The Real Estate Preacher Podcast

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If you’re looking for honest real world, no BS advice on how to create income, build wealth, and achieve true freedom with real estate, your in the right place. Welcome to another episode of the real estate preacher podcast show where your host Randy Lawrence shares with you his experiences and strategies from over decades as a successful real estate investor. This episode is sponsored by prosperity capital partners. Learn more at prosperitycapitalpartners.net now onto the show.

All right. Hey, I want to welcome you to today’s show. Got an exciting episode today. It’s our fourth part of a four part series. So today we’re going to be talking about sustained faith. I want to encourage you to go back and look at and listen to the other episodes, one on strategic focus, two on handling money, three on specific actions, and then of course this one here today on sustained faith. Now again, you don’t have to listen to them in any specific order, but what it really does and what it is, is it’s four pieces to the puzzle to help you achieve the outcome that you desire. Now I had looked at that in the beginning of the year related to 2020. And then of course, now we’re dealing with some of these things here in covert 19 and the pandemic. But at the same time, these same principles not only help you achieve your goal as to what that may be on an annual base, but even now as we’re dealing with things in this changed environment, you need to compress your timelines down.

And so the very same principles will work, but just on an accelerated time basis. So sustain faith. What does that mean? It means, you know, I look at it and there’s four components that I want to look at for you to have continued faith. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not yet seen. Meaning you have to begin to believe in that which you don’t see. And if you think about it for a moment, everything that you see was created by faith. And again, now some people will go and be like, always be in religious, but let’s step back from it. And just take a simple thing like the light bulb, right? The light bulb was conceived as an idea. The idea is conceived in the mind and then through the eyes of faith, it’s VI visualized to say, here’s what it can look like.

And then the actions were then taken in order to bring it about now and again, reportedly with Edison. There was some 10,000 efforts to find the exact right filament that really worked for the light bulb. So again, what you and I have to see is that the things that we want, whether it’s a goal, a vision, we’ve got to begin to see it by faith. And so, and I mean that by sustained is that you can’t just look at it and see it in the starting moment. It’s in the continuing moment that it’s most critical. So plenty of people start crap, but they don’t finish. And that’s where they lack the sustained faith. And so first and foremost, you have to have sustained faith in yourself, right? The fact of the matter is you are stronger than what you think. And I want to give you the evidence of that.

If you step back with me and take a look at it, the truth of the matter, all of us have been in a moment in time where we’ve faced a situation where we were on the verge or indeed kind of threw our hands up and said, God, I don’t know if I’m going to make it right like you thought you were done for. That’s how you felt. But then you found the strength within you or the help from above, but ultimately the strength within you to get up, move forward, take another step. And the very fact that you’re here today listening to this episode is a proof text that you overcame that situation. Now maybe the situation didn’t turn out exactly as you hope for it, but it didn’t finish you off. Right? That’s the thing that you have to see is that you have greater capacity in you than what you believe.

All of us. I remember reading a book talking about you know, oriented around the Navy seals. And one of those things in it is that most people are operating at about a 40% capacity. Meaning when you think you’ve hit your limit, really, you are only at about 40% of what you’ve got in the tank. And so you’ve got to believe in yourself and begin to tell yourself one of the things that can be a true, helpful tool is to begin to use incantations or affirmations where you’re telling yourself I’m strong, I’m powerful, I am mighty. I’m created in the image of God. You know, and you make those up that best define what you need to hear. And then every day you’re telling yourself those truths, right? That’s what they are, is truth. And so you’ve got to begin to see that when you feel weak, that you’ve got to know that you’re strong.

When you feel like there’s uncertainty, that you are certain that you have the resources, talents, and abilities. I think about Tony Robbins talking about how you’ve got the resources, abilities, talents, strengths, and gifts within you to accomplish your mission. And I would say very much the same. That’s the truth that you know, that God says, right, that he has given us gifts, strengths, talents. It says every man has been given a measure of faith. So you have the measure within you to be able to do it. And so you’ve got to continue to believe in yourself even in the difficult moments. The second part of it is that you’ve got to believe in your mission or purpose. You’ve got to have faith in your purpose. Now this is where some people are going to get side rail. They’re going to crash and burn, right?

Because you know your purpose in your mission or your why. I think of, you know, Simon Sinek book start with why. There’s a number of books that have come out in that arena that talk about developing your wife, but your why in your mission, in your purpose has to have a bigger motivation. It’s gotta be something that infuses you and excites you and enlarges you and creates value to help other people. Now again, there’s nothing wrong with making money. Praise the Lord. We make plenty of money. But again, ultimately, if it’s just about the money, there’s a certain point where like, okay, say, Hey, you want to make a million dollars, you want to make $5 million, whatever the number is, $500,000, you get to that point and you’ve made that money, then what? Right? Then you’re not as motivated. You don’t have the sustaining faith, but when you have a purpose in a mission, in a Y, that impacts other people.

