Greetings;
Last week I began to address Satan’s plan to destroy leadership teams from within. He will tempt leadership members to think with individual plans rather than corporate ones. He tempts team members to live for their own personal causes rather than the corporate cause of Christ. He seeks to cause leadership members to separate from one another rather than live for the corporate cause, plan, and purpose of Christ. Today we will look further into the failure of the morning star known in the Latin as Lucifer.
I believe that everything in life is a matter of authority. Authority is revealed through one’s ability to give life to another. Authority is not marked with manipulation and control. It is the ability to be in submission one to another in order to produce something greater than self. The human race was created to reveal the likeness and the image of God in this world. This cannot be done by any individual alone, but by many individuals submitting one to another to reveal a fuller picture of who God is. Every collective order is dependent upon the submission of its members to reveal the full purpose of the whole. I believe that Satan was originally created as a covering cherub that magnified the expressive nature of God. The Latin language refers to him as Lucifer in his original creation, a name that is indicative of someone who refracts or reflects light. Like all created things, he was created to be joined to other created things in order to fulfill a fuller purpose as God’s creation. God never created anything to be independent of other created things. He created all things to reveal a testimony of His glory through their connection one to another. I believe that even Lucifer was created for God’s glory. Perhaps that glory was meant to be revealed through his failure as much as through his original created being, this is just a thought and not intended to be taken as solid truth.
I believe that Lucifer revealed his character flaw when he lifted his heart and looked through the eyes of his own understanding (Ezek. 28:17). He didn’t look through the eyes of submission, which would have been the eyes of authority. He looked through the eyes of his own understanding, which revealed an independence from others and a grasping for a power of self. It was then that he found his identity in the ministry he was performing. He valued what he was able to do more than his service to God in revealing Him to others. Lucifer committed the sin of self-seeking wisdom as found in the book of James.
James 3:13-18 – Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self- seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
True wisdom from God is meek and it seeks the welfare of others. It does not contain bitter envy of others nor does it seek personal agendas. Those exercising the wisdom of God don’t boast concerning themselves, but they seek to live in a way that honors the uniqueness of others. Those who exercise godly wisdom acknowledge their own dependance upon others in order to be who they truly are. Godly wisdom is all about relationship with others. It is all about being dependent upon others in order to fulfill the destiny of their own identity. True wisdom is exercised in purity, peace, gentleness, a willingness to yield, mercy, and all manner of good fruits. Those who live with godly wisdom recognize the value of others as being as valuable as themselves. They seek to live in a way that reveals their connectedness to others and they live to make others shine. There is a testimony of true peace in their relationship with God and others in life.
God ordained and anointed leadership teams must manifest the wisdom of God in who they are and what they do. They are a team for the glory of God, for one another, and for those they lead. The life of authority must reside in their existence and not a grasping for power.
Lucifer became wise in his own understanding. He began to reject the meekness of heavenly wisdom and began to draw other angels in heaven to his own cause (Ezek. 28:16). His wisdom became corrupted for the sake of his own splendor (Ezek. 28:17). He wanted his way more the way that glorified God in heaven. His heart became filled with bitter envy of that which he could hear, see, and think – in regard to things not given to his charge, but the charge of others (Isa. 14:12-14).
There is no room for self-seeking wisdom in a leadership team. The way of God and the way of the team must be more important than the way of self to any member of the team. When we are part of a team we experience the testimony of others in connection with the testimony of ourselves. We must see the testimony of others as just as important as the role we play in the team. The full testimony of who a team member is is seen in their ability to contribute to the whole team functioning together. The fruit of the team will reveal the testimony of its members. Every team member will hear, see, and think things that are conducive to their role in the team. Every member will also hear, see, and come to know the expressions of others on the team. No member can understand the role of another member without submitting who they are to the glory of another. Each member will hear, see, and think in a way unique to their function in the team. It is through submission one to another that the authority of life will be revealed in God’s ordained way.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
