Abiding in Him in Every Season

Jesus said, “I am the vine, and my Father is the vinedresser” (John 15:1 ESV). In one of His most poignant teachings, Jesus compared Himself to a vine and His followers to its branches. This analogy, while primarily directed at His disciples, holds profound truths for all believers. Understanding the life cycle of a vine and correlating it with our spiritual journey can provide us with a deeper insight into the importance of abiding in Him in every season.

The Fruit Season

The first season is the fruit season, when the vine is heavy with luscious grapes. If you’ve ever seen rows upon rows of grapevines in places like Napa in California, you’ll understand the magnitude of this season. The purple clusters weigh down the branches, leading up to the harvest time when the grapes are picked and processed.

This season can be equated to times in our lives when we are overflowing with spiritual fruit. Our faith is strong, our contributions significant, and we feel closest to God. It’s an awesome season, one which we actually enjoy. It’s a season of fulfilment. However, like the vine, our spiritual journey doesn’t end here.

The Dormancy Season

Once the fruit has been harvested, the vine enters a period of dormancy. It’s winter. The branches that once bore great fruit now lie barren, some becoming old and thick. These branches, despite their past productivity, may no longer bear fruit. This dormant season is a time of introspection, of recognizing what needs to change.

In our faith journey, this can symbolize periods of stillness or doubt, when our spiritual fruit seem scarce. It’s a time of introspection, where we might question our beliefs and reassess our path. Yet, even in this seeming desolation, there is hope and potential for growth. But what will be required of us to help stimulate that growth comes at the very beginning of the next season. It’s called pruning. And God knows not to prune to late in the winter season of our lives as it would negatively impact our fruit bearing.

The Spring Season

The spring season follows dormancy. The gardener trims the old branches and the new vines, preparing them for the next fruit-bearing season. It’s a time of rejuvenation and growth, a promise of plentiful harvest in the future.

In our spiritual walk, this represents periods of renewal and growth. Past struggles and doubts are pruned away, making way for new understanding and deeper faith. If the branches are left unpruned, eventually fruitfulness is affected. God is a faithful vinedresser. Because He desire us to be fruitful, bearing fruit that remains, He will cut back on those things that are in the way of that fruitfulness. 

There’s a real danger in the beginning of this season—during the pruning—for us to no longer abide or remain in God’s love (see John 15:9). Why? Because pruning is painful, and we like to avoid pain. We could find ourselves pulling away from God in the pruning process rather than leaning into it. We need to remember that God’s design for pruning is not to destroy but actually to strengthen us.

The Cycle Continues

Galatians 6:9 (ESV) tells us “not to grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” There is a “due season,” my friend. It’s that fruit season. You and I are going to cycle through the seasons again and again. No one season is permanent. Each one only leads to the next. And as we abide in His love and His Word, we will see the fruitfulness result from the perfect pruning the Father has done. As you choose to abide in Him, you’re drawing from His life. 

Remember, God is in every season. He is there loving you, sustaining you, pruning you, and developing you. You can trust Him in every season because He is working at seeing you produce much fruit and fruit that remains. Don’t give up. Lean into Him. Allow Him to take you through the cycles of these seasons. Though He desires fruitfulness, keep in mind the goal is abiding in Him.

God the Seeker

David was in hot pursuit of knowing God, and much of what we have in the book of Psalms is the record—the prayer journal, if you will, of a man unrestrained in that pursuit. I like to say it this way: David was a profile of what it looks like for someone on the earth to have as much zeal for God as God has zeal for His people. Take Psalm 63:8 (KJV), for example, where David said, “My soul followeth hard after thee.” And then there is one of my favorite psalms, Psalm 27, where David wrote, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple” (v. 4 NKJV). And later in the same psalm, David responded with these words to God’s command to seek Him: “My heart said to You, ‘Your face, Lord, I will seek’” (v. 8 NKJV). From these, we get a glimpse of David’s zealous heart and passionate pursuit of God. Put simply, David was a seeker. Not only was David a seeker, but God Himself is a seeker.

What Is God Seeking?
God is seeking something. He’s seeking someone. He’s seeking a certain group of people, even on the earth. We read about this in John 4, where Jesus was engaging with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well. She said to Jesus, “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship” (v. 20 NKJV). Then Jesus responded to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him” (vv. 21–23 NKJV). So, what’s God seeking? He’s looking for worshipers, those who will worship Him in spirit and truth, not those who are just going through religious motions. The Samaritan woman wanted to debate Jesus about where they were supposed to worship—on this mountain or that one? In our day, we might say, “Is it this denomination, Jesus, or that one? What Bible are we supposed to read? Is this translation okay, or should we read that one? What kind of music should we sing?Traditional hymns or contemporary songs?”

Jesus’ response to her question and ours as well is this: “I don’t care about those things as much as I care about your heart.” Jesus is looking for a seeking heart. In fact, “the eyes of the Lord roam throughout the earth, so that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His” (2 Chron. 16:9 NASB). His eyes are scouring the face of the earth looking for anyone whose heart is completely faithful, loyal, and undivided in his or her zeal. He’s not caught up in the external things like we are. No, God is looking for those whose hearts are captured by, captivated with, and fixated on Jesus. That’s what He is looking for.We need to understand that, when our zeal for God and His purposes in the earth intersect with God’s zeal for His house, His people, and the nations of the earth, that becomes a place where God’s power and glory are displayed. 

He Wants Your Yes!
What are you most zealous for? Are you zealous for the glory of God? Are you someone like David who is in hot pursuit of God, who offers worship to Him in spirit and truth? If you are, God is seeking you. He is looking for those who are willing ones—people who don’t worship Him out of obligation because they have to, but people who are so in love with Him that they can’t help but worship Him from the depths of their being. What did God find in David? He found a huge YES! David ended up erecting a tabernacle, a tent, next to his palace where he placed the ark and appointed thousands of musicians—of Levites—who would serve 24/7 in worship and prayer (1 Chron. 25 NKJV). For almost 40 years, this went on. It wasn’t something God asked for specifically. God already had the tabernacle of Moses where the ark had traditionally been. But the ark had been missing, and the first thing David did when he became king was go and get the ark (1 Chron. 13 NKJV). 

David made the ark accessible to all people. He himself would go to the tabernacle and worship the Lord, praying and interceding. With worship and prayer going up from the tent near his palace, David’s zeal for the Lord bled out and impacted the culture and community around him. This is what it means to be a willing one. God’s looking for that level of zeal. He’s seeking those who are in earnest desire to know and pursue Him. To such ones, He will show Himself faithful. There are so many things for us to become captivated or fascinated with in our daily lives. If we’re not careful, we can allow ourselves to be put on autopilot and simply go through the motions. We can go through the motions of church, of devotions, of discipleship, and even of leadership. But God is not seeking those who know how to put their lives on autopilot. He’s looking for Davids. I want to be a David, don’t you? Let’s give something that goes over the top. Let’s give Him our worship, our yes, our very lives.

How to Carry Your Promise

Mary had a promise delivered to her by an angel. Gabriel promised her that she would “conceive . . . and bear a son,” whose name would be Jesus (Luke 1:31 ESV). Right then and there, Mary had a decision to make: Would she receive the promise in faith, or would she dismiss it because of doubt or fear? The biblical account tells us she chose to receive it, saying, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38 ESV).

Not only did Mary have to receive the word — literally Jesus, the eternal Word of God — in faith, but she also had to accept the invitation to partner with what God was doing. She had to carry the word (Word) full-term.

What about you? Do you have a promise? More than likely, Gabriel didn’t deliver a message to you from God, but a promise from God is, nonetheless, His promise to you. And I want to talk to you about carrying your promise to its fulfillment by walking through Mary’s story of carrying her promise to term.

Promise Defined
Before we go any further, I want to define promise for you as I’m using it in this article. A promise is the word of God that He is working in you and your life now to perform. The promise of God is the word from Scripture that God is highlighting to you. You could even say it’s the theme from God’s Word that God is accomplishing in your life right now.

So, what is God highlighting from His Word to you? What is He working in you? What’s your promise? Whatever it is that God is speaking and highlighting to you from His Word is being orchestrated in you and your life by the Holy Spirit. In other words, you are not the one solely responsible for it to come to pass.

You see, what is required for the promise to come to pass is not you knowing about the promise or you doing all the grunt work to make it happen. It’s the Holy Spirit working that promise on the inside of you. Like Mary, you must allow that promise inside you to develop, grow, mature, and begin to take on flesh, as it were. You work in partnership with the Holy Spirit to carry the promise to fulfillment.

