Tag: Principle of Stewardship

Stewardship: A Few Thoughts

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Blessings, Fifth Head, Leviathan, March WOR: Reconciled To Community, Principles

If we struggle with hearing others or being heard by others, we might have an issue with how we are managing those things we have been given.

Exhibit A

“My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.”

Sheep can either choose to listen or they can choose to not listen. As sheep who are more accurately sons rather than servants (though “servant” is a small aspect of what we do in the kingdom) we have been given the freedom to listen to the voice of the Shepherd and either execute or not. And, whether or not we are satisfied without the outcome of listening or not listening to the communication the King gives us, the results of our listening or not will come.

In Illustration

I am not the usual one to give any sort of gloom-and-doom message, in case one is tempted to read the following as an invective.

A couple of years ago, a regional communications grid was knocked out in a major American city. Now, am I going to say that this was the judgment of G-d definitively. Not at all. But I notice when G-d attempts to communicate or speak to His children and they resist hearing that voice…

…when scripture plainly teaches, from the mouth of the Word Himself, that followers HEAR his voice….

…and that hearing is plainly a gift of the King to His bride…

…and, as such, is meant to be stewarded well…

…to the best of the skill and ability with which He endows us…

…then our communications networks of various types risk disruption…

And:

  • People who normally hear us fail to hear us clearly.
  • Our capacity to receive in prayer is hindered.
  • Our cooking in the kitchen is messed with.
  • Our technology and electronic devices, most of which involve some form of communication, foul up worse than usual, or sooner than usual.
  • “The wires get crossed” between even good friends.
  • Our tone of voice or text is misheard.
  • Our parents, siblings, spouses, close friends, or kids begin mishearing our plain verbal cues for something completely foreign.

Gang, the land in this city cries out for someone or more than one someone’s to help straighten out the mess that has happened in the spirit.

And, while there are those who are called to work with people, there are also those that are called to work with creation.

Be encouraged, if your communication is messed up in one or more ways, then the ultimate reality is that Father wants to help you fix the problem areas.

There is no mess that cannot be repaired or renewed.

The kicker is we have to be willing to quiet ourselves and listen for His voice.

He is always speaking something or communicating to us.

The real question is…

Are we listening and did we treat as important what He said, such that we write it down and consider what He has said.

Another passage to illustrate this concept.

Judges 4

Deborah did not tell Barak anything he did not know at the start of their interaction in Judges 4.

Rather what she said, in our vernacular, might be rendered as:

“Bruh, the L-rd already said this to you. So what are you waiting for?”

Barak’s response: “Woman, I am waiting for a woman to validate me.”

The L-rd already spoke to Barak, and Barak was sitting on his arse waiting for the chick to validate him.

A man who is a son and to whom the L-rd is already speaking, don’t need anyone to validate him. He is responsible to go.

Seriously, and we do this same thing.

Personally, I delayed in coming to town myself. So I am culpable for my delaying.

Likewise, is there something of which the L-rd has already spoken to you and about which you are delaying because you are waiting for a dude or a chick or your covering or some grand poo-bah to validate you?

Stop waiting for a ring to kiss.

And stop going around in circles with the same stupid crap you have been talking about for the last several years.

And stop with that years-old offense that you are using to justify your inaction.

Not all of those statements were for every one of my readers. Those each of those statements do have a targeted audience and then me of them may speak to you. Or none of them may speak to you.

Your job is to engage in Russian epic of Cinderella: “If shoe fits, wear it”.

I am here to be G-d’s mouthpiece to you and say, go and do what you have been assigned to do and stop waiting for someone to tell you you are allowed to do that thing.

Count the resources and capital which Father has given you and use those wisely to begin the process and be ready to partner with the additional resources He will bring.

There is a time for waiting (Isaiah 40:31).

However, there is a time to cease waiting and to start doing.

And our job is for each of us to hear which season it is for us, and to act accordingly.

Blessing

Beloved,

I invite your spirit forward to treat with me in this window of reconciliation, for reconciling with community, and for being at peace with all men, if possible.

And, spirit, I bless you to hear what the Spirit is saying to the seven churches. I bless you to know and recall the voice of the King. And I bless you to obey the voice of the King WHEN the right timing happens.

I bless you to instruct soul and body to ignore the voices of those who are either naysayers or who command you to wait when their voices are out of step with the voice of the King.

Spirit, I bless you with the boldness to move forward in your purpose, even if it makes waves with others.

Spirit, I bless you to move with the Lamb when he moves, and to sit when He sits, and to flow where He flows.

I bless you with kindness, but also courage and forthrightness to hear those voices that accord with the King’s voice, and ignore those that are out of accord with that Voice.

Be at peace, spirit, and keep pounding, or begin pounding if you are supposed to be pounding at an assignment.

