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From
“Releasing Kings for Ministry in the Marketplace”
by John Garfield & Harold Eberle
“Identity Shift”
When a son takes over
the family business, he acts much differently than an employee.
He takes responsibility. He acts not as a slave, waiting for
every order to come from above, but he initiates business. He
originates new ideas and ways to advance the business. He
engages his energy, passion, and life into all that is set
before him. Now it’s not just a job it’s his dream; the desire
of his heart.
The Bible uses a number
of metaphors to describe our relationship with God. While not
discounting any of them, we can observe a progression toward
relationship as shown in the diagram below. Each of the terms
has a biblical application to our lives. However, God is drawing
us to be involved in His family business; drawing us to relate
to Him in a much closer way.
God Is Working in
Your Desires
In the Old Testament we
see God dealing with people by giving His commandments. In
response, many tried to live as obedient slaves, trying to bring
every action into submission to the list of “Do’s and Don’ts.”
But we who live on this side of the New Testament have a clearer
revelation of how God wants to work in our lives. God is in us.
We are His Temple. We are His hands and feet.
...for it is God
who works in you to will and to act according to his good
purpose.
(Phil. 2:13)
God is writing His laws
on our hearts. He is giving us His desires.
Your desires are not
contrary to God’s desires. Of course, you may have a few
fleshly, carnal thoughts and ideas. But if your heart is to
please God, then He is molding your desires to match His. If you
are walking with Him, then the vast majority of your desires are
already the same as His.
Do you want to know what
God wants accomplished in this world? Then ask Christians what
they want accomplished. Most will tell you that they want
blessings for their families, young people excited about God, a
church that loves, cares, and nurtures the presence of God,
prosperity for their communities, a safe and wholesome
environment, and peace throughout the world. God’s desires are
not different from your desires. Think about it.
God longs to pour out
His heart and make His thoughts known to us (I Cor. 1:10-12).
God is looking for relationships in which we share our thoughts
with Him and He shares His thoughts with us. We were created for
such communion and companionship.
Learning to Play:
Remaining Childlike
As we transform from
slaves and servants of God to sons, friends, and lovers of God,
we experience freedom to be childlike—to play, to dream, to be
intuitive and creative. Children love taking their father’s hand
and walking with him to places they’ve never been before.
Servants and slaves never expect such attention and wouldn’t be
comfortable with the experience.
The servant mentality
tries to substitute obedience for relationship. This religious
mindset tries to please the Lord by offering sacrifices of works
they don’t enjoy! God has a simple answer for that approach to
the throne: He doesn’t want it. We have nothing to offer God in
terms of sacrificial acts that would please Him.
You do not
delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take
pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a
broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will
not despise. (Ps. 51:16-17)
Moving From
Sacrificing to Delighting
Servants offer a variety of substitutes for the kind of
co-laboring that exists on a “son” level of relationship.
Servants feel it’s noble to superimpose God’s will over their
own and do what they really don’t want to do. Although that can
be a first step in our relationship with God, we can’t live
there. We have to find the place of delighting in our
relationship with God, in our ministry and our vocation. We may
mature by progressing through rebellion, to unwilling
submission, to willing obedience, and finally to delight.
Whatever way we get there, the Lord wants to share the joy of
building the Kingdom with us.
Sacrifice and
offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced;
burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. Then
I said, “Here I am, I have come—it is written about me in
the scroll. I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is
within my heart.”
(Ps. 40:6-8)
People that
“Delight” in the Lord
Let me introduce you to
Bill. He’s an avid fisherman and outdoor type who got into a
healing ministry after he became a Christian. The Lord has used
Bill to pray for people at work, in the healing rooms, and at
church during altar calls. Bill doesn’t hate fishing now that
he’s saved. But it is likely that if he had to choose between
fishing and healing cancer, he would enjoy the victory over
cancer much more. It’s a thrill and a delight for Bill to be
used by God to see someone healed miraculously. He loves it.
The law of God
is in his heart; his feet do not slip.
(Ps. 37:31)
I was raised on a ranch
and always have enjoyed horses. When I left home, got a job, and
got married, it never seemed that we could afford horses. I
reasoned that they were something the Lord wanted me to give up.
When the kids got to be teenagers, we moved to a home that had
enough room for horses. When that happened, I had to adjust my
thought process. Now I reasoned that maybe God’s will was wide
enough that I could dabble in this one hobby, and He would grant
me a waiver on His general will. That was nearly ten years ago
and here’s what I’ve finally realized. God delights in blessing
His kids, and He specifically gave me this outlet. It’s smack in
the middle of His will for me—it probably always was. The horses
are a delight and so is God. I feel free to enjoy those horses
fully. Because of this blessing, I feel more in touch with
myself, with others, and with God.
Give Yourself
Permission to be Childlike
Here’s a pathway to
spirituality and Christian maturity. Make it your aim to be
imaginative, creative, and intuitive—as a child. Here are six
steps that will get you started. You graduate when you can
embrace your own hearts desire.
1.
Laughter – God wants us to learn to laugh again. It
will heal your heart and renew your love for God and people.
Laughter is medicine for our soul.
A cheerful heart
is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
(Prov. 17:22)
2. Ask and Receive – God connects our joy with
learning to receive good gifts from Him. Remember the joy of
Christmas as a child? Your spiritual life should play out just
as unwrapping those gifts. Jesus explained it to His disciples
(and us) in John 16:
“In that day you
will no longer ask [erotao – interrogate] me anything. I
tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask
[aiteo] in my name. Until now you have not asked [aieto –
place a demand] for anything in my name. Ask [aiteo - place
a demand] and you will receive, and your joy will be
complete.”