Miraculous Provision Necessary
On the other side of every promise that God gives us is the need for His miraculous provision to bring that promise to pass. Second Corinthians 1:20 (NKJV) says, “All the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” Jesus is the embodiment, then, and the fulfillment of all God’s promises. He’s the Yes and the Amen! He is the One providing wonder-working miracles in your life to bring your word to pass.

In fact, like Mary, God has given us promises that are so incredible that they require His divine intervention in our lives. And by the time our promise comes to pass, we should see a configuration of miracle after miracle after miracle that is the promise fulfilled. 

The first part of God’s miraculous provision for Mary was her belief that she would receive the promise of a son, and not just any son — Jesus the Son of God! It was a miraculous gift of faith. The next miracle was the conception of the Child in her womb. Mary asked Gabriel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34 ESV). He answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Luke 1:35 ESV). Now, that was truly a miracle! Her conception was the work of the Holy Spirit within her. And it was only the beginning of His work.

Three Things to Do
While the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives to bring God’s promise to pass, we still have things to do on our end. I see three things Mary did to do her part to carry her promise to fulfillment:

1. She protected the promise.
2. She processed the promise.
3. She prophesied the promise.

You must protect your promise.
The apostle Paul told Timothy, “Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you” (2 Timothy 1:14 NLT). Mary had to guard her promise. Knowing how everyone would probably respond to her pregnancy, she immediately went to the hill country of Judea to stay with her relative, Elizabeth. Why did Mary pick Elizabeth? Well, Mary had already heard from Gabriel that Elizabeth was pregnant. Elizabeth, who had been barren for years and had borne the stigma of her barrenness, was also carrying a miracle child. She was further along in her pregnancy, however.

Do you know who you need to go hang out with when you’re carrying a promise from God that is way beyond your ability to bring it to pass? What you want to do is get around somebody who is a little further along than you — someone who is a little closer to receiving their promised word and has some experience in holding onto that word. What you don’t want to do is get into an environment with people who are skeptical, cynical, or even practical. You need to get around someone who knows what it is to carry a miracle.

Mary had to protect the word, protect the promise of God. She had to be careful who she shared her good news with. You must be very careful who you share your word with. If you speak prematurely with others, they just may not respond to you in faith. As a matter of fact, they may respond to you out of their own envy, jealousy, or disapproving common sense.

Elizabeth had been carrying her miracle for three months when Mary came along. Elizabeth had spent decades of her life being mocked and ridiculed because she didn’t have any children. People probably accused her of having displeased God in some way. So, when Mary went to Elizabeth, she went to someone who could help not only protect her promise, but also show Mary how to handle the judgment and cruelty of the crowd. That’s why Mary spent three months with Elizabeth — she wanted to ensure that the promise was protected, that it was growing and developing more and more, and that she was prepared for its (His) arrival.

You must process your promise.
This is another reason for Mary’s running to Elizabeth. Mary knew that no one else could understand what she was going through like Elizabeth. Mary needed to be at a safe place, to be in an environment that would allow her space to process her promise. She needed to think about it. 

When God gives you a promise, He is working the word deep inside you. He is working on your character, on your calling, on your identity. It won’t be an instantaneous work. It will take time and require a process. Indeed, the promise God has over your life is eternal, but the process takes time. And one of the reasons many people don’t see the promise that they sense God is speaking to them is because they lose heart in the process and abandon it.

We like instant everything in our culture, but the promises of God are not instant. They’re not microwavable. And there was a supernatural process that Mary understood would probably require nine months in the natural. And there was a supernatural process that required Mary to take the time to think about what the angel had said to her and what it meant for her life. She had to let the word soak into the depths of her being.

While the Holy Spirit was working the miraculous inside and around her, Mary had to meditate on the word. She had to chew on it. Psalm 1:1–2 (ESV) says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night.” The next verse promises such a meditating, processing person will flourish like a tree standing on the water’s edge. Processing your promise will cause it to flourish. It will keep your promise from abandonment or abortion. It took Mary three months with a mentor to process before she was ready to go home for the last six months before she would give birth.

You must prophesy your promise.
What does that mean? It means you must speak the promise before it ever becomes a reality. I’m not talking about name it, claim it, I’ve already framed it. That’s cheap. That’s faithless. What I am talking about is letting the promise get so deep down inside you that you begin to speak in agreement about the things that God has already declared that He is working and doing in you. You’re not simply trumpeting out some words into the air. No, the word has gotten so all up and inside you that it just bleeds out of you. I mean, it’s like this: The word is being processed in you, and you are being processed by the word, and the word can’t help but come out of your mouth in faith, authority, and truth.

Look at what Mary did. It’s beautiful. We call it “The Magnificat” or “Mary’s Song of Praise.” She said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name” (Luke 1:46–49 ESV). In the middle of her “crisis” pregnancy, in the middle of her processing her promise, she prophesies in worship. She magnifies the Lord.

What happens when you magnify something? Basically, you put a lens on it, zoom in your focus, and crop out everything else so that you can focus on this one thing. You begin to make the details of that thing bigger and bigger. That’s what Mary was doing. She was magnifying the Lord — the very One she was carrying in her womb, the One she had not yet seen with her eyes, the One who was her and the world’s promised One. She was prophesying Jesus’ advent while she was carrying Him inside.

The antidote to fear of the future is prophesying God’s word into your future, not allowing the enemy to prophesy your future. Mary magnified the Lord, and ultimately, that’s what God wants. He wants to be magnified through us in the promise.

Finally, nine months were fulfilled, and Mary’s Promise was born. God’s word to her came to pass. Let that encourage you today. Whatever promise you’re carrying, remember to protect it, process it, and prophesy it until you see its miraculous appearance.

Awaiting His Coming

Jesus is coming again. Of course, that shouldn’t be a surprise to us Christians. In fact, 75 percent of American Christians surveyed in April of 2022 said they believe Jesus is coming again. Perhaps the more surprising takeaway from that survey is that 25 percent of those Christians don’t believe He is coming again while 55 percent of all U.S. adults believe He is! So, let me say once more, and this time with greater gusto—Jesus is coming again!

When I think about His second coming, I’m reminded of Jesus’ first coming. I’m reminded of how the prophets foretold the Savior’s birth and so many other details about His life, including where He would be born and what lineage He would come from. Then decades and centuries went by before He finally appeared, born of the virgin Mary in Bethlehem, and many failed to recognize Him when He came.

I mean, the people had talked about their coming Messiah. They had looked for Him. They had waited for Him through the generations even, but when Jesus finally came, many either missed Him or did not believe He was the Promised One. There were a few, however, who knew who Jesus, the Babe in the manger, was. There were the Magi (the three wise men) and the shepherds, of course, and John the Baptist who jumped in his mother’s womb when his mother saw Mary then pregnant with Jesus. But there were two other people who recognized Jesus in His infancy, only they recognized Him when He was brought to the temple by His parents. These two people were Simeon and Anna. Their lives are examples for us of how we should be waiting for Jesus’ second coming.

Simeon & Anna

We read about Simeon in Luke 2. Historically, he is often referred to as “the old man” or “aged Simeon.” The Bible doesn’t say his age, however. Instead, what we read as far as any description about Simeon is that he was “righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him” (Luke 2:25 ESV). Then we’re told Simeon was led by the Holy Spirit to the temple, and when Joseph and Mary brought Jesus into the temple “according to the custom of the Law,” Simeon took Jesus into “his arms and blessed God and said, ‘Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel” (Luke 2:27–32 ESV). Simeon even prophesied over the Child and His mother (Luke 2:34–35 ESV).

The other person who recognized Jesus in His infancy was Anna the prophetess. We’re given a little more biographical information about her in Luke 2. Actually, we’re told a lot about her in just a few verses. She was “the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher,” and “she was advanced in years” (Luke 2:36 ESV). Furthermore, the Scripture tells us that her husband had died when they had been married for only seven years. She remained a widow to the age of 84 and never left the temple! What was she doing? She was worshiping “God with fasting and prayer night and day” (Luke 2:37 ESV). “She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38 NLT).

Imagine the scene with me for a moment. Joseph and Mary were walking through a crowd, and one man amid the throng of people saw Jesus, the Baby, for who He really was. Mary and Joseph probably bumped into people as they made their way through the crowd, kind of like walking through an airport when its super busy. Everybody sees everybody else, yet looking past them and trying to quickly get to their gate or baggage claim or out the door.

