What if the secret to breakthrough isn't just prayer or hard work—but a powerful combination of both with God's zeal backing your obedience? In this walk cast episode, Brian Del Turco unveils a kingdom framework: creative prayer plus strategic planning plus spirit-filled execution equals fruitfulness and fulfillment. Discover how to discern God's agenda (not just convince Him of yours), why prayer without planning is presumption, and how to tap into the zeal of the Lord that fuels ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things. This three-step framework will help you align with how God designed things to work.

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See the full episode transcript below.

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT - A Kingdom Framework - Prayer + Planning + Spirit-Fueled Execution

Hey there, friends. Welcome to Jesus Smart X, the podcast. This is Brian Del Turco. Thanks for being with us today. You make all the difference. Thank you for listening and thank you for sharing content with others if you find it valuable and think it would inspire and help someone you know.

Introducing the Walk Cast

We're doing something different today, calling it a "walk cast." I'm outside, as you can probably hear. You'll probably hear vehicles and people, perhaps, but this is what I'm calling a walk cast. I've been getting into walking in recent months—about the past half year, a lot. Many days I'm doing, thankfully by the grace of God, something like 10 to 12,000 steps a day.

This recent wellness quest over the past half year was triggered by a bout with shingles, from which I'm still dealing with nerve pain in my lower back. But God is faithful. I hear sometimes it can last as long as a year. I hope that's not the case with me, but I have enjoyed walking, doing some resistance training, and changing my diet and losing a lot of weight. So I'm excited about that.

Why Walking Enhances Creative Thinking

Walking is something that really enhances our creative thinking. Research proves this—movement, just moving your body like with walking, can really break mental patterns and open new perspectives. Did you know that Jesus did a lot of his conversation and teaching with his disciples as they walked? This was a rabbinic tradition. The rabbi would walk with his disciples, and they would converse and talk—questions and answers and illustrations—really something of a teaching method. There is something of an ancient practice called "walk and talk," part of a wisdom tradition.

We've kind of missed that today. We think we have to be sitting on our derrieres in a classroom or remaining sedentary. But walking and learning has a long history, and it clears the head, engages the body, and helps to free your voice up. So yes, a walk cast. We may do this from time to time, weather permitting. We'll see how things go.

A Kingdom Formula for Success

A secret formula, a kingdom template that I think can help us in a lot of areas. Here it is, sort of like kingdom calculus or algebra. You ready for this?

Prayer plus planning plus spirit-filled execution equals accomplishment and success.

I heard John Eldredge say that there's a way that things work, and this applies to the kingdom as well. I recently fixed my stove, and there is a virtue in being able to not have to outsource everything but fix a stove yourself. We had buttons on a Samsung stove that were not working, and now with YouTube and ChatGPT, I found out that there was a ribbon cable in there that becomes oxidized. You can simply unplug it, use an eraser on a pencil, clean it up, plug it back in—boom, all the buttons work. But there's a way that things work.

Stoves are designed to work in a certain way. They need to be maintained. There's a way to fix things. And in the kingdom, there is a way that things work. I think that this formula—prayer plus planning plus spirit-filled execution equals success—shows us that God wants to help us. We can lay this template, if you will, this pattern over most anything, I think: ventures, tough conversations we need to have with people, parenting, career dynamics, ministry initiatives.

James 1:17 says that every good and perfect gift comes down from above from the Father of Lights. There's no variation or shadow of turning with Him. He's consistent with all of His sons and daughters. Every good and perfect gift comes down from above. But it doesn't mean that we can't pray and plan and use spirit-filled execution with these good gifts.

Step One: Creative Prayer

Let's start with creative prayer. I use the phrase "creative prayer" intentionally. Creative prayer isn't just asking—it's partnering with the Father's creative intent. We're actually tuning into what God is already doing.

Prayer is not just concocting our own list all the time and coming before God with what our ideas are, but it's also listening, picking up His heart, picking up His mind, what wants to happen from His heart. We're tuning into what God is already doing. Jeremiah 29:11 says that God has plans already designed for us. "I know the thoughts I have for you." He was speaking to the Jews who were in Babylonian exile. "But I have plans for you, to restore you, to bring you back." And it's the same with our own lives.

Creative prayer is discerning His agenda, not just convincing Him of ours. Prayer is picking up His heart, what wants to happen from His mind, His heart, and not just solely sharing our own. We're receiving what's already flowing from the Father's heart, listening to His thoughts, what are His dreams, what are His designs.

→ Read the full transcript with expanded insights on creative prayer at jesussmart.com/framework

Step Two: Diligent Planning

Number two, then move into diligent planning. See, prayer without action, prayer without planning is presumption. It's too passive. Proverbs 21:5 says that diligent plans lead to abundance. Diligent plans lead to abundance; haste leads to poverty.

