by Agents For Change International | Aug 31, 2021 | Blog
I will never forget the day in March 2014 when my husband came home from work and proclaimed he had good news. Since he started his business around the same time as the BP Gulf oil spill (2010) he was eligible for a handsome sum of money. A lawyer friend had contacted him and was going thru his firms financials to submit a claim. I just looked at Matthew and said “Oh so the reason your firm didn’t make a lot of money the first year was because of the oil spill.?” He looked at me and said “no.” I then responded, “Well then thats not your money.” He paused and I watched to see his response. “You are right. I wont take it.” to which I responded “Good, I can stay married to you now.” You see, in my mind I would not be equally yoked in my marriage if my husband was a thief. I was relieved that Matthew passed the test of character. By the way the amount was estimated to be $460,000. dollars. Yes – thats half a million dollars we declined. The next morning Matthew sent this email to his lawyer friend:
I want to first start by thanking you for your suggestions and looking out for me in the most sincerest way. I would also like your office to calculate any and all hours spent to date on this and please bill me. I have ran into a bit of a moral roadblock. I have been so busy with this city park that this past evening was the first time I had the chance to talk to my wife about this.
In summary, I am probably entitled to a settlement from the enormous brick wall we hit in the economy with my prior architectural firm PKStudios, where I was the “K”. When I left there in the last part of 2009 to start my own firm, I had modest expectations to do business in Old Naples and focus on houses and commercial projects under my area of expertise. Since then, our firm popularity exploded and that is why we had such a revenue difference between 2010 and now. In good faith, I don’t see how I could justify any of the income difference to be of the fault of the oil spill. I was simply starting from scratch and was at the right place, with the right talent, selling the right product at the right time. I also had the backing of right standing which I contribute to my success.
As you probably know, Trista is an ordained minister and often teaches on living life in the right way. With this, we have taken a family approach to try to live life at the highest possible standard and gaining from something like this when not internally justified does not meet our vision.
I hope you understand where we are coming from and I also hope you know this has absolutely nothing to do with you or your business. You are highly respected and I know you do everything you can to look after your client’s best interest. I also like you very much as a friend and you will be the first that I call for any business related law services I require. With us and this particular situation, it is just something we would struggle with.
Thanks,
Matthew Kragh, AIA, NCARB
I was never so proud of him as in that moment. Thus, my email response to him when was this:
God will honor you for operating with integrity -with more blessings in our lifetime than this settlement would of ever gotten you.
You passed the test.
I’m proud to be your wife!!!! – Trista Sue
I was so proud that Matthew passed the test, I even sent the email to my mentor, Dr Myles Munroe. Here was his response:
Dear Trista, (Matthew),
It is a breathe of fresh air and exceptional inspiration to read Matthew’s letter and to see the integrity and Character it manifests. I am so proud of him and know that because he took such a high stand in the arena of business the Lord will open BIG DOORS in the next three month!! Get Ready! I personally want to give Matt my highest respect. You both make me proud associated with you and to see the ethical and moral foundations you are laying for Maverick. “He has great parents”!
God bless you both and I love you also.
In His Kingdom service,
Papa
Myles Munroe
What I noticed in Dr Munroe’s email was he shifted to the next generation. Most people don’t understand that our decisions do effect the generations to follow.
I’ve have religious people say “Oh, that was God blessing you.” or “I would of taken the money.” Thats deceitful. Those gray areas can get you in a lot of trouble down the road. Clearly God was testing us. It was all a set up to see if He could trust us with more. Herein lies another key principle: When you are faithful in the little things, than God can trust you and knows you will be faithful with more. (Luke 16:10)
I just recently found out that a few of Matthews friends did submit start-up business claims with that same lawyer friend and were all denied. Therefore as it turned out, we wouldn’t of received a settlement anyways, but now our intentions are proven to be clean before God.
Regarding the 3 month time frame Dr. Munroe referred to in his email response, Matthew did receive a large job to develop with an entire island in the Caribbean. He said it was enough work to last him 20 years. He said it was enough work to last him until our baby son, Maverick went to college! Imagine that – getting a contract so large it will be supplying you with 20 years worth of work! Now thats Kingdom.
