Seers and Doers

We usually translate communion as remembering the sacrifice of Jesus’ blood in the context of our personal forgiveness. We think of the drinking unworthily as coming to communion carrying unforgiveness against other people. We check this box by extending forgiveness other people before we take communion. We think of the bread in terms of participating in His Body – we check that box by going to church or being part of a small group. Not so fast – “bread” implies something much deeper.

Plastic smiles – We all know the rules, and we all know how to put on a happy face when the rules get broken. We also know what our hopes and dreams look like and we know how to hide the pain of their demise under the same happy face. The happy face looks about the same even when things go right. The only problem is future. Most of our hearts are well trained to expect mediocrity or worse. We can’t get too enthusiastic because that’s not the reality of our personal history.

We’ve heard a lot over the last few years that our identity is in Christ i.e., that we know who we are by understanding what Jesus did for us and can do through us. It’s all good, but few have a practical grasp on what that means. Most people interpret Christ in me as the flagship of God’s ability to work through us and empower us – Also good, but our hearts translate it as though the Father is doing the works or Jesus has finished the works and I don’t need to show initiative or have a plan. That would be too independent!

The truth is that we are all known by what we do. I was raised on a ranch in Montana and worked for a career as a chemical engineer. You can’t know John (anyone) unless your aware of what he does. The same is true in the spirit. We are known in heaven by what we do, not just what we’re called to do or think, or preach, or prophecy.

We are in a season where God’s people understand that His will can be found in the desires of our hearts. That’s how we define a King (connected to his/her heart’s desires). Traditionally, doing God’s business was always presumed to be sacrificing my will and picking up the cross of His will, laying down my life, dying to self, surrendering, emptying, more of you – less of me, etc. That mentality presumes an evil heart and sets us up for a lifetime of religious self-sabotage that drains our spiritual vitality. The Kingdom of God is within you (so is the Father, Jn. 14:10). We’re created in God’s image with specific unique gifts and talents for a specific assignment in the Kingdom. We’re already wired for our destiny. When we connect with what God has written in our hearts, we find a natural synergism with Jesus’ Kingdom, and we enter a new realm of fellowship with our Father.

Servants try to motivate, discipline, and hold themselves accountable to operate outside their hearts. We may start there as babes in Christ, but real maturity is finding the Father’s heart overlapping our own heart’s desires. It’s fun, it causes us to feel alive, and we can grow from one glory to the next for the rest of our lives into greater levels of fruitfulness.

We’ve developed two online courses to bring prophetic and practical clarity to your purpose, vocation or business and a success path to seeking the Father in the courts of heaven and the council:

We are all adept at making excuses. Excuses have power because they are rooted in some aspect of truth or reality. They often stem from spiritual accusations. When we verbalize them, they sound prophetic in the same way accusations have a prophetic tone that is spoken over us, not just by us. Excuses are the spiritual language of those under the captivity of a victim mentality (that’s how they think). But I want to suggest it’s deeper than what we think. We are under a covenant from a prior compromise. The accuser doesn’t just throw out accusations randomly (he has a legal basis), and we don’t make excuses by accident (we’re stuck in unbelief and accept them). Inside the excuse, there is a thread that goes back to generational compromise that is undone in the Courts of Heaven. We don’t have to accept excuses! Sprinkling in a better attitude and a positive confession doesn’t address the root cause of excuses and accusations. That is accomplished in the courts of heaven.

Num. 13:33 – And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. KJV

Num. 14:6-9 – Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. 8 If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.  NIV

Amos 2:9 – I (the Lord) destroyed the Amorite before them, though he was tall as the cedars and strong as the oaks. I destroyed his fruit above and his roots below. NIV

Knowing your identity has been all the rage for the last few years because “who we are” is the foundation for what we believe and do. Although it is true, it’s not the whole story. Who you are (identity) is partly shaped by what you actually do. The theological and practical debate is well framed in the different translations of one verse;

• Luke 2:49 – Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house? NIV
• Luke 2:49 – Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business? NKJV

In one camp, we are instructed to be like Mary instead of Martha and rest at the master’s feet and enjoy His presence (be in His house). Either He will do the works, or the works were finished at the cross. Us doing works is painted as a bit carnal, beneath the dignity of those who are truly spiritual. In the second camp, we are invited to co-labor with Him. It even goes one step further: intimacy is rooted in co-laboring with Him! You are my friend if you do what I command (Jn. 15:14). Great works and exploits are celebrated as fruit in this camp. They have jobs and businesses and a vision to bring heaven back to earth. Sons contend for nations.

