Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Dennis Lindsay Author of The Lens of the Father

Episode Date: November 27, 2024

Dennis G. Lindsay has dedicated over 20 years to Christian ministry, primarily in the Triangle region of North Carolina. As a seasoned spiritual father, he is passionate about mentoring young leaders and helping them discover and fulfill their divine gifts and callings. An empowering life coach and leader, he imparts much wisdom and carries grace to build strong marriages, and families, and helps facilitate Kingdom legacies. He and his wife, Kathleen, now reside in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas region, where they are pioneering building ministry teams, equipping emerging leaders,and sending them to various regions of the world.Learn More: https://thelensofthefather.com/Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-dennis-lindsay-author-of-the-lens-of-the-father

Welcome to influential entrepreneurs, bringing you interviews with elite business leaders and experts, sharing tips and strategies for elevating your business to the next level. Here's your host, Mike Saunders. Hello and welcome to this episode of Influential Entrepreneurs. This is Mike Saunders, the authority positioning coach. Today we have with us Dennis Lindsay, who's the author of The Lens of the Father. Dennis, welcome to the program. Thank you very much, Michael. It's great to be with you.

You know, I love talking with authors because I love hearing about the life lessons and professional and personal struggles or triumphs that someone has gone through to come to the point of going, I need to get this down into a book. So I'm excited to hear about your book, but get us started first with your story and background. And what led you to come to the point of writing this book? Oh, thank you, Mike. What I realized is I've been a pastor for 20-some years. I've pastor to church, started a ministry. And I realized that, wait a minute, I'm missing my story. I've helped a lot of people in ministry. And I realized that I've left out some very key ingredients. And that ingredient was actually my story. And I decided to put it into content. That's how I get here.

You know, it's interesting because when you think, about your story that becomes your legacy and you you want that story to remain long after we've left the earth and maybe people that come behind us, family, friends can learn from your story. So where did you start in your story when you felt led to write this book? Where do you even start? That's a great question. I just really prayed and just really listened to the Holy Spirit. And one of the things that he wanted me to do was just to go back to the things that had influenced me the most in my life. And it started with my childhood.

That kind of is the starting point of it all, but sometimes people can't really, it's a little fuzzy to think back that far. So were you having any trouble going back and going, well, what were some of those bumps in the road in my childhood? No, actually I didn't, because one of the major things that I had in my childhood is that I had a full-fledged family.

I had a mother, father, sisters, and brothers, and I was given away to my grandmother when I was a child, when I was a baby. And my grandparents reared me. We were in the same community, and I was the only one of all of my siblings that had been given away to my grandparents for them to rear me. And that's where my story began. Interesting. Very neat. Well, that also would tie into probably the title, the lens of the father. So what does it actually mean to view your life through the lens of the father? And that's capital F, Father God, versus your earthly father. Great, great question. Because a lot of the dysfunction that I had experienced early on in my life, I realized that I didn't really see

myself, nor did I see the father through his lens. And as a result, I experienced so much dysfunction. So I realized that as I was writing, I realized what the Holy Spirit wanted me to do was to illuminate the power of the lens of the Father so that I could see myself the way that he saw me. You know, it's interesting. You know, I think a lot of people have a misconception of many things, of course. But so many times your view of God, the Father, you know, the Trinity, God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit, but God, the God, the Holy Spirit, but God, the God, the God, the God. father, so many times people think of as different than others. And you might ask someone to say, oh, well, he's the judge that watches for me to do wrong things and then disciplines me. Well, that maybe is an element of it. But what are some of the attributes and aspects of the lens

of the father that you discovered that you amplified in the book? Oh, great. Actually, his compassion and his love for me. Because what I found out early on is that I was living my life from a position of pain versus a position of authority being a son of the father. And what happened in essence is it skewed my entire perspective of not only my life, but how I view myself as related to the father himself. You know, I think that's so huge is that it's we tend to believe the lies we tell ourselves, you know, and who else would we want to believe but ourselves? So, yep, let's believe ourselves. But if we're telling ourselves lies about whatever the case is, that really is detrimental.

