Bolz / Hasson Wired to Hear

Connecting God's Voice to Your Life, Influence, and Career
1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-1-952421-16-7
Verlag: NEWTYPE Publishing
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 192 Seiten

'Marketplace leaders are going to be the forerunners in the next great move of God.' Shawn Bolz In 2018, God gave me an impression that marketplace people are going to be the focus of the next move of God that will bring millions into the Kingdom. He is going to use believers in the marketplace as the front-liners to culture. That means the stakes are really high and the war is very great, so we can't go after this in our own strength, wisdom, or power. We must build with spiritual tools so we can bear natural fruit that has spiritual implications over lives. God has hardwired you to partner with Him and to hear Him in all areas of your life. Hearing God is not just an esoteric or philosophical experience reserved for a church service. Instead, His voice should create faith that can change the metrics of industries, shift the bottom line for the poor, and cause leaders and influencers to wonder about who it is you serve. Your partnership with God should bring solutions for industries that have given up hope of changing or evolving. It should cause big industries to see huge shifts towards a better future. Bob Hasson and Shawn Bolz have come together to help infuse you with hope, truth, and perspective about your God-given role in the marketplace. Whether you own or manage a business, have spent decades in your career, or are simply trying to find value in the work that you do, this book is for you. As you walk this journey with us, you'll have an opportunity to build spiritually driven goals for both your own career as well as the industry you are called to. Throughout the book, we explore real-life examples of what it looks like to hear God and follow His leading within marketplace roles. We also discuss where our understanding of God, Church, and the marketplace has been immature or broken. The goal is that you are empowered to do it differently, getting a greater result in your relationship to God's voice impacting the way you partner to your career.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bolz, Shawn

