What can Christians learn from the business world?

   
    It always fascinates me to observe mindsets that people choose to cultivate and live from, either people that know God or people that don't. Personally when I am able to see a mindset that I have that is not free or experiencing limitations in some way, common sense drives me to say, "it's time to change the way I think so my actions can follow suit." The renewed mind is a constant shift into more of heaven's way of thinking, it never stops being fine tuned and increasing.
    As Christians we have become one with Jesus, we are reborn from above upon saying yes to following Him, and we have access to everything He is and has through relationship. This includes His mind, and in order to truthfully surrender to and follow Him it would make sense that we should know how He thinks and what we get to do with Him and through Him.
    The mandate from Christ is to, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." ( Matthew 28:19-20) So our call is to go to people groups and share Good News and reconcile the world to Love, through the sacrifice that He made for us. By the way, the word 'nations' in the Greek does not mean foreign countries. The Greek word for 'nations' is ethnos, it means people groups that don't know Jesus. Their are countless nations in that context right here in your own city that don't know the Lord's love and goodness. Going to other countries is great fun, but you'll have more authority in other countries when you have cultivated and exercised that authority with effectiveness in your own family, workplace, city, and region.
    Would it make sense then that we limit ourselves from receiving our full inheritance and the provision stored up for us when we don't walk out the call to make disciples of all nations? A lifestyle of obedience is where the favor never stops and always increases, and if we are following Him we should understand that He has already told us where He is going. He is leading people groups that don't know Him, to His abundant life. And He is leading us into being the leaders of people groups that don't know Him.
    When we get our thoughts moving in the direction of Christ's thinking we are able to access more of His way of thinking. Seeing how we, collectively, have His mind (1 Cor. 2:16), it would make sense that accessing the more He has to offer (to anyone that wants it) would have to start with agreeing with the way He sees and does things.
    How can we access the deep things of God, if we don't agree with His simple things? John 3:12 But if you don't believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? (NLT) The truth of life in Christ and His Kingdom is that it so good it sounds almost like a fairy tale. So why are not as many people that say they follow Him experiencing this outrageously amazing way of life?
    I have had the privilege lately to bring the Kingdom in realms of business and interact and observe the way success minded business people see and process things, and it is very similar to the way Jesus flows with His thinking.
    Many church cultures in the western world have a church structure in place that is set up to get people to obey and agree with what the leader says and do what He says. It's a culture to create consumers, not providers. I understand and believe that so many people in these places have good hearts and intentions, but the Christian community should not be a bunch of docile consumers. The Christian community should be the vocal and effective leaders of all realms of society, by humbly and effectively serving and leading them into greater places. The main structure of church culture in our society gears Christians thinking to quiet down and obey the man in charge, even if you don't agree.
    In the business world the success minded and driven people celebrate each other's diversities and that empowers what they agree upon to be that much more effective. The successful business people are all visionaries, just like Jesus was and told us to be. They are all creative and innovative as a lifestyle, just like Jesus is and has empowered us to be. They all have a bright hope filled perspective of the future, just like Jesus does and told us to have.
    In the business world they don't put too much weight on someone's words that doesn't have the fruit to back up what they are talking about. It's ok for you too not pay to much attention to someone talking about divine healing that rarely ever sees anyone healed, or doesn't believe it's even God's will to heal. It's not dishonoring to not have a high value on their words, it's more wisdom then anything else. It's not dishonoring a person by not valuing their words on how to love sinner's when that person doesn't even have friends (that they love without an agenda) that are sinner's.
    It's wisdom to listen to people talk about topics that actually have the fruit to back up what they are talking about. Some Christians think it is wrong or dishonoring to question any leader on anything, we are never to dishonor a person saved or unsaved. But it is more common sense to question what someone is talking about that can't back it up with the fruit of that topic in their own life.
    No one is going to do it all perfectly and have the perfect perspective on everything, and we should all have people that we are committed to and in responsible relationship with. We should also all have healthy leaders around us, but just because someone is your leader doesn't mean you're being disrespectful to see things different. In the kingdom we are called to agree on the main things and let the minor differences strengthen us, not weaken us.
    In the successful business world this is common sense. They have a high value for new innovation and creativity, their only concern is if it is working to produce better results. In the business world business leaders put weight on people's words that have a track record of success. They pay money to hear success tips and wisdom from people that truly have this, simply so they can receive from it and implement the strategies for positive and effective change in their own life and business. The business world has a high value for effective change and increase, just like Jesus does.