And I think that so many times people don't really realize the power of the I-M statements in the Bible. You know, when you can go through all of those, and I've seen so many of those, you know, like worksheets where it's like, listen, you need to realize your position in Christ. These I-M statements are super, super powerful. And that, that, you know, ties into who you are in Christ, but that is through the lens of the father, how the father sees us, right? Absolutely. Because with me, early on, I realized that as a child, the pain had not only gripped my mind, but it actually limited me in life. And I took on the unbeliefs. And as a result of taking on the unbeliefs, I only saw God.

I didn't really see him as a father, as a loving and kind father. Because I thought to myself, why was I the only one that was given away? So that limited mindset stayed with me for a while until the lens of the father became clear to me. Yeah. So what are some of the other hidden nuggets that you tend to kind of came up with through your journey? because sometimes I feel like we we schedule ourselves, our life so busy that we're running, running, running, and we don't tend to notice things around us that are important. Well, you know, when you sat down to write this book and you notice back in your childhood,

well, here's one nugget or one truth. And here's a lie. And let me overcome that lie. Talk a little bit more about some of those hidden nuggets that you discovered. Great. When that perception of who you are and how you see the father, when that perception is skewed by what you feel, you actually take on the identity of pain. In my case, that's exactly what it was.

The dysfunction of pain became the driving force in my life, even though I had a relationship with the Lord, because I had taken on pain and I had not taken on the true identity of who I was in God. It skewed my identity. It caused me to blame others for where I was in life. And in essence, because of that perception being skewed, it limited my perception of not only myself, but my heavenly father. So it limits you. It restricts your movements in the kingdom of God because you're basing everything on the world and the reality of what you are experiencing. instead of who you are. You know, and isn't it true that we are motivated so much by pain?

You know, we want to avoid pain as much as possible. But I think if we internalize that too much, we start getting this selfish kind of an internal mindset versus, you know, it's like the old saying, you know, don't, don't tell your, God, how big your problems are. Tell your problems how big your God is. and when you can look up and go, God, I'm in this pain. You know, why? And what can I learn from it?

So you can turn that pain into purpose, right? So what were some of the insights that you discovered for you to recognize the pain and then to turn it into purpose by looking at that through the lens of the father? Oh, great question. I realize, you know, the more I began to really look at my story, I did take a deep dive. And I started asking the father, okay, why am I hurting? Why do I feel like I'm not good enough as a result of being given to my grandparents for them to raise me? So then, you know, taking that deep dive, I had to really listen and understand that the Holy Spirit was telling me these things were happening for you that you were experiencing around pain. They were happening for you, not happening to you. That's why. That's when my mindset, that's when my mindset began to take on the nature of Christ, the nature and the character of Christ. Because that was a light bulb moment for me.

And I was like, wait a minute. You mean to tell me this pain doesn't belong to me? It's not that we don't feel pain. I had taken ownership of the pain and therefore it skewed my identity in Christ. I couldn't really see who I really was in Christ. And that's where the lens of the father comes in. You know, a couple things pop in my mind, scripture wise, you know, like who the Lord loves, he chasons or disciplines. And also the examples we see in scripture of, you know, when heat is applied to silver, the dross rises to the top, the impurities that scrape that off.

And then the potter's wheel, the clay, all of those things there, actually. And we've heard probably songs and examples about all of those. It's kind of like, look, I'm in this. this kiln, this oven, get me out of this. No, you can't do that because you need the heat to become perfected. So it's through those times of trial that we should learn our lessons. Now, if you're like the children of Israel and grumble and complain for 40 years in the wilderness, then that's going to extend it out. So teach me the lessons quickly, Lord. Well, I realize, you know, by writing this book that as a child, even though I believed in Christ, I had only come to the cross.

