The business, marketing, and motivational worlds believe that mindset causes feelings, and feeling motivates actions. So, if your life is in the dumpster, simply change your perception of who you are and what is happening. New neural pathways will be created in your brain, and you will live happily ever after. They point to great achievers who spent their 10,000 hours becoming proficient at their craft and tell us, “You can do it too.” Adjust your attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs about yourself. Sprinkle in a few bible verses for good measure and voila, you too are successful, publicly adored, and wealthy!
There is one failure point with this think, feel, act formula. It doesn’t work! Changing your mindset is the same diet of discipline, accountability, performance, and self-effort that we have failed a thousand times. Inventing an alternate reality by managing your perceptions is a dissociative disorder, a pretention, or a facade that others view as a mask, often a religious mask. So how can some people do great things and enjoy the 10,000-hour journey to get there?
The formula misses the fact that we have hearts. Your heart thinks logically and always asks one question, “Why are we doing this?” If you don’t have a good answer, your heart won’t supply the motivation to keep going. It’s that simple. Your heart doesn’t take direction from your mind; it’s the opposite! Your heart is driving the bus, not your intellect.
Hearts think in pictures or movie clips that recall experiences. Your heart’s experience base sets your future direction. Your life is on a trajectory of past experiences. What your heart believes you can do, is rooted in the practical reality of what you’ve already done. If you want to change, attitude is not the place to start. You need a new experience; a new experience with a new truth outside yourself.
The bible doesn’t paint a wide gap between heart, and spirit, and what we call subconscious. We all have deep waters of purpose in our hearts that surface attitudes, feelings, and behavior don’t represent.
Prov 20:5 – The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out.
Those deep waters come from two places
- The first source – God wrote purpose in our hearts that we are naturally drawn to and are good at, the stuff of our dreams and aspirations. We have to give ourselves permission to explore the desires of our heart. As a Christian, I used to believe that all those desires were carnal and that I couldn’t trust them! So, I shut down my own heart and retreated into obedience because of my religious baggage! Your passions and aspirations can be wisely discerned, but are wise to start with the desires God wrote in our heart (Ps. 37:4).
- Second source – Our heart or spirit can have a new experience where God speaks or shows us a direction or purpose that permits our hearts to go there. Some of these drop out of heaven onto the heads of unsuspecting candidates. But more often, Father is inviting sons into His Council who ask those questions and have those conversations. Imagine getting feedback on your life’s purpose from Father, Son, and seven spirits. Sons don’t live by bread alone, life flows from those interactions. We are designed to do what Father does (Jn 5:19) and co-labor with Him. The sweet spot is where the purpose in Father’s heart overlaps with the purpose in our heart. It’s not that hard! Hint – it’s dynamic; it’s not cast in stone; and your purpose is the topic of regular conversations in the Council!
You can change your perception (attitude), emotions, and actions. It starts when your heart has a prophetic experience that confirms that redirection. Your heart wants to know why. The best answers all come from heaven and from your heart. Go look in both places, and your book will be opened in amazing ways. Father designed you to be a son or daughter with Kingdom purpose that spawns creativity and initiative. Life flows when you engage in that assignment. It flows through great victories and despairing setbacks, yet your purpose remains a wellspring of life. The thrill of doing what Father is doing is a constant. He’s got your back!
Helping others – People don’t want to be fixed, they want to be found. They want help discovering their story. They want to be included in God’s Kingdom and play their role. The goal isn’t discipling their behavior, soothing their feelings, changing their attitudes, or preaching our agenda. If you can connect their heart with their unique purpose in a prophetic experience, they will fix everything else themselves from the heart. Kingdom is learning through experiences – it’s a whole new era of sons experiencing Heaven and bringing Father’s purpose to earth (Reformation). Everything flows from the heart… quite naturally. We are becoming ourselves and helping others do the same!
Resources – The purpose of heaven for each of us is already written in your heart and can be seen and heard in the Council. Your business can shift from a Christian business full of obedient servants to a Kingdom business full of creative and industrious sons who make a difference. We help people and businesses get their prophetic purpose in writing and then make it happen on earth. Taste and see! Tools to get started are here:
- Intentional Reformation Intro (A free diagnostic you will enjoy along with our purpose & Values)
- Nail your Purpose Field Guide (A place to start clarifying your heart’s desires)
- OnlineHeartPlan.com (Our web site and online Courses)
- USA Book (proof we can get our arms around the books of people, businesses, and nations
Other books by John S Garfield are available on Amazon:
- Releasing Kings for Ministry in the Marketplace (2004)
- Desire to Destiny – Seven Keys to Your Marketplace Ministry (2007)
- Seers and Doers: Sons Bringing Heaven to Earth (2018)
- Intentional Reformation – A Roadmap to Change Yourself and the World (2020)
- Intentional Reformation Primer – 5-Step Roadmap to Make Your Dream Come True (2020)
- Healing for Warriors: Connecting Your Purpose and Your Health (2020)
- Lead Your Tribe Field Guide (2021)
- Let’s Build a Kingdom Business (2022)
- Find our free blog at ReleasingKings.com; Courses at www.OnlineHeartPlan.com