(At the time of this writing (2021) we have 7 regional offices that cannot even handle the work load. Matthew’s firm (MHK) is extremely successful.)
If we would of taken the $460,000 then that is all we would have and one day it would run out. Since we did not claim what did not rightfully belong to us, then God blessed us with 100x’s more wealth than that $460,000 would of ever given us.
That same year I passed a $100,000 test. I declined money that was rightfully due to me through the hotel, however the way it was presented to me would of been under the table. Therefore, I had no choice but to decline.
Even Jesus himself was tested. Regarding His baptism, the authority sanctions your gift, but you still can’t be trusted. Therefore immediately Jesus was lead by the Holy Spirit to the desert to be tested. Even God had to test his own son. When He is satisfied with your testing, then God gives to you without measure. Never trust anyone who hasn’t passed the test or been tested. You are promoted in the Kingdom by testing. Do not become a proverb for people to talk about.
If God is going to use you greatly you must pass the same 3 tests that Jesus passed.
1st test is appetites of the flesh: this includes food, drink, drugs and sex.
2nd test is for desire for fame, instant success
3rd test is desire for power
You keep going through problems because you didn’t pass the test. Don’t be tempted by the long-cuts, which are disguised as short-cuts. My recommendation is to always stay in right-standing with His government and pass the test the first time and God can entrust you with more.
This is an excerpt from Trista Sue Kragh’s book Figure It Out which can be found on amazon.com
The School of Influence for Agents of Change is an e-course is available for anyone looking to pinpoint their purpose and document their life vision. Decide to live an intentional, fulfilling life by serve your gift to your generation.
by Agents For Change International | Aug 31, 2021 | Blog
Leadership in Crisis
I am extremely disturbed as I bear witness the global landscape of who society considers leaders. Having a seat of power or a title does not automatically qualify you as an authentic leader. Just as wearing a power suit does not guarantee your motives are pure or ethical either. Herein lies the dilemma of this leadership crisis we are facing.
Most of the people that we call leaders today are not true authentic leaders. They define their leadership based on a position, title, status, power, or the amount of people that follow them. Many also look to the outside appearance or how articulate their speech is as qualification enough. However, none of this is how true authentic leadership is defined, for leadership is very subtle.
The issue boils down to this: if you don’t know what something authentically looks like, then you can’t determine what it is truly suppose to be. Society’s philosophy and false concept of leadership is the root of the problem as to why we cannot find true leaders.
Traditional Leadership Philosophy
Before we can understand what it means to become an authentic leader, we must assess the current philosophy that has been accepted by humanity and take a look at what true authentic leadership is not. Therefore it is imperative to understand the traditional leadership philosophy that is still in effect today. This illegitimate philosophy states that:
• Leadership is about controlling and imposing one’s will on others.
• Leadership is the management of people.
• Leadership is superior to followers. This is why it is so dangerous to promote certain people
• Leadership is served by followers, and that it is measured by how many followers that you have.Â
• Leadership is cultivating and manipulating the fear of others. These individuals are nothing but professional manipulators. They force things to go their way with ulterior motives. It is an oppressive spirit in operation where they withhold from you in order to manipulate you. They work on your emotions with their words.
True leadership is contrary to these elements. A true leader is focused on serving ones’ gift for the sake of humanity. For authentic leadership is not measured by how many people serve you, but by how many people you serve. Unfortunately, the majority of many are focused on self-preservation or the next election. When you spend your life living for others, you will never die. You will live beyond the grave, through your legacy. Meaning your leadership impact will outlive you. True authentic leadership is not about control, but about service. It is not about power, but about empowerment. Most people say, ‘Oh, that’s a powerful leader, look how he dresses and addresses the crowds’. This is the problem because a true leader instead has people saying, ‘He empowered me to become myself and serve my greatness’. True leadership is not about manipulation, but about inspiration. Inspiring others is the highest form of leadership.
