How Intentional Design Shapes Your Life And Faith w/ Caleb Matthew

We talk with Caleb Matthews about the DNA of design, the night season of dreams, and why history still shapes how we live right now. We connect faith with practical strategy so you can stop conforming, read your own story with clarity, and pursue purpose with resilience. 
• Caleb’s background in storytelling and speaking 
• Nate’s path into the Air Force and lessons from basic training 
• DNA of design as spirit soul body alignment 
• intentionality as co-laboring with God instead of self-reliance 
• separating Jesus’ teachings from institutional religion harms 
• the kingdom of priests and pushing back on mediator culture 
• night season dreams as meaningful signals not random noise 
• spiritual gifts and finding the design that fits you 
• David and Goliath as a warning against borrowed armor 
• history as a living pattern you can learn from 
• flipping pain into purpose and reducing worry with eternal focus 
If something made you think a little differently today, pass this episode along to someone you love. 

Transcript

Welcome And The Big Themes

SPEAKER_01 0:24

It's good to have you back. I'm your host, Nate Shear, and this is Mind Force, the podcast sponsored by the three L's Love, Life, and Learning. Today's conversation lives at the intersection of design, mystery, and meaning. We're talking about the DNA of design and how intentional intentionality shapes what we build. We're stepping into the night season, those quiet, uncertain moments where clarity often forms, and we're looking backwards to understand how history still speaks into our present day. Before we get into it, I want to give you a chance to say hi.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Fantastic. Nate, thank you very much for having me on the show, and thank you for having me here. I'm really excited for the conversation.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Awesome. Yeah, thanks for coming out. For those meeting you for the first time, who are you?

SPEAKER_00 1:15

I'm Caleb Matthews, the founder of the C Link. So I bridge the gap between spiritual insight and practical real-world strategy. Because a vision without a strategy is just a hallucination.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

That's good stuff. And what are you focused on right now?

SPEAKER_00 1:35

Really helping people connect the dots between their potential and their purpose. Because on this planet, everybody has that question that really resounds deep within the unseen behind the scenes aspect of our lives, which is why am I here and what's my purpose? That's really my main focus right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

That's awesome. Yeah, it's a deep, deep question. And we all want to, you know, leave a lasting impact and things like that. And I'm curious, with this foundation kind of being laid for your introduction, what led you into the work that you're doing right now?

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Well, in order to be able to get into that, we have to step back into the timeline and jump into the ether, don't we? Back into the early years of entrepreneurship, of innovation, which I call the eye of eye principle. But jumping back into childhood and what got me into podcasting, public speaking, motivating audiences around the world for the last 20 years, really started as a six-year-old. I can remember one of my first vivid memories as a child was sitting on my neighbor's front lawn, reading a children's book, to a captive audience of one, of one black Labrador called Ace. And I just sat there just with his tongue hanging out, going with a bright grin in his face, no judgment, no critique, no criticism of me not getting exactly right of how I was sharing with my cadence or what story I was sharing, but he really was a captive audience. My one of my first memories as a young boy was called TTM from my brothers and my neighbors, and that stands for talks too much. And storytelling was built into my DNA as a young child, and it's been a good adventure from that point. But I have to start there when we dig back into sharing and motivating audiences.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

That's so funny. I have a very similar story. I always wanted to write a book, and I was like, I don't know if I could write a book, but I was moving, and so I move a lot. I'm in the military, so I'm always bouncing around from location to location. And one location I bounce by my mom's house. My mom keeps probably more than she should, a little on the hoarder side, not on the you know, TV show type hoarder side, but she keeps a little bit too much. And it was funny because I was thinking about what I should start on next, and uh I was looking through all these old report cards, and all of them said, you know, in different words, but they all said, Nate is a joy to have in class, but talks too much. So it's kind of funny, very similar. I always found it hilarious. The teacher would always try to move me to a different location. I was like, it doesn't matter where you sit me. I'm gonna talk to him. Boy, girl, young, old, doesn't really matter. Like you can move me, it's not gonna help. So I was like, let's use this for good.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

That's wonderful. That sounds like a the exhorter gift is built into your DNA of design and mine, and we share that commonality. And that's part of one of the reasons why I think I came across your podcast and really wanted to speak on the mind force. So thanks for having me, Nate.

Why Nate Joined The Military

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Absolutely. Well, before we get too far, Caleb, I'd like to see if you have a question for me.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

My question for you is what caused you to join the military? Because you could have done anything else in life. Why did you choose that based on that decision?

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Yeah, it's it's a tough one. It's kind of a joke, I guess, or running, you know, the universe is a powerful thing. So it's funny, I used to watch my dad as I was growing up sit on the side of the bed and blouse his pants and you know, get ready for the day and his uh BDUs back then, very old uniform. And I was like, I will never do that. I don't want the structure, I don't want to work out, I want none of these things. So I went, went to college, you know, majored in in beer pong and minored in poor decisions and ended up running out of money. I always wanted to be a pilot my whole life. So I went to school at the University of North Dakota and went for professional commercial aviation, kind of ran out of money because of those poor decisions, but I really wanted to stay in the aviation world in a certain way. My dad was in the Air Force, so I was like, oh, well, let me check on that. So I went from flying the planes and then I came into the Air Force guaranteed air traffic control. So I came in the other side of the radio, and that was the only thing I was gonna do, which that's probably a whole separate story because the recruiters want to try to get you into whatever. So I had to go to three or four different recruiters, and I was like, you can take me, but I'm doing this one thing. And so it took a couple and then finally let me sign and moved on. Now I've been through three different jobs and now I'm a hospital administrator, so you never really know what's gonna happen along the way, but that's kind of why I'm here. I love serving people, so you know that's kind of the greater good.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

That's brilliant. No, I love that. And just a side side question to the question, I have to ask you this because one of my favorite TV shows of all time has to be HBO's miniseries Band of Brothers. And I'm sure you've probably heard of it or maybe you've seen it, but they have this episode called Kurahi. I might not be pronouncing that right, but where they get into military boot camp and they go through the crazy drills of the 182nd Airborne or 101st Airborne, I think, where they're actually doing the training where they're carrying all their gear running up the hill and just doing some crazy training. My question to you is what was the craziest training for your position in the military that you had to go through?

SPEAKER_01 6:57

Ooh, craziest training. I don't know, honestly. It probably would be basic. I think most of my jobs have been more administrative. So most of them are inside and you know, going on computers and things like that. So I don't think many of my technical trainings have been all that difficult. So probably basic training, you operate on a few hours of sleep and you're just not really all there. And it's just crazy that you can look back and realize you were able to get up and make your bed and do all these things to very strict standards and very strict rules when you're just completely not there at all because of the lack of sleep and you're not eating that much. And so it's kind of crazy because right now we go through the day and we say, Oh, we're so tired. It's funny because now it's been, I guess, almost 17 years ago. But it's funny, it's like I'm never really tired, not that kind of tired. You are completely gone. I remember basically waking up after marching somewhere. So basically I was like sleeping while moving, which is crazy. So yeah, I think probably basic training. Nice.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

That's fascinating to me for sure. It's really it really segues brilliantly into part of what I do when I'm sitting with individuals and we're going over their DNA of design type, which by the way, audience, just a little side note promo here. I have a free DNA of design quiz, which I'll share the QR and the link to Nate after the show that you can take to discover your design type. And part of what I do with my DNA of design sessions, even where I do link up sessions one-on-one with clients where they pay me for sessions, is discovering, really diving into those formative early years and the background of an individual and how that ties into the gift mix and the individual gifting of that person in front of me for their DNA design. So, Nate, you've already shared some pretty fascinating background on your story, and I can see a little bit of where this is heading as far as your DNA design, but I'm excited to see where this conversation leads.

What DNA Of Design Means

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Awesome. Yeah, that's the perfect segue. Your first pillar is the DNA of design. So when people talk about the DNA of design, what does that actually mean?

SPEAKER_00 9:05

The DNA of design is the trichotomous construct that we live in. It's my conviction that we live in a trichotomous, God-created construct. We have a spirit that has a soul that has a body. And tragically, what I find, we're talking about military and battles and you just conflict. One of the greatest conflicts in my perspective is the battle between the trichotomous being and the dichotomous being. What do I mean by dichotomous? Well, people who only use their soul and their body, but they're disconnected from that God element, from that spiritual element, because it says in the Bible in Genesis that when God breathed the breath of life into man, man became a living being. And that breath is that spiritual breath. That's why in the book of Ezekiel, when when Ezekiel's standing there and seeing a vision, one of those crazy visions he has, and God standing next to him, he says, Son of man, can these bones live? And Ezekiel says to God, Lord, only you know. Well, speak to the breath, not to the mind, not to the skeleton, not to the body, but to the breath, to the spirit. That's what DNA of design is. We have a spirit that has a soul that has a body. We all have a God-created destiny and a purpose, which is unlike anybody else. Nate's destiny, my destiny, my purpose, your purpose are all individual, down to the DNA and the cellular level, physical DNA, the blueprint of our physical DNA, and our spiritual DNA. That's really the framework and the groundwork of DNA design.

Intentionality And Working With God

SPEAKER_01 10:42

That's awesome. Yeah. It really reminds me in the military, we have like the pillars of a you know, complete airman, I guess, in this category for the Air Force. And so it's mind, body, spiritual, and social. And so I I love that you're combining multiple things into one because what we usually see is the image, it's four pillars and it's holding up the house. And if obviously if your social pillar is weak or spiritual pillar is weak, like the house starts to crumble. So I like good visuals like that. You're saying three. Obviously, this is four, but definitely very similar. I like that. That that's good. So, Caleb, where do you think people miss the role of intentionality when they build systems, le uh lives or beliefs?

