Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
Leaders don’t merely lead others in knowing the power of God or doing the works of God, they lead them in becoming the testimony of His character, nature, and way. Leaders lead others in being transformed by Holy Spirit to manifest a testimony of the Father’s likeness and image in this world. For this to happen, a leader sets an example to others in growing in a relationship with God. That relationship includes a responding to the voice and presence of God in all things and at all times. God’s voice and presence will transform our hearts and minds by the power and testimony of His grace.
The life of Holy Spirit doesn’t just flow through us to reveal a powerful God. The life of Holy Spirit flows through us to reveal a supernatural testimony of God’s love. Knowing God means knowing His love. When we know His love will transform our hearts and minds. When we know God’s love, we love others. It is a working of the power of Holy Spirit within us. That work is one of the Father’s powerful love.
Cultivating a relationship with Holy Spirit will be evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit. We will grow in a testimony of the fruit of Holy Spirit. That fruit increasingly becomes the substance of our own character. Knowing Christ will cause us to become like Him in His ways.
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Leaders set an example of growing in the testimony of the fruit of God’s Spirit. Love should increase in their lives. They are increasingly filled with joy, and they walk in peace. The are steadfast and able to endure hard things. They become more kind, and they live to do good for the sake of others. They have a reputation of being good people. They are not easily shaken but are more and more faithful in their connection to God and others. They are not hard and bitter but gentle in their deminer to others in their world. Leaders grow in tenderness; they don’t let opinions driven by their personal emotions dictate their attitudes or their actions towards others. Leaders lead others in knowing the liberty of inner change that comes by intimacy with God in Christ.
Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
A leader sets an example to others as a child of light, and they walk in God’s goodness, righteousness, and truth. Some translations of this Scripture in Ephesians chapter 5 say that the fruit of light is goodness, righteousness, and truth. These verses in the New King James Version reveals that the fruit of the Spirit is in whatever is good, righteous, or true. In either case, the evidence is seen in the fruit, not pretend doing. Sometimes the lines between good and evil, righteous and unrighteous, true and false get blurred. A good indicator that we are walking in the path of life is the evidence of the fruit of life. We cannot do fruit; fruit is something that happens when we live in the place where fruit grows. Fruit is something that gives life-energy to someone else and produces seeds for a future generation of life. Fruit is not a self-gratifying thing; it is a life-giving thing to others beyond your own life.
Cultivating a relationship with Holy Spirit will be evidenced by the character of God’s Spirit. Leaders set an example for others to also embrace the life-changing testimony that comes through a relationship with God in Christ.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728
