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The Fearless Influencer Podcast
Mark Harbert is on a quest to empower online entrepreneurs across the globe to break free from the daily grind and live life fearlessly on their own terms. Amidst the buzz and chatter of online marketing advice, whether you're a newbie or a seasoned marketer, Mark has an uncanny ability to sift through the noise and deliver the real deal—what's genuinely effective right now. He's all about demystifying the intricate and making it digestible, so you can focus on crafting a winning strategy. The Fearless Influencer Podcast aims to equip you with an unshakeable entrepreneurial mindset while laying out a tactical roadmap for achieving peak performance in online marketing. With years of experience dating back to 2009, Mark has been enlightening the online marketing community through his blog, social media, premium courses, and one-on-one consulting. If you're eager to elevate your game and become a fearless influencer in your niche, hit that subscribe button and tune in to the Fearless Influencer Podcast today.
The Fearless Influencer Podcast
#53: Is Fear Silently Sabotaging Your Calling?
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What's lurking beneath your hesitation to pursue that burning vision? Could it be that fear has silently sabotaged your God-given calling? This soul-searching session tackles how fear distorts our perception, clouds our judgment, and ultimately prevents us from stepping into divine purpose.
We're wired to seek comfort when facing the unknown. Yet this natural tendency becomes destructive when it keeps us from stretching beyond our perceived limitations. Learn the crucial distinction between moral discomfort that warns us to stop, and growth discomfort that signals we're expanding into our calling. This awareness alone can transform how you approach challenges in your spiritual and entrepreneurial journey.
Fear carries powerful emotions that drown out God's still, small voice. When we make decisions from this emotional state, we're operating as though God isn't present or powerful enough to guide us. Isaiah 41:10 reminds us: "Fear not, for I am with you; I will strengthen you, I will help you." But how often do we live as though these words aren't true?
Perhaps most significant is understanding how fear around money can become spiritual bondage. Whether you're struggling financially or blessed with abundance, money fears can control your decisions and essentially become your god. This revelation challenges the notion that prosperity and faith are incompatible, suggesting instead that God "has pleasure in the prosperity of His saints" when we maintain the right perspective about wealth.
The path forward requires identifying specific fears, evaluating their source, and making the conscious decision to press through them. When we approach our fears with grace and accountability, we begin dismantling the walls between us and our calling. What fear will you face today to step more fully into your divine purpose?
today we are going to talk about is fear silently sabotaging your calling. There is one thing that I know it is that fear sabotages people like crazy. I see it all the time. It is really tragic, quite honestly, I see people make decisions based on fear. I see people make decisions based on not complete information.
Speaker 1:One of the things that our bodies and our human condition always does is we are always seeking comfort. We're looking for the rational way to seek comfort. If something is uncomfortable to us, our natural tendency is to gravitate toward how do we get out of this pain as fast as possible and get back into comfort. While that's not necessarily a bad thing in all cases, it can be a bad thing that sabotages you, and I've seen it time and again. I've seen it in my own life, where I'm sabotaging myself because I'm uncomfortable, and I don't want to be uncomfortable and I don't want to feel this way. So I'm going to seek how to get out of this as fast as possible and back into a comfort state. Now I want to make something very clear that there is a difference when it comes to the comfort zone.
Speaker 1:Okay, and one of the things that you want to understand regarding comfort is when you have a fear or you're feeling uncomfortable. You really have to define why it is that you feel uncomfortable. Is the uncomfortableness you feel is it challenging a moral code that you have, or is it a fear because you're stretching yourself beyond what you think you can do and that's why you feel uncomfortable? So there's really two reasons that you need to look at. Am I uncomfortable again because it's challenging a moral code, it's crossing a moral boundary that I'm not willing to cross because it violates my moral code. Or am I just uncomfortable because I've never done this before, I don't know everything, or I don't know everything that pertains to it, or I haven't learned everything that I need to learn yet, and that's why I feel uncomfortable. And so you have to learn to define that, and I've learned over the years how to make that distinction pretty quickly. If I feel uncomfortable, why is it that I feel uncomfortable? I've never done this before. It's stretching me and it's making me feel uncomfortable, and usually when I feel that way, I know I have to press through it. I know that I need to challenge myself, to go further and get beyond that uncomfortable feeling so that I can get into what it is that I'm looking to achieve. So that really plays big. When you are struggling with something or you're struggling to get to that next level, you got to ask yourself what is it that's impeding me?
