It's happening.
Hey, Lisa.
Awesome.
Carrie, how are you?
My friend, Lisa.
Good day.
Awesome.
Do it very well.
Awesome.
Nice.
Believe my mom is supposed to call.
She's supposed to call.
Yeah.
Anytime now.
Okay.
I know.
I know what that's like.
That's cool.
Great.
That's great.
Well, very cool.
Okay.
Um, I got the, I keep messing up my.
All right.
Well, uh, here we are.
And this is, uh, you know, with, with Dion, this is actually Rebecca.
I can't tell him.
I, am I, do I need to spotlight myself?
You're good, but yeah, there you go.
Okay.
All right.
So, um, so yeah, just who exciting, exciting times.
Um, one thing I, I actually meant to talk to Deanna about this before we hopped on
here, but, uh, I did want to mention that next month, we beginning of next month,
we have a great event, brilliance, uh, the brilliance fall event.
If you aren't aware of that, I want to make sure you're aware of it.
Uh, if you're a member of the app, you, you get that at no charge, um, or it's
a pretty, you know, pretty low investment for three full days, very different than
limitless limitless is three 90 minute days.
This is three full days.
And so real exciting.
Uh, I'll have, I'll ask Dion to share a little bit about that.
And this is call number 11 with Dion.
So we got tonight, we got next month and, and we will have all 12 of our sessions
with Dion, uh, which is really, really amazing.
And, uh, so I'm just, I'm just really, really excited.
So let me bring Mr.
Dion out here.
Dion, um, I wanted to, um, to ask this, you, you spend a lot of time with Graham
and you were sharing today that you guys are just opening up some things with the
Lord that is just blowing your mind.
And some of that is going to be in, uh, the brilliance fall event.
Can you share a little bit about what, what are you excited about for the
brilliance fall event?
Yeah, well, thanks.
Good to be back.
And I have sessions with you guys and, uh, really enjoyed them.
Something, something really cool about a smaller group.
You kind of get into stuff a little more and it feels a little more personal.
It feels like more like a fireside chat than a formal talk, you know?
So yes, I've enjoyed them.
Um, for brilliance, you know, every time we run an event brilliance, it seems like the
gives us permission to pick the whole community up to the next level.
So, but what happens before that is a preparation that goes on.
And as many of you know, Graham and I spend Thursday mornings together.
And actually we planning, uh, later this year to go and go away for three days to hotel
at the two of us and just process through a lot of things that are going on right now
in God's heart for us at the moment.
And, uh, man, we're learning so much.
It, it feels, it feels almost a sobering moment sometimes on those calls.
Cause there are just these moments of presence and it feels like there's five of us on the
call, me, Graham and the three and, uh, just the, the, the sheer delight of the father.
And, uh, I think all this started, uh, this mode, this acceleration started about 18 months
ago, uh, during one of my trips to Santa Barbara, when I was getting ready to what
I was thinking, I was going to do my first kingdom business event, but we were going
to call it velocity, um, rain, you'll remember all that.
And, uh, and we were getting geared up and I got up early that morning and I was going
to go downtown to our offices on Santa Barbara downtown, uh, just a few blocks from the beach,
by the way, very beautiful place we have there.
And I was just enjoying the morning and talking to the Lord.
And I started to look at a video, Hey, what else is out there?
Kingdom business.
And I saw this about a six minute video.
I just got sadder and sadder.
The more I watched the video and I turned to the father, we're going to talk a bit about
this tonight.
So it lays it up very nicely.
And I turned to the father and I said, Lord, you know, I have no judgment in my heart towards
this guy, but I don't believe a blind thing.
This man is saying it's an old covenant, old paradigm visitational performance-based culture.
And I don't agree with any single one of those words, because that's not what you died for.
And then I just got this moment of real soberness and I turned to the father and I said, father,
do you just ever get what you want without our stuff attached?
And, uh, that started a conversation.
down cheddar with Graham, he started to cry. He's that is a
beautiful question. So I wish I'd come up with that question.
And it became our question. First, it became the two of us.
But in some ways, it's become our team's question. Father,
what do you want? How do I get rid of my stuff? What is it was
you want? Here's the most interesting thing. When you give
him exactly what he wants, you get way more than you ever
wanted yourself. Because he has already placed his desires in
your heart. That's why God gives you the desires your heart
means he placed his desire that he wants to share with you that
he wants to be in yoke with you about. That's what he's doing.
And that's where we're at. That's where we are.
Specifically, God is raising our expectation that we start to
become an astonished people, a people astonished by our freedom
in Jesus, astonished by how we get to yoke with him astonished
by his unbelievable goodness and kindness towards us that we were
so enamored with that, that even the tough challenging
things happening downstairs pale in comparison, you know, it's
not that they're not real, or they don't hurt, or they don't
want to grab our attention. But when when, when you in that
mode, God is so much bigger than your problems. You know, it's
not small Jesus, big problem, small problem, big Jesus. And I
think in that there's a lift into a new level of
understanding from what rest is. Rest isn't just like another
word for peace. You know, we spent two hours last Thursday
just talking about rest and what it is in the kingdom, and how it
acts as a gateway into God's heart. It's a gateway. It's like
the entrance hall. So maybe I can summarize better with a quick
analogy. I was I was talking to our Limitless Life intensive
group last week. And I asked how many of you have been in a $10
million house $20 million. I don't know how many of you have
been into a very, very expensive home. Think of the most
beautiful home you maybe saw on TV or been to. And let's say
they're just finishing it off and you walk down the deck and
you just look at the stunning landscaping and waterfalls and a
lake and just absolutely no expense spared, you know, those
places. But you do notice a wooden shed at the back where
the workmen have been placing the tools and you know, all that
stuff, because they're not quite finished the landscaping is
doing the last touch. And then you find out the whole thing is
yours. Expenses are paid, tax is going to be paid. If there's no
mortgage, you get to live, you know, till the dying day. And
then you decide in your genius to move into the shed. Now
you've got sermons on how to stay warm in the shed in the
winter, you know, how to get cool in the summer, and how to
pack more dirt onto the ground to kind of even it out and the
five steps to a more solid dirt floor. And it feels like that
was in fact, what God has invited us into is this
mansion. And John 14, two says in my father's house are many
mansions. And then he says, I go to prepare a place for you. And
then we where I am, you'll be also because you'll know the
way, you know, and of course, you know, asks, but Lord, we
don't know the way, you know, Thomas, and he says, I am the
way the truth and the life. And so this raises the fascinating
question, what if that's both now and then? Not just then?
