Tags
being born again, church, dark night of the soul, experience, Jesus Christ, leadership, spiritual power, T.A. Sparks, the dark night of the spirit, the new self, the old self, true faith
It was certainly not my plan to write about spiritual leadership, but somehow I came across this topic on the internet and here you are. Having read some deliberations from T.A. Sparks on how God, not man (!), makes spiritual leaders, I thought I could arbitrarily excerpt some characteristics from his article and share them with you. Since God’s way is not man’s way, a spiritual leader is not necessarily a theologian who graduated from college and has been pastoring a church for many years. Most probably, you won’t find God’s man or woman tarrying with a crowd of clerics, all of them decorated with titles and honors. No, the man of God is not a prince in shining armor, just as his Lord Jesus Christ in His time on earth did not push himself to the fore. Quite the contrary. It was always the people that so often pressed around Him because they would be drawn by the Holy Spirit in Him. Let’s hear now what Sparks had to say as to what a spiritual leader who was called by God needs to go through and how he eventually sees God, himself, and his work for God.
- When the Lord is making spiritual leaders, He very often cuts them off from others, does not allow others to come along and help them.
- We must ever remember that one characteristic of a true spiritual leader is always a deep humility born of a deep sense of dependence. A leader is not one of those people who is very sure of himself; he is very often someone who is not at all sure of himself, but sure of the Lord.
- It is necessary for a spiritual leader to have suffered in the same trials as those being led; to have known the same depths of misery, to have been in the same complicated circumstances, to have passed through those very problems, and to know what it is to emerge from a dark, dismal and wretched state. All that makes a leader, but that also represents the cost to begin with.
- Before we ever come to spiritual understanding we shall have all our own understanding pulverized, ground to powder, so that we do not understand anything, and we know it. If we are asked to explain we can give no explanation. It is not in us to explain. All understanding has gone. God breaks down the natural to make way for the spiritual. That transition is through death, through the grave. Then presently we emerge, and we are seeing things now from God’s side, we are understanding with a faculty and capacity that we never before possessed. Somehow or other a resurrection work has been done; that is, something has been quickened which we never had before. […] There is all the difference between natural understanding and spiritual understanding, and the difference is between death and life, and a grave is between. Oh, those dark days, when we lost all natural understanding and there was no light. It is a terrible cost.
- There was a time when some of us were most sure. Oh yes, we knew, no one could tell us. We were the most sure people. We could lay down the law to anybody as to what they ought to do. The Lord has taken in hand and has ground to powder, made pulp of all that assurance. We have lost all self-assurance. We have come to the place where we feel that we could question everything in ourselves, doubt everything about ourselves.
- The time through which we pass is a time when we lose all. There are times when we feel that the bottom has fallen out of everything. What have we to rest upon? Faith. Where is our faith? If God is not merciful to us it is a poor lookout for us. If this whole thing depends upon our faith today, the Lord help us!
- Yes, these are dark, strange experiences, things you may not say to the unconverted. They are not bound up with our salvation, our acceptance before God. It is another side, the side of our usefulness to the Lord, the measure of our spiritual value to the Lord for the sake of others. The cost of spiritual leadership and a faith of this true, pure kind is borne out of a grave. It grows like a new child; it is quiet, steady faith in God. You have been through the depths, and you have found the Lord faithful, and you have had to say, “It was not because of my wonderful faith in God, not because of my saying I am able to hold on, to persist! God was faithful to me when I had nothing of faith as far as I was concerned.” That comes back from the grave. It is the cost of leadership.
- Look back over the history of all who have really been used of God in the lives of His people. Very rarely has their life borne fruit until they have gone. They have laboured, and other men have entered into their labours. It means that there is to be no present glory, nothing for self, no present reward. It is a Moses leading through the wilderness, up against the real hard, tough side of things, and then passing out without seeing the fruit. That is the price of leadership so often; selfless disinterestedness, being willing to labour, to give one’s life, to suffer, to come to a place of value for others and never see the full result of it.
http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/004231.html
Although this list of features is not exhaustive (if you want to read more, just follow the link above), we might have realized that the cost of spiritual leadership is losing one’s old natural life in order to gain a completely new spiritual life that no longer depends on us but fully on God. Do we want this?
Well I would have to be honest with you—Thats a tough way to go and I would prefer to let Father be the decider on that issue–I do believe that that is the true way to be a real leader–bred to be so by Dad.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think every honest person would feel like you do, Ken. I have often “fought against God’s will” on this spiritual journey I have been on, yet I had to realize that He chose us and we did not choose Him. From hence, no chance to ‘fight’ against His plan for our lives ever. But in the end, we will see that HE was all worth it. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Susanne. I found this a very moving (and, for me, a very apt) post. There is great consolation here, if we forego worldly accolades.
Much love,
A. ❤
LikeLiked by 2 people
Dealing with this very issue has been helpful for me too, Anna. Having graduated from college as well, I did not need that in my work for God at all. It is simply His anointing that is needed. Our old self always longs for the approval of men and we cannot change that. But HE can change our hearts and minds. That is my hope and belief.
Much love to you too ❤ ❤ ❤
Susanne
LikeLiked by 2 people
Dear Susanne, this explains a lot, doesn’t it?
Somebody said that A. W. Tozer had the distinction of preaching from almost every conference platform in America, never to be invited back again. I think our brother Sparks might have also had that distinction.
As I read this quote from TAS, I was forced to look back on my journey through Christendom. The leadership I saw totally lacked these qualities of which TAS wrote and most totally lacked humility and held up their pride as a virtue for others to admire. It caused me a lot of confusion because I also wanted to be a leader in the church and emulate them, yet God put me on path that did not allow me to walk with them. They stood on the stage before the the admiring crowds with their fancy suits and diamond studded rings and Italian shoes while I scrubbed their meeting hall toilets and mopped their floors, being looked down upon by my “fellow Christians.” One time I went to a conference for “apostles and prophets” in Dallas, TX, where there were 3,500 people attending and I have never felt so alone in my life! All those big name “apostles and prophets” and Christ’s Spirit was not there! I love this passage from Luke and find it so poignant,
But you know what? Seeing Jesus as He is, that lowly servant from Nazareth of Galilee, not one of the chief priests and elders, not one born in Harod’s palace, not one who was elevated above the masses… seeing the disparaging difference between worldly leadership in the church and who Christ IS has shown me the continuing need of the cross in my life. And if God decides to use me to touch others with His love on occasions, it is worth all I have been through. The real way of leadership IN Christ was summed up by John the Baptist when he said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
Thanks for sharing this, dear sister. I would like to share a link on our website to an article by G. W. Watson which also speaks along the lines of what TAS wrote here. “Others May, but You Cannot”
Your brother and friend,
Michael
LikeLiked by 2 people
Excellent exposition, Michael! ⭐ I so love your testimony you included here too! ❤
You’re very welcome as to the sharing, dear brother. 🐱
Your sister in Him forever,
Susanne
LikeLiked by 1 person
http://www.awildernessvoice.com/OthersMay.html
This is the hyper link that goes above.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the link, Michael. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: Others May, You Cannot « A Wilderness Voice
Thanks for the pingback to my blog, Michael. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
When the Spirit speaks I can’t help but pass it on. Thanks so much for sharing this, dear sister. ⭐
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re so welcome, Michael. I am glad you could hear the Spirit speak. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Excellent stuff, death and resurrection, suffering and glory, always closely connected in the scripture and in the making of a leader. I would like prayer, for far too often, what comes out of my mouth and my actions reveals a heart that has not truly learned humility. May His grace continue to draw me ever closer to the refining fire.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Amen! Your prayer fits for all of us, I believe, Chuck.
Thank you very much for your encouraging words! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I believe this is the answer to your prayers for me, to see HIM looking at me like this and to “lock eyes” with Him… that is rest, and from that flows life. http://hisrelentlessaffection.blogspot.com/2016/06/love.html
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like the post you linked, Chuck. But alas, since yours is no WordPress blog, so I could not give you a (blogger) like there. I I left a short comment instead.
And yes, if we rest IN Him who is The Life, this life will flow right out of us. No rest, no life, only hurrying, fear, doubts and anxieties outside of Christ. But in Him, everything is possible for HE is God.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Just blessed to see the one use of “leaning” in the entire Bible in Song of Solomon 8:5, and to find that another meaning is “rest upon.” Lord, teach us to rest in You!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for the blog. I have heard that a leader is one who has followers. This is sobering, because I could be a leader to someone and not know it. I do not want to be a wrong example. Jesus came down very hard on those who instructed others and yet did not model what they taught. I’m not sure why anyone would desire to a leader – unless God had equipped the person – as He equipped Moses, etc. Being a follower is my natural tendency. By the grace of God, I want my natural tendencies to be replaced by His desires for me.
LikeLiked by 2 people
You’re very welcome, dear Pat. ❤
The example of Moses you mentioned is a very good one since he did not want to be a leader by speaking up before the people at all as he still trusted in his own (lack of cap)abilities. Same with Jeremiah who told God that in his view he would be too young to be a prophet. 😉
Sure, a leader will have followers and from hence we have responsiblities toward those who follow us (here: who comment on our blogs). I think that is why God has taught me countless (experiential and painful) lessons in such a strict school last year as He showed me more and more how to ruthlessly deal with the wrong spirits so that those of our readers who cannot sense the danger coming from deceiving spirits will be protected. You might have seen that several commenters who once wrote on here left this blog already.
I think if others follow us, Pat, we might know about it. Also, we all make mistakes. We are learning day by day and it is God who gives us the growth in Christ we are longing for. No need to worry for you, once again, dear sister. Sometimes I guess you are a bit too hard on yourself. I wish there were other Christians who would be a bit more critical regarding themselves. In your case, I would like you see freed from all your concerns.
Just thinking about being a follower as a natural tendency, I was reminded of our female disposition to be rather passive than active, to rather follow than to lead. Of course, there are exceptions, esp. today in our culture. But I also recall the biblical example of Debora who was equipped with great courage by God as she killed Sisera and thus saved the people (Judges 5).
LikeLiked by 1 person
I often think of how Jesus spent 30 years preparing for His ministry, a ministry that only lasted a couple of years but it changed the whole world. Today we try to reverse that, so people will spend a few years preparing for a ministry that will last 30 years.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Awww… What a great observation! Well said, Gabrielle! ⭐
LikeLiked by 2 people