Creflo Dollar - Now What?
What do you do when life feels empty and meaningless? Over the past several years, today's guest has grown indifferent about her successful businesses, her notoriety, and even her place in the world. She's not depressed. In fact, she actually considers herself happy and well-adjusted, but she finds herself asking, "Isn't there more to life"? Now, imagine feeling this way, but now everyone's watching.
Today, you're going to meet Deiondra Sanders. She is the daughter of the sports legend known as Prime Time, Mr. Deion Sanders. His daughter has become famous in her own right for roles in reality shows like "Deion's Family Playbook" and "Paradise Hotel". Although Deiondra has found success, she feels unfulfilled and wonders if she's on the right path. Well, today she has joined our program for some practical and spiritual advice. Her story is next.
Creflo: Would you please help me welcome Deiondra Sanders to "Your World" today? Welcome.
Deiondra Sanders: Thank you.
Creflo: You can be seated. You know what, I've got to admit that, you know, I love your dad. He's awesome, he's amazing but I loved the show. I hate they canceled it, and I remember when you were appearing on the show, you know?
Deiondra: Really?
Creflo: Yeah, man. What we're gonna talk about today is something that you and I can come together on, and we can create a tool to help a whole lotta people, because a lotta folks in the world are going through something very similar that you and I will talk about today. And it's not so far over here where, you know, we're gonna deal with depression, but I think it's getting a practical understanding of how to locate my purpose in life and my God-given purpose in life. And so, I want you to begin by allowing us to come into your world. Tell me a little bit about yourself and how you grew up and maybe some of those things that you think may be responsible for, you know, what you're dealing with right now today, and we're gonna take off and just talk like we're at home and waiting on the dinner to get ready. I got food on my mind 'cause I'm hungry, okay? Go ahead.
Deiondra: I feel like I grew up... well, I know I grew up pretty blessed. I will say that. I always say it was bittersweet because I do feel like the one thing that growing up in the situation that I did grow up in, it took away the ambition because I kinda knew that I didn't really have to work for much growing up. So, I didn't really find that ambition till later on in life, which was recently, so I never really had, like, a passion... oh, I wanted to be this growing up, I wanted to do this, 'cause I was able to, like, have fun. So, I feel like that's kinda where it started. I never dreamed of being something, you know?
Creflo: So, would you say that you were entitled?
Deiondra: I would say that spoiled, and I knew that I was given a little bit more room to figure out what I wanted to do, instead of just getting thrown into something.
Creflo: So, you mentioned that recently, you know, some ambition is coming before you. What happened to spark that?
Deiondra: I enjoy helping my friends and my family with stuff that they wanna do, like their businesses, their ideas, but when it comes to myself it's like, "What are you doing"? I feel like my dilemma would be, I mean, what is my purpose? Like, what is his will for me, you know, for my life? Like, why am I supposed to be here?
Creflo: Yeah, yeah, that's huge. There are some people who have lived and they're now dead and never had an opportunity to clearly see and to understand, "What is the will of God for my life? What is my purpose"? When hearing that question, I have to just kinda back all the way back and just kinda start with, you know, the Creator of the system, so I'm gonna go back to God the Creator. And he created me for a purpose. I'm just trying to figure out what it is. I think you are now at the very first step of this journey and the first step is having a desire to want to know what the will of God for your life is. From this particular point it's paying attention to how you are wired. Don't ignore the desires and the passion that you already have for a thing. It was put there for the very purpose of you using it to carry out the will of God for your life, so let's start there. How are you wired? You just mentioned you like doing this, you like doing that. Pay attention to how you're wired and the things that you like doing. I mean, you just love doing those things.
Deiondra: I mean, I feel like that's another dilemma. Like, I don't know how I'm wired. One of the only things that I'm really passionate about is helping people and passionate about helping teenage girls, giving back and talking to them and kinda mentoring them. Recently, I have become very passionate about domestic violence, so those are my main two things that I'm very passionate about.
Creflo: Now, what you just described and explained to me is my passion. I love helping people. I'm constantly looking for ways to try to figure out how I can impact their lives and one of the things that I realized is if I can change the way you think, then I can change the way you live, and so for me it's not just, you know, being a pastor. If I can relate to what's going on in your situation and then if I can, through what I do, help you to change your thinking about a thing, then I can help you to change how you feel. I can help you to change your decisions. I can help you to change, you know, your destination because I just feel like that's the thing that I'm supposed to do: impact your way of thinking. So, you love helping people. You've identified that you have a passion to help teenage girls. And what was the other one?
Deiondra: Domestic abuse. I think I would say overall, though, I just like helping people change the way they think about their self, so yes, I like helping people feel better about their selves any anyway possible.
Creflo: What are some of the tools that you use to accomplish that?
