Your Influence is Powerful

You have influence — it makes a difference whether you know it and know how to use it.

Lately, I have noticed advertisements from life coaches popping up frequently. Maybe you have, too? They typically say something like, “You need this before you’re ready to do that” — whatever that may be. The goal is to make you believe that before you start something, you need a product or service. But even though a coach can be beneficial, it’s only half the truth you need to succeed. Because, the truth is, you already have the influence to do something — you may just be unaware of it.

Many Christian ministries also, unintentionally, nourish this picture of not being ready. They say, go to this conference or take that class with a special speaker, Evangelist, Teacher, Prophet, Apostle… This can implicitly create a gap between the key-note speaker and the listener.

Of course, it’s wonderful to learn all of those things — I have consulted with coaches myself and got a lot out of it! But it’s more beneficial to realize that you yourself are qualified and positioned to influence and to bring change.

Know who you are and what you have

No matter where you stand and what you’ve already experienced, as a child of God (John 1:12) you are an heir or heiress of God and co-heir in Christ (Rom. 8:16–17). This means that what is in heaven, the kingdom of God, is yours already and you can implement it in your life. It’s another question how to do that. The good news is, legally, you are allowed to because it’s your inheritance! (See Gal. 3:25–29)

As a child of God you have the right to experience heaven and the Bible doesn’t say that this is just for the afterlife. If Jesus puts the focus of the Lord’s Prayer at “on earth as it is in heaven” (Mat. 6:10), He gives us a clear hint that heaven on earth is possible from His perspective.

Our part in bringing the kingdom

When thinking about the Lord’s prayer, we often miss our part in it. We tend to expect that by prayer God would somehow change things miraculously into good, and if that doesn’t happen, we are disappointed. Sometimes we might blame leaders or even God if nothing happens or if things got worse.

Too many Christians feel and behave like they are victims of their circumstances, which might be true sometimes. Not so seldom though I observed people being the creators of their circumstances. Of course dealing with unexpected hardships or difficult situations is no fun (whether self-made nor by accident), but while bad things happen, aren’t we called to be overcomers despite what is going on? (See Rom. 8:37)

What do you choose to do?

As believers we need to know the power of choice. If a situation is bad, we can choose what we do about it. We can rant about the people we think created that mess, we can ask God to take us away from that corrupted earth, we could buy into messages of fear and spread it, we can make assumptions of bad intentions in others, we can hope for a redeemer. All of these are options, but they leave us helpless and don’t change anything for the better. Honestly, I don’t think heaven would look like this.

In heaven it’s clear that the battle is won and the redeemer is Christ, who gave those who believe Him access to heaven and even a seat where He sits, so that they implement what He prepared in their lives (Eph. 2:5–10). So if we believe Jesus, we are supposed to do things that He would have done and even more, enabled by the Holy Spirit (John 14:12–17). Jesus tells us that God enjoys to give us the kingdom and that if we have our focus on His kingdom, everything we need will be provided (Luk. 12:31–32).

Therefore, we have no excuse:

• We have rightful access to heaven and Christ’s inheritance,
• we are supposed to do what Jesus did and to focus on the kingdom of God,
• we have the Holy Spirit that helps us bring our inheritance from a spiritual place to where we can experience it physically,
• and if there should be any need or something we can’t do, God will provide for it.

This means, however bad a situation looks like, we have also the option to bring heaven to earth, right where we are. That might leaves you with the question:

“How can I bring heaven to earth?”

If you want to have an answer to this I would like to challenge you: Pick an example where you would like to see heaven on earth. What situation do you find challenging right now? Is it that you feel overwhelmed by something? Maybe you have struggles at work or home? Could it be that someone constantly annoys you or that you observe injustice going on? Pick something.

Because I guess you want to see results, soon, I’d suggest for now you pick something close to you, not a national or global topic.

Now, I would like you to think about your actual position in this setting. Are you in the middle of it or an observer? What role do you have (child, parent, employer, employee, team-member, spouse, relative, neighbour…)? If you want to bring effective change, you need to move inside the limits of these roles and at the same time know your options. You can’t, for example, command your boss to do what he needs to do. However, if you gain his respect, you could become a valued advisor — like Daniel was for three successive kings.

If you struggle to see the options (and often we do), ask God. It’s a good thing to involve Him anyway! Talk to Him! Ask Him how He would deal with it.

Questions that bring you to a heavenly solution:

• In what area/setting do you see a problem?
• What exactly is the problem?
• Who is involved?
• How is the relationship with the people involved? (That influences your limits and options, too! You only have so much influence as people know you love and value them.)
• What is your role in the setting?
• What are your limits?
• What are your options?
• What does God say about it?
• What do you feel prompted to do?
• If you have an idea, what to do, does it reflect heaven, God’s mercy and love?

Whatever the problem is, a good place to start is the relationships towards the people involved. People need love, no matter their disposition or character. Decide to love them, even if they don’t return it. Love doesn’t have to look romantic. It can be shown through help, honesty, diligence, respect and honour.

Love As a Key

Love truly is a door-opener, even in the workplace. On the job is a great place to release heaven on earth by the way. I have many good examples from my own experience in different jobs. In most cases I was able to create a very good work relationship with the managers, overseers, colleagues and customers, too. They knew I would work hard and give my best, while seeing people as human-beings, too. They knew I cared, and because of that they listened to my suggestions, which led to all sorts of changes.

People feel how you think about them and instinctively react on it. They would also feel if you fake to be nice. So action for action’s sake won’t be enough! Love needs to be felt by you, also when you do something for others. If you feel unable to love the people involved, ask God for help. Only if you have love for them, you can start bringing in more.

The more the people feel loved and valued by you, the more influence they will give you.

Wherever you are and whatever the situation you are in, to decide for love is always good, because God is love (1.Joh. 4:16). Through your love towards others He can touch hearts and open the doors for further change. It can even inspire people to do things differently than before.

If you wonder about where you have influence, remember how important love is to bring positive change. It’s the first thing you will need and it is what makes change lasting. Love is one of the fruits of the spirit (Gal. 5:22–23), which also means, that nobody, not even a law, can make you stop loving, if you decided for that path.

The fruits of the spirit generally are all good options to bring change into a situation. Just invite the Holy Spirit to assist you, so that you have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness and self-control. They are all good options to choose and door-openers for heaven to be welcomed by others.

Your constant dialogue with God will also help you finding practical solutions, more down-to-earth than you might expect. Learn to listen to His ideas and simply try whether it works.

The more you practise this, the more you will see how much influence you have, because by this you will release God’s kingdom just where you are. You’ll also realise that it’s actually pretty easy and fun.

With that experience you can than choose, if you need some extra knowledge regarding a certain topic. Your choice won’t be clouded by a general feeling of “not being ready”, because you already made the experience that you have influence and bring change. Your choice would rather be inspired by the longing to become even better in a certain area, while knowing who you are: co-heir in Christ, called to bring heaven to earth and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Source of the pictures:

• “Wide lightning”, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wide_lightning.jpg
• “Austria-03349 — Royal Items” https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Austria-03349_-_Royal_Items_(32811954821).jpg
• “Lightbulb-braids” https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lightbulb-braids.jpg
• “Heart-shaped_blast_(48645191011)” https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Heart-shaped_blast_(48645191011).jpg