Exponential SHIFT!
From the beginning of time, God created His creation to multiply but His multiplication can only happen if we are fruitful.
It’s a command to God’s people and a part of being in true covenant with Him!
Let the Word speak for itself!
Gen. 1:22 – every living creature – Be fruitful and multiply
Gen. 1:28 – Male and Female – Fruitful, Multiply, Subdue, Rule
Gen. 9:1, 9:7 – Be fruitful and multiply – fill the earth
Lev. 26:9; Gen. 17:2 - He confirms His covenant with us by making us fruitful and multiplying.
Jer. 23:3 – His remnant will be fruitful and multiply
Eze. 36:11 – man and beast – multiply, increase, fruitful, inhabited
According to Ezekiel our fruit should be producing continuously – (Ez. 47:12)
Let’s look at the meanings of these two words:
Fruitful: Para – verb –
· Branch off
· Bear fruit
· Show fruitfulness
· Grow/Increase
Multiply: Raba – verb –
· To become – great, many, numerous, much
· To make – large, enlarge, increase
· To increase greatly or exceedingly
· Be in authority
· Excel
Somewhere in the history of the church, we lost focus of what it meant to be fruitful and multiply. The churches began to be driven by division, competition and comparison. These two kingdom words became all about how we could multiply the sizes of our campuses and grow our congregations. With this shift, the kingdom of God mindset turned into the kingdom of ‘self’ mindset. We went from being able to flow with the Spirit of God in the unknown and adopted the mindset of the world by setting foreseeable goal after goal, not allowing anything to get in ‘our’ way of ‘our’ idea of be fruitful and multiply, not even correction from God Himself. To the worlds eye, this looks fruitful but to the eye of our Father, this is the most unfruitful work of darkness His Body has ever fallen for.
On Friday, September 8th, I woke up at 5 am, after a series of strange dreams related to the health of the church, and I kept hearing “Unfruitful works”. I went to my prayer room immediately and spent some time praying into it. There was this heaviness, sadness that I felt that entire day. I knew I was feeling the heart of our Father for His Son’s Bride. There are prophetic voices out there right now calling out the unfruitful works, but the Church isn’t listening. Many of these churches have become a people as Isaiah talked about: They say to the seers, “You must not see visions”; and to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right, speak to us PLEASANT WORDS, prophesy ILLUSIONS. Get out of the way, stop confronting us with the Holy One.” When a righteous, truth speaking prophet rises up amongst them, they either silence them with religious rhetoric or they remove them from amongst their body. This is all tied to the mindset of a ‘self-driven’ people instead of a Spirit-driven people. Church, this must stop!
Sunday, September 10th, a friend approached me at the break and said, “God gave me a word for you… ‘Exponential Thinking’.” He was a bit confused but I knew immediately what God was saying and the dots began to connect.
I believe this shift comes with a change of our thought processes. There are two thought processes that I want to mention here, incremental and exponential.
Incremental thinking is a mindset that does things very cautiously and in a series of small steps so that they can always see what is coming next. It’s to set attainable, foreseeable goals which requires no faith in order to reach it. We know where we’re going, what steps need to be taken, and we do it. Those who function with this mindset go into panic mode when their steps get frustrated or if they are unable to ‘see’ what’s next. This isn’t a bad mindset to have. This is how many businesses and organizations are built and become successful, BUT the Church isn’t a business nor an organization, it is a living, breathing body of individual believers who are called to be Spirit-driven, not self-driven by the plans of man. The Words says that God will frustrate the plans of man… Psalm 33:10-11 says, “The Lord unifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation… Blessed is he who’s God is the Lord…” If you find yourself frustrated in the midst of ‘your’ plans… it may be time to reassess.
The incremental thinking is the mindset needed to build a self-made kingdom. Again, it’s not one that is driven by faith. This is also a mindset that must control people because they must control the outcome. People are usually just another tool to get their plan to unfold. You see this mindset in most of the Church today, here are some of the signs:
Driven by hype and show – this gathers the seekers.
Everything is planned out from entrance to exit and when things do not go their way, everyone pays for it.
They are more about filling seats in an auditorium – they see this as reproduce and multiply. It’s something they can “see” and measure their success by.
There is no room really for faith, they trust their plans, therefore limited by the plans of man.
Events are geared towards building their organization larger.
The list could go on and on. The bottom line is that it’s unfruitful when viewed through the lens of the kingdom of God.