What if that mansion only in the kingdom, can you have mansions
in a house in my father's house and many mansions? I don't
understand the how kingdom architecture works, but
evidently, that's how it works. And that's the point he has a
broad space for each of us. It's not a shed. And if we
behave, he'll give us a warm blanket. It's, it's. And so what
happens rest is the is the entrance way. It's the it's the
front door into the mansion. Rest is how we practice oneness
with him. And that's all we're doing. We're learning as a
people to be a people who practice oneness. That's what
we're doing. And I think we're learning it brilliant,
hopefully to become simpler and simpler, clearer and clearer, as
we, you know, we don't have to fight the religious spirit, we
don't have to argue with it. We don't say, well, religion
teaches you this, but we teach you that Jesus did that on
occasion, the law says this, but I tell you, but those are very
rare. And we're at the point now we were starting to see something
new opening up for us as a community as a movement. And you
know, we thrilled that we're in such close partnership with you
Ray and your team. And now, Rebecca is on our team, my
wife's favorite new person. Nice. New favorite person, I
should say. So yeah, and I think there is just this new space,
new permission. I think people are going to just come there and
go and just relax.
in God's affection for them. For many of us, we've been trying to
earn that, or deserve that or show we worthy of that, you
know, but Jesus is worthy of it for you.
Amen, amen. And so, if you want to know more details, I know you
got a lesson to cover. But if you want to know more details,
you can reach out to Rebecca. If you're an existing member, you
get, you know, free virtual, there's an up, there's an
optional upgrade if you want to take it. Or, you know, if you're
not a member, you can attend for 97 bucks. And so that is
the best $97 anyone will ever spend. And see and get with
Rebecca. But Dion, I know you have a powerful lesson for us.
And so I will turn it over to you.
Thanks, Ray. Appreciate it. This is a very passionate subject
tonight, I want to talk about fighting the good fight of
faith. And specifically, what's your fight? And I was working
out with one of our team members, our chief operating
officer, Jenny, and I worked out, I've almost been in the
ministry club coming up for nearly 50 years. And I thought,
man, I'm getting old. And what a delight that has been. But in
that time, I've seen the same mistakes make made again, and
again, and again. And it's usually a mindset issue. And
Paul noticed this happening with Timothy. And so he writes to
Timothy, and he's getting him to focus on his fight. And he
says to one Timothy 612, he says, fight the good fight of
faith, take hold of eternal life to which you were called, there
is something that you do, that when you do it, it brings
eternal life, not just to those around you, but to you, you when
you grab hold of it, that releases something in heaven,
it's called living from heaven to earth. That's what we're
doing, right? On earth, as in in heaven, everything we're
learning and have been going over these last few months, is
us learning what it's going to be like to live in heaven, this
is practice for heaven, when we get there, we go, oh, that's
familiar. Oh, God is peaceful with me. So I learned to be
peaceful with him. You know, he's joyful with me, I get to be
joyful with him, I'm just returning the favor. I just
respond to, to who he is. But then Paul goes on to tell
Timothy, he says, listen, God, what has been entrusted to you,
avoid irrelevant, empty chatter. Does any of this sound like
social media to you? Right? Avoid irrelevant, empty chatter
and opposing arguments of so called knowledge. You know, so
that's really interesting. I'm not saying avoid, you know,
social media and so on, because those are fantastic tools. But
what I am saying is many times I've watched believers so busy
fighting so many fights on so many fronts, that if all fights
are important, no fights are important. And so you have an
authority in Jesus to say, sorry, that's not my fight. So
people ask us all that, well, what do you think of the
political blah, blah, and I go, sorry, that's not my fight. And
then well, well, you must have an opinion. You know what, I
haven't had the time, I'm so busy focusing on what God's
given me to do. I haven't had time to ask him what his opinion
is. So he and I can formulate what that looks like in my
world. Oh, you mean just reflecting what the enemy's
saying? Yeah, I don't I don't do that. I'm not an echo chamber
for hell. I'm not an echo chamber for the enemy of
negativity and this problem and that problem. And then oh,
there's another problem. And then there's this conspiracy
theory. And if you dig deep, you'll find out, you know, these
three things and all that stuff. And I've watched believers, you
know, even when we're running our own church, we saw our
members on having these conversations and broke my heart
because back to father, you just ever get what you want, without
all our stuff attached. And so this one Timothy six is such a
powerful thing. But later on in chapter two, Paul talks to
Timothy's and you know, you can hear the father is the father
like
heart of Paul towards Timothy, Timothy often called him his
son in the faith.
The one of the most vicious things Paul says about Timothy
is, you know, all these other people, they only care about
their own agenda. But you, Timothy, you're the only one who
cares about what the Lord wants. I'm like, wow, you wrote that
down and sent that to a church.
Paul, apostle of grace and kindness, but he could be
direct. And he says this in to Timothy one, seven, for God has
not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of
a sound mind. Now the interesting the word fear there
doesn't mean being afraid, it literally means cowardice. It
means not being willing, not being bold. And it's really
interesting that when Jesus in the boat
and he's sleeping and the storm comes and afterwards Jesus said he says you of
little faith do not fear but the word of little faith isn't meaning that it's
it's an English us in English trying to capture this high why were you timid
didn't you just feed 5,000 people at your own hand didn't you just have a
massive miracle at your own hand did you forget why where is this timidity coming
from and the timidity comes when we are diluted in our fight because you never
have time to develop Jesus's confidence in you because what happens and what I
mean by that is you know is that over time you get to know what your fight is
my fight is kingdom leadership kingdom leadership in organizations churches and
family that's my fight but it's to its kingdom leadership not leadership and
God gave me a downstairs leadership company so I could see how good
downstairs leadership companies work and there was some fantastic stuff on it
look wisdom is wisdom I get it was helpful for sure but it wasn't that
itself wasn't my fight that was just a helpful but a wisdom for my fight what
was my fight was how to be yoked with Jesus that's my fight teaching people
you're not alone you're not out there all God's called me to business I gotta
go and figure out something that's profitable and please him no no no no he
wants in he wants in he wants to be in the yoke so what's really interesting is
that Paul literally teaches Timothy you have the self-control the sound mind
sometimes translated you have this pause button you know so self-control love joy
peace patience kindness goodness faithful self-control self-control is
the pause button self-control is how you put the pause on your old self and hit
play on your new self you put pause on on all the things that are interesting
but not your fight you know Marcus Aurelius said exercise your authority to
have no opinion over the things over which you have no control that's a
fantastic freedom because so Kingdom what that is saying is not that you
shouldn't care but it's somebody else's fight I can't deal with human trafficking
do I think it's awful absolutely I think it's awful do I have opinions about it I
don't know enough to have an informed opinion about it well what do you think
of the politics you know at a time of voting I'll go sit down with the Lord
we'll figure out and I'll vote don't go back to focusing on what I do because I
can't have an opinion unless God's called me to politics then I'm all in
how do I know God's called me to politics how do I know God's called me
to this area and I'm going to give you some indications of how you can know so
it comes down to finding your fight and what I have found is when you find out
what your fight is then you know how to be with the people you call to serve you
know we've often heard the expression if you find your people you find your
purpose you've heard that before I'm sure right what if it's not quite
accurate what if actually is if you find your freedom you find your purpose
you see that place there's a field there's a territory God is giving you
and when you step into it you go this is my space I was born to do this you cut
it shiny eyes you light up you go oh my goodness so I know he has a couple of
ways you can know it's your fight when you do that thing you have more energy
afterwards than before so let's say you're let's say you love to teach
after you finish teaching you'll have you'll be more energized than you did
before why because grace flowed through you so grace was flowing in the correct
direction right from you to the people you serve when grace flows in the wrong
direction like if I let worship then they will say please shut him down I can
hear him they would have to be showing me grace just to get through it right
so which way is the grace flowing right yeah you know Rebecca can attest to this
but sometimes you know I'll get on like either a coaching right so sales and
marketing mentorship some of those go three hours and sometimes I'm coming on
and I'm just like yeah I'm kind of dragging a little energy and by the time
the three hours pass like I can't get to sleep like I'm so fired up and excited
and so I've just I've just realized like I love coaching people I just I just
love it and you know I used to like I don't know avoid that or something but I
just realized man I really enjoy it and so I try to set up more you know free to
the public you know coaching kind of stuff and I just I just
I just love it. But yeah, how many times Rebecca, have you seen me drag in here and, but by
the end I got way more energy.