Deiondra: Right now I would say, of course, the Bible advice. I actually started my hair company to actually give back to a lotta people like cancer patients and stuff. I really donated all my bundles, really, 'cause I really just wanted to help women feel really good about their selves, who really couldn't get their hair done and stuff like that, so that was really my main tool at the time. That I realized that I really do enjoy helping women feel better about their selves, 'cause I feel like when you, you know, my dad always says, you know, when you look good you feel good, so that was one of the tools that I started using, but now I'm starting to realize that it is a mentality. So, I just feel like just the advice that I give and just being there for someone when they're going through things and just helping them realize that it is more to their self than their past insecurity subconsciously that they go through. I feel like that that is a tool that I use. I really wouldn't know how to describe just being there and being, you know, a friend and...
Creflo: When we're trying to locate the will of God for our life the motivation behind what we do ultimately comes from our life. Can you identify the story?
Deiondra: I think that would be what my tool is, is what I've been through. That's when I give advices off of my past experience. That's the only way that I know how to be true to what I've been through and how to tell people, you know, how to get through other things and because of God, so I do think that I do have a story behind anything that I wanna do.
Creflo: I think the most important part of helping anybody and motivating people is your story. I thought I had to, you know, be this expert, you know, but I found that my story had more impact than my principles that I've understood. They're important, but my story reached out a whole lot farther than even my service or my ability to wanna do stuff, and so do you think you are willing to begin to articulate your story even to the point where... I mean, you know what I'm saying. It's how you present it. Not just the story, but how you present that story. Are you willing to spend some time really evaluating how you would articulate your story and what you would articulate? 'Cause in certain settings this part of your story is gonna have more impact than other settings, another part. And then, maybe in bringing your, quote, "brand" of what you wanna do in your life with people your whole story may come, and it may evolve into a book or may involve into a foundation or it may evolve into a program, but the glue to that is the God-given experience and story that you have to tell. How far away are you from being able to do what I just articulated?
Deiondra: I believe that I'm there now. I need to take some time 'cause I honestly never thought about taking the time to separate it, but the stuff that I've been through recently I'm very open to tell my story, so I feel like that I am... well, I know that I am there now, so I feel like I would be at the beginning stages, like you said earlier, to do that.
Creflo: Yeah. So, the will of God for our lives, it's paramount, and the relationship that you can enjoy through growing in a personal relationship with God, it just changes everything. How is your relationship with God right now and did you experience any kinda weird information that you heard that maybe is one of the reasons why you think the way you think about a certain thing?
Deiondra: My relationship with God right now, it's not the best that it has been in the past. I would say in high school that was when I was closest to him. I did experience a disconnect, I feel like, because of fear. I feel like the closer I was getting to God and in my Bible, in Jesus, the more fear I had because of certain demonic dreams I would have, so that kinda scared me away 'cause I felt like they were coming because of I was getting closer to God. So, that kinda scared me away from reading my Bible and spending time with God, so you know, I read it less and then started going to church, you know, not as often, and then from there I just felt like I just started kinda living of the world. So then, I would, you know, ease back in with God, and I would, you know, ease out and ease back in, so now I'm finally getting a consistent relationship back with God that's really strong.
Creflo: Well, you began to talk about the relationship that you had with him and the things that kinda caused fear. Think about it. If you were the devil and the more time you spend with God is gonna bring about more enlightenment about the will of God for your life, he's gonna do anything he possibly can to do to try to get you to separate from him. Satan comes to kill, steal, and destroy. You know this. Jesus said, "I've come that you might have life and have it more abundantly," and so one of the things you begin to recognize is no weapon at all formed against you is gonna prosper, but the big part of this is and nothing will by in any means hurt you.
Fear is the faith of the devil. If I can walk in fear then I give him access into my life, and so, you know, fear tolerated is gonna be faith contaminated and lives where you're ministering to people he's gonna block and if your ministry is born then you're going to disrupt what he's held down this whole time. There are demonic forces that are gonna try to come against you to stop you from ever initiating and discovering the will of God for your life, even to the point if they can kill you and knock you out of the way. They don't care if you go to heaven or hell. Just get you out of the way so you won't go down your path to impact somebody's life, and I believe that up to this point your whole life has been, "Oh, my goodness. We gotta stop her because if we don't stop her she's gonna go and impact this life, impact that life, impact that life".
The victory we have is every day overcoming his plan and not allowing our lives to be paralyzed because of something he's trying to do and fear is his number one and, really, his only weapon is to try to get us to walk in the fear or panic, to try to stop us from proceeding to the will of God for our lives. To hear about your passion and what you wanna do, are you kidding me? That disrupts the whole plan of what the enemy is trying to do, and you say, "You know what? I'm searching for significance. Not just for myself, but I want to fulfill the will of God for my life," because there is no way you're gonna ever be happier, more fulfilled, and more satisfied when you know that "I know that this is what I was born to do".
Now, it's starting down that path and fighting against all of those things that try to stop it and going through those things, and you finally get to a point where you reach that place, that destination, that assigned point, where you look back and now you tremble like, "Oh, my God. I almost stopped. Oh, my God. I almost didn't do that. I would have never known what I know now had I allowed him to do what needs to be done". So, you talked about what he tried to do. You broke through that. Well, there were some weird manifestations going on, but you broke through that. "Well, you know, I kinda in and out," but you broke through that and now I believe you are closer than ever before to initiating the walk down the path that God has prepared for your life. I'm stirred up. I'm excited about what you're gonna do.
