TEACHING

Don Atkin

STEWARDING THE ANOINTING (AND YOUR TIME)

Anointing can leak! Time can be flitted away! Like everything else in our walk as servant-leaders, we must learn to steward both the anointing and our time. They are inter-related. Waste your time, waste anointing. God gives us wisdom, both to steward our time and the anointing.

Jesus pointed out, "Don’t cast your pearls before swine, and don’t give what is holy to dogs." He also told His disciples, "I have many other things to share with you, but you are not yet able to bear them."

Jesus stewarded His time. While the crowds would seek Him, He would seek quiet time with His Father. He prioritized time for His disciples. Even when speaking to the crowds He spoke in parables, later explaining their meaning to His chosen ones.

All seeds are for sowing. Some are to be broadcasted abroad. Others are to be carefully placed in properly prepared soil.

PEOPLE WILL SUCK YOU DRY!

Some will never grow up. They will desire the breast milk all of their lives. We need, under the guidance of the Anointed One within, to know when and how to strategically wean people. Wisdom shows us how to put expectations upon our disciples, and to limit our counsel to that which is being received and acted upon.

Scripture speaks of "every joint supplying," not "every joint being supplied." Our role as their equipping agents is to tap the rivers within them; not continually allowing them to drink from ours. Jesus said, "I need to go so that the Holy Spirit may come." The incarnation ~ Christ in us, the hope of glory ~ is successfully operating when our disciples begin to discover the incarnation within themselves.

PEOPLE ARE TO BECOME DOERS OF THE WORD!

How many times does it take for someone to hear? I mean, really hear ~ in his spirit man? Not an easy question to answer. Depends. Depends upon many factors. How hungry is he? How committed is he? How obedient is he? How prayed up is he?

These are questions that mentors/teachers need to ponder as they discern and determine how to proceed in the process of bringing each soul to maturity. There is no formula that can be generally applied. We desperately need to have the mind of Christ in each situation.

When we study the example of Jesus with the twelve disciples, it should be obvious to us that He treated each one individually, that He took more time with some than with others, and that He had a handle on their potential. He appreciated their individual uniqueness, and He adjusted His methodology according to what His Father was showing Him.

Peter was impetuous. John was all about intimacy. Thomas was a doubter. Regardless of these differences, Jesus loved them where they were, and worked with them to lead them on into their individual destinies within the corporate body and purpose of the Father.

Peter and John were ignorant and unlearned fishermen. Paul was a scholar. Peter and John needed to be envisioned; the latter needed to be humbled (knocked off his donkey and blinded). All of us need to be at "zero." For some, it’s an upward journey; for others, it’s downward. The mentor needs to know what is needed to bring the disciple to "zero."

Doers of the word must be at "zero" so that the Holy Spirit can possess and use them. The flesh ~ no matter how talented and gifted ~ cannot please God. Empty people can be filled. People who are full of themselves need to be emptied.

PEOPLE NEED BOTH HANDS OF THE POTTER!

Discipling is a "hands on" business. Jesus demonstrated this as He lived life together with His disciples. Discipling doesn’t take place only in a classroom, it takes place in daily life. Don’t merely tell them, show them! Demonstrate! Paul praised others for following him as he followed Christ. We are to be examples to the flock!

Discipling is a demanding ministry. Nevertheless, it is absolutely essential, if we are to obey the commission of Jesus Christ to disciple the ethnos.

The Holy Spirit must be working within a man or woman for them to be a disciple of Christ. The first order of business on the day of Pentecost was the receiving of the Holy Spirit by the disciples, and then the multiplication of the Holy Spirit among the 3,000 souls who were added that day.

For one to be properly discipled, He must have the Holy Spirit operating within, know it, and be yielded to Him. The Holy Spirit is the Hand of the Potter on the inside of the disciple.

The hand of the Potter on the outside is the equipping ministry gift who is acknowledged as the mentor/teacher. Both hands (the Hand on the inside, and the hand on the outside) must work in total harmony for the "clay" to be properly shaped as a "vessel of honor."

The hand on the outside needs to be very sensitive to the directives from the Hand on the inside. Once again, we must remember the uniqueness of each individual, and that "the hand on the outside looks at the outer appearance, but the Hand on the inside looks at the heart." There will be things that seem to need attention, but the timing must be right. We cannot attend to what the Holy Spirit is not attending at the moment!

STEWARDING ANOINTING AND TIME!

The more we develop as servant-leaders, the more that people will recognize the anointing, and be drawn. At first, we will not realize the need for stewardship. We will be thrilled with the opportunity to express God’s love through serving those who come to us. It is very fulfilling to be used as a hand of God in the lives of others.

Usually, we don’t "wake up" to the need to steward both anointing and time until we find ourselves under an unbearable "yoke." We find ourselves longing to retreat ~ run away ~ for some relief from the intensity and pressures that are part and parcel to human encounter.

Eventually, we discover the promise of "rest" in Jesus, who said, "Come unto Me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. And you will find rest for your souls."

The Hebrew writer speaks of a "rest" that remains for the people of God. He speaks of a "more excellent ministry" that flows out of the Throne of Grace from our great High Priest who can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities.

Here are some suggestions:

1. Understand and maintain your priorities.

a. Personal devotional life

b. Marital life

c. Family life

d. Covenant family life

Jesus did not go looking for opportunities to spread Himself thin among the multitudes. He was not motivated by need, saying, "We will always have the poor among us." We need to understand that He was not employed in the marketplace, had 24/7 available for ministry (as the Father directed ~ important point!), yet only took on twelve disciples for intense training.

Many whom we attempt to train are still in need of deliverance, healing and shepherding. Some may never come to the point of being ready for intense training. We need to sort all of that out and properly place people within our sphere where they are prepared to function.

We need to develop teams of people, and work together with others who are good at what we are not, so that we can be free to do what we are best at doing. Perhaps there are those with pastoral gifts who can help with the shepherding. Maybe there are those with evangelistic gifts who can help with the deliverance and healing.

KWe must avoid being a one-man-band.

KWe must delegate.

KWe must get wisdom from God.

KWe must get our schedule from God ~ and stick to it.

KWe must be clear in our expectations of others ~ and communicate them.

KWe must be loving ~ yet firm.

KWe must stay fresh in God ~ or we are in danger of "burn-out."

Those who walk together with Jesus in the yoke of His anointing do not burn out!

Don’t be hard on yourself! You are not alone. What you are experiencing is common to man ~ those who are called to servant-leadership. Your present circumstance is God’s gift to alert you to go to the next level. No condemnation. New beginning. That’s the way God is!

You can give up right now on having everyone love you and think that you are the greatest! Jesus was "despised and rejected." He said that the world would hate us. We need to grasp the depth of that. Every worldly (unredeemed) thing in man will hate us until surrendered. Many will not surrender, but be left behind.

Remember that mercy triumphs over judgment, and we are called to love where men revile us.

"Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy."

Finally, we need to stay under the spout where the glory comes out! We need to stay filled, and serve others out of the overflow of God’s grace and glory. Ministerial activity that comes forth out of His grace and glory will produce abiding fruit.

I am praying for you.