And by the end we're going, Hey, you really found it there in the middle. Like you seem
so much more alert and awake now.
Yeah. It's like the guy who gets up at nine and wakes up at 11. Yeah. So, you know, it's
the, yeah, but that's a good point though. What Ray's raising here is, is actually a
very natural thing. Start, make a list, keep it, keep a list of those moments when you,
you so come alive, what's happening. You're in your yoke, you're in your partnership,
you're doing the thing you were designed to do. See, God wired you a certain way because
he knew how he wanted to partner with you. He wired you in such a way that when you're
in Christ, when you're in your partnership, then you walk in all the things he's prepared
beforehand for you to do. We are his workmanship, means he worked it in us to do what? We were
created for good works, which he prepared beforehand for us to do. Now it says we are
his workmanship in Christ. He didn't wire you on your own to go and do something for
him. That's the great lie. Because you'll always fail. And therefore you can always
be accused. Yep, there goes Kerry again, you know, messed it all up again, there goes down,
look what he did. But in in Jesus, that's not how it works. He doesn't deal with an accusation.
So it's very interesting. Number one, where's the energy flowing, i.e. where's the grace
flowing is the more kingdom word. See what grace is an energy, grace is an enabling presence.
If you want our definition of grace, please don't say unmerited favor, because then Jesus
didn't have any. So that's like a terrible definition. But not that I'm against the guy
who wrote the book, because that was actually a very helpful book. But what I am saying is that
grace is an enabling power and enabling presence whose presence Jesus in you. So there's the minute
you align, you feel it's like, you know, if you have a valve, and you have all the things closed,
but the minute you line them up all the all the gaps, how am I doing this, all the gaps liner,
and now you can flow through the water can flow through, but the minute you get it out of line,
it locks. So it's the same thing when you've dialed in a certain way in a certain space,
and it could be serving with need, you know, people who are in need or homeless,
dealing with homelessness, or maybe you have such a passion for, you know, single moms,
whatever it is, you know, because you come alive when you do it. Why? Because grace,
the enabling presence of Jesus in you is being ignited, you've aligned it, and you've touched
heaven, you've actually what you've done is become a touchpoint for heaven. So now suddenly,
there's a channel for heaven for that's what it means to bring the kingdom. You can walk around
declare all you like, but until you become a touchpoint for heaven, nothing flows. So yes,
it can be declaration. So when you find your freedom, you find your purpose. When you when
you find your people, you find your focus. That's the difference. So a lot of people,
well, I don't know, I should serve, I don't know where, and often it's start with what's in your
hand. Very simple, very practical, what's in my hand right now. Because sometimes while that not
might not be your quote, ultimate fight, it will lead you to your fight. And so a lot of people
say, I won't try that. I won't try that. But there's something in that, then when you feel
that, just start walking that direction with the Lord, Lord, show me help me understand.
But this idea that you don't have to have an opinion on everyone else's fight, you only need
to have his opinion on your fight. This is a beautiful, beautiful people ask us all the time,
they'll send me stuff, hey, have you watched this video and heard speakers answer and pastor
ministries of this and ministry that. And I'm sure they're wonderful. I have no opinion,
even if I've heard their stuff, and I've processed some of the things. It's, it's not my position to
have an opinion. It's not my right to have an opinion because it's not my fight. How do I know
that? Because I don't have a kingdom narrative for the problem they're, they're describing.
So, you know, I was speaking to some leaders last year, and they were telling me about this
negative problem, you need to understand that it was absolutely horrific around some of the things
going on in human trafficking. And I was struggling even just to listen to it. It was so bad. But it's
the reality of the world. I get it. But they wanted to explain this to me. And they said,
you know, we got it. And it was basically brilliant should do something about this
was sort of the bottom line message. And I said, Well, I can tell it's not your fight.
And they go, No, no, we're really passionate about this. I said,
Yeah, you might be passionate downstairs, but this is not your fight. I can tell immediately. Well, how do you know?
I haven't heard a single kingdom narrative out of your mouth in the hour. You've been talking not one
All of it was you regurgitating the enemy's negative stuff. So all you were doing is just an echo chamber for the enemy
That's all I heard this terrible thing that terrible thing that terrible thing you can say these are the terrible things
But here's the kingdom solution. Here's the kingdom narrative. This is what God's put on my what if we did this?
This is the possibility in the kingdom with every problem. God's already attached a possibility. So what's the possibility here?
What is it we can do? How can we bring peace into this situation?
How can we bring this while I was talking to the Lord and we said, you know, maybe we can do this
Maybe we can do that in that what happens is kingdom narratives by nature are beautiful and attractive
Anyone else who's who hears that will be pulled in. I
Few years ago and he said well, the problem is that we haven't grown our church because we just don't have the money and
I thought oh my goodness. I said to him. Well, what's the vision that would attract the money?
Well, you know, we have all these rich people in our church, but you know, they just don't give I said
What would they give to well, you know to the church for what?
To what end to have nicer seats?
What well, what are they giving to and you think well, that's rather obvious and I said no
It's not that you're not casting a vision that will attract money. That's not the plan. That's a downstairs manipulative thing
I said what's the fight in you that when you start talking you can't stop like you were saying right three hours later
You're still going strong. Why?
Because life is flowing through you. It's so energizing to you
It's life giving to the people around you back to that verse
You know delay hold of the eternal life to which you were called. There's an eternal life in you
That when you express it to others it brings the kingdom
Let's get really practical a little more practical. So number one people get caught up in
Ideologies that resist the kingdom. I can't tell you how many believers do this
They are literally caught up in all sorts of things that nothing at all to do with the kingdom and the beautiful thing is two
Corinthians gives us a weapon against this to Corinthians 10 for for the weapons of our warfare not carnal
But mighty in God for doing what?