SPEAKER_00 11:25

The intentionality of co-laboring with the spiritual really falls right back into the spirit, soul, and body construct that we're talking about, the SSB method. I think where people fall short and where they miss the mark is really depending on our own minds, our own mind, will and emotions. And of course, we have to use our minds, we can't throw out our minds, but if we depend on our own understanding and we don't leave any room for God, the creator, the spirit, the unseen behind the tapestry of our life, and it's all on us, then we're setting ourselves up or even people around us as the savior complex. And we're not the savior of the world. In fact, that job has already been taken, and we don't need to worry about that. But when we co-labor with our mandate and our blueprint, as was ordained in the beginning in Eden, when we co-labor and walk with God, because that's what it was in Genesis, it says that God walked with man and woman in the garden side by side, not over top, not underneath, but it was a collaboration side by side. God is still God, but it requires our free will to say, I'm going to participate as an active collaborator with God. When we do that, we can hit the mark. When we don't do that and we lean on our own understanding, then that's where the trouble begins.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

Yeah, absolutely. I'm curious, you mentioned, you know, spirit, body. And so one thing that really is challenging for a lot of people is the concept of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. And so I've heard different, you know, references, like it's an egg and one's the yolk, and I've heard there's the phases of matter, gas, and solid. Do you have like a good analogy for someone that's maybe, you know, non-religious and can't really, or even us that are religious and can't wrap our head around three beings in one?

SPEAKER_00 13:14

Really, the the best way I would describe it, and I would respectfully, and I I love the fact that we get to speak and collaborate in the show here together, Nate, respectfully, I would I would replace religion with belief system, because the name of religion has even turned off a lot of people in our generation, hasn't it, to where many evils have been done in the name of God or the name of Jesus. And even as I get into how I explain that, especially to both uh people of different faiths or of different beliefs versus people who believe in similar mind my faith, which is my faith is following Jesus, I would say in this in this regard that there's a difference between the teachings and the practices of what Jesus actually taught as a historical and a real figure who walked the earth versus those who claim to represent him in his name by a false Jesus, because the Bible is very clear saying beware of false Christs and false teachings that are contrary to Jesus and many evils and wrongs even today in institutional Christianity, even set up in the name of Jesus that actually have nothing to do with the early church or how Jesus actually taught in the gospels or planted those seeds. When Constantine legalized Christianity, the Emperor of Rome in 300 AD 313, he brought in a lot of pagan practices to the church, which included you know structures and hierarchies and even tithing and things like that. Is there a ringing on your edge? You got a phone call? No, I don't. My my mine's on the do not disturb. Just let me just check here. Yeah, sorry about that. Yeah. So I had to do not disturb. I'll continue here for that. Riverside. So spirit, soul, and body, and as far as following in the practice and teachings of Jesus. Jesus is a different message from institutional religion versus what Jesus actually taught. That's where I would begin with our audience because they're two separate things.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

Yeah, it's interesting. We're going through a book at church. It's like the seven most challenging concepts in the Bible. And right now, I think last week it was Exodus, and then we kind of transition into, you know, some of the wars and things that are going on. And so it was difficult because that section was talking about why is there so much violence and things like that. And it's interesting to your point, like God and Jesus do not want, you know, war and things like that. And so the way that he talked about it, he's like, in the beginning, there was no war and everything was awesome, and then in Revelation everything was good. You know, in the messy middle, there's a bunch of people that seem to do stuff that's not the right thing because we kind of mess things up repeatedly. And so that's something I kind of go back and remind myself, like that's not what he intended, but we kind of get off the off the track. But what were you gonna say about the the three phases?

SPEAKER_00 16:16

Well, what I was gonna say is really that in order, and this is a tricky one because speaking to both audiences who share similar faith, but also those who maybe have different faiths, I I want to say describing the message of the gospel is this, and that is the kingdom of priests. In Exodus and 1 Peter in the Bible, it talks about God's original blueprint for humanity, all of humanity, to be a kingdom of priests. And where we see the trouble that begins after Moses leads Israel out of Egypt. We've many people have seen the movie Prince of Egypt, one of my favorite movies. Love that movie. But when they get to the foot of the mountain, God speaks, and the thunder and the lightnings and the earthquakes are happening, and then God's like, Come to me on the mountain and speak with me. It says right there in Exodus that God gave an invitation to the entire nation, not just to Moses, to speak with them on the mountain. And one of the most tragic passages in scripture happens next. The people say, We don't want to go to the mountain. We're afraid. We want Moses to go for us. And tragically, thus began the abdication to mediation, right? The abdication to, oh, Moses, you talk for us. We don't want to face God ourselves. And that's a result of the curse, because one of the results of the curse in Eden was when men and women ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they put fig leaves over themselves, coverings, so that they would have a mediator between themselves and God. And God's original blueprint, as we can see in 1 Peter after the resurrection, death, and resurrection of Jesus, was to restore us back to Eden, that kingdom of priests. That's why Peter says, You are to me a kingdom of priests, not just one minister or one priest standing in the tabernacle. That's why Jesus, when he said in the cross, it is finished. And what happens after Jesus said, It is finished? The veil of the temple is torn in two. That old covenant system of having to go through a mediator and having blood sacrifice, goats and rams and cattle and oxen was fulfilled on the cross. So what I would say to both believer and pre-believer is that this isn't just for the celebrities. In fact, celebrity Christianity has done a lot of evil in the name of God, which has nothing to do with God. And I believe we live in a world, Nate, and I want to hear your perspective on this. We live in a world where people are looking that where they're they're sick of celebrities, they're sick of gurus, they're sick of mediators, and they're looking for authentic truth. That's why Jesus said in John, you know, he was full of grace and truth.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

