Reclaim Your Joy, Focus and Energy

Keywords

energy, focus, purpose, discipline, rest, guilt, effectiveness, God's promises, heart, mental health


Summary

In this episode of the Giving a Purpose podcast, Jacques LaGrange discusses the importance of reclaiming energy and focus in our lives. He emphasizes the difference between being busy and being effective, the need to let go of guilt and past mistakes, and the significance of guarding our hearts and minds. LaGrange also highlights the role of discipline in protecting our future, the necessity of believing in God's promises, and the importance of rest and recovery. Finally, he encourages listeners to audit their week for energy drainers and to live with purpose.


Takeaways

Stop letting life drain you.
Being busy isn't the same as being effective.
We often take on things we weren't assigned to do.
Let go of guilt about past mistakes.
Guard your heart above all else.
Discipline is protection, not punishment.
Delayed obedience equals unnecessary frustration.
Rest does not mean you're quitting.
Audit your week for unnecessary energy drainers.
Live on purpose and in purpose.


Titles

Reclaim Your Energy and Focus
The Busy vs. Effective Dilemma


Sound bites

"Stop letting life drain you."
"Guard your heart above all else."
"Rest does not mean you're quitting."


Chapters

00:00 Reclaiming Your Energy and Focus
00:40 Understanding Busy vs. Effective
02:32 Letting Go of Guilt and Past Mistakes
04:01 Guarding Your Heart and Mind
06:09 The Importance of Discipline
08:03 Believing in God's Promises
09:30 The Necessity of Rest and Recovery
10:29 Auditing Your Week for Energy Drainers

Transcript

Jacques LaGrange (00:00.878)
Stop letting life drain you. Reclaim your energy, your focus, and your joy. Let's talk about it next on the Giving a Purpose podcast.

Jacques LaGrange (00:36.798)
Welcome to the Giving a Purpose podcast where we bridge the highs, the lows, the lessons learned through life's journey and filling in the gap. You already know what it is. It's a new week, new episode. Listen, I need you to do something for me. Hit that subscribe button. Make sure you click the bell so you can get new fresh episodes every week and share this with somebody. You know somebody needs this.

Sometimes we gotta share some things that are good. Come on, man. Let's go. Let me ask y'all something. I ain't been tired lately.

I know it is. And we usually answer that by, know, we just been busy. We've been doing this. We've been doing that because being busy isn't the same as being effective. Right. Sometimes we confuse those things with thinking that when we're being busy, there were also being effective in what we're And most of it is

because we're doing things that we weren't really assigned to do. So a lot of our energy is just leaking out because we're doing things that we really weren't assigned to do. We're taking on things. Sometimes we take on other people's problems. Sometimes we do stuff at work that we're not supposed to, not necessarily that you're not supposed to be doing, but we take on things that...

you really weren't assigned to do and now you have drained yourself of what you're really supposed to do. And sometimes this drainage can come in forms of overthinking.

Jacques LaGrange (02:32.92)
people pleasing. I'm raising my hand. That is one thing that I'm working on. Saying yes when God said no. How many of us has been through that? Think about that. How many times have we done stuff we know God told us not to do? And then we look up and realize that it was a waste of time. Like I have.

That happened so many times where I'm doing something and then I know that I'm not supposed to be doing it. And then I realized it wasn't even worth the time and effort that I put into it. And now it's just like, I shouldn't have done it anyway. All right? Also, things can look like for burnout is carrying guilt. You should be releasing. Listen, not...

Only are we just in a new year. But even yesterday, that's the past. Let it go. Forgive yourself, forgive somebody else if something happened to you. Move on. Stop feeling guilty about something that you've done in the past. And especially stop feeling guilty about something you've already forgiven yourself or something that you've already done. Cause guess who's not doing it? God. When you're in alignment with God,

You understand that he's not making you feel guilty about those things that you've apologized for and then repented for. So stop letting that drain you. Some of us are just tired because you've been in meetings God never scheduled. All right, listen, Proverbs 4 and 23 says, guard your heart above all else for it determines the

course of your life. Let's marinate on that. We have to guard our diet with everything. What we see, what we hear, just the energy and things that we are around. But as the word says, and as foundation right here, it says guard your heart above everything because we know out of the mouth, the heart speaks. So you gotta, you gotta

