Observations and Ponderings For 2010

Observations and Ponderings For 2010
By Robert Ricciardelli www.vision2advance.com

I love to ponder the possibilities and creative ways we can please God and serve others. I love to reflect on how things are, and “what if” we changed them. How can we further align ourselves toward His Most Excellent Ways. We only know in part, so it is always good to check what we think that we know often.

These are observations and ponderings can be purposeful to challenge existing paradigms, while firming up Kingdom foundations. Many of these are happening all around us, but what if they were not just the exception, but were consistently happening. What will Father do as His children grow up in becoming more like Him? My prayers are to continually stimulate possibility thoughts towards ways that bring forth His Kingdom through our lives.

Here are my Observations and Ponderings as we move into 2010:

Pray for our leaders rather than complain about who we have or don’t have in office.

God is on the throne and will have His way, regardless of who is in office and we are called to pray for His will and for His purposes to be accomplished for our nation.

Give to Caesar (government) what is Caesar’s, and give to God what is His, which are our very lives.

Jesus was consumed with His Father’s Kingdom being brought to the earth, we must focus on that rather than political processes, and give that burden to Him. Do what you are called to do, and leave the rest to Him.

Governmental systems have many elements behind the scenes that control what laws are passed, and even influence and control leaders. May God's people be aware so they do not look to government for answers but ask God on how they may lead and help others in societies future.

May the Lord begin to raise up new leaders who will stand for righteousness in the realms of government. For the Daniels and the Josephs to be raised up and take their place in leading nations with Fathers influence, presence, and wisdom in governmental offices.

Father is shaking all foundations that are not built upon the Rock of Himself. How are we responding to the shaking all around us?

Be active in using what we do have, and quit wasting time worrying about what we don’t have.

We will not fear any longer, we will not fear life or death, because we are in His hands.

“Stop it, just stop it” in our negative thought patterns. “Stop it, just Stop it”, thinking that way, in Jesus name!

We must understand and activate true repentance in every area of our lives, truly turn away instead of just feeling sorry for our patterns of sin.

We must forgive every wrong committed against us in the past and more swiftly in the days ahead.

We will allow His presence to eradicate bitterness from the depths of our souls.

We must understand and apply His freedom from every deliberate and unintentional wounds from our past.

Choose to never live as victim again, because the revelation of Christ and His grace suffices daily for us. Live as a victor and flee from the victim mindset.

Forgive ourselves, and move on past the shame simply because Jesus has forgiven us, and His work in forgiveness is complete.

We will accept and believe with all of our heart, soul, and mind that Jesus loves us, accepts us, and is for us, every moment of every day.

HE ACCEPTS US AS WE ARE to the point that it overwhelms the fact that we do not accept ourselves sometimes. You are growing but you are also complete in Him NOW.

We will live the way of the cross, knowing persecution and trials will come. We will die more to self, because it is the narrow way He asked us to follow.

As we die to self more, Christ lives through us more, and every single need will be met as our joy is made complete in Him.

Rest in who we are in Christ, rather than running around doing activities He never called us to do. Being rather than doing!

God loves us, and it has nothing to do with our past, or our future performances. Rest in Him daily!

Pastors and leadership teams around the world need to train and release every member of their church into the ministry the Lord has called them to. This training and release goes beyond the four walls of organized church.

We need to pick up our mats and walk in obedience after the Lord’s deliverance, rather than come back for prayer and healing for the same things week after week.

God’s true leaders will seek to always serve beyond ever having to be served.

Leaders will train and lead others in the vision God has for them as individuals, and trust the Holy Spirit to move on them to support community or corporate vision. Manipulation and control must go, while faith arises in leaders.

Leaders must not respond to the fear of rejection and failure. Growth is not about numbers. They must trust the Lord for any perceived growth in numbers they expect to see, or better yet, consider to not look at numbers at all. Look to God, He will do what only He can do for their community.

Citywide transformation can begin to take place when each individual realizes his or her purpose and calling, and are released to fulfill it in every day life.