You are loved, and I bless you with a pastoral blessing.

Find His Voice and do what He tells you, in the time and season He tells you to do it.

Amen

Blessing 16: WOR Blessing: Distinguishing Your Provision From Anothers

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Blessings, Principles, September Window of Reconcilaiton Blessings: Reconciliation to G-d

Beloved, I invite your spirit to treat with me in the name of Yeshua.

Spirit, listen to the word of G-d for you for today.

Do not contend with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. You shall purchase food from them with money, that you may eat, and you shall also buy water from them with money, that you may drink.

Deuteronomy 2:5-6 ESV

Spirit, not all of the resources you see are yours.

Some resources and wealth G-d has provided to others.

And as difficult as that may be, it is a lesson in discernment and Stewardship.

G-d places certain bits of land in our midst because He is giving that land to us in order to manage.

And sometimes He places certain peoples in our midst in order to provide food or sustenance to us.

Spirit, you will meet people that have a bit of land and resources and you will have to learn the lesson of discerning when the land is your portion and when other aspects are your portion.

G-d gives us certain provisions, He writes us specific checks from specific checkbooks.

And not everything we see is automatically going to get credited to our accounts.

And One of the sharpest most perceptive lessons we can learn is the lesson of discernment between our resources and the resources of another. And we also must learn how to protect not only our resources but also the resources of another. Because when we protect the resources of another, we are shown to be trustworthy and faithful stewards which means we can be trusted with other things as well.

So, spirit, I bless you to lead in the discernment arena.

I bless you to have a strong and clear voice in the area of what belongs to your host versus what does not.

I bless you to be content with your portion.

I bless you to see the resources being provided you, and O bless you to coach the soul in the appropriate direction in which to set his or her desires.

I bless you to cultivate and lead the soul and body with a strong awareness of the Tenth Commandment, and to coach them in parsing between what G-d has given Soul and Body versus what G-d has given another.

I bless you, spirit to say “no” when “no” is right and good.

And I bless you to say “yes” when “yes” is right and good.

I bless you with revelation of reality pertaining to your resources. And I bless you with skill to utilize the resources that are you.

Be at peace with that revelation, spirit, in the name of Yeshua.

Amein.

RHE and the Failure Or Refusal to Listen to Critics

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Current Events, Fifth Principle, Principles, Seven Principles, Stewardship

Dear Evangelicals,

Part of the reason your sound is so roundly cursed in some circles is because of the following.

A failure or a refusal to listen.

When we reject their accusations out-of-hand without an honest conversation about if we got our viewpoints wrong.

Granted, I have heard much of Rachel Held Evans with which I vehemently disagree. That said, it is damned near impossible to utilize the death of someone to tastefully show where you think they were off or heretical. I think we might want to rethink how we approach our theological adversaries.

Many times, we tear at other Christians, and at the worst times. We refer to them as heretics, monsters, abusers, and all other sorts of things.

We did it with Matthew Warren’s family.

And others. And Father gives us the opportunity to redeem our time and days, so that we can walk well in the “days [that] are evil.”

So, evangelical church that I have left, who often speaks as though your reputation will be marred if you are not quick to share where you disagree with a major theological figure who dies, I would exhort you to demonstrate a quickness to listen, and a slowness to speak.

You do not need to demonstrate a tasteless knee-jerk response to justify your theological position in the MIDST OF AN OBITUARY.

Indeed, when we use our authority in Christ to speak insensitively about others and parts of our tributes breathe the air of criticism so close to the death of someone for whom Christ died and with whom we so greatly disagree, it can land as though we are rejoicing over their death, or potentially taking pleasure in their death, which is not the example of our L-rd, who “takes no pleasure in the death of the ungodly.” Regardless of your evaluation of a person’s life, it comes across as opportunistic to use the occasion of a person’s death in order to get mileage for your position.

A few years back, a relative of mine died who walked with a considerable double lifestyle, and I did not use the occasion of their death to bring that iniquity to light.

In light of Evans’ untimely death, evangelical leaders should not use the funeral meats to coldly furnish the dispute tables.

The body is not even in the ground and we are rushing to protect our reputation, as if it is not clear where we stand theologically.

I had a relative who was sexually molested by a pastor, and instead of protecting the victim, they fired my relative. Their argument? They wanted to protect their reputation.

Our stewardship of words would be better placed in articulating that someone is dead, and then at a later date, say where we disagreed with them.

Never pass up an opportunity to walk in discretion towards another with whom you disagree.

When we use our sound to repeatedly trumpet our disagreements with someone and the context is not appropriate, we may not be practicing the best stewardship, and may open up the door for the further devouring of our sound.

Fifth head of Leviathan, gang.

#letthereaderunderstand