But in the temple, all the people were there because of Jesus, whether they knew it or not. They were praying prayers to the God of Israel while totally unaware that the God of Israel was actually right there among them. He was the Baby in Mary’s arms. But Simeon recognized Jesus, and Anna recognized Jesus when she saw Him with Simeon, Joseph, and Mary. Why? Because both Simeon and Anna had been waiting for Him. Simeon had received a revelation and a personal promise. He was going to see the “consolation of Israel” before he died. Anna had been watchful in prayer and fasting for the One who would “rescue Jerusalem.

Actively Waiting

Both Simeon and Anna were actively waiting. They were committed to wait until they saw Jesus with their own eyes. And I just think it’s ironic that the entire generation at that time had been praying and waiting for God to send the Messiah to come and fix what was wrong, to come and break off the power of their oppressors, and to come and restore the promises that God had made to the nation through the prophets of old. Yet in the middle of a generation that needed His coming, were desperate for His coming, there were only two people in the crowded temple who saw and recognized Him.

When you’re living in the moment, there are reasons why you miss things or don’t see things as accurately as you should. And I can think of four reasons why people missed Jesus at His first coming:

1. They were ignorant. It could be they didn’t even know what they were looking for.

2. They were prejudiced. Maybe they thought their Messiah would come another way. Perhaps they were looking for a political or military leader who would win the day.

3. They were complacent. It could be they lost their hope of His coming because so much time had passed, or maybe they shifted their hope onto some other source of salvation like wealth or politics.

4. They were distracted. Perhaps they were caught up with what was going on in their own lives—their children, their business, their homes, their relationships, their pursuits.

These are the same four reasons why people may miss Jesus’ second coming. The survey I mentioned at the beginning tells us many are expecting His return, but the question that begs answering is what are they doing in the meantime? What are we doing in the meantime? We need to be actively waiting like Simeon and Anna. We need to be people of God’s house, people of prayer, people of fasting, and people of expectation. That’s how Simeon and Anna approached Jesus’ first coming, and that’s how they got to see Him while so many others did not.

Make no mistake about it. Jesus is coming again. As sure as the promises indicated Jesus would come the first time—and He did—there are precious promises indicating He will come again, and He will! The Bible clearly tells us Jesus is going to return physically to the earth, bringing history as we have known it to a conclusion while inaugurating the new heavens and earth and His earthly Kingdom. I don’t want to miss it. I don’t want you to miss it. Pray. Watch. Fast. Go to His house with expectation. Hope for His return. Wait for Him, for, “behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen” (Revelation 1:7 ESV).

The Need for Corporate Intercession

Our world is a hot mess. And the news of the day bears this out. When we watch the news or read news feeds, we see what is going on politically and socially in our nation and across the globe. We can read the news through a two-dimensional lens like left-right political glasses. Or we may read the news through our consumer culture, personal freedom, or social justice lenses. And all that does is it sets us up for more conflict and confusion. 

If, however, we look at the news through a three-dimensional, biblical lens, then we can understand what’s driving both our politics and culture. And what is going on in the news today has very little to do with Republican or Democratic political extremism, American consumerism, individual liberty, or racial injustice. What is going on is the spirit of antichrist is raging war against God.

We are in a Psalm 2 crisis that requires a Joel 2 response in order for us to experience an Acts 2 outpouring and an Acts 4 spiritual nuclear reaction.

A Psalm 2 Reality

The psalmist David opened his psalm with these three verses:

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us” (Psalm 2:1–3 ESV).

Though David’s words addressed realities in his time, he was also prophesying millennia in advance about the days in which we are living. He was speaking about the rage that happens at the end of the age—right now—before we see the fullness of the Kingdom of God come on earth. This rage has an evil unifying force behind it, and it’s the spirit of antichrist. 

Secular presidents, kings, rulers, corporate leaders, and social influencers are coming together globally with the attitude that says, “Let’s break off God’s bonds. Let’s cast off His chains. Let’s be free from Him once and for all.” And this is what produces the violence in homes, on streets, in cities, and throughout the nations.

So, what are we to do? How should we respond?

A Joel 2 Response

If we’re honest, many of us leaders are afraid to speak up or challenge today’s politics and culture. Should we dare to remind others of what is true, right, or just, we may find ourselves belittled, berated, or completely cancelled. That’s the reality we experience. But there is a biblical pattern for us in how to respond to the spiritual war going on in our day. It’s called corporate prayer.

Psalm 2 demands that we have our heads on a swivel, as it were. We should be constantly on the lookout, ready to be engaged in the battles happening around us. And we leaders should serve as an alarm. It’s a Joel 2 response: “Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness!” (Joel 2:1–2 ESV).

It takes an alarm—a loud, annoying noise—to awaken people, to shake them out of their sleepy-eyed complacency. People must not only be interrupted but disrupted by our blaring the warning. As leaders, we cannot afford to avoid cancellation, conflict, or all-out spiritual war. After all, lives are hanging in the balance. 

Not only do we need to sound the alarm, alerting people to the hour in which we live and the enemy that we are facing, but we need to call people to return to the Lord:

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster (Joel 2:12–13 ESV).

This is the mentality and action that Psalm 2 demands. “Call a solemn assembly; gather the people” (Joel 2:15 ESV). “Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, ‘Spare your people, O Lord, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations’” (Joel 2:17 ESV).

Our response, then, as leaders is to sound the alarm and call God’s people together to the holy place of corporate intercession. It’s time to return to the Lord and cry out to Him to spare His people and to turn our nation and the nations of the world to Him. We must fast and pray corporately for God to work miraculously in the nations.

An Acts 2 Outpouring

In the second chapter of Acts, we read how the followers of Jesus were in a corporate prayer meeting in the upper room. Nothing can knit hearts together like praying together around the purposes of God. There is a synergy, a unity that happens. It was what happened to those present in the upper room as they were “all with one accord in one place,” as the New King James Version tells us (Acts 2:1). Theirs was a unity that resulted in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

Jesus had told them before He had ascended to heaven, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8 ESV). And so, after having received the promise, men and women empowered by the Holy Spirit gave testimony of Jesus that resulted in the birth of the Church, with thousands being added to the Church daily. What we read in the ensuing pages of the book of Acts is simply how the gospel spread to the nations and how the Church responded to crisis: The Church came together and prayed. “And when they had prayed,” Acts 4 tells us, something happened.

An Acts 4 Spiritual Nuclear Reaction

The Church in its early stages began to face persecution. Peter and John were placed in prison, and the cancel culture of their day told them that they had to stop speaking in the name of Jesus. The two apostles didn’t agree to do as they were being told. They were released from prison anyway because those who imprisoned them were afraid of the people, “for all were praising God for” the miracle of a lame man, which was done through Peter and John (Acts 4:21 ESV). But the threats and imprisonment didn’t stop Peter and John.

What was the first thing that the two apostles did upon their release? They went to their friends—to the Church—and told them about the threats and treatment they had received. And then, the Church prayed:

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.... And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all (Acts 4:31, 33 ESV).

What happened? A spiritual nuclear reaction of seismic proportions happened. The place where they came together and prayed was physically shaken. They received a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit that empowered those present with boldness to continue to testify of Jesus and His resurrection. Instead of caving to the demands of the religious leaders, the Church was emboldened to preach the gospel. 

This is exactly why we must have a Joel 2 response. It is the only thing that will bring an Acts 2 outpouring and an Acts 4 spiritual nuclear reaction. It is the best answer to the Psalm 2 crisis of the end of the age. It is the best way to wage war against those who have gathered together against the Lord and His Anointed. 

Leaders, we must sound the alarm, call a holy convocation, and engage in corporate intercession for the Church and for the nations of the earth to come to God. Leaders, we must lead in this hour. And we must start leading in corporate intercession. Only then will we see what the early believers saw in the book of Acts—men and women boldly, fearlessly proclaiming the gospel in the nations and the Kingdom of God increasing exponentially.

Israel, Iran, and the Rising Storm

This blog was written on November 7, 2023

In the past two weeks, we have been slapped in the face, reminded of an abiding, irrational hatred lying below the surface of the façade we’ve crafted of an advanced and inclusive culture. I’m talking about antisemitism, the hatred of the Jewish people.

On the morning of October 7, Hamas—a terrorist organization that has taken over the political apparatus of the Palestinian territory of Gaza—staged a massive terrorist attack against Israel. Innocent Jewish citizens of Israel were murdered, tortured, raped, kidnapped, and assaulted by mercinaries of an organization that has written into its mission statement, “the extermination of Israel and all Jewish people.” Where did this kind of hatred come from?

It’s a deeper, more insidious hatred than can be produced by mere political rancor. It transcends some dispute over land. This hatred is ancient and spiritual. 

