Leadership Training 2020

What a wondrous way to uncap this year as we start off with a three-day Leadership Training at the beautiful province of Bataan. With our fellow brothers from Regions Beyond, Tracy Batterton and Gavin Northcote, who came to build up and encourage church volunteers, servants, and aspiring leaders with expectant, passionate, and moved hearts. Everyone was ready to receive what God has yet to unlock from that time and on. Indeed, as vessels of the living God, the training became an avenue to unravel the greatness and limitlessness of who He really is.

A clear prompting set before us in the leadership training was through ministering in the power of the Holy Spirit. We cannot minister without the Holy Spirit. Without the Spirit of God leading us, we often become movers of the flesh that is only fueled to do things externally. Rightfully, we ought to be people who resist looking at the outward appearance alone for we are moved to operate straight from the heart.

With this, we were renewed with the knowledge that as we share Jesus Christ to the people inside and outside our sphere, we would never be winding up to the notion that we are deficient and incapable, for as we spread the Gospel, we do not go with our own confidence alone.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts 1:8 NLT

To be a leader, you first need to lead yourself well, and if you desire to lead yourself well, you must cultivate it first and foremost in the presence of God.

Just like how Jesus cultivates it in the Scriptures, oneness with the Father is an essential thing when we want to be disciples of Christ. Our personal time with the Lord matters most before we make relationships outside the walls. We need to experience the presence of Christ first and embody the image of Jesus when He was also in the flesh. Discipleship is not just a calling, it’s a human vocation. It’s work that needs to be done.

Our primary vocation as disciples is to carry on His Word forever, minute by minute and second by second, we are made to act as His followers.

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20 NLT

Our efforts need to grow in immense measures until there comes a time that when we meet with God, it becomes more than just a habit.

“Wherever you may go, you will share Jesus.” This is a mark of a person who is wholly and solely cultivated in God’s presence. The cost of discipleship is being more in the presence of God than never before. Surely, there lies ahead a vast array of continents in wonder when we cultivate life that practices the presence of God.

“But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.””
Luke 10:41-42 NLT

In today’s culture and society, we are dealing with many things that often hinder our personal connection with God, and these things disrupt and steer away our attention from the more important to the less important. It shifts our perspective and feeds us with blind progress towards our relationships with one another and it creates a great barrier that steers our hearts away from deepening what is more prized in the sight of Christ than ours.

“Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.”
Romans 12:3 NLT

Each of us is given a measure of faith, and as we use it, God gives us more. Let us not limit ourselves with our personality for the power of Christ breaks even in the most parched and unreached parts of our lives.

In prophesying, start with the known and move on to the unknown. Do the best prayer that you can for that person that you know, and then in faith, pray for the things that you don’t know about the person, asking for the purest form of wisdom from the only source of it, and that is God.

“In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you.”
Romans 12:6 NLT

In serving,

“If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well.”
Romans 12:7 NLT

In encouraging and giving, people want to follow a person who is out there in the front, doing the purposes of God.

“If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.”
Romans 12:8 NLT

Prophecies

 “You are going to forge a new path but there are many trees before you in that path. You are going to chop down those trees with the strength that God will give.”

We no longer have to follow a tedious path that someone has made in front of us for God has already given a huge space in order for us to work towards that goal. Obstacles will then turn into benefits because the victory of that battle will be a testimony of the goodness of God in each of our lives.

“So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the LORD your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”
Deuteronomy 31:6 NLT

As we push through walls and chop down what’s unnecessary, we are reminded that God has already laid out everything in His perfect will and plan.

“I’m calling you to sit down and feast. I’m calling you to walk into that ocean and just swim. There’s no turning back for you now.”

When our hearts seek to move and lead others closer to Christ, we must then be able to fully practice the presence of God within ourselves.

Start to feast, start to drink, and start to dive in. Let us start diving in instead of just dipping our feet. For we will never be able to experience God in a deeper level of intensity if we just sit on the side.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.”
Proverbs 3:5 NLT

Let the bondage of fear and doubt be dispelled for the source of our hope and strength comes from Him alone.

“I am calling you out of what men say, out of the boxes that they put you in, and out of the labels that they speak of you. I am calling you into new things.”

God is calling us to days of opportunities. From one day to another, let us allow His Spirit to come and move within each of our lives. He is calling us to take steps of faith, and even strides of them. In small ways and big ways, we are encouraged to trust Him with the little and wait for the much. It takes our entirety to understand that we are His beloved, His sons, and daughters.

We are no longer chained with what men say. We will no longer walk in fear nor walk in suspicion but we will now bravely walk forward knowing that we fix our eyes not on the giants, but to Jesus.