Again, like for us, you know, we have a twofold mission. One is to transform the lives of the people that live in the apartment communities that we own and manage. And so we want to have them to have a better experience in life, in the place that they live. And you know, for me, that’s born out of my background. You know, I had great parents, you know, divorced kinda broken home life at age, you know, five and so, but as a single mom, you know, we didn’t have much money. I mean, that’s just the truth. We didn’t have much anything. We’re drinking like powdered milk and you know, I didn’t know that that wasn’t how milk was until I went to friend’s house. I’m like, wow, man. That’s like, that’s how milk is, but anyway, so that experience helps me to really want to give other people a better quality of life experience.

And so again, and then also to, to not only give them a better quality of life, but then to be able to impart certain things to help them in a spiritual way. That’s just the truth of what our desire is, is to be able to be a resource to help those people that are living in our communities. And then the second part of it is to impact investors, to give them financial freedom. And we’ve had people that have invested with us for 17 years making double digit returns, never lost any money. It’s changed their life transform not only their life, but multiple generations of their family’s life. And so that is a powerful thing that God’s called me to and that it excites me to see that we can impact other people in that manner. And so again, what I mean by that is having the sustained faith in it, they’re like, look, there’s a purpose in a mission that I’m a part of and that you need to be a part of that even when the going gets tough or it’s challenging, you can see that you were mission and your purpose has value and it has significance and even eternal impact for people’s lives.

And so that you can know and believe that this mission and this purpose exists beyond your moment in this time. And then with that you can have the greater belief that it’s like, you know what? Yeah, you may be having a challenging moment at this time. You may be going through a little bit of a down instead of it up, but yet you know that there is a longer term vision and purpose that’s means something to people in this world. The third element is you’ve got to have sustained faith in others, and boy, this is a doozy. This is a challenge, right? How many times have other people let you down? They haven’t done the crap they’re supposed to do, right? Disappointment sets in. I get that. It’s tough, right? I mean, I’ve experienced that as a leader of a nonprofit and or church ministries where people are volunteering and they say one thing and do another, right?

Like that could be discouraging. Or in the employment arena where you engage people and you’re paying them in certain elements, they don’t get stuff done. Or outside vendors where you count on them and they don’t perform. And again, look, I’m not telling you to just blindly believe people and just be stupid or naive. That’s not what I’m saying at all. But the truth of the matter is you’ve got to believe the best in others. God believes the best in you. We have to believe the best in others because the truth is if you’ve got a mission or a purpose of any significance, it’s going to require more than just you. And I would say virtually every vision, every mission, every purpose is going to require more than just you and so you’ve got to have sustained faith in other people because you’re going to need them to help fulfill your purpose in your, your vision.

Now again, when somebody lets you down and they don’t perform, you need to hold accountability to that. No doubt. You’ve also got to learn from it. Take a step back and say, where did I make a mistake? Where did I give them too much rope? Where did I not have checkpoints in place to make sure that they were on track? You know, sometimes people do that. They just give somebody assignment blindly. Here it is. Day one, I’ll check back on you when it’s done on day 15 they come back on day 15 and the crap is not done. It’s like, wow, what the heck? It’s like, no, look, you should have been had a checkpoint, a it day three to make sure they got the resources together day seven, to make sure that they’re on track and in approaching the halfway point or thereabouts and then day 10 to make sure that they’re closing the gap.

Right. By not doing that, you’ve set yourself up for failure because you didn’t provide them the accountability. Maybe they needed help along the way that you could have provided. But see, you learn from that, but you don’t just say, Oh, skip it, man. I’ll do it myself. I’m not going to trust people. No, no, no. You’ve got to have sustained faith in people. There’s plenty of times people have let me down. Whether it’s like I said in a church setting help people and then they turn around and, and just walk away or, you know, good Lord, we operated a food pantry in the height of the last recession that, you know, we helped some 40,000 people in no doubt. Like even two people that volunteered there that, you know, didn’t show up. And I mean just all kinds of stuff. And then even in the business arena, guys that I’ve helped or you know, I could go on and on and on, but I choose not to focus on that.

Why? Because I’m focusing on all the ones that have performed, have succeeded. Good Lord. We’ve got a great team in our internal staff. We’ve got a great team with our external team members and management players. We’ve got a great group of people that are contractors and vendors, right? And so again, I choose to look at those elements because why? That helps to bolster my faith. And then, Hey, when somebody doesn’t perform yet, boom, we’re on it. We fix it, we correct it, we learn from it. We Institute a better approach in process. The fourth element that I look at here, and this would be, I believe it’s for everybody. Some people say it’s not for me, but you’ve got to have faith in God, right? There are just certain things that are going to be outside of your control completely. Right. And you know, for me, I kind of always probably believed in something like, you know what I mean?

Like whatever, some big thing in the sky. I, you know, even in high school and I’m partying and doing craziness and all like that, I didn’t kind of believe that I originated from pond scum. You know, it just didn’t, it didn’t make sense to me. But you know, nor did God didn’t make sense to me until it was when I was 27 and I read a book and it really changed my thinking to see how Jesus is real and I put my faith in Christ and ask Christ to come into my life, into my heart. And that was a significant turning point in my life. It really put me on 180 degree different trajectory from one that was just self centered about me, but now becoming more about him and about becoming who I’m supposed to be in about becoming a vessel to help other people.

