2011 Time to Migrate

It is the end of another year, a season of much excitement and joy. There is much for which we can express our gratitude and thanksgiving and surely testify of God’s grace and love upon our lives. We have seen miracles and the unseen realm has manifested in the visible realm!

 I write this letter to thank you as a man and woman of God in His calling upon your lives. I also have the desire to think with you about 2011, in essence a new season and an escalation of God’s prophetic word upon this earth, a continuation of the “harvest of souls” like never before.  When we think of the evolution that is taking place in the world’s technology, then the Church will have to enter in and seek God’s face for the supernatural dimension of His Kingdom.  We will have to caution ourselves not to fall into humanistic efforts that will dilute the face of God into mysticisms. We can also not continue to be captured by mindsets that weaken the Church, just because we are afraid to migrate to places that we have never been before. It is a season where God is raising up leaders that are prepared to break loose from traditional thoughts about church, geared to gain new understanding about the world that we are living in! “You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” NIV 2Cor 3:3

We need to renew our perspective about evangelism. Evangelism is not only to bring the Gospel to the unsaved but also to convert those with old mindsets to new Kingdom perspectives.  We will have to broaden our perspectives so that we are able to discover the powerful Christ in us! The Church needs to present the Christ accurately to the world: The Christ’s Kingdom and so also ours, is above the technologies of this world and will never be touched by the philosophy of mankind.

Strategically we need to put our focus on our young people and their desire for purity and understanding of the Christ! As fathers, we will have to enter into the promise, leaving our fears for failure and the unknown and be prepared to seek for the hidden treasures that have been hidden for us and not from us! It is like gold nuggets that are only available to those who are prepared to seek for it. It is a pleasure to the Father when we discover these treasures that He hid for us! He said to them, "Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old." NIV Matthew 13:52

Without these treasures we will not be able to lead our sons and daughters into their destiny. God’s grace is upon our young people; His Spirit is at work all over South Africa, so let us arise to the occasion by allowing God to configure our hearts towards His heart. There is a weightiness of His Glory that we need to usher in. Let us be strong and bold enough to bear it. Imagine multitudes of young people influenced by the power of the Holy Spirit!

Self Leadership

I define “self-leadership” as the capacity and commitment both to take full responsibility for one’s own responses to life and to create a life that is personally meaningful and fruitful. Too many times I have seen leaders and people that want to blame others or their circumstances without taking  the necessary responsibility. 

The most important leadership is self leadership. The ability to lead myself, to take full responsibility for my actions and decisions that I make. The more you know about your deepest needs and values, your talents and strengths, as well as your stressors and blind spots, the more you can make choices that result in greater satisfaction and effectiveness.

Accountability is a word that has immense influence upon our lives. Accountability cannot exist without proper accounting practices, in other words absence of accounting means absence of accountability. To practice self-leadership is to be accountable for every decision and action that one takes. I referred to John 1:12 in my previous post i.e. "I have the right to become a son." My goal in life is to position myself as a son in my relationship with God the Father, to grow in my experience in this relationship and to become more comfortable in following the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Accountability is an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions  “God does not want us to do extra-ordinary things; He wants us to do ordinary things extra-ordinarily well.”

I have always said that leadership has to do with relational capacity; it is the way that I respond to my environment! I must understand that I have the ability to choose my responses. 

                                      Responsibility = Response-Ability

  

—Our behavior must be the product of our own conscious  decisions, based on our values instead of our environment and our feelings.