Speaker 1:Because I believe every single one of you have a calling by God. You are here because you have a calling. You have a message that you are meant to share with the masses. That's why you're here. That's why you're a part of the Fearless Influencer Academy, and I can't even begin to tell you how many people come into our space here and they don't even give it a chance. They really don't, and that saddens me, because I believe a lot of people end up here for one way or another, whether they stick here or they don't, and they go on to something else. You have a calling that God's called you to, but fear is such a big thing that holds people from attaining their calling and it leads them through an entire life that really is unfulfilling, because I believe that if you are operating in the calling that God has given for you, there is satisfaction in that, and when you don't have satisfaction, I believe a huge part of that, a huge part of the dissatisfaction, is that you're not truly operating in the calling that God has on your life. Me, I am here. I am 100% satisfied with what I do because I'm operating in my calling. What I do because I'm operating in my calling and my calling is to help you go out there and make money with your vision that God has given you.
Speaker 1:Now, some people might not like that. I even said that Money and God. Why would you put that in the same thing? Because if you think that God doesn't want you to be prosperous, you're broken here. You just don't know what God wants for your life. God has pleasure in the prosperity of his saints. The scripture tells us that, yes, there are boundaries with money this way and this way. But when you look at money the right way which is a whole nother topic, by the way, I'm just going off on a tangent here but when you have God as the center, you realize and recognize money for what it is, and we've talked about this before. You can log into the members area and you can go in and look at some of the things we talked about regarding money and how God does want you to be prosperous.
Speaker 1:That word prosperity, whoa that freaks so many Christians out. You need to get your head straight on that. If that freaks you out, you need to get your head straight on on straight about freaks you out. You need to get your head straight on on straight about what God says about prosperity Because, make no mistake about it, god wants you to prosper and he wants you to prosper financially. That does not mean you're going to be a millionaire, doesn't mean you're going to be a gazillionaire, but it means that God wants you to prosper financially, just like he wants you to prosper in your relationships, wants you to prosper financially, just like he wants you to prosper in your relationships, in your marriage, in every aspect of your life. He wants you to prosper financially too. So I'm going off on a little tangent, but the thing that keeps people from prospering financially is fear. So your calling is incredibly important and your calling with God will have some level of prosperity.
Speaker 1:Now, the amount of money okay, if we're talking about that is irrelevant, because that's not the determining factor with prosperity. But one of the things that is key is understanding your calling and what God has meant for you. Okay, what is meant for your life, what God's called you to do? Make zero, have no question about it. That includes prosperity financially and again, I reiterate, that doesn't necessarily mean a specific amount. I know people that prosper financially, that make very little but they know the money that God's given them and they handle it the correct way. I know people that are multi-multi-millionaires, that are very committed Christians, who go to God to find out what God wants them to do with their money. They're just, they happen to have more. So that's a whole other topic.
Speaker 1:I'm going off on a tangent here, but my point is that you need to dive in and you need to figure out the two main things that matter the most. When you are feeling fearful, you need to identify why. You need to identify why am I uncomfortable? Am I uncomfortable because this is violating a moral code? Or am I uncomfortable because this is stretching me beyond the limits of what I think I'm able to do? If you can define that and you can figure that out very quickly with those two things okay, I'm putting four here, the two things then you can go far. I believe you can go far, and that is very important. Okay, so let's talk a little bit.
Speaker 1:I have a few things over here that I want to make sure I discuss with you, but one of the big things that fear does, especially in relation to your calling, is that fear distorts God's voice. Okay, fear a lot of times carries emotion with it. Have you ever noticed that Fear carries emotion? One of the things I've learned in my life, at 51, at the recording of this video I'm 51, and one of the things that I've learned in my life is I've had a lot of fear that I've had to overcome in certain areas and things like that. Well, one of the things that I have learned is that the scripture tells us that God is a still small voice. It's a very quiet voice. Okay, it's a very quiet voice, and sometimes it's so quiet we may think that little voice that we're hearing is just us, it's just our, it's just our thought process, like it's just us. I'm not even sure if it's God. That's how quiet God is, but I will tell you that when you have, fear carries emotion and it affects our body in a way that would distort God's voice. So when you have fear, you have to figure out what it is that fear is and decide that you're going to step in faith over that fear and you have to learn to rid yourself of that emotion.
