Honor the Vision

It was this Wednesday that I had stayed home from the office. I was doing some household things, vacuuming, dusting, and such while listening to the Modern Day Hymns playlist on Spotify, when suddenly the Spirit of God gripped my heart and spoke. I sat down under the weight of it. If you have ever felt this you know of what I experienced. Looking back, it's as if the weightier the message - the weightier the Presence. 

This was a powerful experience and a powerful Word in my life. An hour or so passed before I felt release from the weight and the urging of the LORD to share what He'd given me. I'll share what I heard from the Lord, and I'll also share the convictions I came away from that experience with. 

Here is what I heard from the Lord: "Be mindful when voices place a question on following my direction. Some will miss the fullness of my Plan for consulting the flesh over what I have spoken. Honor your Leaders and know them. Not all are visionary, not all are pastoral and some are gifted with a maintenance ministry. Know your leaders and carefully consider their consultation in light of what I have spoken. I am the Lord, Your GOD."

Here are my own convictions from that encounter with God:

1. As an under-shepherd, may I always direct people to follow God's direction in light of God's Word and not according to my own preferences or desires for their life & ministry. Let me practice in life what I've preached and taught from the lectern  [Matthew 7:24-27, James 1:22-25]. Let me follow HIM above all else!
2. As someone who regularly receives counsel from ministry mentors and life mentors, I will begin to more carefully weigh counsel in light of God's Word. I will seek to identify, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the gifting that mentors operate in and henceforth weigh the counsel they provide. In times past, I have chosen to go with the counsel of flesh over the direction of God - specifically in potential growth seasons which tend to be more uncomfortable and a bit scary for my flesh. I repent. It is obvious that not all leaders are visionary, that many seem to walk in a discipleship gifting and in a maintenance ministry anointing. How did I just now sense to be aware of this?!? Whether spiritual maintenance, discipleship or growth ministries; we (the Church) need it all! There is specific value in each gift of ministry. Peter & John stood before religious leaders in Acts 4 and heard the counsel from the Sanhedrin, but ultimately decided “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to Him? You are the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
3. Some have exited the House for what they perceive to be a lack of vision/growth in local leadership. I believe that exiting on this premise is a mistake. Furthermore, I believe that we (you and I) are to operate in our assignment as different parts of the Body [1 Corinthians 12]. Do not walk away because you feel like you're the only one. There is one nose, yet should that nose leave for being the only one - what a funny sort of face that would be!. So... be that part whether visionary or prophetic in the House where you've been planted. Be that part of the Body in that House!