Long before Israel was formally recognized as a nation again in 1948, the hatred of Jews was alive and well. It was showcased most demonstrably, not in the Middle East, but in Western Europe in the twentieth century. Germany’s Third Reich wrestled with the “Jewish problem” and initiated the genocidal Final Solution, responsible for the horrendous murder of 6.5 million Jews in just a few short years. Was this over land? They had none. 

The Jewish people have been persecuted by every empire that has arisen in the last three millenia, including Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian, Assyrian, Greco, Ottoman, and even the Holy Roman Empires. The Jewish people have been under assault and almost exterminated more times than any other ethnic group in human history. It defies logic and rationality. The only explanation for such persecution against a people is a hatred that originates in the unseen, spiritual realm.

At the center of this hatred is Iran, an Islamic republic ruled under the iron Koran of its mullahs and its supreme leader, the Ayatolla Khamenei. We are seeing the embodiment of the ancient hatred found in Iran’s cultural zeitgeist from millennia ago. In the Old Testament’s record of Esther, we see a figure arise who manipulates the king of Persia into signing off on the first attempt at a holocaust of the Jewish people in the empire. Haman—described as “the enemy of the Jews” (Esther 3:10)—was filled with rage toward the Jewish people. He wanted to wipe out the hundreds of thousands of them living in the exile of Persia. This same hatred, like a dormant virus, has been resuscitated in modern-day Persia. Iran is considered the largest sponsor of terror in the world and, without a doubt, is behind the support, training, and arming of Hamas in Gaza as well as Hezbollah in Lebanon. Ironically, Iran is also the epicenter of the fastest growing church in the world. Muslims by the thousands are coming to faith in Jesus Christ and, simultaneously, becoming lovers and intercessors for the Jewish people.

The shocking reality is that the ancient hatred of the Jews is not isolated to a faraway nation in the Middle East, but it has now taken residency in our own Western culture, both here in America as well as Europe. Over the past few weeks, we have seen a massive shift from international sympathy to massive protests in major cities like London, Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, and New York for the Palestinian cause. The chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free,” is a call for the extermination of the Jewish people of Israel and the destruction of the nation of Israel. 

Politicians in Washington DC are refusing to condemn the brutal and horrific actions of Hamas. Professors on major universities are singling out Jewish students, requiring them to stand in the corner of the classroom in shame. Protests have been allowed on college campuses, sparked by Palestinian groups that are sponsors for Hamas and other jihadi groups. Businesses have had the Star of David spraypainted on their doors and windows, reminiscent of 1930s Germany. The global community of nations are now talking to Israel about a “proportionality of response” and putting pressure on them for a cease-fire. This is the epitome of irrationality. 

Now is not the time to be indifferent toward what is happening in Israel because the next stop for this “jihad express” is a terminal stop near you. These are times of urgency and sobriety in which we must wake up and see what is happening to our Western culture as well as the true signs of prophetic fulfillment taking place all around us. For those who see the Bible as the inspired Word of God, we must grapple with the fact Scripture states unequivocally that, at the end of this present age, all eyes globally are going to be focused upon this small and seemingly insignificant piece of land called Israel and, more specifically, Jerusalem. This should arouse us from our sleep since Israel returning en masse to the land has only occurred in this generation since being prophesied thousands of years ago. Rather than be mere observers of these events, we should be motivated by them to be intercessors for Israel, the Jewish people, and those trapped in a culture of hatred in the Middle East. We need to pray for them, support them, and remain silent no more, speaking out for our Jewish friends.

For those who are standing outside the Christian faith, world history is at a tipping point. Events of the day seem spiraling toward what can only be described as an apocalypse. What we are seeing take place around the world may be beyond our control, but there is One who superintends and has promised to return and bring peace. His name is Jesus. The future will increasingly center around Jerusalem and the Jewish people with whom the God of the Bible has established an everlasting covenant. The Bible foretells a time when all nations will surround Jerusalem and the global community will have a controversy with the Jewish people. What will you do when that happens? What will you do to stand against the ancient scourge of antisemitism? 

Deception: The Enemy's Primary Tactic

Our enemy, the devil, is crafty. He is scheming. He is wily. Jesus called him “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44 ESV). And from Genesis to Revelation, we read about his trickery and deceit—this “deceiver of the whole world” (Revelation 12:9 ESV). It’s no wonder, then, that the enemy’s primary tactic is deception. He roams about the earth looking for those whom he can deceive and thereby devour. 

As a seasoned leader, the apostle Paul was aware of this major tactic. It was something that concerned him when he was at the end of his third missionary journey, circling back to revisit the churches he had established on earlier trips. The church at Ephesus was one such church. The Ephesian church met in multiple locations in the city of Ephesus, and it was a thriving, flourishing church at the time. It was one of the chief apostolic centers that Paul had founded. When Paul stopped in Miletus on his third trip, he called for the elders of Ephesus to meet him. 

Aware that this may be the last time he would be able to speak to these leaders he had trained and mentored, he sent word for them to travel the 50-mile journey from Ephesus to Miletus. His heart was set to encourage them and warn them of what he discerned could potentially harm the Ephesian flock of God. With passion, tears, and his heart wrapped around the elders, he said:

And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me that in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord…. And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.... Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among you and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified (Acts 20:22–32 ESV).

Paul warned the elders about several things in this passage. And the reason behind his admonishing them in this way is because Paul knew and understood a few things:

• He knew that what began pure can become tainted.

• He knew that what started powerfully can become weak over time.

• He knew that what originated in heaven can become hijacked by hell.

• And he knew that what God built in partnership with man’s obedience can ultimately become corrupted and co-opted because of man’s rebellion and Satan’s deceptive influence.

How is it that something pure can become corrupted? How is it that something motivated by heaven can become fueled by hell? How is it that something powerful can become weak and powerless?

It all boils down to Satan’s primary tactic of deception. Deception undermines. Deception decays. Deception corrodes. It takes away the foundations and the footings. And this was what the apostle Paul foresaw could happen after he would no longer be around to look out for flock at Ephesus.

If we meditate on the text and try to picture it with our mind’s eye in our day, Paul would be sitting with the elders around a conference table, pleading with them, “Leaders, you’ve got to keep this pure. You’ve got to keep Jesus as the main thing. You’ve got to listen to the Word of God. You’ve got to be leaders that pray.” And we can see the elders looking at him and saying, “Paul, why are you so emotional about this? Look at the stat books. Look at the growth. Look at the salvations and baptisms. Look at what God’s doing. Look at how the new locations are popping up all over the place in the city. We’re overturning idols, and there’s breakthrough and miracles. Why can’t you just celebrate the victories?”

But in the back of Paul’s mind, he knew that the enemy was not going to leave what God had started uncontested. He knew that, once he was no longer there, the enemy was going to work his way into the elders and the flock and even outsiders through cunning and deception. So, he warned them about falling prey to the enemy themselves, where instead of being shepherds who nurtured and cared for the flock of God, they acted like wolves dressed as sheep. 

The King James Version translates, “Pay careful attention to yourselves,” as “Take heed to yourselves” (Acts 20:28). What were they supposed to take heed about? That they were in the Faith. That they were paying attention to the state of their relationship with Jesus and were not succumbing to the deceptiveness of sin in selfish ambition or self-seeking. These elders needed other elders, other shepherds, who could pastor them. True shepherds, good leaders, must have shepherds or leaders in their lives for accountability—to ask them the difficult questions and, like Paul, to warn and admonish them in their leadership.

The job of a shepherd in a church is not to have his or her own voice, but it’s to amplify the voice of the Good Shepherd, Jesus. And ultimately, it’s to defend the flocks of God with their very lives. It’s to pay careful attention to what’s happening among the flock and what’s happening in and around the flock. 

Wolves, on the other hand, are predators. They’re false teachers or influencers that try to come in from the outside or rise up from the leadership within. And the Ephesian elders were admonished to beware of wolves, keep the sheep, feed the sheep, lead the sheep, and defend the sheep against the wolves.

Ignatius, one of the early Church Fathers, wrote in his memoirs that, although the church at Ephesus went through a season of decline in deception, because the leaders received these words of Paul prophetically spoken years earlier, they went into a season of prayer and fasting. The Ephesian church repented, and God renewed the lampstand of first love back to them. So, they adhered; they listened to the admonition of Paul. And so should we.

“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock.” Don’t be corrupted by the devil’s deception. Stay pure. Stay watchful. Stay vigilant.

Why Pray?

