Season 1; Episode 5 - You must tear down before you can build

Episode 5: Tear Down Before You Build

What if the season that feels like everything is falling apart is actually God preparing you for everything He's promised?

In this episode of Branch Out, we explore one of the most challenging yet transformative parts of spiritual growth: God's process of tearing down before He builds. Through personal testimony, biblical insight, and practical application, we discover that God's construction often begins with demolition—not to destroy us, but to prepare us for lasting purpose.

Using Jeremiah 1:10 as the foundation, we unpack God's divine order: to root out, pull down, destroy, throw down, build, and plant. Along the way, we look at the lives of Abraham and Gideon, revealing how God establishes identity before manifestation and speaks to who we are becoming long before we see the promise fulfilled.

In this episode, you'll discover:
🌱 Why God often removes unhealthy foundations before revealing new purpose
🌱 How false identity, fear, pride, control, and the need for validation can keep you from growing
🌱 The difference between self-improvement and true spiritual transformation
🌱 Why your foundation matters more than your finish
🌱 How the Branch Out framework—Build, Tear Down, Replant—reflects God's process of developing His people

If you've ever felt like God is dismantling areas of your life, this conversation will encourage you to trust the Builder instead of fearing the construction. Sometimes what feels like loss is actually preparation, and what God removes is making room for something greater.

Because before God builds your purpose, He strengthens your foundation.

🎧 Listen now and discover why the greatest evidence of God's love isn't always what He's adding to your life—it's what He's lovingly removing so you can become everything He created you to be.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to Branch Out. This is a space where we learn how to step outside of our comfort zones by using what we already have and allowing God to transform us from the inside out. Because before we build anything around us, we must first be willing to let God build up what's inside of us. If you've been on this journey with me, then you know that every episode has been building upon the last. We started talking about fruit and how your fruit speaks before even you should. Then we moved on to gatekeepers and how sometimes the very people that we think are standing in our way are actually tools that God uses to help develop us. After that, we discussed a difficult question. Who gives these gatekeepers access? Because many times the greatest gatekeeper isn't standing in front of us, the greatest gatekeeper is living inside of us. And in our last episode, we talked about strategic silence. We discovered that not every accusation deserves an answer, not every opinion deserves a response, and that silence shouldn't be recognized as weakness all the time, but that sometimes silence is seen as a step of trust. But today, we go beneath that surface because after all of that growth, after all of that pruning, after those difficult conversations, there's still one question left. What is God actually trying to build? And maybe even a harder question. What has to come down before God can build? Have you ever driven past a construction site? Think about it. One day there's a building standing nice and tall. The next day it's surrounded by fences. Heavy equipment moves in, the walls start coming down, concrete is broken up, dust, it fills the air. The place ends up looking worse than it did before. And if you didn't know construction was happening, you'd probably think that something terrible had happened. You probably think that someone was just destroying the building. But that's when architects come in, right? Architects aren't worried when they see a building in that state. The builder doesn't panic because they know something that everybody else doesn't. They know that they're not destroying it, they're preparing it. They're following a blueprint that the world doesn't have access to. Sometimes the strongest buildings require the deepest demolition. Sometimes the safest structures require the oldest foundations to be removed. And I think that's where many of us find ourselves with God, right? We call it destruction, and God, He might be calling it preparation. What we tend to call as a loss, God says, I was pruning that. And then there's the good one we call delay, right? God calls that development. And because we misunderstand process, we start saying prayers like, God, why are you taking this away? God, why are you allowing this relationship to change? God, why does it feel like everything around me is falling apart? When maybe, just maybe, the very thing we grieve about is the thing God is removing to make room for something greater. I know that feeling because I've lived it time and time again. I just told you guys throughout this series where I just came out of a season where I've been stretched to me what seemed like beyond capacity. The tension, the misunderstandings, the misrepresentations, the pressure. At first I thought God was going to change my environment. I just knew he was going to come through for me. I kept praying for him to remove people. I kept praying for him to change situations, to fix what was happening around me. All I wanted was relief. I wanted immediate justice. I wanted to be recognized for what I was doing as opposed to what someone was saying. And I wanted my story to make sense. But instead of changing my surroundings, God started changing me. And it frustrated me to my core. Like, have you ever prayed God