Putting Self Second to Get What You Want First
What we all want fits neatly into three categories: Heath, Wealth, and Relationships. Marketers know that and try to bait you into buying via the window of your soulish desires. It’s called temptation – the foundation of many trainwrecks, ironically in Health, Wealth, and Relationships. The secret sauce of life and business is a paradox: Learning to put yourself second to get what you want first.
Self-preservation is wired into all of us as a natural fear of death, more specifically fear of death to ourselves or our ego. We all love the things we want, but listen to the offer about how to get there:
Mt 6:31 – So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
32) For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33) But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
You have been around the icky culture of an egotistic manager or salesman who put himself first. You felt slimed, overlooked, and misled. There is a bad side, but the truth is that this narcissistic enemy resides in all of us. We all face the same choice of putting yourself first or second. Here’s another way of stating this paradox:
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it,
but whoever loses their life for me will find it. Mt 16:25
The good news: We can leverage our natural desires with Father’s Purpose (Co-labor & Flow),
In a way that is good for our life and business (because He Adds all these things).
- People who want Health – are really looking for a reason to live, their unique purpose, the wind of God’s Spirit at their back, His Favor on their life and well-being.
- People who want Wealth – are really looking to create value and make a contribution that puts treasure in heaven & attracts buyers on earth (Fruit that remains vs. wood, hay, & stubble that burns… legacy).
- People who want Relationships – are searching to share their lives with those who share their purpose (Ecclesia – people sharing Father’s heart’s desires and finding their own in the process).
Can you see the theme? Our self-centered wish list is just a rabbit trail leading nowhere, but just beneath the surface there is something deeper that is real. God prewired us with the desires or our hearts. If you dig and discern deep enough you can find where Your heart’s desires and your Father’s overlap – a common purpose. That shared purpose is righteousness. What Father really wants from His Kids is conversations and co-laboring.
The overlap in Purpose is where you will find FLOW. Here’s why – when we share Father’s purpose several things happen:
- God is released to add all these things that he knows we need/want. (Mt 6:32-33)
- It’s how we open the gates for the King of Glory to come into our life and business. (Ps 24:7)
- We’re not immune from occasional setbacks, but now we have this resurrection power
(God Himself is in our corner, leveraging bad things into good things! Pretty Amazing, Huh?)
Rom 8:28 – And we know that in all things God works for the good of those
who love him, (conversations in Heaven)
who have been called according to his purpose. (co-laboring on Earth)
Reformation is really making room for Father’s purpose in People, Businesses, Cities, and Nations. When we view changing the world through the lens of Father’s Purpose, we can see what He is doing and as sons and daughters we can co-labor with Him to creatively bring Heaven to Earth in business. This is transformative: we go from running after all these things to simply doing what our Father is doing because we’re on the same purpose page (also known as FLOW).
Jn 5:19 – the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing,
because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
20) For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep,
to gain what he cannot lose. — Jim Elliot
This blog was inspired by two Council Sessions I think you will enjoy
Your Next Step – We have a well-developed path to get clarity on your purpose and to become a son or daughter who knows how to stay in sync; flow with Father’s Purpose, Presence and Power.
We’re going to invite businesspeople for inclusion in a Masterclass “coming soon.” If you would like to part of that Zoom group simply enroll here for $297. You’ll get two existing Courses:
- The Kingdom Business Culture Field Guide, and
- The Nail Your Purpose Field Guide
I Will also include you in the Masterclass for that price (preview is here). As a bonus, you’ll get the latest tools I use in coaching our high-ticket clients (graphic below):
- My personal examples and templates for
- The Purpose Profile
- Aspirations and Goals
- The 7 Spirit Profile
- The Courts and Council Tool Kit
- Example Council Sessions
Buckle up, this will be fun, and I will see that you get an ROI on this investment in your purpose, and I will include you in some exciting invitations that are coming. Our goal is to help you sharpen your purpose and position you to disciple others on your staff into their Flow as Sons and Daughters in Kingdom Business. We do have helpful Courses, but we focus on your questions, conversations and destinations – high touch over high tech. Enroll here to join the tribe we’re cueing up for the Masterclass.
If you’re not on our business mailing address, we invite you to get either of these two PDF books as gift for sharing your contact info. Both are on Amazon if you prefer Kindle or paperback.
