Empowering People To Be

Greetings,

As leaders we must lead others in a way that empowers them to be, not to do. We are not called to raise up Christ empowered activities. We are not called to facilitate Christ empowered doings. Our investments in life are not investments in works, but investments in people who will no doubt do works. We are called to serve others in helping them become who God has created them to be in this world. They are human beings, not human doings. Leadership is about empowering people, not empowering the activities of people. When people are alive they do things, but doing things is not what makes people come alive. When people are insecure in who they are they tend to find their security in what they do. We must influence people in a way that they become secure in who they are as sons and daughters of God. We must seek to create an atmosphere within our realms of responsibility that empowers people to become who they are. When we seek to empower people to do we can create a prison of bondage that becomes a system we serve instead of a culture of life that serves to give life to others. Very often our intentions are sincere, but the results are less than life and true freedom. True freedom brings life to others. When we discover whom God created us to be we find that who we are is a gift for the sake of the world. We were born to bring life to the world, not to live for ourselves or to live for works of ministry.

The will of God is not what we do. The will of God is who we are. When we discover who we are we find that there are many things we can do. The things we do come out of the identity of who we are. When the will of God becomes an activity, that activity limits us in our destiny. If we think the will of God is a work, what happens when that work fails? When we know the will of God is who we are we will not be shaken even when some works seem to fail. We move forward in doing works because we always stand in whom we are. As leaders we must activate, facilitate, and release people to stand as who they are in this world. We must equip them to be, more than equipping them to do. The tools of life serve life; life does not serve the tools. The tools are given to help us be who God made us to be, not make us become who God made us to be. David’s sling carried the stone from David’s hand, it did not make David’s hand. Saul’s armor didn’t fit David, because David was David. Neither the armor nor the sling made David a giant killer. It was the anointing of God upon who David was that made him able to do the work of slaying Goliath.

1 Samuel 17:38-39 And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!” So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail. David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them.” So David took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine.

David was not seeking to fulfill the hope of his calling. He wasn’t seeking to get His inheritance. He wasn’t trying to stand in his own power. His heart was to be the will of God for the purpose of the will of God in Israel. He was willing to do what needed to be done because he knew who God was. Because he knew who God was, he also knew who he was in the hand of God.

Many times we become stressed over our callings in life. We become prideful in our attempts to be successful. We even become self-sufficient in our desire for the power of God before we realize it. We do not have a calling; we fulfill a specific role in the hope of His calling. We are not looking to get our inheritance; we are a part of His inheritance in the earth. We do not have power; we walk in the testimony of His power for the sake of the world in which we live. These are not things we do. These are attributes that come out of the testimony of who we are in Christ. Christ in us is the hope of glory and that glory is meant to bring life to others. It is a matter of becoming people of the likeness and the image of our Father in heaven. God is not a Great Doing. He is a great Father. He is who He is and therefore He can do all things. He is not motivated by what He does; He does all things because of whom He is. When we discover who we are we can do many things that serve to bring life to the world.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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