Speaker 1:Now, I'm not saying it's bad. I'm not saying emotion is bad, but what I am saying is that so many people make decisions based on fearful emotions, based on fearful emotions. They have emotions and their tendency, as I said before, is to seek the comfort. We want out of the pain really fast, we want to get out of it as fast as possible and we want to move into comfort because that's where we feel okay, that's where we feel good. So we have to learn to combat ourselves and our own sabotage, because a lot of times we subconsciously seek the comfort. So we have to stop it and ask ourselves why am I feeling this way and what is it that's sabotaging me?
Speaker 1:So I see people get fearful over spending $25 a month on a tool that could literally save them hours and hours a week. Because I don't want to spend the money. Why do you not want to spend the money? Why do you not want to spend that to help your business? I'm not suggesting not be smart with your money. What I am suggesting is what is the basis of a decision that you make? Is it because I don't want to spend $25, or is it I'm just fearful that I'm not going to do the work or is it fearful that I don't believe enough in myself to actually carry through? I'm just using that as an example.
Speaker 1:Guys, wall honesty is what we have to start getting if we want to have success in what it is that we're doing, if we want to have success in the calling that God has given us. It's very important to know that our calling. God is calling us, but it's us are the ones that have to step up and answer that call. And I believe if you're here and you're in a health and wellness and you have a product that you believe in, or you have a course that you're selling, or you have a coaching program that you are sharing with the world and you're looking for clients, guess what that is the calling that God is pulling you into and everything that stops you from attaining that more than likely has some anchor of fear to it if you're not pushing through it. As an entrepreneur, you must learn to push through fear. I will tell you when it comes to the fear and the emotion attached to fear, making decisions based on emotion nine times out of 10 is a bad decision. I have made decisions based on fear. I have made decisions based on fear. I've made decisions based on emotion and nine times out of 10, I always make the wrong choice.
Speaker 1:One of the things we must learn to do is learn to evaluate our thinking and why we feel the way we do. It's really that important. The scripture tells us to lead every thought captive to the obedience we do. It's really that important. The scripture tells us to lead every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Somebody might read that and go every thought yeah, that's what it says Every thought. That just seems really hard. I'll tell you. What is really hard is not evaluating the way you think and leaning down these paths that lead to things that just lead to more personal sabotage. That's more painful. If you ask me, so, learning to pay attention to your emotions and like why do I feel this way? Ask God, show me, show me why I'm feeling this way. What is it I need to do to overcome this? And a lot of times, god will reveal that to you.
Speaker 1:So making decisions based on your emotions or fear is never good. Anytime you make a decision based on fear could be a very bad decision. Now, not all fear is bad. There is some fear If I'm standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon, on the cliff, and I got fear because if I fall, I'm dead. The edge of the Grand Canyon, on the cliff, and I got fear because if I fall, I'm dead. That's a good fear. You know what I mean. So you have to learn to define fear. Some fear is good because it's meant to shock you, like you need to get out of this situation, and quickly. But most people, anytime they feel any type of fear, they haven't learned to decipher what kind of fear it is and that hurts them Okay. So I hope that helps you a little bit.
Speaker 1:Another point that I wanted to share is that fear also, it causes you to forget who's with you. It causes you to forget who's with you. It causes you to forget. God says in Isaiah 41.10, says fear not, for I am with you, I will strengthen you, I will help you. Doesn't get any more clearer than that right Doesn't get any more clearer than that. That's a huge thing If we forget who's with us and we're making a fear-based decision when God says I'm with you, I will help you. That we want to remember that.
Speaker 1:We have to become masters of what goes on in our heads. We're never going to be perfect. Every one of us, we all have flaws. We're going to mess up. Believe me, I've messed up plenty of my life, and I still do.
