VOICES OF DESTINY 4 KING

One, two, one, two.

Oh, me to me.

Take my tramping up and keep me strong. Take my every step.

Here I am, destiny. Together today, we're looking at conversations with a king. It's a joy to have you with us on the course and on the call, loving hearing your feedback, some of your stories and engagement around it, and looking forward to digging in to this morning together. And uh, I just want to pray and then we'll jump right in. Father, thank you for your grace. Thank you for all that you're instructing and imparting to us in this time. We ask that your favor would be upon this session together. In Jesus name, amen.

So, we finished last time. We were looking at the voice of the priest and the story of David and the awareness that actually, if we spend too long in one season, we actually cut off what it is that God has intended for us in the next season. When we think about the voice of the priest, that is a voice of holiness in our life. And when we spend too long giving ourselves again and again to that voice, we can miss God's calling of greatness on our lives. It's the voice, the voice of the priest. If it's over pushed and overextended in our life, will emphasize obedience, but sometimes call us to lay down influence that God has called us to carry. And so, it's really important that we recognize in the sound what season we're in and when it's time to exit that season and enter the new season. And you can think about that culturally, you can think about that personally, you can think about that corporately, if you at work or lead in a church context or in the company.

And in all of this, what we're going to look at today is the voice of the king. And it's the conversation that leads us into greater dimensions of identity and authority. If a voice of a friend teaches us to give and receive love fearlessly, and the voice of the priest is for a greater health and wholeness, then the voice of the king in our lives is to awaken us to royal identity and to kingdom authority and begin to inculcate that in who we are. It is the voice of permission. It's the voice of freedom and the voice of greatness. And many people live with a sense of calling, but no awakening to the permission that they have to pursue that. To them, it feels like arrogance to begin to go after, or may even feel like ambition, particularly if you have spent a lot of time around the priest. It might feel like you're pushing yourself forward or making more of yourself than you should. And there's that awkward internal wrestle as you're transitioning out of one season and into the next, where the insecurities are exposed and there's an uh fear almost of owning that space. But the voice of the king comes and awakens and says, actually, God designed and intended that you would be great and that His greatness would be reflected through you. And so, every voice moves us forward. This is the voice that is crucial in identity and authority, and it speaks to the wiring in our souls. The wiring is that thing that we were designed to do. This. The priest will come along and speak to the wounding in our lives, the areas where we're in pain, areas of a character that we haven't yet experienced wholeness or healing in. The king will speak into it. It is acquiring. And again, I just want to be clear, I'm using this in the gender-neutral sense. So this is simply a voice of authority. It just prevents me from having to continuously toggle between the two. It'll speak to the stunning favor or the divine favor that is resting on our life. Most of us are perhaps you're different, but many of us are really good at identifying our places of failure and our weakness, but we find it really tricky to identify the divine favor on our life, the places where divine greatness is resting upon us. We're taking that a little bit from God's covenant with Abraham, who said, "I'm going to make you great and I'm going to cause you to be a blessing in the earth." So this is the voice that awakens you to the wealth within you. It awakens you to the wealth within you, saying, "Here's what God has put upon your life. He's crowned you with favor. Here are the resources. Here's how you govern those and use those." And it shatters old measures and insecurities in our lives. It exposes the poverty mindset. One of the last questions, or one of the questions that came in afterwards, was, "How did I do this season with the priest without coming out of that with a poverty mindset?" I'm learning about divine abundance in my life, and I feel like if I, if I entered that season, I'll kind of miss that. And that is the truth. If we spend too long with the priest, we end up with a poverty mindset. We end up, um, as we referenced last session, really good at humbling ourselves under the Lord's hand, and really awkward when, in due season, He raises us up. And we, we struggle to be the light of the world. We'd rather hide in anonymity than embrace visibility. And so we need, in those seasons, the voice of the king. Over as it exposes our poverty mindset, it questions our hiddenness. You'll poke around someone who's quite, uh, like me, or poke around them and say, "You're really good at hiding. You're really good at hiding from life. You make it sound like you're hiding in God, but it really looks like you're hiding from life. Talk to me about that." And a king, well, they'll probe that, they'll prod that, they'll poke around that until they're absolutely satisfied that actually what you are doing is examining your life, but also making sure that you're fulfilling the divine calling on your life. Because this is a voice of fulfillment. The priest voice is the voice of abandonment. This is a voice of fulfillment. So it's going to make sure you're living life and living it to the full. And it leads us, therefore, because it will push us out from that place of hiddenness, it leads us to a place of greater exposure, coming into moments where you recognize, "Oh my goodness, things are beginning, I'm beginning to get a little more exposed here. I'm trying new things. I'm doing things differently, but I'm also getting a little more known." And how am I going to handle that? Because, yeah. So we need that. We need the freedom of the voice of the king, and that conversation. We need the fullness that it offers us. We need the favor that it awakens us to, if we're to move from crisis to fullness, if we're to move into not just spiritual information, but destiny formation.

This would be a caution to those of you who have engaged a spiritual director, because a spiritual director is essentially the voice of a priest. And people who typically orient towards that are deeply uncomfortable with influence. And so that's just really important. A lot of the basis of that, if that's your engagement, is based in the concept and the teaching of the desert fathers. And the desert fathers were people who advocated culture to engage spirituality in other words, they ran from the world to embrace the world that is to come. And so therefore, if, if you have someone like that, that's a great thing to have, but just be aware that's one voice, and it'll probably be skewed towards the priest dimension and will struggle when visibility comes, and will probably require the cutting off of desires that God is actually establishing in your life.

So the big question that, um, we're going to wrestle a little bit today is this question that Jesus would sometimes ask of people. And this is the question that sometimes overarches the season of the king. And it's this: "What do you want me to do for you?" "What do you want me to do for you?" or "What do you want from me?" You remember that this is the question that was asked of Solomon when he just became king, as he was entering that season in his life. "Ask me for anything. Ask me for whatever you wish. Ask me for your desire of your heart. What do you want me to do for you?" And when we're in the priest mode for too long, actually, that's a question we find really difficult to answer because we're like, "I have no idea. I've laid it all down. I don't know what to do with that."

So the voice became absolutely essential in seasons of recognition, in seasons of favor, and in seasons of resource, in, in figuring out our wealth again. This uh awareness, just been tolerant between these seasons and stepping into this in fullness, is the awareness that too long with the priest will suffocate your destiny. And, and having that awareness, they'll cut off your drive, your holy ambition. And so the voice that speaks to our surrender is usually unqualified, or may not be qualified to speak into our favor. Doesn't understand favor, doesn't know how to work with it, doesn't really embrace recognition. Often, they may love holiness, but struggle with greatness. As we've said, the priest will insulate you against failure, but might struggle to help you inhabit your future. So be really good at saying, "Watch out for this. Be on your guard against. Protect your soul in this area." They'll be really good at that kind of stuff, but maybe struggle in helping you take the next steps, then have it your future in that. And then all of that, we need the voice of the king.

And one of the things that kings do is they help us explore. A little like the priest, and that's why these seasons overlap a little. They help you explore ownership of your past. They will go into your past with you. We'll see that when we look at the conversation today, but they also are able to help you engage your leadership for the future. So both that exploring ownership for the past, they simultaneously take you beyond where you've been and help you become who you're becoming. It's a beautiful gift. Blessed is the man or woman who has the king to speak into and over their lives. And again, in all of this, this represents the voice of the Father to us. He is the King of Kings. He's the one who speaks this into. He's unafraid of his identity, his majesty, his authority, and his victory. He longs to share that with us and awaken us to the fullness in that.