Pulling down strongholds
Casting down arguments and every high thing
It's interesting that the enemy always tries to make it look like a high thing the big thing that you don't care unless you do
They care about this high thing. The only thing you have to wholly care about
fully devoted to is
Your fight you can be gracious. You can give pray for others. So what do I do about the other fights? I pray about them
But I can't give myself to every fight
It's a clever strategy that has been very effective against the body of Christ because we're so busy trying to figure out what our fight
Is we're so busy
Really engaged in things that have nothing to do with us, but they take our time. They take our attention
They suck our resources. And so we learn to live this very low-grade space because we just never
experience the eternal life flowing through us
Because once you taste that talk about addictive
That's the most addictive thing in the kingdom because once you've figured out how that partnership works, you never want to go back
so
Here's it easy couple of things you can stop doing while you're figuring out what to start doing number one stop assisting the enemy
You know in your own world just stop assisting the enemy don't be gracious to the enemy don't give it rent free thoughts in your
head
All right, just don't give it don't help be an echo chamber for that. That's an easy thing. Just stop. Just don't say anything
Just stop talking. This is a fantastic thing
I learned this in a business meeting and I was running a tech firm at the time and
I
Appointed a president you've been there a few months and I walked in and it looked to me like we were in a bit of
A mess situation and I was gonna jump in and do all this other stuff and the Lord said up
Why don't we do this together and I go? Yeah Lord, just show me everything is wrong and I'll straighten it all out
He said no. No, we're not doing that. So the Lord said so I said well Lord
How do you want me to be with you? You know, one of my favorite questions
How do you want me to be with you in this and he said I want you to say absolutely
nothing
And I said like for 10 minutes he said no for the whole meeting say nothing. Oh
My talk about grace, but then once I got over my ego and my own self
I started to see the Lord teach the team started to figure it out and
And I didn't say anything and I just waited and at the end I know I said, well, I'm glad you guys are God
It sounds like a good plan
and I could leave. So what did he do there? He was showing me that when we're in our yoke,
it doesn't mean I'm always doing stuff. Sometimes I'm doing nothing, absolutely nothing. So
when you focus on, you know, reaching the world God has given you, you're not trying
to reach everyone. So I remember one of the first times I came to Brilliant and I was
just stepping in as the leader of the team about five or six years ago, and I got up
and I said, okay, the church is not called, I said, we are not called to the world. And
you could have thought I spat in someone's soup, because I said, no, no, no, we're called,
our message is for everyone. And I said, the church is called to the world, the whole church,
but we are called to our world, not the world. The question is, what's your world specifically?
And when you know what your world is, that sudden, and it starts super simply, where
do I live? Because the scripture says you're a planting of the Lord. What if you don't
live where you live accidentally? What if your kids don't go to the school they go to?
That's not accidental. What if every aspect of you, you're a planting of the Lord? And
even if it's not perfect, He'll move you, because once it starts moving, He's not, He
can make up even if we've made a few mistakes along the way. But what if, just as you are
right now, there's something in your hand, that's your starting point. So one of the
most practical things you can do is find somebody who's doing something in that area. It's amazing
to me, especially in the charismatic, prophetic movement, we think that when we get a word
from the Lord, we're going to be the initiator and the CEO and the leader. And now it's all
up to us. And we're going to be the, you know, we're going to be the main person. What if
that's not your starting place? You might be, but what if your first job is to go and
help someone else? So Lord, who should I help? As Ray just put, join our movement. Why? Is
our movement for everyone? No, it's for people who want to move and who want to invest in
their own growth and development. Well, you know, and so for some people, they're not
going to like that. You say, well, don't all believers want to move? Not in my nearly
50 years experience. They pretty much like the way it is. They just want some more teaching
because we think knowledge fixes something. I don't know what. Pursuit of knowledge got
us kicked out of the garden, just saying it's the pursuit of life that we're meant to do.
So here's the thing. In this place, as we're developing a positive narrative, what we're
saying is, Lord, what's your heart towards this problem? So let's say it's as simple
as the Lord says, you know what I don't like about your neighborhood? I don't like the
single moms and how they struggle in your neighborhood. Well, Lord, we have 30 homes
in our neighborhood. Okay, what's your heart towards them? So start. So the way, the one
practical way that I've seen this done, you don't have to do it this way, but you might
go on drives with the Lord and chat about your neighborhood, your city. Well, what are
you seeing? Because if the church doesn't leave the building, if the church is not
impacting and transforming the city in which it's in, it's just a club. It's just a teaching
club. And so the issue would be, well, we're taking authority over the heavenlies and well,
that's fine. But whose lives are changing? Are there homeless people in your city? Why?
How come this? So we go, Lord, help us with the human trafficking in our city. Well, Lord,
why is the human trafficking in our city? I think if you heard from heaven, you'd probably
hear. So Dion, why is the human trafficking in Atlanta? You're there. If that's my fight,
I'm saying, right? Then I go, yeah, Lord, this is this. We're not having this. I do
not authorize this in Jesus name. Right. What are we doing? Well, I don't know anyone. Well,
Lord, could you introduce me the right people? Then I find out there's this whole group of
10 churches doing stuff. Well, go and help them. So it doesn't have to be on our brand.
It doesn't have to be if it's truly from God. It's just, you know, me and the Lord. I've
seen so much of the solo delusional, grandiose stuff that doesn't do anything because there's
not humility in it. So the humility is, Lord, I don't know how to get to my fight, but I
know you do. And I know I'm created for good works and I'm created to walk with you in
this. So I'm going to join somebody else's deal. Third big idea is give to the thing
God's calling you to. So I don't even know where to give to. Then start building a storehouse
so that you can give when the opportunity arises.
You know, we hear this worldly thing in the church.
Well, I don't have a heart for it, so I don't give to it.
Well, we're not worldly people, we're kingdom people, which works on father.
Are we doing that? Are we doing that?
OK, we're going to sow into that.
I'm going to sow finance, my talent, my time.
I'm going to give of myself to that thing.
Because Jesus said, where your treasure is there, your heart will be also.
What an easy way to lead your heart.
Just give to the thing God's giving permission to.
So I don't know how to get to the human trafficking.
Atlanta's, I think, one of the top number two or number three
human trafficking cities in North America.
I think Houston is another big one.
So we started working on that as a church.
And, you know, I don't tell that whole story,
but we had no idea where to even start.
We didn't know who was doing what.
But we did know we were going to start sowing to it.
So we started a little fund as a church.
We started and then we started once a month just going to the Lord and praying,
said, Father, show us your heart on this matter.
So it doesn't have to happen in one session.
This can be a growth and a partnership and a walking together with him.
And then slowly we met this person and we met this person.
Then we found out this is organization and we found out that organization
actually is working with a number of churches.
So what is the first thing we did?
Wrote them a check.
And we said, yeah, we go, what else can we do?
So in our last church, the well, two churches ago,
the church that was planted in my home,
that church started, grew, bought the building, did the thing.
And then the Lord gave us this thing.
I want you to go against an orphan spirit in the body of Christ.
So as I 49 restoring desolate inheritances became all consuming.
How do we get the bride into fullness and out of this orphan mindset that,
you know,
nobody wants to be in a marriage where the husband comes once on Sundays,
maybe. And if you really behave and clean the house nicely,
he might talk to you, you know. But yeah, we talked to the church that way.
Jesus may pitch up on Sunday and if you're good, he might talk to you. Right.
So we don't live in this orphan thing. So guess what we got to do.
We got to partner with at that time,
the CDC and key people to deal with helping
orphans get adopted.
And then we started running an annual conference.
