Gifts of the Spirit
I recently had the privilege of attending a gathering of a few families with whom we have developed varying degrees of relationship over the recent years. The very young to senior citizens were present. As I reflected on the two and a half days together, I was amazed at the ease in which so many different fruit and gifts of the Spirit were manifest during our time.
A leader is not the chief visionary. A leader is not the chief executive. A leader is someone who accepts the stress and strain of the present inconvenience of service in order to bring the ones he/she serves to fullness of destiny.
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Abusive spiritual authority is epidemic. Reactionary responses to abusive authority are also epidemic. My friends Don Atkin, Greg Austin, and myself address what genuine kingdom authority looks like: a serving nation of priests, patterned after the Head, the High Priest of our faith, the resurrected God-man, Jesus, the Messiah. That requires, as Desi used to say to Lucy, “some ‘splainin’.”
Balaam gave the only accurate Messianic prophecy in the Pentateuch and he was a false prophet! There’s more to the issue of who is or isn’t a “false prophet” than an accurate/inaccurate prediction of a future event.
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There is no scriptural example, anywhere, for the concept of recruiting spiritual sons. Recruitment is practiced commonly today as if it is a heaven-sanctioned methodology.
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The theme of family saturates Scripture. The shared covenantal love in the Godhead is to be reflected on earth through natural and spiritual family relationships. The language, spirit, and methods of family are kingdom normal. However, the cults use the principle of family with great effect to win people into their association and to establish unbiblical belief systems and practices. Even the idea of family can be pushed too far.[1]
As I engage in different conversations with brothers and sisters around the world, and as I experience wonderful things I have never experienced before, things I thought I never would live long enough to see, there is a recognizable “theme” emerging in little pockets here and there . . . kingdom testimonies of a different order and quality than anything I have ever known.
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In this blog series I want to examine the topic of “spiritual fathers/mothers and spiritual sons and daughters.” The higher the potential for good inherent in something, makes the corruption of that thing, proportionately wicked. Think of humanity: made a little lower the Elohim! That is potential for good! But enter sin, and the depths of depravity exceed imagination. The concept of spiritual fathers (mothers) and spiritual sons and daughters is like this. When it is good, it is very, very good. When it is not, it is horrid.
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There is a common understanding of Hebrews 7:25 that gives the impression that Jesus is not at rest seated on the throne on high after His resurrection, but rather is supposedly engaged in eternal intercession, praying to the Father, more or less pleading for humanity, in the eternal state, forever and ever. This is very unfortunate.
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Many common beliefs and practices regarding prayer and intercession are based on Old Testament typologies that do not reflect an understanding of the realities of the New Covenant era. They need a thorough New Covenant update.