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The Search for Influence
by Calvin D. Brown Perhaps I can help you find it. Find what? Every leader is searching, if they aren't they should be. Solomon, King of Israel said, "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings to search out a matter." King Solomon, a man who excelled in wisdom and riches above all the other kings of the earth instructs us to search out a matter. Jesus, the King of Kings, not only tells us to search but He tells us where to begin our search, "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness " Glory is neither negative nor positive, but is always connected to a sphere or a realm. Glory is the weight of influence a person, place, or thing has within their sphere and interacting spheres or realms. The meaning can also be applied to their resources. So what is the importance and the relationship between God's glory, a king's glory, and a matter? King Solomon was wise enough to know that a facet of God's glory is wrapped up in His ability to conceal or hide something in eternity that He wants manifested in time, keeping it reserved in eternity until the appropriate time. A better rendering of these words concealed or hidden is to keep close. God is not hiding anything from us, only for us. Another facet of God's glory is wrapped up in this thing called a "matter." Since this thing called a "matter" is from Him and for us, His desire is that we seek Him first. If you find the One, who is keeping the matter close, by default you find the matter. Our glory as kings or leaders is to search for, discover, and bring the matter from eternity into time. This word matter is the Hebrew word dabar. It has one of the richest and most diverse meanings in the Hebrew language. In the King James Version it is translated 85 different ways. There are times when the dabar is a word or set of words, that which is spoken, and at other times it is what is done or a report of what is done. Often in Chronicles, it speaks of the business or the acts (dabar) of a king which are written in a certain book (dabar). The Hebrew name for Chronicles is "The Book of the Words of the Times." A facet of God's glory is in His ability to keep the business of His Kingdom close to Himself. A facet of our glory, our influence as leaders, is in our ability to find out from the King of Kings what His Kingdom business is and execute that in the earth. Jesus said it this way in His model of prayer, " Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is done in Heaven " How are the acts or business conducted in Heaven? Webster has two very good definitions for this word business. The first definition is purposeful activity. Whenever God engages in something it is always purposeful, for Him it is Kingdom business. The second definition is the systems and processes concerned with supply and distribution. If we apply these definitions to a for-profit operation we can say that business is the purposeful activity produced by systems and processes concerned with the supply and distribution of goods and services, resource materials, and commerce necessary for effective business. If we apply these definitions to a nonprofit operation we can say that business is the purposeful activity produced by systems and processes concerned with the supply and distribution of goods and services, resource materials, and services necessary for effectively satisfying community needs and advancing positive social change. The glory of a king in the Kingdom is directly connected to his ability to discover and execute the dabar - Kingdom business. Every kingdom, country, business enterprise, nonprofit organization, and ministry is run by systems. The better the systems, the greater the productivity. The better the productivity, the greater the profitability. The better the profitability, the greater the organization. The better the organization, the greater glory and the weight of influence. Are your systems producing for you the glory you want and the glory, the weight of influence, the King wants for you? Calvin D. Brown is a teacher, trainer, executive coach, and business consultant. He is Founder of Technically Inclined a consulting firm that exists to partner with organizations, helping them to create their preferred future. www.TechnicallyInclined.com [email protected] Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |