By James Holland Sr
As a leader you are one of God’s main instruments to deliver the spiritual prisoner. You must be equipped with the keys to Kingdom of God to open the doors of people in bondage through the power of the Holy Spirit. Part of being able to minister to people is being able to discern why people are in spiritual, mental or emotional prisons. The questions that must be asked, and answered, by you the leader are “Where are the people at? What is their problem?” You must be sensitive to the Spirit of God and have a love and concern for people in order for this to happen.
God may be trying to deal with the person in bondage and trying to change some area of his life. Is the person in prison because he has disobeyed what he was instructed to do? We must be able to discern why they are where they are and why they are in the situation they are in.
Once we understand this, we will know how to properly minister to them and help set them free! Make no mistake about it; people need to be set free. They don’t just need a spiritual bondage put on their situation; they need deliverance. If they cannot find the deliverance in the church, then where will they find it?
Let’s look briefly at a couple of examples that will help us understand this principle.
The first example is Joseph. Joseph was in prison as a part of the training, mentoring, molding and shaping that God had to do in his life to make him the man that God knew he could be. Joseph had done nothing wrong, yet, he was in a situation that was actually totally beyond his control. So, if we are going to minister to “Joseph,” we certainly can’t take the approach, “Man, you better repent and get your life in right standing with God immediately.”
So then, how do we minister to the “Josephs” that come to us? By understanding why, they are going through what they are going through!
Joseph’s faith was being perfected so he simply needed to understand a couple of God’s principles. First of all, he believed that even in adverse circumstances that the hand of God was still upon him. Here is the principle: God’s purposes are higher than mine. Joseph evidently also understood that God is never silent. Also, God works in all circumstances.
Joseph had every reason to be bitter and discouraged. He could have been angry and no one would have wondered why. Yet, Joseph never adopted the “victim mentality” that is so prevalent today. We are too quick to look for someone else or something else other than ourselves to blame for our current situations.
Blame is a waste of time!
No matter how much fault you find with another person and regardless of how you blame them, it will not change you. The only thing blame does is KEEP THE FOCUS OFF YOU when you are looking for external reasons to explain your own unhappiness or frustrations. You may succeed in making someone feel guilty about something by blaming him, but you will not succeed in changing whatever is making you unhappy.
The second God-principle that Joseph understood is that we must be obedient. Obedience to God’s plan is not optional for simply when it works for me. Joseph’s obedience was making his life something of great value.
Today, everyone is under intense pressure in and out of the church. Yet, we must understand that simply being in a bad situation or feeling, the presence of a situation that we don’t understand is no excuse for being disobedient. In fact, how we act while under pressure will determine how quickly our victory will come.
The second example we will examine is Samson. Samson was everything that Joseph wasn’t. He was self-centered; he never had control of his personal life; and, he never lived for anything except the present. Yet, he had the potential to be a great leader.
Samson was in prison because he had disobeyed what he had been instructed to do by God. Every prayer that Samson ever prayed was first of all for his own benefit. Samson’s life is evidence that just because someone is anointed to do a certain thing doesn’t mean that God has necessarily stamped his approval upon his entire life.
God never condoned Samson’s disobedience. This is what kept Samson in a spiritual prison and, finally, it brought about his death. Samson only ministered when it benefited him!
The Word of God has the power to set free! God wants to develop this kind of leadership in us as well. God released Joseph from prison and exalted him to a high position in Egypt. Yet, Samson’s disobedience meant his own destruction. In Joseph’s case, God acted as the spiritual deliver who looses the prisoners from the devil’s prison cell of pride, anger, unbelief, and disobedience.
Every leader’s responsibility is to deliver people from their bondage by the work of the Holy Spirit and the proper application of God’s Word. We are in the redemption business. Redemption is directly related to setting those who are in bondage free and to help bring them into the kingdom of God! Redemption has several meanings but its central idea is to deliver or set free from evil by payment of a price.
Below are just a few things people need to be delivered from
- Troubles (Psalm 25:22)
- Deceit! (Psalm 72:14
- All Iniquity (Titus 2:14)
- All Adversity (II Samuel 4:9)
- All Distress (II Kings 1:29)
- The Curse of the Law (Galatians 3:13)
- Spiritual and Physical Destruction (Psalm 103:4)
If you are going to be someone who brings deliverance, then you must have a plan of action. We normally call this a “Vision.” Establish what you want to see happen! Either you are endeavoring to bring people into the Kingdom of God or working to stabilize those who are already in the kingdom. We must help them develop into full spiritual maturity.
Habakkuk 2:3 says, “Though it tarries, wait on it.” Impatience is a sign of pride. People who are motivated by their pride never think they should have to wait for anything! Having the vision of God is the source of patience. It provides God’s true and proper inspiration. God impresses many things upon our mind; yet, many times He doesn’t give us a time frame of when these things will take place. If God doesn’t put a time frame on it neither should we! We should follow the vision and be faithful in and out of season.
Moses endured because he had a vision from God. He endured as seeing Him who was invisible, according to Hebrews 11:27. prove that you have a vision, you must continue to reach out for more than you have already grasped. You must be careful not to live in the past. Use the past to build upon.