Because we are in a war. Because we need divine strength and intervention to fight. Because we need strategies and tactics to combat the enemy. Because prayer changes us, prayer moves the heavens, and prayer alters the course of the battle.

Without the weapon of prayer, we will lose the war. But with prayer, we will win the victory. And so, we must pray, and we must believe that our prayers work—that our prayers are effective.

Spiritual Warfare

In his teachings, the apostle Paul emphasized the importance of being a good soldier and engaging in spiritual warfare. He used powerful imagery to convey the challenges faced by leaders. Here are a few key statements made by Paul:

• “Fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12 ESV).

• “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:3–4 ESV).

• “Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:11–12 ESV).

• “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm” (Ephesians 6:13 ESV).

• “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might” (Ephesians 6:10 ESV).

  How do we “fight the good fight of faith”? How can we “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might”? First, we put on our armor—the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the belt of truth, the shoes of the gospel—and pick up our shield of faith and sword of the Spirit. Next, we pray. When we pray, we ask God for help. We pray for His will to be done in our lives just as His will is done in heaven. We ask Him for strength and wisdom. We ask for Him to act on our behalf. While others around us may say, “God’s going to do whatever He’s going to do. If His will is that we just endure and nothing changes, then what can we do?” We can pray—that’s what we can do because prayer changes things. It changes circumstances. It even moves God.

  In 2 Chronicles 7, God spoke to King Solomon in the night. He said, “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (v. 14 ESV). God was saying that He would do something in response to prayer from His people and their ceasing to do evil. He said He would “heal their land.” There are some things God wants to do that are conditional. He will do them if we do something in response to His instruction. If we will pray, He will hear, and He will act.

  Prayerful Resistance

  Looking back at the apostle Paul’s words in Ephesians 6:13, he mentioned being able to “withstand in the evil day.” Make no mistake about it, we are living in an evil day or age. The devil, rulers, authorities, cosmic powers, and spiritual forces of evil are at work in our world. These are the adversaries we are facing each day even though they may be unseen to us. Thankfully, Paul wrote to the Galatians that the Lord Jesus Christ “gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father”

(Galatians 1:4 ESV). We see, then, that God’s desire—His will—is not only to help us to keep standing and withstanding “in the evil day,” but He sent His Son to deliver or rescue us from the evil age!

It is critical for us to understand God’s will is to deliver us from evil. Otherwise, we could be like those who throw their arms up in the air in surrender and defeatism. No, we cannot afford to do that or think in those terms. There is something we can do. We have a part to do that can totally impact our world and the battle we’re facing. We can put on God’s armor. We can stand and fight like good soldiers equipped for battle. Furthermore, we can do what the apostle James instructed. It’s Spiritual Warfare 101: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:7–8 ESV). We can resist our adversary and draw near to God. We can do prayerful resistance to cause the adversary to retreat. It can also cause angelic hosts to battle the adversary for us.

Angelic Assistance

In Daniel 10, Daniel was fasting and praying for the people of Israel who were in exile in Babylon. He was repenting for the sin of his people, and on the twenty-first day of his fast, the angel Gabriel appeared to him and said, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words” (v. 12 ESV). Amazing! The angel came because of the words Daniel had prayed. But when we look at the next verse, we see that something delayed the angel’s arrival. Gabriel explained, “The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days” (Daniel 10:13– 14 ESV).

What happened here? From the very first day that Daniel began to fast and pray, an angel was sent to give him a message. Gabriel was sent to assist Daniel in understanding what would happen at the end of the age. But on his way to Daniel, Gabriel got into a spiritual conflict with the principalities and rulers that the apostle Paul wrote about to the Ephesians. Totally unaware of what was going on, Daniel continued to fast and pray, doing his part, while Gabriel—with help from the angel named Michael who has charge over Israel—had to face off with the evil principality of Persia. Finally, Gabriel was able to get to Daniel and reveal the message from heaven.

We must understand that, when we pray, our prayers our activating warfare in the heavens. Our spiritual warfare on earth, our spiritual resistance, is bringing about a response from God. It can result in angelic assistance and even breakthrough. Sometimes, breakthroughs happen in days, months, or even years, but they do happen. And battles may be won or lost based on whether we pray or not.

So, why pray? Because we are in a war. Because we need divine strength and intervention to fight. Because we need strategies and tactics to combat the enemy. Because prayer changes us, prayer moves the heavens, and prayer alters the course of the battle.

What should we do then? We should be armed in the Spirit, resist the adversary, and lead others to do the same. We should pray like good soldiers and keep on praying until we see the victory.

Four Faces of Anointing: The Lion

“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face,” heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson famously said. This was his response to a reporter’s question about the fight plan of Tyson’s rival, Evander Holyfield. I’m sure one well-landed punch to the head from a champion like Tyson could temporarily, if not permanently, erase any thoughts a competitor had at the time. After all, an online article claims, back in the day, a Tyson punch was equivalent to being hit by a Vespa and shot with 13 guns in the face. I don’t know how true that is, but the boxing world doesn’t call Tyson “Iron Mike” for nothing.

Let’s put a spin on Tyson’s words for the purpose of this post. Here it is: Everyone has a vision until they get attacked by the enemy. Think about that for a minute. 

In our last post, we talked about the four faces of a leader’s anointing—the eagle, the lion, the ox, and the man. Together, we looked at how the eagle represents vision, the treasure of heaven entrusted to leaders. We learned some good things about vision:

1. It’s the number-one most treasured asset or commodity a leader can possess.

2. It’s the difference maker in leadership.

3. It’s conditional to obedience.

4. It’s not the same as human imaginations and planning.

5. It’s not momentum.

6. It comes from waiting on God.

But what happens when something in life knocks you and your vision flat out on your back? You will need something—smelling salts, at least—to help you get back up again, shake yourself out of your concussed state, stand, and fight once more. You will need the lion anointing, and that’s courage.

Anointing Needed in the War Zone

Vision does not exist in a bubble. No, it lives in a war zone, and so do we. As leaders, we can be guilty of thinking, I’ve got vision. I believe I received a divine plan, and it’s going to come to pass. The vision is going to become reality—and soon! Sounds a bit optimistic, yes, but leaders must possess a certain amount of optimism or belief that their vision will become a reality. We must remember we are living in a combat zone. We are in a spiritual war whether we believe it, whether we like it, whether we want it to be so or not. In this war, there is no demilitarized zone. There is no Switzerland.

I also want to remind you that you have an enemy. And he is waiting to pounce. To use biblical language, he is “crouching at the door” (Genesis 4:7 NLT). Or as the apostle Peter said, “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8 ESV). The devil is an equal opportunity destroyer, and he doesn’t play by the rules. He is not merciful. He plays in the shadows. He camouflages himself in everyday life, waiting to knock your block off. He is a skilled sniper, too, by the way. He stalks you, looking to put you in the crosshairs of his scope. So, that vision that you have received from the mountaintop encounter with God needs to be contended for. 

If I had the ability, I would pull back the invisible curtain around our three-dimensional realm and expose you to the “other” realm all around us, where the enemy and his cohorts are waging war against you and me and heavenly hosts. Your vision and my vision, then, need the lion anointing in us to stand and fight in both realms. It’s war, and courageous wartime leadership is in hot demand.

The Face of the Lion: Courage

Vision from heaven cannot be accomplished by mere human effort. It takes courage from God. It takes divine empowerment. It takes the Lion anointing—the anointing from the Anointed One who faced the enemy on many occasions and overcame him. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah defeated the devil for us.

Proverbs 28:1 (ESV) says, “The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.” We must remind ourselves of a very important truth: The Lion of the Tribe of Judah dwells in us. He is the very courage we don’t think we have. He is the very anointing that we need. As the apostle John noted, “But the anointing that you have received from him abides in you” (1 John 2:27 ESV). It’s like a box with a table in it from Ikea. When you open the box, you don’t just pull out the tabletop, but you have the legs or base and other necessary parts to put the thing together. Everything you need is right in the box. 

Similarly, the anointing you received is within you. It’s included in the package. And that is very important to understand because you don’t always know you possess courage until you are threatened, confronted, or attacked. Courage emerges in the face of adversity or trouble. 

Courage means we don’t back down. We stay the course in the face of any obstacle, adversity, or adversary. It means we do not compromise. 

Peacetime leaders look to diplomacy, negotiation, and compromise as a means of securing what they have, not knowing that by making that decision they have already lost. There is no virtue in détente.

Wartime leaders, on the other hand, refuse to back down and understand that peace tomorrow in future generations will be the product of their courage and sacrifice today.

