Papa took me to school the other day.
I was driving somewhere or the other,
minding my own business chugging down the freeway on cruise control.
I was thinking about stuff. I do that.
Along comes this little white sports
car; it passed me, and pulled right in front of me and slowed down,
not a lot, but enough that I needed to drop out of cruise control and
change lanes. So I did.
Then it sped up again, pulled in front
of me again, and slowed down again. I wrestled with the temptation to
say some things, but about that time it turned off onto the exit
lane. I wrestled some more, and George Carlin’s quote came to mind
(“Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an
idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?”).
I understand that Carlin was describing
human judgmental human nature, not human driving, so I decided not to
call the driver of the white car any sort of names; I recognized that
whatever things I called him would function as a curse, cuz words do
that, so I restrained myself. That’s not Dad’s way. I just kept
driving. No big deal.
It was then I “heard” a video game
“be-doop” noise in my spirit, and had the sense that I’d just
“leveled up.” OK. That was interesting.
“Now I can trust you with authority
in your words more, Son.”
Wait, what? That was a test? I had no
idea!
I had a million questions, but he was
patient with me. (That’s not actually uncommon.)
He reminded me of the parable of the
Talents and its lesson: if I’m faithful with whatever he gives me
responsibility for, the reward is more of it, and specifically more
authority in the Kingdom (Matthew 25: “I will make you ruler over
many things!”).
He explained that the principle was
true with my words as well. As I’m faithful with using my words in
ways that extend and expand the Kingdom, I’ll find that my words
will have more effect.
I thought you might enjoy sharing my
lesson here.
Thursday
You're Not Immune From That, You Know
I had just started my walk with father the other day, and I realized I was feeling kind of strange in my soul. I examined my heart for a bit and realized there was a sense of unworthiness there, a vague sense of uncleanness.
What better time to discover these issues, I thought, than walking with God? so I began, as has frequently been my practice, to search my soul with him, to unburden my soul, to find whatever was amiss and 'fess up and fix it.
I had been going at the search for a little while when I paused and recognized that Father wasn't joining in it with me. It was like he was just standing back, leaning against a tree, arms crossed over his chest, waiting for me to notice him.
I stopped my search for my dirty laundry and gave him my attention.
"Son, do you remember the counsel you give people about not treating your emotions as always truthful?"
"Yes...." I replied. "The feelings are real, but they may not be telling the truth."
"Yeah. You're not immune from that, you know."
And I realized that he was telling me that my feelings were lying to me, that I didn't have sin in my heart. What I had was an accuser telling me, lying to me, about sin in my heart. Oops.
We talked about it some more, about how hard I've had to work to get past that lie that says that God can't relate to people who sin. He reminded me that any time his kids sinned, he was always, always out there going after them.
"Sin doesn't scare me, Son. But I think it scares you. And sometimes, just the Accuser whispering about sin scares my children off.
"Come here, Son. Let me hug you."
What better time to discover these issues, I thought, than walking with God? so I began, as has frequently been my practice, to search my soul with him, to unburden my soul, to find whatever was amiss and 'fess up and fix it.
I had been going at the search for a little while when I paused and recognized that Father wasn't joining in it with me. It was like he was just standing back, leaning against a tree, arms crossed over his chest, waiting for me to notice him.
I stopped my search for my dirty laundry and gave him my attention.
"Son, do you remember the counsel you give people about not treating your emotions as always truthful?"
"Yes...." I replied. "The feelings are real, but they may not be telling the truth."
"Yeah. You're not immune from that, you know."
And I realized that he was telling me that my feelings were lying to me, that I didn't have sin in my heart. What I had was an accuser telling me, lying to me, about sin in my heart. Oops.
We talked about it some more, about how hard I've had to work to get past that lie that says that God can't relate to people who sin. He reminded me that any time his kids sinned, he was always, always out there going after them.
"Sin doesn't scare me, Son. But I think it scares you. And sometimes, just the Accuser whispering about sin scares my children off.
"Come here, Son. Let me hug you."
Test for Apostles & Prophets
Ephesians 2 says, "You are no
longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's
people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief
cornerstone."
Some among us are called by God to be prophets, and some are called to be apostles. Therefore this verse applies to these men and women.
Here’s a question for these folks: How are you doing at being foundational?
I sometimes wonder if this is one of maybe two key tests of the effectiveness of apostles & prophets: Are you being a foundation for others to build and grow on.
The other test, remembering Ephesians, chapter 4, is this: are saints being equipped, made more effective in their works of ministry after having been around you? Pretty similar work, wouldn't you say?
Observation: this seems to have little or nothing to do with how many conferences you speak at, how many people are in your network, or how many people greet you in the marketplace as Prophet Jered or Apostle Tiffany.
Success as a prophet or apostle doesn’t seem to be related to how many people you lead (not that it's insignificant), but what the nature of your influence is in their life.
Some among us are called by God to be prophets, and some are called to be apostles. Therefore this verse applies to these men and women.
Here’s a question for these folks: How are you doing at being foundational?
I sometimes wonder if this is one of maybe two key tests of the effectiveness of apostles & prophets: Are you being a foundation for others to build and grow on.
The other test, remembering Ephesians, chapter 4, is this: are saints being equipped, made more effective in their works of ministry after having been around you? Pretty similar work, wouldn't you say?
Observation: this seems to have little or nothing to do with how many conferences you speak at, how many people are in your network, or how many people greet you in the marketplace as Prophet Jered or Apostle Tiffany.
Success as a prophet or apostle doesn’t seem to be related to how many people you lead (not that it's insignificant), but what the nature of your influence is in their life.
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