Category: Leadership Character

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Presence or Power: What do you seek?

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I love encounters with the Lord. I love to see people getting filled with the Holy Spirit or receiving new impartations of gifts and callings. It is an exciting thing to see people encounter their Father in such a real way. After wrapping up a series of blog posts on encounters with God (part 1, part 2, part 3), and spending a week preaching at our ministry’s annual Pastors’ Conference, where so many of our leaders were touched by the Holy Spirit, I am stirred up with a passion for the presence and the power of God to work in people’s lives.

Nevertheless, I am also reminded that too often those seeking an encounter with the Lord get their priorities wrong. Too many people desire the power of God, and all of His benefits, yet reject His abiding presence in their lives. So the question for us today is, “what are you seeking: presence or power?”

The Presence and Power of God on Display

As you read through the Old Testament, the people of Israel had some very tangible signs of God’s presence with them. They also saw His power at work, daily. Through the plagues in Egypt, God delivered His people from Pharaoh. After Moses led the people out of captivity, God’s presence manifested as the pillar of cloud and fire. He powerfully provided for them with manna from heaven and water from the rock. After the tabernacle was built in the wilderness, the whole place was filled with smoke – what we might call today, “the glory cloud.” Then, God commanded Moses to build the Ark of the Covenant, which would represent God’s physical presence wherever it was carried. Their lives were full of both God’s presence and His power.

For the life of an Israelite in those early days, you could not escape from the public demonstrations of both the power and the presence of God. However, as much as they enjoyed the powerful provision God gave to them, they began to distance themselves from His presence.

Rejecting the Presence

In Exodus 19, God tells Moses that He will descend on Mount Sinai and speak to the people. When the day came, there was fire and smoke covering the mountain. God warned Moses to set boundaries around the mountain so that people could not touch the glory and die. He then issued to Moses the ten commandments. Yet, the people’s response was not to rush close. The Bible tells us

“Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, ‘You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.’ Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.’ The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.”

Exodus 20:18-21

Although the people believed in God, and had benefitted from His power. His presence was terrifying. They were face to face with a God who was beyond their control, and so they fled.

They sought a God they could control.

As the story continues, we know that Moses returned up the mountain into God’s presence, to receive the law from God. Meanwhile, the people of Israel decided to build the golden calf – a god they could control – and bowed down to worship it, instead (see Exodus 32). 

Replacing God with man.

Unfortunately, this rejection of God’s presence marked the people of Israel for generations to come. A culmination point came after the time of the Judges when the people called on Samuel to appoint for them a King. 

“But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.”

1 Samuel 8:6-7

Desiring the Power

Although the people did not want God’s presence – they rejected Him personally – it didn’t change the fact that they wanted His power to work on their behalf.

Over and over again, when the people were defeated by enemies or had troubles in the nation, there was a cry to God to rescue them. We find another story, along these lines, when the nation was utterly defeated by the Philistines in 1 Samuel 4.

“Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines. They encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek. The Philistines drew up in line against Israel, and when the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the field of battle. And when the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines?”

1 Samuel 4:1-3

Their answer to the defeat is what makes the story interesting. Their response is, “Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.” They called for the ark, which symbolized God’s presence, but they were only interested in the power.

Losing the Power?

As the Ark comes into their camp, the people cheer, and even the Philistines are disheartened, because they know the testimonies of God’s power in the past. However, they encouraged themselves that they should not become slaves to Israel and they rose up to fight.

“So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled, every man to his home. And there was a very great slaughter, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. And the ark of God was captured…”

1 Samuel 4:10-11

Israel (symbolically at least) was left without both the presence and the power of God. And the Philistines rejoiced! 

Capturing God’s Power?

“When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon.”

1 Samuel 5:1-2

Dagon was the main god worshipped by the Philistines. He was a false idol, erected in statue form, in a large temple built for him. Now notice what the Philistines do. They bring the Ark of the Covenant – the thing that symbolized God’s presence – and they try to use it simply as a source of power. They bring it into Dagon’s temple, and try to set the God of Israel in the shadow of their false idol. Just like Israel, they wanted His power, but not His presence.

God, however, will not sit subservient to any human idol, and on the first morning Dagon’s statue is laid facedown before the Ark of the Covenant. After the Philistines return the idol to its place, God destroys it.