Speaker 1:I'm not perfect either, by any stretch of the imagination, but I've learned over the years to give myself grace and mercy. Okay, I used to not be that way. I used to make a mistake and I would beat myself up to no end about it. But I've learned over the years and as I've gotten older, maybe you could say I've gotten more wise. I don't know. Maybe a little bit of this gray here has brought some wisdom. I don't know, but what I do know is that I've given myself, learned to give myself grace and mercy. Why? Because God does. God gives me grace and mercy every single day. The scripture says that his mercies are renewed every day. So if he does that, why would I not do anything else? You have to forgive yourself very quickly. Like you mess up. Okay, I screwed up. Let me learn from this and let me move forward.
Speaker 1:But I'm not going to take it as a personal thing. And these are the roads that I see a lot of people go down. Is they go down these roads of the sadakaj? Is that they make a mistake and they think that mistake is a part of their personal identity, and so when they take it on as their personal identity, it cuts very deep. It cuts super deep, because when you have something as part of your identity, that can be good or bad. If part of my identity is that I'm a son of God, I've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, I've been redeemed, I am a son of God, my sins are forgiven, and even my sins that I'll do in the future will be forgiven, because, well, it doesn't mean I go out and willfully want to try to sin. That's not. I'm not saying that.
Speaker 1:But what I am saying is that the great news is that we have somebody that has given us this amazing thing called redemption. It's this amazing thing called mercy and grace. Now, we don't want to use that to our advantage and just go do whatever we want because you know, we got mercy and grace. That's not what I'm getting at. What I am saying is that those times when we do need to call upon God to give us mercy, to give us grace, he's right there with it. That is a beautiful thing, guys, because it allows us to say you know what? God, I'm sorry. I did that. I'm going to try and change, I'm going to work hard to do it and boom, we're on the emotion. Part of it is gone, like not in a sense of I'm not sorry, but, god, I'm sorry. You know there's some emotion with that, but I'm so grateful that you've forgiven me. I'm going to work really hard not to do that again, or I'm going to use this as a learning experience and what I'm getting out here is that fear.
Speaker 1:Many times we forget who's with us. The biggest issue that I see with, especially believers today and people that really want to live for God. Okay, and if you're on here and that's not your intention I'm not here to push faith on you, nothing. That's your decision personally. I'm just here to speak. What helps me every day, and for those of you that this gels with awesome, take from it what you can.
Speaker 1:But here's the thing is that I know every single day I need God's grace and mercy. And if we live a life of grace and mercy with ourselves, guess what's going to happen? We're going to live a life of grace and mercy. And if we live a life of grace and mercy with ourselves, guess what's going to happen? We're going to live a life of grace and mercy with others. We're literally going to how we approach other people is going to be with grace and mercy. Yeah, they're annoying, yeah, they do these things that really grate me. But you know what? Grace and mercy, grace and mercy. And it keeps us from looking at people like there's things that drive me nuts about people, but I also try to look through the lens of mercy and grace. None of us have it right in this life and if we try to hold people to an impossible standard that we can't even hold ourselves to, then you're literally going to operate in a way where you look at people through a crappy lens, a lens that nobody. This is why religion sucks. I'm just going to throw it out there.
Speaker 1:Jesus did not come to establish a religion. He came to abolish religion. That's really what he came to abolish. Religion is action with no heart behind it. It's action, religion. If you want my honest opinion and believe me, I know I've been very religious in the past. I've been a part of religious organizations but and I'm not saying the way we classify under the law, I'm talking about what is religion? Way we classify under the law. I'm talking about. What is religion? Jesus did not come to establish religion. He came to abolish it and he came to reconnect us with the creator. That's what he came to do. He didn't come so that we could just follow a bunch of rules. And we're following these rules because we're supposed to, not because we want to, but we're doing it. There's no joy in that. God did not do that.