Winston Churchill returned to his old school, Harrow, on October 29, 1941, and said:

This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

What can we say then? Courage never gives in.

Got Courage?

The apostle Paul told the Corinthian believers to examine themselves, “to see whether [they were] in the faith” (2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV). Paul was asking the Corinthians to test themselves, and we leaders need to test ourselves as well. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

1. Am I in the faith? 

2. Do I believe that God’s anointing is within me?

3. Do I believe that God is with me?

4. Am I showing up each day on the field of battle, equipped in God’s armor and ready to fight, or am I hiding in fear?

5. Have I been in so many battles of late that I feel like I’m suffering spiritual PTSD and have lost hope, thinking things are never going to change?

6. Do I have courage, the fortitude to face any enemy and any challenge?

Sometimes, we leaders have more confidence in our adversary than we do in God, our Champion. If we really understood how much God is with us and for us, we would have greater courage to rise up. The angel of the Lord told fearful Gideon, who was hiding in the winepress, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor” (Judges 6:12 ESV).

Leader, perhaps you’re in hiding. Maybe you’re just good and tired, and you feel like throwing in the towel and giving up. It’s not time to give up or give in. It’s time to rise in courage, O mighty man of valor. It’s time to rise in courage, O mighty woman of valor, “who knows whether you have not come … for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14 ESV).

Remember God is with you (see Matthew 1:23). You are more than a conqueror (see Romans 8:37). And the One within you is greater than anything or anyone you’re facing (see 1 John 4:4). You are anointed with the courage of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. It’s time to release His roar! 

Steward Courage

We must be intentional in stewarding courage. Courage is like a muscle. It needs to be challenged. It needs to be exercised. So, here are some ways to do that:

1. Pray. Prayer changes you. It changes your attitude. It corrects, directs, and encourages you. If you don’t know what to do, pray. If you think you know what to do, pray. Ask the Lion to release His roar through you. Ask Him for more courage.

2. Read the Bible. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17 ESV). You need faith to fight, faith to stand, faith to speak, and faith to please God. Faith in God and His Word is the “can do” of courage.

3. Take a risk. Do something that you’ve been avoiding because it seemed too hard. 

4. Take a stand. In a world where everyone else avoids being “cancelled by culture,” stand up. Stand in the Truth—not “your truth” or someone else’s truth. Stand against culture for the sake of righteousness. 

5. Speak up. Preach the Word of God amid a culture that doesn’t only ignore the Word, but aggressively hates God’s Word. Be that preacher. Speak up for those who don’t have a voice. Be that speaker.

6. Walk away from compromise and temptation. Turn your back on anything that would seek to steal your integrity or dishonor God. Always run toward righteousness.

One last note on courage. It’s a command from God to all His leaders. Just look at what God told His servant Joshua upon Joshua’s leading the children of Israel into the Promised Land: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9 ESV). 

Be strong and courageous, leader. God is with you wherever you go, and He will strengthen you and enable you to bear the burden of your assignment like the ox. We will talk about the face of the ox next time.

Four Faces of Anointing: The Man

Who would have thought that those Marvel comic book heroes we loved as kids would one day come together and walk right onto the big screen? With over thirty Marvel movies to date, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has rocked the box office with its action-packed, superhero stories. Starting with Captain America: The First Avenger, the franchise created a film that depicted civilian Steve Rogers undergoing a surgical procedure that greatly enhanced his strength and human ability. 

Next in the Universe, there were those feats of fiction portrayed by men who had been given specialized suits complete with extraordinary powers to do heroics. Think Tony Stark and his Iron-Man weaponized suit of armor, Scott Lange and his size-shifting Ant-Man suit, or Peter Parker and his web-wielding Spider-Man suit. These were men saving the world with superpowers, conquering evil and tyranny wherever they found them. They are, of course, our favorite superheroes.

It would be great if we had specialized suits for leadership or at least a cool cape. But leadership doesn’t come packaged in clothing. Leadership in our world comes packaged in frail humanity. It’s the fourth face of a leader’s anointing.

The Face of the Man: Humanity

The fourth and final face of the anointing of a leader is the man. Every leader is human without a cape or superhero capabilities. As humans, we have our strengths and weaknesses, our ups and downs in life. We put our pants on each day—just like everyone else—one leg at a time. And when we look in the mirror each morning, we come face-to-face with the man or the woman in the mirror. No matter how we try to prepare or present that face to the world around us, we’re still human to the core. And this human face is what we must learn to manage and steward. 

We have all met leaders who were amazing as leaders, but when we encountered them personally, we found something lacking. They had character or integrity issues. Their marriages were in trouble, their finances were a wreck, or their personal lives were complete disasters. These leaders may have understood how to manage the eagle, the lion, and the ox faces of the anointing, but they hadn’t learned to steward the leader in the mirror.

The apostle James pointed to a certain mirror that can help us see our lives for what they are when he wrote:

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing (James 1:22–25 ESV).

With these verses in James as his text, Charles H. Spurgeon in one of his sermons that appeared in the Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit said:

The Scripture gives a truthful reflection of man’s nature: it lets the man see himself, not as others see him, for others make mistakes, nor as he would see himself, for he is very apt to be partial to his own soul; but the Scripture makes him see himself as God sees him.

Our leadership in all its humanity is under the watchful gaze of our heavenly Father. He who made us knows our every weakness and fault, yet He loves us and has called us to serve Him and others. When we get to heaven, we won’t be seen as we are here—as somebody’s pastor or teacher or employer or leader. No, our primary identity will be as a child of God. In our leadership here, however, we are servants of the Most High with temporal assignments that we do “with skin on.” And this is totally dependent on two very human things—relationships and attitudes.

Relationships and Attitudes

Our relationships and attitudes tell a lot about us. In fact, these two things reveal who we really are at our core. They tell others how we feel about them, they determine how we interact and work with others, and they often show what’s going on inside our hearts. 

Basically, there are three entities with whom we relate and around whom we express our thoughts and feelings:

1. God. Our personal relationship with God as well as our attitude toward Him is of primary importance. 

2. Ourselves. We can call this our conscience. We want to have a clear conscience before God and others.

3. Others. This includes our spouses, family, friends, neighbors, and other people in our everyday lives.

We must learn to walk in authenticity, loving and honoring God and those He has placed in our lives. How we think about God, ourselves, and others is critical to leading well. We may make some mistakes along the way, so we want to humble ourselves and learn how and when to say sorry or ask for forgiveness. We need to go to the mirror of God’s Word, letting it reflect to us what we may have done wrong and what we should do in the future. 

Our adversary, the devil, loves to find those areas of relationship or attitude that have not yet been filled with the grace of God. Because our humanity touches the humanity of others, we can end up in conflict or begin pulling away from each other. These are places where the grace and love of God need to flow. The apostle Paul knew how being angry overnight, for example, could give the devil an opportunity to work. So, he said in Ephesians 4:26–27 (ESV), “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.” 

Our enemy looks for those voids in relationships and the blind spots as well, where we assume everything is okay. It’s like he watches and says, “Let’s see what they do in the next few days. Will they address their anger at that person? Are they going to submit to God and His Word? Will they forgive what that person just did to them? He’s been tempted a few different times, and he’s refusing to deal with the issue. There’s the place I can insert my foot and cause the relationship to come apart.”

As leaders, we cannot ignore any breakdown in our relationships or attitudes. The success of leadership is dependent upon these relationships and our attitudes toward others and ourselves. We must steward our humanity well—even in the most difficult situations. 

Bestselling author and leadership expert John Maxwell says, “As a leader, the first person I need to lead is me. The first person I should try to change is me.” All leadership begins with self-leadership. And all self-leadership begins with submitting to God’s leadership and His Word.

Stewarding the Face of the Man

Too often, we try to hide our humanity from those we lead. We may even try to put on a spiritual superhero costume, pretending to be someone that we are not. If we don’t deal with our issues, our weaknesses, our humanity, our leadership, and more importantly, our relationships will suffer.

We must take time to look at the man or woman in the mirror, asking God to show us those places in our relationships, actions, and attitudes that need to change. It’s time to ask ourselves some very practical questions like:

1. How are you spending your time? Are you investing in your relationships? Are you putting God first? Are you reading the Word and praying? Are you taking time to be with your spouse and family? Are you taking time to rest? 

2. How are you spending your money? Where are you spending your money? Do you have a budget that you’re sticking to? Are you finding yourself without enough money to pay your bills? Are you tithing and giving to others? 

3. How are you investing in others? What are you doing to enrich someone else’s life? Are you sending texts or emails, letting people know you’re thinking about them or praying for them? Are you praying for others? What about your spouse and your children? What are you doing to invest in those important relationships?