Church pastors must seek relationship with the other pastors of the community to fulfill a citywide vision beyond their own ministries. They must know that the vision for the city WILL NOT be realized without partnering with others. These concepts of futility must not continue to be perpetuated in our cities.

The Lord owns everything we have and asks us to steward everything He has given us. We must ask Him how much to give and to where, always willing to give 100% if He were to ask that of us.

The orphan spirit in many are looking for fathers who will love them, and disciple them to their Heavenly Father. The Father’s heart will rise up, and we will begin to see kingly & priestly fathers in the order of Melchizedek, in the ways of Christ.

Children of God must understand and operate more fully in the authority that Jesus Christ sacrificed for them to have. It is He that performs it through their lives.

Kingdomized people will continue to bring godly influence and leadership to all the gates of the city. Kings and priests of God need to lead by serving in His wisdom and strength in government, business, healthcare, media, law, and educational jurisdictions of our cities.

Every believer must not settle in how they view themselves, while ever seeking the Father to know the full potential of what He sees in them.

We must accept others and the blessing that they are, rather than being offended by them in their differences.

Choose to see the good in people, pray for the rest in them, and love them regardless if they change in the ways we think they should. Believe for the best in others.

Mammon and control must continue to be exposed and deposed in godly leadership systems. The release of Father’s saints upon the earth will increase as the chains that bind are removed. Accountability through relationship, and the righteous fear of God is far more impactful than ungodly control and manipulation.

We must be willing to serve in every phase of our lives rather than being served.

Every believer must understand the eternal process they are in, and walk without judgment beside those not as far along in the process.

We look at many things as realities that are not. As more exposure comes to false realities, the more we can live in the reality of His eternal Kingdom.

Choose to have an un-offendable heart. When offenses come, let go of them quickly.

Forgive in every situation and not only because the Father said He would not forgive you unless you forgive, but because it is in your heart to love in that way.

Be excited about the uniqueness of each other’s differences, and the value of each expression of God's people.

Spiritual Fathers should have a heart of giving to their spiritual sons that surpass any thoughts of what they would receive in return.

Shepherds, (pastors), must be willing to run after the few of the flock that have been hurt, isolated and in need of life giving expressions of our Saviors love.

God's people should pray and communicate intimately with the Father on a daily basis.

Daily people are gathering both missionally, and relationally in homes, coffee shops, and businesses.

Believers need to be concerned with their own end time, which could end at any moment. If we are more concerned with our own end time rather than THE end times, it will become more productive.

We must live each days as it is our last day, and continue to build each day for a better tomorrow for future generations.

The perceived rapture could be a long ways off, or not come at all in the timing and ways that some may think. We must not consume ourselves with such thought and seize the day for God and doing His business of establishing His Kingdom upon the earth.

Do not fear dying. In fact, in living for Him, choose to die to self daily. As you do, you will truly live in and through Him in powerful ways.

Live and move and have your being in the Holy Spirit, 24 hours a day, and 7 days a week. Oh what a standard to move towards.

Receive every word or deed with the Father's eyes and with His heart. Then Father can also engage you in a response to life and bring forth words and deeds that bring life to others, and bring Him glory.

Authentic servant leaders will rather have a towel (servant), than a title in leading others. We do not need titles, we need obedience to serve and give as He directs.

We must seek to trash every idol in our life to be free in serving effectively in the army of our Lord.

The greatest idol that we battle is the idol called "self", continue to lay down self and become selfless in our pursuit of Christ and His Kingdom.

Believers must realize that their obedience to all that they do each day is ministry to God and His kingdom.

Housewives’ and mothers are in a valuable full time ministry in keeping the home, and raising the next generation in the pursuit of the will of God.

People of God need to see more fully the ministry the Lord is doing through His daughters. There is a need for further freedom from limited mindsets regarding the Father’s potential and ministry in women. Women have no limits in what the Lord may call them to do, and people must not get in the way of God’s desire for them.