Hasson, Bob

Leseproben

CHAPTER 1
Hear
“I don’t hear from God.” Shawn’s friend, who is one of the more successful businessmen he knows, looked at him with utter conviction. “My wife is that kind of person,” he said. “I wish I did, though, because things would be so much easier.” “Mark, I can prove to you in about fifteen minutes that over the course of the last twenty years, you have been following the voice of God but have not understood it. You are wired to hear from Him. He made you that way.” “Fine, try me,” he said. Shawn remembered how much Mark always talked about his three adult children and how much he loved them. “What was the largest financial sacrifice you made for one of your children and why?” Shawn asked. “That’s easy. My son and now daughter-in-law were getting married, and we gave them enough money from their inheritance to buy their dream home.” “That doesn’t sound like a normal decision. What compelled you to do that?” Shawn asked. “Well, he met her in a mission organization, and she was from a third-world country. She had never owned a home nor had her family. She is highly educated and only wanted a career. My wife and I felt that if they had a house, they would feel able to start a family.” “And what happened?” Shawn asked. “She loved having a home! They got pregnant in their first year. We now have three grandbabies after five years of their marriage and she loves it so much she was able to transition her career from full time to contract work.” “How did you come to that decision? That was a huge sacrifice and very generous. Did your other kids get jealous or misunderstand?” “Well, we were praying in a room we have designated as a prayer room, and the idea came to me. And no, our other kids love her and were in full support.” “So, you were just praying, and an idea jumped into your head?” “I mean, I know what you are saying but I didn’t hear a voice. I didn’t even feel a tingle.” “But you made a decision that changed the trajectory of their lives, freed them up to pursue legacy over career, helped them to embrace the identity of family, and you are the hero of this story?” Shawn laughed, not really rebuking him, but enjoying his realization of God’s voice in his life. “Oh …” Mark started to ponder. “Your instinct is beautiful. Your ability to hear is powerful. You need to stop looking for an external voice to lead you and trust that Jesus sent His Holy Spirit to live inside of you, and this is the fruit of that relationship.” Shawn and Mark began to reverse engineer several other times when there was great fruit in his life in business and family. Through this process, he found God’s voice. Wired to Hear God’s Voice
God wants to talk to us more than we desire to hear Him. In fact, when we begin to reverse engineer big decisions, blessings, and moments of impact, like Mark did, we can start to recognize how God speaks to us in our everyday lives. We also begin to see how we are created not just to hear His voice but also to know His heart. It’s important to note that hearing from God is not always a direct route to solving our problems or helping us succeed. Communication is not just transactional; it’s relational. Usually when we are desperate enough to pursue God’s voice, it is when we have pain, problems, or issues, and we come wanting God to fix something or accomplish our agenda. God has an agenda as well: to walk with us, share the way He processes, show us what is available, and give us results for our lives that couldn’t be realized without Him. God created us for relationship. Just like in any relationship, communication is essential to our connection with God, which means He created us with the express desire to commune with us. But God now unveils these profound realities to us by the Spirit. Yes, he has revealed to us his inmost heart and deepest mysteries through the Holy Spirit, who constantly explores all things. After all, who can really see into a person’s heart and know his hidden impulses except for that person’s spirit? So it is with God. His thoughts and secrets are only fully understood by his Spirit, the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 2:10-11, TPT) In 1 Corinthians, Paul paints a picture of the importance of relationship in hearing God’s voice. The Holy Spirit searches the depths of the Father’s heart, the same Father who prepared us for works before time began. The Father who provides better than any natural father ever could and who has plans to prosper us. The Father who says, “Call to Me and I will show you unimaginable things that you can’t ever see without looking through My heart.” The Father who has dreams for us that are beyond what we could hope for or imagine (see Ephesians 3:20). God is dreaming over and guiding humanity all the time, but He also does more than speak to us; He gives us His nature, mind, and heart. In 1 Corinthians 2:15-16, Paul goes on to explain to the church of Corinth that no one really knows the amazing things God has in store for humankind except for us—we know it by God’s own Spirit, because we have the mind of Christ: “Those who live in the Spirit are able to carefully evaluate all things, and they are subject to the scrutiny of no one but God. For who has ever intimately known the mind of the Lord Yahweh well enough to become his counselor? Christ has, and we possess Christ’s perceptions” (TPT). Beyond giving us His mind, nature, and revelation of His heart, we are also given the gifts of the Holy Spirit—powerful tools that all believers have access to use. Paul told the church of Corinth to pursue love and eagerly desire the gifts, especially prophecy (see 1 Corinthians 14:1), because these things are available to everyone. The gifts of the Spirit are the tools that help us to realize what is in God’s heart for us and the world around us. As the Holy Spirit searches the innermost depths of God’s heart, He then places His thoughts, His dreams, and His truth inside of our spirits prophetically. He wires us to know what is in His heart. Much like a husband and wife learn to communicate and share their thoughts through little interactions, expressions, and gentle promptings, the Holy Spirit teaches us how to have a connection with God where we simply know and understand His heart. Hearing God in the Marketplace
God’s dreams, plans, and purposes are not only for us but also for every environment and industry: science, government, healthcare, and so on. His dreams are also for things we don’t even know are coming. Not only are we wired to hear His voice and know His heart for our own life, but He also wants to take our ability to hear His voice to another level so that we can grow and expand our positions in the marketplace. When we don’t expect God’s voice in the midst of our daily lives or careers, then we become task driven and try to do things for Him rather than partnering with Him. If we don’t expect to hear God’s voice, it can violate the people we are called to serve. The goal of hearing God in our everyday lives is not to evangelize every moment but to walk with God in connection. As we do, we begin to see God’s grace and influence in everything. This, in turn, creates a demonstration of His love to the world around us. An early church father, Francis of Assisi, preached a similar message. Whether this is a true story or just a picture of his life, we don’t know, but it still demonstrates a truth he walked out. The story goes that a priest said to St. Francis, “I don’t see you preach often.” St. Francis, who had determined to preach the gospel through the literal demonstration of the great commission, looked around at all that he had accomplished and said, “I preach Christ daily and sometimes use words.” Francis considered all nature to be a reflection of God. He was the most accomplished minister of his time, gathering crowds; but instead of preaching directly, he invited them to participate in tasks such as gardening or feeding the poor. His followers, often the children of wealthy lords and ladies, weren’t used to slowing down and looked at farming as menial work not fit for the educated. But they went to him in droves and detoxed the worldliness that was their priority system and became true believers grounded in the Kingdom—all because St. Francis heard God’s voice and chose to demonstrate His love where the people were: in the streets. God never limited His voice to building churches or the religious expression of Christianity. The Bible is full of stories of God speaking to people, prophets, and leaders about their concerns when it comes to the marketplace, government, creativity, and every area of life. As a matter of fact, much of what God spoke to the people of Israel had to do with stewardship of their communities, natural affairs, and businesses. We see this in Jesus’ interactions with the disciples—telling them where to cast their nets in order to bring in a large catch of fish—as well as in the Old Testament. In 1 Samuel 9, Saul’s father sends Saul in search of some missing donkeys. The donkeys are part of the family’s business, their livelihood and legacy. When Saul can’t find the donkeys, he and his...