fix them? Only to realize He did not care to talk about somebody else. He wanted to talk about you. I remember thinking, Lord, I'm not the problem here. Why are you dealing with me when they're the ones creating this issue? But God has a way of doing things differently. He began exposing things that I didn't even realize I was carrying. He showed me that beneath all of this frustration was a deeper issue. I still had the need for people to understand me before I could feel secure. I still needed recognition. I longed for people to acknowledge the fruit instead of simply trusting that God was the only person that needed to see it. And that's when I realized God wasn't trying to punish me. He needed to strengthen my foundation. Because if he had answered my prayer the way I wanted him to, let's be real, if he simply removed those difficult people, I would have just carried those same unhealthy desires into my next season. Those would have gone into my new job, they would have gone into my ministry, they would have gone into my relationship, into my next opportunity. And eventually the same lesson would have found me again. Isn't that how God works? Sometimes we're asking him for a new chapter. While he's just trying to rewrite the paragraph that we're still living in, we begin to ask him for promotion and he's asking us to surrender. We're asking him to open doors, and he's just asking us to revisit the door we're in. Because God, he isn't interested in building something impressive that can't withstand pressure, he's interested in building something lasting. And lasting things, they're built differently, they take time, they require excavation, they require patience and trust. Nobody celebrates the foundation of the house. They don't ask, how did you build it? What did you start out doing? People celebrate the finished project product, they they celebrate the aesthetics, the kitchen, the beautiful paint job, the wonderful furniture, the decorations. But builders, they search out something homeowners often forget. They know that if the foundation isn't right, nothing else matters. You can have all of the beautiful walls in the house, you can have the expensive furniture, you can have the gorgeous roof, but if the foundation is cracked, eventually everything that is built on top of it will crack too. Come on now, that's not how God works. Before he builds your platform, he strengthens your foundation. Before he increases your influence, he develops your character. And before he entrusts you with more, he asks one question. Can I trust what I've already placed in your hands? Look at Moses, for example. Moses doubted everything about him. He doubted everything concerning the mandate that heaven wanted him to partner with. And God just kept asking one question, despite the very true contributing factors. God asked Moses, What's in your hand? Maybe the reason this season feels uncomfortable, maybe the reason it feels like things are being pulled apart, maybe the reason you're questioning what God is doing is because heaven has decided to renovate what earth has chosen to become comfortable with. So before we ask God to build something new, maybe we should ask him, Father, what are you trying to remove first? When I look at King Nebuchadnezzar, right? Nothing happens unless God first reveals it to his prophets. You should be the prophet over your own life first. And the more you talk and walk with God, is the more God will begin to prepare you for what is to come and guide you through your own process. Because the greatest evidence of God's love isn't what he's adding to your life, oftentimes it's what he's unwilling to let you keep in your life. As I was praying about this episode, God kept bringing me back to Jeremiah chapter 1. And honestly, I've read the passage before. No matter how many times I read it, I never realized that it depicts how God builds. Jeremiah 1, verse 10 says, See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out, to pull down, to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant. Because we're praying for him to build once we receive the process, the promise, and he's like, nah, I gotta remove some things before I can give you access to the promise. We pray for increase. Well, he needs to confront the things that can't go where he is taking us. We're praying for a blessing while he's exposing the foundation we've been standing on. Can I tell you something? God, he's not gonna build on an unstable foundation. He loves you way too much to place purpose on top of any insecurity. He loves you too much to place influence on top of pride. And he loves you way too much to place promotion on top of fear. Because eventually, whatever is not surrendered will begin supporting everything that comes after it. And God isn't interested in temporary access now. He builds something that lasts, lasting power. Let's look at the first instruction. God said, root out. Roots are interesting because they aren't always visible. If I was to walk outside right now, I would see a tree, I would see the trunk, I could see the branches, I may see leaves, I may see fruit. But what I may not see is the roots. The roots are often hidden, yet the hidden part it determines what's allowed to be visible. Think about it. People spend so much time trying to change what everybody else can see. God don't care about that. He starts with what no one can see. He starts with our thoughts, he starts with our motives, he starts with our beliefs, our fears, who he has called us to be our identity. Because everything above the surface grows from what's beneath the surface. Maybe he's not punishing you, maybe he's tracing the root. Because until the