Over the last month, I’ve been part of a tribe of people moving from children who have entered the Kingdom to sons who inherit and possess their calling spiritually and practically. They have distinct ministry gifts, yet they prosper in businesses or vocations. Moving from God’s child to God’s son to an inheritance that belongs to you is a natural Kingdom progression of maturity. Right now, we don’t just need to bind enemy activity; we are displacing enemy rule by standing up in our calling. The Father is placing sons in positions of influence to bless nations. It’s a season in the spirit to volunteer.

One of the keys to the kingdom is knowing God works through voluntary sons, who in turn work out of the desires Father wrote in their hearts (Jer. 31:33-34; Heb. 8:10-11). There is a distinct authenticity that is readily apparent in sons connecting with their hearts. Plus, it’s fun! The blueprint for our kingdom assignment is both in our hearts and God’s heart. I’ll find the same thing in both places. Is it easy to figure out what that is? No! Most people struggle, and many give up and never connect with either their hearts or God’s heart in a way that causes their life, ministry, and vocation to become an integral story that produces fruit and leads to an intentional objective. Many sincere believers spend their lives wandering and wondering through an unexplainable wilderness, bouncing off life’s blessings and tragedies in an unpredictable, cosmic game of ping pong. It doesn’t have to be this confusing.

Jer. 29:11-14 – For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord NIV

We’ve all seen sales personalities who are overly exuberant. We’re never sure we can trust what they say, but we admire their enthusiasm and results. Are they that energetic all the time or are they bipolar and crash in private? Do they believe what they say, or is it just a pitch? Sometimes we wish we could have some of their enthusiasm.

Personalities and DISC profiles aside, we’re all called to be excited about God and love Him with all of our hearts. We love worship when it’s alive, and we’re all deeply moved by the presence of God. It’s not hard to be wholehearted when the Holy Spirit is tangible, and the prophetic atmosphere is electric. Our hearts do leap during those times.

The problem is on Monday morning when we go back to work. We feel like Joseph checking back into Potiphar’s prison after a weekend pass. Now is a season of Kingdom and reformation. There is a place where the other six days are six times more exciting than Sunday, or a conference or a spiritual high. Our enthusiasm doesn’t have to be a vicarious experience that depends on an atmosphere someone else creates! Here’s how you can choose to be wholehearted in your mountain.

Several nights back I woke up with a vision for a couple who are good friends. I got up to capture it about 1 AM before it evaporated and pushed save to see if I still believed it in the morning. I passed it on, and it did encourage them. Since then it felt like there was a more general application, so I just changed the names to John and Sue. Take a look.

Yesterday, in the course of a conversation with a friend about business and life and reformation, I mentioned courts and council as great kingdom tools. This morning the Lord tweaked me and said, “The council is not just a tool, it’s your home.”

The highlight of 2018 was learning to appear in His Council, activating seer gifts and taking others there too. It was amazing to see the welcome mat out for this invitation to the courts and council in Europe this fall. Six times we took groups into the courts and council, and people loved the experience of it. It feels like the good news of the Kingdom, and everyone is forcing his way into it (Lu. 16:16). Amazing!

The Lord did some amazing things on this trip to Europe. It started in Denver at Terry Tyson’s house with a group of businessmen and women. In Berlin, we met Beverley Watkins and prayed for Europe with 20 people from seven nations (Ireland, UK, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, SA, and the USA). In the Netherlands, Marcel and Annemieke hosted me, and we met with people in Maassluis, Eindhoven, and Amsterdam. Here’s a summary.

“We are in an era where the forces of feudalism know this is their last shot at maintaining power.”  David Brin

The “manor lords and serfs” narrative has long been a cultural fact of life from the middle ages to modern corporate, political, and social hierarchy. The “Serf Mentality” is necessary to sustain oppression. The David Brin quote is secular and prophetic at the same time. It points to the next reformation and the freedom God’s Kingdom brings to cultures and nations. It’s a bottom-up, heart-driven process. People can be liberated from oppression, but if their serf mentality is not changed, they will find another tyrant like a moth drawn to the flame. As Serfs, we can be our own worst enemy. Wars, revolutions, and elections will not save us. Worse yet, we carry our serf mentality into our relationship with God and assume He loves worshipful allegiance, self-depreciating humility, and sacrificial obedience. Our Father is looking for sons to relationally populate His council in heaven and displace principalities on earth i.e., heroic overcomers who can do exploits and triumph in warfare. The Kingdom is much more about collaboration, cooperation, initiative and co-laboring than we thought!

2 Cor 3:17-18 – Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. NIV

I hear the stories of many businessmen trying to explain their success in terms of sacrifice, “God told me to do it.” It sounds spiritual like we’re really connected with God, but it’s often a cover for a disconnected heart. The serf offering of sacrificially doing what our heart doesn’t enjoy is not a sustainable path to life. Obeying a list of instructions is not a good reason to do anything. We must know our and our Father’s why, and our initiative has to flow from our own heart as well as our Father’s heart.

