The Power of God Given Ideas

The Power of God Given Ideas
By Bob Gass www.thevine.co.nz

All peoples on earth will be blessed through you Genesis 28:14 NIV

Good ideas come from God, so ask Him for one. The world's been blessed by those who did. Consider anaesthesia: how would you like to be operated on without it? That's the way they did it until a Scottish doctor named James Young Simpson introduced something he called "artificial sleep." As a student at Edinburgh University he was attracted to surgery because he was troubled by the pain and mortality rate experienced during operations. As a result of reading Genesis 2:21, "And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam," Simpson thought chloroform might be the answer. He first experimented on himself. Finally, in 1847, the first three operations with chloroform took place. One of the patients, a young soldier, enjoyed it so much that he seized the sponge and inhaled again. "It was just too good to be stopped," he said.

At first Simpson encountered opposition. Some thought it was a sin to interfere with nature. "Hand me the Bible," said Dr. Simpson. "This is how God operated on Adam." Simpson made speeches, wrote letters and pamphlets and tried to convince those who opposed him that this was the way forward. In a setback, when three deaths attributed to chloroform were reported from other hospitals, Simpson was able to show them that they were not applying the anaesthesia correctly. The tide turned when Queen Victoria gave birth to her eighth child under chloroform and declared that she was "greatly pleased with its effect." Today ask God to give you an idea that blesses others. Then act on it!

One God-given idea can change so much. Braille sure did! In 1824, Louis Braille, a Christian, invented a system of raised dots on paper so that blind people could read. He invented 63 symbols representing every language, hence God's Word was placed into the hands of the visually impaired for the first time. And communications? In part, you owe your mobile phone and your computer to a Christian named Samuel Morse. How different the world was before him! First-class news took two weeks to reach the USA. And reports of a major victory could take six weeks to reach Britain.

One day a friend said, 'Morse, when you were experimenting did you ever come to an absolute deadlock, not knowing what to do?' Morse replied, 'More than once.' His friend asked, 'What did you do then?' Morse shared a secret, 'I got down on my knees and prayed for light, and light came, and when my inventions were acknowledged by flattering honours from America and Europe, I said, "Not unto me, O Lord, not unto me, but unto Thy name give the glory."' That's why the first message sent by transatlantic cable read, 'What God has wrought.' Now add another Christian named Louis Pasteur, the French scientist who showed us that infection is the result of things we cannot see, namely germs and viruses. He introduced sterilisation methods that eventually saved the lives of multitudes. Think God has run out of good ideas? Not a chance! Ask Him for one for your life, your ministry or your business!

In 'What the World Owes to Christians', Dr Victor Pearce, an Oxford scholar, shares the story of the typewriter. 'The typewriter was a forerunner to the modern word processor. But how did a Christian come to invent it? To write sermons. I'm serious! Christopher Sholes was concerned about his pastor who'd been busy all week visiting victims of an epidemic, comforting the bereaved and conducting funerals. Consequently he had no time to write his Sunday sermons. One day Sholes, discussing with a friend what could be done, said, "It seems a pity there ain't some quick method of writing for busy folks like parsons." His friend replied, "Why not invent a machine?" Sholes responded, "I'll try." That rainy afternoon was the beginning of months of hard work. Finally a group assembled one day to see him tap out on paper, in capital letters, C LATHAM SHOLES, NOV 1867.

Six years later the Remingtons recognised the typewriter as something that could revolutionise business. In those days clerks were mostly men, but the Young Women's Christian Association started offering courses in typing for women. Initially it created a scandal, but as the first typists to be trained were women, employers rushed to hire them. Hence the typewriter and the YWCA determined that a woman's place was not only at home, but could also be in the office.' Is it okay for me to pray for God to bless my business? Yes! God wants to bless your business so that you can help carry out His, which is the business of reaching the world with the Gospel.

The Five Signs of Worshipping Mammon

The Five Signs of Worshipping Mammon
By James Ryle www.truthworks.org

“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Luke 16:13)

One thing is certain – we show our love by our worship. Whoever or whatever we worship – we love. If we love God, we will worship and serve Him. If we love money; we will worship and serve Money. Jesus said that we cannot do both.

David wrote, “One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple.” (Psalm 27:4).

What is your Life’s “ONE THING?” Some bow in God’s Presence; others bow at the Altar of Mammon. Where might we find you worshipping today?