And so then what I’ve seen is on this journey over the last really 23 years is that, you know, God is the one that’s carried me through and there’s been, Oh my God, hellacious times. I had gone through and you know, 2008 and nine and even before that and then even after that, just with different challenges and setbacks and obstacles and just all kinds of things. But the one thing that is just absolutely true is that God had been there for me and with me through the whole thing. Even when at times I didn’t feel his presence, his word was there to comfort me and to keep me into abide me as I marched ahead. And what I’m saying is that there are situations that you’re going to face in life that are greater than your understanding. There are obstacles that you’re going to encounter that really you’re not going to be able to do much about it.

That’s a tough thing. Like I’m a guy that’s very pragmatic, factual, look at all the pieces in, but yet that’s true, right? And so it’s in those moments that that sustained faith in God, the sustained faith in his promise gives you another level of strength. It says that he in endows, the weakness with strength, it’s like when we are weak, then we’re made strong. And so that’s part of the thing that is a supernatural infusement that comes from God and it comes as a result of that sustained faith. You know, too many people, they get into that difficult moment, they’re in the middle of the journey and they feel like God isn’t helping them. And so they cast that aside. And that’s a mistake, right? And so you’ve got to have a sustained faith in, you know, some people want to call that the universe or you know, earth or whatever.

But the truth is it’s God, a grand overall designer. And you know, for me, that’s Jesus Christ, that he’s changed my life. I know that he’s walking with me every day and that he’s with me on the mission that I’m on like that. Like this mission that I’m on to transform and impact people’s lives isn’t about just making Randy Lawrence wealthy. That’s not what that’s about. It’s about impacting other people so that they have a better quality of life. And so he’s with me in that and so I want to encourage him, you know, too, especially in this fourth one, take hold of that, right? And if you’ve never taken hold of it, I would invite you to explore that. God’s not afraid of your questions, right? Like I mean like he’s big enough to handle it. And so that you ask when you seek, there’s a great tooth that says seek and you shall find knock and it shall be open to you.

And so that you go ahead and seek those things out with the Lord. I guarantee you that he will show you the way. And the truth of the matter is that it’s going to require this element of sustained faith in this four part component. And now the truth is you will have at times and need to focus on one of the four in a different manner. You’re going to have to believe in yourself, praise God, and just do it right. You’re going to have to see that your value in the mission and the purpose means something and you just go forward and overcome the obstacle and do it that somebody lets you down and you got to let them go. And then now move forward and bring another person on the team and just go forward and do it and believe. And then you know at times where it’s just you and God and you got to believe in and say, Lord, I know you’re with me.

We’re going to keep on going and succeed. And in doing that it’s going to give you the fuel and the ability and the energy to move forward. And I would just say that, you know, part of that is not only using those incantations, but part of it is talking with other folks that are like minded. I’m not talking having pity party with aunt Paula. I’m talking about talking to other Eagles that are soaring on high, that can encourage, inspire, challenge and motivate you to the one of my favorite quotes says that iron sharpens iron. One man sharpens another. I’m surrounded by Eagles, even as I’m in my office recording this, I’ve got a big six foot portrait of an Eagle that was done by an amazing artist. It reminds me to soar with Eagles, right? And, and then also the reading that you do can change your mind, right?

Can in lift you up and sustain your faith. And so for me personally, one of the greatest tools for me is reading the scriptures every day. You know, so maybe it is for you, it’s that or it’s other inspiring material. You know, I choose to go with the inspired material inspired by God. So, but again, either way, these are the elements that are gonna help you with sustain faith is sustained. Faith is going to be necessary to get you across the finish line to move forward in the completion of the thing that you’re working on, especially in the environment we’re in right now. Boy, there’s all kinds of negative Nellies out there in the news and the media and just re, you know, doom and gloom and yeah, there’s truth that we’re going into a recession already are in one, but it’s like, Hey, praise God, I can thrive in any season.

Right? I love Tony. Tony Robins says, winter is my season, right? And that’s the truth. You’ve gotta be able to adapt and adjust in thrive regardless of the season. And that’s about knowing the tools. So I appreciate that you have made the choice to come in, to learn and to grow, and I want to encourage you to share this with others. That’s part of a path of giving. Share the real estate preacher podcast with others. Post it on your social media outlets and invite others to experience the same as you’ve gained benefit from it. Hey, I’m just so grateful to have you a part of our community and look forward to speaking with you. Thanks for listening to another episode, the real estate preacher podcast. I hope today that you learn something that you can immediately apply in your life or business. Make sure that you check us out on iTunes or at therealestatepreacher.com for more information. If you want to find out more about partnering together with me personally on real estate deals, including apartment complexes, go to the real estate preacher.com and click on the invest with Randy link. I look forward to talking with you personally. Have a blessed and victorious week four. This is the week God has ordained for you.