John 15:15 – 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.

I attended Harold Eberle’s Worldcast conference that included a round-table discussion which was interactive, respectful and healthy. We touched on some fair questions that deserve answers. I asked most of them myself in the past and now I’m starting to hear them multiple times. They are usually intellectual / theological and ask the larger heart question of “why do I need to do this?” I decided to collect them and provide a simple answer. If you think of additional questions or come up with better answers, please add them. Please don’t worry about offending me—you won’t.

I came away from the conference with several impressions:

• There is a door open to the council . . . the real definition of ecclesia is those who go there (Mt 16:18-19).
• Courts and trading floors lay a foundation (walking in a spirit of repentance or purity), but we have to go on to books and a lifestyle of being present in the council and delivering the fruit (binding and loosing).
• There is a place for preaching and teaching the fundamentals, but the real need is stories of delivering the goods from heaven to earth . . . especially from the other six mountains (it’s an experience that works more than a truth or a theology that preaches).
• We have to stop trying to get other people to be priests, prophets and seers for us. Business people have to be pulled into this realm to fully inherit their place in the Kingdom.
• Becoming a seer is everyone’s assignment / invitation . . . it’s for everyone more than a gift for a few. (just like baptism in the Holy Spirit, healing, prophecy, etc.)
• There is a missing piece, i.e., 10’s of thousands want personal mentoring to navigate all this. How is a practical challenge. It’s a leap to go from a book or conference or video to an experience of seeing in heaven.
• The mentality of the pastors tended toward: 1) how to manage / whether to permit it, 2) the theology of whether it’s true, 3) how to preach it and explain it . . . How to experience it themselves was the deeper question . . . some will now and all will eventually.
• Two things I tried to refute:
  There was one sentiment expressed that this was just for intercessors (false)
  some people have a seer gift and the rest of us don’t (false)
  
• Minds were scrolling through the standard list of reasons of why I don’t need to do this (intellectually). The questions that were raised are interesting and representative and are addressed below.

The only thing wrong with this Q&A approach is that it suggests the gateway to courts and councils is through our heads. Answers to intellectual questions miss the point of the longing in our hearts. Logical answers to tough questions are not enough to convince anyone, but those who have tasted the experience of it still need answers for their “minds,” as we all do. I had all the same question.

Our hearts build our identity around pictures and movies that replay whenever we think about who we are and why we’re here. We have role models or heroes that inspire our own unique gifts and callings. In our youth we usually follow the examples of those we admire. There is a place in the council of heaven to see and collaborate with your future. Our Father can pull down the movie screen and show our future self. It’s time to do that. We even play a role in determining our future; it’s not completely scripted!

My kingdom theology is going through a new release. Here is the background on this contagious evolution. It’s probably like your own. God seems to update all of us in the same season.

There are seven promises in Revelation 2 and 3 to overcomers. The Greek work is nikao, which means to subdue. Gen 1:28 immediately comes to mind where Adam is given the commission to multiply, replenish the earth and subdue it. In Hebrew subdue is kabosh.

Rev 2:7 –  “to him who overcomes will I give” . . . 7 things. G3529 (nikao) = Subdue

Gen 1:28 – “Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it” (kabash)

Subdue = H3533 (kabash) tread down, conquer, subjugate

As sons we have a Father who wants us to put the kabosh on enemy strategies first and then give us some amazing promises second. I want to know how!

Most of us were raised with a concept that God is High, Holy and He resides in heaven to sovereignly reign over ant-like people who continually struggle with problems. Since I viewed God as distant, I never fully grasped the impact of these concepts of proximity with Him:

John 15:15-17 He calls us friends instead of servants, and makes known the Father’s business

Eph. 2:6 God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms.

1 Cor. 3:9 Jesus did what he saw the Father doing and we are called co-workers

Rev. 3:20 He knocks on our door and offers to eat with us – conversation!

Rev. 4:4 John saw 24 other thrones around Jesus and the Father

Have you ever noticed there are two tracks in the Kingdom, the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering? The life and life more abundantly track sounds like a recent podcast I listened to. The interview was conducted around a business ministry “model.”

I’m a serial entrepreneur who began with nothing and now I’ve started multiple businesses and investment funds. I’m on numerous boards and I’ve leveraged my success into ministries that help other businesses and investors become successful. I’m busy all the time, fruitful, wealthy, generous and wise. I’m sought after for advice, visible, acclaimed, celebrated and connected at influential levels. God has blessed me.