I had not taken up the cross as Jesus gives us the mandate to do so. Because when you take up the cross, what happens is you realize that the things that you thought were really coming against you, that the Lord has really given you power over those things. So when you take up the cross, actually, the way that you're living your life is from a position of being a son that you are empowered over the things, people, and places that you have experienced dysfunction as it relates to your past. So then you don't blame anyone anymore. You don't blame yourself and you don't blame anyone because of taking up your cross. You're actually walking in the authority seeing yourself through the lens of the father, the way the father wants you to be

seen and live in this life. So what would that look like specifically? Think of an example. of where someone is going through something doesn't take up the cross, but then if they realize that realization you just described and take up the cross, what is it that they're doing and what is it that they're experiencing to overcome? Okay. They can go back into places, relationships, whether it's current or former relationships, they can go back to their families. And they can actually take the ownership of what it means to be a child of God.

And what that really means is not just the forgiveness, but praying for people, loving people, and not bringing up the things that people have done or the influences that they have had in their life. So they don't get into, well, you remember when you did this or when you said that, they live from a perspective of kingdom in this earth realm. Because in so many cases, Mike, what's happening is we're living from the earth up. instead of from heaven down. And it restricts us from really having the authority, the power and the grace to extend to others. Because once I started realizing this, once I started coming alive to the power of where the Lord had me in my life, I realized it wasn't about my family at all.

It wasn't about the way I felt. It was about what the Holy Spirit wanted me to learn so that the glory of God to be in my life and the testimony that I would have will be all about him and not about what I have gone through, but what I have overcome. Have you ever heard of the concept called the crab mentality? Oh, yes, absolutely. What you just said there reminds me of the crab mentality where someone's striving to do better, you know, to have the mindset of the lens of the father.

But then all of the other people around us and the animal. me grab this and pulls us right back down. And I think one of the biggest weapons the enemy has is coming upon our reminding us of where we've fallen. Like, you can't be all that you can be because don't you remember that time when you and that discouragement and accusations. And I think that all of a sudden we need to take the scripture into heart where it's, you know, take everything up captive to the obedience of Christ. Well, we have all kinds of thoughts throughout the day. How many tens of thousands? That's hard. So it's, you cannot take every thought.

But if you're in the mode and the mindset of taking every thought captive and turning them into what you're talking about here going, no, no, no, hold on. I'm a child of God. And I am redeemed and blessed and unstoppable and all of these things. All of a sudden now that helps you reinforce then that lens of the father. Yes. It's like what Jesus says. We live in this world, but we shouldn't be of this world. Being of this world is so broad if you really take the time and really, you know, invest.

and take a deep dive into it. Because what he's really communicating there is that you cannot allow the things that you experience, whether it's in your family or whether it's external relationships. It doesn't matter, whether it's in business or whatever. You have to look at it like you are a child of the king of the most high. You are here to make a difference. And if you're not part of the world, if you're not integrated, in the world from the perspective of facilitating change, then people's eyes will never come

open to the benefits of what it means to be a son of God. Yes. You know, in one of the chapters, you talk about the concept of the orphan heart. How does that work? Well, as a result of Adam's disobedience, all of us are born into sin. and because we're born into this fallen world. And as a result, we are all separated from the father. So it doesn't matter whether you have mother and father, sisters, and brothers in your home.

As a result of the fallen state that this world is in, we are all orphans. So what Jesus does on the cross, so many people think it's about hell and not going to hell. But more importantly, it's about what the father wanted him to do. which was to redeem us or to bring us back into the family of God. And once we come back into the family of God, then we realized that the mindsets that we had were orphaned mindsets. They were separated. They were thoughts and feelings and actions that separated us from a loving and kind father.