There was one lady who was actually adopted the CDC. She,
she had two children of her own. She one day was out on the front yard.
She actually had three.
She was in the front yard and a little boy ran out into the street and was
killed by a car right in front of her. He was like seven or eight years old.
And after some years, the Lord started speaking to her, said this,
this awful tragedy I'm going to turn into.
And they actually be created the fun in that young boy's name.
So that was started something and she ended up adopting eight
kids. Then we found out, well, there are 1600 orphans in Atlanta.
What if, what if we clear out the orphanages? Well,
this woman in particular was very impressive because she wasn't only just a
doctor, but she advised governments, world governments on behalf of the CDC.
It was also fluent in seven languages. So she got on,
she was on Ukrainian national TV and she challenged the church in Ukraine.
What if in two years we can close every,
every orphanage in the Ukraine because the church adopted people.
We said, well, she was just a doctor at the CDC. What can she do about that?
It turns out quite a bit.
She ended up talking to the minister of education in Russia about,
and because there was a huge bad feeling about all these American families
adopting Russian kids.
So they put a strategy together and they ran a first woman's conference in
Russia. Bridget,
my wife was there and our little church in Atlanta,
Georgia hosted the whole thing in Russia.
You got to just laugh at God's like, Lord,
if you told us two years before that you guys are going to be like, no,
we're not doing that. You know,
we end up planting a church and we end up running this up with the first ever
conference of its kind in, in, in Russia.
All I'm saying is God doesn't mind small beginnings because that's where you're
learning his heart, that you're learning his ways.
He's getting you acclimated.
And then the last and fourth practical point I want to share with you is the,
is the idea of acclimation.
The best analogy of this is, you know,
if you were, if you were doing, I've never tried to climb Mount Everest,
but evidently those who have say,
you have to go to different base camps and stay there for several days to
acclimate to the atmosphere. You know, your heart has to get used to the oxygen.
You have to get, you know, and then you go to the next level and then some of the fat
cats come flying in on their business helicopters and get dropped right off.
Those people get sick immediately, one or two of them even die because they're not acclimated.
So money and machinery doesn't take you up there, acclimation does.
So often what happens is the Lord starts speaking to you about a thing, not so that you can
actually take it and run with it, so that you can acclimate.
Oh, I see Lord, you're getting me used to the idea of this conversation, yep, so I need
to act on it?
No, no, not yet.
Let's just, let's just not rush up the mountain yet, because we don't want to kill ourselves.
Let's just, let's settle here, because there is something in our spirit that has to acclimate
to the bigness of God, to the goodness of God, of how to be with Him, how He's leading
us through this process.
In that space, what's happening is taking you up a level, and then He lets you stay
there for a bit, then He takes you up a level, then He lets you stay there.
So it's not just give me instructions, run, give me instructions, run, because the problem
with that is that you will kill yourself in the process.
So I love that when the Lord says something, I say, are we, are we having an acclimation
conversation?
He says, we are, we are, we're having an acclimation conversation.
I said, oh, so this is going to be a whole lot bigger than I'm thinking now, because
this is just like the introduction, right?
Oh, yeah, but you're not thinking these thoughts yet.
You're not thinking my thoughts yet, but, but you will.
I've already put it in you to do that, I've put a desire in you to do it, and we're going
to get there.
I got you.
You'll get there.
And so we can relax in that.
There's no nervousness.
I don't want to miss God, all that stuff.
Because here's whatever God puts in your heart, it will have his heart in its expression.
What I mean by that is the way we are with people will reflect God's heart.
I've seen more damage done by poor church governance than any other thing in the church.
And yet I've seen more health, you know, being produced by good church governance.
What do I mean by that?
Leaders who are anointed have gifting, but they're hard with people.
They manipulate, they manipulate the bride, they manhandle the bride.
You don't, we don't need any of that, because God doesn't do that to us, right?
So what happens, that's not his heart.
That's not how he is, you know.
So I'm going to leave it there.
I have a lot more to say, but I thought it would be fun if I put it in a little bit of
a first-person lesson.
We always talk about direct learning, right?
Learn from me.
So I asked the Lord, if you were teaching us, Lord, what would that sound like, right?
So here's my attempt at that.
So the Father says, Jesus fought the ultimate fight and won, and you are guaranteed victory
because he has already overcome the world.
That is why I give you permission to be of good cheer in the midst of a fight.
You and I will talk continually about the prophecies and promises I've given you.
I am acclimating you to this new level.
I will teach you how to use them and how to fight the fight of faith.
But I want you to stir up my gifts that I've given you, bring them into full flame.
I want it to be white-hot focused on the fight and ignore all other fights.
Don't be distracted.
Don't be distracted by the fights around you.
Focus on what's in front of you.
I'm teaching you how to be victorious in battle.
Now the resistance you're facing will increase your persistence.
The enemy is always facing a losing battle because no matter what weapon he forms against
you, it will not stand.
Every curse I turn into a blessing.
Every challenge I turn into an upgrade.
Every problem I turn into new possibilities for your advancement in Jesus.
I am with you in this fight.
I am training you and teaching you in this fight.
It is time for you to see what I can do.
It is time for you to cross the threshold of opposition and step into the joy of breakthrough.
Now is the time to be joyfully expectant.
Allow yourself to be filled with expectation and anticipation.
It is time to be confident.
Not because I do everything the way you think I will, but because we're in this together.
Ask me what I'm doing.
I will tell you.
from me, anchor yourself in my promises, and soon you'll see the fruit of what I've already
put in action behind the scenes, and you will be astounded at the victory I am releasing,
and you're going to be pleasantly bewildered by the way I will bring these things to pass. Amen.
Amen.
Questions, thoughts?
I'm just going to say, wow.
Yeah, Lisa, you want to, you got questions you want to add?
I don't have any questions. I just, it was, it was awesome. I've been
being tested over the past few weeks over decisions I've made in the past, and it's,
it's been a challenge, and I ironically had, not ironically, that's not the right word.
Thankfully, I felt peace in the challenge,
and it was scary. I'm still fearful in a lot of ways, but deep in my heart, I know
that he's got something, and it's okay, because I, every morning, I say to myself,
and I even say to my kittens to help me remind them, to remind myself that, one, it's okay,
two, I'm safe, and three, I'm loved.
Yeah, it's a great question to ask the Lord, Lisa. How do you want me to be in this? That
is a great question. Two is, what are you opening up for me right now in this circumstance that is
difficult? I was speaking to a guy I've known for many years on Friday, and the Lord reminded me
that he had put a large amount of money into a program, and it didn't work out, not for him
anyway. And, and so I said, you know, the Lord just reminded me about that. You did that, right?
Yeah, yeah, and he told me the amount. I mean, it was several hundred thousand dollars,
and, and I said, oh, well, you know that he considers that seed, right?
That's where you sowed it from. You, whatever's of, you know, whatever's not of faith is sin,
but what, of course, what is of faith is life-giving. So I said, there was,
you sowed that in faith. Yeah, but it didn't work out. I said, not yet.
So I said, so I've said to him, I would, I feel like the Lord's asking you to come talk to me
about that and ask me, how can we partner in that? In other words, Lord, that's got to go somewhere.