Here are the Five Signs of Worshipping Mammon:

#1 – Anxiety over Unmet Needs
Money promises much, but delivers little. The digger is forever digging, only to get deeper and deeper in the hole! Consequently, when we worship Mammon there is increasing anxiety over our mounting unmet needs. But, by contrast, when we bow in the Lord’s presence we rise knowing that the Lord is our Shepherd; we know that we shall not want, for He loves and cares for us, supplying all our needs according to His riches in glory.
Mammon cannot produce this peace in our soul; and the absence of this peace is a telling sign that we are bowing in the presence of Mammon. Worshipping the Lord gives us peace; worshipping Mammon gives us anxiety. Who are you worshipping today?

#2 -Fear about the Future
“GOLD!” Have you noticed how many advertisements there are these days on why you need to buy gold? You need it for your security, they say. “The future is uncertain, the economy is unstable – get yourself some GOLD!” Bowing at the Altar of Mammon fills our hearts with fear about the future, because Mammon cannot control the future, cannot guarantee our security, cannot offer us that which will never fail. Only the Lord can do that, for He holds the future in His hands. And He extends His hands to you. Let me ask – “Are you in good hands?”

Fear about the future will cause you to live a diminished life in the present; it will make you tight and selfish. And this, in turn, will cause you to lose even that which you think you have. “I have seen a great evil under the sun,” Solomon wrote, “wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner.” Fear about the future will ruin your present world.

#3 – Unbelief in God’s Love and Faithfulness

They say that Money Talks. That’s true; it says, “Bye-bye!” It also says a bunch of other things, especially against the Lord. Mammon will tell you that the Lord’s ways are foolish, and that those who follow them are fools. Mammon will mock you for tithing; or it will soothe your conscience with clever arguments convincing you that as a Christian you really do need to tithe anyway, ’cause you’re not under the Law — but grace.

Mammon will cause your heart to envy those who are rich, and to begin to fudge here and there, to lie a little over there, and cheat a little over here — all so that you can gain more and more money. Mammon will increase unbelief in your heart which will cause ruin in your finances.

Mammon will try and convince you that God does not love you, and is not faithful to you. And it will use your own lack of resources as the proof of its lies.

One thing is certain – we show our love by our worship. Whoever or whatever we worship – we love. If we love God, we will worship and serve Him. If we love money; we will worship and serve Money. Jesus said that we cannot do both.

David wrote, “One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple.” (Psalm 27:4).

What is your Life’s “ONE THING?” Some bow in God’s Presence; others bow at the Altar of Mammon. Where might we find you worshipping today?

Anxiety, fear, and unbelief — these are three of the effects that come to the soul of those who worship at the Altar of Mammon.

#4 – Disobedience to God’s Word
Inasmuch as we seek to be stewards in God’s House, living in His world and having access to His things, then it behooves us to find out what it is He wants us to do with that which is rightfully His. And the only way we can discover His will is by reading His Word.

God wants us to be generous, and to give; Mammon wants us to be selfish, and to hoard. God wants to prosper us; Mammon want to possess us. God will bless us if we obey His Word; Mammon will curse us if it can lure us into disobedience.

A man complained to Will Rogers, “There’s things in the Bible that I just don’t understand; and that bothers me!” Rogers responded, “Maybe so. But there are things in the Bible that I DO understand – and that’s what bothers me!” Few things in the Bible bother us more than when God goes and starts meddling with our money!

And why does He do this? Simple – He touches what matters most to us (i.e., money) to show us how much hold it has on our hearts. And He also wants to teach us to trust Him with that which matters to us. The reason is pointed — if we cannot trust God with that which we treasure; then how can we expect Him to trust us with that which He values?

Listen — If we cannot place the riches of this world into His capable hands; then how we ever expect Him to entrust the true riches of the Kingdom into our grasping, clutching, squeezing selfish hands?
“C’mon, man!”

And (drum roll, please) the fifth and final sign that a person is bowing at the Altar of Mammon is…..

#5 – Cynicism Whenever You Hear or Read Something Like What I Just Wrote!
The Bible tells us after Jesus finished a story about stewardship, that “the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him.” (Luke 16:14). The word “derided” means they “turned up their noses and scoffed at Him with mockery; they laugh at Him with scorn.”

A cynical sneer always appears on the face of those who worship Money anytime a preacher starts talking about it. It a self-defense mechanism built in by Mammon to keep its servants under its control.

It takes a real man and woman of faith to defy that mocking spirit and step forth in bold freedom to love and obey the Lord. How about becoming a man or woman like that today! You just might be used by God to start a resource revolution!