Exponential thinking is the mindset needed to build the kingdom of God His way! Some synonyms of exponential are aggressive, expanding, ascending…Exponential thinking is when you think long-term, outside of the box, and radical. This is where God began to shift my thinking years ago, but because of those around me, I thought maybe I was wrong and needed to be more structured, organized, less aggressive and less radical in my approach; but this thinking is where He wants His Church! Exponential thinking has a more innovative approach. It’s focused on creating breakthroughs. It’s a mindset that is able to conceive things without needing to see them. Why do we need this mindset? Because faith calls for it. Those who allow Holy Spirit to help them develop this mindset become okay with uncertainty, they are okay with being uncomfortable for His kingdom purpose. This thinking replaces the control of people (incremental thinking) with the control of principles – Trusting the Word, the voices of the prophets and the Holy Spirit to guide decisions. Because of this, exponential thinkers work with people, empowering them to use their gifts wherever they are. It’s a move that equips and empowers the Body of Christ to GO into their sphere and influence God’s way!
Signs of exponential thinking in the Church:
Driven by Holy Spirit and humility.
There may be a plan but Holy Spirit it allowed to frustrate it and it’s okay! Mistakes will happen and teaching moments take place. GRACE is huge.
Reproduce and multiply is kingdom focused – disciple making outside of the 4-walls is more important than filling a seat. It’s a flowing river, not a stagnant pool.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of being able to move forward into unforeseeable territory no matter how uncomfortable it is. Where the glory is, the limitation man puts on are removed!
Events are replaced with outreach, no longer being concerned with “how many can we attract for church on Sunday”, but instead, how can we equip others to impact the mountains of influence with the kingdom of God?!?
It’s aggressive, radical, unlike the rest… it’s a PIONEERING MINDSET!
I believe God is done with the unfruitful Church! His Word is clear that those who bear no fruit will be cut off and cast into the fire. What fire? Well, I think it’s our choice… it could be the fire of hell (judgement, destruction, death all brought on by self) or it could be the fire of purification through repentance and surrender and once purified… He will graft us back into the vine! This is the warning to those who do not follow through in this season : Those who do not bear GOOD (excellent in its nature and characteristics – well adapted to its ends) fruit – has no place in the Kingdom, only in the fire. (Mt. 3:10; 7:19; Luke 3:9) The choice is ours!
This shift requires some things from the Church, this is why they are choosing not to follow through! To be able to live exponentially, bearing fruit, and multiplying the kingdom there must be:
Repentance – Mat. 3:8
Perseverance – Luke 8:15
Abiding in Him – John 15
Death to self/to the law – Rom. 7:4
Discipleship – John 15:8
The fruit of the kingdom is righteousness, peace and joy.
The fruit of the kingdom is salvation – sozo – healing, deliverance, freedom.
The fruit of the kingdom is governance, dominion, rule, authority.
The fruit of the kingdom is the Spirit of God/Holy Spirit, who also bears fruit – Galatians 5
Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-control
Peter gives us an excellent example: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The fruit of the spirit is to walk by the Spirit.
This, Church, is a kingdom mindset lived out through exponential thinking! We aren’t swayed by the ways of the world! We are pioneers! We are the ones who go through the gates and clear the way for the people to enter. We are the ones who build up the highways, removing the stones, while lifting up a standard over the peoples! This is the fruitful Church!
I pray that you receive this word as a word straight from the heart of God! Release the need to know and control and bind tightly to you the shield of faith knowing that He will not lead you wrong! Let God frustrate your plans or you will live frustrated! Bend a little before you break!
This is a new walk for the Church of this era! Don’t silence the prophetic voices God sends! Isaiah goes on to say… “Because you have rejected this message (the prophets), relied on oppression, and depended on deceit…. There will be iniquity – destruction (too much to mention)… BUT in repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.”
Church – if you want to see the fullness of His kingdom come and His will done on this earth – it’s time to shift your thinking!
“Exponential Life, Exponential Thinking, Exponential Kingdom Mindset: One of reproduction and multiplication.”
Father, change my heart! I repent for not allowing You into my plans. Your word says many are the plans of man but You direct our steps but I know there have been times I’ve not listened as I should and did not follow Your lead, I truly repent. I surrender this incremental thinking for your exponential kingdom thinking! I desire to be a vessel of life transformation everywhere I go, I don’t want to look like the world! Thank You for revelation and understanding! In Jesus name, amen.