Yeah, it's all about that restoring of the relationship versus being part of a religion. You know, we've heard that so many times. It's not religion. It's not wrote, you know, check this box, do this thing. It's the relationship. Yeah. The relationship. And that's what the father is really after. So when I penned this book, I wanted to write this in layman's terms. And I wanted people not just to identify or to relate, but I wanted them to be able to take a moment and see something on paper in a different light. Through the lens of the father, loving and kind, regardless of your situation, regardless of what you have experienced, that gap of the orphan heart separates you from a loving and kind father that is merciful.

And he wants to love you and love on you. So once you get that mindset dialed in and really clarify that identity, I love your chapter 7, the title. I have not read your book. I'm looking forward to it, but I see the title is called breakthrough. And to me, that just sounds exciting because it's like, okay, you got to be, you know, like ready, aim, fire. You can't go fire, fire, fire, and get breakthrough.

You've got to get ready. And then you got to aim. And then you can fire or get that breakthrough. So you've done the work. You've identified truth versus fact. You've identified where there's some issues and pain. work through that. Talk a little bit about now what the breakthrough brings. I can approach that from two dichotomies, if you will. It's the cross of what Jesus has gone through and those that have

been sick from stories in the Bible, whether it's the lame man or whatever. It is the power over that that looked so horrible at one point. He gives you the power to conquer it. So when he tells you to take up your cross, it is those things that have restricted us in some cases, limited us in some cases, and more importantly, caused us to feel afraid and doubtful and insecure. When you realize that you have the power to pick that up, now it becomes a testimony in your hands, and people can literally see and look at you and say, wait a minute, I remember that guy, I remember what he was going through. Now he's not saying those things happen to him.

They happen for him. So it's a place in position of empowerment that we have now. So we don't have to look back and be afraid to go back to families, to talk to people that we don't even get along with anymore. We don't have to worry about that because now we've been in power. And we can extend to them the same grace that was extended to us so that their eyes can be enlightened to the empowerment of what it means to be a son. Yes.

So that breakthrough can happen. So I just love the progression there because too many times, you know, and it also, I'm a big analogy guy, but it reminds what you just said there reminds me of the analogy of the caterpillar and the chrysalis. And once it starts becoming a butterfly and breaking through that, that chrysalis, if you, if you help, if it's starting to struggle and if you help, oh, let me just, I see, let me open it up there and let you get get out of you struggling. Then it dies because actually it takes the struggle of the wings struggling up against that cocoon and chrysalis for it to have the blood

pumped through there so it's strong enough to go fly. And you need to have that struggle so that breakthrough can happen. Yes, absolutely. Mike, the whole process of being born again is actually that. It's a process. Even though it's immediate, it is a process. to become aware of it spiritually, to become cognizant of it in your mindset, so that you can live out the concept of what it means to see yourself through the lens of the father. Because see, we've been inundated with so many dysfunctional things in this fallen world. Television, media, there's so much information that's coming at us that people are always telling us you're this or you're that. They're trying to put us in box.

They're trying to label us in every way. And these things are inundating our minds constantly. And when we really take the time to really delve into the love of the father and understand it's not the way the father really sees us. And when we begin to realize, well, how does he really see us? It's more than just a slight thing. It's a position of power and authority because we are seated in Christ, in heavenly, places. And we're supposed to demonstrate that here on this earth that we live in. Well, Dennis,

I'm excited to read your book. Thank you so much for some of these key insights. And if someone is listening to this thinking, I need to read this book too. What's the best way that they can pick up a copy? Well, they can go to the lens of the father. I'm on Amazon, Kendall and a regular Amazon and they can order it and can easily get it. You know, whether you want the soft copy book or you want to just plug in your headphones or your wireless phones and just listen to it on Kendall, you can do either one. And so it makes it very easy. And I would really appreciate it, the lensof the father.com.

Excellent. Well, thank you so much for coming on today and talking with this. It's been a real pleasure. Thank you, Mike. You've been listening to influential entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders to learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or listen to past episodes. Visit www. www.

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