NLX 101 participants need to identify practical applications for When-Then/Outside-In/Inside-Out recovery.
Two of today’s hot topics are Time and Energy. What we value in life throughout each day is tied into what we commit our time and energy toward. The third hot topic is Money. We will commit the most of our monetary resources to that which we value the most. As the saying goes: “You know what a person values most by his or her checkbook.” Go through someone’s checkbook or bank statement and you can get the idea about what that someone values the most.
Participants will engage in exercises that will clearly reveal an investment strategy for their time, energy, and money. The first thing to lay hold of is the fact that all things were made was made by God. It’s all His idea. He made it all in its purest form. He then entrusted it all to us starting with Adam and Eve. From the beginning we have been made shareholders of God’s valuable resources.
Participants are asked to imagine their father is Bill Gates, the wealthiest man in America worth more than 50billion dollars. They’ll imagine that they are an heir to his empire as his son or daughter since he adopted them. They’ve been given a role in the vast empire that is Microsoft. They were not initially able to purchase stock in the company when they were young and starting out so Mr. Gates, their dad, purchased enough shares in their name that they are 100 percent vested in the company. The other thing about this dad is that he is a generous man, loved and respected by all who have really come to know him and believe in him and his plans and purposes for the business and his place in the world. As they have opportunity to invest more of what he has given them, they’ve come to believe that their investment will yield a huge return. They are confident that as they continue to give to the company that the company will give back to them. It is a certainty—a sure thing.
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father”. For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. Romans 8:14-16 (NLT)
And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. Romans 8:17-18 (NLT)
So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. Galatians 4:17 (NIV)
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. Ephesians 1:5 (NLT)
Scripture assures us that we are adopted sons and daughters of God our Father, and that we are literally heirs to all that is his. We are shareholders in the family and kingdom–or business–of our Father. As we are willing to let go of our pursuits and invest in the resources of God and Heaven, the return on our investment is without limit or restraint. As shareholders of all that is his, what is holding us back from investing in God’s kingdom?
Through questions specific to their circumstances and experiences, participants of this NLX 101 lesson will come to realize that it is a choice everyday whether to invest (sow) into the economy of God in relationship with Him, reaping a return without limit from His bounty, or that of the world appealing to their selfish addictions that will yield a limited return that is far less than satisfying.