God is Able

God is Able
By James Ryle www.truthworks.org

“God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8, NIV).

To overthrow the great hosts of darkness that currently rules the world’s financial institutions, and to over turn the ungodly tide of greed that leaves devastation in its wake — we begin with a single, undeniable and indisputable truth: God is able.

“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?” God asked of all. And Jeremiah gives our answer, “Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee” (see Jer. 32:17, and 27).

God is able. Never loose sight of this one truth. Especially in the face of growing economic uncertainty. For if you shift your focus from God’s power and faithfulness and begin to stare in fear at the world’s collapsing economies – you will shut your heart and stop the flow of God’s blessings to and through your life to others.

“God is able,” Paul tells us, “to make all grace abound to you.” This is profound. The Lord said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient.” And Paul is telling us that God is able to make that sufficiency abound in our lives. And then he shows us what that means – “in all things at all times having all that you need.”

Seriously? Isn’t that basically what we are all looking to obtain? An old Scottish preacher said, “Peace is the possession of adequate resource.” This is precisely what the Lord is providing us: Grace and Peace.

And the purpose of this abundant provision is that we become vessels of generosity toward others. Paul tells us that God is able to make all grace abound to us “so that you will abound in every good work.”

God wants to bless us in order to make us a blessing to others. If you are not interested in becoming a blessing to others, God is not interested in blessing you. He is looking for those with generous hearts, for only they will hold with open hands the great bounty of His abundant blessings; only they will prove trustworthy in a day of rampant greed, and will turn the flow from selfishness to service of others.

God is able. Are you willing?

Area of Conflict

Area of Conflict
By Bob Mumford www.lifechangers.org

For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. (Roman 7:19)

The area of conflict is identified as the dotted circle on the diagram. It is the actual battleground where we engage the Seven Giants, choose to follow Jesus, and keep ourselves in the exact center of Father’s Love. There are opportunities in the battle to go our own way and preserve the right to ourselves in a manner similar to the way Jesus was tempted in the wilderness with bread, power, and possessions. We are tempted to either turn right toward worldly, sensual things; or left, toward religious activity and eros payoffs, seeking to get something from God or prove something to Him.

What Satan met in the Person of our Lord was Christ’s love for the Father. He was unwilling to share or trade His love for anything that was being offered. It was an issue of Agape, not willpower. Jesus’ defense was, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” He knew that “Love is as strong as death” and that it would hold Him. He embraced God’s yoke and then taught us how to take hold of it ourselves:

Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Our love for God is what protects us. It keeps us from making wrong choices in the arena of conflict. When we take His yoke upon us, He will be bearing more than the other half of the weight. He will walk with us through the same temptations because He already conquered them. If we seem to journey up either of the side roads, He will resist us until we choose to come back to abide on the right road home. He is determined and unrelenting to bring us into the freedom of Agape and He will remain faithful even when we are rebellious and resentful.

Preferentially choosing the Father breaks the power and force of temptation. It is at the point of conflict that what and who we love is revealed. Temptation reveals whether we love ourselves and our own way more than God and His Kingdom. To stop cyclical behavior and begin moving in a more linear direction, we must set our affection on God as our Father. Jesus proves that our love for God can effectively protect and deliver us from all temptations, revealing that it is unnecessary for us to project, travel in circles, turn to the right or to the left, or repeatedly be puffed up with pride or exist in a valley of despair. God’s love shields us and allows us to successfully defeat temptation so that we can find rest and abide on the Agape Road. This is what it means to have engaged and defeated the Seven Giants.

QUESTIONS & THOUGHTS
• In what ways have you experienced temptations in the area of conflict? What was the result?
• Explain how Christ’s yoke is the same as loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
• If you feel God resisting you, consider whether He is trying to keep you on the Agape Road.

Planning Your Breakthrough

Planning Your Breakthrough

Personal note: God has allowed me to experience a level of breakthrough that is exciting. I’m also seeing other Kings achieve amazing levels of favor in anointing, creativity, finances and opportunity for ministry. Some of those exploits are stunning. Most of us labor faithfully to see our dreams realized over the years without too many headlines. Let this newsletter be an encouragement; doors are opening wide in the Kingdom right now. Financial breakthrough and new ideas are key ingredients.

