How do you know if God wants you to give up something you love?
April 17, 2026 · 3 min
How do you know if God’s asking you to give up something you love?
📖 Scripture:
• No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (Matthew 6:24)
• You shall have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:3)
• But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)
🎬 Best All-Inclusive YouTube Course I've Ever Taken:
📲 Best YouTube Shorts Course I've Ever Taken:
🎬 Recorded & Edited with Descript: (🔗Affiliate Link)
📊 VidIQ: https://vidiq.com/Recommendation (🔗Affiliate Link)
⭐ Subscribe to join us on the road to 100,000 subscribers and learn what's working, not working, & what you can try next on YouTube.
🔗 DISCLAIMER: This is our recommendation based on researching and trying to find the best solution. If you happen to click and purchase something through the link, it doesn’t cost you any extra. The provider may give us a small commission as an affiliate from qualifying purchases. But just so you know, since the start of 2021, we have been giving 90% of any profit we personally receive through the links on this channel to our church: https://www.youtube.com/@elevationchurch
Fruitful
Every Faith by Fire episode from the week, in one email on Saturday morning.
Free. One email every Saturday. Unsubscribe anytime.
More like this
One tap and you're on the journey with us.
Subscribe, it's freeRead the transcript
Auto-generated transcript. It may contain mistakes.
How do you know if God is asking you to give up something you love? 10 years ago, we moved to a new city and we were looking for something to do as a family. Now, this brand new game came out on everybody's phone that the world went wild over. I'm talking top of the app store numerous countries. Everybody seemed to be playing this game. And what was awesome about it is it encouraged you to go outside with people, explore different parts of the city, and get some good exercise with people while doing it. I loved it so much because it could even make things like running or going to the store feel even more productive. But then there were some nights where I'd be going to bed, I'd look at the game on my phone and then it would lead me to get completely dressed so that I could run outside to get this super rare thing that I only have 5 minutes to get, which is not a super big deal, right? Well, imagine living like that for over 10 years. Anytime I'd have a moment to myself, that'd be the default app I would open to. Where this game started as an opportunity for me to hang out with my family, I'd now have it out for every conversation. I'd randomly leave them to go play it. And because I was at a higher level than everyone else, people would come to me asking for advice, help, all this stuff, which sounds great, but I had this feeling that something was off. I would get these random glimpses of God giving me ideas to do specific things, but I felt like I didn't have enough time for it. And this game seemed like the only way I could relax. But then, in church one day I heard this Bible verse and it made me rethink things. No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. It made me think, why am I pushing off the great ideas that God is giving me? So, for the first time I actually brought it up to God in prayer and said, "How do you want me to pursue those things? I don't have enough time." And I felt like he used that Bible verse to tell me, "You're letting that game drive your life more than me." And then he reminded me of one of the 10 Commandments, "You shall have no other gods before me." I was choosing to let that game run my life over God. There's this amazing quote in this book called The Awe of God that says, "When what is not sin takes precedence or priority over the word of God, it can become sin." But here's the thing, no one was telling me that this is a bad thing because the people around me are still playing it, too. So, I wondered, is God actually wanting me to give this up? Cuz it's how I'm connecting with other people. It's how I can relax. So then, he reminded me of this verse, "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." So, I remember being in the kitchen and having this back and forth with God where I kept saying, "It's not that bad." I felt like he told me, "When you put it before me, it is." And I felt like he asked me, "What's in your pocket?" I thought, "My phone." And he said, "What's the name of the game?" I said, "Pokémon Go." To which he said, "And what does Pokémon stand for?" It stands for pocket monsters. And I felt like he said, "Do you really want to keep carrying around monsters in your pocket over seeing what could happen when you listen to me?" So, I took out my phone, opened the app, and deleted my account with over 10 years of experience and history. And the next day, God gave me the ideas for this YouTube channel that would lead us to where we are now with over 20,000 YouTube subscribers where we get to talk about what happens when we put him first. So, how do you know if God's asking you to give up something you love? Go to the Bible to make sure it aligns. Have a conversation with God about it. And be honest, am I putting this before God in my life? And if so, it's time. Let us know how we can be praying for each other, friends. God bless.
Is it easy to miss God's calling?
Why do you obey God?
What if what God tells you to do doesn't work?