Upside Down Kings

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"The pain might not be punishment. It might be an invitation."

Jason Hamilton walked with Christ for sixteen years, led men's ministries, and left a men's retreat on a spiritual high — and on the drive home, out of nowhere, had a panic attack that started an eighteen-month collapse. Sound sensitivity so severe that tearing toilet paper felt like ice picks in his brain. Six months of feeling chased by a grizzly bear, every hour, awake or asleep. Suicidal ideation for the first time in his life. And a Christmas morning in the ER where God felt further away than He'd ever been. Jason sits down with Joshua Wilson to walk through what it cost him to stop engineering a solution and finally let go — and why he now calls the darkest season of his life the greatest spiritual gift he's ever received.

What We Cover:

• Why stepping into full surrender can bring more pressure, not less — and what Ephesians says about who we're actually wrestling
• The panic attack out of nowhere on the drive home from a men's retreat
• A bad reaction to ER medication that Jason describes as the closest thing to hell he's experienced on earth
• Hyperacusis, noxacusis, and six months of physical pain from ordinary sound
• The illusion of control — and why discipline, logic, and willpower could not fix this
• Christmas morning in the emergency room, and a son who asked his dad to pray
• The intervention, and the moment Jason heard: trust Me, and do whatever the next person tells you to do
• The psychiatrist's first words on the phone, and the confirmation Jason didn't expect
• Rebuilding neural pathways through sound exposure therapy, one degree of volume at a time
• Why surrender is the courageous move, and control is the counterfeit one

About the show: Upside-Down Kings is a publication of One Iron Network. Learn more at oneironnetwork.com.

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"I am; the other stuff will become." That's the line Joshua keeps returning to in this one — a way of holding onto who God says you are while everything else is still being worked out.

In this solo episode, Joshua Wilson shares from 1 John 3:1-3 and a day-three reading in his program: a long list of who God says we already are — loved, chosen, forgiven, free, a new creation, His child, an heir. The question underneath it is simple and hard. Are we listening to God's voice about our identity, or are we building one from what the world says, or from our past? Joshua's testimony lands on a Kingdom principle worth sitting with: your calling is above your situation, and your identity is separate from your outcome.

What He's Wrestling With:

• Reading 1 John 3:1-3 — being called children of God, and what "has not yet appeared"
• The full identity list from a program reading, spoken plainly
• Whose voice we're actually listening to when we decide who we are
• Building identity from God's word versus building it from the past
• Feeling called toward a people, a purpose, an outcome — and where that call sits
• Why calling is above your situation, not tangled up in it
• Separating identity from pain, struggle, and the story behind you
• "I am; the other stuff will become" — present identity, future becoming

I have a new life in Christ

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We keep trying to fix a broken operating system — living by the earthly, physical one, then wondering why the fruit it produces is faulty. What if the problem isn't the output, but the whole system we're running on?

In this solo episode, Joshua opens John 14 and John 16 and sits with a question he's still walking out himself: which operating system are we actually running? He shares the picture that keeps surfacing — that there's a supernatural operating system, the Spirit of truth, available to us, and that most of us are stuck trying to patch the earthly one that was never meant to be fixed. This isn't teaching from arrival. It's a brother saying "I don't fully know how to do this yet — but I know the path." The Helper who abides forever, teaches all things, brings to remembrance, and guides into all truth is the one who runs the system we were made for.

What We Cover:

• Reading John 14:16-17, 26 and John 16:13-14 (NKJV) slowly, letting the text set the frame
• The Helper Jesus promised — the Spirit of truth who abides forever
• Why the world "cannot receive" Him, but those who know Him can
• The "operating system" picture: earthly vs. supernatural, and why we run both
• Why patching the earthly system keeps producing fruit we don't like
• What it looks like to be taught, reminded, and guided by the Spirit
• The honest posture of "I believe now — help me see"
• Why the Spirit doesn't speak on His own, but glorifies Christ
• Learning to walk in it while still figuring it out

About the show: Upside-Down Kings is a publication of One Iron Network. Learn more at oneironnetwork.com.

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A man will do what he believes he is — not what he says, but what he actually believes, down deep.

In this short solo teaching, Joshua Wilson shares what God has been showing him about belief and identity. We build our identity on sand — looks, bank account, achievements, job, status — and those things crumble because they come and go. But there's one foundation that holds: who God says you are. Joshua wrestles with the gap between the identity the world hands you and the one God already gave you in Christ, why renewing the mind is a daily battle, and why identity always comes before assignment.

What He's Wrestling With:

• Why a man lives out what he believes he is, not what he claims
• The identities we build on sand — looks, money, achievement, career, status
• Why those foundations always crumble
• The one foundation that holds: who God says you are
• A new creation, more than a conqueror, strong in the Lord — not in our strength, but His
• Why renewing the mind is a daily decision and a real battle
• Why identity comes before assignment

A few of the verses on who God says we are:

