01/01/2024
Word of Widsom for 2024
2024 will be a year that the impact of Church Leadership will more visibly emerge, donning the uniform of The Fear of the Lord! Not a posture of being afraid of Him, but rather of being intimately aware of His ways, His will, His directives and a reverent desire to please Him. We will display an arrested heart that fears letting Him down more than it fears anything else on Earth. This comes not from anything but an intimacy paired with maturity that honors and respects Him with full awareness, and yet a child-like trust and reliance on His unyielding goodness, faithfulness, and commitment to all that is True and Good!
A leadership aligned with the Lord in this way, will impact all those they influence, and an alignment will take place that looks like it happened overnight, but has been centuries in the making.
The picture Jesus taught us to reference for understanding by the words He chose to use and the examples He gave, is the picture of the family. To be in proper alignment with the Lord, His body must look and act like a family not a corporate organization. While certain principles of a corporate organization can be incorporated into a family, a family is unique in that when healthy, does all it does out of honor, respect, submission and above all, which actually produces all, LOVE!
Words like submission, authority, religion, etc have been harmed and jaded by the handling of mankind being more carnal than transformed. The mishandling of little ones does not cancel those words in a pure sense, and maturity rightly divides their meaning.
2024 is the year to get seated. It is the year to take on the role you are in within the family of God, in the Kingdom of God! For, in the Kingdom of God there are no orphanages, only a family! There are no tyrants, self appointed Fathers, no Task Masters! We are a family, we are the Lord's Body, we are seated with Jesus, we have direct access to the Father, and we are to respond to all in the Body in direct accordance to His plan, His will, and His leading.
As the equippers set in the Body by Jesus are faithful to obey Him and work for Him, in submission to His instructions, the Body will grow into the full stature of Christ, fully submitted to the Head who is Jesus.
2024 is the year this alignment will begin to be more visible. We must do as He leads, agree with what is in alignment with Him, submit to one another in love, recognize those who labor among us, respect and honor everyone, handle them the way He leads, and allow Him to be the Lord of His Church!
We are free to do what ever our minds decide to do, but if we Fear Him that will not conflict with what pleases Him.
2024 and the Fear of the Lord will offer a belt to be placed around those in leadership by the Lord and will lead them. While they have before been lead by their own desires, even when those desires seemed good, they will now be lead by the Lord in alignment with what He is doing through them. To choose not to do this will carry a heavier consequence. Being honest is the key, for we all need mercy. As a leader who influences others, being dishonest before the people will be an unsafe place to be. For, the story of Ananias and Sapphira is a New Testament Story!
Diversity with harmony is God's idea of Unity. As I look out my patio door, I see beautiful blue skies, fluffy white clouds, a body of water with cattails on the edge, trees and birds, and green grass. Each is so different, each by itself has it's beauty, but the combination of all together paints a picture that brings harmony you get no other way! When we can look at each other this way, maintaining Holiness (an unyielding agreement with God) valuing the uniqueness of each, Unity is as simple as this view out my door!
The Fear of the Lord is to Hate Evil!
The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom!
It was Grace that taught my heart to fear,
And Grace my fears relieved!
2024 - Ready of not here it comes!