108. Sarah Birkbeck // Keeping the Passion of God Alive

Sarah Birkbeck is the founder and visionary of Refresh, a ministry dedicated to activating women to advance the Kingdom of God. She is a speaker, passionate about leading women to discover their kingdom purposes. Sarah lives in North Dallas with her husband James, son and three daughters. Tune into this episode where Sarah shares about keeping the passion for Jesus alive in barren season, making Jesus priority, getting set free from idols and more!

Bible Verses:

Luke 1 – The angel of the Lord telling Elizabeth and Mary that they will conceive and give birth

Hebrews 11 – Hall of Fame of Faith

Joshua 5 and 6 – Battle of Jericho

Topics Discussed

Introduction

Sarah was born in Pennsylvania and moved to Texas when she was 10 years old.
Sarah and her husband have 4 children.
Sarah grew up in a Christian home and her dad was a pastor.
Sarah had a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit when she was 15 years old.

Sarah’s Encounter with Holy Spirit

Sarah had this encounter when she was at camp.
Sarah is a feeler and she sensed God’s presence in her heart.
When she experienced this encounter with Holy Spirit everything in her felt at peace and felt completely right.
Thoughts will come that are both her and Holy Spirit and they ignite an excitement in her that she can’t contain.

Keeping the Passion Alive

There are moments when you spend time with the Lord and the passion isn’t there, but there are other times when you spend time with the Lord and it is like He is breathing on you in that moment.
When you experience those passion filled moments with God, write down everything you are experiencing in that moment.
He will stir your faith in a moment, but then there is a faithfulness required out of you to just keep going despite if He’s going to come in and breathe on you every instance.
The drought produces death.
We can be equally appreciative of the seasons of dryness and drought because of what comes out the other side.
God invites us into the deep relationship with Him. It is not earned. We just have to receive it.
The breaking that is happening isn’t to break you, it is to break off of you what will hold you back from pressing into the depths God has for you.

Transitioning into Life After Covid-19

Sarah walked through a time of seeing and recognizing the idols in her life.
Let’s not just go back to ‘normal’ because there was some stuff worked out in all of us during the shutdown. Instead let’s walk into a new season, not taking the baggage with us.
God is always moving us forward. He is not taking us back to an old season.

Getting Delivered from Our Idols

Sarah’s idol was the approval and acknowledgement of others.
The more Sarah understood that God’s approval was enough, the more she is able to operate in a freedom in ways that she could never have before.
God is kind and gentle with us. He invites us in to partner with Him as we remove our idols.
Where is our identity found?
God can and does speak to us through the prophetic word of someone else, but He also wants to speak to us one on one.
Sometimes we might complain that God hasn’t been speaking to us, but are we actually taking the time to listen?

Maintaining the Priority of Spending Time with the Lord

It’s non-negotiable.
It’s different for everyone, find your rhythm. Give yourself grace.
God will meet you where you are if you are willing to be flexible.
It has to be a priority. Get creative and fit it in when you can.

Sarah’s Ministry

Sarah’s ministry is called Refresh which means to revive.
God wants to revive the things that remain dormant in women’s lives.
Why are you not operating in the things that are already on your life? Why are you feeling inadequate?
It is dissatisfying just living life and not partnering with God to live out your purpose.
Each person mentioned in Hebrews 11 mingled the word with faith.
If you’re not sure if you heard correctly, see it as a challenge and mingle it with faith.
Faith requires you to step out not knowing what the outcome will be and being okay with your obedience being the success.

Powerful Quotes:

“Not only had Jesus met me, He was exploding out of me.” – Sarah

“We can be equally appreciative of the seasons of dryness and drought because of what comes out the other side.” – Sarah

“The breaking that is happening isn’t to break you, it is to break off of you what will hold you back from pressing into the depths God has for you.” – Sarah

“God will meet you where you are if you are willing to be flexible.” – Sarah

“If God is choosing me, I feel so unlikely; but there is something in my life that I carry that’s designed to change the world around me.” – Sarah

“No matter how unlikely you feel, there are things on your life that if you awaken to them it will change all the mundane. It changes everything.” – Sarah

“Faith requires you to step out not knowing what the outcome will be and being okay with your obedience being the success.” – Sarah

“The outcome doesn’t matter; what matters is that you stepped out.” – Sarah

“There is something in you to do, that just isn’t about you.” – Sarah

Resources:

Moms in the Making Ministry – Faith-Based Fertility Support Group

Jeffie Jones on A Cup Full of Hope podcast Episode 60

Enough by Jenny Allen

Anything by Jenny Allen

Lioness Arising by Lisa Bevere

Driven by Eternity by John Bevere

Refreshwomen.org

Instagram – @refresh_women