Yeah, I would definitely agree. I think one thing that gets missed along the way for the pre-believers, like you said, is it's a list of rules and restrictions, and it's going to limit you in some way. And I wish more people would see, you know, the two laws, you know, if there were, you know, a set number of laws, love God and love your neighbor. And like don't overcomplicate the thing. It's like if you're taking care of other people and loving God, like, you know, obviously there's more to it. But sometimes I think we get hung up on the rules and checking boxes, and we know we all fall short, we're all fallen fallen, and we, you know, we just need the relationship with the Lord because He obviously gave the ultimate sacrifice and covered all that. But I think that is one thing that kind of gets misforgotten. Like Bible study we have on Wednesdays. This has come up a few times. Like you're driving around and you accidentally cut somebody off, and you know, maybe you have the Jesus fish on the back, and they're like, oh, how could they do that? They're the worst, you know, they're they're a Christian, they they cut me off, they're terrible. It's like when you become a Christian, I think it's like misconstrued that like then you are perfect or something. It's like we're all bad and we all need help, and that's the reason that we're there. And I think uh my favorite poem is Maya Angelou, I'm a Christian, and she goes through that. She's saying, I'm not holier than you, I'm not saying I'm better than you. I'm saying I am broken, I am fallen, and I need help. Like that's the whole point. It's obviously much longer than that, but that's the best depiction I've seen. But yeah, I agree with you.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

Yeah, and it's the the goodness of God, not the judgment of God, but the goodness of God that leads men and women to repentance, not judgment or I'm gonna smite you, Almighty Smiter. Like it makes me think of a quote from Bruce Almighty, hilarious movie where, you know, where he's like he meets God, right? A whole different thing. But you know, smite me, Almighty Smiter. But a lot of, sadly enough, a lot of people who especially adhere to the different Jesus, not the actual message of the gospel, will say, Oh, well, you know, people gotta repent, otherwise they're gonna be thrown in hell. Well, you really think that that's gonna be like, think of it from a sales perspective. If I come to somebody and say, come and buy this car because I'm selling cars, and if you don't buy this car, something bad's gonna happen to you on the road. You think that person is gonna actually want to buy my car? They feel coerced. It's no different when we're talking about God. It's like the goodness of God. Like when I was in Salem, Massachusetts, one of my favorite places to be, and New Age festivals, haunted happenings, one of the big new age festivals in the world with my parents and with family. And I went to a school called Streams Academy in New Hampshire when I was a teenager. Me and my brothers, my family is very influential in bringing Streams Ministries to Canada under the ministry of John Paul Jackson. Some people may be familiar with that name. He's passed away to be with the Lord many years ago. But he was a friend of mine, and I interned for him. And so part of our training for doing dream interpretation analysis, the Hebraic method of dream interpretation, was to go to Salem and we'd sit there in booths and we would do spiritual readings and dream interpretation. Now, for those of our audience who are listening to me think, hell well, spiritual readings that sound psychic. Well, you have to speak to pre-believers. I won't call them non-believers because I was just setting something into the atmosphere that's not meant to be, but I'll call them pre believers. You have to speak in non Christianese. You have to speak in a language that's not triggering because a lot of these people have had abuse emotionally, physically, spiritually, under the name of Jesus, which is actually not really who Jesus is. Jesus doesn't condemn like that. But we would do spiritual readings and dream interpretation, and we would mess. Minister to people through this method of using language that wasn't triggering. And most of the resistance that we had to what we were doing in Salem, towards the psychics, the new agers, the polytheists, the Hindus, you name it, most of the resistance was not from people of different beliefs. Sadly, the resistance and most of it was from people who claimed to follow the same God that we did in Jesus. It was the Repent America people that were camped outside of our spot trying to say, oh, sinners, you know, you're all going to hell if you don't say these raw laws and regulations and say that you're an awful sinner and throw off all of your witchcraft and evil. Well, that's not what Jesus would have done and would do if he was alive in the 21st century. So it's the goodness of God. It's that tangible encounter, including doing dream interpretation, spiritual readings, and people would walk out of those booths just completely filled with just that awareness. Wow, God speaks in the mysteries of the night season. God speaks to me. You mean I don't have to go into four walls of a church to actually meet Jesus? No, actually you don't, because Jesus says that we are the house of God. We are the temple. And the temple has wheels, the temple moves.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

Yeah, it's interesting to me because people want the fire and brimstone. They say like all those things, like you're saying, all the negative aspects. But I think the mercy and grace are like just as important and just as big. But then on the flip side, like God is also just, like, he's not going to allow injustice. So I think you have to have some type of balance. I feel like people want one or the other, or you know, everything's a spectrum. And I think there's definitely a lot of grace. You know, we've all fallen short.