http://fortune.com/best-companies/

    This is the top 100 companies to work for in 2015. If you skim through the benefits of the companies leading the charge, you'll find very similar trends. They all want their employees to be free at work. Google (who has been #1 on this list for 6yrs running) even has a free haircuts, video game rooms, a gym, pool tables, and the list could go on. They trust their employees have inherently good motives and have created an environment that empowers them to be creative and unwind in a variety of ways to provoke more rest filled creativity. They understand that when their employees want to drop what they are doing and play some games, it refreshes them to return to the task focused and joyful.
    Another interesting trend among the top companies on the list is this, many of those companies have unlimited paid sick days. These companies trust the environment they have created will drive employees to want to be at work, so much so that if an employee is sick they pay them while they recover. These top companies see that people are inherently driven to be successful, good, and that all people have the full capability to be a solid contributor to the bigger vision. They see that creating an environment that provokes freedom and creativity doesn't actually have employees taking advantage of the system, it has them helping and adding to the system in very beneficial ways.
    Being a successful leader in any environment is a more weighty task then many of their critics realize, but good leaders know this. Good leaders know how to let the critics weightless words role off their shoulder and be null and void in their life. And most importantly good leaders have one focus... not to create followers, but to raise up other leaders!
   

   

Speak an Army into Existence

    The prophetic is vital to a healthy community of followers of Jesus. We as the body of Christ have the privilege of tapping into the lifeline of heaven, His voice. We have to have the prophetic operating from a correct perspective and in accurate power so His Kingdom can be established in unshakable ways. Ezekiel 37 reveals an amazingly clear picture of how to speak life and health to people, and it also reveals some beautiful new covenant revelation.

    Ezekiel 37:1 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. (NASB) The hand of the Lord isn’t just upon you now, you are the hand of the Lord. Heaven loves revealing itself through us. 
    If we ask "Here I am. Send Me," we shouldn't be surprised if we are set down in the middle of a valley of dry bones. The depth of this Good News is that the Jesus in you is the feast for the starving, but you can’t be His light and food for the lost and hungry until you mix and mingle with them. You are the Light for those lost in the dark, but you can’t be that Light until you post up in the darkness amongst them so the Lord can draw them to Himself through your life.

    2 Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. (NKJV) “Then He caused me to pass by them” You want to be used by the Lord? Then expect to be put in the midst of hell itself, so you can plunder hell to populate Heaven.
    On the cross Christ became what we looked like, so we could become what He looks like now. 1 John 4:17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. (ESV) “As He is so also are we in this world,” in this world now, we are as He is. Don’t be shocked when you are in the middle of a bunch of people that look like Christ did, spiritually speaking, on the cross. That is what you once looked like before you said yes to the King of Glory and His free gift of salvation. He puts us there so people can see what it is they are supposed to look like, Jesus. Just be the new you that you are while speaking His words, and they will see Him and hear Him and His irresistible goodness.

    3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, You know.” (NASB) When Jesus came one of His names was, "Son of Man." The Son of Man came to an earth full of dry bones and spoke and paid for life so the sons of men could become sons of God. God is asking a rhetorical question here. He is getting you to realize that your life and thought process is already in agreement with heaven, just walk it out your true identity and you will see the revealing of on earth as it is in heaven through your life. Knowing God is knowing His will, and His will is ‘on earth as it is in heaven’, and dry bones coming to life is 'on earth as it is in heaven'. God was showing Ezekiel that he was the one that was the mouthpiece of heaven to release heavens agenda of life and life more abundantly to the world. And in the new covenant every single one of us is the mouthpiece of heaven to a valley of dry bones.

    4 Then he said to me, "Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, 'Dry bones, listen to the word of the LORD! (NLT) When we speak what heaven is saying our words become His weaponry. The word for ‘listen’ in the Hebrew is –shama- to comprehend. God desires that the world comprehends His goodness. His goodness is not for you, and to get you to fall in line with His army and get to work. His goodness is the fuel we run on, it is the very nature of everything He is. His goodness cannot be exaggerated. His goodness is Him living and moving and having His being in your life. His goodness is you living in peace, joy, grace, love, and power with such an ease that it baffles the world into His never ending goodness. Declare His goodness to the ‘dry bones’ of this world so they ‘comprehend’ His amazingness and they join the joyous army of God.