And so, kings are people. We're identifying who they are. They are people who are in positions of wealth, influence, and success. So I, that's really helpful. And, and at least in our mind, if not in the minds of others, right? So, um, I'll give you a very trite example of this. It's the first one that springs to mind, but if you love comics or something like that, there may be someone who's completely obscure in the rest of the world, but you're like, "Totally into the comics they produce." And you like, in your world, that would be a king. So we're not saying they're king right across and universally recognized. We're saying in your area, they have expertise, influence, success, notoriety, perhaps in that, and usually wealth, and that they have resource around their life. That's therefore more than a mentor. A mentor can be someone who instructs and engages your influence, but doesn't have those things in who they are. And each time we enter the conversation with them, it's schedules in their season.

So with that in mind, let's jump in to the conversation that David has. It says, "That day David fled from Saul and he went to Achish, king of Gath. But the servants of Achish said to him, 'Isn't this David the king of the land? Isn't he the one that they sing about in their dances? Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.' David took these words to heart. He was very much afraid." So he pretended to be insane in their presence, and while he was there in their hands, he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard. In other words, he acted like he was out of his mind. He acted like he lost control of his man. And he said to his servants, "Look at the man. He's insane. Why do you bring him to me? Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?"

And just notice some of the things that they say here. They say, "Isn't this David, the king of the land?" And we picked this up a couple of weeks ago. We introduced this subject. This is one of the things that kings do. It's very clear that at this point, if we were in the room together, I'd actually ask, "Was David actually king of the land here?" And the answer is no. Did he have wealth, position, and status within the land? Absolutely. In that sense, he was a king, but he wasn't actually the king of God's people at that point. But others recognized that on him, because that's what kings do. Kings have an ability to recognize kingship on your life, perhaps even before you do. So sometimes they'll take a shine to you, they'll give favor to you because they can see something that you can't see. They have a clarity around that. They know exactly what they're looking for in that. They can sometimes see what your impact and influence is designed to be. And they do so in a way that friends rarely can. Friends are so familiar, it's hard for them to see the favor. Friends are so close, it's hard for them to see the kingdom on your life. Priests, as we've mentioned, don't really look for that sort of thing. But a king will spot it and they'll say, "You're carrying the same thing as me. The, the authority in your life is very similar." Now, it might be for a different domain, might be for a different outcome, but it's the same authority. And they recognize that and see that with you.

If the friend speaks to empathy and brings empathy, and the priest brings clarity into her life, then the king will speak into the area of our authority and speaks into our destiny. They speak into where we're going. And all the while, as they're doing that, they give you a safe space to explore. That's one of the things sometimes people miss, particularly when we get to the flip side of this in a few moments. But it's one of the things we often miss in the conversation with the king is actually they create a beautiful safety around our life. That's why David runs to this king, because he provides safety for him. Even though it's a troubling conversation, unsettling and unnerving, there's a safety. There's a boundary protection that comes in the conversation with kings. And they give you a new boundary where you can go deep, where it's safe for you to explore the desires of your heart without fear of arrogance or judgment or pretense or any of that stuff. They allow all of that to be excavated within you. And, um, it can be challenging to find that level of safety. You know, as you start to believe, perhaps on the call today, you're starting to believe that God is speaking to you about a particular area of growth in your life, or maybe you're seeing some favor, and you don't want to appear above your station. You don't want to appear like you're saying something about yourself, and you're still wrestling through whether this could even be true of you. The beautiful thing about a king conversation is they'll give you safety to explore all of that. "What do you want? How do you envisage that working out? Have you really embraced the uniqueness and the greatness in your life?" And they'll give you a beautiful safety around that. And they'll do it with boundaries. And, my experience is that many people resist boundary conversations. Boundaries make us uncomfortable. It's actually one of the signs that we're moving into and embracing that stage. And of course, as I've said all along, at these stages come, or these seasons come in cycles in our life. They're not necessarily chronological. My conviction is they are increasingly that way, um, but they come in seasons. So you'll have been through this season before. This is not new. But each time you're going through it, it's coming at a greater depth in your life. It's coming in a greater awareness in your life. So they'll, they'll, um, open up boundaries for us where you're learning to actually be more assertive, more authoritative. You're learning to use your voice more in the room because they give you the boundary, the space for you to begin to do that. You're learning which commitments to say yes to and no to. You're treating your time as though you were a king. Kings don't have time for everyone, and they don't have time for everything. So they teach you how to use your time that way. They treat your focus as though you were king. Again, things don't focus on everyone, and they don't focus on everything. There's a, there's a different way that they measure their time and their energy and their focus and their engagement in that. And they are unapologetic in that. This is the quote from Nehemiah: "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down to you." That's what's happening when you're learning your kingdom authority. You're like, "I'm doing something great here." Not saying what you're doing is bad, and not saying what you're doing isn't helpful, but it is not what I'm called to do, and I'm called to do something great. Kings make that kind of statement. Friends don't make that statement. Friends are like, "Hey, we're all doing something great with our life. Let me come over and help you, and maybe later you can help me." He's like, "No, I'm in the lane of focus. This is what I'm called to do." There's an awareness in that. They do that from a place of boundaries, and often we fear boundary conversations in our life, but it's a beautiful safety, as I've mentioned, in those. So they want us to embrace our life purpose with greater focus. And if they can see that you're backing off of your purpose, they will back out of the conversation. Kings are with you for your fulfillment. So they'll be with you as long as you're intent on fulfilling what you're doing. But any moment they see you deflect or distract from that, they're just beginning to back out of that conversation, just backing away the whole time.

So, um, it's a revealing moment, the moment with a king. It's a transforming moment, but it's also a conversation that requires enormous courage. And you can see that in this moment, like this is the guy who ran towards the giants, but here he is with saliva dripping down his beard. He is very much afraid. He's very much afraid. He's been around Saul. Saul's kingdom is just emerging, but here he is with the king of the Philistines. He's very much afraid. There's, there's like an insecurity that's exposed in the conversation with the king. It actually surfaces in my life, and surfaced again and again. But it surfaces even in the initial interaction. You start to feel, "Who am I to be even in their company?" They're constantly, "I can't believe I know this person." It starts there. And eventually, as you get to them, you're like, "This is crazy. This is surreal. How did I end up connecting with these people?" And then when they speak to you, you're kind of a little bit like, um, let's go say a teenage girl, but let's just say a teenage boy, you, you kind of all back in that zone, and you, you don't know how to speak. You lose your power of thought. There's literally something, there's a gravitas about the conversation with a king, because you recognize, "Oh my goodness, this is one of my heroes. It's one of the people that I look up to in life." And here they are, and they're spending their time with me. And they might even spend their focus on you, or they might do more than that. They might begin to bring and build friendship with you. But those initial moments, they're pretty unnerving. And actually, as they probe your life, sounds like aliens from another planet, but as they probe your life, it gets even more unnerving. It's even more, um, insecurities. And they do it not because they're trying to do it. They are simply being themselves. People know that kings have potential to bring them life or death. That's the historic conversation around kings. So they're not trying to make you intimidated. That's just, that's just weird somebody trying to do that. They're not trying to do that. They're just being themselves. They're living out the fullness of their royal identity. And that's both compelling and unnerving in equal measure. They're walking in kingdom authority, and, uh, they have great exposure as a result of that. So they uncover your wounds and your fears. And we'll go after this in a little while, but what the king is after is a renewal of your mind. That unnerving that happens is the sign of the poverty mentality still rooted within you. It's the sign that you haven't seen yourself the way the Lord sees you yet. And that's why the king is in your life. From that moment when you feel, "Who am I to be in their presence?" That's a sign that you haven't quite got who you are. Because as we often say, if you knew what God had for you, you would never be jealous or insecure around anyone else. Right? Like, if you could see yourself the way God sees you, you would never, it would never cross your mind when you were with someone else. But those moments expose that. They exposed the disconnect, and they're super helpful in doing that.