(John 16:23-24)
[Emphasis and Greek words added]
I’ve inserted the
Greek words for “ask” in order to make a point. This verse says
we no longer need to interrogate God for things. When we ask, we
place a demand (in harmony with what the Father is doing),
receive an answer, and our joy is complete. Servants pray
without knowing for what to ask, and they don’t have any
assurance of being heard. Answers are hit and miss at best. The
uncertainty is frustrating emotionally and confusing
theologically. Servants often protect themselves from failure by
ending prayers with the phrase, “...if it be Thy will.” Their
prayers sound similar to: “Lord, please…we wish You would…if You
could just…please make…we hope You will…if it be Thy will.” The
idea of placing a demand on God’s resources is foreign to a
servant.
Sons pray from the
position of knowing the Father’s business. Their prayer is more
a confident request premised on the authority of knowing what
the Father is doing. Once we know the mind of Christ for a
specific situation, we can speak or prophesy the answer into
existence. The result is answered prayer, great victories, and
great joy. It’s thrilling to know the heart of God, pray His
will with certainty, and see a miraculous answer. John 16:24
ends with the phrase, “place a demand and you will receive, and
your joy will be complete.”
We all
ask, “How can we know for sure”. The answer is, “Do you believe
you can find God in the desires of your heart.” He’s already
been in there rearranging the house if you’re a Christian.
3. Pretend – When children pretend, they really
just imagine life as they would like to see it. You can be and
do anything you want when you pretend—cowboys, doctors, lawyers,
firemen, astronauts. If resources didn’t constrain you, what
would you do to fulfill your perfect dream? What’s your pretend
scenario? Learn to pay attention to your desires—you’ll find God
there. Begin to pray, “Father, I give myself permission to dream
about the desires you’ve placed within my heart.” Faith begins
with pretending.
4.
Play – Now, instead of just pretending, begin to
confess and act upon your dream. It will feel like play; what
you’ve always wanted to do! If you’re going to be the friend of
God, you’ll have to learn to trust Him to give you the desires
of your heart. You have to believe that, “created in His image,”
means your heart’s desires are godly, and that you have
authority to speak them into existence, just the way God does.
We’re just doing what we see the Father doing. He spoke the
desires of His heart into existence and the universe appeared.
You should speak your desires into existence, too.
5. Have a Dream – Give yourself permission to
dream about your heart’s desire and then begin to prophesy it
into existence.
“‘In the last
days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will
see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my
servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in
those days, and they will prophesy.’” (Acts 2:17-18)
It’s a very simple
three-step process:
1. We envision or
dream the thing God is putting in our hearts;
2. He pours out His
Spirit;
3. We prophesy the
dream into existence.
What if it doesn’t
happen on our schedule? Should we stop dreaming? No! We probably
should dream more and give God even more opportunities to speak
into our hearts.
I always dreamed about
starting a church. For years I thought it was an expression of
my carnal appetite for something I shouldn’t have. But I was
wrong; it was God from the very beginning. As a servant, I
hadn’t given myself permission to look into the desires of my
heart. When I did, I found the will of God. So will you!
Dead religious
activity—the kind that depresses God—involves doing what you
believe in your mind that God wants you to do, against your own
will or desires. A real relationship with God finds God right in
the middle of your heart’s desires and your mind. Why? Because
God created us to both do and to desire His perfect will.
Please don’t be afraid
of the Holy Spirit’s activity in your heart. Give yourself
permission to laugh, to pretend, to play, and to live out your
dreams. That’s where God is.
You can pray this way:
"Lord, we trust that
You really did create us as a package of perfect abilities
and desires to completely fulfill Your plan for our lives
and the desires of our hearts. Thank You Lord, that You’ve
invited us into this level of friendship. It’s fun."
6.
God has a question for you
At Gibeon the
LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said,
"Ask! What shall I give you?
1 Kings 3:5 NKJV
Here is the crux of
facing the desires of your heart in the cold hard light of how
much your heavenly Father loves you. Can you believe God to ask
Him for the desires of your heart? Solomon was not an isolated
case. The verse above is not taken out of context – It’s a theme
throughout the Bible… and our lives.
Ask. You will find God
in the desire of your heart. You will also find your life.
Kings are willing to ask for the desires of their hearts.
Servants never trust their hearts (or God) enough to ask and
they live out their lives working for someone else’s dream.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
WANT
TO KNOW MORE?
Find out more about how to tear down the strongholds that keep
you chained to a poverty mentality and how to use your gifts to
serve God in the marketplace in my book “Releasing Kings for
Ministry in the Marketplace” available at:
http://www.releasing-kings.com
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Releasing Kings
shows how you can be part of the next global revival that is
beginning in the marketplace
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The marketplace is
an exciting new frontier for those called to ministry and
evangelism…and business
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You will begin to
understand the new global perspective that is enabling
enterprising business leaders to impact generations by
passing their financial and spiritual heritages on to
others.
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Releasing Kings will
help you understand your eagerness to pursue bold, creative
and competitive ministry goals. You’ll connect with the
desires of your heart in a practical way.
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You will discover
new opportunities that are opening for mentoring others and
sharing the secrets and benefits of Christ centered
business.
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Learn how to
discover PASSION for your CAREER. You’ll connect your
vocation, ministry, and your life purpose for the very first
time.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
John Garfield
You can get your copy of Releasing Kings
for Ministry in the Marketplace at
1-800-308-5837 (or)
www.worldcastministries.com |