SPEAKER_00 24:04

So exactly. And that's why Jesus with the woman caught in adultery, when those are looking to stone her, they were all looking to be the judge, the Holy Ghost, and say, Oh, we're going to be the judge. And Jesus said, you know, he who has without sin cast the first stone, and they all walked away from the oldest to the young. And then what was left was just Jesus and the woman. And then where are your accusers? And she said, None are here, Lord, neither do I accuse you. But here's the key part, and which a lot of people miss. Now go on your way and sin no more. Now that's our mandate as well. I'm saying that to myself as well, too. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God. There's nobody perfect. Anyone who says that have all together is a liar because there's nobody perfect except for God Himself. So one of the things, and I agree with what you're saying, Nate, is we got to have balance. But at the same time, I think a lot of Christians, especially in North America, are so quick to try to play the Holy Spirit and say, I'm going to accuse and judge, oh, all those sinners in Hollywood at the Grammys, or all those sinners at the Super Bowl halftime show. Well, it's really easy to point out the plank, you know, or the speck in your brother's eye when you have a plank in your own eye. And that's something we have to keep in mind is we've all fallen short, but we have to live lives in such a way where we live where we have something that somebody else wants. If I'm not actually letting my history speak, and that's one of my one of my four pillars at the ceiling, if we don't let our history speak, then the world around us is not going to want anything from us. But if we let our history speak and collaborate with God in our trichotomous being, then we've got something that the world is looking for.

The Night Season And Dreams

SPEAKER_01 25:41

It's so interesting to me too. It reminds me of the other day I was watching a video from Forrest Frank, and he was kind of pouring himself out, and he's like, I get attacked more by other Christians than I do by the world. It's like kind of sad. He's like, I'm trying to do the right thing. And it's like the people that get me the most, it seems like, are other people in the community. So, but we'll transition into your next pillar, Caleb, which is understanding the night season. Can you help us define the night season?

SPEAKER_00 26:07

Yes. Your dreams aren't random noise in the night season. They're memos from your subconscious, but we just need to lean in to learn what they're saying. They're memos from our subconscious. In fact, we spend a third of our lives in the night season dreaming. So by the time that Nate and I and our audience, some of them our audience has already reached 60 years of age, but by the time that we reach 60 years of age, we'll have slept one third of our lives. Now that's a very significant chunk. That's 20 out of that 60. Therefore, God must have a plan, it must have had a plan, does have a plan, of something to speak blueprints and messages and codes in that night season. That's why it says in the ancient text and the scriptures in Job, it said, though God speaks one way, though another, though man does not perceive it while lying on his bed, visions and dreams of the night season. And here's a real noodle cooker, say that cook the noodle of the brain, and that is most of the Bible is actually, you know, visions, dreams, experiences in the night season. And one of the things that really annoys me, I'm gonna say probably might have annoyed Nate as well, too. I want to hear from him as well, too. But one of the things that annoys me is when people say, oh, especially people who claim to follow Jesus, oh, well, you know, like mystical experiences and dreams and you know, like seeing all those visionary, you know, things, that's for the the occult or that's for the new age. No, that's not for the occult and the new age. The dreams of the night season are actually something that began with God. It did not begin with the occult, it did not begin with the new age. In fact, the new age and the occult are just a counterfeit of what God actually created in the beginning, because you and I, we are the dream of God. In the beginning, there was nothing. And then the earth was without form and void, and then the earth came, and then the creatures, and then the land, and then the animals, and finally us. We are God's blueprint and dream. And therefore, for God's dream, then therefore we dream as well. And we do spend a lot of time dreaming in the night season. But here's something I want to just lay as a foundation. If you don't remember anything else that I say, realize this. Whether you adhere to God as Jesus, God, creator, higher power, wherever you're at in your journey, understand this. You are the living fulfillment of God's dream. You are that special.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

Yeah, I think it makes me think of I went through this academy at church. We went through a year-long kind of leadership program. And one of the things we did was broken into three different modules. The first one was uh Old Testament, the second one was self-leadership, because you can't lead others until you can kind of take care of yourself. And then outward leadership was the last one. But that middle one, we read a book called Shape, which is by Eric Reese, maybe that's how his name is pronounced. I tried to look it up. Finding and fulfilling your unique purpose for life. But the whole book was on spiritual gifts. So that's kind of what I would think of is you know, there's different gifts, everyone is gifted in different ways. And so I think that's one thing that's kind of another common misconception is everyone has all of them, everyone is good in all of them, they're gonna be all over the place. So I think that's what I would say to your point. Like some of those are gonna connect and you're gonna be able to make discernment and be able to move through those, and other people will not. And so the people that cannot probably are confused and probably, you know, throwing a little bit of shade towards you.