Just doing things haphazardly, not planning, not praying—we need to preface our action with prayer. Then we need to plan, and we need to move on those plans. Once we receive direction, we have to get very strategic intentionally. How much desire do you have for it? What's the intentional level? Map out the steps.

We can have vision and then strategy, and then we have to break it down to tactical steps. What are our resources? What people need to be involved? What's the timeline? This isn't just trusting in your own planning more than God. It's not.

Psalm 127:1 says, "Unless the Lord builds the house," but builders are still working under the Lord. He's the master craftsman. "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain." So planning sanctified by prayer equals a high form of worship before God through our work.

Step Three: Execute with the Spirit's Energy

Number three: execute with the Spirit's energy. We have creative prayer plus moving into diligent planning plus now executing with the Spirit's energy. This is where a lot of things can stumble and stall, if I can be honest with you. We try to finish in our own strength what God prompted, what God started.

Galatians 3:3 says, "Have you begun by the Spirit? Are you now being perfected by the flesh?" Are you beginning something in the Spirit and now trying to execute on it or finish it in your own natural flesh? The same Spirit who gave the vision wants to fuel the execution of it. So we want to stay connected. We want to pray through each phase of it, be sensitive to course corrections.

Spirit-filled execution isn't anxiousness or frenetic activity. There's a grace to it. There's a rest to it. We're working hard while we're resting in God, and God is working through us by His grace. I think a lot of times we think of grace as remedial—"Oh God, give me your grace, I've blown it." It is that, but grace is also empowerment to live according to higher design. So grace is a key part of executing with the Spirit's energy.

→ Discover more about spirit-filled execution and avoiding common pitfalls at jesussmart.com/framework

The Outcome: The Zeal of the Lord

What's the outcome? What does it equal? The zeal of the Lord comes. It equals success and fulfillment and fruitfulness. Jesus said, "It's my Father's will that you bear much fruit and so prove to be His disciples."

The zeal of the Lord—in Isaiah 9:7, "The zeal of the Lord will accomplish this." It's talking about the kingdom of Jesus. "The government will rest on His shoulders, and His kingdom will never end." Zeal. What is zeal? We actually can receive the zeal of God.

Did you know that God is zealous, that He carries an intense passion and energy of burning commitment, fierce determination? One of our prayers that we should really key in on is, "God, give me your zeal for this. I want to know what you're thinking, what your heart wants, what your will is to be done on earth as it is in heaven. And now I need your zeal for it—in me, through me, on me, around me. Give me that fire, that passion for it."

As we follow this pattern, we tap into something greater than our own effort, our own natural energy. Creative prayer, strategic planning, spirit-filled execution—and woven through all of it and on all of it is the zeal of the Lord of hosts, the zeal of the Lord of the angel armies. His passion backs us up. It backs up our obedience. It backs up our faith movement. We get something of His determination for it flowing through us as we surrender to Him.

This is how ordinary people accomplish extraordinary things. So let's lay this template over everything. Maybe there's a relational issue that you need to steward in a new way. Maybe there's a very challenging conversation you need to have in business or in family life. Maybe there's a kingdom initiative you're pursuing.

Let's admit it—when we first get the vision for a kingdom initiative, it's very exciting, it's very fresh, but it's in the meantime, it's in the middle of it, it's in the afternoon of the project that the greatest challenge may arise. So we need to keep this template over it, I think. Become skilled in this.

We want to be on a pathway where we hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master." That's our horizon.

Here's a good challenge. What is one area this week that we can apply this framework to? Creative prayer plus strategic planning plus spirit-led, spirit-fueled execution equals fulfillment and fruitfulness and success. The zeal of the Lord of hosts rides on all of it. But what is just one area—small, medium, big—that we can apply this framework to?

→ Get the complete show notes, prayer, and practical application steps at jesussmart.com/framework

Appreciate you, and we will catch you in the next episode.

Hey there, friends.

Welcome to Jesus Smart X the podcast.

This is Brian Del Turco.

Thanks for being with us today.

You make all the difference.

Thank you for listening and thank you for sharing content with others.

If you find it valuable and think it would inspire and help someone, you know, we're doing something different today, calling it a walk cast.

I'm outside, as you can probably hear.

You'll probably hear vehicles, you'll probably hear people, perhaps, but doing something called a walk cast.

And I've been getting into walking in recent months, about the past half year, a lot.

Many days.

I'm doing, thankfully, by the grace of God, something like 10, 12,000 steps a day.

And this recent wellness quest about the past half year was triggered by a bout with shingles from which I'm still dealing with nerve pain in my lower back.

But God is faithful.

I hear sometimes it can last as long as a year.

Hope that's not the case with me, but I have enjoyed walking, doing some resistance training and changing diet, and losing a lot of weight.

So I'm excited about that.

But yes, we're walking.

