"Who is Over You?"

Someone recently asked me, how do you know the men (or women) that God has placed over you in your life (Galatians 4:1-3)?

Paul tells us that though we are heirs to everything, as long as we are children, we will live like slaves. As long as you remain immature, you will live your life falling short of your destiny. It will always be within your reach, but you can't quite grab it. He also tells us that we are put under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the Father.

He is telling us that the Father has prepared everything we need to fulfill our destiny but it is locked up in those that God places over us. One pastor recently told me that his life did not really progress into fruitfulness and success until he discovered those that God had placed over him, I call them the voices of wisdom. They hold the keys to your future. The can speak one word and it unlocks...

Here is how I qualify them:

1) Will always speak to your strengths not your weaknesses.

* If you are under people that always point out your weaknesses but never speak to your strengths, you will stay frustrated and limited.

* They will see potential in you others don't see, and they call those things that are not as though they were.

* God has always called people by their prophetic potential not their present reality (Gideon,
Abraham, Peter...).

2) They will celebrate your insignificant successes.

*They will affirm you and build you up. They will not be insecure of your successes. Saul was intimidated by David's success. When did he begin to hate David? When the people began to say, Paul has slain his thousands but David has slain his tens of thousands.

* What you celebrate will grow, what you ignore will diminish.

* People are built to be reward oriented. When you reward them and celebrate their victories, it will empower them to go to the next level and they will be loyal to you.

* Jesus didn't perform one miracle until His father affirmed him (This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased). Here the father is affirming his son even though Jesus had not accomplished anything in his minstry yet.

3) They will resource you for success.

* They will not give you handouts because then you will be dependant upon them. Rather, they will teach you how to get what they got. For example if you are always having to get someone to loan you money (cycle), you will always need someone to bail you out, but if you can learn how they got it, you can get it and keep it. (The power of asking the right questions)

* Great leaders will resource you by either buying great books or suggesting books that you need to read. They are willing to share the secrets of their success.

4) You will enjoy being around them.

* Every time you are in their presence, you will feel refreshed, encouraged, and sharpened.

* The primary role of leaders is to encourage (To put courage in) and empower (To tap into resident power or potential) those who they are leading. Everything you need is already in you, you just need the right voice to uncover it.

For example, on the day of creation God spoke to the waters and it gave up the fish, spoke to the earth and it gave up the cattle, spoke to heavens and commanded the starts to come forth. Notice everything that He created was in the source He spoke to. When He got ready to create man, He spoke to himself (Let us bring forth...). It is already there, it just needs the right voice to unearth it.

* Our focus as leaders is not to put something in you, but to pull out what is already there. we are not trying to make you, God has already made you. Our job is to introduce you to the real you!

Pray that God will reveal who is your guardians and stewards. I will deal more with this later.

Blessings,
Craig