Speaker 1:For that reason and if what I'm saying upsets you, it's not my intention but dig deep and look, and I think one of the things that has happened today is a lot of people also don't know their Bible, especially Christians. So I highly encourage you that every day, you figure out a way to study the Bible. Read something. Start with Proverbs I think that's one of the greatest books to start with. There's so much wisdom in that book and it's just such a great way to do it. Read it and before you do it, just say hey, God, show me something today in your scripture, show me the wondrous things that you have for me today, and just start reading and something will click. Trust me it will. So fear keeps us from forgetting who's with us, and wherever there is fear, there is not love, and that is scriptural. There is no fear in love. That's what the scripture says. There's no fear in love, and god is. So when we make decisions based on fear, what happens is we're not operating in what God really wants for us. So that's something to think about.
Speaker 1:And here's my final point, and I'll share this, and we'll end it Well, listen to this verse. Listen to this verse Psalm 27.1. The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? That's Psalm 27.1. And here's the point I want to make of this is that fear? It actually will build a wall around your calling. If you're not careful, it will build a wall. Fear will keep you from actually getting to the calling that God has for you. It builds a wall around it that makes it almost impenetrable to get into the calling that God has.
Speaker 1:The thing is that if God is the stronghold of your life, if you find yourself really struggling with something, you got to ask yourself where is the fear. Ask God to show you where is the fear and how do you overcome it. If you need that help, then you need to seek out a mentor or whatever. Find somebody that can help you. And the number one thing.
Speaker 1:I hate to say this, but the number one thing, the biggest fear people have, is money. It is it's the biggest fear, and not a scripture, because the scripture says that the love of money is the root of all evil. It's the love of money. If your fear is around money, if you have fear around money, then money is your God. Sorry, I hate to tell you, but that is the truth. If you are fearful about money, you've made money dictate what you do, and that could be. You only have a hundred dollars in your bank account and you're afraid because you're like I don't know how I'm going to pay the bill, I'm not going to this. You have fear around money and you've literally made money your God. And people are so driven by that fear that they'll go down to a bank and rob it, they'll put somebody on the street, they'll do evil because of their fear of not having what they need. And you know what that is Love of money.
Speaker 1:The biggest thing that we have done as Christians is we villainize people that have a lot of money, and we all love money. No, happens with poor people too, people that have no money whatsoever. You think it's just rich people. That's a big lie. That's a huge lie. Love of money affects poor people too, because they will all murder people, because they're just trying to get some food, because they're so afraid they're going to murder somebody so they can get some food, or steal a little money here, steal a little bit there. Fear is driving those decisions. That is one of the biggest things whatsoever that people struggle with and that is one of the biggest fears. And that's why the love of money is the root of all evil. And it is not just rich people, my friends. I promise you that. And all of that fear is literally the one thing that will stop you from having your stepping into your calling. It will build a wall around your calling so big that you can't even get through it to get to your calling, because you have fear in your life.
Speaker 1:Everything is based on two things fear and love. It's one or the other. You're making a decision based on fear or love. Which one is it? I know I need this tool at 20 bucks a month, but I don't want to pay it. Because why Fear or love? Why do you not want to do it? Could it save you time, could it multiply your efforts, but you're so afraid to spend 20 bucks a month that you don't want to. You don't want to do it because you know this. Maybe you should cut out the cable TV that's costing you 100 bucks a month. Maybe you should cancel that so that you can build the thing and step into the calling that God really wants for your life. I don't know, that might hurt a little bit, but I will apologize for it because it's true. I love you. I want you to step out of the fear.
Speaker 1:I every day try to step out of my fear and I don't do it right all the time, but what I do know is that I have overcome a lot of fear in my life and I'm still working on it, and I'm going to work on it till the day I die, and so will you.
Speaker 1:But never forget fear is what is keeping you from reaching the calling that God has. Until you make that hardcore decision that I'm going to press through, I'm going to find out what my fears are and I am going to press through them, and I'm going to work through them. Until you make that decision and figure out a way to hold yourself accountable, you're never going to reach the calling that God has on you, because you're letting fear dictate it, and that is something we have to ask ourselves. That's really between you and God. It's not between me, you and God. It's not between anybody else, but you and God. So my main points for you today that fear distorts God's voice, fear makes you forget who's with you Okay and fear builds a wall around your calling. Those are the three things that you need to keep in mind and figure out how you can overcome them. So I hope that helps you today. I hope you got something from that and I really appreciate you. I hope these fearless faith sessions help you.
