Greetings,
As leaders in the body of Christ, we are called to lead others in a Spirit-led life. A Spirit-led life is not the same as merely living a life with Spirit-led moments. Spirit-led moments without a Spirit-led life will lead to deception and despair. Spiritual moments do not necessarily lead to a Spirit-led life, but a Spirit-led life will be filled with Spirit-led moments. Elijah was a great prophet in the Old Testament. He had a great moment with God when he called down fire upon Mount Carmel after 3 ½ years of silence and hiding (1Kin. 18). I believe the Elijah is an example of a man who had a Spirit-led life, but I also believe that his life is an example to us concerning what happens when we believe in the power of Spirit-led moments above a Spirit-led life. Elijah experienced a great display of power of Mount Caramel, but he ended up in a place of discouragement and self-pity.
1 Kings 19:10 So he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”
God continued to tell Elijah that he was not the only one who remained. God had seven thousand that had not bowed the knee to Baal.
1 Kings 19:14 And he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”
1 Kings 19:18 Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
God’s plan is always a plan of relationship. It is a plan of a family – a community of people where God dwells in their midst and they dwell with Him and one another. Whenever we think we are alone, we are missing God’s focus in life. God’s plan is a plan of community. His heart is for every individual, but His plan is for the many. This is the way of God and the goal for all generations of mankind.
Psalms 92:13 Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. 14 They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing…
As leaders in the body of Christ we must set an example in living a Spirit-led life that results in increased relationships. The older we get, the more committed we should be to the corporate plan of God. We should live for the generations of destiny. This is a place of corporate inheritance and destiny. The enemy will fashion weapons against that happening, but God loves the corporate place of relationship more than He loves any individual who seeks His name. He loves each of us, but His plan is one of community. He was for each of us to embrace a revelation of the corporate destiny of the body of Christ.
Psalms 87:1 His foundation is in the holy mountains. 2 The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. 3 Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God! Selah
The mountain that God lives in is a mountain of many stones. It is a mountain of many dwelling places. It is a mountain of human hearts that know the power of God’s love, in them and through them. It is a mountain of community. God’s desire is a community of life. This has always been His plan. The enemy seeks to destroy it, but God seeks to establish it among all nations. This was the promise to Jacob, a man who sought to be the blessings of God in the earth.
Genesis 28:3 “May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may be an assembly of peoples…”
The benefits of community spring out of community. We cannot know the benefits of community when we live isolated and separated lives. We must never fall for living a life focused upon Spirit-led moments. If we do, we will become disillusioned on the days we cannot hear Him speak. We will become discontent on the days that seem like valleys, because we will fall for the lie that only mountain tops produce the true testimony of God. It is in the valley that the seeds of the present are planted for the harvests of tomorrow. If we miss the importance of living Spirit-led lives in all seasons, we will fall into some form of deception and we will enter to a cave of discouragement and self-pity. As leaders in the body of Christ we must lead to empower those we lead to seek community and a Spirit-led life.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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