The Kingdom of God is beyond race, gender, or age, but is a diversity of expression in His glorious Kingdom. In the Kingdom male, female, Greek, and Jew can work together in the fullness and likeness of Christ.

Business owners and all workers must realize that in Christ, they are full time ministers in their calling.

For the business owner, people are their greatest resource and they can be an effective pastor for their businesses.

Those in business should look at co-workers, vendors, and customers, as potentially part of their household of faith, or sphere of godly influence.

Christian business owners can look at their businesses as an impact for the community. Churches, homes, businesses, are redeemed and moving in God’s glory throughout the community.

There should be synergy and acceptability in viewing the spirituality of organized church pastors and those who may pastor their homes, businesses, and others in the community.

God speaks in relevance for today beyond the written word in alignment of the written word. In other words, many services and ways that the Father has given us stewardship over is beyond biblical context, but will be in alignment with the Word of God contextualized for today.

So many are operating in the prophetic, as we are a prophetic people. But we are people that can be subjective. Therefore we must find godly ways to enhance prophetic accountability.

When a prophetic people can apologize when they have spoken amiss, God’s glory is revealed. It is okay to make a mistake; it is not okay to cover it up. We must acknowledge equally what we have gotten right and what me may have gotten wrong. This encourages others, and creates an audience that is more willing to listen.

We will worship the foundation of all orders, all systems, all expressions of faith, (Christ Himself), beyond the order or perceived order of things that man has built.

We must have fellowship and connections with others during the week instead of relying on one Sunday Service, which was never designed to meet our ”one anothering” needs.

The earth continues to be filled with the glory of the Lord and He is just waiting for more of us to get involved.

True wealth is measured in what you give away, and not what you keep.

Love as He loves, speak as He speaks, and do what He does, and we can change the world.

Your opinions are okay, because they are your opinions. It would be nice to be loved regardless of how different we all perceive life.

Appreciate the different cultures and expressions in God’s Kingdom, regardless if you understand them, or fancy them.

Understand the commandment to love. Choose to love, even if you do not feel the return of love from others.

Our prayer is that many of these become realities in people's lives, enabling them go out and make a bigger kingdom difference.


Come share on our blog your Ponderings for this year http://vision2advance.blogspot.com

Kings - Learning To Fly In 2010

Kings - Learning To Fly In 2010

Leaving the nest – The implication of learning to fly is “leaving the nest.” Some of us birds do it naturally, others wait until the nest is “thorned” by mother, and a few just get thrown out by God himself! I’m suggesting that maturity is a process and what was once warm and pastoral and loving and comfortable can become somewhat perverse if we don’t graduate. What was once good and healing and from the heart of God can be turned into an idol!

He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.) 2 Kings 18:4

Imagine a child who nurses until the age of ten; a teenager who never moves out of the house; a college graduate who never gets a job.

What it feels like - The emotion of moving into marketplace ministry and the accompanying “Kingly” mentality is an “out of the boat” experience for all of us. Here is what it feels like… from a good friend in another state in response to the last newsletter, From Spiritual Covering to Practical Mentoring.

"Yes, I think this is where we have now settled our hearts, after a frustrating time of wondering why our pastor didn't even acknowledge what we were trying to do in the "marketplace ministry." It is still disappointing, though, to feel a total lack of "pastoring" in our church, no matter what we do for a living. But, yeah, we have ceased struggling for affirmation or understanding within the church. Does that sound like sour grapes?"

We could try to portray these feelings in terms of the shortcomings of the pastor involved, but I think we would be missing the real point.

I wouldn't assume the pastor has done anything wrong. He may well be feeling abandoned himself because his paradigm may be that the church is the only mountain. Pastors will value Kings functioning in a different mountain more in the future as we recognize the role of marketplace ministry in the Kingdom.