“When they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him.”

1 Samuel 5:4

Plagues then begin to come upon the Philistines, until they put the Ark on a cart and send it on its way back to Israel.

Still Rejecting the Presence

If we follow the story along, the people of Israel are happy for the Ark’s return, yet they still reject the presence of God which it represents. They do not bring it back to the tent of meeting as God had commanded Moses. It is moved from house to house, bringing both blessings and death, until King David brings it to a place of honor in Jerusalem.

Unfortunately, this isn’t simply a story about an ancient people and their God. It is the same story for too many in the church today! Many people who call themselves Christian, want nothing to do with God. They simply want His power and blessings in their lives.

I have a friend who is an active homosexual, and lives a lifestyle of hedonism. He wants nothing to do with God, does not like Jesus, and hates the Bible. Yet if you have a conversation with him about faith, he will tell you, “I was saved at 6 years old at First Baptist Church, and ‘once saved always saved.’” You cannot convince him that his rejection of God’s presence in his life nullifies the power of salvation. He will not accept that to have God’s power, he must also accept God’s presence (and authority).

False teachings abound

My friend’s story is an extreme example, but it is not unique. If we look at major theologies being promoted, you don’t have to search very far before you find Christians peddling the blessings and power of God, without needing His presence.

Take the prosperity gospel for instance. While I believe God promises to bless and prosper His people, it is always tied to their relationship and submission to Him. Not so with this theology. For them, if you give something to God financially, then you tie His hands, and He has to return that money to you with interest. Plant your seed of faith, and God has to grow you a tree.

Example after example could be given, where we seek to control God, rejecting His presence but receiving His power.

No King but King Jesus

I believe it is time for a new generation of believers to rise up, and stop playing games with God. We have to stop seeking His power for our own benefit, and start seeking His presence to guide our lives.

The cry of the early church was, “no King but King Jesus.” This was an absolute rejection of Caesar and the worldly ways of power and prestige. They traded everything to know Him.

The payoff? They received Him! They were filled with the Holy Spirit, guided by Him daily, and through Him, changed the world! When they sought His presence, and allowed Him to be God, they found that His power comes along, as well.

He is not a God to be controlled. We cannot manipulate Him in some way to make His power work for us. We must return to the place of wanting Him. When we do that, we will find our blessings are not just from Him. They are Him.

He is the reward of our salvation. He is our hope. He is our joy. He is our blessing. Even heaven is not heaven, if He is not there.

What about you?

I don’t know about you, but I just want Him. I am tired of wasting time, going after a blessing. There has to be more than simply pressing in for a breakthrough. Why do we need another conference that promises a method or program to get God’s power to work in our lives.

I just want Him. I want His presence. I want His love, and His touch on my life.

How about you? Have you traded His presence to pursue His power? Is your goal to submit to Him and let Him be God, or are you trying to control Him for your own benefit?

Truly, it is time for the people of God to stop going after His power, and instead become a people marked by His presence!

I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.

If you want to read more about personal encounters with the Lord, and how they can shape your life, I would like to recommend the book, “Hosting the Presence” by Bill Johnson.

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Photo by Igor Rodrigues on Unsplash

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The (Spiritual) Father’s Heart

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The phrase, “the Father’s heart” has become a popular buzzword in many modern, Christian circles. It seems that no matter which subgroup of Christians I am around — charismatics, catholics, evangelicals or reformed — it is a common theme for believers to encourage one another with the idea that God loves them as a Father, and will not let them go or do them harm. It is for good reason that this phrase is in common use, and it will, ideally, continue to grow deeper into the minds of believers as we learn look at our heavenly Papa. Yet, it is even more necessary that as we discover more of God’s heart toward us, we also learn to demonstrate the Father heart of God toward others.

THE FATHER HEART OF GOD

The Bible reveals to us that God’s ultimate will for every man and woman, is that we would grow to walk in the ways of our heavenly Father and live according to the spiritual DNA that was placed in us at the point of our salvation. God has already done everything possible to give us the ability to see Him, hear Him speaking over us, and to enable us to be conformed to His image, in holiness and righteousness.

