don't have PC yet. A lot of times, again, these are from conversations I I've had like recently with friends and creatives and entrepreneurs. It's like, well, you know, you don't see a clear outcome, so that is prohibiting you from moving. And so uh again, I hope this is encouraging you guys. I'm bringing you into my wrestle, into my world. Like I I don't enjoy necessarily talking about these types of things, but this podcast is kind of a um a streamline of thought of what is happening in in Justin's life. And so that's kind of what you're getting on this on this episode. But again, my my hope and prayer for you is that you would um, first of all, donate andor invest into my Deborah film at$2.5 million. That's in the show notes. You can check that out. Uh go to firelightcp.com. If you're listening, firelightcp.com, firelight creative productionscp.com. The investment deck is there for Deborah. You can give a 5123 nonprofit donation as we're she can close this round one at 175,000, or you can invest into the film. We'd love to have a conversation with you about that. And again, I believe that there are people listening to this who can ink a$2.5 million check, like no problem to make this thing happen. So the first thing is I I invite you to be a part of this God story with us to see tons of fruit. I believe salvation of souls, um believers encouraged, unbelievers uh planting seeds in their life in their heart as they see this story of Deborah come to the forefront in a way that it's never been done before. She has a fantastic story. I mean, she was the uh the only woman in Israel's history to be a judge and a prophet. And you have to understand, like in that day, women were like, you know, viewed very, very small. They didn't like, you know, talk in public. Most of them didn't even read. I mean, what what Deborah did is nothing short of amazing, and we're so excited to bring that to the big screen and to show showcase this woman's life because she had an amazing calling from the Lord. So the first and foremost, you know, unashamedly, be a part of our film, be a part of what we're doing. But then secondly, for your life, for your career, for your calling, you might be 16 years old, you might be 86 years old listening to this. I believe that God is not done with your story. The fact that there's still breath in your lungs, God, I believe, has has an assignment for you in your life. And hopefully my my wrestlings and going back and forth of are you wrongfully waiting on God and just you know living in fear? Um, you know, has has kind of brought a bit of clarity to say, and I and I love saying this, I'll end with this, is what is the the one millimeter, just a little sliver, what's one millimeter that you can do with your idea, with a creative act, with a book, with a podcast, whatever that you feel the Lord is asking you to start, what's one millimeter that you can walk towards um and and expect and watch God move on your behalf? What is that one thing? Hope it's encouraging to you guys. Thanks so much for watching, and we'll see you guys in the next episode.