Now, a king will poke around your wounds, but they do, as I've mentioned already, in a different way to an enemy. Enemies do that, plotting for weakness, looking for places of exposure where they can wind you further. But the difference is, a king is for you. An enemy is against you. But a king is for you. Their heart is for your success. So they go to work on you. Things do. And they go to work, particularly on your mindset. They start going after those things. And again, in that conversation, you can feel like you're losing your mind. And you are. You're losing your old perspectives. You're losing your old narratives. You're losing your old paradigms for the way the world worked. It's one of the things that happens in, uh, conversations with the king is our paradigms begin to shift. Our perspectives begin to shift. So the voice of the king will encourage you to tear up the old script in your life. Whatever the script was that you grew up with, will not survive either. You wouldn't survive the presence of the king, or that script won't survive the presence of the king. And so you just realize, "Oh my goodness, this thing is going to be torn up here." And that script, of course, is in our mind. That's the narrative that we tell ourselves and go over. It's also our inscription. It's the pattern of life that we believe to be true, which, of course, is true for normal. But once you enter the kingdom, once you have, by which I'm not referring to the kingdom of God, and referring to the king, king's domain, once you come into that, and once you increasingly are aware that God is calling you to be a king or a queen, let's just use that language, and it wants you to really aware in that moment, He's calling you to do that, you realize you cannot speak the same way you did. You cannot act the same way you did. You cannot keep the same company you once did. You'd recognize this authority in your voice. So when you use it, things get established and empowered. And you're really circumspect then about the way that you use that. A little bit like the queen would be for those of you in the UK. She can't say whatever she wants or whatever she thinks. Um, and contrast that in the US with our president, who has enormous authority and says whatever he thinks and wishes. And it's just a little bit of difference, then a little bit of disconnect. And not, it's it's learning that you are a king, that your words carry weight, and your words change worlds. And so having that awareness in that, it fires up your particular tears, the old scripts, the scripts of culture, and it helps you to see the script that the Father has written in you, or what I like to call your song.

And so, one of the things I'll illustrate this through my current employment and the community that we have the privilege of partnering with here in Anaheim, California. When we came here, our congregation was a king congregation. That is to say that it had historically influence and notoriety on the earth, uh, but when we got here, it was really windy, really broken, all of that stuff, huge decline, all of that stuff. But it was still a king in the earth. It had just forgotten its voice. It had forgotten its authority. So I, I said pretty much, and Catherine pretty much, in the first few weeks, one of the things that we are here to do, and if we do this, we'll be really happy with ourselves, is we're here to sing your song back to you. It's been so long since you heard your song that we're just going to keep singing it back. Team, we didn't mean their music, we meant actually who they are in the earth and what God had called them to be, that they were more than a local church, but God had called them for global influence. That how you start in life is who you are in that sense. That's your inscription. So you can do this individually, is what I'm saying. But this is also true corporately. But then we go to work tearing up all the scripts that have them convinced that that's no longer available to them. The same way that's what you do in individuals. So they sing over them, they say, "Isn't this the one where they sing, 'Saul has killed his thousands, David his tens of thousands'?" And they're just singing, David sung back to him. They're like, "David, remember who you are. You're not a refugee on the run. You're not someone whose life is without anointing. You're not without authority. You're a man raised up by God, and you slay thousands, and your kingdom, David, is going to be even greater than Saul's kingdom. Saul has slain his thousands, but David's, your song is to slay tens of thousands. God has given you dimensions of authority in your life." And all of that, as David is hearing it, it's doing two things. It's awakening him to and reminding him of the anointing that God has given him in his life, and it's striking terror into his core because his enemies recognize what is resting on him, and he's afraid for him.

So I love how TD Jakes expresses this in his book. He's not referring to it in this context, but I love the phraseology, "King's helping you search through the archaeology of your own ambition." Man, that's so powerful. They, they help you excavate it. They help you dig into it and say, "It's okay for me to have ambition now. What do I really want? What am I really going after at my core? What are my desires in this?" I remember, I think it was about 2008 in my life, maybe 2006. I remember for the first time coming across, uh, well, 2008 for sure, because I hadn't heard of Bill till 2007. But I remember coming across some of Bill Johnson's teachings and writings. And Bill's voice awakens kings in the earth. It's what he does. He teaches people their domain, their royal identity, all that stuff. You know, we talked, I think it was last week or the week before, about certain books you want to read when you're going into the pre-season, Henry Nowen and all those kind of guys. Well, if you're coming into the king season and you want to read Bill Johnson, that's, that's gonna, that's gonna help you embrace that like nothing else. He's gonna teach your royal capacity, identity, and, and really, there's a lot of guys out there who do that, but Bill particularly does that. But one of the things that he'll say again and again is he'll talk about living in the power of the resurrection. And what he's really saying in that is living as a king, living as a king, living in your authority, living in God's victory, all of that stuff. But also, he'll talk about within that, not cutting off desires from your heart that are God-given. Learning that the difference, he'll even take the word desire, which means "of the Father." You'll say, "Your desires aren't bad." And if you just come out of a pre-season, that is oxygen to your soul, because the pre-season is, "Every desire should be measured. Every desire should be examined." It's just beautiful to do that. Um, when kings ask us those kinds of questions, "What do you want?" they're actually reframing us. They're teaching us to think differently. They're teaching us how to think differently, to think royally.