root changes, your fruit won't. The next thing God says is pull down. I don't know about you, but pulling something down sounds very intentional, and it can be very reactive. God isn't accidentally removing things from your life, he's removing the things that fights against what he has purposed inside of you. Sometimes he's pulling down unhealthy expectations, he's pulling down pride, he's pulling down relationships that we have turned into idols. Sometimes he pulls down the version of ourselves we've worked so hard to protect. It's bound to hurt because we've become attached to things that have become familiar, even when they're unhealthy. Sometimes we become more committed to what's familiar than to what's fruitful. But God refuses to confuse comfort with calling. Then comes the part that nobody likes. He says, destroy and throw down. Those words are harsh until you realize what God is actually talking about. He's not saying destroy you. He says, destroy the lie, destroy that false identity, destroy the agreement that you made with fear, destroy the labels that people have placed on you. Destroy every thought that says I'm not enough, I'll never change, I'm too broken, I'm too old, I've missed my opportunity, I'm the only one that happened to me. Destroy those excuses. God destroys every identity that competes with what heaven has already declared. Because heaven refuses to build on a faulty foundation such as lies. Truth is always the foundation of God's construction. That's why in the beginning of time he said, Let there be light, because light reveals what darkness hides. Think about Abraham. Before God gave him Isaac, he gave Abraham a new name. He didn't wait until the promise showed up. He changed his identity first. Abram mean means exalted father. But Abraham, it means father of many nations. And here's the amazing part. When God changed his name, he still had no children. Imagine introducing yourself every day as the father of many nations while having no fruit to show of that. I can imagine people looking at him at him like he was crazy, especially since that wasn't his birth name. But heaven made a decision. Heaven decided to speak to his future. And that's how God works. He changes identity before manifestation. He teaches you to see yourself the way he sees you before anyone else does. Because your identity isn't established first. You'll mishandle the promise when it arrives, and you'll seek validation from people that have no authority to give it. Like Gideon, one of my faves. My man's is hiding. And the first thing the angel says is, The Lord is with you, mighty man of valor. I love that. Because Gideon doesn't look mighty. Yet heaven calls him mighty anyway. Why? Because heaven never introduces you according to your fear. Heaven introduces you according to your purpose. God wasn't speaking to Gideon's location. God was speaking to Gideon's identity. And maybe that's what God is doing with you today. Maybe he's calling you to something you've never called yourself. Maybe he's calling you faithful while you still feel uncertain. Maybe he's calling you a leader while you're over there hiding. Maybe he's calling you healed while you're still recovering. Maybe he's calling you chosen while you still feel overlooked, acting like you're a choice. Because God always speaks according to what he created, not according to what you are currently experiencing. Seasons come and go, but his word remains the same. And that's why God starts with tearing things down. Because before he changes your life, he changes the way you see yourself. Before he'll ever change the circumstance, he changes your identity. Because once the identity changes, everything else has a chance to grow differently. And I wonder today, right? I wonder if the very thing you've been asking God to build is waiting on the very thing He's been asking you to surrender. Because oftentimes you and God aren't too far out of alignment with one another. You just need to shift your perspective. Most of us are fascinated with the finished product. We admire the platform, we admire the ministry, we admire the business, we admire the marriage, the influence, the success, but we rarely stop to appreciate the foundation. No one drives past the construction site and says, look at that beautiful concrete slab. No one posts pictures of footers being poured. No one celebrates steel beams disappearing beneath the ground. We don't celebrate the process. Why? Because building a foundation isn't glamorous. Your foundation is built in a hidden place. He that dwelleth dwelleth in the secret place of the Almighty shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. There came a point in David's life where he cried out to be protected by the Lord's shadow. You see, here's what builders know that many of us forget. The foundation determines how much weight the building can carry. If the foundation is shallow, the structure can't grow very high. If the foundation is weak, pressure will eventually expose it. And isn't that how God works? Before he enlarges your territory, doesn't he enlarge your capacity? Before he increases your influence, doesn't he strengthen your character? Before he gives you more responsibility, he asks if your foundation can support it. Yeah. I thought he was allowing difficult people to make my life harder. I thought he was delaying the breakthrough I had been praying for. But now I see it differently. He wasn't delaying me. God was developing me. My prayers weren't ignored. He was answering a deeper prayer that I didn't even know I had prayed. Because if God had elevated me before he dealt with my need for validation, I would have looked to people to sustain