Getting in touch with the Kingdom purpose God wrote in your heart isn’t a surefire recipe for fame and fortune in this life. It is simply the Father’s purpose for His son or daughter. There is more than one way to accomplish it, which taps our creativity and initiative. And, the results are not guaranteed to fit our timetable or expectations. Important assignments, like nations, can extend beyond our lifetime!

On the Plane to Oahu for thanksgiving, I listened and read Seth Godin’s The Practice. Chapter 78 (below) is a secular quote that taps a spiritual principle. These words hit home for me! Parenthetic highlights are mine.

“If You Knew You Were Sure to Fail, Then What Would You Do? There’s no need to know the details of the practice before we begin. We can’t know the recipe because there isn’t a recipe: recipes are always outcome dependent. The specific outcome is not the primary driver of our practice (Calling). If we obsess about the outcome, we’re back to looking for an industrial recipe, not a way to create art. The more important the project we take on, the more difficult it is to find certainty that our work will succeed before we begin. We can begin with this: If we failed, would it be worth the journey? Do you trust yourself (and your Father) enough to commit to engaging with a project regardless of the chances of success? The first step is to separate the process (purpose) from the outcome. Not because we don’t care about the outcome. But because we do.”

As believers in touch with purpose, we own and steward that assignment. It does touch our identity to have a direction from our Father. It’s fruitful; it naturally multiplies, and it blesses people. We’re in touch with why we were created, and other people see the “fit.” It’s so natural that we are reminded of Mark 4:28, All by itself, the soil produces. Our hearts are that good soil in which the Father can plant the seed of His purpose and watch it grow.

Driven – We have also known people (and have been people) who attached our identity to the outcome and the recipe to get there. That mistake naturally “drives us” to religious legalism, control, manipulation, presumption, anger, and fear. We start playing God to get other people and circumstances to fit our conception of the finish line.

Now, I believe in goals and finish lines and dreams. Seth would have us believe there are no absolutes, no morality, and no finish; Just one incarnation after another forever. Jesus said, “It is finished.” It wasn’t pretty, and He would not have chosen it on His own, but Jesus finished His course. Jesus’ forerunner, John the Baptist, also finished His course – in prison, with doubts, followed by execution. Paul’s story is similar. If we knew the finish, it might feel more like failure than success! We don’t know the exact finish, but we can know our purpose and give our lives to it. That’s the thrill of co-laboring with our Father in the Kingdom. We can hear “Well Done” on this side of heaven.

Because we care about the outcome – the last line of Seth’s quote is my favorite. We want the Father’s purpose to be established on earth. We are even aggressive about it! We want to own it and play our role in implementing it. We don’t want our ego or identity needs to stand in the way of it.

Sons are willing to take on big assignments that have a high risk of failure. We’re eager to add our creativity and initiative to bring the Father’s purpose to earth. We care about the outcome.

How do I know when I’m crossing the line from initiative to ego? We don’t, except for one simple thing. Sons are in the council having conversations with their Father continuingly. We don’t follow recipes; we follow Jesus. Our courage isn’t rooted in our plans and expectations of success, although we have plenty. We should have ego’s, strong personalities, identities, clear purpose and strategies to implement a plan. We are just asking for a foundation!

Courage comes from relationships. His purpose always comes first, and outcomes follow. We wield great authority and power on earth to establish His purpose, but He is always the potter, and we are still the clay. Mid-course corrections and humility are a way of life in the Kingdom. They are not painful when you see the why behind them in the council. Father designed your heart to ask why, there is a seat with your name on it in the council, and your book (assignment) has been written by the Father on the tablet of your heart. We are designed by God to be pre-motivated for our book (Ps 139:15-16) or our role in the Kingdom.

You’re invited to play an important part in the dialogue and the strategy of heaven. Moving from servant to son is a huge promotion that we volunteer to accept. Our Father wants to make our name great!

If you knew you were going to “succeed” or “fail” the answer to what you would do is still the same. I must be about my Father’s business. It’s my business now. We are not predicting or insisting on exact future outcomes. We are in the business of intentionally building the future around our Father’s purpose. One of the most basic concepts of sonship is Intentional Reformation of Nations.

PS: from Fathering Brilliance

Father’s realize that when sons first get out of the boat and walk on water, they often sink! Wisdom is about two-thirds learning from mistakes and resurrecting to try it again. Helping sons realize that they won’t lose their identity or their dream if they make a mistake is a huge ingredient. Good fathers usually walk with the limp of their own deaths and resurrections. It shows in the sense of brokenness and humility that can’t be faked or preached or learned; it can only be experienced.

The crack in the liberty bell is prophetic. God is inviting imperfect people into sonship to bring the liberty of heaven to earth. “Release the Kraken” is a prophetic reference back to the Father’s invitation for imperfect people to inherit their sonship and experience the freedom of being themselves – exactly who God created them to be.

Cryus and Sydney Powell are perfect examples. Imperfect people co-laboring with the Father to bring His Kingdom to earth as it is in Heaven. You’re invited too!