And kings are curious about our difference. They discern. They've already discerned the difference. They don't know quite what it is. They don't know what it relates to. But they're like, "Oh my goodness, there's something different about you." But then they're just curious about how that works. And they speak to your difference, and they speak to your brilliance. Uh, priests will speak to your offense, the areas where you've been offended by others, where you've been wounded by others. But a king will come along and they'll speak to your difference. "Here's what's different about you." "Saul has killed his thousands, but David his tens of thousands." And they just, all the time, call out your uniqueness. Which, unless you grew up somewhere where that was happening to you always, in certain cultures, if you grew up in the US, that's a pretty normative experience. My experience would be, and suggestion would be, that if you grew up in the UK, you're not particularly used to people calling out your uniqueness or your greatness. It's not a normal activity in that culture. Certain cultures, uh, have certain cultures, I believe, actually have a different one of these voices that govern over them. And the US has that voice of a king. They believe they're made for, uh, greatness within that. Now, a friend may see your uniqueness, and speak to it according to their capacity, according to the level that they can understand it and engage with it, but they can't unleash it within you because they haven't taken the journey. No, we covered that a couple of weeks ago, but it's, it's difficult for a friend. They love it, and they're for it. They just don't know how to unlock it. Like, "Okay, I can see that in you. I can see you're made for more, but I don't know what to do with that." So kings, on the other hand, they know how to unlock that. And they will ascribe not only greatness to the Lord, but they'll ascribe greatness to you, because they understand that that greatness comes from Him, and they understand that when you walk in that greatness, you honor Him. And so that's helpful in that. And again, they help you just descend, "Here's the wealth around your life." So that's one of the other ways you can discern the season is changing. If literally, physically, financially, you're coming into different wealth than you were before, you're like, "Okay, what did I do with this? I've got more resources. This season just changed." Or suddenly you're finding yourself with favor in your relationships, you're like, "Oh my goodness, I'm getting noticed by people who have never even known that I existed." And you find yourself in those moments, or maybe you're invited by your pastor on the course today, maybe you're invited to speak at an event that is larger than anything you've spoken at. Or if you're a company leader, maybe your company starts winning awards, maybe some, uh, magazine writes on you, newspaper writes on you. You realize the domain of your influence is increasing. And that's a sign for you that you're coming into the season of the king. Or you can no longer live off of the breath. What I mean by that is, there comes a point actually where in the season of surrender, where it's hard, and you surrender, you surrender it. Then there comes a point where you're living in that, and it is life to you. You're like, "You're all in in that." And then there comes a point where it starts to fade from view. And this is healthy, and this is helpful. It's called a change of the season. But actually, what will happen in that is you'll get pulled back into it because you'll think, "Oh no, I'm backsliding. Backsliding. This is not as intense in me as it was." And the truth is, you're not backsliding. You're just exiting the season. And sometimes the sign that the season of the king has come, or the voice of the king, or the season of favor, is actually that it lacks the same intensity because you've been through that. Man, the Lord wants to lead you into something new. He wants to do something different. It's really important to recognize that. And others, as it is in any of these seasons, when you're walking alongside them, you're working with them. If you miss them coming into the season of the king, and you keep them in the season of surrender, you will have a resentful servant. You know, somebody who feels like you kept them down. Um, we had an example of this when we, uh, lived and worked in the UK. And only recently, as I was preparing this, I'm like, "Oh, how did I miss that? That's exactly what was going on in that." Where someone was coming into a season of the king. They were getting all manner of invitations and all manner of engagements all across the UK. They were, and increasingly in Europe and in the US. And we were calling them to surrender and obedience and, and laying down their life for the local and engagement in that. And partly because, honestly, within our denominational context, we're not good on celebrating people. So it's partly just a hand-me-down of that particular mindset. And that, and partly because we didn't know how. What do you do with people who are wired for that particular gifting? We didn't have space in our context to release that. And there was no wall within our, or again, our particular denomination didn't have clarity or a role around that kind of thing. But all of that meant that we diminished the calling or the season of king in that individual. We held them back rather than giving them full permission. And we should have given them much more, I should give them much more permission than that. And it's good for you to look back and to recognize, "You know what season are you in with people? You're holding them back because they don't quite fit in your structure." Because here's the thing about kings, once you're awakened kings, they don't become kings in your kingdom. They're kings over what the Lord has called them to do. And that is very threatening for people. So, oh my goodness, when I see the kingdom and them, they're called to rule over something, and they're called to rule over something that I'm not called to rule over. There's a different domain in them. And in church world, and I know not everyone in the call today is a church pastor, but in church world, that's difficult because you're trying to work within the framework of the larger vision. So, that's probably a good point actually. I was so engrossed in that there. It's probably a good point to pause and to take just a few questions on that, and then we'll jump back in as we go through. I don't know where we are, whether we're halfway through or three-quarters through, but, uh, this would be a great time just to fire up some questions there on the chat. If you don't have any, I'll just continue on there. But if you do, go ahead and pop them in as you consider the voice of the king in your own life and in conversations that you might want to have.

Yeah, I think, thanks John. The season, this season is not permanent, um, and the voice is, uh, fitting for the season. So you recognize that when you're in that season, that's the voice that particularly you want to hear from. That's the voice that's going to help you engage and move forward. And in terms of, someone is someone a permanent king? If, if I've understood the question, the, the secondary aspect to the question, um, I think they are for as long as the Lord graces them to be that and as long as they steward that well. And so you can have people who have extraordinary favor in their life, wealth, success, and all of that, and who sabotage it all because they haven't been to see the priest in a long time. And you can have others who stewarded that really well. Someone like a Billy Graham would have always been a king in that sense. Any time Billy Graham spoke, people would have listened. People would have grown and matured. I found a joy to have you in the call and called to be, uh, king to others and speak until his uniqueness, but still find myself unable to live this out. Yeah, and that's challenging, Hannah. And that's part of the journey of figuring out. And that's partly why it's a good investment for you to engage in, "Okay, where am I at in the seasons of destiny?" Because you're going to come back to that. You keep circling towards it until it's established in your life. And you go through the different seasons, almost like a, well, I always say to folks that we often think spirituality is like a ladder. You know, like snakes and ladders, like you, you try to climb the ladder and you try to avoid the snake. That's basically what you try to do. And a lot of people, that's the perspective of spirituality. But it's actually a well, which means you keep hitting the same issues again and again in your life, but all the time you're moving deeper. Like, "I cannot believe I still wrestle with pride." Yeah, you're always going to hit that. You're just going to hit it at a deeper level. "Oh, I'm so shocked that the favor of God has given me." Yes, you're always going to have it. Going to have a deeper level. So you'll keep, you'll keep coming back to this awareness of, "I think I'm called to this, but it's not quite established." But over time, and it will become established in your life as the Lord gives grace and action to that. Steward. What an amazing man, all the way from South Africa. Glad to have you in the call, my friend. What is your uniqueness? What you bring? And it's got me thinking. It's a great question. How do we define our uniqueness? Is it our own interpretation? Do we ask our way? Sure. I'm reminded now you've asked me this. Thank you for, uh, the reminder. Are there five questions to get the answer? Um, yeah, that's, that's something that I'll say occasionally. I used to be a lot more free in saying it than I have been the last little while. You're, but the truth is, something enters a room when you enter and leaves when you leave. And so, one, and you need to know what that is, because you're always rewarded according to your difference. You get paid according to what you bring that no one else can bring into a room. That's true if you work in a company. It's true if you work in a church, anywhere you work, you're paid for your difference, your capacity to solve from. So you need to know what the difference is that you carry. And that's going to be reflected, of course, through those close to you. Sometimes they'll see it. Sometimes they want, um, it's sometimes it's observation. So you walk into one room. If you always gauge the effectiveness and the difference on your life by people's response, you will miss it. Because some people, I'll give you an example of this. It's an illustration from over here, but I discovered that about two years ago. It made an enormous difference in my thinking. Over here, in high school, they have, they have girls' soccer. It's very popular in the US. But in high school, if you have someone who's already got a scholarship to play for a university at soccer, they won't let them play soccer for the high school team. And the reason for that is it will diminish their skills. Playing with people who are less skilled will actually cause atrophy in who they are and what they can do. So they'll skip a whole season where they don't play. Now, the problem with church world, if you're, and I know you are, pastor, the problem with church world is you're called to play at all these levels. And you've got to recognize, actually, this is where my difference makes the difference. So I'm discerning your difference, and you'll be aware of, "Gosh, this is the uniqueness that rests upon my life." It might be, well, could be in all sorts of areas. But then you have to recognize who your difference is designed to serve, and who catches that more than anyone else. And I know that sounds again, a little like conception layers within players, but it is true. You, your gifting will work in certain environments. I see many people who operate really well in one area, really struggling in another, and then conclude that they don't have that gift because they struggle in an important area. Um, I used to say at home, you know, I have lots of favor all across the UK, and indeed I had so much favor into Europe. But I never had any favor in the South of Ireland. So leaders would fly in to see us from all over, except the South of Ireland. It's just down the road. But, but if we went for evangelism to the South of Ireland, we'd seen more than we ever saw anywhere else. It was like a, so among unbelievers in the South of Ireland, it was like kid in a candy store. But among church leaders in the South of Ireland, they just weren't that interested in what we were doing. Yet all of our Europe people would come. So you recognize your difference. You recognize who it's designed to serve. You recognize who it is the Lord has given you in that. Your kingdom, which sounds even awkward saying it, your kingdom is not the whole earth. You've got to know this is my domain, and you've got to stay in your lane. And that, otherwise, you end up in a battle that isn't yours. Andrea, always love that you're on this. Thanks for, uh, communicating that. Yeah, yes, absolutely true. Absolutely true. It just, it actually can cause wounding. And I wouldn't, if you're a leader, I wouldn't blame yourself in that, but be aware of that. Just be aware of, "Hey, I'm missing that." And it's partly because it's tricky for us to, particularly, um, and again, companies, well, maybe companies are similar in this, but in churches, when you start to see someone's authority exceed yours, that's an awkward place. Okay, where does this go? And God does give people, shocking as it is, more authority than you, but not more authority to lead that church than you. So that's your key thing in that. But He does give them more authority than you, and you've got to recognize that and you've got to release them into that. And that may mean that they become greater, so to speak, and you become lesser. Others know more of them than they do of you. They know more of them than they do of your church. And that's okay. Mike, love you, man. Miss you. I've found myself called out of season as a priest, yeah, yeah, yeah, which I have to lean into much more intentionally. Is a voice that is more key, helpful to a king's role? Yeah, you need, you need to be around kings in that, Mike. And I just love the journey that the Lord has put in your life there. It's a journey of influence. Suddenly you're steering things at a greater level and dimension and wealth and resource. You say to this one, "Go," and they go. And you say to this one, "Come," and they come. And you need kings who teach you how to do that and how to grow up. Because, um, kings will bring stewardship to that. So what I'll often do, like, is in seasons where there's reintroduction for me into, um, that dimension, is there's a few people I'll call in my life now to say, "Hey, would you help me think this? I think you're, uh, really blessed to be there with you." And that, one of the things about, I'll leave that actually, but you're really blessed to be there with you. I would definitely read people who understand kingship. And, uh, oddly, oddly in this, not really oddly, but importantly in it, often, uh, black preachers and pastors get this. Like, they get it. You listen to somebody like TD Jakes, he gets it. He gets what it is to shake off the slavery mentality, the poverty mentality, and move forward into royal identity. And because

