First, I want to tell you that a few years ago I had the opportunity to hear Henry Blackaby speak at Oklahoma Baptist University's chapel service one day. The Holy Spirit is truly with this man as h shared what God was doing and how we, as believers, need to go to where God is at work. As a young Christian many years ago, one of my first mentoring experiences was using the Experiencing God material and it was a huge impact in my life. Then, as I surrendered to ministry, I went through Called and Accountable with some close brothers in Christ and that opened my eyes to how one is called to serve and how one should maintain a close relationship with the Lord always while we lead those in His Church. It squashed many doubts and answered many questions that I had about stepping into ministry according to the Scriptures.
The personal breakthrough this past week was in the area of vision. In the chapter on A Leader's Vision, one of the Blackaby's made the statement: "The world functions by vision. But God does not ask His followers to operate by vision. God's people live by REVELATION. Proverbs 29:18 is one of the most misinterpreted Scriptures in leadership and I have heard and read this many times. The popular translation is, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." (KJV) A more accurate translation in the Hebrew is "Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint." There is a significant difference between revelation and vision.
The personal breakthrough this past week was in the area of vision. In the chapter on A Leader's Vision, one of the Blackaby's made the statement: "The world functions by vision. But God does not ask His followers to operate by vision. God's people live by REVELATION. Proverbs 29:18 is one of the most misinterpreted Scriptures in leadership and I have heard and read this many times. The popular translation is, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." (KJV) A more accurate translation in the Hebrew is "Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint." There is a significant difference between revelation and vision.
Vision is something that people produce, revelation is something that people receive. Leaders can dream up a vision, but they cannot discover God's will. God must reveal it. The secular world ignores God's will, so nonbelievers are left with one alternative - to project their own vision. For Christians, God alone sets the agenda."
Brian's thought and small amount of wisdom: Our job as spiritual leaders is to lead God's people towards His will and agenda. That's it!! We are to get believers to realize that following your own vision is not what God wants. He wants us to follow His plan. Why would Jesus say many times to "Follow Me" (Luke 9:23) if that wasn't His plan. So that is what we are to do and the main quality in our lives as spiritual leaders is to lead by EXAMPLE. That is what Christ did, and leaders, that is what we should focus our lives on. Yes, we will stumble at times but only when we take our focus off of Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith.
Brian's thought and small amount of wisdom: Our job as spiritual leaders is to lead God's people towards His will and agenda. That's it!! We are to get believers to realize that following your own vision is not what God wants. He wants us to follow His plan. Why would Jesus say many times to "Follow Me" (Luke 9:23) if that wasn't His plan. So that is what we are to do and the main quality in our lives as spiritual leaders is to lead by EXAMPLE. That is what Christ did, and leaders, that is what we should focus our lives on. Yes, we will stumble at times but only when we take our focus off of Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith.
If someone does not want to move to God's agenda, then we acknowledge that the seed has been spread and move on. Not everyone will understand God's revelation and some will even work against it. Partly because they are not converted or may be converted and not fully understanding the Holy Spirit's role in their life. They will be greatly disturbed by NOT following God's will. If they are numb to the disturbance, then they have grieved the work of the Holy Spirit and my friends, the Bible says that this is the unpardonable sin......spoken from the lips of Jesus. Time is short, our lives go by in an instance. We need to quit playing "church" and playing games with God's Word by reading and not living by it.
So, where is your focus??
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