“What’s God saying to Kings?” was the question I asked John Laney at breakfast yesterday. This newsletter is the result of that conversation. We get to hear amazing stories of Kings impacting this earth for the Kingdom. It’s fun to try and get a grasp of what makes them tick… we all intend to be 30, 60 and 100-fold Christians. Too many Christians think doing great things for God is magic; a product of His sovereign molding of our earthen vessels and circumstances. Doing great things for God starts with a word, a seed; we have to add the work and persistence. Here’s the process behind the kind of fruit that multiplies… from the parable of the sower in Mark 4:1-20.
Hear the Word – Hearing the voice of God is receiving a seed that God sows into our lives. He is the farmer in this parable. There are three types of fruitless soil and three levels of fruitfulness in good soil. Everything Kings do begins with a prophetic sense of God speaking. That seed grows into desire in our hearts and we have to work / discern our way through the process of understanding the link between our own desires and God’s will.
Seed sown and lost – What we actually hear is often a word or a concept. Revelation is like a flash of light. We must chose to focus on it, write it down, and develop it. If we let it pass, we feel a sense of loss and we’re often unable to recover the “glimpse” the Holy Spirit gives us. If my heart is good soil, I will learn to focus on the Holy Spirit’s promptings and not lose them.
The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Mark 4:14-15 NIV
Roots that survive trouble – You can ask any fruitful Christian. They will all tell you that “trouble and persecution” are just part of the price tag for pursuing God’s favor. Warfare is a fact of life for all of us. Nothing is easy. All the gold in your character is purified by fire. Some fall away in discouragement and quit. Those that persist go on to multiply 100-fold. Stay with the seed that God has sown in your heart.
Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Mark 4:16-17 NIV
The purpose of wealth – Kings need to accumulate and multiply money for a reason – it can be converted to minister to people! Money has no real value; it’s just a medium of exchange. We can give money value when we use it to expand the Kingdom. We are all about making money… but not to store up treasure on earth; our goal is to convert it to ministry, bless people, and store up treasure in heaven. We all die broke. But wise Kings that understand true wealth are busy storing up treasure in heaven through the ministry that money makes possible. Treasures in heaven are people.
Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Mark 4:18-19 NIV
I want to you get this. If we have no personal vision or passion for converting our money into ministry, the only other alternative is to consume it on our lust or store it for a thief. God doesn’t oppose us having “things.” However, if we multiply money and spend it all on ourselves with no sense of the Kingdom then we grieve the heart of God and bring unfruitfulness into our own lives. That’s no fun. The anointing to multiply is not there.
Want to know what is really fun? Converting money into ministry to people. Servants faithfully tithe (that’s a good thing – also Biblical). A servant describes his faithfulness as a percentage placed in an offering. However, Kings relate to God as a friend and they give everything they have into the passion of their heart and God’s. They come closer to living on 10% and investing 90% in the Kingdom. Instead of a percentage, they describe their ministry in terms of the people they touch out of the passion of their heart. They “treasure” those people with their passion. There is one thing that satisfies the human heart in this life… “doing what the Father is doing through the desire of your own heart.”
I have a friend in real estate who does multi-million dollar transitions. He’s often observed that real estate does funny things to people. If the Father’s heart to bless others is missing, when they try to finalize the negotiations, greed will inevitably show itself. If we don’t understand true wealth is treasure in heaven, then the deceitfulness of money can overpower us. If we’re on the same page with God in our heart’s desire, then money is simply one more tool that we can use to build the Kingdom… a necessary tool that we use, but don’t worship.
30, 60, and 100-fold heart soil – There is an anointing to multiply the word God sows in our hearts right now. Wealth is being multiplied… money is being made and converted to ministry and God is blessing the whole process. It all starts with that personal word. The seed sown in our hearts can be nurtured into a great tree of ministry that will bless the nations. Revival is coming to us through the marketplace… our businesses, communities, schools, government, and the arts are being touched by Kings whom God is elevating and multiplying. Any volunteers? You and I are being invited into ministry.
“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Gen 12:2-3 NIV
Life is an adventure. People are a blessing. God is amazing. We’re winning.