They've wrestled with all the issues along the way. They really understand how to exercise kingdom. They don't always do well, but those who do do well do it in a way that really understands the the nexus of that, really the the essence of that. Uh, yeah, John, I'm so sorry I missed your question there. And the other John, thanks for highlighting that these seasons go in cycles. Do they usually come in a particular order? And I think they probably do. In that, John, I think the order that we're going through is probably how they happen. But they are seasons, and so it's really important to recognize, as I've said over the last couple of weeks, that the they're you're never fully just in one. You always have a day the spring, even in winter. You always have a day that's autumn, even in winter. And so you just recognize that you're never just fully in that, that the old is passing away and the new is coming, and beyond that, the newest coming.

Uh, again, guys, really brilliant questions, helpful, uh, questions. In in that, we were, uh, before the questions, we were thinking through where we just this idea of releasing people into the fullness of their domain. Um, do you want a different analogy in this? And I try not to confuse this with the voices. Uh, just hang up that helping people go beyond you kind of thing. It's a little bit like fathers. You know, we talk about raising up father, we talk about raising up sons and daughters, and the goal is to raise up followers and mothers and brothers. All look alike. Brothers and sisters have a family resemblance, but fathers look different. And that's the tricky part about recognizing another father because they do it differently to you. Their values are different, their vision is different. They're not called to be a brother with you. They're called to be a father alongside you. And so they're going to do things and unleash things in a way that do not fit your family pattern because they're not just building. They are connected to the family, but they're a father within the family. So hopefully that helps in that.

And the thing about kings is they are not threatened by your greatness. That's how you really know you're with a king. There's some people who have the title of a king but not the mindset of a king. Those who are threatened by your greatness have the title but not the mindset. Those who cannot release you into your fullness have the title but not the mindset. You know you're with a king because they're not threatened. And the reason they're not threatened is because they are a king. They know that there is nothing you can add to them or nothing you can take away from them. They're absolutely secure and established. They're thrown for, wonderful better term, is established. David's saying about this, you've established my throne, you've made it secure, and that sort of thing. The enemy will reduce you, the friend refreshes you, the priest resources you, but it is the king who releases you into your greatness. It's the king who does that. And they take every opportunity to intentionally remind you of it. Like any opportunity. You can now, some of your parents on this today, you get this. You get the seasons where you're sent to your kid, be careful, watch out. And you get the seasons where you're saying to your kid, go for it, go for it. There's greatness in you. I see it. You're kind, use wise, use great. Right. So maybe they help. So they, they will do that.

Um, here's the thing to maybe you don't need to hear, but it's helpful to be aware. When you're entering the season of the king, you usually have to leave your tribe for a while. Partly because, just what we've talked about there. In other words, your song in your tribe will not always be recognized. It won't always be hard. And you've got to recognize and say, that's okay. That's part of the journey. Now, in that, I'm not talking about your denomination. That may well be true for you. I'm just talking about the people that you've been connecting with. It's part of the king reminding us of our greatness. And again, greatness is a scary thing.

Um, yeah, I think we, I think we've covered that. So the voice of the king only awakens is through greatness. It renews our minds, as I've mentioned, and it shakes us to our core. It's putting a new foundation within us. That's partly what's going on there. You know, if the enemy brings provocation, and the friend brings connection, and the priest brings examination, then the king puts a new foundation in us. And you can see that in Meg's question a little earlier. There's a new foundation. You're learning to do live from a new position, a new perspective, and you need a different foundation within that. So the voice shakes us to the core. We're like, I don't know if I'm up for this. I don't know if I can do this. I don't know if I have what it takes. I don't know how this will work. An enemy will wrestle with you, a friend will weep with you, a priest will win you, and a king will work on you. They'll just go to work. Say, yeah, let's get it all out. Let's get all the love. That they're like burping the baby. They're just like batting in the body. Just get it all out. All that insecurity. Let it all come out. And it feels, it feels very vulnerable and very fragile, which makes you feel all the more, how could I ever be a king? How can I really be this?

You'll notice, uh, those of you who have read the story of God and engaged with it, you'll notice that one of the things that David continuously says to Solomon before Solomon assumes the throne, or just after he assumes the throne, but before David is dead, obviously, is he'll keep saying this, you are a man of wisdom. You will know what to do. So you'll say, as for Joab, you're a man of wisdom, you'll know what to do with him. Of Shimei, the guy who was cursing David, he says, when it comes to him, you're a man of wisdom, you know what to do. And Solomon's probably thinking himself, I'm really not. I've got no wisdom. So when God appears to him in the dream, what's the thing he asks for? Wisdom. Why? Because the voice of the king has sung his song. You're a man of wisdom. You're a man of wisdom. This is who you are. It's who you are at your core. This is who you're becoming. This is how God sees you. You're a man of wisdom. He's like, okay, I know what to ask. But God, give me wisdom to govern the greatness that was put in and by the voice of a king, and it was called out of them by the voice of the king. It's beautiful, stunning.

So the king goes after your mindset. They're neither intimidated by you or inhibited by you. And that's true as you really begin to find your voice in your domain as a king. A king is never afraid of your accomplishments. And that's true in the front end of that. That's true in a, they'll call that up. But in the back end of it, they'll call you on your character. A good king will call you on your character if they see you living in a way that is not kingly, that is not befitting of a king. And so, uh, they won't entertain you though until you know who you are. That's the caveat in all of this. So until the some sense of you walking towards it, they will entertain you. They won't give you the time of day at a party or in a meeting or any of that. And that's true. And I hate speaking this way, but it is true. That's true as you go up the levels. So there's king, there are kings over a little, and there are kings over a lot. If your kingdom is expanding, you understand what I mean in that. She went through that. The kings who recognized you with a little doesn't mean you're going to be recognized as a king when you move into that greater territory.