We shouldn't impose expectations on our pastor that Jesus wants to fulfill Himself. You see the goal for all of us is to eventually mature from the healthy incubator of first love discipleship to relating directly to the Lord for ourselves… taking initiative, becoming entrepreneurial, stepping into new levels of creativity and ministry… moving from milk to meat (Heb 5:13-14) is a good thing! Seeing the flock mature is really the goal of every pastor. It’s a very natural progression after we’ve been faithful in that which is another man’s to be given that which is our own. It's more responsibility and it "feels" more alone... out on a limb. God simply won't allow us to make pastors choose our destiny. We have to make that decision ourselves.

Choosing your destiny - It’s much easier to stay within the vision of a local church, play a role in building that church, and stay under the pastor’s covering. It’s even healthy… unless you’ve been equipped and called into a different mountain …and the Holy Spirit is personally driving you crazy. Pastors, apostles, prophets and churches are very good things until you begin to hold them in a role Jesus wants to occupy himself. All the complaining about authority issues really resides right between our ears… some are just being invited into a place of “growing up.” You can turn the invitation down and stay where you are. There is nothing wrong with building a local church. Equipping the saints is a very legitimate calling close to God's heart. Some will be perfectly happy; others called to a different mountain may have a sense of forfeiting some of their personal destiny.

Owning the challenge - Can you see that it’s not necessarily a problem in the church? …Leaving one church for another, changing the church, or abandoning the church is not necessarily a solution? Sometimes in the course of growing up, we long for the wrong thing and the ajustment needed is in the mirror.

The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end? Jer 5:31

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 2 Tim 4:3 NIV

The Kingdom is within you – Becoming a King and extending the Kingdom of God into all seven mountains and changing the world is exciting stuff. It’s scary, but having tasted what it’s like to be out of the boat, I don’t want to go back. This "way" is too much fun, too fruitful, too rewarding, too prosperous and too exciting. It's closer to Jesus!

The highlight of 2009 for me was meeting David Tinney and Poul Dalgaard and seeing the great things God is doing in Ukraine. It is only exceeded by what is in store for 2010.

I want to suggest that the Lord is knocking on your door and inviting you into the next level. I agree, it’s scary and risky. But see if you can’t hear that invitation from Jesus himself. And after having heard it from Him, see if the risk doesn’t melt away. See if you can believe that God values the desire of your heart. Your dream can come true - if you will take the initiative to make it happen.

No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Josh 1:5 NIV

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." Deut 31:6 KJV

I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, 'You are my servant'; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. 10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 11 "All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. 12 Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. 13 For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. Isa 41:9-13 NIV

Need practical encouragement? The best source is another King in the same mountain. Here's a recipe for starting a small group with other Kingdom builders. God's doing the same thing in many and you'll find they already speak your language. Start Your Own Group. Take your dream with you and get some help with it... Write Your Business Plan.

Learn to fly in 2010...
but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isa 40:29 NIV

who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. Ps 103:5 NIV

We're Dancing



John and Sue www.Releasing-kings.com

Why the Sky is Not Falling (Pt 2)

Why the Sky is Not Falling (Pt 2)

Eschatology - One of my personal passions is discovering why Kings succeed and why Kings sabotage their own dream. In this newsletter I want to suggest that our mindset regarding the future can instill courage and wisdom or fear and failure. Eschatology is the study of future events from a Biblical perspective. The first newsletter on this topic from six months back is Why the Sky is Not Falling.

When I was in college in the 70's I was newly saved and discussions of the rapture were much more prevalent than now. I didn't expect to get out of school before Jesus came back. After I graduated and got a job, I didn't sign up for the pension or savings plan because I was sure the rapture would be soon. After a few decades and a host of failed prophetic events, I decided to look into eschatology and study the Bible for myself in that area. What I found out shocked me. Everything I had been taught and learned from books I read on my own came from one narrow and very flawed stream of theology. Briefly, I had mistakenly assumed that all the prophetic events in Daniel, Ezekiel, Mt 24, Mk 13, Lu 21 and Revelation were in the future. That was what I had been taught as part of my "rapture" foundation.