And walking is something that really enhances our creative thinking.

Research proves this movement, just moving your body, like with walking, it can really break mental patterns and open new perspectives.

And did you know that Jesus did a lot of his conversation and teaching with his disciples as they walked?

This was a rabbinic tradition.

The rabbi would walk with his disciples and they would converse and talk and questions and answers and illustrations and really something of a teaching method.

There is really something of a ancient practice called walk and talk, part of a wisdom tradition.

So we've kind of missed that today.

You know, we think we have to be sitting on our derrieres in a classroom or, you know, sedentary.

But walking and learning has a long history and it clears the head, engages the body, helps to free your voice up.

So, yeah, a walk cast.

We may do this from time to time, weather permitting, we'll see how things go.

Got a digital recorder in one hand and my phone in the other with some bullet points.

But here's what I want to talk about today.

A secret formula, a kingdom template that I think can help us in a lot of areas.

And here it is sort of like kingdom calculus or algebra.

You ready for this?

Prayer plus planning plus spirit filled execution equals accomplishment and success.

Prayer plus planning plus spirit filled execution equals success.

You know, I heard John Eldrey say that there's a way that things work, and this applies to the kingdom as well.

I recently fixed my stove.

You know, Guys, there is a virtue in being able not to have to outsource everything but fix a stove.

We had buttons on a Samsung stove that were not working.

And now with YouTube and ChatGPT, found out that there was a ribbon cable in there that becomes oxidized.

You can simply unplug it, use a eraser on a pencil, clean it up, plug it back in, boom, all the buttons work.

Thought I called somebody out.

Shoot.

May have cost, I don't know, US$150, but there's a way that things work.

Stoves are designed to work in a certain way.

They need to be maintained.

There's a way to fix things.

And in the kingdom there is a way that things work.

And I think that this sort of formula, prayer plus planning plus spirit filled execution, equals success.

God wants to help us.

We can lay this template, if you will, this pattern over most anything I think ventures.

Tough conversations we need to have with people, parenting career dynamics, you know, ministry initiatives.

James 1:17 says that every good and perfect gift comes down from above from the Father of Lights.

There's no variation or shadow of turning with him.

He's consistent with all of his sons and daughters.

Every good and perfect gift comes down from above.

But it doesn't mean that we can't pray and plan and use spirit filled execution with these good gifts.

So prayer isn't just asking.

Let's start with creative prayer.

I use the phrase creative prayer intentionally.

Okay, Creative prayer isn't just asking.

It's partnering with the Father's creative intent.

We're actually tuning into what God is already doing.

See, prayer is not just concocting our own list all the time and coming before God with what our ideas are, but it's also listening, picking up his heart, picking up his mind, what wants to happen from his heart.

And so we're tuning into what God is already doing.

I know the thoughts I have for you.

He was speaking to the Jews who were in Babylonian exile.

Large truck noise there.

But you know, I have plans for you, to restore you, to bring you back.

And it's the same with our own lives.

Creative prayer is discerning his agenda, not just convincing him of ours.

Isn't that good?

Prayer is picking up his heart, what wants to happen from his mind, his heart.

And not just solely sharing our own.

We're receiving what's already flowing from the Father's heart, listening to his thoughts, what are his dreams, what are his designs.

I was talking with my Wife recently about this.

We were talking about a situation involving a family member.

And the question arose from me, and I heard this from someone else.

It really challenged me, what does God get out of this?

You know, what is he looking for?

What does he get from this situation?

So picking up his heart, picking up his mind.

So creative prayer.

Start with that, always number two, then move into diligent planning.

See, prayer without action.

Prayer without planning is presumption, okay?

It's too passive.

Proverbs 21:5 says that diligent plans lead to abundance.

Diligent plans lead to abundance.

Haste leads to poverty.

Just doing things haphazardly, not planning, not praying.

We need to preface our action with prayer.

Then we need to plan and we need to move on those plans.

Once we receive direction, we have to get very strong intentionally.

How much desire do you have for it?

What's the intentional level?

Map out the steps.

Map out the steps.

See, we can have vision and then strategy, and then we have to break it down to tactical steps.

What are our resources?

What people need to be involved?

What's the timeline?

This isn't just trusting in your own planning more than God.

It's not.

Psalms 127:1 though, says, unless the Lord builds the house.

But builders are still working under the Lord.

He's the master craftsman.

Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it, you know, unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

So planning sanctified by prayer equals a high form of worship before God through our work.

And then number three, execute with the Spirit's energy.

So we have creative prayer plus moving into diligent planning plus now executing with the Spirit's energy.

This is where a lot of things can stumble and stall, if I can be honest with you.

We try to finish in our own strength what God prompted what God started.

Galatians 3:3 says, have you begun by the Spirit?

Are you now being perfected by the flesh?

Are you beginning something in the Spirit and now trying to execute on it or finish it in your own natural flesh?

