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Coffee with Dr. Kish is your weekly refill of faith, hope, and love created especially for Christians who pour out daily but need to be poured into. Whether you're navigating burnout, wrestling with purpose, or simply craving a quiet moment with God, this podcast offers spiritual encouragement rooted in Scripture, justice, and grace.
Hosted by visionary educator and faith-rooted leader Dr. Kish, each episode blends biblical truth with real-world insight to help you reconnect with your calling, restore your soul, and rise with renewed strength. From devotional reflections to justice-centered conversations, this is your space to be still, be brave, and be filled.
Come for the coffee. Stay for the clarity. Leave with a heart refilled.
Hey, and welcome back to Coffee with Dr. Kish. I am excited about part two of this session. I hope you caught the first session. It was really, really good. It was about getting God out of the box. And now we're gonna talk a little bit about you getting out of your own box, getting out of your own way. Okay, like what is it that is keeping you from doing the things that God is asking you to do?
And I'm going to share from my perspective because I've had this happen a lot in my life. And it's interesting because typically when God calls us to do something, it's usually going to be something that you're uncomfortable with. It's not in your comfort zone, right? I mean, sometimes it is, but for me, I've noticed that when he's calling me to do something, it's somewhat familiar, but there's a lot that is not familiar. And I'm asking God.
Help me, show me, what do I need to do differently here? How do I need to show up? What is it that you are asking me to do because I don't feel equipped for this? You know, like this isn't my background or I wasn't trained on this part here. Like what God, but why? Why does he do that? Right? Like why does he introduce these out of the box experiences for us is because he knows who he is.
And he knows that he has already equipped us for what we need to do. So we don't have to look at ourselves in this limited way of who we think we are. If we see ourselves through the eyes of Jesus and we see ourselves understanding that we have his guidance, we have his leading, we have his wisdom with us, his presence with us, his power with us. Okay. So.
to hearken back to this in case you're catching this episode and didn't catch the one previously when we were talking about getting God out of the box. Now I do ask you to go back and check that one out if you didn't catch that one, but getting God out of the box is important because once you realize how to get him out of the box and see him differently and no limits on God, understanding that he is God and he can do whatever he wants to do, right?
and we're reprogramming our minds, we're getting those false downloads of who he is and his character away from our minds so that we can truly see him as he is, then it helps us to realize who we are, who he's called us to be because he made us in his image, right? And I was sharing in the previous episode about an experience I had with meeting people that I've been working with for a long time.
but we were working remotely, so I never really saw them in person. And then I was just, whoa. Like when I saw them in person, I was like, wait a minute. It didn't add up to what I thought about them in that little box, right? Like the height may have been different or the, you know, essence of who they are was a little bit different in person. So those things started playing in my mind a little bit like, what? Like, how does this happen? how can that, how could I have even formed those?
norms in my mind of who they were and It just happened like over time and I don't know I didn't feel like I was an active participant in it like but it happened right and what God showed me I started looking into That a little bit and he was also showing me like yeah, and this is what You do with me sometimes and this is what you do with yourself sometimes right like you just limit me and yourself to a box That you're familiar with and if you're not careful
you miss out on so much more of who I am and who you are if you limit yourself to these boxes and to these norms that you've established that aren't even true. It's not even reality, okay? And I started looking to like, well, I can be the only person that thinks like this, right? Because I know I've confirmed with others that they have some of the same reactions of like, whoa, I didn't expect that.
You know, I hadn't met that person in person and I didn't know that they were that tall and I didn't know, you know, that kind of thing. So I started looking into it and these are the things that keep us in this boxed mentality is the angles, right? Camera angles, how you see a person in a box, right? It's two dimensional. So you're not getting that 3D experience typically. So you don't really have good angles. You don't have the depth perception. So that's the 2D, 3D thing. You don't have reference points. So
If there was someone else in that frame that maybe I knew what they looked like in real life and they were next to the person, I have a reference point. I could say, that's what it is. Or there's distortion, lens distortion or distance, you know, how far or close they are to the camera changes how it looks, right? And body proportions, right? The proportions. Okay. Why am I saying I listed all of those because in the same way we can do that with God and we can do that with ourselves where
we see ourselves from different angles, right? You see yourself from the perspective of how other people see you, right? Maybe family members, friends, coworkers. And a lot of times you're not willing to step into what God has called you to because you're like, but I'm not like, I can't do that. Or I won't, you know, even speaking y'all, like I, to this day, I'm just like, Whoa God, for real? Because I know
He gave me glimpses of this when I was younger of, you know, speaking. But it's not something I liked to do. Like I was very timid about it. Even now, like recording, I'm just like, Lord be with me, God my words. But I'm not somebody who's naturally like, ooh, let's record an episode and let's do that. You know, like it's just, it's always this inner noise that I'm dealing with, right? And so I say that because,
The things that God may be calling you to do may be those exact things, the things that you're like, that's not me. I cannot do that. I don't want to do that. Like I like being in the background. I never wanted to be in a place of like, let me lead this organization and do these things, whatever, because I like to just support in the background. Like just let me do my thing. Right? Like I don't want the noise. Well, sometimes that's not God. That's you in your box. And God is saying,
Get out of the box. I have need of thee. Like I need you to get with me and I'm not in a box. So I need you to get out of the box. I need you to stop letting people limit your gifts. I need you to stop letting people limit your reach. I need you to stop letting people's thoughts of you keep you from doing the very things I'm telling you to do. Right? Like the devil can play on your mind. He can start getting you focused on the things that don't even matter.