Um, I think I can tell you this. I remember showing up to speak at Focus, which is this, um, beautiful conference, the HTB, Holy Trinity Brompton, large church, influential church in the UK. Lead and the conference, the church there is led by Nicky Gumbel. Nicky is a bit of a legend and just a wonderful man, kind man. And, uh, I got this invite to speak. And I had no idea how they even knew who I was. And anyway, I show up to speak about this caravan park. Bear Grylls is there. It was just fun. It's just fun being around some friends there who are super well-known, all that kind of stuff. But anyway, I go in and I'm sitting with Nicky. And he, he looks me. And I've got like, the invite came in this letter. It was like the best English that you could expect an invite to come. And it was just very Nicky and losing. You know, that was very him. Sitting there in his little caravan, kept because those there's few others there. And he says to me, thank you. I'm pretty sure it was, you're like, I've got a letter at home and I think it was you. It could be Pete Greg on the wind up. I'm not entirely sure. But I'm, I'm pretty sure it was you. And it was this moment where I realized, now looking back, like I was with some kings in that moment, and they had no clue who I was, right? They're just like, somebody had said, you need to get this guy. They probably heard me speaking New Wine or something. Said, you need to get this guy to come and speak. And he had no clue. There wasn't, it was, it was beautifully humbling. Just as I was thinking my domain was largely increasing. And I, I love that. So a little story, anecdotal, I know. But a king won't entertain who you are until you know who you are. And they won't give you time in that. And they will not allow your previous accomplishments to stand in the way of your fulfillment. So it doesn't matter to them that you've had tons of success. They've got tons of success. They're not impressed by success. They're not impressed by celebrity or notoriety. It doesn't, doesn't move the needle for them. They have all of that abundance in their life. They want to make sure you're fulfilling what your kingdom has been raised up to fulfill. It doesn't matter in this context that you've slain ten thousand. They're not intimidating. They're not impressed by that. They're kings. So it doesn't matter how amazingly gifted you are. They won't be bitten by. Which is why, and I'm being more pastoral today than I would usually be or intentionally be in this, but it's why, um, if you have someone who's coming into the greater measure of gifting, never be intimidated by that in your church. Gifting does not equal anything. It's helpful, it's useful, but you too are gifted. So settle in that. Said all that, you're also a king. And that they're not threatened by your greatness, but they're equally not governed by it. So they're like, yep, that doesn't give you the opportunity to call the shots around here. They put your fulfillment above your accomplishments, which means they speak with honor and honesty. And they will not allow your hubris to get in the way of your hope.

I have a friend who was recently, a couple of years ago, was invited to basically become, uh, speak into the life of a pop star. Unlike an A-list pop star, like one of the, uh, most well-known on planet Earth. And so he's invited to speak into that. And he just won. And I said to him, why wouldn't you do that? Like, what an opportunity to influence someone and shape the future. And he said, that person has so many people around them whose job it is all day to prop up their ego, and whose jobs depend on them propping up their ego. There's just no way that I could bring anything of value because everything I would say would then be undermined around them. What he was saying in that moment is this, that there were people around that king who would only, could only see their hubris and couldn't bring them into hope, could only see everything that surrounded them. And when you've got that many people, it's pretty hard to cut through. But a king will do that for you. They'll cut through the hubris. They'll do that to lead us into hopes.

I hope by now you're convinced. We all need these voices in our life. We need them speaking into, speaking overs. We need them to bring boundaries. We need them to speak into our movement, to leaders, into covenant, and into enlargement with them. And we need the level of permission that they bring into our life. We need that permission to explore the desires. We need that permission that they bring to give us the courage to stop hiding our heart. And some of you, that's really important today. For some of you, have been hiding your heart. You're just afraid of excellence. You're afraid of giftedness in yourself. You're afraid of greatness, particularly those of you who are wired with the priestly wiring. And kings, kings just allow your influence to come to the fore without it becoming arrogance. And what you do with it is up to you. But they will, they will go after your influence. And so we need those conversations to push us from restriction to permission, to live with wholeheartedly, full-throating permission. Say, yes, this is what I was made for. This is what I was designed to do. I am in my sweet spot. And so in a conversation, the king is wondering this, what is it that you uniquely carry for the earth? What is it that you uniquely carry for the earth? What is it that's resting on your life that the world needs? What's the inscription that is here? What's the inscription that is here? And they search for that and they speak into. And it's uncomfortable. It's unsettling. Uh, it's not for the person who's afraid of exposure. Like, don't, don't go see a king and not step in to please take the next step in your destiny. Like, if you're afraid of exposure, again, they just won't give you their time. It's too valuable to them. They're not being dismissive of you. You've just got other things. Their their gift to you is their time. It's the most valuable thing they have. And so you've got to embrace the exposure. They see you backing off from that, they'll know you're not ready. They'll be happy perhaps in a while, uh, to do that again. So they, they bring this elevated exposure into our life.

So what are some of the questions that go around that? And how do we manage that? We have them there in the notes. One of the key questions you're asking in this is, is this a season of favor? Now, culturally, you can dismiss that, right? Like, yes, right now, we are not in a season of favor. We know this. This is not, these are not the good, these are the hard days. These are the difficult days. These days, it might well be what the Lord is knowing you and you. And, uh, and so you might ask that, is God calling me to greater exposure right now? It might be that you're somebody who's been vigilant for a long time, that you're somebody who recognizes these threats and is able to perceive the future. You might have a prophetic gifting that comes to the fore in this moment, and that gifting increases exposure in your life. And so be aware of that.