The same Spirit who gave the vision wants to fuel the execution of it.

And so we want to stay connected.

We want to pray through each phase of it, be sensitive to course corrections.

Spirit filled execution isn't anxiousness or frenetic activity.

There's a grace to it.

There's a rest to it.

We're working hard while we're resting in God, and God is working through us by his grace.

See, I think a lot of times we think of Grace as remedial.

Oh God, give me youe grace.

I've blown it.

It is that.

But grace is also empowerment to live according to higher design.

And so grace is a key part of executing with the Spirit's energy.

And then what's the outcome?

What does it equal?

The zeal of the Lord comes.

It equals success and fulfillment and fruitfulness.

You know, Jesus said, it's my Father's will that you bear much fruit and so prove to be his disciples.

But, I mean, I think I'm in good shape, but maybe not as much as I think I am right here.

You know, I'm sort of walking up an incline and I'm finding out that it's kind of hard talking a lot and walking briskly at the same time.

But hey, I'm improving, getting in better shape.

Okay, so the zeal of the Lord, though in Isaiah 9, 7, the zeal of the Lord will accomplish this.

It says zeal, talking about the kingdom of Jesus.

And the government will rest on his shoulders and his kingdom will never end.

Zeal.

What is zeal?

We actually can receive the zeal of God.

Did you know that God is zealous, that he carries an intense passion and energy of burning commitment, fierce determination, and one of our prayers that we should really key in on is God, give me your zeal for this.

I want to know what you're thinking, what your heart wants, what your will is to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And now I need your zeal for it.

In me, through me, on me, around me.

Give me that fire, that passion for it.

And as we follow this pattern, see, we tap into something greater than our own effort, our own natural energy, creative prayer, strategic planning, spirit filled, execution.

And woven through all of it and on all of it is the zeal of the Lord of hosts, the zeal of the Lord of the angel armies.

His passion backs us up.

It backs up our obedience.

It backs up our faith movement.

We get something of his determination for it flowing through us as we surrender to Him.

And this is how ordinary people accomplish extraordinary things.

So let's lay this template over everything.

I don't know, maybe there's a relational issue that you need to steward in a new way.

Maybe there's a very challenging conversation you need to have in business or in family life.

You know, maybe there's a kingdom initiative.

You're pursuing that.

Let's admit it, when we first get the vision for a kingdom initiative, it's very exciting, it's very fresh, but it's in the meantime, it's in the middle of it, it's in the afternoon of the project that the greatest challenge may arise.

And so we need to keep this, I think this template over it, become skilled in this.

See, we want to be on a pathway, let's reverse engineer this.

We want to be on a pathway where we hear him say, well done, good and faithful servant.

Right, Enter into the joy of your master.

So that's how we're, that's our horizon.

And here's a good challenge.

Let's just think about it.

What is one area this week that we can apply this framework to?

Creative prayer plus strategic planning plus spirit led, spirit fueled execution equals fulfillment and fruitfulness and success.

The zeal of the Lord of Hosts rides on all of it.

But what is just one area, small, medium, big, that we can apply this framework to?

What do you think?

So, Father, we're out here enjoying the air and enjoying the outside environment.

We thank you for health in our bodies.

We thank you for vitality in our minds, our emotions, our spirit.

We do pray that you would show us, Holy Spirit, what we need to creatively pray about, strategically plan and then execute on in a spirit filled way.

We invite your zeal.

Father, we say that apart from you, we can do nothing.

Jesus, we need your passion, your energy, your zeal on us, in us, through us, around us, in our personal sphere of influence, our personal world.

We welcome it, we receive it.

This is how we want to live.

We say with the Apostle Paul, that it's in you, Lord, that we live and move and have our being.

We say, Jesus, with you, that apart from you, we can do nothing.

And we say with Paul that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Thank you, God.

We're going to move in Kingdom Dynamics, Lord, as you lead us to.

We're going to align ourselves and allow youw voltage, you, energy, you, zeal to course through our lives.

Thank youk, God.

May it come out of our hands, may it come out of our mouth, may it direct our work.

May everything we put our heart to, our mind, to whatever we do, may we do it with all of our heart, as Paul says in Colossians.

And we give youe the glory and the praise and the honor, Father, the kingdom is yours, the power is yours, the glory is yours.

May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, in Jesus name.

Okay, I don't know if I've done this before.

I think I may have done outside podcast recording before.

I'm not sure I did a so called walk cast.

But we may do this from time to time.

I may even do it in the winter.

Why not?

You know, the cold is part of God's glory too.

Do Psalm 147.

He sends forth his cold, he sends forth his ice fragments.

Nothing wrong with getting out on the cold.

Get a little cold therapy.

It'd probably be good for our cognition.

All right.

Appreciate you and we will catch you in the next episode.