well, what are they going to say if this that and the other or what if no, I don't you know, what about if I what about if you don't That's what started driving me. I realized that God Was showing me that although we live in this world of False beliefs that we just get to live on until we don't want to live anymore You know you live your nice
full life until you turn 105, right? And for some of us that will be true. But for a lot of us it will not. And because we do not know how much time we have here, God has asked us to show up to be the light, to be the salt for the world. But how can we do that if we keep putting ourselves in a box? Okay? And we're limited. We're like, no, you can only get
this side of me, God, for this purpose. I'm only going to serve over here in my little church or with my little family. Like I'm not trying to do all these other things that you got me. Now hear me when I say this, if God is telling you that he wants you to show up in a certain way in your little church or with your little family, absolutely, you better prioritize that. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm saying
If he is calling you to do something else, that you don't swipe him away, that you don't negate what he's saying because you're like, I'm not that, or I can't do that, or I'm not built for that. Because if God's telling you to do it, he's telling you to do it.
Do you see what I'm saying? And if you look throughout the word, there are countless opportunities where we can see how God called someone to do a thing. They felt ill-equipped to do that thing. Didn't feel like they had the experience. Didn't feel like they had the skills that they needed. Didn't feel like they had the resources. And what did God bless them with? All of that. All of it. Because God is the gap filler.
Whenever we're in a place where we're like, there's a gap, but God is asking us to do a thing, but we're like, but it's a gap here. Like the gap is God, you know, I don't want to do that thing. That could be the gap. I'm not trying to do that Lord. I don't want to move there. I don't want to do this. I don't want to do that. And he's saying, but I want you to do it. Would you do it for me?
And you have a choice. God's not going to force you to do anything. That's not how he rolls. So he will give you the choice, but this is an invitation. Just like we had an invitation to see God outside of the box. He also gives you an invitation to see yourself out of the box. And if you don't get him out of the box, you're never going to see yourself out of the box. Cause see, when you think he's in a box, then you think that he's limited to something. He's limited to the confines of your understanding.
of what he's able to do. yeah, that's exactly what you're thinking. Because if you're saying, I can't do that thing, I'm not equipped to do that thing, I don't have the personality to do that thing, I don't have the training to do that thing, I don't have the vehicle to do that thing. And he's saying, I got you. But you're like, but do you have me Lord? Okay, that's a box.
Because that means that you don't have an understanding of who God is and that he has all the resources in the world and beyond, right? To get you what you need and maybe not even in a conventional fashion. So we have to start like reprogramming our minds. That's why he says, renew your minds. That is so important. And we can't allow the world
to minimize the importance of spending time with him, communing with him, renewing our minds by reading the word. Because when we renew our minds, then that means now we have new perspective. We have new ways of seeing God. We have new ways of seeing ourselves. And in our last session, we read Isaiah 55, eight and nine, which says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways declares the Lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts.
than your thoughts, right? We talked about that. And I'd love to turn to Jeremiah 29, 11, which I know is probably a lot of people's favorite verse, one of your favorites. And it says, for I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil to give you a future and a hope, okay?
Another translation says, alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for. Now, if you look at this,
This is God speaking to Jeremiah. And right before that, says, says, for thus says the Lord, when 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place for I know the plans I have. Okay, listen, do you get that? Before he says this, that we get all excited about like, Ooh, God knows his plans, the plans he has for us and there to prosper me.
not to bring disaster. He's saying that that is what he ultimately wants to do, but he's also prefacing that with after 70 years, like you're going to be in captivity when 70 years are completed for Babylon. I will visit you. Okay. So that
helps us to understand and put into perspective so we don't have that distorted view that we just talked about with the the putting God in a box, putting yourself in a box. Don't have a distorted view of who God is and what he can do in your life, right? Just because things look horrible in your life right now, like things could be ridiculous. OK, and I'm talking on all fronts. Kids could be acting out marriage on the rocks. Job is a mess like
Everything could just be like crumbling health deteriorating whatever but God, okay Basically what he's saying is you may be going through some things you may be struggling Okay, but I know the plans I have for you Plans to prosper you plans to give you an expected in Okay, like this this is what not no plans to harm you God wants to make you well
He wants you to be the light. He wants you to show up for others because you have what you need in him through him. And that helps us because we get a whole new perspective of who God is, what he wants in our lives, how he shows up for us. And so we're not limited to our own beliefs and our own boxes of what we think God is and that he can only be what we expect for him to be, right? That he's only
a means to an end. Like let's say you're just interested in, I need God to just show up for me so that I can do this thing. I need him to bless my business so that it can be profitable so that I can bless my family, right? Like maybe that's your prayer, but it's like almost like that's all it is to it. Like if he does that, then we're good. No friend, that's why God is saying come closer.