That seed is lying in the ground. And I can tell you the times that Lord has got me put seed in
the ground, because he said, this is where we're going. And I remember when the Lord asked me to
help Graham in 2014 and said, I want you to sow. And we're like, Lord, we're busy. We have a whole
ministry. We're doing this. Graham was there. He was helping us out with our deal. We had our own
leadership company, but we sowed into that. And then years later, the Lord reminded me and he
said, remember, you put seed in the ground. And here I am with Brilliant logo on my screen.
So it works out in that the Lord is often getting you to sow and then you acclimate. And a lot of
times what we do is we write it off. Oh, that didn't work. Because what are we measuring?
We're measuring downstairs outcomes. What is God measuring? How much life was put in you?
How much upgrade was there in you? Are you learning to partner with him? How he can,
how you're learning about his heart, his kindness, his goodness, all that is what you're learning.
And so that seed, you know, that's kingdom. That's a kingdom approach to money and time.
But I gave three years of my life to that thing. Uh huh. Good seed.
Quick question. I have been doing my best to spend a minimum of 30 minutes with God
every day. I do my best to do it first thing in the morning because that's when I know I'm,
my brain is fresh and more relaxed and focused on him.
And I, I have to, to, I guess I'm not sure how to do it because I just go off and start thinking
of other things and I have to redirect and redirect. Do you have any tips or suggestions
on how I can make it happen faster? Because I feel like I'm, I'm not hearing him because I'm
often something else in my head. I'm going to give you
Very unconventional wisdom.
How about we exchange a devotional time for a devotional life?
Forget the time, forget the morning devotional thing for a bit.
You can always spend time in the Word. Who doesn't love to do that?
Bridget always reminds me that I was her youth pastor.
She was a senior in high school, so that's a while ago.
And that was the first advice. I'd forgotten.
She said, I came to you. She had this problem.
She grew up in a Christian home, three generations of missionaries, the whole deal.
Huge heritage, but just struggling, mind-wandering.
What was she trying to do? She was trying to make it a spiritual discipline.
That's an old covenant idea.
In the new covenant, delight leads to discipline.
Delight yourself in the Lord.
So why don't you say, why don't we just go through every day
and just tune into Him throughout the day?
Lord, what are you delighting in now?
Lord, what do you see about this?
Just make it all relational, like you would a friend.
Thank you, because I've heard something recently about relationships,
and that's what I want to do, is build stronger relationships with the right people.
It was all about how to build those relationships,
and I love how Brilliant is all about relationships with God.
Well, Jesus made a fantastic proclamation of you.
He says, I no longer call you a servant, I call you a friend.
Because servants don't know their master's business, He said,
but I will teach you everything the Father taught me.
You see, what worked for Jesus is designed to work for you.
The way Jesus walks is the way you get to walk.
Why? Because He's with you.
You're not doing it on your own, you're one with Him.
You're practicing, so why don't you spend every moment of the day,
whenever you're, just tune your heart back into the Lord,
and just practice your oneness.
Say, Lord, I'm practicing my oneness, I don't even know what that means,
but I'm practicing it anyway.
He loves the sheer sweetness and simplicity, the child-likeness of that.
We don't have to make it theological or complex or heady,
we just have to be like children.
And so He wants our friendship.
He's intensely relational, intensely relational.
So just, hey, and then what you'll find is you'll find yourself like,
oh, I've got half an hour, I want to get in the Word,
I just want to just enjoy this.
Because now delight leads to discipline.
But if you try to discipline yourself, my goodness,
that's the hard way around.
Yes, thank you.
Yeah, when I use spiritual disciplines, I'm already leaving,
I'm running down the road.
I don't want that kind of relation.
Imagine if my wife came and said, okay,
I've got five new disciplines in our marriage.
Number one, I'm going to cook for thee, and then thou shalt,
and I'm like, go away, where's my wife?
What have you done with her?
I don't want a marriage like that.
Neither does he, by the way.
I get it.
And I want to make life more fun and in that childlike mindset,
because I've gotten away from it, and I've got this,
oh, I've got to be this, and I've got to be this,
and I've got to be like this person.
And I'm getting to the point where God's telling me why.
I made you unique.
Yeah, go shopping with the Lord.
It's a lot of fun.
You'll spend stuff on things you never imagined.
Well, I'm very pragmatic, so hold on.
Well, you know, Graham tells a fantastic story of when he was going
through a very tough financial time.
It's actually when he wrote The Nature of Freedom and Nudist Advantage.
But when he was writing that, somebody came, you know,
went to this church.
They gave him the sonorarium, and he was like, great,
now I can get a table and a plate and a knife and a fork and a chair.
And the Lord said, let's go shopping together.
You know how the Spirit gets all excited and he's like bouncy
and he's excited like he does.
And then they went out and he came back with three pieces of art
for the walls because this one means this to us,
and this one means that.
And Graham, remember when we talked about this?
That's the picture we're going to look at.
Every time we look, we're going to think about that.
And I think a day later somebody said, hey, we're moving,
and you just come take what you want.
And he got a whole lot of stuff he didn't even pay for.
But Jesus, the Lord was more interested in their friendship.
And he said, oh, you need stuff?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Father knows you need all that.
You know, birds of the air and all that, downstairs, blah, blah, blah.
Oh, you need money and stuff?
Oh, yeah, yeah, no, no.
But get the picture.
That's a gorgeous picture.
So if you go into Graham's office, I should actually do a video of it.
If you have Brilliant Plus app, go and watch Sacred Spaces.
It's a series he did walking around the art pieces in his office.
Each one is a story.
Man, each one is a story.
Hmm. It's great. What do you what you're seeing there is and sometimes you'll just go in there
and and then he'll just sit down and say, you know, then this happened. And so we bought this
or somebody gave him, you know, this painting. You know, the big I don't know, for a while,
he had a picture of a big woman, a young lady looking over his shoulder. It was quite confusing
for the zoom calls. I went there one day and rearranged his office, because it looks a bit
odd on the camera. But I knew that I knew why he had it there. And I know him well enough,
nothing with Graham is unintentional. So, you know, and it was because of the woman that we
helped rescue in the program we're involved with in the Netherlands, we're rescuing girls out of
sex trafficking. And there was a group there that that got gave them taught them how to be in
restaurants. And then they end up with ownership in the restaurants. And to the restaurants
actually were voted, I think was voted the number one restaurant in the whole of Rotterdam, which
is a massive city in the Netherlands. And if you've ever been there, it's not quite as big as
Amsterdam. I think they were number two or three in Amsterdam. And they just started to set up all
these was actually a guy from Silicon Valley, a private equity guy, an American guy went there.
And he just did this. What's my fight Lord, the Lord said, human trafficking said, Lord,
I don't know how to do that. Well, he had the resource, they said, Lord, just tell me where
to go. So he said, I want you to go the red light district in Amsterdam, you know, explain that to
your wife, you know, honey, no, no, it's for the ministry. It's for the Lord. And, you know, but
she knew him. And they they went and they started to get to know the people that got to know these
girls. And so he said, and he tells a really funny story of walking down the street, and he had some
guest pastors with him. And all these ladies who clearly, you know, were employed, shall we say,
and they all go, Hey, john, how's it going, john? Hey, john, good to see you, john.
