AThe Hope of His Calling
by Jill M. Michaels
A
What is true leadership in the Kingdom of God other than to have an audience to the mind and dreams of God, and then, laying aside all self-ambition, becoming a willing vessel to fulfill His heart? What greater service can we render than to be as Jesus was on the earth giving His life that others might live? What technique, what tool, forms a leader with more power, effectiveness and truth than the sacrificial love continually demonstrated to us by God? And where does this leadership begin, what is its point of origin, other than being the servant, the bondslave of God? For true leadership in the Kingdom of God is bottom-up management, the leader as servant, not building his own fortune and dreams, but serving unto death to build another’s.
Avoiding Worldly Patterns
In respect to models for leadership, the patterns of the world have clearly infiltrated the practices and philosophy of the church. We incorporate these standards, then sanitize and repackage them, covering worldly perspectives with religious garb. We embrace and implement a model that places goal and structure above the value of the individual, except where the power elite are concerned. The people are there to serve us, the organization and the perceived goal, and as such, they are expendable. They must either shape up or ship out.
But, in the Kingdom of God, where the Spirit is at enmity with the flesh, the ways of the world opposed to the ways of the Kingdom, the goal is the development of the individual! The leader is merely the facilitator. The goal is met, paradoxically, by ignoring it. For when each child of God is clear about whom they have been ordained to be, their Designer specifications, and then are nurtured into growth according to God’s plan, the ultimate goal in the mind of God for His Kingdom is somehow accomplished. In the unfathomable mind and plan of God, the development of the individual achieves the goal, "from whom the whole Body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love."
Leaders, in following a top-down management framework, often attempt to systematize and codify the life of the Spirit, for it can be deeply uncomfortable and so very uncontrollable. It requires dependence on something outside ourselves, when independence is often the only place of safety we think valid. So, in order to make sense of it all, not only do we attempt to codify God, the Creator, into a precise rulebook, we extend the codification to His most precious creation, His children, all in the name of advancing the Kingdom.
But the fruit of this is an open invitation to demonic spirits of control and manipulation. For if a person, leaders included, can be separated from their true God-given identity with no attempt made to discover and nurture who they have been designed to be, if standards are set up that are impossible for them to fulfill (oftentimes, because they lie outside of their true callings and giftings), they can be controlled and used. A demonic strategy, without question, not a divine one, but, unfortunately, one that has found its way into the Kingdom under false pretenses and teachings.
Discovering a Vision for Leadership
Therefore, the mandate of the true leader must be to first discover for
himself, possibly under layers of personal expectations and perceptions, as well as those
of others, what the Master Artist had in mind when he was fashioned. Then, the
leader’s vision must be expanded beyond his life experiences, or those of the ones he
admires. We all tend to filter life through our unique lenses and then establish a
template of behavior, expression and relationship that we apply to others. But, in the
Body of Messiah, growth of the whole does not require the sameness of the individual
components; it is not bondage and destruction of the uniqueness of the individual. It is a
Body founded in the unimaginable, vast, limitless creativity of One called God. As His
servants, He allows us to discover His design and partake, in whatever measure He deems
appropriate, in the sculpting of His vision for His children. We can then join in the
delight of our Father as we watch them take their
rightful place in His grand design.
And, lest this be seen as so much navel-contemplation and time-wasting, we must know that this sojourn leads us to a deeper understanding of God and His purposes. We learn of God the Artist, the Designer, the Planner, the Strategist, the Visionary–God, the Lord of Everything. We get to peek into the marvelous mysteries He saw when He pondered creating us before the world was formed. Did He laugh and did He cry when our lives flowed from His imagination into the time to come? What delights have we forgotten of those times lost in Him, when He knew us before the foundation of the world?
So we proceed forward, from the Jerusalem of self, to the Judea and Samaria of those in our care, building in spirit and truth on the foundation laid out for us in scripture, with our very definitions and parameters being scrupulously derived from the mind and heart of God.
Remembering that, even though I may be a daisy, and thrive on daisy food, and feel appreciated as a daisy, it doesn’t mean everyone is supposed to be a daisy. The evangelist will not necessarily see and hear as will the pastor. The gift of prophecy will shape a heart quite differently than the gift of comfort, but both have a valid expression of the love of God even though the appearance might be quite different.
Interactive Plurality in Leadership
Let us enter for a moment into a tableaux that has been enacted countless times through the years. A man comes to a fellowship with a serious problem that has affected him for many years. A pastor, with gifts of comfort and mercy, begins to minister. This pastor holds in high esteem the abilities to soothe pain, to be tolerant and accepting. He sees this path as the way to help individuals come to health, and come to God. After all, love is the greatest gift and in this pastor’s understanding, what he is doing is how love is expressed in its most perfect way. He sits and listens to the man, letting him share what’s on his heart, touched by the weight of his burden. The man says many things that are not true, that don’t line up with the Word of God, but are spoken out of pain and despair. The pastor doesn’t correct him, he just continues to comfort the man. Putting an arm around the man’s shoulder with great concern, he offers to help with a specific need arising from the problems.
