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By Katie Souza, JoAnn McFatter, Dutch Sheets,
Larry Randolph, Jeremy Lopez and Deborah Jones
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Wisdom in business and revelation in the spirit both result in initiatives that involve risk. Believers experience a mix of amazing victories and confusing failures. Shoring up our confidence with a positive mental attitude isn't a foundation that will make it through the level of warfare that goes with Kingdom. It has to be deeper than that! I do need to mentally believe in myself and my dream, but my heart has to have a good reason why I can be confident. The reason is profoundly simple, yet rare. My confidence has roots in knowing that my Father believes in me!Obedience is not Enough
The popular notion that if I hear and obey God, nothing bad will happen is fatally flawed theology. It preaches well from the pulpit but it doesn't work in real life. Here's the reason why: If I make a decision believing that God spoke to me prophetically, I can't really back away from it when it goes wrong. We've all held on to investments, relationships, and business decisions long after we should have made an adjustment and moved on. We thought that giving up would not have been "faith." We were too spiritual for common sense and wisdom.
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength. Eph 1:17-19 NIV
Wisdom
Wisdom is a much better basis for decisions than prophetic revelation. If its wisdom, that came from me, it wouldn't be too surprising if it's wrong and I can easily make a mid-course correction to make it right again. If I rely on revelation and "give God the glory" that's a decision that God made and I'm not at liberty to change it. There are several signs of revelatory decisions that typically go bad:
I view the prophetic as predictive of future events instead of confirming present decisions.
I'm prone to try to hit a home run and go for a miracle… instead of consistent small steps.
I'm prone not to do the due diligence in looking at my alternatives before and after the decision.
I'm prone to blindly trust people or a hierarchy instead of realistically assessing the risks myself.
I have no alternative strategy to fall back on… it's sink or swim… a great victory or self-sabotage!
The Future is Open
The reason prophetic gifts aren't reliable predictors of the future is that God can control any aspect of the future He wants to… He's just chosen a few things that are certain and left the rest open. He made room for you and I to rule and reign with Him to help create the future in line with His purposes. We can know what God wants to do and what we want to do, but we are not immune from setbacks or missing the mark along the way. We are also candidates to implement ideas that have never been heard of before. We are creative like He is. We aren't in the business of predicting the future; we are in the business of creating it.
Your Father Believes in You
All this makes our walk with God a little more dicey than we might like! We have to manage risk. We cannot see the future clearly; we prophesy in part and know in part. Yet, we have a Father who loves us, believes in us, and encourages us toward a Kingdom built on the dreams He's written in our hearts. Our willingness to trust our Father's faith in us to do exploits and make a difference, exactly determines our level of initiative in the Kingdom… our willingness to make decisions. Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers (Heb 2:10-11) and He's always interceding on our behalf (Heb 7:25). The Holy Spirit is present in our hearts and we take the presence of God with us wherever we go as His ambassadors. We have a Father who has made a decision to accomplish His purposes and exploits through His "treasured" people. Pretty amazing! You and I have a role in the Kingdom!
How to Make a Decision
In our spiritual youth we simply obey God. But in the Kingdom, the Father is often asking "What do you want to do?" The simple approach that worked when we first got saved, doesn't continue forever. Spiritual maturity is not defined by obedience…. Kingdom is much more relational than servants and sons… we are now friends and kings. What is in the Father's heart is also in our own hearts. Kingdom is all about being yourself and experiencing the delight of your Father.
Good decisions always start with, "Who do you want to be?" and "What role do you want to play" and "What's the next step." Once you answer in wisdom from your own heart, the confirmation will come very naturally and conversationally with the Father. When you verbalize a direction, it's easy to hear the spiritual substance of it. If it resonates, go for it. If not, choose another course that does resonate in your heart and in your Father's heart. It's not hard! And when you run into obstacles, go through the same process starting with what you want to do from your own heart… and see if it resonates again.
Servants say, "Tell me what to do."
Kingdom starts with God asking us, "What would you like to do?"
Our God is not just the master of servants and the Father of sons, He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He has chosen to seat us beside Him in heavenly places and we are able to make wise decisions.
John Garfield
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