Following leaders with feet of clay…
Paul was a godly man, but he was a man – he was not perfect and he had many flaws, yet he encourages the church at Corinth to follow him… how do we follow imperfect people? The answer is simple, we follow them as they follow Christ – in other words, we do not follow their flesh, their flaws or their failures… we follow the things that they do under the anointing, according to the Word and as they are led by the Spirit.
Following a strong leader takes discernment…
Don’t follow anyone blindly, discern their leadership through the anointing and the Word! When Paul and Barnabas had a clash over John Mark, tempers flew, words were said and Paul and Barnabas went separate ways… Paul was not telling his followers in Corinth to imitate that kind of behavior, he was telling them to follow him in the areas that he was conformed to Christ!
When we witness the flaws or the flesh of our leaders we do not follow their error and we should not judge them, ridicule them, lose faith in them, or lose respect for them, we should embrace them, stand by them and then pray for them.
A strong godly leader will always have areas that he or she is still growing in – again, do not follow those flaws or unscriptural things, follow them as they follow The Anointed One and His anointing… give grace to your leader towards his or her human side, and follow your leaders in the areas that they have been transformed into His image.
Every one of my leaders have done things and said things that I could never follow, but I did not follow those things, I followed the things that they said and did that were anointed, that demonstrated strong faith, that were according to the Word and the things that demonstrated the power, nature and character of God.
Esther and I are very ‘real’ towards those that follow us, we talk openly about our human side and when we make mistakes, we are quick to repent. Our people love us, but they do not blindly follow us and we would never want that. They pray for us, extend grace towards us, embrace us, celebrate us and we do the same towards them. We look for Christ in each other and then we follow that and we allow that to influence and inspire us. As we demonstrate transformed lives and living under the power of the Holy Ghost, as we impart revelation knowledge out of the New Covenant and as we live what we preach, our people follow that, and they are wise to do so!
Make this confession of faith - say this out loud with me…
“John 17:17 says that I am sanctified and set apart by Your truth - Your Word is truth - Your Word absolute truth – the Word is for me to walk in, to accept as final truth and for me to stand on, to declare by faith and for me to do – I am who the Word says that I am - I can do what the Word says I can do - I can be who the Word says I can be - Christ in me can do all things – I can do all things through Christ - I have absolute POWER over ALL the Work of the enemy – nothing shall by any means harm me – I have power to raise the dead – I have power to heal the sick – I have power to do the works of Jesus – I have total authority over all of the works of His hands in Jesus Name! – the power and the authority of the creator of all things is on the inside of me – when I speak by faith, I ALWAYS have what I say – As I speak the Word, the Father ALWAYS watches over it to perform it – The Father loves it when I expect Him to ALWAYS perform His EVERY Word! – I always expect the Father to bring to pass every word that I speak according to His Word – God is not a man that He should lie – His Word is literal, His Word is truth and His Word is final!”