Authentic leadership is not about people, but about purpose. It has more to do with pursuing oneself rather than being pursued by others. True leadership is becoming, more than doing. When you have discovered something about yourself, in the process of becoming oneself – you inspire others. That is when people submit to the vision you have. This generation needs leaders who can plan, who can make tough decisions, leaders that inspire others and not manipulate them, leaders who respond to change, and those who are honorable and have character.
Regarding politics, as Dr. Myles Munroe stated, “We do not need more politicians in leadership. We need more leaders in politics.” Many politicians are power hungry. Too many lack self-esteem and have a poor self-concept. We cannot naively believe because someone is given the title of a politician that they are an authentic leader. The current political system that we have produces politicians rather than true authentic leaders. Politicians are mostly concerned about their next election. This is why they are not truly manifesting their leadership. Their concern is about staying in power instead of serving the people. However, true leaders are concerned about the next generation, rather than the next election.
Now that we have reviewed what true authentic leadership is not, its time to take a look at the role of true authentic leaders:
- They provide vision.
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They transfer the vision to others.
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They build and empower their team towards results.
- They manage priorities.
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They manage people’s giftings.
- They must possess values and cultivate a high standard of moral ethics. Never trust a visionary without any values.
This leads us to the original philosophy of leadership, which can be found in the first book of Moses. Every human was created to lead and designed for dominion. Leadership potential resides in every individual. You were born to lead, but you must become a leader. True leadership is about self-manifestation. It is about manifesting who you truly are and born to become. Therefore, the purpose of true leadership is not in maintaining followers but in becoming the leader that you were created to be and in turn empowering others as they embark on their own leadership potential, purpose, and destiny. As Dr. Myles Munroe stated, “Trapped in every follower is a hidden leader”.
Leadership is not the pursuit of power, position, title, or authority. What you need is a self-actualization of who you are. You need to spend some time with yourself, by yourself, because if you are around too many people who don’t know who they are, they can cloud you from discovering who you authentically were born to become.
True leaders are more concerned with expressing themselves than proving themselves. Leadership is not only about the ability; but more importantly having the proper mentality. When you serve your ability and have the right mentality, that is when you become a true authentic leader. This is why it is vital that you discover who you are. Your ability to lead depends on your attitude that is produced by your self-image, your self-worth, and your self-esteem.
True authentic leadership is the discovery of self and then serving yourself to your generation. When you know the truth of who you are, why you are here, and what you were born to do, and then you serve what you have discovered to humanity, with the right mentality, you are a leader. Now you will have discovered your area of leadership dominion. You have authentic leadership potential built inside of you, however it is only manifested when you discover who you are and you operate in your domain.
Excerpt taken from Trista Sue Kragh’s Authentic Leadership e-course, which is available for anyone looking to discover their area of authentic leadership domain.
The School of Influence for Agents of Change is an e-course is available for anyone looking to pinpoint their purpose and document their life vision. Decide to live an intentional, fulfilling life by serve your gift to your generation.
by Agents For Change International | Jun 28, 2021 | Blog
“I came alive when I documented my vision and started to live beyond my sight” – Trista Sue
It is from my personal experience that I believe one is not even remotely living life until they have started living by vision. I never felt so alive until I documented and started walking out the vision for my life at age 35. It’s simply exhilarating to experience God’s dynamic as one chooses to launch into their God-inspired vision for their life.
After I initiated the vision and plan for my life, it was then that I felt my life had truly begun. I started living my life, rather than life living me. It all made sense now as I was in partnership with God actually doing something meaningful and worthwhile. I’ve come to the conclusion that until you begin living your vision you are just going for a very long and unfulfilling walk. Sure, you can accomplish some things, but if you really want to make a difference you must abandon yourself to your life assignment. Yes, God is always with you, but imagine God working with you. It’s exhilarating! There’s always something exciting happening!
It’s energizing to see someone of influence stepping into your path to assist with your vision. Vision is very attractive to others – people love to contribute and be around those that are going somewhere. When you begin to walk out your vision, you will witness God adding pieces to the puzzle as the process continues to evolve. You begin to see clearer and clearer than when you first began.