4. How are your relationships with the three entities going? Are you keeping your relationship with God as your primary relationship? Have you found yourself being short-tempered with other people in your life? Are you wanting to isolate from family or friends because it takes too much emotional work? Are you wanting to avoid the human in the mirror?

5. What are you doing to shore up your areas of weakness? Is there someone to whom you are accountable—someone that can pray for you or call you to account for your attitudes and actions? Are you intentionally addressing a weakness, endeavoring to work on it with God’s help, or are you trying to cover it up?

Stewarding the human face of leadership is a great responsibility, but if we do it well, we will experience the benefits of having good relationships with God, ourselves, and others. We must learn to pay attention to the four faces of the anointing—the eagle, the lion, the ox, and the man. How healthy we are in each of them determines our success in leadership and, more importantly, our pleasing God. 

Should our stewardship expose a weak area, remember “God gives grace to the humble,” but He “opposes the proud” (James 4:6 ESV). As we humble ourselves and acknowledge our inability to fix things, He will meet us with grace, with His empowerment. We can trust Him to change us and clothe us anew in the four-faced anointing He gives His leaders. It’s the best supernatural suit a non-superhero can have.

Four Faces of Anointing: The Ox

The unsung hero of US westward expansion in the nineteenth century was the ox. Oxen pulled half to three-quarters of all the one-ton-plus wagons that trudged their way through the 1,200 to 2,100 miles of the Oregon, Santa Fe, and other overland trails. The temperament and strength of the ox made it the right beast for the job, whether that be pulling carts, plowing fields, or hauling fallen trees. And for the pioneers driven by the vision of a new life in the wild frontier, they needed the courage of a lion and the burden-bearing strength and grit of the ox.

In the past two posts, we discussed the vision of the eagle and the courage of the lion. When we talk about the ox as one of the faces of a leader’s anointing, we are talking about the strength and drive of the leader. Drive or ambition is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s just that it must be managed properly for the betterment of the leader and those the leader is leading, and for the fulfillment of the vision. 

The Face of the Ox: Ambition

A leader cannot lead without ambition or drive. Motivation that is sourced by God is required. It is the ox anointing from the Anointed One a leader must possess to fulfill vision and purpose. This anointing gives us leaders peace, joy, and endurance while we continue to pursue vision. It is what the apostle Paul alluded to when he said things like, “I am eager to preach the gospel,” and “I make it my ambition to preach the gospel” (Romans 1:15; 15:20 ESV). 

James 3:14 (ESV) says, “If you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.” So, there is an ambition that is selfish in nature and not God-given. We often celebrate this type of ambition because it appears to get results—and fast! We hear people say, “Man, that guy is a go-getter, a real type-A. He gets things done. He will do whatever it takes to make what he wants happen.” But selfish ambition isn’t sourced out of the anointing. It is sourced out of the flesh. 

An ambition that is fleshly will always lead to exhaustion, burnout, and even death. Like the ox, a leader can be driven to keep going and not stop, goaded along by his or her ego, until he or she falls over dead. In the frontier days of the West, an ox that died in the yoke would either be butchered for food or simply left on the trail to rot. That’s not what God wants to see happen to leaders He has anointed. We must test our hearts to see if we have unsanctified ambition, for it not only can take us off course, but it can actually destroy our lives. 

Another thing fleshly ambition can do to us is a little less obvious. Selfish ambition can trick us. It can fool us, causing us to think what we’re doing is for God when it’s only feeding our egos. Or it can tell us that we are the only ones who can do what we’re doing, so it must be what God wants us to do. 

The worst kind of deception is self-deception. When we are convinced we’re right in what we’re doing and we must get things done, we tend to keep going and plowing through whatever is before us. We stop resting because we are compelled to continue. We start driving others to help us accomplish what it is we want done. We even stop keeping and honoring the Sabbath. 

In the Bible, we read about how the children of Israel made that mistake. The Israelites failed to give a Sabbath rest to the land every seven years as they had been instructed by God (see Leviticus 25:3). God added up how many Sabbath years they had not rested the land, and it amounted to 70 (490 total years). As a result, God sent the Israelites into captivity in Babylon for 70 years (see Jeremiah 25:11–12). But He promised to deliver them and bring them back to the land, which He did (see Jeremiah 29:10–14; Ezra 1).

Leaders need rest. We are not super-human. When we don’t stop—when the drive to accomplish vision pushes aside our very real need to rest—we are fooling ourselves. We are deceived, thinking, I don’t need to sleep or take some time off. I just need to get the job done. I can catch up on sleep later. I’m good to go. Sometimes, I think we’re a bit motivated by FOMO (fear of missing out), or fear of not feeling or being seen as significant, or fear of failure. No matter what exactly in our flesh is pressing us forward, I have found that, if we don’t take the time to stop and rest and be replenished and renewed, God will put us in a place to do so. 

Anything that is built out of Kingdom ambition or motivation will stand the test of time, and here’s why: When God builds it, God defends it. Anything that is built based on selfish ambition, however, will not have staying power. Therefore, we can’t afford to leave selfish ambition unchecked.

Unchecked Selfish Ambition

We’ve already discussed the end of unchecked selfish ambition, but there are seven sins that will hijack our leadership and even our lives along the way if we don’t put to death our fleshly drive. They are:

1. Pride. Pride says, “I must do it. I don’t need to get help. I don’t need to stop. I don’t need to rest. I can do this by myself if necessary.”

2. Greed. Greed sounds like this, “Praise, money, power, applause—that’s what I want. And that’s what I’m going to get.”

3. Envy. Here is the internal conversation that’s flavored with envy: “I deserve this, and I’m going to get it, even if I have to take it from that person over there.”

4. Anxiety. Anxiety says, “What if I don’t do enough? What if I’m not enough? What if I can’t get this done or am not up to the task?”

5. Comparison. Comparison sounds like this, “What about that guy over there? Is he better at doing the job than I am? Does his leadership bring more to the table than mine?” 

6. Competition. The first cousin to comparison, competition says, “I’ve got to win this. Can’t lose to that fella. I’ve got to beat him to get what I want.”

7. Lust. Lust says, “I want that. I must have it at all costs. I don’t care what I have to do to get it. I will have it.”

Romans 6:23 (ESV) tells us what the outcome of sin is: “For the wages of sin is death.” Unchecked selfish ambition and its hijackers will take our vision and plans down in flames. 

The Antidote to Fleshly Ambition

We must place ambition on the altar of God and let Him consume it as a sacrifice. Sacrifice is the antidote to ambition. We find a good example of this in 1 Kings 19.

The prophet Elijah left the cave he had been hiding in to do what the still small voice of God had told him to do—to anoint Elisha to be a prophet in Elijah’s place (see 1 Kings 19:15–16). According to 1 Kings 19:19 (ESV), Elijah found Elisha “plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him.” Elijah passed Elisha and threw his cloak on Elisha. Elisha ran after the prophet, ready to follow him. “Go back again,” Elijah told Elisha, “for what have I done to you?” (1 Kings 19:20 ESV). Elisha “returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him” (1 Kings 19:21 ESV).

Elisha took his future plans—his ambition as a farmer—and sacrificed them. He did so to come alongside and assist a man whose job it was to prophesy to leaders. The oxen were Elisha’s most valuable asset next to his land. He put the oxen on the altar to follow Elijah. And Elisha later received Elijah’s mantle and a double portion of his spirit (see 2 Kings 2:9–14).  

Taking Care of the Ox

Elisha’s sacrifice of his oxen is a perfect example of what we must do to take care of the ox anointing. Because we can deceive ourselves and think we are fulfilling God’s purpose and vision when we are only serving our own ambition, the best way to take care of the ox is to:

1. Crucify our ambition. We crucify it just like Jesus was crucified as a sacrifice for us. We daily put our ambition on the cross.

2. Sacrifice our selfish desires. We lay down what we want so that we can serve God and others. 

3. Recognize that, what we make happen for others, God will make happen for us. When we help someone else walk in the fullness of their calling, God will make sure that we don’t miss out on what He has for us.

The call to Christian leadership is a sacred calling. If God called us, He will make it happen as we obey His instructions and Word. We are called to obedience. We are called to do His will and not our own. The ox anointing has been entrusted to us to fulfill God’s purposes and His desires. God calls us to sacrifice our ambition and our selfish desires. He calls us to do what He did, which was to take up His cross and lay His life down. May we say, “No matter what it costs, let Your will be done, God, in my life.”