Put On Your Own Armor

SPEAKER_00 29:36

For sure. It's like all of us would love to be able to be a super athlete, but are we all gonna be a super athlete? Probably not, but can we all do athletic things? Sure. This is what it means to really follow up with what Nate just said, and that is we can all dream in the night season. Maybe not all of us are gonna be dream interpreters as something that's a regular part of our lives, but we can still have a level of understanding. All of us aren't necessarily going to be public speakers, but we can all have a moment where we can share and inspire and speak to a group or an audience in one way or another. And that's what I think is really important about the DNA of design quiz. We referenced it earlier, so I'm just gonna just uh shout it out there again. Like if you're listening to this right now and you're like, my goodness, this is really, really interesting, what Caleb and Nate are talking about. I want you, after this podcast is over, to go and take the free DNA of design quiz, 10 questionnaire of the five DNA of design prototypes, and you'll be able to figure out which of your prototypes that you actually are gifted in, and then we can have a conversation about that. But this is so essential, I cannot emphasize this enough, is that we need to put on our own armor. And this is a great segue into a brief story I want to share, and then I want to go back to you, Nate, and hear your thoughts on this. One you'll be very familiar with, our audience will be very familiar with, and that is the story of David and Goliath in the Bible. And a lot of us are more open to this story recently because in Amazon Prime's miniseries, The House of David, shout out for the House of David there. Really good show, really good show. And for those thinking, oh man, another Bible series is gonna be corny or cheesy. No, this one is not corny or cheesy. My mom's hairdresser, my mother's hairdresser, actually does the hair for all the actors and actresses on House of David in Greece. They'll be filming season three probably sometime soon, I imagine. But the story of David and Goliath, David's a shepherd boy, the underdog, the guy's like, okay, well, I want to fight the giant, because the giant Goliath, man of war, is mocking the armies of Israel of God for 40 days and 40 nights. Nobody's going to fight the giant. Not even the great King Saul or his son Jonathan. All of them are terrified. David shows up and says, I'm going to fight the giant. His brothers and the king and all the king's court are saying, You can't, you can't fight this giant. He's been doing this since he was a boy, and you're just a shepherd. And David said, Well, I can do this because I've fought off the lion and the bear, and I have my staff, my sling, but I'll have my faith. This is what I'm equipped with. And finally, Saul relents and says, Okay, well, you can fight, but you gotta wear my armor. Now keep in mind, this is the part of the story that most people gloss over or miss, but it's true. Saul says to David, you gotta wear my armor. I agree you're gonna be my champion, but you got to wear my armor. Now, how many times have you and I heard that in life? Oh, in order for you to be successful and have your purpose fulfilled on the earth, you have to do it like and fill in the blanks. You gotta do it like Tony Robbins, you gotta do it like Taylor Swift, you gotta do it like Grant Cardone, you gotta do it like all the gurus, you gotta do it like just fill in the blanks. But no, you gotta wear your armor your way. And that's when David said to Saul, he tried it on, he said, Oh, I can't wear this. I wasn't designed for this. And that's what I'm getting at with our DNA of design. When you put on your own armor and you walk in your DNA of design, everything changes. The giants will fall on your life, your purpose will feel like you have more meaning. And when you put on somebody else's armor, you're not going to be able to fulfill the full purpose to which you've been created. So resist con culture, resist conformity. Do not be conform to that world pattern, but be renewed by the transforming of your mind. And that begins with the DNA of design. Put on your own armor, resist when somebody else tries to force their armor on you.

SPEAKER_01 33:30

Yeah, that goes back to that book. So as I was talking that spiritual gifts book, we're going through shape. And uh, even though I'm, you know, late 30s at this point, coming up on 40s, I feel like a lot of times throughout my life I've kind of struggled with being weird, you know? And I as I was moving through some of that, there were different quizzes and different things to do and whatnot, but it really just reaffirmed and kind of locked things down. Like I was beautifully and wonderfully made to be this exact way. And so, like, I am a little goofy, I'm a little weird, I talk too much, like I said, you know, and that's the way that I was designed. So I won't need to continue to go out and use those gifts and those things that I was developed on that spectrum from left to right to use those in the appropriate way. So we're different, you know, to the beat of the own drum. But yeah, I think that's a really good reminder. We were whipp made the way we were supposed to be made.

