The Organic Nature of Spiritual Leadership

 I have not attained, I am learning and studying, and I have seen within myself this cycle, of being God focused and effective, and then, becoming proud, and losing the ability to be effective in the process, which then leads to low self esteem and even less effectiveness, at which point I turn to God finally and restart the cycle. I repent to all who witness of the pride in all it's forms, for self focus is pride, and strive to be God focused in all things, even when facing death. Feel free to read over my shoulder as I learn in front of you and lead me to deeper truths where I might be off the tracks. 

 The Roman officer knew that there must be a God, and he reached out into the spiritual realm to find God, he wanted relationship. His heart was positioned correctly, for he was seeking God on God's terms and not constructing a god on his terms. The Lord rewarded this man, and sent an angel from Heaven itself to point him in the right direction. He told the officer to get Peter and where to find him. Meanwhile, Peter, was walking in such close fellowship with the Lord, that he had gone to the roof to talk with him, and while he was there, he saw a vision. In this vision, the Lord said to not call unclean what he cleansed, the vision was an invitation to eat animals that were deemed unclean per the Jewish law. When the men arrived from the Roman officer, whose name was Cornelius, Peter knew the Lord wanted him to share The Lord with the gentiles, and so Peter did, Cornelius bowed to Peter, but he stopped him abruptly and immediately pointed him to the Lord as the only one worthy of any worship. (Acts 10) 

  There came a time when Peter visited Antioch, and while he was there, he caved to peer pressure and ate only with the Jews and not the Gentiles. Paul confronted him on this matter. Peter had made a decision that was selfish, and not a decision of the Lord. Peter remained an apostle, the rock the Lord built his church on, but, this incident dented his spiritual leadership and he was called to task and led back in line by another leader. (Galatians 2) 

 Paul and Peter both met in Jerusalem, along with other leaders and had a discussion about whether or not the gentiles should be circumcised. Opinions were floated back and forth, and the meeting went on for a while with a lot of arguing. Finally, after everyone had their say, a leader took the floor, he had the authority to pull together the whole discussion and share the correct answer, all the others listened as he spoke, it was not Peter, and it was not Paul. It was James. (Acts 15) 

 So, what are my takeaways? A leader is someone who leads, obviously, so in the physical realm, it is the owner of the business who has the power to lead or to appoint the leader. That is authority. Authority is power of sorts, power to influence, and power to lead. This power, comes from knowing, or having an invested interest. A general carries a lot of authority in the army, he has been there a long time, and he has invested interest and knowledge in the whole mechanism of the army. In the spiritual, we see where Christ modeled the idea that we are completely given up to the Lord. We partner with Him, and we lay hold of His call, and His desires. In fact, it would seem wise to lay before Him and get daily marching orders from Him. If you do this, your spiritual authority grows and you begin to be a spiritual leader. If you stop and notice your status as a spiritual leader and spend time thinking about your goodness, your spiritual authority begins to dim, and then you find yourself needing to be led more than before. So, ultimately, don't focus on being someone, don't focus on being any of the people that were discussed here. Don't focus on titles, don't focus on speaking well for the Lord, don't focus on fixing people for the Lord. Focus on the Lord. Seek Him like Cornelius did, whatever that looks like for you. Partner with Him in whatever He shows you. Allow him to minister to you grace, strength, and whatever He wants you to have, The overflow from Him onto others will completely overpower any pouring you might have been able to do for Him in the past. Out of this overflow, you will find yourself reaching down, and pulling others up out of trouble, and pointing them to Christ, for those are the fundamental things that great spiritual leaders do; because for a spiritual leader, it is all about Christ, and the goal is to draw others close to Him, for, whatever the problem, He is the answer.

 I also think leaders are leaders in many different areas, take this fictional (I hope) example. The great preacher, Tala Minister has spent all of Saturday afternoon prostrate before the Lord seeking from him what the Lord would have his people hear. The Lord shows Tala that his people are His, Tala gives his people to the Lord, and asks the Lord to speak. Tala surrenders his mouth to the Lord, and writes down the deep revelations the Lord gives him. Meanwhile his wife, Lyssnande Minister quietly goes about the house, sweeping the floors, washing the dishes, and as she works, she is keenly aware of her husband's struggle, and she prays for him. That evening, Tala, full of power and overflowing, cares for his wife, and asks about her day, he washes the evening dishes, and then together they sit on the sofa and he cares for her heart. Sunday morning, the couple gets up, and prepares for the meeting of the church. Tala is so excited about what the Lord will do, he keeps pacing, thinking, and praising, finally Lyssnande is also ready, and Tala is headed for the door when Lyssnande says, "Tala! You forgot your pants!" 

 So, who was the leader in that goofy example? Tala or Lyssnande? The answer is....yes. In their own ways, both, being faithful to the Lord, were leaders. Are you a Tala or a Lyssnande? We need both.