Four Faces of Anointing: The Eagle

Throughout history, leaders have been anointed and appointed. Take, for example, the recent coronation of King Charles III on May 6, 2023. Millions of people watched as the former Prince of Wales became the King of the United Kingdom. One portion of the ceremony, however, was kept from the peering eye of the public. It was the anointing of the king. Beyond being a private and intimate part of the coronation, it was a ritual that in bygone days was believed to confer divine office, help, authority, and power upon the monarch. Hidden under a canopy, the Archbishop of Canterbury anointed the sovereign’s hands, chest, and head with holy oil. Interestingly, the Ampulla that held the sacred oil the Archbishop used was in the shape of an eagle.

In Christianity, there is shape or form to the anointing. It is seen most beautifully and perfectly in Jesus the Anointed One. His very Person manifests the grace and power of the Spirit of God. The anointing upon the Christian leader is the same multifaceted anointing Jesus has. It is the manifested enablement of God’s Spirit for ministry or service. 

The Multifaceted Anointing

Revelation 4 describes the throne in heaven. And among the many hosts, happenings, and things around the throne, there are “four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind” (Revelation 4:6 ESV). Out of all the created beings that God ever made, these four cherubim dwell the closest to the glory of God’s throne. And each is described in Revelation 4:7 as having a face: one cherub has a face like an eagle, another like a lion, another like an ox, and the last like a man. 

Ezekiel 1:10 also mentions four living creatures appearing in the manifestation of the glory of God. These creatures possess the same likeness or appearance as those in Revelation 4. 

What we can gather from looking at Scripture is the proximity of these four living beings to the glory of God’s throne causes them to reflect four facets or aspects of Jesus, the Anointed One, who is sitting upon the throne. 

It is interesting to note that, as Charles H. Spurgeon read through the Gospels, he saw something other Church Fathers, like Jerome for example, had noticed: Each Gospel painted a distinct picture of Jesus.

• Matthew reflected Jesus as a man, focusing on His genealogy.

• Mark painted Jesus as the lion, stressing His Kingship as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. 

• Luke highlighted Jesus’ sacrifice and labor, picturing Him as an ox or beast of burden. 

• John, on the other hand, gave a different view of Jesus from a heavenly perspective as an eagle, emphasizing His deity. 

In the portraiture of the Gospels, these four faces of the cherubim can be seen.

Now, what we need to know is that, just as these four unique creatures and four distinct Gospels illustrate the personality of the Anointed One, they also describe the same four facets of the very same anointing that God puts on every single leader. He gives a measure of grace or anointing upon each of us (see Romans 12:3; Ephesians 4:7 ESV).

So, the calling we have upon our lives is a result of the grace of God upon our lives. The calling is irrevocable, but the qualification to walk in fullness of our calling requires obedience. And part of our obedience as leaders is managing or stewarding the anointing. We put much work and effort into managing and stewarding time, money, and people. But what about the anointing upon our lives? 

The anointing on our lives is the single most important thing that we must steward. Over the next few articles here at Built for War, we will look at each face of the anointing and what we can do to steward each well.

The Face of the Eagle: Vision

The face of the eagle represents vision. Vision is the treasure of heaven entrusted to leaders. Proverbs 29:18 is best translated as, “Where there is no prophetic vision—vision from heaven—the people cast off restraint.” It’s not enough to have vision. We must have vision from heaven. 

Here are some important things to know about vision:

1. Vision is the number-one most treasured asset or commodity a leader can possess. The apostle Paul told Timothy, his spiritual son, “O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you” (1 Timothy 6:20 ESV). The deposit or anointing entrusted to us is precious. It’s so invaluable to us that it needs guarding and protecting.

2. Vision is the difference maker in leadership. When we have it, it makes us stronger, better, and more confident. When we don’t have it, nothing makes us more vulnerable. Consider David. When Goliath the Philistine taunted the Israelite army, David had vision of taking out the giant. And David did so with a sling and five smooth stones. There was a time after he became king, however, when he didn’t go out to war with his troops. In the absence of heavenly vision, he went out on a rooftop. And in his boredom, he saw Bathsheba and made a series of decisions that resulted in grave sin. Having no heavenly vision made him vulnerable to the enemy’s attack.

3. Calling is permanent, but vision is conditional. “The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29 ESV). But vision is dependent upon our obedience. The apostle Paul gave his defense before the king and said, “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision” (Acts 26:19 ESV). On the road to Damascus, Paul had seen Jesus. He had heavenly vision that gave him purpose. Jesus told Paul what He wanted him to do. For years, Paul gave himself to that vision. And in chains before King Agrippa, he could honestly say he had obeyed the vision from heaven. 

4. Vision from heaven is not the same as human imaginations and planning. Vision always originates in heaven and not in our imaginations or planning. We can come up with all kinds of ideas, but they are not equivalent to vision from heaven. We must receive our daily bread from God, and He will give us seasonal direction that is part of a long-term vision from Him.

5. Momentum is not vision. We are living in a unique era where we can lead without vision because we have enough tools, platform, and influence to generate momentum in what we’re doing. But momentum does not equal the anointing of God, the favor and blessing of God, or vision from God.

6. Vision comes from waiting on God. Our number-one ministry is to God first. When we wait on Him, we catch the thermal draft of the Holy Spirit to restore this ability to minister to Him. And that’s when we properly see and hear what it is He wants to say to us. 

How to Steward Vision

We must be intentional in stewarding vision. We have the primary responsibility before God to care for and keep what He has committed to us. So, here are some ways to do that:

1. Guard the vision. Remember what the apostle Paul told Timothy. Timothy had to guard the deposit entrusted to him and so do we. Part of this means always keeping the vision in front of us. We cannot lose sight of it. We should write it down and refer to it often. We even need to make it a part of our daily prayer requests and petitions to God. Guarding sometimes means fighting, so we want to fight with faith, believing that the vision will come to pass. We want to battle through doubt and fear each day, knowing if God has given us the vision, He will bring it to pass. Guarding the vision will mean our keeping the main thing the main thing, helping us to prioritize what we do each day with our lives.

2. Ensure personal plans and desires don’t overtake heavenly vision. We may have personal plans or desires that compete with God’s vision. We need to ask ourselves some serious questions like: “Is what I’m wanting to do my own dream, or is it God’s dream? Do I want to do what I want to do more than I want to do what God is asking me to do?” This may lead to our laying aside and even surrendering personal plans and desires to do what’s required to fulfill the vision from heaven. 

3. Obey God and adjust daily living accordingly. We love five-year plans, don’t we? Give us a marker board, and we’re ready to flowchart and plan everything out. But we’re talking about heavenly vision. Obedience should be our five-year plan. If we show up daily in the place of prayer, and if we obey what God tells us to do along the way, we will find some things we thought needed to happen or things we needed to do aren’t part of the vision like we assumed they were. We will discover this truth: The more we give ourselves to radical obedience to the part we know today of the vision, the more clarity will come for tomorrow’s part of the vision. We accomplish vision one obedient step at a time and one day at a time.

4. Keep your eyes clean. We must keep our eyes clean from the visions that others want to paint on our lenses. Others will tell us what they think we should do or pursue. They will tell us to build our own platforms and pursue personal gain. If we’re not careful, we will be enamored by the visions they are putting before us. In Revelation 3:18, Jesus told the church at Laodicea to buy “salve to anoint” their eyes because they were blind to their spiritual condition. We need clean and pure eyes—eyes anointed by the Anointed One—to see the vision of heaven in all clarity.

5. Wait on God and trust in Him. The greatest threat to vision is not outward resistance but inner reliance. When we trust in ourselves and get comfortable with our ability to interpret where we’re at in the vision or what we “know” we should do, we stop waiting on God. We stop looking to Him for perspective and direction. We need to know His heart and His vision for us and not rely on ourselves. Proverbs 3:5–7 instructs us: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil” (ESV).

6. Do not compromise. The enemy of our vision is hired by hell and sponsored by fear. Remember we are in a spiritual war. Hell will do everything in its power to raise up adversaries and obstacles against us. Think David again with Bathsheba. Or think Joseph in the Old Testament, whose brothers sold him into slavery and whose boss’s wife falsely accused him later of sleeping with her. Hell will do anything it can to put us in a position of compromise so that the vision won’t be realized. We must guard our hearts and “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might,” putting on God’s armor so we can stand against the enemy’s schemes (Ephesians 6:10–11 ESV).

Leaders, we must have the anointing with its face like an eagle with vision from heaven. We must also have the anointing of courage with its face like a lion. We will take a good look at courage in the next post.