subscribe to this Newsletter Trying I Give Up? - We’ve all heard sermons about “letting go and letting God.” Surrender has been a big theme. The message we often take home is that if we’re really spiritual, God will intervene on our behalf, work behind the scenes, and make good things happen that don’t depend on our intellect or effort. If we think of our intellect and effort as coming from a sinful heart that can’t produce anything good, then a successful surrender is the best scenario we can hope for. Waive the white flag and wait for a miracle. I want to suggest that our hearts and minds are places God writes out his plan. This is one of the great promises of regeneration that God is powerful enough to accomplish. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. Heb 8:10 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Ezek 36:26-27 Having a dream, realizing it’s from God (after a little discernment), and giving yourself permission to pursue it is the starting place for experiencing the life of Christ. So, the first questions are, “do you have a dream?” and “what is it?” Many Kings have answer for those questions, but still lack a plan. Let’s go on to the next step. I’ve found most people do have a dream. Actually, the Holy Spirit has written on all of our hearts so theologically we all have a dream or a desire. Most of us recognize it as being from God. The second step is “trying.” A dream or a desire never gets from theory to practice until we try. Dreams remain promises until we try to make them reality. I want to replace some of the surrender in your relationship to God with trying. Here’s what will happen. Trying means asking, seeking, knocking – Willingness to try something God puts in your heart conveys your confidence in His leadership. He wants you to take the initiative to pursue your heart’s desire. We’re so caught up in worrying about failure (and sin) that we often never give God’s leading a real “try.” If you try, the door will open! "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"  Luke 11:9-13 Some 30, some 60 and some 100 fold - In the parable of the sower (Mt 13) the seed is “the message about the Kingdom.” This promise of seeing your heart’s desire fulfilled is a central part of that Kingdom message. The man who hears the word and understands it produces a crop because he “tries.” AKA obeys. 23 But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."  Matt 13:23 Joshua – remember all those exhortations to “be strong and courageous.” God was telling Joshua to try. Fear causes us to freeze up and withdraw from the battle. Fear of presumption has frozen many out of the will and blessing of God. Having the confidence to expand your corner of the Kingdom means two things; you’re going to try, you're going to face some resistance from the enemy, and you may even experience an occasional failure and require a few resurrections. It's part of entering the fray - you'll live and not die. Your discernment will sharpen and wisdom will grow. 16 for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again… Prov 24:16 17 "Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.  18 For he wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal. 19 From six calamities he will rescue you; in seven no harm will befall you. Job 5:17-19 9 A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all; 20 he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken. Ps 34:19-20 23 If the LORD delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; 24 though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand. Ps 37:23-24 Making disciples that try – I’m really grateful to God and parents for putting me in an environment to try things. In hindsight, they were small town things; 4H horses and basketball. But they were huge to me. It didn’t matter that is was a small district in a small state. Getting picked for that all conference team, winning a championship, riding the winning horse at the fair… forever etched the concept of “going for it” in my heart. Once tasted, that thrill overrides my fear of failure. When our four kids were growing up, I watched for opportunities to encourage them to excel in something they enjoyed. Go for it - On our trip to the Netherlands in November, my first stop was spending time with Cees Bakker. He’s a wonderful Dutch brother, friend, and a tireless organizer of our trips there. I was a little concerned about how our message would be received. He spoke something that I later realized was very prophetic. He said, “John, you may as well go for it.” God echoed that phrase in my heart every time we ministered. I tried to release my heart to the greatest degree possible… is was the first time I’d consciously given myself that level of permission to go out on a limb in expression, in the prophetic… in every way I could. Cees' words set my heart free. I set my heart free on hearing them. Regardless of what we do, I hear the voice of God saying the same thing to Kings around the world in this hour. Go for it...with all your heart. 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind' Luke 10:27  Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men Col 3:22-23    Life is an adventure. People are a blessing. God is amazing. We're winning.   Love, John & Harold     (are dancing - Join us) New Book - Our goal in Releasing Kings was to articulate theological basis for Marketplace ministry such that people naturally mature toward being more entrepreneurial and more generous. Harold has continued that theme in a new book that I really enjoyed. This book is a brief explanation of Resurrection-based Christianity entitled Jesus Came Out of the Tomb, So Can You. It also appears on our Recommendations Page. There are four other books that tie closely to the chapters in Part 2 of Releasing Kings that are all worth while. 4 No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD will take delight in you, and your land will be married. 5 As a young man marries a maiden, so will your sons marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.  Isa 62:4-5 www.releasing-kings.com Conferences - The Last trip to the Netherlands was a real eye-opener! I greatly underestimated the value of our book, the impact of the message on individual lives, and the value of live conferences. I witnessed the power of God being unleashed in the hearts of men and women by simply explaining the theology and experience behind releasing their heart's desire to expand the Kingdom. Seeing the lights come up in the hearts of God's people feels like sponsoring a jailbreak. One of my goals is to equip others to help us share the message in conference formats before we get overwhelmed with the momentum of what God is about to do. If your church or organization is ready, we can help you start a fire... a big one! Send us your feedback! johnsue@clearwire.com We get blessed by your emails at "You Wrote Back"  Past newsletters are now Indexed to Chapters in Releasing Kings! Newsletters associated with chapter 12 relate to this week's theme    _____________________________________________________________________ Interested in your own WEB? We've posted information on the software we use to create this web site. If you survive the learning curve without losing your sanctification (mine is barely intact), it really is easy to use and the cost is $299 a year - much less expensive than hiring someone. The primary benefit is the ease of making your own changes. Additional info is at: http://www.releasing-kings.com/releasing-websites.html     Progress - Kingly Bio's are Up We've completed the first round of interviews with Kings.  These are real people that have been blessed by God in the Market Place and have hearts for ministry.  Check it out at http://www.releasing-kings.com/Interviewing-Kings.html.  If you have a success story, we'd like to post it by giving you a web page on our site.     Progress - A Teacher's Guide We've completed the first version of a study guide that targets those teaching the material in Releasing Kings.  It includes a page of notes on each chapter, all the graphics suitable to make overheads, and a PDF file of the book with the key points highlighted that includes marginal notes, comments, and questions.  This material is available for purchase on the teacher's guide page of the web. johnsue@clearwire.com 509-308-6873     Friends Tell Friends God has given us a great tool to communicate a message that sets people free in an amazing, contagious, life-changing way.  If you haven't read it - get it.  If you have read it - give it.  http://www.releasing-kings.com/Ordernow.html   We've gotten a ton of positive feedback on the newsletter too... get it, give it.  Reloading Seniors was powerful.  Pass the link on. http://www.releasing-kings.com/Newsletter.html   PS: don't forget to look at the free reports - show your pastor the article on marketplace ministry from the pastor's perspective.  You can simply email him this link or print a copy to give him. http://releasing-kings.com/pastors-perspective.html     ____________________________________________________________________ You can get your copy of Releasing Kings for Ministry in the Marketplace at 1-800-308-5837 (or) http://www.releasing-kings.com/Ordernow.html