The second track is simply the antithesis of the above:

Lord, I feel unused, wasted, set aside, and hidden. My resources limit my dreams. The desires of my heart go wanting. My investments and my life are best characterized by mediocrity. For sure, no one is calling for my advice. I feel like a billboard for theft; God’s example of weakness!

The two tracks, or examples, are both evidenced in the Bible. They can also represent seasons in our lives. Most of us experience both . . . victories and valor; defeats and delays.

When Jesus stands at the door of our heart and knocks, the offer is that “I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev 3:20). Our hearts are equipped with a table we set for communion and communication with Jesus. Servants invite Him in to sit on a throne so they can obey; friends just take up the offer to eat together so they can collaborate. It’s wisdom to set a table because Jesus is coming to eat with us, not rule over us.

Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out its seven pillars. She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table. Prov 9:1-2 NIV

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Ps 139:15-16 NIV

Once we get saved and receive the Holy Spirit, a hunger to find our Kingdom purpose is birthed. It starts with becoming a servant who can obey. It continues as we become students of His word and exercise our gifts. It peaks when we become His friends who collaborate and co-labor with our Father. Now we’re free to undertake initiatives because we know our heart and our Father’s heart are on the same page. The Lord is pulling the curtain back on a generation of young lions who are hungry to play their role in this coming reformation. They are excited, they have volunteered before the Lord, and their hearts are all asking the same question, “What can I do?” Jesus wants to answer that question Himself.

Finding your personal why and opening your book is not easy, but it is very possible. If you want clarity on your purpose in the Kingdom and your role in this reformation, here are some practical steps to get you there.

God’s people are in an amazing transition right now to embrace our mandate to disciple nations. It’s not business as usual and it’s both exciting and confusing… because this promise is so big!

“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; …and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Gen 12:2-3 NIV

He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance… Ps 2:7-8 NIV

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations… Matt 28:18-19 NIV

So… I just asked Jesus, “Lord, how do we transition to discipling nations? What are you saying to your people about this?” You can ask Him the same thing. It’s fun, and our Father loves to talk to His sons about this asking.

Why Purpose? – It doesn’t matter if I’m a millennial living paycheck to paycheck or a retiree traveling the world, life without a purpose beyond “self” is empty. For believers, the irony of life in the Kingdom is that when we seek “things” they (and our purpose) drift away from us. But, when we put His Kingdom “purpose” first, everything else gets added. Each of us has a purpose or book (Ps 139:16) in two dimensions: the first is our individual purpose that God has written in our hearts and the second is the Kingdom purpose of our nation. Knowing both is a lot of fun… it puts our life’s direction on steroids.

My purpose – Releasing Kings is all about connecting people with the Kingdom purpose God wrote on our hearts. The transition from servant to friend and King (Jn 15:15-17) happens when I give myself permission to pursue the desire or purpose in my heart. I become who God designed me to be. More here and here. Jesus delights to share the Father’s heart with us, so that we know “His business.”

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. John 15:15-16

My life starts to make sense when my family, vocation, ministry and heart start to align around a common theme. My history (good and bad) is a tapestry that weaves the past, present and future into a Kingdom purpose. It’s a joy to make that connection. My life’s greatest thrill is to connect with my Father’s heart and co-labor with Him and see the results. That’s the message of Releasing Kings. We help people make those connections with their heart, history, vocation, ministry, mountain and calling.

This is an amazing and wonderful time in God’s Kingdom and in American History. New victories are appearing every week and the curtain has been pulled back on levels of corruption in politics and the press that are liberating for all of us. God Himself is doing something that approaches another reformation to be followed by another “enlightenment / industrial revolution”… a renaissance in cultures around the world.

It’s an intense season of spiritual warfare and political contention, yet the Kingdom is being unveiled and the glory of God is more visible than ever. We are on the eve of something wonderful that we have not planned or anticipated… it’s beyond all that we could ask or imagine! Our hearts, as Americans, are thrilled.

The calling on the United States is to be the light and the glory for the world. It’s our privilege to bless nations and peoples. Economies are going to get blessed and, as the US rises into her calling, all nations will rise as well. We will touch poverty in the natural and set captives free in the spirit. Sanballet will chirp and accuse, and Shimei will throw rocks, but God will prevail. It’s a season for David and his mighty men to walk in the grace of their calling. I hear this verse:

As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Matt 10:7-8 NIV

The key to the Kingdom is centered around becoming comfortable in our God-given identity. There is an authenticity and an authority that comes when we connect with the desires of our heart. Instead of trying to discipline ourselves to rise up to some external expectation, we relax and find the grace that God has over our lives and simply walk it out. We love ourselves, other people and God much more when we turn this corner. It’s a child-like innocence and simplicity that is willing to ask for the desires that God wrote in our heart.

“I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matt 18:3 NIV