November 02, 2008
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Sovereignty vs Success The Season - The reason we're high on Releasing Kings and Marketplace ministry is because it's high on God's agenda. Just as Luther's reformation allowed the rest of us to have equal access to God, this move is equally important. Now are being given equal access to ministry. Lot's of saints don't fully appreciate that this door is now open in the marketplace. We're in a pioneering phase watching for examples and mentors to give us the practical side. One aspect is our ability to break off poverty and embrace success - see our newsletter from 2 weeks ago; Poverty Roots and Fruits. Sovereignty - Most of us have a heritage of esteeming the church fathers as a means of staying theologically centered and Biblical. That's good. Most areas of debate are centuries old and the arguments are well articulated in history. I want to suggest a tweak; Sovereignty means that God has the power to 1) intervene in the normal course of history whenever He wants to and, 2) do whatever he wants to. Our tradition is to assume that God knows and controls all of the future (omniscient and sovereign). We feel like we're depreciating His majesty if we don't believe He is all-controlling. That foundation causes us to prophetically over-spiritualize what we perceive God is doing and under-value what we are doing via wisdom to embrace success in the Kingdom and the marketplace. Here are a few ramifications of balancing our initiative with God's intervention. Perfectionist Tendencies - If God controls the future we would naturally expect Him to have a perfect plan for us and bring it to pass. However, that's not our experience at all. So we try to do things perfectly (be ye therefore perfect)... and fail no matter how hard we try. Once we get enough failures under our belt we start to pull back on our initiative. After all we don't want to fall into presumption and mess up the future of the universe. Here's the reality - you play a role in choosing to plan a good deal of your future and your participation in the Kingdom. It's not a heaven/hell issue, it's all about your inheritance or success in the kingdom. Mistakes are a natural part of everything we try to do. We just make the necessary mid-course adjustments via prayer and wisdom and go on. If we prophetically embrace a course under a belief that God is all controlling we won't admit we could be wrong and we'll take a good strategy and crash it because we won't take responsibility for all of the mid-course corrections. Your future includes a general plan for your participation with lot's of options and opportunities. It's not all mapped out - it's your job to fill in the blanks on some general guidance from God. Self-Esteem - If you've made a few mistakes in life, it's very easy to fall into the daddy of all poverty lies; "My failure must be part of God's sovereign will for my life and I should accept it." That's a loser identity that will eliminate the possibility of achieving your destiny. We actually start turning down opportunities to build the Kingdom and make a difference when we think of ourselves as deserving failure. Here's the reality; downturns are nothing more than opportunities for resurrections. No matter what happens we believe we'll come out on top because that's what God really has for us. That belief is what causes us to seek Him for answers... we know they exist.
Creativity - If you really believe God knows and controls all of the future, you will try to get him to direct you to do everything and posture yourself as God's faithful servant. You won't trust yourself to think. The reality is that God has called us to be friends when we mature and share in the creative process. That means we're aware of God's big plan and offering up new ideas to make it happen!!! Chatting about them in prayer and implementing them out of our initiative. We view the Holy Spirit as the paraclete; our comforter, advocate, and helper. He doesn't take over our initiative, He helps us walk out our initiatives. The Holy Spirit can't do much for people that aren't doing anything. It's our privilege and responsibility to create. Creativity is how problems are solved and the Kingdom is built. Creativity expresses Christ likeness; being made in His image. The kids are just like Father. Initiative - Most of us have some history with slavery. We and our ancestors have experienced the oppression of a religious or social system that demonized initiative and prized mindless obedience. The result is no personal drive. We're just making bricks for someone else. Life and vitality don't really begin until we are willing to embrace our own heart's desires and pursue them. I spent much of my Christian life trying to suppress my own heart because I believed it had to be carnal. Faith is fun now. My heart has had a jailbreak and I'm free to really enjoy my relationship with God and press the frontiers of co-laboring with Him to build the Kingdom. In a word - "it's an adventure!" I'm no longer afraid of initiative... no longer resisting success. I'm learning to embrace both prophetic revelation and practical wisdom from the same source. Recommended: I've really enjoyed reading The Burden of Freedom by Miles Monroe. He has an excellent perspective on breaking poverty.
Love,
John & Sue (are dancing - Join us) Harold is dancing too ... with Linda You're invited into the vision to release Kings; communicate the message, make the money, and do the mission.
____________________________________________________________________ You can get your copy of Releasing Kings for Ministry in the Marketplace or Desire to Destiny at 1-800-308-5837 (or)
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