Initiative - Kings who achieve a breakthrough in their dreams and experience the favor of God have a different mentality than servants. Servants are content to do what they are told and take what they can get. They feel entitled to more and are prone to complain about their lot in life, but they will not take the initiative to change it themselves. Servants are often trapped in passive theology; believing God will sovereignly take care of them. Christians in poverty are prone to expect a miracle that never comes. The same thinking waits for revival that never comes. My favorite revivalist is Charles Finney (1792-1875). When he decided to bring revival to a city, he sent an intercessor a month ahead of time to check into a hotel and pray. When Charles arrived, they started a revival and God was with them. They didn’t wait for anything. They brought the presence of God and revival with them wherever they went.

One who breaks open the way will go up before them; they will break through the gate and go out. Their king will pass through before them, the Lord at their head. Mic 2:13 NIV

Planning for something better – Kings achieve breakthroughs because they plan for them at several different levels. Here’s the progression

Theology – Kings believe that God’s favor is on their lives, and they expect doors to open and good things to happen. Even through failures, they set their hearts on the goodness of God and refuse to be discouraged or to blame others. They will learn from mistakes to redirect the future, but they will never get caught focusing on the past and becoming bitter or resentful. They leverage their setbacks into resurrections. They know God is not the author of failure, but he can work “all things for good.”

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Rom 8:28-29 NIV

Dreams – People who have the favor of God are passionate about their own dream. “Religion” is an attempt to wear passion for the perceived purpose of God (an attempt to eliminate our own will so we can do God’s will.) Real Christianity is the liberty that comes with having God’s plan written in our hearts. The things we desire are amazingly connected with God’s own heart. We’re truly excited about our own dream and role in the Kingdom. Kings are not afraid of their intellect or their will. They search for the will of God in their own heart’s desires. They can hear the Father’s intent to grant the desires of their heart; they understand that is how the Kingdom is built. They know how to celebrate victories.

May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. 5 We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the Lord grant all your requests. Ps 20:4-5 NIV

Kingdom Synergism – Kings see the connection between their role in the marketplace and what God is doing to build the Kingdom. We have personal desires that ride the wave of God’s larger kingdom purposes. We know God is building His Kingdom and will not fail. We also know some piece of that responsibility to build the Kingdom and bless the nations belongs to us… and we will not fail. We feel the wind of the Holy Spirit at our backs and a cloud of witnesses cheering us on. Pretty exciting!!!

In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. Dan 2:44-45

There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace… Isa 9:7 NASU

There is another aspect of Kingdom synergism; the larger plan is much bigger than just us. The Lord is faithful to show us other Kings working in the same vein and we often overlap assignments. The fellowship around working together on the same marketplace or Kingdom dream is particularly rich… and powerful. Our anointing is multiplied by finding these brothers and sisters.

How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up? Deut 32:30 KJV

Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you. Lev 26:8 NIV

Have a plan - All of this translates to a very simple concept: Kings have a plan for their breakthrough. They dream about how to make it happen and they take the steps to implement that plan. God does do miracles; He gives revelation. But our plans are premised on wisdom and personal initiative. God can intervene and accelerate the plan whenever he desires. But we have a dream and a plan to get there that we hold in our hearts.

To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue. 2 All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord. 3 Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. Prov 16:1-3 NIV

In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps. Prov 16:9 NIV

Learn to celebrate - When we achieve a milestone toward that plan, we can’t help but get excited. We can sense the applause of heaven and the Father’s smile as he says, “well done.” The sense of peace and satisfaction that wells up in our hearts brings tears of gratitude and dancing at the same time.

Specifics – “But I don’t have a plan!” So get off your ____ and make one, now! Here’s how.

1. Write down your dreams. I dream in five categories: my relationship with God, Sue, our ministry to Release Kings, our income through trading, and play. I set goals and write them down for each category in the past tense (as though I’ve already achieved them) for 2010. I read those goals out loud daily and update them as necessary. Here’s one example from each category:

a. God - I loved prayer and picking up on prophetic themes from the Holy Spirit

b. Sue - Sue and I went to Israel and Rome in March

c. Releasing Kings - I developed a network of mentors available to help grasshoppers in their area of need

d. Trading - My small group of traders averaged over 10% a week trading currency

e. Play - I helped Jim and Sam gather cattle in the mountains Oct 10-31

2. Write a simple business plan and develop a monthly cash flow for your personal finances and your business finances. See Write Your Business Plan.

3. Be part of a Kingly small group of people you respect… people who can help you and you can help them. Just meet once a month for starters. Share your dreams and pray for one another. Here’s template for the meeting: Start Your Own Group.

4. Hang around people who are already successful and find yourself a mentor who can show you how from his own success in the same field. See Relational Mentoring.

We're Dancing



John and Sue www.Releasing-kings.com