We must have an ongoing relationship with God. Everything that God wants to do for us is in a time frame called NOW! What He has done in the past declares His faithfulness. What He is doing today declares His revelation. TRUTH is what God is; REVELATION is what God is currently doing in our lives and in the church.
Galatians 6:9 says, “Be not weary in well doing, for you shall reap in due season if you faint not.” Our reach must exceed our grasp. We should never reach a point where we can sit back and say, “We’ve arrived!” We are always reaching beyond where we are. This is God’s will. God, by His spirit, is always trying to lead us further and sometimes He does this through pressures, situations and circumstances. If we have nothing more than what we have already experienced, then we have lost our vision. Just remember, a vision is always in front of you. Even though you don’t have it yet, you are pursuing it. We must all be aware of spiritual relaxation.
Once we understand our plan of action, we must then begin transferring the vision from our hearts to the hearts of those whom we are trying to lead. This is what leadership is all about – Leading! Not simply walking into some place with a nametag that reads “I AM IN CHARGE. I HAVE BEEN HERE LONGER THAN YOU!”
What Motivates You?
Motivation is a process of rousing and sustaining behavior, or
changing the pattern of activity in progress. Every leader that will make a difference must evaluate on a regular basis what it is that is motivating him or her. This helps us determine why we want to do something. It is important that while we are asking ourselves these important questions, we must forget past failures and past mistakes. This will only cause frustrations.
Focus on the victories that are happening right now. Minimize your weaknesses. Capitalize on your strengths. Do what you can and then allow God to do His part. Do not get easily discouraged. Don’t allow others to destroy your vision and goals. Spend time in God’s presence and His Word. Let the fact that God has placed seeds of destiny within you to be a leader be the motivating factor in your life. There is an appointed time that God has for all things. We must understand this.
As leaders, we will go through a time test as well. This is simply the way God works to give our faith a chance to grow as we use it in our day-to-day walk with God. David was anointed King, yet he did not actually assume the throne until several years later. Still he was faithful.
It seems so strange but yet it is a reality, there is a major problem with faithfulness in many ranks of leadership today. The time test will weed out those who are unfaithful. If you can’t be faithful to church and the work of God, you are not ready to be a leader.
To help us remain faithful, we need short-term as well as long-term goals. We must remember we are building for eternity. Faithfulness must be mastered in our individual lives. The passion that God has to reach a lost, misdirected world must be the fuel that motivates us to continue. It is the will of God to develop leadership in the church that He can bless and use.
Many congregations are weak, shallow, frail, and, in many cases, an embarrassment to God’s Word and the church because of a lack of faithfulness.
You must be people-conscious at all times! You are a leader every waking moment of your life. This is not something you can pick up or take off when you feel like it. It’s what you are. A Leader! Well done is always better than well §aid.
Three Attitudes of the Heart
There are certain attitudes that are essential for leadership. First of all, you must have a passion for God’s Word. Neither the church nor a pastor or teacher can make you spiritual. They can, however, help direct you and put things before you that can help you develop spiritually. Becoming spiritual is your responsibility.
There is a difference between a spiritual experience and being spiritual. We cannot mistake a spiritual experience with being spiritual. Satan had a spiritual experience. He walked in Heaven, communed with God, and directed the singing and choir of the Heavenly Host. He had some spiritual experiences. However, when it came to being spiritual, he made a grave mistake. He rose up in pride and rebellion and it caused him to be cast away from the presence Just because you have of God. Just because you have had some spiritual experiences doesn’t make you spiritual. Living for God is what makes you spiritual. You must have a good diet of the Word of God.
Secondly, you need to have humility. Humility is the spirit that produces an anointing in your life. Because you have an anointing to do certain things doesn’t mean that God puts His approval upon every act of your life. If your thinking is illogical, shallow, self-centered, you probably don’t have a real humble spirit. When we allow our spirit to be humbled (molded) by the spirit of God, then the true will of God can, and will, be released in our lives.
The third attitude of the heart is the abiding anointing. A daily anointing. We want a mantle of anointing to be on us as leaders every waking moment of our lives. Just remember, in the proper environment, almost anyone can get anointed. We want the abiding anointing. This comes from a daily relationship with our God. We are planting spiritual seeds into the ground of the souls of people who will spend eternity somewhere. This is why God has called us to leadership.
Since God delivers through His church, we must not forget what we are and what our mission is. God never asked the world to go to the church. He instructed the church to go to the world. The church is a spiritual hospital, a soul-saving station, and light in darkness, salt of the earth, the power that breaks through the forces of darkness! We are here to penetrate the darkness with the light of God’s power and His Word!
We must be equipped with the keys to the kingdom to open the doors of people’s bondage through the power of the Holy Spirit. We must realize that everyone can be touched. God has called us to loose the bonds, to set at liberty those who are in prison and bring them into His marvelous light. This can only be accomplished by having an abiding anointing in our lives. Our programs will not deliver people. In this hour, we must get back to the Bible Basics in order to have Apostolic Leadership. Our world is waiting on you and me right now!
The above article, “The Leader Who Brings Deliverance” was written by James Holland Sr. The article was excerpted from chapter two in Holland’s book, Developing the Ministry Within You.
The material is copyrighted and should not be reprinted under any other name or author. However, this material may be freely used for personal study or research purposes.
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