what only God could maintain. If he had opened bigger doors before dealing with my fear of rejection, every criticism would have made me question what he had called me to do. If he had given me greater influence before teaching me humility, pride would have destroyed what purpose had built. God wasn't withholding anything from me. He was protecting what he was preparing. And this is where branch out framework was born, right? Not from a business plan, not from a podcast, but from watching God rebuild me. I've learned that transformation almost always follows three movements. First, you build awareness. God reveals something you've been carrying. Maybe it's fear, maybe it's comparison, maybe it's the need to control things, maybe it's the need to be understood, maybe it's an insecurity. Whatever it is, he shines light on it, not to shame you, but to heal you from it. And then comes the hardest part. You tear it down. This is where surrendering happens. This is where you stop defending what God is confronting. This is where you stop making excuses for the very thing that He's trying to remove. Because here's the truth you can't deal, you can't heal what you're constantly protecting, and you can't surrender what you're constantly justifying. My God, you can't be rebuilt while you're rebuilding the very thing that God is tearing down. And finally, you repent. You replace fear with faith, control with trust, bitterness with forgiveness, pride with humility, comparison with contentment, validation from people, you replace it with identity in Christ. God never removes something without offering something greater in return. And as I reflected on this process, I noticed there are five foundations God consistently tears down in his people. The first is the false identity, the labels people placed on us, the lies we believe, the versions of ourselves we've accepted that never came from God. The second is pride, not just arrogance, but the pride that says, I know better, the pride that refuses correction, the pride that always has to be right. The third is fear. Fear of failure, rejection, the fear of starting over, the fear of success. Fear has made has a way of making us build smaller than what God has told us to build large. The fourth is control, trying to manage every outcome, trying to orchestrate every conversation, trying to force every opportunity, trying to make people see what only God has the ability to reveal. And the fifth one, validation. I must say this one changed my life. When your identity depends on an applause, criticism will always crush you. But when your identity is rooted in Christ, applause becomes appreciated, not required. Can I ask you something? What keeps showing up in your life? I'm not talking about people, I'm not talking about circumstances, but you what lessons seemingly keep repeating? What struggle keeps resurfacing? What conversation keeps coming back around? Maybe it isn't because God wants to punish you. Maybe He's pointing to the foundation. Because until that foundation changes, the pattern usually can't. I've learned that every season has a lesson, and every lesson is an invitation. An invitation to become more like Christ, an invitation to trust him more deeply, an invitation to let go of what no longer belongs. So here's what I ask you to do this week. Get a journal, draw three columns. At the top of the first column, write what is God revealing revealing. In the second column, write what needs to come down. In the third column, write what is He inviting me to plant instead. Maybe it goes from you being fearful to you being courageous. Maybe it goes from you being a control freak to you trusting him. Maybe it goes from you comparing yourself to the next to you having gratitude for what you bring to the table. Maybe it goes from you people pleasing to just being obedient, insecurity to identity. Spend time with God, don't rush it now, but ask him to show you what you've been holding on to that cannot go where he is taking you. Because the goal isn't simply to become a better version of yourself, the goal is to become the person God created you to be. That's the difference. Self-improvement changes behavior, transformation, it changes identity. And when identity changes, everything else begins to grow differently. And as we close today, I want you to remember this. God is never intimidated by the demolition in your life. He doesn't care about the falling apart. He already sees the finished blueprint. He knows what he's building. He knows what he's doing. The question is can you trust the builder while he's still clearing the ground? And as we come to the end of today's conversation, I want to leave you with one final thought. What if the season you've been resisting is actually the season you've been praying for? I know that sounds strange because none of us prays for discomfort. None of us ask for God to prune us. None of us wake up saying, Lord, tear down everything that isn't like you. But we do pray, Lord, let me walk in purpose. We do pray for promotion. We do pray to influence people. We do pray for stronger relationships. We do pray for a greater faith in Him. We pray for the promises of God to become a reality in our lives. The question is, are we willing to go through the process that prepares us to carry those promises? Because here's what I've learned. God is far more concerned with who you are becoming than where you want to go. He knows that if he transforms the person, that purpose will follow. If he strengthens the foundation, the building will stand. If he establishes your identity, your fruit will naturally reflect it. One of the greatest revelations God has given me is this. Before