• A child of God — "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." (Romans 8:16)
• Redeemed from the hand of the enemy — "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy." (Psalm 107:2)
• Forgiven — "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." (Colossians 1:13-14)
• Saved by grace through faith — "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." (Ephesians 2:8)
• Justified — "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:1)
• Sanctified — "But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Corinthians 6:11)
• A new creation — "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17)
• A partaker of His divine nature — "By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature." (2 Peter 1:4)
• Redeemed from the curse of the law — "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us." (Galatians 3:13)
• Led by the Spirit of God — "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." (Romans 8:14)
• Kept in safety wherever I go — "For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways." (Psalm 91:11)
• Having every need met by Jesus — "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19)
• Casting all my cares on Him — "Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7)
• Strong in the Lord — "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might." (Ephesians 6:10)
• Able to do all things through Christ — "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13)
• An heir of God and joint heir with Christ — "And if children, then heirs — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ." (Romans 8:17)
• Healed by His stripes — "Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness — by whose stripes you were healed." (1 Peter 2:24)
• Given authority over the enemy — "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you." (Luke 10:19)
• More than a conqueror — "Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." (Romans 8:37)
• An overcomer by the blood and my testimony — "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony." (Revelation 12:11)
• Greater because of Him who is in me — "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." (1 John 4:4)
• Walking by faith, not by sight — "For we walk by faith, not by sight." (2 Corinthians 5:7)
• Transformed by a renewed mind — "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Romans 12:2)
• The righteousness of God in Christ — "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21)
• The light of the world — "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden." (Matthew 5:14)

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Most capable people don't lack drive. They lack clarity — they
can't name the work that's actually theirs, who it's for, and
whether it's worth their life.

In this short teaching, Joshua walks through the seven questions
he uses with clients to get there. The catch: you answer them in
order. The world says start with "why." This goes the other way —
because you can't honestly answer why until you know whose you are.
Identity first. Meaning last.

The seven questions are written out here — walk them yourself, or
book time to walk through them together:
https://oneironnetwork.com/catalyst/clarity-sprint

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What if the king who built the temple never picked up a hammer?

In this short solo episode, Joshua Wilson shares something he noticed reading through 1 Kings — something easy to skim past: two different men, both filled with wisdom, building one temple. Solomon was given wisdom for the vision and the plan. Huram, a bronze worker from Tyre, was given wisdom for the intricate, skilled work of the metal. Same gift from God — applied two different ways, producing two different things the house needed. Joshua wrestles with what that says about how God gives gifts to His kids to be used together, with and through other people, to produce real fruit.

What He's Wrestling With:

• Why the wall-to-wall detail in 1 Kings 7 is the point, not something to skim
• Solomon's wisdom for the whole — the vision, the plan, the temple
• Huram of Tyre, filled with wisdom and skill for all kinds of bronze work
• The same gift of wisdom, applied differently, with different outcomes
• Why Solomon didn't need to work the bronze himself
• Proverbs 14:4 — the clean stall, the strength of the ox, and the harvest
• Why the increase seems to come when we work with and through others
• "Be fruitful and multiply" as a mandate that may include our work
• Using our gifts as avodah — work as worship and service
• A challenge he's sitting with: stop envying other people's gifts, ask the Giver for yours

About the show: Upside-Down Kings is a publication of One Iron Network. Learn more at oneironnetwork.com.

Upside-Down Kings is for educational and informational purposes only and is not financial, investment, or legal advice.

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What does a deal sheet have in common with a yield sign at an intersection? One word — and two meanings that look like opposites.

In this short solo episode, Joshua Wilson shares something God's been showing him about the word "yield." In his world of investment banking, yield measures what comes back on your money — the return you're hoping for when you hand over control of it. But the same word has a second meaning hiding in plain sight: to stop, to surrender, to give way. Through the mind of Christ, those two meanings collide. Looking at Galatians 5 and the fruit of the Spirit, Joshua wrestles with an upside-down truth: the real return isn't the one you engineer by gripping harder. It's the fruit that grows when you finally let go and yield your life to God.

In this episode:

• Why "yield" shows up everywhere in investing — APY, deal sheets, return on investment
• The investor's bargain: handing over control of your money in hope of getting more back
• The risk no yield can erase, and what that teaches us
• The second meaning of yield — stop, surrender, give way
• The question every investor asks, turned upside down
• Seeing an ordinary word through the mind of Christ
• Galatians 5 and the fruit of the Spirit — and why it's "fruit," singular
• The upside-down truth: fruit grows from surrender, not striving
• We are all investors of our time, energy, and attention
• A closing prayer to yield your life, your way, and your outcomes to God

Upside-Down Kings is a publication of One Iron Network. Learn more at oneironnetwork.com.

Upside-Down Kings is for educational and informational purposes only and is not financial, investment, or legal advice.

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In this short intro, host Joshua Wilson opens Upside Down Kings with prayer and lays out the belief everything else grows from — that Jesus is the risen King of Kings, that surrender is strength, and that the faithful are quietly raised to stand before kings. This is a show about faith, work, and calling: the Kingdom principles God is showing us about how to live and work in the business world. Joshua reads the show's creed, names the words this podcast will dig into one at a time, and shares why — after years of carrying this on a shelf and a whiteboard — it's finally time to begin.

What we cover:

• An opening prayer for wisdom and for God's Kingdom to come
• The creed Upside Down Kings is built on
• Why surrender, not striving, is the show's foundation
• The words we'll unpack over time: yield, mandate, calling, purpose, favor, capacity, grace, focus
• Avodah — the idea that skilled work, done unto God, is its own kind of worship
• Stewardship and wisdom, and what it means to stand before kings
• The plan to bring on others living this out in their own work
• Why this show waited years for the right time to begin

About the show: Upside-Down Kings is a publication of One Iron Network. Learn more at oneironnetwork.com.

Upside-Down Kings is for educational and informational purposes only and is not financial, investment, or legal advice.