I’ve been catching new glimpses of God lately. I guess that’s always what we’re shooting for, but it can be pretty easy to miss it sometimes. “Revelation” is one of those words that can get pretty tricky. I feel like I receive revelation when God just sort of connects the dots on something in my head. This can happen all at once or over time. That’s been happening on a couple of points for me lately.
Spiritual Authority vs. Delegated Authority
My first World Race experience (October 2008 – September 2009) was not about me learning how to fill a leadership role. I had done that in other communities before. I began my World Race in Oct08 knowing that it was time to learn to follow. I needed to learn to submit. I quickly found that this wouldn’t be as easy as I expected. I found several relationships on the Race where people looked to me for counsel, support, or wisdom – I was filling roles I traditionally associated with leadership. I learned that I had spiritual authority. I had to learn to steward it. Serving my leadership meant filling my role in the team. Filling my role in the team meant carrying my spiritual authority with prudence and responsibility, serving my leadership and serving those around me.
In my current role on the World Race, as an alumni squad leader, I am walking in heavy delegated authority. I am one of two people designated to be in leadership over 51 people feverishly seeking after the Lord. I relish being able to sit down with team leaders and talk with them about what is happening on their teams. I like to get their insight on team dynamics and to hear how the Lord is challenging them in their current role. I enjoy giving them insight that I may have picked up in my World Race experience or pointing them back to the Lord to seek his divine insight on the roles to which he has called them.
Spiritual authority is what you cultivate in your prayer closet, alone with the Lord. Because of the quantity or quality of time you have spent before the Lord, you carry power and influence in the spiritual realm and people see it. It is irrelevant whether they can articulate why they are coming to you. They see you have something and they want a little bit of it. Delegated authority is given to you by folks placed over you. They have recognized leadership in you and trust you enough to ask you to steward a piece of what God has entrusted to them. People under you know they can look to you because you have very clearly been given authority over them. You receive the anointing of the people over you and your anointing flows down to those under you.
Spiritual and delegated authority both speak of a clear anointing – you have been set apart by God for a very specific purpose. I am walking in both as I continue to explore what the Lord has for me. I see myself casting the vision for this amazing squad of World Racers, sharing with them how we are a community committed to honor, feedback, and prophetic activation. Then I walk into the next room and I get to carry on a conversation about how the Lord has met me in times of darkness. I talk about how I get to seek him in the quiet places and how he has met me as I have explored more his truth in the world. At times it is very clear that people take my words as straight of the mouth of our organization. At other times I am allowed the freedom to speak of what I have found in my own prayer closest, alone with my Savior. It’s glorious. It’s life-giving.
I pray that I am stewarding these responsibilities well so that those I am leading can grow in faith. As God reveals more of Himself to me, my faith continues to grow in width and depth.
