The video version of this blog is here.
When we are saved and filled with God’s Spirit there is a very natural desire in our hearts to please the Father. When we are new in the Lord we want to serve Him and obey him. As we mature our initiatives our more Kingly and they come from conversations with the Father directly and we operate more out of the desires of our own hearts. We no longer think of ourselves as just servants, but we see ourselves and sons and Kings ruling and reigning with Jesus.
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. John 15:15-16 NIV
Before and after – For one or two decades in my 20’s and 30’s as a believer, I would have desires and things I wanted to do in the church for God. I would always take those requests to a man for confirmation. More often, those requests would come to me out of someone else’s initiative. I would never trust the desires of my own heart. It was far to “independent” and I didn’t want to be a lone ranger. After 16 years in the same church we decided to plant a church and again I took my initiative to the pastor and his oversight to gain the necessary approvals. It took a year just to make the decision! I made it hard because I hadn’t given myself permission to volunteer for the desires of my own heart.
In hindsight, I’ve realized that much of my “obedience” was rooted in my own identity as a servant and my commitment to be loyal and please men whom I saw as my spiritual superiors. God was very patient with me and I’m summarizing 40 years of theological development. I’ve learned that in the Kingdom our relationship with the Father is much more conversational and He asks each of us a question that we must answer, “What would you like to do?” It seems simple but I didn’t have a theological paradigm to hear the question or provide an answer. Now I hear it very clearly and my heart leaps to imagine and see the great things God is doing through Kings. I’m fully willing to volunteer to do things only God can accomplish.
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Isa 6:8 NIV
Leadership – This concept of initiative and volunteering not only change our relationship with the Father. It changes the way we lead people as well. Traditional leadership is identifying some great initiative and then finding those who will submit to the importance of it and come into the employ of it with their talents as servants… usually in exchange for salary. This concept can work, but it’s like a time bomb because it ignores what God as written on the hearts of those employees. Great leaders realize that everyone else is called to be a leader in their own metron as well. If that is true then our first question to them has to be the same as God’s first question to us, “What’s the desire of your heart?”
The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out. Prov 20:5 NIV
Neither corporations nor the church fully grasp this Kingdom concept. There is really no such thing as an employee. We we’re all created to be sons and Kings to rule and reign with Him. We were all created to work in exactly in the sphere of life where our heart’s and the Father’s heart overlap. We will often find ourselves working with teams of other people. The stability of those relationships is always driven by the overlap in the desires of individual hearts. We simply cannot pay for (employ) a man’s heart. The corollary is also true. If we do not have or understand a man’s heart he or she will never produce fruit at the level God intends.
Practical applications – I work with and minister with many individuals and teams – we all do. My rule of thumb before committing to an initiative is a heart plan. I want to see what God has written in their hearts and I want them to understand what is in the depths of my heart… on a piece of paper. Contracts are necessary, but superficial, because they only deal with surface actions and cash flow. Working and ministry relationships need something much deeper to have any longevity.
Examples – I’m going to the Netherlands and Poland with John Hagan in a month. We have never met in person and we will be spending time together in fellowship and conferences and listening to one another snore as we stay in guest rooms of friends. He has never attended a releasing Kings conferences and I have never heard him speak. Does it seem like a risk? Not at all. I coached John a year ago and respect him greatly. He knows all the details of my own heart plan and I’ve helped him develop his. There just aren’t any surprises left. Our hearts are totally overlapped regarding this trip. I can already feel the power of our heart’s agreement and in the miracles that will occur in the others.
“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” Matt 18:19-20 NIV
The feeling – There is a third dimension in this agreement for Europe with John Hagan – the Father agrees too. Feeling the heart of the Father for an initiative and a people is a source of amazing prophetic anointing and apostolic authority. We will feel “carried on eagle’s wings.” My heart is already leaping! Yet, the overwhelming emotion we feel when as this curtain is pulled back is love for the Father and an amazing love for his people. People remark on how much love they feel when we give them the Father’s permission to dream and pursue the desire He’s put in their hearts. It’s a jailbreak of liberty; it’s a party; it’s healing; it’s tears and joy at the same time. Words are inadequate to describe the “experience.” We are simply inviting people to taste and see for themselves.
Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Ps 34:8 NIV
You have an invitation into your own metron and destiny from your Father. Hear the question and volunteer for something great by simply saying, “Jesus, you can send me. I will go.”
