The Right Question

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The Right Question

Bicycles and Ponies

The excitement I feel when entering a country for the first time is akin to what a child feels when they realize they have been given a new bicycle or a pony. It’s magical, and full of untapped possibilities. There are people to meet, and things to see; there are cultural nuances to be discovered that will both challenge and expand my thinking; and new foods and language that will make the human experience brighter and fuller than it was before.?

Each time I enter a new country—as I am preparing to deplane, disembark the boat or train, or step out of the car for the first time—with a childlike expectancy in my spirit I ask the following question, “Lord, what do You want me to pray?” The answers to that question have been many and varied over the years, and have given me valuable insights into loving and serving among people and cultures that are not my own.

The Question Changed Direction

It was while visiting our home country, Australia, a few years back that this question turned on me in an unexpected way. As I was trying to lift my carry-on down out of the overhead locker without braining anyone in the process, the Lord challenged me that I hadn’t yet asked Him what He wanted me to pray. Asking Him the usual question wasn’t really on my mind. I was going back to the familiar for a couple of weeks, and given I had spent the first thirty-nine years of my life living there, it’s fair to say I felt reasonably well versed on the subtleties of Australian history, culture and people.?

I took His challenge anyway, though, and decided to ask. His response caught me off guard. He said, “Given you are back in your country of origin, I want to invite you to ask a different question.” The question was: “Lord, what do?Yousay that I need?”

Figuring God must not have been hearing my prayers all these years, or had simply not been paying attention, I decided to help the Big Guy out and correct Him… “But Lord, I?always?ask that question.”?

He replied in an all knowing, clarifying, put-me-back-in-my-box kind of way, “No. No you don’t. You?bring?Me your needs, but you have never—not one time—asked Me what?I?say?you need.”

Now I look back on it, I feel not asking this question over the years had been a pretty obvious and significant oversight in my prayer life. I was never wrong to bring Him my needs. In fact, He had invited me to. But to ask Him, “What do?You?say I need?” was uncomfortably different, and very new.?

You are smart. You know the implications that asking this question caused to run through my mind—“What if He says I don’t need the things I?think?I need? Or even?worse… what if He says I need things I?don’t?think I need?” At that moment, it did not occur to me that He was inviting me to ask Him for things that I had never before given myself permission to ask for. And the reason I had never given myself permission to ask, was because I had not considered myself worthy of asking for such things. It was like I had just been given the pony?and?the bicycle, but it wasn’t even Christmas, or my Birthday. This new question struck at the core of who I believed I was, and Who I believed God was—it caused me to take a good, hard look at my?identity.

The Obvious Question

The right question. It always seems so darn obvious in hindsight, doesn’t it? Post-script, it is usually one of those “Doh!” moments of, “Why didn’t I think to ask that?”?It’s the, “Can you tell me how much food will be on my plate?” question you wished you had asked when ordering a meal in a European restaurant. Or neglecting to ask the plumber, “What price point am I looking at to fix that leak?”—before?they cut into the drywall.?

Pertaining to spiritual leadership—the right question, when asked at the right time, causes the information in front of us to look very different. Right questions bring clarity and efficiency to the change process in front of us and can help us, in even the most complex circumstances, to lead well ahead of the pack.

Spiritual leadership in business requires us to ask many questions. Good questions. Questions God has given us permission to ask. But are they always the?right?questions for the moment? Are they the type of question that cause us to re-examine who we are in light of who God is? The right question will shape our identity, both as a leader, and as a child of God. The problem is, these types of questions are not always obvious…until they are.

I guess its fair to say that whatever the Hebrew word equivalent was for “Doh!”, that word would have been heard from at least some of the disciples the day Jesus challenged them about asking the right question.

“But now I am going away to the one who sent me, and not one of you is asking where I am going.” (“Doh!”)—addition mine!

John 16:5 NLT

Jesus had just delivered an insight no one in the history of humanity had ever heard before. In the verses that preceded His chastisement, He revealed that He must go, and that Holy Spirit will come and live?in?them. He gives them one of the greatest revelations to come out of Heaven, and they don’t even ask the obvious question!Gosh, if I tell my wife Julie I am going out for five minutes, she rightfully asks, “Where…?”?

The disciples’ minds would have been swirling—possibly still stuck back at chapter 13 wondering who the heck in the room was going to betray Him—and no doubt there were many other questions running through their shell-shocked minds. I’m guessing, with the hand grenade Jesus had just pulled the pin on concerning His pending departure, their focus had turned to the life-altering implications this radical news would have on them and their circumstances. I’m sure mine would have been!

The Value of Hindsight

The key here is this: Jesus declares that when the revelation of Heaven is entrusted to His spiritual leaders, no matter how confronting or confusing, there are important questions—right questions—and oftentimes the most obvious questions—that need to be asked. These are often the types of questions that are designed to reveal more of who He is, and just how much He thinks of us.?Identity?types of questions. Questions that will help us lead from positional authority.?

That was at the heart of the question He was inviting me to ask, those years ago. He wasn’t asking me so that I would operate from fear or lack. He was inviting me to ask because He wanted to invite me into abundance in all things. He was prepping me to receive the needed resources to match the responsibility of the calling He had given me. He was inviting me to operate from positional authority as a son of an aways good Heavenly Father who loves me perfectly. Amazing the things we can see in hindsight, isn’t it?

For the disciples, He wanted to have them see that they were a key part of a much bigger picture—the salvation of the human race. He wanted them to see that the old resources they had depended on while walking with Jesus wouldn’t cut it when it came to the new calling from God to go into all the world to make disciples of nations. They would need God?with?them,?on?them and?in?them to fulfill the task. He wanted them to realize that this grand mission was impossible unless He died and rose again to make Heaven accessible for all. Should they have asked the right question, they would have seen?who Jesus truly was, and had a new perspective regarding?who they were?that would have changed?their perspective on everything. Thankfully, they got there in the end, and as I’ve said—hindsight is an amazing thing. The more you practice it, the quicker you see it next time around.

Rationale Behind Revelation

The moment you step into spiritual leadership in any capacity, Jesus will give you revelation. Revelation is intended to cause you to press into His heart and ask the?right?questions. Identity revealing questions. Obvious questions. The type of questions that will help you to lead from positional authority as a child of an always good Heavenly Father who loves you perfectly. It’s how God works.

I have indeed asked many questions during my nearly thirty years of spiritual leadership in many different settings across the world. Some questions have been really good ones. But not always the?right?ones.?

Here at Anothen, we build leaders to hear from Heaven. One way we do this is to help leaders ask the right questions at the right time.

Are Your Questions Right?

As you consider your current spiritual leadership context, what are the important questions that are still yet to form on your lips? What are the questions that cannot be identified without the value of hindsight? Perhaps it is time to go back to basics and ask the most obvious, and identity revealing question, “Lord, what do?You?say that I need?” I promise you this: Asking this question will change how you see everything and everyone—even yourself—even God.

These days, as I enter a new country, I still ask Him, “What would you like me to pray?” But now straight after I have prayed that prayer, the now familiar prayer falls just as quickly from my lips. And guess what? The answer some days may even require that I need a bicycle or a pony, because He is just?thatgood.?And—I don’t say, “Doh!” nearly as often as I used to!

Check your questions.?

"Mark is a key part of my life and spiritual journey. I have had Mark as a coach since 2017 and then finally hired him on retainer in 2022. It is a game changer for my life and business. I am able to stay in God's alignment for my business and life with the help of Mark's wisdom. It is imperative for me to be using my GPS (God Positioning System) and Mark helps me make sure it stays in alignment with God and his Purpose."