Vision is derived from the word ‘optica’, meaning, ‘coming into view’. The funny thing about vision is that God only initially shows you the end result. You see the end picture, which should be so big it’s impossible for you to accomplish alone. It should be overwhelming. That’s the sign it is a true vision from God, and not a human concoction.
Vision affects not only you, but ultimately those you were appointed to impact. A true vision is bigger than you, and isn’t really about you at all. It’s all about what God wants done on the earth through you as an agent of change. He is looking for people that are willing and available to be influencers for him. It has the potential of affecting hundreds and thousands of people, of whom you may never know on this side of life.
As Dr Myles Munroe taught in the mentorship program:
“Vision is never for the visionary. God will never give you a vision for you; it’s to improve other people. If you help others become successful you will always have what you need.”
This is why it is so important to accomplish what you were born to do. As an individual you are just one piece of the large puzzle that only God sees. We only see in part a small portion in the big picture of what God has in mind. However, God will never force anybody to do anything that they don’t want to do. He respects your free will. He is just looking for people who are abandoned to what is on his heart, and in this process you are completely and utterly fulfilled. It’s really the most beautiful collaboration imaginable. You’re fulfilling God’s will and at the same time He is fulfilling your needs. God will give you what you need – when needed – in order to fulfill what He has called you to do. However often times we are too busy praying or focused on our personal needs, rather than praying and taking action to change nations.
If you can change your priorities to pursue your purpose you can change not only your destiny but also the destiny of others. It’s much bigger than you. Because Dr. Munroe pursued his purpose, it affected my entire family’s life, the destiny of my children and those I am mentoring as well as those that they are mentoring. Thankfully Dr. Munroe manifested himself, mentored others and died empty. The domino effect is still continuing, even after his transition.
The time is long overdue for us to stop wasting our lives by pursuing our own needs but rather pursue making a difference by leaving an impact in our generation. We live in a culture that is extremely self-centered. Many are obsessed with selfies, their looks, their lifestyle and how the world perceives them. Experts now claim that the selfie generation is so self-obsessed that it has become a new form of addiction. However, God is looking for the polar opposite. He is waiting for those that are selfless and desire to cooperate with His will in order to impact their generation by serving their gift to others.
True vision always focuses on helping humanity and building up others. It is not about oneself or personal ambition. You can tell if it’s true vision or personal ambition by asking yourself, “Who does this benefit?” If it only benefits you and your family, then that’s just personal ambition. That’s not a vision from God.
We must stop the madness of pursuing our own personal ambitions and get to work by initiating the vision that is trapped within.
The difference between personal ambition and an authentic vision is by who benefits from it.
So, what is your passion? Use your imagination. Write it down. It is trapped inside of you. Consult with your Creator. It is found in the mind of the manufacturer and by studying your natural gifting. He knows why He made you. Study your characteristics. Why are you the way you are? It is very clear to me that God wanted me born to specific parents, in a specific year, in a specific town and attend a Christian school for a specific reason. There are reasons behind everything, and it has to do with your purpose. Trust me, He will use EVERYTHING to benefit your purpose, even tragedies. Many of you have gone through extremely tragic times. Watch what God can do with that. It will never be in vain, unless you allow it to be.
The School of Influence for Agents of Change is an e-course is available for anyone looking to pinpoint their purpose and document their life vision. Decide to live an intentional, fulfilling life by serve your gift to your generation.
by Agents For Change International | Jun 28, 2021 | Blog
Growing up in religion I was instructed that I should always be led by the Holy Spirit. However, no one explained exactly what that looked like. How de we know the difference between our emotions and a prompting of the Holy Spirit? How can we tell the difference between our own will and the will of God?
This was always a gray area for me and numerous others in my religious circles. For some reason it was almost like we unconsciously left our brain at the church door on the way out of the sanctuary and constantly looking for signs as to what Gods will was for my life. . These signs could be found on bumper stickers, road signage, or always desiring for someone to prophesize over me. As a teenager and young adult I was always at the alter praying for Gods will for my life. It wasn’t until my mid-thirties that I started learning how the Kingdom of God operated differently than the religious mindset I had formed my entire life.