I need you to see what I see. need you to know what I know. I need you to know this is bigger than everything. So I need you not to make idols of anything. I don't need you to make idols of your, your spouse, your partner, your family, your kids, your job, your, you know, thought of what you want your life to be. Groups. I don't need you to make idols of any of it. Material things. I need you to be so locked in with me.
that you are holding everything just loosely. Like you're holding so tightly to me that everything else is loose. So that if I say, I need that, I need you to stop doing that and come over here that you can shift. And friend, know what it's like to be rigid and like want a thing and like, God, just, I know you can do it. Just do it please. But that's not how he rocks. That's not how he rolls. He doesn't just do a thing.
that he's not trying to do. Do you get what I'm saying? Like it has to be part of his plan. We can't act like we're God and our plan is supposed to be the thing, the supreme plan. His plan is the supreme plan, okay? And we get to play a part. So when it says delight, this is another one that we need to turn to. In Psalm 37, four, and I pulled this out just so I wouldn't be searching for it, but.
I'll start reading that with you. And if you want to turn there or at least listen in, if you're on the move, Psalm 37, four says, delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Now I remember that was another one of my favorite verses growing up. And I remember thinking, okay, cool. Like, you know, we like the verses that make us feel like we're going to get what we want, right? Like, yes, delight yourself in the Lord and he'll give you the desires of your heart. And
I don't know if it really hit me until recently that that delight is actually where the desire starts. So when you delight yourself in the Lord, he gives you certain desires that you maybe didn't have before, right? Like think about it. There are certain things that people desire. They really have a godly desire to do a thing that you would never even think about wanting to do.
Because it's like, because he didn't give that to you and that's not for you. It's actually not something he even wants you to do. But when we delight ourselves in the Lord, those desires that are his desires become our desires. So then you're like, yeah, you know what? I think I might want to be a missionary. I think I am interested in seeing what God has for me to do in this place or in this space. I think I will consider adopting a child. I think I might.
be interested in seeing how I can help orphans. Like these are things that we were literally just talking about at church today. But I think those elements of when we understand the invitation, when God says to come closer, he wants us to come close so that we can learn more about him, see him in a bigger way, and then see ourselves in a bigger way, understand our authority, understand the armor he's given us to fight this battle and that he wants us to show up. Okay.
When you think about David and what he was able to do in conquering and defeating a giant called Goliath and cutting off his head as a little boy, all of that had to be because David didn't see himself as a little boy. He didn't see himself as a little boy in a box, a little shepherd boy in a box. He saw himself bigger.
because he knew how big his God was. In fact, that's why he was ready to fight the giant because he's like, you talking bad about my God. Do y'all hear what this man is saying? Is anybody going to step up? Because he actually communed with the Lord. He understood who God was. So don't get it twisted. Don't think that just because somebody has a uniform, a title, they're supposed to be doing the thing that they're actually doing the thing.
Okay, because those soldiers who were supposed to be ready to fight the giant weren't ready. They had been trained and I'm saying using my air quotes if you were listening to the podcast and they had the equipment they had the armor, but they didn't have the heart and they did not have the right view of who God was and who they were in God. So I'm asking you friend today to shift your focus.
get God out of the box, get yourself out of that box. And it's all with one swift action. And that swift action is to draw closer to God. When you draw close to him and renew your mind through the reading of this word, the holy word, your mind will be renewed in a way that you will start delighting in the Lord and desiring what he wants for your life so that you can carry it out and you won't question the gaps.
because you'll know that God can feel them. You will be aware of them, but you'll also trust that God can feel them. You will pray over people to be healed and delivered and you will trust that God will do it. Whether it's here on this side or the other side of glory, you're trusting that that word is real. His word does not return until unto him void. It's a real word. It's authentic. He stands on it. Okay. It's a guarantee. And
I'll just leave you with this. Recently, my son had to get glasses and he didn't have an insurance policy on it because, you know, as a kid having glasses, you should absolutely get an insurance policy. But we were told, he only needed to wear them for like two months and he should be fine. So we didn't get the insurance policy. Well, guess what? He took off his glasses, put them in his pocket, fell down. They broke. And so we had to go and get them fixed. Thank God they were able to fix them. It was not a problem. But insurance means that
you will be able to get it fixed and you won't have to pay extra because of something breaking. And we have that insurance with the Lord. Okay. We have a forever insurance policy with the Lord that if anything happens in our lives, we have the assurance because of our insurance policy by the blood of Jesus for him dying on the cross for our sins.
that we are never left, we're never forsaken, God is always with us. So trust that friend, know who God is, know who you are, walk in your purpose because he has need of you. He has need of you and we got to break free from all the lies. Okay. Quick prayer for you, Lord God. Thank you for being amazing. Thank you for being our Lord, our savior. We pray right now that you will bless, that you will guide, that you will lead my friend.
who's listening right now, that she will see herself the way that you see her, that he will see himself the way that you see him, that you will lead and guide them to walk in purpose, to walk in power, and to fulfill the plans that you have for their lives. It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen. If this has blessed you, please share it with someone. Love you, and look forward to seeing you next time. All right, bye.