Post by Zac Loh on Feb 12, 2009 12:28:53 GMT -5
Dear brethren, my kin and fellow soldiers of Christ,
Good leadership is what the world needs. A dilemma in leadership is the trait of self-centeredness existing rampantly in leaders. That's why Jesus said that His leaders are first of all ...servants ...a jarring contrast with many worldly leaders who specializes in having the appearance of servanthood, but not a true servanthood at heart.
The catalyst of our current world economic crisis are the financial and banking system leaders who have the base problem of self-centeredness - whose focus is to produce good-looking result sheets (real or otherwise), whose concern is to climb the corporate ladder.
In the political scene, one underlying causes for troublesome leadership is self-centeredness. These are bad politicians, or government heads, who make decisions without compliance to ethics or principles.
One of the main raw materials in the making of a good leader is inner strength. The leadership of Jesus Himself when He was on earth was marked by great self-sacrifice and marvelous inner strength.
May the reading of the attached message - contribute to, and complement, your understanding in the area of inner strength, as every Christian is called to be a leader among the people whom we are with - in the circumstances and situations that God has put us in.
Most assuredly, we are the head and not the tail.
Marvelous
Matthew 27:11-14
Now Jesus stood before the governor. And the governor asked Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus said to him, “It is as you say.” And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing. Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly. (Matthew 27:11-14)
Amazing! What an inner strength! Pilate marveled at Jesus!
Barrages of accusations …volleys of accusations …salvos of accusations …yet Jesus had such an inner peace and stability …so much so that He wasn’t moved at all by the external pressure that would have overwhelmed you and me.
I believe Jesus’ inner strength was connected to what happened to Him at the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus struggled in relinquishing His desires, and His wants, to God. Jesus finally succeeded in submitting Himself completely to the Father’s will.
Our Father God is love. No matter what His will is for us individually, it is good.
God knows the end from the beginning.
All things work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are the called, according to His purpose.
A True Tale Of Two Gardens
Jesus, the second Adam, had His moment at the garden called Gethsemane.
The first Adam, also, had his moment at the garden called Eden.
God commanded Adam: “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:17)
God’s instruction was to protect Adam, so that Adam wouldn’t lose everything by dying.
Let me give you an excerpt from Rick Joyner’s allegorical book, `The Final Quest’ (page 28):
Our swords grew after we reached each level, but I almost left mine behind because I did not seem to need it at the higher levels. I almost casually decided to keep it, thinking that it must have been given to me for a reason. Then, because the ledge I was standing on was so narrow, and becoming so slippery, I drove the sword into the ground and tied myself to it while I shot the enemy. The voice of the Lord then came to me, saying: “You have used the wisdom that will enable you to keep climbing. Many have fallen because they did not use their sword properly to anchor themselves.”
We are to trust God completely, and trust His words completely. We believe in what He said. Believe is an active verb. This is how we plunge our sword.
Adam heard God, but he was passive. He didn’t put his anchor down. He didn’t make God’s words his own. He didn’t commit himself. He didn’t identify with God’s words. He didn’t get personally, and intimately, involved with what he heard from God. He didn’t believe in his heart and confess with his mouth.
For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:10)
There was another tree in the garden of Eden, the tree of life.
I believe that Adam had to endure temptation before he could have the fruit of the tree of life.
God allowed Satan, in the form of a serpent, to insinuate Adam. And Adam had to fight the deception.
Even today, we have to fight temptation, the deception, and choose life. Life and death is at our door. God is asking us to choose life.
When we surrender and give up our own life; we will have the strength of the inner life that is of the life of God.
Good leadership is what the world needs. A dilemma in leadership is the trait of self-centeredness existing rampantly in leaders. That's why Jesus said that His leaders are first of all ...servants ...a jarring contrast with many worldly leaders who specializes in having the appearance of servanthood, but not a true servanthood at heart.
The catalyst of our current world economic crisis are the financial and banking system leaders who have the base problem of self-centeredness - whose focus is to produce good-looking result sheets (real or otherwise), whose concern is to climb the corporate ladder.
In the political scene, one underlying causes for troublesome leadership is self-centeredness. These are bad politicians, or government heads, who make decisions without compliance to ethics or principles.
One of the main raw materials in the making of a good leader is inner strength. The leadership of Jesus Himself when He was on earth was marked by great self-sacrifice and marvelous inner strength.
May the reading of the attached message - contribute to, and complement, your understanding in the area of inner strength, as every Christian is called to be a leader among the people whom we are with - in the circumstances and situations that God has put us in.
Most assuredly, we are the head and not the tail.
Marvelous
Matthew 27:11-14
Now Jesus stood before the governor. And the governor asked Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus said to him, “It is as you say.” And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing. Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly. (Matthew 27:11-14)
Amazing! What an inner strength! Pilate marveled at Jesus!
Barrages of accusations …volleys of accusations …salvos of accusations …yet Jesus had such an inner peace and stability …so much so that He wasn’t moved at all by the external pressure that would have overwhelmed you and me.
I believe Jesus’ inner strength was connected to what happened to Him at the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus struggled in relinquishing His desires, and His wants, to God. Jesus finally succeeded in submitting Himself completely to the Father’s will.
Our Father God is love. No matter what His will is for us individually, it is good.
God knows the end from the beginning.
All things work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are the called, according to His purpose.
A True Tale Of Two Gardens
Jesus, the second Adam, had His moment at the garden called Gethsemane.
The first Adam, also, had his moment at the garden called Eden.
God commanded Adam: “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:17)
God’s instruction was to protect Adam, so that Adam wouldn’t lose everything by dying.
Let me give you an excerpt from Rick Joyner’s allegorical book, `The Final Quest’ (page 28):
Our swords grew after we reached each level, but I almost left mine behind because I did not seem to need it at the higher levels. I almost casually decided to keep it, thinking that it must have been given to me for a reason. Then, because the ledge I was standing on was so narrow, and becoming so slippery, I drove the sword into the ground and tied myself to it while I shot the enemy. The voice of the Lord then came to me, saying: “You have used the wisdom that will enable you to keep climbing. Many have fallen because they did not use their sword properly to anchor themselves.”
We are to trust God completely, and trust His words completely. We believe in what He said. Believe is an active verb. This is how we plunge our sword.
Adam heard God, but he was passive. He didn’t put his anchor down. He didn’t make God’s words his own. He didn’t commit himself. He didn’t identify with God’s words. He didn’t get personally, and intimately, involved with what he heard from God. He didn’t believe in his heart and confess with his mouth.
For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:10)
There was another tree in the garden of Eden, the tree of life.
I believe that Adam had to endure temptation before he could have the fruit of the tree of life.
God allowed Satan, in the form of a serpent, to insinuate Adam. And Adam had to fight the deception.
Even today, we have to fight temptation, the deception, and choose life. Life and death is at our door. God is asking us to choose life.
When we surrender and give up our own life; we will have the strength of the inner life that is of the life of God.