A second question you're asking that helps you inform this season, indicates that you're coming into, if you're asking this question regularly, what is the desire and dream of my heart? Like, if that's coming up again and again in your reading, what do you want me to do for you? What's the desire to do my heart? That's a good sign that your season is changing. If you've got more opportunities right now than you know what to do with, that's a sign your season is changing. Then my other course that I'm doing at the minute is learning to restore cities. And honestly, every week we have more opportunities in our cities than we know what to do with, more partnerships coming to us, and more recognition. I think last week we got a letter from this California Senate and the California Congress just recognizing what we're doing. And it was one of our partners who put us in for it. We didn't even know that was possible. And it's just opportunities and favor upon favor that's beginning to come. Well, when we've been teaching surrender for a while and leaning into that, I just pay attention to those things. So you're asking that, is there more opportunities? Perhaps a key question is, am I awakening to wealth and influence? Do I have more resource and should I embrace this fresh exposure and opportunity? What do you want me to do with that, God? And, and be aware in that, that's where the voice of the king will help you. The priest will see the threat and the opportunity. They'll see the potential for you to be pulled outside your lane. They'll see the potential for arrogance. They'll see all that. The friend will see the possibility and the opportunity, but they might be afraid that you'll become someone different. We talked about that. The king will help you examine it without a dog in the hunt. They'll just look at it for what it is. And they'll just say, yep, here's, here's what you have. Here's the opportunity you have. Is permission required? Is there something you've been longing to do, to write a book, something like that? Let's just say something like that. And you're like, who on earth would ever listen to my voice? Who would want to hear from me? Or whatever it is. The king will help me say, you have a voice, use it. People need to hear your story. They, they'll just speak that. They'll give you that permission to take the next step. You've got an anointing on you. You're really good with words. You're really helpful helping people make the connections. You're, you're actually way better on paper than you are in person, right? Right. The king, they'll be that direct with you. You'll leave the conversation saying, that was great, but what did they mean? I'm way better on paper. Right. Your insecurity, you'll start to go out to your mind with, do they really even like me? And they'll, they do all that stuff. Have I been afraid to engage my authority? You know, sometimes, you know what to speak into someone's life and you just don't do it. And the reason you don't do it is because you're afraid of overextending your authority. You're so afraid of being abusive that you don't use your authority. You're so afraid of misusing it that you don't say, actually, now I'm speaking as the Lord would speak to you. You know, like Paul would do, like, this is just me speaking, take it or leave it. There are times you need to sit across from people and say, here's what the Lord is saying to you. Like two doors before you today, that you're engaging your authority. Or there's times where you're not afraid to set a clear, bold instruction or direction. How do I maximize my resources in this season? So great. If you're asking that question, it's probably an indicator again that you're changing season. And who do I need to become to embrace my future? Or what all narratives do I need to lose? Or some of the things that have clung intransigently to me? And, um, sometimes these coalesce where the season of the priest has actually helped you to identify the broken places in your story and your history, and has all been a forerunner towards what the Lord wanted to do in this moment. So, and all of that, the question is this, who represents the voice of the king in your world? Like, we, we do these each session, we do trying to steer both angles of it. How do you speak with the voice the king, but also who represents that voice in your world? If you don't know who that is, you can't magically make that appear. You can't really even ask somebody to be that. It just, like, I can't today ask Queen Elizabeth for an audience with her. I'm not gonna get it. How does it work? I wish we were in the room together. You would say she has to extend the invitation, right? You don't get just access to the king. If you get straight access to them, that's a mentor. It's not the same thing. But a king, it comes by way of invitation. They have to recognize it on your life. So who do you have who speaks, uh, into your life? Who respects you enough to reach beyond your reputation, your status, your past accomplishments, and lead you towards fulfillment? Who does that in your life?

Now, we have a little bit more here. We can do on the shadow side of the king, a little bit more of when that's pushed too far. But I also want to leave time for questions. I think we've got about 20 minutes left in this. We want to, um, break out groups this week. We'll do them next week. So we've got about 20 minutes left on this, guys. And, uh, if there are questions there, again, on what we just covered, go ahead and fire them up. And, uh, we'll try to get to them. And then we'll lean into, uh, some of the shadow side of this and what this looks like in our life when it's, when it's pushed too far. Within that child, how's it going, my friend? How do you differentiate between the need for external information that comes from a place versus the need of consciousness? That's a great question. Um, let me just think about that for a moment. Yeah, in, in discerning, in discerning that the conversation with the king child will actually awaken those insecurities. So they're there. They're going to be heightened within that. And so that moment there will tell you pretty quickly. You know, if you're like, gosh, all I needed was affirmation, and now what I have is a whole bunch of insecurities I didn't know I had. Uh, that pretty quickly exposes it. It's pretty, it's pretty tricky to do that theoretically. To answer the question theoretically, it sort of happens relationally. We're like, yep, I was, all I needed was a little bit of encouragement, somebody to champion my heart, the affirmation of a friend. And, and, and when you, when you go to a king, they're going to expose your insecurities. And, and if you're happy that they've done that, and it solidifies something in you, it tells you that you're ready for that conversation. You're like, yep, I'm ready to take this into a new, a new stage in the depth of conversation.

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Again, that the tricky part with the king is you can't force that conversation. The others, you can pretty much go to. Priests will love that if you come to them and say, hey, would you speak with the authority of a priest? Of course, I love sharing my advice with people. King won't do that. They just want you have to wait on the invitation. The warriors, as we'll see at next session on Friday, they'll do that. They're like, go after something, let's do it, let's do it. I mean, I'm not even doing it because I like you. I'm just doing it because I hate them. Let's do it. Let's get after it. I'm a warrior. I want to fight this thing. But king is an invitation only. And it's the same with a prophet. Their invitation only. The prophet comes because the Lord has immersed them in his voice for your life. And so she comes to you and she delivers the word to the Lord. But you can't come to them and saying, do you have a prophetic word for me? They don't work like that. At least not, um, at least not healthy functioning prophets. They, they're not on our beck and call. They, it just doesn't work that way. They are sent by the Lord into our life for a season. So that's maybe the difference in those two there.

