January 09, 2006
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Plans of the Heart - Part 2 How to Encourage Your Heart
Last week in Plans of the Heart Part 1, we shared that spiritual maturity is reaching a place where your heart's desires and the will of God become the same thing. This week we want some practical tips on how to get there. Healthy Envy - One of the early signs that God is unveiling your heart's desire is that you see someone else doing your heart’s desire… you’ll be drawn to emulate that person. When you see someone with a calling, gifting, and anointing similar to your own, you naturally gravitate toward them. You’ll experience a healthy envy that draws you into their anointing. They are examples the Lord is showing you to pull you into your own destiny. Let your envy work its way into mentoring. We are drawn into their anointing by the Holy Spirit. Godly mentors don't focus on accountability; they focus on making you a success and letting you hold yourself accountable to something that works. That's why we like to interview Kings and find mentors that have already tapped into an anointing for prosperity and ministry in the marketplace.
Unity vs Unique - Nearly all Christians learn to find themselves by serving in someone else's vision for a period of time. Many are called to support another's vision as their primary calling. It's the desire of their heart. The desire of your heart, your calling, may be uniquely your own or it may be shared with another group - your church for example. I heard many imbalanced sermons on the evils of being a lone ranger with an independent spirit. At the time we didn't believe in the concept of ministry outside the church. We had theologically painted ourselves into a corner where entrepreneurs with business or ministry outside the church were missing God. As a pastor, I was prone to preach the virtues of people that supported the church and worked with me to make it grow. I was silent on the need to expand the Kingdom in the marketplace outside the church. Graduating Disciples - We should disciple new believers to gradually find their place in the Kingdom and / or in the church. We are also winding our way around to a concept where we realize the church is a place to be equipped but the marketplace is where ministry opportunities come for nearly all of us. Fearing Your Heart - Instead of discerning our heart's desires to find the will of God, many Christians have no theological basis to even consider the possibility. We're steeped in concern over presumption, dead works, getting ahead of God, missing God, etc. That fear keeps us from hearing one of the primary ways God speaks; through our heart's desires. We've been taught that voice of personal desire is carnal. We charismatics are great at unction, prophecy, still small voice, dreams, listening prayer, fasting... we miss the forest for the trees. We miss hearing the desires God put in our hearts. When we're fearful of missing the will of God we actually open a door to deception. We actually put too much weight on prophetic words or on the leadership of others. Don't get me wrong; God does use other people to lead us and give valid prophetic words. My point is that those ministries are intended to mature us to hear God ourselves. They should confirm what's already in our hearts. You Gotta Ask! - No one has really reached God's best by crucifying their heart's desires. It's really just a life-killing tradition that most of us have been raised in. Make a decision between you and God that you'll allow him to give you the same invitation he gave Solomon, "Ask whatever." Notice when Solomon is finished with round one of his heart's desire (at Gibeon), God visits him again (at Gibeon). Can you see this is a normal pattern? We're supposed to ask! Solomon achieved what he had desired to do. Jesus made that point a dozen times in the New Testament.
Mistakes and home runs - We're not just fighting tradition. Most of us have stepped out on some ambition that did "go south." We all have stories of dead works, presumption, and failed initiatives. So what? It's called experience. If we vow never to trust our hearts again, we cut ourselves off from the deepest levels of intimacy with God. Want to know what makes God really mad? That servant that hid his talent because he was afraid of failure. Faith is "knowing in part" stepping out of the boat, and trusting a loving Father that longs for our initiative. You really are called to be hero... to hit the home run... to be a star. To be God's man or woman you're going to have to take your best swing; Best swings (plural). Ask and keep on asking. Swing and keep on swinging. I think the Lord and the devil agree on one thing. They both want to know know what you're going to do after the first two strikes. With all Your heart - I used to think seeking and loving God with all my heart referred to intensity. Now I understand it's an important aspect of my relationship with God. He's asking me to go into the desires of my heart, encourage them, discern them, refine them, and operate out of them. He doesn't want my heart surrendered, abandoned, or crucified; He wants it to be alive, engaged, thrilled, motivated, loved...
Life is an adventure. People are a blessing. God is amazing. We're winning.
Love, John & Harold (are dancing - Join us)
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! 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. 509-308-6873
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) |