The audio version of this blog is here. Pray with is for the next Releasing Kings conference in Europe.
One of the challenges for Kings is integrating their faith in the real world in a way that results in real progress, profit and ministry. There is a whole school of thought that tries to capture spiritual principles and Biblical wisdom, which actually works in a metaphysical package that never mentions Jesus. To some degree it does capture the “ways” of God but misses the heart of God and the relationship with the Father. This phenomenon can be found in both the New Age movement and in secular business circles… and in each of our own lives to some degree.
We can be effective when we maximize the use of gifts, talents, and wisdom. Some are very effective or successful. However, we reach a ceiling on success that is limited to what we can do. There is another whole realm in which the Father can multiply our efforts like loaves and fish, and do exceedingly and abundantly beyond all we can ask or imagine. So let’s go down this path.
How to add the Multiplier? – In one way this is a trick question. We aren’t really adding God to our efforts. We’re adding our efforts to what the Father is doing… at least finding the synergism of where our heart and the Father’s heart overlap – our metron. The first key is knowing the Father’s business or knowing His heart via knowing Him. See, it’s not metaphysics; it’s relationship. The human mind would love to figure God out and put him in a recipe box… He doesn’t fit. That cake never turns out.
Rapport – Christianity is not defined by what we know or do, even though it is the foundation for clear thinking, creativity, profit, progress, etc. Knowing Jesus is knowing the heart of the Father, experiencing the release of our own hearts, and ministering to others at the level of their hearts. I don’t just know his ways or his business. First I know and commune with Him as a friend and a son, and from that river I understand His heart for things like business. We can best define what the whole process feels like by “love.”
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit — fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other. John 15:15-17 NIV
Realize that the father is building His Kingdom, filling the earth with His glory, making disciples of nations, and he is making sons. It’s progress in my heart and my business at the same time. The kingdom of God is both within us and in the earth. I will be wildly successful from knowing God and tapping into my metron, yet my identity isn’t tied to the external trappings of success; I’m defined by rapport with the Father. Being a King is success-oriented, but the Father also takes His sons to a few others places… the woodshed, the wilderness, the refiner’s fire, selah’s, etc. Those are also places of success relative to what is being accomplished in our hearts: the Kingdom within. If our rapport with the Father can reveal His purpose in those “non-success” seasons, then those seasons will bear fruit and we will be thankful for them. BTW, the other choice is a root of bitterness.
How do I know The Father’s heart? – In a phrase, “time in His presence.” Love’s first ambition is time and rapport. People who are making a difference in this world all struggle to balance time in the presence of the Father with doing the works of the Father. Every once in while we realize we’re tired and discouraged, and we missed the mark of the rapport that our hearts need in order to be enthusiastic (entheos; in God). Our hearts are refreshed in the presence of the Father.
“Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; Acts 3:19 NASU
Follow me – The second real-world way to maintain rapport with the Father is to take Him with you. Biblical concepts like abiding in Him, walking in the Spirit, living in the Spirit, and praying continually, all imply staying in the presence of God, not just visiting.
Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” Ex 33:15-16 NIV
From Paradise to Prison – When the Father goes with you, your work in the world can become worship. The people you run into during the day can become divine appointments. He can speak to us anytime, and we can talk to Him just as often. When our hearts are freed to see the Father’s hand in our lives, we also see the “master’s business.” The curtain gets pulled back on the things we’re going through. We can see the why and the fruit. Whether we’re rewriting history and changing nations to the applause of men and angels, or penning a letter from a prison cell, our Father is present, rapport is flowing, praise occurs. His business is known by those who ask… with the right level of persistence.
Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets. Amos 3:7 NIV
When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. 17 Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Gen 18:16-18 NIV
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings. Prov 25:2 NIV
He will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land. 14 The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them. Ps 25:13-14 NIV
Setting captives free – We can see the hearts of others and pull the prophetic curtain back for them as well. It’s very liberating. We don’t just know practical and spiritual truths; we know “the truth” and the way and the life that results. None of us completely know our way through life, but we know someone who does and who is willing to tell us. Wisdom is asking. The result is multiplying.
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. John 14:5-6 NIV
We have a Father who wants to multiply His sons.
As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.” Gen 9:7 NIV
but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them. Ex 1:7 NIV
But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; Ex 1:12 NIV
The Lord had said to Moses, “Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you — so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt. Ex 11:9 NIV
and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied Deut 8:13 NIV