Um, guys, I'll just give it another 30 seconds or so and see if there's any more questions than that before we lean into some of the, the, uh, shadow side and that of pushing that. When, when don't you want the voice of a king in your life? You don't want release when you need a rest. All right. So if you're like, oh my goodness, I need a rest night right now. I don't need somebody highlighting responsibility and favor and increase and exposure. What I'm trying to do is, I need rest in my life. So you want to make sure you stay away from, if you do know a king in your life, if you're privileged, then in seasons of rest, you probably want to stay away from them, or at least not give them, stay away is way too strong. At least not give them the predominant voice in your life in that season. Any more than you would want to give the warrior the predominant voice in your life in that season. You go quieter with them. You don't want release when you're in the season of recovery. You're recovering from your wounds. You don't want immediately somebody pushing you forward. Kidnap. And you don't want to rush it. Like, you don't want to, you don't want exposure before your character is ready for it. You don't want it before your time. Uh, it just isn't healthy for you. It isn't helpful for others. And the worst, the worst thing, oh my goodness, this just happens so often. You never want to manufacture your own exposure. Like that's just the disease of the soul. That's like the ugliest thing. And here is my priesthood speaking, but that's like the ugliest thing when you want to be big, when you want to be known. Yeah, that's just ugly. That's deformed. Anyway, I won't continue to speak in that. Let's just, just, yeah, I have a lot of adjectives I could use around that. It's just not, it's not good. It's not good. And you don't want the pressure of managing self-made favor because whatever you start, you have to sustain. So if you've got your favor through networking or by the work of your own skill or your own hand, you're always going to have to keep that up. And that gets exhausting. That's a lot of world to carry on your shoulders. You want to just avoid that. But you do want the blessing of a king. And I forgot to mention that there's incredible justice. There's incredible power in the blessing of a friend. And there's incredible power in the blessing of a priest. There is enormous power in the blessing of a king. And I see this a lot in the particular section of the church that I engage in most often, which is the kind of charismatic Pentecostal third wave section. They're looking for the voice in impartation. They try to short-circuit the process by asking for impartations from everyone, as though you can get an impartation for a renewed mind. You can't. You have to go through the process. You might get additional gifting, but you have to go through the process. You might fall on the floor, but you still have to get up and figure out what on earth just happened to you. Like, what does this mean for me? And how that live differently in that. And I think some of our wrestling and that is looking for a blessing there that comes in those, uh, the two Hannahs, uh, Hannah Miller, Hannah, do you feel you could give an example of what king conversation has looked like in your life? Yeah, the one I previously, Hannah was on them exposure where, uh, the TV company had come for us. They'd asked me to make, I think it was eight programs. And just my bias and wiring is, I try to stay anonymous. That's my goal. I, I take Paul's injunction very seriously in Thessalonians, make it your ambition to lead a quiet life in all godliness. That's like my life ambition. If I can do it quietly, if I can do it in godliness, I'm a happy man. And, but I recognize the Lord was doing something there. And I was trying to process what was happening with that. And so I, I went to see a friend who has the voice of a king, has incredible skills in a particular area. It was just really helpful in me assessing what I want, is this who I am, is this what I'm for, and whose kingdom is this building, all of that kind of stuff. And to do that in a real healthy way. Um, there are other times where the, the voice of a king, like when we, when we came to Anaheim, and just, I forget, it was like a few months into the journey, it's like four months in. And I was up in Reading. And, um, we were just hanging out with some friends there. And we were doing like a counter members, like a barbecue or something like that. And, uh, Bill came over to us and he said, hey, how's it all going? And Bill Johnson just loves our church, been hugely impacted by our church. And we've known him for a number of years, as, uh, Catherine and I've known him for a number of years. But he came to us and he said, how's it going? I said, you know what's crazy? Like, the Lord is doing amazing things and we're getting like, so little critique. And he looked at us and he said, you're not going to get critique in this one. He just began to speak into with the voice of a king in my life. I'm not saying he's a king to everyone, but with the voice of the king in my life, I kind of knew in that moment the Lord was establishing something for us. And we had greater permission to move forward with some of the changes that we would have made. So there's a couple of examples there, Hannah. Hope they're helpful. Hannah Deal, Hannah's great. Ca, great to have you in the call today. What is symptomatic of a church with no kingly voices? Uh, there'll be a lack of victory. There'll be a poverty mentality that undergirds a lot of what you're doing. There'll be a lack of influence in the community, a lack of ownership of its story. There'll be a lack of not celebration in terms of song, but a lack of celebration on the good things. It will almost become stories will be considered boasting. Like, like when you tell the stories, people do, like, we shouldn't be sharing this, keep it secret, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. There'd probably be a high piety but a low authority. Uh, there's, uh, there'll probably be some attention to what's going on internally and adrift towards internal in people's minds and hearts, well, than external and giving ourselves away to the world because kings exist to do that. So there's a whole lot of symptoms. That's a brilliant question, Hannah. Just as there would be indeed for some of the others, it'd be symptoms of deficiency in those areas. There'll be a lack of emphasis on power. I don't want to influence all of those things. Uh, that'll be there. And again, we could, we could highlight deficiencies in other areas where it's overextended. Must be a good segue into that. There'll be too much of an emphasis on power, too much of an emphasis on the miraculous, too much of an emphasis on the resource of the kingdom. This is where Paul writes to the Corinthians. He says, you've already become kings and not without us. There's a high hint of sarcasm in his tongue. He's like, yeah, I wish you were a native zombie. How I wish you were kings. You say, hey, you don't have it all together, guys. This is not. And so when it's overpushed, there's an arrogance. There's, there's ecstasy without the agony of the kingdom. There's the authority without the purity. There's the coercion at its shadow side. There's coercion and manipulation and exploitation of people to make our thing work. This is the classic empire building that people refer to and historically and the fear that people have where you're just using me to get things done. People become used for a season and then discarded because you're not investing. And then someone gets caught up in their own notoriety and celebrity. There's just the ugly shadow side of that. And they forget when to be silent and when to speak. And they empower the wrong things or they abdicate. So they have the, the shadow side of it. Uh, is, is that the abdicate? Was just contemplating whether to share something. An unhealthy king will abdicate his kingdom as the other, as the kingdom extends. They'll abdicate. I was always so conscious of that in Northern Ireland, making sure I was around as regularly as I could be speaking into the voice of the church. But you know, or, or they'll, it'll become filled with title. You know, so, and I'm not against these things. I think there's poverty mentality in it. But it'll go from, uh, pastor to now I'm the apostle to not I'm the bishop to I'm the whatever it is. There'll be an emphasis on those things. Uh, it'll be much more sure. I'm speaking congregationally here and personally. So it'll be more ostentatious. One of the first things I did, is just a little personal thing in this. Um, one of the first things that I did when I came here, and I'm not ashamed or embarrassed to say this to you, is we, I'm not a car person. I don't particularly, uh, my wife will tell you, she knows way more about cars than I ever do. And I sometimes wonder, am I even off the male species given my lack of, I let her drive all the time. She drives me. I don't drive her. I'm just not into cars. But one of the first things I did when the church here got us a car is I got a Mercedes. And the reason I did that is because I knew straight away it would cut through the poverty mentality that was in our church, which was actually rife all the way. They had a high value for frugality, and it was a poverty mentality masquerading as. Now, some of that was just the generation that they were. But I didn't do it because I'm showing off. And if somebody else, they could do that, right? They could get a Hummer or whatever it is. And it's like, look at my. I did it to cut through something strategically in the life of the church. And I, I still couldn't tell you why a Mercedes is a good car or not. It's just a badge, right? It means there's nothing to, I can't tell you anything about the engine. I know it's got a couple of seats in the front and a few in the back, and that's about my height of car knowledge in that. Uh, why'd I say that? To say that that poverty mentality can be there. Sometimes you strategically have to introduce the boss. Okay. Similarly with people. You know, we're like, I'm doing really good with my money. You are. You seem to be saving it all. Yeah. Aren't I good with money? You know, you're terrible with money. You're enslaved to fear. You're slave to fear. You're afraid that you're going to misuse your money. You haven't spent anything in enjoying yourself, right? A king will say that. Like a priest won't say that. A priest to be like, great job with your money. But, and I worry, I'll say, let's go on a shopping spree together. But a king will say, hey, what are you spending on you that you're enjoying life? Don't you know firsthand? King is towards us without it, we lose our capacity. We engage in timidity, the poverty mentalities of our life. We desperately need it.

So guys, I think we're, um, about there in terms of time. I want to pray, uh, over us today. Uh, impartation that the Lord's grace would be honors in this, that he would open doors that no man can shut. It's one of the, it's one of the signs again, you're entering that season. You start getting words like this, I see open doors before you. Open doors as a sign your domain is changing. But, but I want to pray. And that, Father, we're so grateful. We thank you that your voice is kind and generous. And we humble our hearts today. Are we calm recognizing that you alone are the king of kings? It is your voice that we seek, even in the voice of others in the city. I thank you for the freedom of your voice. I thank you for the well done of your voice. I thank you for the favor of your voice. Today, we embrace the fullness of life, Jesus, that you came to offer. We recognize that we take hold of that for which you have taken hold of us, life in its fullness. Today, I pray that you would begin to break in as any, um, vestige of the poverty mentality, any area where there's been reluctance to embrace your favor, any area where we've hidden yourself where you've called us to make ourselves known to be the light of the world. Father, I pray for my friends listening in and engaging in this process together. I pray by the spirit of the living God that you would open doors for them that no man could shut. For Father, surely you have called us to be sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, kings and queens, that we rule and reign with you. And even now, seated with you above the principalities and powers and the rulers in heavenly places. I pray today that you would awaken them to new dimensions of their authority in you, to fresh steps of their identity. Father, I pray that you would rewrite the story. That you would rip up the old narrative and that you would bring in the expanse of hope that comes from your voice. I pray today that you would set before them an open door that no man can shut. We thank you for the process of fragility, of wrestling with insecurity, of wondering, do we really have what it takes? Lord, we don't today seek a breakthrough without process. We value the process. We're so grateful for the process. I pray for each one as they journal, as they think, as they converse with friends, as they pray about what we're engaging with, would you speak? Would your voice predominate over every other voice? So I bless you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to walk in the fullness of the kingdom in these days. To walk knowing that all things are yours. All things are yours, my son, my daughter. Everything I have is yours. You're always with me, and everything I have is yours. I bless you to walk in the knowledge today that all things are yours. That you will judge the nations and the peoples. That you will judge the powers and the principalities because in Christ, all things are yours. And I awaken you today to your inheritance in him, for your heirs of a kingdom, kings and queens. So we bless you today in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

Guys, God bless you. I think we get to do this all again on Friday for those of you who are joining us. And I cannot wait to see you then. Looking forward to diving into the voice of the warrior together. God bless you.