Abraham ever held Isaac, his name changed. Before Gideon ever led an army, heaven called him mighty. Before Peter ever preached the thousands, Jesus labeled him a rock. You see the pattern? Heaven always speaks first. Earth has to catch up. And maybe that's where some of you are today. You're waiting to see something before you believe it, but God is asking you to believe what He's already spoken before you see it. That's faith. That's transformation. That's what it means to walk with God. You know, I was as I was writing this episode, I couldn't help but think about why I wrote my book, Identity Crisis. Because at the heart of everything we've talked about today is one simple truth. Most of our battles don't begin around us, they begin within us. The enemy's greatest strategy isn't always to destroy your purpose. Sometimes it's simply to convince you that you're someone God never said you were. And if you keep believing you're rejected, you'll never walk around like you're chosen. If the enemy can get you to believe that you're insignificant, you will never lead in perp in confidence. If he can keep you from believing that your past defines who you are today, you'll always struggle to embrace the future God has already prepared. That's why identity crisis isn't just a book about biblical characters. It's a journey. It's a journey through the lives of men and women who confronted the tension between what heaven declared and what earth was reflecting. Abraham had to believe before he saw. Gideon had to trust before he felt ready. David had to remain faithful while waiting. Peter had to discover the failure did not disqualify him. Their stories match ours because every one of us will face a moment where we have to make a decision. Will I believe what God says? Or will I believe what my circumstances suggest? If today's conversation encouraged you, I pray you'll continue that journey through identity crisis. My prayer is that it doesn't simply inspire you, but it helps you see yourself the way God has always seen you. And before you leave today, I want to challenge you to do one more thing. Don't just listen to this episode. Live it. This week, seriously, ask God one simple question. Father, what are you trying to tear down that I've been trying to rebuild? And then ask him another. What are you trying to build that I've been afraid to trust you with? Write down what he reveals. Pray over it, sit with it. Don't rush the process because transformation is not an event, it's a lifestyle. And every day you surrender something to God, you're making room for something greater. So today I want to declare this over your life. I declare that every false identity is being uprooted, that every lie you've believed about yourself is losing its power. I declare that every fear that has kept you bound is being replaced with faith, that every unhealthy foundation is being exposed by the light of God's truth. I declare that God is strengthening your character before he increases your influence, that he is deepening your roots before he expands your reach, that he is establishing your identity before he manifests his promises. May you stop fighting the construction process and begin trusting the builder. I pray that you stop grieving what God is removing and begin anticipating what he's preparing. And I declare that everything God plants in your life produces fruit that has lasting power. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you for loving us enough to refuse to leave us where we are. We thank you for every season of pruning, every moment of correction, every opportunity to become more like you. Father, give us the courage to release what no longer belongs in our lives. Help us stop rebuilding the very things you're trying to remove. Father, search our hearts. Reveal every false identity, reveal every unhealthy foundation. Father, every fear, every prideful thought, every need for validation in every place where we've trusted ourselves more than we've trusted you. Reveal it, Lord. Father, I pray that you replace our fear with faith, replace our striving with surrender, replace our insecurity with the confidence that comes from knowing we are your children. Teach us to trust your process even when it feels uncomfortable. Remind us that construction is evidence that you are still working. And help us remember that whatever you tear down, you will always replace with something far greater than that we have today. We surrender ourselves completely to you. Father, build us into the people you have called us to be. For eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, nor has it entered into the hearts of men. All that you have prepared for us. It is in Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen. Next week, we're talking about something that changed my perspective forever. The table you don't have to fight for. We'll explore what it means to stop chasing opportunities, recognitions, and seats at tables God never assigned to us. And how to trust that when God prepares a table for you, no one can remove your invitation because sometimes we've been exhausting ourselves trying to earn what God has already promised. Thank you for spending this time with me. If today's episode encouraged you, I love for you to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who's in the middle of God's construction process. And if you're ready to go even deeper, I invite you to read Identity Crisis and continue discovering the identity heaven has already spoken over your life. Until next time, stay rooted, trust the builder, allow God to tear down what can no longer support where He's taking you. And don't be afraid, of course, to branch out.