Rather than try to explain the scriptural choices and solution, I'm just going to point out the simple consequences of the two basic belief systems in this newsletter. Let me refer you to a book Harold Eberle wrote that does a great job of dealing with specific issues on a sound Biblical basis - Victorious Eschatology. Releasing Kings Chapter 9 also has a good summary. You can also order a PDF copy of these materials and receive the books electronically.

Your choices - Let's start with two simple facts. 1) Most believers my age were raised under a rapture theology even though it's not emphasized to the same degree now. 2) Beliefs about eschatology have consequences... a rapture mentality is like a poverty mentality; a major source of self-sabotage.

Pre-millennial - A rapture theology puts most prophetic events in the future and requires a long string of disasters to occurs before Jesus comes back... false prophets, floods, earthquakes, wars, rumors of wars, plagues, famines, the wrath of God, persecutions. Basically we end up running for the hills being chased by the antichrist just before we're rescued by the rapture followed by a 1000 year reign of relative tranquility...somewhere.

Amillennial or post-millennial - Your other choice is placing Biblical prophecy in historical context and realizing we're not waiting for the Kingdom to come; it's here now. The door is open to rule and reign with Jesus right now! We can bless the nations and fill the earth with His glory right now! What about all those "disasters?" Nearly all of them are scripturally and historically behind us.

But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you. Luke 11:20 NIV

"The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. Luke 16:16-17 NIV

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves... Col 1:13 NIV

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken... Heb 12:28 NIV

Rapture Consequences - If my heart is set on rapture eschatology there are some serious consequences that we can see all around us. These believers are still going to heaven. They are good people - albeit slightly mis-informed. Here is how they are programmed to believe and act... how "I" used to believe and act.

1.

I believe the impending disasters coming to the earth are the will of God; perhaps even His judgment on a wicked generation. I expect and have faith for bad things and rejoice a little bit when they happen!
2.

I'm prone to believe in conspiracy theories and I'm prone to suspect the worst in people. Only a remnant will make it through; many or most will be deceived and backslide! I expect the dollar to fail, the United States to crumble, and an evil, one-world government to establish itself. In my heart I've given up trying to make a difference. Even if I become prosperous, I expect the devil to steal it.
3.

Prophecy takes on the tone of predicting the will of the devil and its primary fruit is fear. It does ring true (I'm agreeing that their are conspiracies "and" I'm agreeing that we can have insight into the plans of the enemy). However, the "doomsayer" quality on the prophetic tends to ignore the goodness and greatness of God's plan.
4.

Which leads me to my last point... every good and noble thing God wants to do through Kings to establish the Kingdom and bless the nations is missing from this perspective and the prophetic "anointing" that goes with it.

Kingdom Consequences - Although I'm aware of the schemes of the enemy, I'm most focused on the grandest conspiracy of them all. It's one being orchestrated behind the scenes by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The easiest way to tap into that spirit is to "prophesy" the future of the United States. Here's what it sounds like... I'm inviting you to be the judge and discern how close I am to the "will of God" for this particular nation.

1.

The US has a missions and prophetic call that the Lord is going to re-establish. Our national destiny is to lead the world out of the current recession and demonstrate an entrepreneurial spirit that will make every social, medical and economical problem "bow" before Jesus' majesty. By our example we are called to lead other nations to be entrepreneurial, creative, industrious, prosperous, confident, and bold in the name of Jesus.
2.

A level of creativity and faith is coming into this nation that not only solves medical coverage but we will find a way to "suddenly" pay off the national debt and lead the world in even higher levels of generosity. Poverty will "bow" before the majesty of Jesus and captives will be set free to dance in the streets at the goodness of God. The lost will not only be saved but their cultures will be transformed.
3.

The church will unite under a Kingly mandate to equip the saints for the work of ministry in the marketplace. The walls will come down and Kings will release a new level of creativity, innovation, and prosperity that will break the yoke off millions. Every mountain will be occupied.
4.

As the light of God grows brighter and brighter, the wheat and tares will be distinguished. The camp of the enemy will grown darker... and weaker at the same time. We will "succeed" in filling the earth with His Glory and establishing His Kingdom... and then He will return to a spotless bride. PS - it won't be tomorrow!