A teacher at the fellowship, with a well-developed gift of observation and analysis, as well as a good grasp of scripture, watches the interaction. He has been observing and noting what is said, what the foundation and accuracy of the statements are by both the pastor and the man, and, the ultimate effects on both men. Initially, the teacher is studying and analyzing from a cool perspective. But as he sees the pastor listening and nodding when the man pours out his despair with statements of anger and accusations towards God, his cool perspective begins to change. Speaking up, the teacher immediately begins to recount scriptures that he believes will be the antidote for the man’s problem and will provide a good foundation for future prevention. To help this man, the teacher provides him with an understanding of where he got off track, showing him biblical truths to assist him in healing and directions to get back on the road again. The love of God pouring out of this teacher is expressed in giving the man tools to diagnose, heal and prevent future occurrences by grabbing hold of the truth of God. The teacher may be impatient with the outpouring of feelings, especially ones that speak against the truth, believing that the medicine (the Word) must be applied before more damage is done.
A prophet, sitting quietly by, is content for the moment to watch and listen. When the man first entered, before he even began to speak, the prophet sensed that a deep oppression was affecting him. The prophet ‘saw’ bitterness and underneath the bitterness, deep wounding. Also seeing leadership authority in the man, the prophet began to ask the Lord what was going on. He gets an impression of the strategy of the enemy to destroy him because of his great potential and usefulness in the Kingdom, a strategy where the wounds are continually reopened, never getting the opportunity to heal. At this point, the prophet speaks up and identifies the problem as he sees it, explains the solution and points to the future traps and possibilities. The prophet is not altered or moved from his view by what the man says or even by the man’s feelings. He uses his scalpel with skill no matter the protest, believing this to be love of God for this man, to set him free from the past and released into his future. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the pastor gifted with mercy, is highly uncomfortable with the prophet’s words, not hearing acceptance for the man’s plight…
Now, all the above individuals, if they knew fully who they were created to be, were matured and secure in their giftings, and, aware of the varied shapings of God, they would be able to work together like a beautithe problems.
A teacher at the fellowship, with a well-developed gift of observation and analysis, as well as a good grasp of scripture, watches the interaction. He has been observing and noting what is said, what the foundation and accuracy of the statements are by both the pastor and the man, and, the ultimate effects on both men. Initially, the teacher is studying and analyzing from a cool perspective. But as he sees the pastor listening and nodding when the man pours out his despair with statements of anger and accusations towards God, his cool perspective begins to change. Speaking up, the teacher immediately begins to recount scriptures that he believes will be the antidote for the man’s problem and will provide a good foundation for future prevention. To help this man, the teacher provides him with an understanding of where he got off track, showing him biblical truths to assist him in healing and directions to get back on the road again. The love of God pouring out of this teacher is expressed in giving the man tools to diagnose, heal and prevent future occurrences by grabbing hold of the truth of God. The teacher may be impatient with the outpouring of feelings, especially ones that speak against the truth, believing that the medicine (the Word) must be applied before more damage is done.
A prophet, sitting quietly by, is content for the moment to watch and listen. When the man first entered, before he even began to speak, the prophet sensed that a deep oppression was affecting him. The prophet ‘saw’ bitterness and underneath the bitterness, deep wounding. Also seeing leadership authority in the man, the prophet began to ask the Lord what was going on. He gets an impression of the strategy of the enemy to destroy him because of his great potential and usefulness in the Kingdom, a strategy where the wounds are continually reopened, never getting the opportunity to heal. At this point, the prophet speaks up and identifies the problem as he sees it, explains the solution and points to the future traps and possibilities. The prophet is not altered or moved from his view by what the man says or even by the man’s feelings. He uses his scalpel with skill no matter the protest, believing this to be love of God for this man, to set him free from the past and released into his future. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the pastor gifted with mercy, is highly uncomfortable with the prophet’s words, not hearing acceptance for the man’s plight…
Now, all the above individuals, if they knew fully who they were created to be, were matured and secure in their giftings, and, aware of the varied shapings of God, they would be able to work together like a beauti
Jill M. Michaels, teacher and prophetic psalmist, works to establish the intimate, covenant relationship that God desires with his people. A valued teaching voice for many international ministries, she ministers from the vantage point of the spiritual Hebraic roots of our faith, assisting believers in coming to maturity. A highly respected author and teacher, she also has composed over 200 songs that have been performed around the world. Jill lives in Delray Beach, Forida.