SPEAKER_00 34:20

Yeah, a great calling demands a great separation. And that is that is something that is absolutely true for each one of us. We have to be separate in our own individual framework from what everybody else is doing. And I'm not saying that to puff up our listeners or anybody listening to this may think, are you saying that I'm better than anybody else? No, you and I aren't better than anybody else, but what I'm saying is it's like that one goldfish that is swimming away from the rest of the fish that are going in one direction. If we do everything everybody else does the same way, we're not going to fulfill our purpose on the earth. We have to be separate from the con culture. It's like in Star Wars, you know, the uh the attack of the clones, right? You got the clone troopers are all marching in line together. We can't do that. We can't fall in line with that because when we do that, then we're falling in line with the frequency of the system of the world, which is contrary to the system that God designed within us, which is going by our conscience, spirit, soul, and body, collaborating with God.

History Speaks And Shapes Us

SPEAKER_01 35:27

And that's the perfect segue into history. So history speaks. Caleb, what does history teach us about human nature that we keep on forgetting?

SPEAKER_00 35:40

That history is living and active. It's an economy of motion. It's not just something we open as a history book and say, oh, that was an interesting story back then. It's got no relevance for me right now or for the future. But history is a constant leave living, breathing organism. It's like when the matrix, when Neo puts his hand and tries to touch the matrix and he's just touching the, you know, just that blob that's there, but it's like it becomes like a part of him. It's like an avatar when you're reaching out and touching, you know, Jake, instead of touching his face. Jake, Sally, Sally, Sally, you're touching his face, right? And he's coming onto that new planet. That's what history is like. It's living, breathing, and active. We can learn from those who came before us so that we can be present where we are now and press on to what's ahead for the high calling of God that's in our life. In Exodus chapter three, one of my favorite passages in the Bible, Moses encounters God at the burning bush. And Moses says to God, Who are you? And God says, I am. Great I am. I am, not I was, not I will be, but I am. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And what does I am mean? I am means that while Moses was having that conversation with God at the burning bush in that moment, he was also, because God's outside time, he was with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the same time. That's why in the New Testament, when the Pharisees and Sadducees and all the religious leaders were just riled up about Jesus and they were like, tell us who you are, like, prove to us. And he was like, I tell you the truth. He's like, before Abraham was, I am. So that means that Jesus, the great I am, was with the Pharisees in that moment. He was with Moses at the burning bush, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he's with you and I right now. And here's the real cooker that's going to bring the land the ship or the land, the land the plane. He's with our descendants right now, in the future. God is not restricted by time like you and I are. We're on a Gregorian calendar, but history speaks, the true meaning of history speaks is that God is there in the past, he's here in the present, he's there in the future, and we can learn from every single testimony that has come on before us. Because it says in Revelation that they overcame the enemy by the blood of a lamb and the word of their testimony. That means their history speaks. You and I have to embrace our history. And maybe your audience is thinking, Caleb, well, my history sucks. I had a really traumatic upbringing. I had, you know, trauma, abuse. What part of my history can you actually find redemption in? Well, there's two sides to a coin, isn't there? There's one side and there's the other. So my challenge to you, if you're somebody who's like, Caleb, my history stinks, it's dark. Well, take that which comes against you and flip it. Your obstacle will become your arsenal. So if you had verbal abuse growing up and that's all you ever knew, guess what your design is? Your design is to use your voice and exhort others to break off the shackles of limitations of slavery and self-dealt with your voice. That's how you can flip it. That's how you can learn from your history.

SPEAKER_01 38:51

Absolutely. Everyone else lived it. We just need to learn from it. Caleb, is there a historical moment or pattern you return to and trying to make sense of today?

SPEAKER_00 39:02

My historical pattern that I come back to is I'm on this timeline right now where I'm supposed to be. And I don't need to over worry about the fact that I wasn't put in the timeline a couple hundred years ago or a couple hundred years from now. That's why it says when Esther had that script, that famous scripture in the book of Esther, you were born and brought to the kingdom for such a time as this. And that's what's the reassurance is that I am exactly where I need to be on the timeline where God has put me, and not have to overstress it and not worry about something else that's not meant to be. And I believe so often we we're overcome with worry in this world. We're worried about what tax we need to pay next. We're worried about, you know, where we're gonna find our next source of income. We're worried about relationships, we're worried about favor, we're worried about being able to make an impact. We're worried about what other people will think about us, we're worried about what's gonna come tomorrow. We're worried about what global conflicts or wars are happening, we're worried about who's gonna be the next president of the United States, we're worried about what the UN. You get my drift. You follow what we're saying here, and worry is not a fruit of the spirit. That's why Jesus said, Do not worry, see the birds of the air. In fact, I was able to actually look up at the birds of the air today after I was playing pickleball. While I was playing pickleball, and the doves singing and cooing, they neither sow nor reap, yet the heavenly father keeps care of them. Therefore, we do not need to lean into worry, but know that we are built for such a time as this. That's what I returned to is here for a purpose, and I have a job to do on the earth because our time is limited. And that's why it says, Teach us, O Lord, to count and number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom in Ecclesiastes. God has set eternity on the heart of man. I'm investing in eternity. Everything that I do is built towards that. That's what I come back to.