One day, my personal mentor, Dr Myles Munroe explained a scripture that knocked me off my feet. Proverbs 12:5 states “The thoughts of the righteous are right.” In other words, if your heart is right then your thoughts are right. God speaks to you through your thoughts. WOW! How amazing is that? It had confirmed what I was experiencing at the time. Therefore, if your heart (in Hebrew is the mind) are right, then naturally the thoughts that I was continually thinking were God speaking to me
The Holy Spirits job is to reveal all truth to you. But understand, He will only reveal what you want to know. Seek and you shall find. You must initiate the search, then it is the Holy Spirits job to reveal truth to you. Sometimes it comes to you through information you discover or your thoughts. It may be found in a book that’s been sitting on your shelf, in the scriptures, or through someone speaking. And when you hear it, it will hit you like a ton of bricks. I came to the realization that the repetitive thoughts that keep coming to me, are Gods thoughts and His desires. As are the ideas that I get, regarding the vision, business or family matters. They seem so natural, however it is the Holy Spirit thinking through me. Many times God will bring someone into your life that is a Divine connection or connects you with what is needed.
The beauty of discovering (hearing) the truth, is that your spirit recognizes truth when it hears it, for the human spirit is from God, and when it is heard there is a deep resonance that occurs immediately. People may choose not to accept it, but there is a knowing in their spirit, and it is up to the mind to adapt to it or not.
My mother taught me a very valuable lesson when I was young. Colossians 3:15 states “Let the peace of God be the umpire in your life and actions.” The Amplified version puts it this way “Let the peace of Christ [the inner calm of one who walks daily with Him] be the controlling factor in your hearts [deciding and settling questions that arise.” You are to make decisions based on whether you have a peace or sandpaper feeling. Many times you won’t understand why you don’t have a peace about it, but you must go with that. Never go against that ‘sandpaper’ feeling in your gut – it never turns out well.
Jesus did not bring a school of emotions, instead it was a school of thought. This school of thought is the Kingdom of God. It has more to do with psychology than anything else. It deals with your mind, your thinking, rather than your spirit. For your mind is more dangerous than your spirit. Jesus was working on their mindsets.
He stated “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has arrived.” Repent is a word from psychology. Change your mind, change your thoughts, change your ideas, change your mentality, therefore changing your behavior, for God’s eternal government has returned. This change in mentality takes a lot of work, but its worth it, as it changes your life in amazing ways with tangible results.
My biggest surprise was that the Kingdom of God is so practical! It takes the guess work out of floating around wondering what the will of God is and finally knowing the direction He has for you, if you so choose. You may not know the exact steps, but you know the ultimate direction. Thats where the benefit of faith kicks in as you are guided along each step of the way of your vision. This is why is why its so important to document your vision. For when doing so, you will find that “In their hearts (mind) humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” Prov. 16:9 (NIV) Therefore, it is your responsibility to make a plan for your life, based on your purpose, passion, gifting and desires to accomplish for humanity and ultimately for the glory of the Kingdom of God.
The 2 most important organs in our body are the heart and the brain. You cannot function without either of them. Since having children, I have been studying the brain a bit. The brain is so complicated it takes over 20 + years to develop. If God created something so important and fascinating why do we as religious people choose to ignore this organ? I’ve seen some well-intentioned religious people make the craziest, emotional decisions all in the name of God.
The difference is day and night for me since I renewed my mindset from a religious one to understanding the government of God. Now its crystal clear what God’s will for my life and therefore life has never been more intentional, productive and fulfilling. Now it is up to you to discover His will. This can be found by pinpointing your purpose and fleshing out your vision on paper. It’s a process that takes a bit of time, but then you are on your way to true successes and bearing fruit for the Kingdom of God.
The School of Influence for Agents of Change is an e-course is available for anyone looking to pinpoint their purpose and document their life vision. Decide to live an intentional, fulfilling life by serve your gift to your generation.