For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed." Rev 15:4 NIV

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. Rev 21:22-24 NIV

How will it happen - Very simple. Kings will see the vision and own the opportunity to possess their inheritance. Dreams will come true. Great exploits will be the norm. And, we'll have fun doing it.

We already are possessing our inheritance, dreams are coming true, exploits are becoming the norm... and we're having a huge party.... the Kingdom has indeed come upon us and we're dancing!

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings. Prov 25:2 NIV

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. Ps 2:8 NIV


PS: Can I still have a rapture? Answer: Of course you can. Right after we're done making disciples of all nations! It will seem a little anti-climactic and it will occupy the same level of importance in our minds that it has in scripture.




We're Dancing



John and Sue www.Releasing-kings.com

After Your Heart is Released...

After Your Heart is Released...

The Lights Come On - One of my personal delights is observing the process of seeing hearts released into a Kingly realm. During the conference in Ukraine we saw God's people grasp permission from the Father to dream. For the first time, they looked into their own heart's desire to find the will of God. They gave themselves permission to make the decisions and take the initiative that will cause their dream to come true. They caught a glimpse of the prosperity, the ministry, and the adventure of being a King. They saw how much fun it could be.

Our books and newsletter also release hearts. Most weeks I get several phone calls from strangers who treat me like their closest confidant - their hearts are leaping because someone understands what's happening with them. God was stirring their heart and they found words in our materials to express the process and felt like they moved from an island to a revival.

So what's the next step? Kings who find a release for their hearts through conferences or materials don't really need another conference or a new book. They want to get on with their dream. I want to suggest two very specific steps that we can take at this stage. The first is a business plan and the second is finding your support group.

#1 Write Your Business Plan - Dreams come true with wisdom, planning, initiative, and work. It's important to continue your dream process at the next level. What decisions do I need to make to implement this dream? We've created a separate web page with more detail about the topics to consider at a new site called Write Your Business Plan. It's filled with an outline and links to additional resources and coaching possibilities. Go there now and take a look. Even if your dream is not clear yet, you can begin to think of your own life as business. Write a few sentences down in each category and set up a monthly cash flow for your personal finances. It's a great starting place to learn to dream bigger and to see the importance of your personal decisions in reaching your destiny.

#2 Find Your Support Group - Releasing Kings is in a pioneering phase. Find the people around you that God is touching in a similar way and help one another with your dreams. We've created another site with details about a format for that group (Start Your Own Group) based on my own experience with friends who love me and share my dream to Release Kings. We all help one another with everything from practical ideas to prayer. It's very encouraging and it will help you find your peers, mentors, and the network to take the next step.

What not to do

a. Don't ignore 1 and 2 - take those actions seriously. Waiting passively for God to do everything is a dream killer. Hope that is delayed can make your heart sick. Our goal is to guard the desires of our hearts... to discern them and nurture them into a destiny that builds the Kingdom of God.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. Prov 13:12 NIV

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Prov 4:23 NIV

b. Let Your pastor be a pastor - We get excited about the concept of releasing Kings. It's natural to want to run back to our churches and pastors and try to impose it on them... bad idea. Here's why - Moving from servant to King requires a significant level of spiritual maturity "and" a decision to pursue your destiny even if it involves some risk (stepping out of the boat). Not everyone is at that place. Pastors need to be allowed to shepherd their flock at the pace of the slowest lambs. They can't just drop everything and switch to an emphasis of Releasing Kings - not everyone is ready. As a pastor, I was really surprised when I preached marketplace ministry. Half my congregation jumped all over it and half kind of yawned and wished I would move on to something else. Bottom line - Releasing Kings is a dynamic that moves hearts and ministry outside the church into six other mountains. There are some things a pastor can do and we've created a web site with those ideas (Releasing Kings in My Church). It's written from a pastor's perspective. Put your energy in your mountain and avoid piling expectations on your pastor.