The greatest demonstration of the Father heart of God was that He sent His only Son, Jesus, into the world, who would be sacrificed as a holy offering for our sin, in order to give us renewed life and restoration. Through this moment of re-creation work, God changed our identity from spiritual orphans to children of God. We are now sons of God, just like Jesus! At this moment of salvation, God also placed a destiny of “good works” on each of us (Ephesians 2:10), and He sent His Holy Spirit to live within us, to continually remind us of who we are — or rather, who we have become in Him.

God has finished everything necessary to raise us up as sons, and to enable us to fulfill our divine destiny as His children. Even more than that, He comes alongside us presently, to empower us and press us forward to reach our fullest potential in Him. True, some of us fail to measure up to the call of Christ on our lives. Nevertheless, for God’s part as our Father, there is no failure which can be attributed to Him. He has accomplished everything necessary to enable us to stand!

To discuss the Father heart of God, then is to reflect on the fact that we do not have a God who is out to get us when we mess up. He is not looking down on us, wondering if we will ever get our act together, or expecting us to be able to grow and mature ourselves. Instead, we have an active God who is always near to us. (theological term: God is “imminent.”) Not only has he ensured a path for our success, but He cheers us on as we pursue that success. He gives us hope, and peace, and blessing, as a loving Father, rather than leaving us in fear and doubt as to where we stand with Him. He is a good Father to His children.

EARTHLY FATHERS

The Father heart of God became so much more clear to me when, a few years ago, I was privileged to enter the realm of fatherhood myself. On the day I married my beautiful bride, I also became the proud daddy of an amazing 5 year old daughter (now 9). Less than a year later we added a second daughter to our family, and again, around her first birthday, we did the work of creating a little boy who has recently turned 1.

In a matter of days, if not hours, into fatherhood, I instinctively understood something about God’s “Father Heart” that I never could have known otherwise. All it took was one look at my children to know that I would do whatever is in my power to protect them, give them joy, and help them to succeed in whatever their life leads them to do.

My children understand this about their father as well. If you ask my younger daughter, Harper (almost 3), where she keeps her daddy, she will happily show you her tiny little finger, where she does, in fact, keep me wrapped tightly. I hate the times I have to bring down discipline on her, leaving her crying or angry. Sometimes I withhold that discipline far longer than my wife (rightly) thinks I should, simply because my heart does not want to do any harm to her, even when she is in the wrong. I want to snuggle her, and love her, and give her everything her heart desires. I want to see her smile and dance. I want to hear her giggling and singing. I want what is best for her in everything! She has my heart, and even on my worst days, when I am grumpy, tired, and short-tempered, my hardness can be melted quickly by her sweet kisses on the cheek.

My job as a father, if I am to represent God well, is to love my children abundantly, knowing that no sacrifice is too great to give, in order to take them as high as they can go in this life. My desire is that no matter how much success I have in this life, I want them to go farther than I ever could. My children are not a burden, they are a blessing to me and if I do this fathering thing well, they will be my greatest legacy when I’m dead and gone.

SPIRITUAL FATHERS

In the last couple of years, God has enabled me to enter into another level of fatherhood. As He has given rapid increase to our ministry in East Africa, I am, once again, learning new things about God’s “father heart” toward His children. I have the privilege of serving as the spiritual overseer of more than 30 churches in Sozo Ministries International, and more directly, I have become a spiritual father to the pastors and leaders of these churches. In this role, I have stepped into a level of leadership that is both the most encouraging and the most challenging thing I have ever done in my life. 

What I have noticed, though, as the grace of God has allowed me to come into this relational position, is that the way I think about every little thing in ministry is now multi-faceted. For 15 years I have served God as a youth pastor, associate pastor, evangelist and missionary, working in nearly a dozen countries. I have never wavered in my faithful commitment to seeing the work of ministry accomplished. Some who know me might even say I am a workaholic, but the truth is, I just love serving the Lord and others. Now, however, there has been a shift in my work. Not only am I seeking to see the ministry work fulfilled with excellence; I am also seeking to do so in a way that builds the leaders around me and equips these pastors to grow in the ministry as well.

What I mean is this: every day, as I go to work, it is no longer simply about doing the things God has called me to do to serve His church. There is now a higher purpose in everything I do, which is to set the example to these men and women of God, and to pour everything I have learned into them, in order for them to do the work, as well. I am raising them up as sons and daughters, and want to see them succeed in what God calls them to do!