    5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. (ESV) Notice… Ezekiel is the Lord’s mouth piece, ‘as He is so also are we in this world’. God has chosen to reveal Who He is in us and then through us, Galatians 1: 15 But when it pleased God, Who separated me from my mothers womb and called me through His grace, 16  to reveal His Son in me... (NKJV) 
    All God has to do is breath on the dead and His breath brings resurrection. So it was with Jesus giving the Holy Spirit in John 20:21-22. Notice the imagery, God breaths what is inside of Him into us and we become, “For we are parts of his body—of his flesh and of his bones,” Ephesians 5:30. You speaking His words releases His life into people so they can wake up and partake of the life they were created for, so speak to the dry bones of the lost and hurting so they too can live in the goodness of God.

    6 I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD. (NLT) We speak His will into and upon people., and His will is life and life more abundantly. He desires to give you His life, Colossians 2:2-3. You are a brush stroke of His eternal masterpiece, you are a vibrant color on the canvas of His eternal display of never-ending grace. You are a piece of His glorious body on this earth which finds its fullness in the mystical body of Christ Jesus. You are living and moving and having your being in the blissful goodness of His reality.
   God didn't tell Ezekiel to prophetically point out all the problems he saw, God told Him to speak their true identity to life. When a person comes to Jesus the sin nature that dwells within is cast out and the new substance that fills them is Christ. So if God sees us as filled with Him and having amazing potential and life for us, why would God have us prophecy and focus on the sin nature that He paid so much to get rid of? God always sees us through the lens of Jesus, which is an ever increasing measure of His life and a destiny that is always increasing in intimacy with love.  

    7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. (NASB) As He spoke what God was saying what God said would happen happened, it is simple. Now understand something here, the prophetic can make things messy. Know this though His message doesn’t create a mess, His message reveals the mess so it can be removed. His message is not what creates the mess, His message stirs up a “noise” and a “rattling” and our mess gets revealed in the midst of it so it can be removed so our life can sink into the goodness of His life. Our focus is never the problems, our focus is always the solution and seeing the true heavenly identity of everyone. When the solution is revealed it can rattle things, but the rattling is the revealing that the solution is surfacing.
    And the greater the prophetic word and the weight attached to it, the harder the enemy tries to thwart it. You can tell the strength of a prophetic word by the opposition that comes against it. If you receive and amazing word, and all the sudden it seems like all hell comes against it. That's hell trying to get you to shy away from it. Understanding that dynamic empowers us to know God and walk through attacks in order to step into our destiny of ever increasing glory to glory.

    8 Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them. (NKJV) Observe the imagery here. Ezekiel just spoke what God was saying and then he watched God do it. Your job is simple my friends, just speak what God is saying in love and He will do it. All Ezekiel did in this verse was say what He heard God speak, and then stand and watch God be amazing. The lack of ‘breath’ is the Holy Spirit. The word for ‘Spirit’ in the Greek (New Covenant) – pneuma- wind, breath, spirit. The word for ‘Spirit’ in the Hebrew (Old Testament) – ruach- breath, wind, spirit. God was showing Ezekiel a New Covenant reality of what happens when the breath of God, is not just upon people, but is inside people. We get to partner with heaven and speak the full of health of life into people, when we comprehend this responsibility and privilege we begin to see how vital it is to speak life and solution at all times.  

    9 Then He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life."'" (NASB) Again God releases His life through our words. Does He need to? Is God limited in any way if we don’t prophesy or speak life? No. But know this, He has chosen to continually love the hell out of people through us. It is how He likes to do things. If we understood the authority we had we would speak more life, prophetic words, and encouragement. God unleashed His very life into an army when Ezekiel simply said what God was saying. God always speaks life, victory, love, encouragement, and life more abundantly.

    10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. (NASB) Co-laboring is a simple as just saying what He is saying, doing what He is doing. When you begin to grow in the understanding of what Jesus did on the cross you, you grow in learning how to do less and get more done. Because you learn and experience how easy it is to simply let Jesus be Himself through you. The Lord picked Ezekiel up and put Him in the dry valley and then told Him what to do and say. Ezekiel did and said what God was doing and saying, and an exceedingly great army “came to life and stood on their feet.” The Lord did it all, through one yielded vessel that was willing to let God have His way in him and through him.

     You are just the mouth piece that the victory of heaven funnels through. You are just the hands that His power flows through. You are the earthen vessel that carries the heavenly goodness. We get to be the new creation that He has made us to be while God draws the world to Himself through us. We just release what is in us and the world around us sinks into His love, grace, and power.