You're doing, from what I can hear and understand, you're probably gonna begin to do some things that others have failed, but you won't. Others have failed, but you will not fail. I believe that you are about to walk as a barefooted priest, and you're gonna be sensitive to every step, but you're not gonna be in fear, so I'm gonna say this right now, and I'm gonna let you talk. No more fear. That's what I believe this is. This whole thing is the issue of fear trying to stop you or try to confuse you about what you already know. How are you wired? I can tell you. You're wired to help people. You're wired to be a blessing to people. You want to have impact in people's lives and that will begin to become more and more specific in this area, more and more specific in this, as you begin to travel down the road, you begin to recognize those certain needs.
And you go home at night, and you think, "I feel so satisfied," and then godly ideas come. If it's not a foundation, it's a strategy. If it's not a strategy, it's some protocol. It's something. It's partnering with somebody that can help to accomplish what needs to, and there is nothing like it when you see that young lady you've impacted, shows up and tells you her testimony and how you intercepted certain things in her life, and then it deepens the passion that you have. But first step: "I got to get past this fear". As I sit here and talk to you, I am very sure right now that there is a serious call of God on your life to change people's directions and to begin to point them in the direction that will cause them to be healthy, happy, healed, and whole. And just maybe today on "Your World" the anointing has found you and now all you have to do is walk it out. Does that help any?
Deiondra: Yes.
Creflo: 'Cause, see, you got me about ready to preach up here. You understand? I'm not thinking about... this ain't no talk show no more. I'm preaching. You know what I'm saying?
Deiondra: I mean, I'm honestly just, like, taking it all in, but, like, I mean, found an answer that I really been asking and praying about for a long time, so.
Creflo: She's actually like, "Let's get the show over with. I'm ready to go. I got some stuff I got to do". One of the key things is I understand I wanna know the will of God for my life, then I begin to pursue the will of God for my life, here is what I have to say: your anointing will find you. The passion will find you. The assignment will find you. You don't have to get all worried about, "Oh, my God. I gotta do that". It will locate you. God knows how to locate you when the time comes, and there are people that are watching this program today, there are folks in the audience right now who can relate with what you're supposed to do, and it's not going to be like it needs to be, regardless of how many people are doing similar things. You're gonna begin to do something a little different, because we don't have the same fingerprint, and there is gonna be nobody like you when that anointing starts operating on your life to do something similar, but there'll be a distinction in how you do it and what you do. And sometimes it takes a certain person to meet a certain person.
There are people you're gonna minister to that I can't minister to or reach. You've met destiny right now by the anointing of God. This is not normal kinda deal, which is why I love this show, 'cause if the anointing of God wants to interrupt, we let him interrupt and do what we need to do. But I believe that this is the day. That you'll walk off this platform today and a floodgate of ideas and blueprints will be made available, and I can boldly say today may be the end of your search for significance. You'll not only know that you're significant and called by God, but you will also understand that what God has already equipped you to do and the story that you have is all the fuel you need to make a mark that cannot be erased, oh. Those of you who are watching right now, I want you to understand how significant you are to the plan of God. You would not be here if God had not planned a purpose and a path and a will of God for your life, so I wanna pray with you right now, those of you who are watching this program. Just pause right now right where you are and just pray with me.
Father, I thank you that the will of God will be made known to those who are watching this program right now. I thank you in the name of Jesus that their search for significance will come to an end. I pray by the power of the Holy Ghost that as they desire to know the will of God for their lives, that you will begin to reveal it to them. And, Father, I thank you that they will pay attention to how they're wired and the desires that they have and all the things that they want to do, for it is you, Father, who will give us the desire and the will to please you. Now, I pray this right now in Jesus's name. Amen.
Creflo: Do you appreciate our guest today? Wow! Now, you done come here and got me all fired up.
Deiondra: I just wanna thank you for having me and, you know, for letting God use you to talk to me.
Creflo: Wasn't this weird? We're thinking we're gonna come on a talk show, and it turns into church. You know what I'm saying? That's because what we really wanna do is to bring this to a place where people understand this is real life. You allowed us to come into your world and by coming into your world your life became a ministry tool that the Spirit of God can use to be a blessing. It blessed me. I've learned to take trials and turn it into bread for my nourishment. You've got to take your trials and turn it into bread for your nourishment. Don't allow the trials in your life to stop you from accomplishing what God wants you to accomplish.
You know, are you searching for God's purpose for your life? He wants to reveal his calling to you. Or maybe you're afraid of completely giving yourself to God's purpose for your life because you may believe what God wants you to do won't be fulfilled, or maybe you won't be passionate about it. Well, nothing is farther from the truth. When you pursue the will of God and submit to what he wants you to do, the results will far surpass anything you could ever imagine for your life.