This shift became very apparent to me recently, as I was preaching at one of our church outreaches in a small village in Uganda. The crowd was less than 100 people, and as I was called to the rickety, wooden platform to preach, I was walking into a familiar space. I have preached these small outreaches dozens, if not hundreds of times. Yet in that moment, I wasn’t simply aware of the crowd in front of me, and the Holy Spirit’s leading in how to share the Gospel. I was equally aware that sitting behind the platform were three of my pastors who were watching my every move, learning from me how to handle these opportunities.

Now don’t get me wrong, all three of these pastors have preached similar crusades. They are not new to the ministry. It was just that in the moment, God made me very aware that my spiritual children were watching, and so I couldn’t cut corners in the work, despite the fact I was recovering from typhoid and had a major headache. My role was to be the example to them as I shared the gospel, so that they can learn from me and, in turn, take their own gospel ministry to another level.

This constant awareness of my role as a living example of Christ has pushed my passion for ministry much farther than it was before. Now, not only am I working to see the lost come to Christ or to see the Lord touch those who desperately need Him to move in their lives. I am pressed upward to an even greater calling in my ministry, as I now have the privilege of raising up sons and daughters in the work, and launching them out as well.

What I have learned, and am still learning, is that the heart of a spiritual father cannot be any different than the heart of an earthly father. These men and women whom the Lord has given to me to raise up in Christ and in the ministry, deserve the same unshakable dedication from me that my natural children do. They are not threats to me. They are not competition for me. As they come up higher, it does not lower me down in any way. Rather, as their gifts develop and grow; as their ministries and churches take off, it is actually an expression of the fruit of my life, and my legacy is being developed in them.

Just as my own children carry my DNA, my ‘Gospel DNA’ and what I know of following Christ is being replicated in my spiritual children. As they carry on what they gain from me, the anointing God has placed on my life is expanding through this spiritual family, as well.

As a spiritual father, it is my role to protect and encourage these men and women. It is my burden to bring discipline when necessary, and it is the joy of my life to see them grow and succeed. This is the heart of a spiritual father, because it is the heart of God.

The question is, what about you? As you have felt the Father heart of God toward you, who are you extending that same love, care, and encouragement with? Maybe you don’t oversee churches and pastors, or have any visible leadership over others. That doesn’t change our job to extend that father heart throughout the church and into the world that is desperate to see their “Abba Father.” You must step up this kind of love, wherever you have been called to serve. The world is waiting for us to reveal Him to them, just as He has been revealed to us. It’s time to catch the Father heart of God and live it out.

Photo by Derek Thomson on Unsplash

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3 Keys for True Kingdom Promotion

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Recently, I was discussing the idea of Kingdom ” promotion ” and advancing in ministry life with a fellow missionary and friend. We were discussing all the great things we see God doing in our ministries, and dreaming of the ” more ” we are believing will come. As we discussed where God was taking us, though, we also began sharing how we see God using other people around us, who seem to be a little farther on the journey than we are. These are people we look up to as examples, and who we aspire to emulate in certain ways. However, the dark side of comparison soon came into play in the conversation as well. After doing a little heart-check, it became clear that there are obstacles in our own hearts that keep us from the ” promotions ” in ministry and God’s Kingdom which he wants to move us into. Before we can get our promotions, we must first deal with our hearts concerning two chronic problems in the body of Christ today: criticism and jealousy. 

Two Hinderances to Kingdom Promotion

The first heart problem – criticism – creeps in when we judge someone who ministers differently than we think they should be doing it, or we devalue their ministry because it does not measure up to our standards and preferences. These criticisms may be because their ministry isn’t doing as well as our own, and therefore we think they haven’t figured out what we have, or it may be because their ministry is thriving and growing, and as ours is not doing as well, so we assume they must not really be as faithful to the gospel as we are, and are simply entertaining people in order to draw a crowd. 

The second heart-problem – jealousy – comes into play when someone has something we don’t or has achieved a level of success which we think we deserve more than they do. This could be invitations to speak at prestigious events, or public recognition they receive from the community, media, or internet traffic. It could be as little as them raising their support for their small mission field assignment quicker than we do. Jealousy can hit us at all levels of ministry, large or small. 