And he's trying to explain how come he knows all of them. And, and then when they found out what
he was doing, and he started this restaurant, and then they hired a good chef, and they started
employing these girls, and they rescued them out of sex trafficking. And then they gave them
ownership in in the in the restaurant. And then they started, you know, all this stuff. And
it's an incredible story. And so the ministry was called not for sale.
And so there's so what I'm saying is, we always make it out like we have to find the end purpose,
what if you just have to find the purpose for today? Maybe you're maybe right now learning to
go shopping with the Lord is step one, learning friendship. He's okay with that. But he'll already
start with you on, you'll be out shopping, and you'll see something and this is that bothers
you, doesn't it? That breaks your heart, doesn't it? Let's talk about that. And then he'll point
you where you need to go. There are certain movies I can't watch, I cannot watch anything to do
about women or children being abused, or I can't, that's not entertainment. I don't care who the
director or what the movie is supposed to be, or how Oh, wow, I just turned it off. I, I am not
willing to open my heart, my spirit to that and excuse that in so that I can have this weak thing
called entertainment. Now that's just me. So other people can do whatever they want. I'm not judging
them. But that would offend my spiritual sensibilities. And we're saying that because
today when I was in a scrolling moment, something offended me and I went black done. Not gonna see
that again. And that's what we need to do. Like you said, you can also ask the Lord about that,
though. Was there a reason I'm offended by that? Could be your could be your fight isn't there?
Hmm. Okay. Good point. The thing that breaks your heart is because you're sensing his heartbreaking.
He's profoundly affects he is profoundly affected by what goes on in our world.
He gets profoundly affected by what goes in your world. It's just his capacity for relationship
is so enormous. He can absorb that. Hmm. He's not sterile. He's not sitting there going,
well, you know, I'm God, I didn't get touched by that stuff.
And it was awesome to know. So thank you. Yeah.
Very cool. Terry, did you do you have any questions or anything?
Well, I mean, grab my microphone if you can, unless you can hear me.
So number one, actually, would you be willing to share that? That God response?
The last the last thing you read? Oh, of course. Yes. You mean the if God were teaching us?
Yep. Absolutely. I'll drop that right. Yeah, that'd be awesome. Yeah. I'll just yeah, I think
it'll go. Yeah, I think it'll go in the Yeah, here we go. Let me see. Oh, it says it's too big. I'm
first five points
Still says it's to be
All right, that's like a thousand characters at bankers. Yeah, it's on the earth. Yeah, it's very small
Okay, there's the first few and by the way, what's nice also is I had the scriptures. I didn't read them to you
What did I do a and B? Let's do see if it'll do CD
Yeah
For me
This is a good exercise you can do by the way for yourself Kerry or for you
When the Lord is teaching you something do this in reverse
Write it to yourself as though he's writing it to you and ask his for his help. I
Do that then the Lord says read it to me
And now the Lord says remember that one we did on that that one called because mine have names
so I have about I don't know a couple of hundred of these and
And so I read them to our and the one I read to the Lord this morning I have an entire group of them
so I have
So the Lord will say read me the one about this
You know reading the one about trust read me the one about that and then I've sometimes the Lord said let me read to you
That's so beautiful, you know, so let me read let me read it to you and then you just hear it in his voice to
you and
If you're learning this an easy way to learn and start is do this with scripture
You know take one of the Psalms and then and then say, you know, Lord, would you read this to me?
And and then read it to him and you read it to him. You know how we get all
spiritual and not relational
The listen no, no, no, not like that. That's not how I would say that I wouldn't say it with that tone
Well, what tone would you use? Oh, I'd say it for joyfully. All right say it back to me joyfully
So, okay, let's do that. Joyfully. So for instance on this one, there were several points
By the way, I learned this from Graham in case you know want to know where I got this from
I was once one breakfast morning. Hey, we're a few minutes over. Is that okay, right?
Yeah, as long as it's okay with you. Yeah. Oh, yeah for sure
so
One one morning
I
Spent I spent a week every month in Santa Barbara for about five years. And so I'd fly from Atlanta there and
we'd always have breakfast in the mornings and then we'd go about our day and
we were sitting having breakfast and we were doing a three-day challenge and it was it was the morning of day three on the
Challenge and Graham walks in and he sits down and I know that look on his face. It's kind of
No, but he doesn't get frustrated in this in that way
But that's about as frustrated as Greg gets and he goes I said, okay, what's up? And he said I can't
Seriously, I've been doing this for the Lord for 50 years. You think I'd know I said, what did you do Graham?
he said I prepared this prophetic word and
He said, you know how it goes I
Prepared the word and I was about to present it and the Lord said but Graham that's not the way we do it
The word itself is only one-third of the work
I've written there. I've just written a word for you, right? That's one-third of the work. Do you know what the other two-thirds are?
What's the tone I could say? Hey stir up my gifts in you bring them to full flame you ugly thing
Right the inference or I could say joyfully or peacefully or patiently. Hey, it's okay
You know stir up the gifts I have for you
Bring them to full flame
Can you the difference right so tone so father?
What's your tone and by the way, sometimes the tone changes depending on the point, but let's just say first
Where we learning it's one tone for the story. Okay, that's part two. What's part three then?
What's the assignment every word comes with an assignment to bring you a gift?
This word has a gift in it for you
so father, what's
What's the gift here's the coolest thing
There's many gifts in this one word and I bet you if you read it once a week for a year
You'd pull out ten or more gifts out of that word
Because the gift could be today we're just focusing on this phrase let's talk about that
right
What about hey what I'm about to do. It's gonna blow you away. It's time for your Giants to fall
Which what Giants you're talking about Lord, oh now we got a giant slaying gift in the middle of the word
Well, we could work on that for a month then we come back and then we get to the next
That's why head learning is is so destructive in the kingdom because I can read that now. I know that no, you don't know anything
You just you just you just walk past you walk past the entire kingdom
You
a toy store and didn't get a single gift. So that's what I would do. I would take that
one I just gave you, step by step, walk it through with the Lord. And then the last part,
ask me what I'm doing and I will tell you. Learn from me. He's not angry. He's not frustrated
in that. You know, anchor yourself in my promises. Okay, well, let's have a three week conversation
about promises and how to anchor myself in that. Can you see how it works? Yeah, so you
could take that word, you're welcome to have that one, make up your own as you go. So this
is called a crafted Thanksgiving. Right, right, right. But it's the Lord speaking to you in
the way you you think he's speaking to you. And then you learn to do this better and better.
And eventually, I wrote one about six months ago. The Lord said to me, first, he had to
extract various things out of me had to give me up for it. I had to go to that new base
camp level. And he said, there have to be things that I share with you, that stay with
you. There has to be a sacred space in our friendship, that not everything I share is
to be shared. I want stuff you and I talking about, because you're always talking about
what's on your heart, but I want to talk to you what's on my heart that doesn't actually
tie into what you're doing. I just want to tell you what I'm thinking the world what
I'm doing. So I said, Well, Lord, do you want to do that? He said, Yep. But it's got to
stay here. So obviously, I'm not going to get into the detail of that. Just he said,
I want to tell you what friendship means to me. I cried, I cannot even talk about it.
