Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
Today I am considering the important things in leadership. I have been a believer for more than fifty years and I have been a fulltime leader for more than thirty-five years. If you ask me today about the important things of leadership, I believe I can give you one word – LOVE. Everything is about the love of God and love can only be experienced in relationships!
The enemy targets relationships. He tries to make ministry more important than relationships. He tries to distract us with the power of ministry but there is nothing more powerful than love and nothing can express love in a stronger way than that of family. The church of Christ is meant to be the family of God.
Not too long ago I was in a meeting ministering on the reality of the body of Christ being the place that was shadowed in the Old Covenant as the holy of holies in the temple of God. The true temple of God is the temple of Holy Spirit. We are a dwelling place of God by His Spirit, but the purpose of that dwelling is to know, reveal, and be the love of God in and to our world. In this particular meeting we were singing that God would pour out His power and love, for He is holy, holy, holy. As we sang those words, I saw the family of God that I was standing among as that place that reveals God as holy, holy, holy. It is the place that reveals the love of God our Father, the love of Jesus the Son, and the love of Holy Spirit. As we sang the words “pour out Your power and love”, I found myself not able to sing those words. I felt to sing, “pour out Your powerful love, for You are holy, holy, holy.” God’s love is powerful! God’s love is supernatural! God’s love ministers in supernaturally gifted ways, but the real testimony is that it is God’s LOVE.
Leaders lead others in knowing the love of God. When the apostle John wrote the letter of First John in his older years, his letter presented that the true testimony of Jesus in our lives is revealed through a love for one another as His family. We are little children, young men and women, and father’s and mothers who know the love of God. We live for that purpose and that testimony. The evidence of Jesus in our flesh is the inspiration of love that overflows from within us towards one another as His family. When we know the love of God, we can be steadfast, creative, and flexible in every circumstance of our lives. We live to love God and to love His family. We don’t merely live for the power of ministry. The power of God is not separate from God’s love, it is how His love is revealed. His love is powerful!
My heart as a leader today is that we will all know His powerful love that we might be the place of His dwelling. It is by this that we can live for His will and His kingdom to come into our lives and into our world. Let love be the motive of our leadership and let love be the motive of membership in the family of God. By this we will overcome all things and reveal the greatness and goodness of God to our world.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
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