Not only are these problems destructive to our own ministry and what God wants to do through us; they are detrimental to the mission of God in the world. When these two problems rise in our hearts, they reveal a judgmental spirit at work in us, which seeks to break unity in the universal body of Christ, thereby hindering the fulfillment of God’s gospel commission.

Identifying Jealousy and Criticism

Jealousy and criticisms among ministers are not new things. Just look at the disciples. They were constantly arguing about which one is greater (Luke 22:24; Matthew 18:1) and seeking an opportunity to sit at Jesus’ side when the Kingdom is fully come (Mark 10:37), while also trying to hold down those who were not one of the group (Mark 9:38-40). These were issues then, just as they are now, and they were issues that Jesus immediately sought to correct in them. 

Secondly, we must all admit that this isn’t just an “out there” problem. The truth is we all deal with these tendencies on occasion. 

I recently had lunch with my senior pastor, a church planter, his associate pastor, and seminary student. In the course of    conversation there was name-dropping of ministers we associate with (or would like to). There was some talk of church sizes, number of salvations, and programs — you know, all the normal minister-to-minister conversation stuff. I am not downplaying that it was an enjoyable lunch. 

However, if I am honest about encounters like these, it is sometimes too easy for me to walk away looking at the good things God is doing in someone else’s life and ministry and be overcome with a jealous desire for Him to do it for me; even ignoring the things He is doing in my own life already. Now, that isn’t my heart 99% of the time. The truth is, most of the time I don’t even think to look for self-promotion. I want people to see Jesus, not me. Yet there are times when I am feeling like things aren’t going the way they are supposed to, or at least as good as they could be, and the jealousy bug creeps in. 

Three Keys for True Kingdom Promotion

As I began to pray about this issue and ask God how we should protect our hearts from jealousy in the Kingdom of God, He gave me a few key things that are vital to not only preventing criticism and jealousy from taking root, but are vital for us in receiving the legitimate promotions in our ministries which the Lord wants us to receive.

1. Intimacy

John 15:4 — Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

English Standard Version

If we really want to fulfill the destiny that God has created us for (Ephesians 2:10), we won’t find it by looking at what other ministers are doing and how God is using them. Instead, we must look only to God and see what He wants to do in us. It is in intimacy with Him that we find out who we are and what we are called to do. (Check out this video I did on “the heart of intimacy.”)

2. Faithfulness

Luke 16:10 — “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.”

Luke 12:48 — “…Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.”

English Standard Version

Once we have been in the secret place with the Lord and received our individual assignments from the Holy Spirit, the key to receiving more opportunities, and bigger, bolder assignments, is that we first be faithful in what He has called us to today. It is great to dream about the future and to ask God to give you big visions for where He is taking you. However, we cannot pursue the visions of the future so much, that we neglect to act on His directions for today. 

Our faithfulness today builds a trust in us in the Kingdom of God, demonstrating that we can be trusted with more! 

3. Honor

Matthew 10:41 — The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.

English Standard Version

It is a well-established principle in scripture that shows when you honor what God is doing in another, it opens up a supernatural pathway for Him to do the same for you. I believe one of the primary reasons our enemy stirs us up to jealousy and criticism in our hearts is because he knows that dishonor will block us from receiving that blessing for ourselves. 

To me, this fact is the most interesting reality concerning jealousy! We get jealous because we want what they have, yet the Bible teaches that the way God intends us to receive what they have is by first honoring that God is doing it with them! Jealousy and criticism are the Devil’s sinful alternative to God’s calling on us to show honor, created to block us from receiving an impartation of what they have. Romans 12:10 actually teaches us that if we want a competition in the Kingdom of God it is to “outdo one another in showing honor.” 

I believe it is time for the church to seek unity, be faithful in our own callings, and to grow in honoring God’s hand on others. It is time to be building one another up and reaching out in fellowship, rather than criticizing and giving into jealousy which tears down and only looks inward. 

It is time for each of us to fight these judgmental spirits in ourselves. It is time for us to seek intimacy with the Lord, be faithful in whatever He calls us to do, and to honor His work in others. Then we can celebrate together as He promotes each of us upward in His timing, for the sake of the Kingdom of God. 

(This post was originally published July 27, 2015. It has been revised and edited for reposting.)

Photo by Jake Hills on Unsplash