Jacques LaGrange (05:00.116)
guard your heart of what you take in. Because remember, even in the physical, your heart is pumping to everything, to all your organs, through your veins, to every part of your body. And if you don't protect it, if you allow the calcium to get into it, you allow just things that you're eating to cause heart failure, it's not pumping the blood that it needs to get to everywhere. And

Coming from a person who had a stomach problem where it was bleeding and everything, listen, when your heart can't get to where it needs to, or you're losing blood, or it's not working properly, you'll faint.

and your body will have to recalibrate itself to get back. And sometimes that will cause you to be unconscious. That will cause you to just not be in the orientation or back in alignment where you need to be. See, you're gonna be in alignment here, but you'll be lying flat. I'm telling you from experience, I'm trying to tell you. So.

If we're supposed to guard our heart above everything else, because life and death is in the power of your tongue, right? So if we guard our heart and what we intake and what we say, that can determine the path now that you're taking for your life. So guard your heart, folks. All right? You know, one of my favorite words is we have to be disciplined.

Discipline is protection, not punishment. All right, discipline keeps your future self safe. Think about that. The more disciplined we are, right, it helps you to protect your future. All right, boundaries aren't rude, they're holy, right? 1 Corinthians 9.27 says, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control. Listen, that's tough.

Jacques LaGrange (07:13.268)
I'm not gonna let you man. Sometimes this flesh right here wants to win in this war. But where we're not in, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, against those principalities, right? All right. Stop negotiating what, man. Stop negotiating what God already told you.

If God told you something, then that's what it is. Just be in what I've been talking about, which is my mantra for this year, believe and expect it. If God told you it, believe and expect it, no matter what's going on. Listen, we know what's going to come in due season, right? I know right now, we here in our area, we've been getting a snowstorm. Not only did we get snow,

We got some ice on top of it, right? But what if God told you you're gonna go on a vacation? I'm just trying to keep it simple, just trying to make a living for people, right? But all you're focusing on right now is like, God, when am I gonna go on this vacation? You got the snow coming, flights are canceled, I gotta chisel through ice, people in the county won't even come to the streets. Like, I don't understand when is this coming? I don't understand what is happening.

But in due season, it will happen. But if God told you you're gonna do it, believe it. It's just like my grandmother used to always tell me. I'm talking about she told this every time. She told me my faith was always believing like, your mom's telling you, I'm gonna get you a bike. Now you believe your mom is gonna get you a bike. Now you don't know when it's gonna happen, but you believe that she's gonna get that bike. So if he already told it to you,

Just believe it. And so you gotta realize that delayed obedience equals unnecessary frustration. All right? Clarity usually isn't missing, courage is, right? We pray for confirmation when God already sent the email text and calendar invite. Think about that, right? Because remember it says in James 1 and 8,

Jacques LaGrange (09:39.222)
A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. So don't straddle the fence. on the side of what was already spoken to you, what was already said to you, all right? Also in the season, you must understand you gotta rest. Rest does not mean you're quitting, right? It means refueling. A lot of the rebuilding that our body does naturally,

happens when we rest, right? I know sometimes we get caught. Some influencers will tell you you're grinding only sleep like two hours we do this. Listen, is either you gonna do it or eventually your body's gonna shut down and make you do it. I'm not saying that you gotta sleep all day, but make sure you get some rest because that allows you to recover. All right? You don't.

earn rest by exhaustion. You can't do things exhausted, right? Matthew 11 and 28 says, come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest. right? Energy will eventually flow when you're in alignment. All right, when your life is aligned, peace shows up uninvited. All right? Audit your weak.

All right, we're getting into a new week. We're already in a new month. Can you believe it? January's gone. We are in February already. So I want you to audit your week or just think about January so far. What were some of the things that drained you? What were the things that you felt that you did that was unnecessary? What were you doing that is opposite of what God already told you? Think about.

All right, hopefully this is blessing somebody. Hopefully this is resonating with somebody. So this is what I need you guys to do. The most important things I ask you to do every week. Make sure you live on purpose and make sure you live in purpose. I'll see you guys next time. Peace.