Entrepreneurs are natural leaders full of initiative and creativity. There are always tempting offers that shortcut the delays and speed up the accomplishments. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between innovation and temptation. Would you like to hear my story with shortcuts?
More on John’s Story That will make you smile 🙂  …and join the movement
What Was I Missing? – God was really looking for my followership, not my leadership. It’s not robotic, mindless following He seeks. Right now, Father is looking for conversations with Sons. He loves the initiative, creativity, and intelligence in sons, but those traits aren’t healthy until they co-labor with Father’s purpose. If I’m not signed up for Father’s specific purpose for me, my own self-ish purpose is all that’s left.
Father’s purpose is the foundation of every leader, every business, and every decision. Marketing spotlights the 7 figures you’ll make, the 1000’s who will buy, the visibility you will have, and the enthusiasm you generate. God is not opposed to blessing His people, don’t get me wrong. But it all goes south when we seek His blessing before seeking Him, knowing His heart, and hearing His words. It’s not about what great things you can do. It’s all about what great things God can do through you, and your business (Eph 3:20).
The Fragrance of New Life (After Death) – Seasoned leaders who have been through the death and resurrection cycle aren’t pushy. They have all gotten ahead of God in presumption and learned the wisdom of brokenness. The reason they aren’t pushing you is because they’ve stopped pushing God. It didn’t work! Brokenness is the fragrance of co-laboring with Father to produce fruit that remains. They have one goal, do what Father is doing when He is doing it, Following the Lamb!
Imagine where my story would lead if those investments had succeeded? I would have all the answers and the biggest reputation for arrogance of anyone you know. I would cleverly package my independence in Biblical humility, the will of God, and service to my clients. But just under the surface, it will still be about me, microphones, travel, reputation, opportunities, and money!
What’s the Tell? – How do I discern this level of introversion in myself and others? Is it innovation or temptation? Simple, a Kingdom offer, person, or business has prophetic purpose and value at its foundation. (The first two steps in the graphic)
- Father’s prophetic purpose is prominent. The initiative has juice that is easily discerned.
- The value for people (fruit that remains) is evident in the stories of how it works.
The most important ingredient in Leading is Following. Freedom, authority, and scaling happen when it’s not about me. I don’t even need to survive, let alone be the millionaire poster child. Kingdom is the revelation that there is a much bigger and better story than just me. When I grasp that (death to self), then I can play my role and God is free to add all these things (Mt 6:33). Think about your eternal business plan. Is this temporal, materialistic reward all that you want?  …all you sell?
I do have a story in which I am the hero. There is greatness in my destiny, but it’s all in the context of a much larger story that my life is pointing toward. It’s not about me or my will, it’s about Father. The sonship paradox is that putting the Kingdom first is the fastest way to the desires of your heart. When you finally take time to see the desires in Father’s heart, you will realize they are your desires too.
Lu 22:42 – Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.
Mt 16:25 – For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
Why Not Shortcuts? – The entire theme of the self-help industry is to build your self-esteem by offering you a shortcut with the promise of money, identity, success, etc. God doesn’t want you poor and needy, but the formulas put all the focus on the works and the results, not on the source. Where is the offer on how to die-to-self, put Kingdom first, and learn to multiply with fruit that remains because God himself is adding all these things to your business?
The scary part is that the immediate success of shortcuts is often real. My 800K currency trading balance increased to $2.3M even after we lived out of the account for 4 years… then we found out it was a Ponzi scheme and nearly went bankrupt. Great deception is packaged in partial truth. You don’t find out until later that it’s all wood, hay, and stubble that gets burned. Fruit that remains is a phrase that implies that there is also fruit and works that come to nothing.
Sonship and the Council – The shortcuts play on your perception of lack, as does sales copy. Sons and daughters in the Kingdom have no lack. Whatever you need to co-labor with what Father is doing is available for the asking. What has changed is that God has opened a door into Reformation via Kingdom business. Sons and being invited into God’s Council for conversations around purpose and strategy and clarity.
Father does want to add the missing pieces to your story and business. How do we facilitate God’s role in our business? Here are a few things sons pay attention to:
Righteousness – We have access to Father’s heart via those conversations. Righteousness isn’t all our good works; it’s simply being on the same purpose page with our Father. That comes from conversations, not bible college, biz connections, or ear candy.
Priorities – Sons put the Kingdom first. We play a role in bringing heaven to earth. Reformation of People, Businesses, Cities, and Nations is what we do because it’s what Father is doing.
Following the Lamb – Sons are willing to take up their cross and follow. It’s not complicated!
Present in the Council – Sons honor their seat in the Council. They are part of conversations with Father, Jesus and the 7 Spirits of God – that’s 9 inputs, 9 layers of protection for sons! We are asking, seeking, and knocking… engaging our initiative in the Courts and Council of Heaven first, to get the direction and the authority for what Happens on Earth. As an entrepreneur, I don’t have all the answers. But as a son, I know how to have 9 conversations about them that touch on my Identity, Story, Purpose, Strategy, Tactics, Heritage, Courage, Clarity, and Culture. Imagine 9 impartations under those headings, for you!
Opportunities for shortcuts come up all the time, but so do my Council sessions with Father, Jesus, and the 7 Spirits. It’s good for business. I’m not offering an intellectual recipe that will protect you from failure. This is all about relational conversations in real time that will lead you to Kingdom.
Inspiration for this blog came from two Council Sessions that will make you smile:
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Cutting Room Floor
Mt 16:24 – Whoever wants to be my disciple
must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
25)Â Â Â For whoever wants to save their life will lose it,
but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
Jn 12:24 – Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
25) Â who loves their life will lose it,
while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
26)Â Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.
My Father will honor the one who serves me.
Lu 11:9 – So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
11)Â everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