Now. I've read that thing so many times. And I'd load it. I want to be that friend. As
I know, you are that friend. I said, Really? You see me that way? And I'm just mind blown
by his goodness. He is so, so kind, you know, so all this performance stuff and what we're
not doing and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's so trivial to him. It's like, you're
worried about no, you don't need to worry about that. And he's not even annoyed by it.
He's not frustrated. He says, I got all the stuff I want to talk to you about. You know, so.
So good. So good. Yeah, I appreciate that. Because I feel like that's that is exactly
where I'm at. Because I can get I can I can fall into the temptation of getting very
down on whether or not I am performing, whether or not I am accomplishing whether or not I'm,
I'm progressing the way that I think I should be progressing in whatever area. And, and yet,
the truth is, is, you know, I had mentioned this, you know, I think to Ray, I'd mentioned in the
Boxer, you know, literally, the Lord has had me on Psalm three, three, since the tail end of last
month. And just, Lord, you are my shield. You're my glory and the lifter of my head, you know?
And what does that mean? You know? What does it mean to you? How do you want to be with that?
How does that open up your that's a that's a multi year conversation. Right? So think of all
the scriptures they are. Let's say that Psalm three, three takes you three to five years.
For one day you read and go, that's my life. Then you know, you've become the verse,
not just learned about the verse. Right? So how many of those you're going to do in your lifetime?
So where did we get the idea reading through the Bible in a year is going to do what?
Now, just give overview and some appreciation. Of course,
that's more academic than it is anything else, right? That's okay.
Newsflash, there are no skulk, there are no report cards in the kingdom.
You already got an A, you know why? You're in Jesus.
And you can't fail because he'll just stay with you until you get where you need to be.
God isn't giving you an A and a B and a C. He's not working. He doesn't even think in those terms.
He loves who you are. He loves you becoming and he knows exactly the plans he has for you.
Where you're going together. So be present.
I think it was you that had given me the plans are my kind intentions. I can't tell you the
number of times that I have said that again, just in the context of what I do outside of
my business. And that is being on the radio over and over just, you know, understand
these are God's kind intentions towards you. It's not your, you know, I know the duty that I have,
you know, established for you to accomplish. It's the kind intentions that I have for you.
Yeah, no, you're most welcome.
Well, that's the cool thing about just having a small group and we can chat like this.
Yeah, for sure.
Well, Dion, thank you so much, as always.
So, so much wisdom, just so good.
So give Dion a big thank you.
Thank you, Dion.
Thank you, guys.
Appreciate it.
I'll give you the rest of the evening back.
Yeah.
Thanks for having me.
Thank you so much.
Appreciate you.
Thanks so much.
Awesome.
Yeah.
Good stuff.
Here, I'll take you off the spotlight unless you want it.
Yeah.
That's, that's, you know, lately I've just been getting, he's been pointing out more
and more things that I was oppressing on myself.
And so, you know, this weekend was Jess's birthday.
And so, you know, I read about it, got the idea to do a little staycation right down
right down the road at the Ritz.
And so, so me and her, we've got a nanny.
She's with the kids.
So me and her went, you know, Friday night.
And I, I, you know, I haven't had any, anything to drink and since December, I think I had
one little bit of champagne, I've had one little bit of champagne, right?
Since December, right?
And that was just a, I felt like the Lord was calling me to stop drinking, not that
I've had a problem with it or anything.
And so it's, you know, it's her birthday.
We're having this really nice dinner and, you know, she's, she wants to have a drink.
So I'm like, yeah, I'll have a drink, I'll have a drink.
And so I have a couple of margaritas, which is what kind of what I used to do.
And I haven't, I just, I just haven't done any of that.
And we're in the Uber back to the, to the hotel.
We actually went from one Ritz to the other Ritz, so the beach Ritz to the golf Ritz.
And we get into this conversation and we are just cracking up.
I mean, it was just, it was such a funny conversation.
We had this debate because there was a pianist there and I am fairly certain she
was playing a space oddity by David Bowie and she swears that that is not the song
and that it is the Midnight Sonata by Mozart or something.
I forget, I forget who, and I'm like, no, that is not the song.
And, and, and she's, so she's, she goes to her phone and she's like, do, do, do, like
she's trying to like, make the, I'm like, what are you doing?
Like, it's going to pick that up.
She's like, no, no, it's grok.
And she's like, do, do, do, do, it was just, we just cracked up.
We just had such a good time.
And, you know, I just think that, you know, the Lord is, uh, telling me, Hey, chill out,
buddy, you don't, you don't gotta be so strict yet.
You don't have to be so, you know, iron, iron tight here.
And, um, and so it was just, it was just really cool.
So I'm, I'm finding more and more parts of my life that over the last year or so, I've
just been so super strict or so super disciplined or whatever.
And, um, you know, we're just, we're just having a blast, you know?
And, and so I feel like he is so much easier on me than I am.
And, and he's letting me, you know, he's, he's gently led me to learn this and, and,
and, and get out of that whole stuff.
And, you know, and he, he revealed to me, I wish I got my journal in the other room,
but he revealed to me that, um, in the past I would accumulate things or records
or, uh, bragging points to impress others.
And now I just don't care about that.
I only care about expanding the kingdom.
That's all I care about.
And, you know, um, so I just, just know that his, he's gentle.
He's so gentle.
He's so much better and gentle than we are to us.
And, and so just let that, right.
Let, let that be play with that.
Cause he's just, he's just so gentle.
And so Rebecca, would you, would you pray us out?
And then of course, if you guys have anything, you can feel free to box me.
Of course, I'm going to be on the road.
I it's a crazy two weeks.
Um, but, uh, I'm going to be on the road tomorrow going to, uh, some gifted me a
ticket to the Patrick bet David thing.
So I'm going to go check that out in Orlando for a few days.
Then I'm off to speak in Dallas.
And then we got our sales workshop the weekend after, uh, here in Fort Myers.
Um, but.
But yeah, if you guys got something, feel free to vox me.
And Rebecca, would you pray this out?
Yeah, sure.
Let's do it.
Father God, thank You, Lord, for preparing good works in advance for us, Lord.
Thank You for the fight that each of us get to figure out with You and participate with
You, Lord.
Thank You for the invitation to partner with You.
Thank You that we get to enter into joy and experience Your grace.
We're so grateful, Lord.
We're excited for what it is You have in store for us.
So I want to just pray, Lord, that You would help us with discernment and wisdom to help
us really maximize the fullness of what it is You want us to experience here.
You came so we would have life to the full.
And that means we can have it right here, right now, Lord.
So we're grateful.
We give You praise and glory for everything that You're at work doing on our behalf.
We love You.
And thank You for this time tonight.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
All right.
Love you guys.
God bless.
Love you, too.
Bye, guys.