Worry, Time, And Eternal Focus

SPEAKER_01 41:01

Absolutely. Yeah, it's interesting. We have so much anxiety and worry and all these things. And I recently saw the most common phrase in the Bible in different words, but is do not fear. And so we have so many different things we're always worried about. And then, you know, God put in more than anything that else, you know, that we needed the most was do not fear, or, you know, you shall not fear, different ways like that, but super comforting to hear you don't have to fear. I've done the things that you need to be worried about. So it's all taken care of, the greatest sacrifice. Well, Caleb, you had three wonderful pillars today. I'd like to try to bring it all together. How does the design of DNA, the night season, and history work together to shape a life with depth, purpose, and resilience?

SPEAKER_00 41:50

We're the planet that all these are rotating around. In fact, the three pillars we covered, and I've got four, but you know, we covered three today: DNA of design, understanding mysteries of the night season, history speaks, the eye of I principle, the early years of entrepreneurship, of innovation, these all circle around one thing, and that is our individual purpose on the earth. And these are hingent upon our collaboration with God, because we cannot leave God out of the picture. If we do, we will not have a full picture, a full MPA, a multiple perspective advantage of our lives, of our individual calling on the earth. We won't be able to see in the night season or understand in depth without God's guidance and his voice. We won't be able to learn from our history because without God's lenses of clarity, history can be very muddled. It can be many voices can compete for how to interpret history without the voice of God, without the voice of the Spirit of God. And our own DNA of design, if we're only walking in our dichotomous worldview, soul and body, without our trichotomous, without God, without the breath of God influencing our spirit, then we're going to be limited. And so all these rotate as planets around our individual purpose and that collaboration with God. And what I want to leave our audience with is this is that is do not let your life go forward in such a way where you're putting all the weight on your own shoulders or on the family's shoulders or on people's shoulders. Don't look in the physical because what is seen is temporary, what is unseen is eternal. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for just for the food that endures to everlasting life, which the Father will put his seal of approval on you when you do that. That's God's seal of approval, is the audience of one. Do not worry about man's applause. Man's applause is fickle. Don't do it. Don't live for the applause of man. It will come and go like the winter wheat, but live for God's applause, how heaven perceives your ministry to mankind on earth. That's the only applause that matters. So that when you stand in front of your maker face to face with the creator, with who I believe is Jesus, you have that conversation. You're saying, I emptied myself. I emptied my DNA of design, my purpose on the earth. I put everything that I put my hand to, I surrendered to you, God. I want that for you at the end of your life, that your life would be full of days at For King David. Not half of days, not a quarter of days, but full of days. That is my desire for each one of you. So it's been an honor, privilege to be here on the show with you, Nate, on the Mind Force podcast. And I'm just delighted to see what this is going to go next for our listeners. But pursue the purpose to which you've been created by co-laboring right now, today, with God as an active living participant in your DNA of design.

Free Resources And Where To Follow

SPEAKER_01 44:49

Awesome. Thanks, thank you, Caleb. Yeah, God is forever, and we have that personal relationship. One thing I think is just awesome out of all the different religions. There's only one that has a personal relationship, came down as a human and walked the walk and did all the things that we have to struggle with and all the challenges we have. So this has been an awesome conversation. Thank you, Caleb, for sharing your perspective and wisdom. Before we close, where can listeners connect with and follow your work?

SPEAKER_00 45:16

Absolutely. And I want to reference back to the one of the two free resources. In fact, I'll mention both of the free resources now. Of course, the DNA of design quiz, which you've heard about a few times, listeners, throughout the show. You can find that, of course, in the links in the QR code that I will make available to Nate, the DNA of design quiz on my calebmatthews.net website. I'll make those links available. And then of course, the second resource is the bi-monthly newsletter called Seek the Link. So if you're interested in what I'm sharing and my podcast guest appearances and my content, my YouTube channel and want to hear more, then I've got a twice a month newsletter. It's free. I won't spam you, I promise. But helping you seek the links between your destiny and your purpose in the daytime and in the night season. And of course, through the four pillars that are mentioned and recommended as well. And finally, if you're somebody that needs more direction, you're like, okay, well, newsletter is great, the DI design quiz is great, but I need more one-on-one coaching. I do actually have book sessions called Link Up, 60-minute sessions, where it's paid session, paid one-on-one, where I actually give you your own individual design consultation and at the end some activations and be able to something to move away with. But I'll make the QR and the code and the links available for those as well. But hey listeners, please follow me on YouTube and my channel as well. Love to have you a part of that. See the see the link. I know the C link on YouTube. And thank you so much. Thank you so much, Nate, for having me on the show.

SPEAKER_01 46:42

Absolutely. Thank you for coming out. Everyone listening, thanks for being here. If something made you think a little differently today, pass this episode along to someone you love. I love you all. See ya.