Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
As leaders we are given an authority to lead others into the way of life. That way is the way of Christ. Authority is not a matter of control. It is a matter of giving life to others. When we are given an authority, it means we have been given the responsibility of empowering others to step into the blessing of the measure of life that God has given to us for their sake.
The apostle Paul addressed the church of Corinth as being a spiritual letter written by Holy Spirit. That letter was written in his heart first as an apostle to them. An apostle is a ‘sent one’ for a purpose of others also being sent as a testimony of what has been entrusted to them in a greater way. Paul was given the responsibility of leading others into the measure of blessing released in the letter that was being written in his heart. It was not a letter written in ink, but a letter written on the hearts and minds of men and women to become expressions of the New Covenant life found in Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:2 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.
The letter being written in our lives is not one of human will. It is one of human submission. That submission is a willingness to receive what God is writing on our hearts and minds to become what and who God has called us to be. As the body of Christ, we are a testimony of Christ to our world. The sufficiency of leaders is not one of their personal gifting or abilities. It is a sufficiency discovered in Christ. It is supernatural and involves a partnership with Holy Spirit to become a measure of the inheritance of Christ for the purpose of the Father’s will in our world.
1 Corinthians 3:4 And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Leaders are not to lead by the letter of some law. They are to lead by a submission to Holy Spirit. The testimony of their leadership is not in what they can do, but in what they allow God to do in the lives of those they lead. This involves activating the life of God in each believer. It involves facilitating each believer to personally respond to the presence of God in their own lives. This includes responding to His voice, but responding to His voice is not merely about doing the right things. It is about knowing God and becoming sons and daughters of God for His will and purpose in all things. Each member must find the responsibility of their own partnership with God for His kingdom and will to be done in their lives, even as it is in heaven.
The secret to good leadership is to inspire those we lead to turn to the Lord in their hearts and be transformed from within for the glory of Jesus’ name.
1 Corinthians 3:16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
This is the ministry of the Spirit. As leaders we have been given the responsibility of leading others in their turning to the Lord in their hearts. We lead them to see Jesus in their own lives and to be transformed by Him in their lives. This is not just for an individual testimony but for a corporate testimony together as an expression of the body of Christ.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728