We're Dancing



John and Sue www.Releasing-kings.com

Goals That "Work" For You

Goals That "Work" For You
Goals can be a delight to achieve or an intimidating mountain that taunts us. Knowing how to set them is important in making progress toward your inheritance in Christ. Many believers are totally content to operate without written goals and some are still quite successful. I want to suggest the successful ones  still have goals of the heart; they just have a theology that prevents them from admitting it. Servants with no personal goals who just do what the Lord tells them typically live out most of their Christian life getting the dial tone. God works through personal initiative and individual creativity. His will is found in the desires of our heart.
Goals of the heart - Goals cannot be set with our mind alone. They must be set around the passion of our heart and the purpose of our life. People mistakenly set goals around giving or making money. Money can't be a primary goal because it doesn't articulate a desire of our heart. However, every goal usually does require money to reach it. Here's what I learned as a pastor, "Ministry costs money!" We don't love money; it's just a tool that funds our ministry.
No Goals? - What happens if we coast through life with no sense of personal destiny or goals built around our passion? We still have to eat! So, we find a job, make some money, pay the bills and give to others that do have goals. We end up serving money with our time - a job. Serving in that which is another man's is OK for a season; just not for a life time. The goal is to identify and serve your own heart's desire - eventually.
And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? Luke 16:12 KJV

"And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? Luke 16:12 NASU
Here's the real reason to have goals built around your life's passion. Those goals will go to work and make money so that you can achieve your dream. Last week we talked about Exercising your heart. If you tap into your life's calling and purpose there will be several trademarks.
1.First, we enjoy what we're doing because it expresses the desires of our own heart.
2.We sense the Father's pleasure spiritually and we feel a wind in our sails naturally.
3.New ideas and creativity and work cause wealth to flow toward us and multiply our ministry.
But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. Deut 8:18
Sabotage - If we try to set goals with our mind and skip the real passion in our hearts, then our hearts simply sabotage the whole process and our goals work against us instead of for us.
For example, I'm funding our ministry through day trading. If I lose sight of the real purpose of ministry and start to focus on the money then my heart starts to sabotage my success and I violate the training of my mentors. In hindsight it looks obviously and incredibly and embarrassingly stupid. My mind can't believe it happened... neither can my mentor! But my heart understands clearly that I'm starting to wander from my purpose. (Can you see why diets don't work? They don't address the heart.)
We need coaches and mentors and training (and diets), but none of it works until our heart's desire is identified. Good mechanistic "how to" training just gets filtered until it supports a dream. Our mistake is that we start with some formula for success before we understand the dream that success will serve. That's why our goal can't be something like making money. Our real dream is connected to a tangible purpose. Money is just a tool to make a dream come true.
To set a goal around money without a connection to a higher purpose falls into a trap, "love of money." That scenario also sets the stage for moral compromise... greed, theft, lying, etc.
People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money , have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 1 Tim 6:8-10 NIV

Keep your lives free from the love of money... Heb 13:5 NIV

Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the lives of those who get it. Prov 1:19 NIV
Note: Keep in mind these verses may cause us to hear a wrong message, "God wants us poor." The real truth is that God want us wealthy enough to fund our dream with abundance through a cup that continually overflows. We've written a four part series on wealth that you may enjoy. Is Wealth God's Will?, The Reason for Wealth, Wealth is a Tool, and Moving to a Wealth Mentality.
Get Connected - To realize your full potential in Jesus, you and I have to tap into the real desires of our hearts and flow with them. That's what makes life fun... ministry multiplies, wealth flows, and fruit is the result. Set goals around your life purpose and the desires of your heart. Get to the bottom of your real heart's motivation so that your heart is rejoicing instead of working against you. "Religion" in the legalistic sense, is trying to work for God and against your heart. It doesn't work... but we already know that, don't we?
...your heart will rejoice and you will flourish like grass... Isa 66:14 NIV

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Prov 17:22 NIV
 
 
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John and Sue     www.Releasing-kings.com