Ever had one of those kairos
moments when the Lord reveals something astoundingly eye-opening,
heart-awakening, mind-enlightening, paradigm-shifting and nothing short of
life-altering to you?
A moment when you realize
that something deep in your spirit has shifted…transformed…and you will never
be the same again?
For me, these revelations are
usually stunningly simple.
Simple enough for a child to
grasp even…
Yet backed by all the
transforming power of Heaven.
*****
“Let Us make man in Our
image, according to Our likeness…”
(Gen. 1:26)
“For You formed my innermost
parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks to You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was
made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes
have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days
that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.”
(Ps. 139:13-16)
“For those whom He foreknew,
He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son…”
(Rom. 8:29)
*****
God is not bound by
time.
He is the Alpha and
Omega.
Beginning and End.
Therefore, He sees His
children from beginning to end.
From initial
creation to finished product, and everywhere in between.
As believers, we’ve been
given the mind of Christ, the Spirit which knows the thoughts and depths of God
and reveals it to us.
Therefore, through the Holy
Spirit, as God sees His children…so may we.
We are able to look at them
through His lens and see His image, His perfect creation, His workmanship, His
good plans and purposes.
We can view them not as who they are in the flesh, but instead as new creations being conformed to the image
of Christ.
We can see them for their
destinies, rather than their histories.
For who they can be, rather
than who they are currently being.
What a gift God has given us
by removing the scales from our eyes and allowing us to truly see His children
as He does!
*****
These last six months, God
has given Tiffany, Jeremiah and me charge over the 45 incredible men and women
that make up V-Squad.
We’ve been given the
privilege of leading them towards the freedom found in the presence of the
Lord…
Of seeing the gold in them
and calling it out…
Of pushing them toward the
greatness they were born for…walking in the likeness of Jesus.
Nevertheless, with great
privilege comes great responsibility.
*****
And this is where my vision
had become clouded…
*****
Unbeknownst to me, my
perception of this great responsibility of leading equaled transformation.
Since God had allowed me to
see who each of them could be, along with allowing me a glimpse into their
destinies, I believed my responsibility in leading them was consequently to do
all in my power to get them to that place…to get them to walk in who they were
created to be.
To challenge them.
To transform them.
To fix them.
Without realizing it, I had
taken on the role of Transformer.
*****
And they didn’t appear to be
transforming fast enough.
In fact, they seemed to be
sitting in the same old stuff, refusing to let go of the old self in order to
embrace the new…
Suddenly I found myself
extremely frustrated.
Impatient.
Judgmental.
Maybe even a little
self-righteous too…
“I see who you are…who you
were made to be…and it’s INCREDIBLE!!
Why aren’t you just choosing to walk as that person??!!”
*****
Until one night as Team
Hagiazo was prophesying over us Squad Leaders.
I received these two visions:
Vision #1 from Clara
“First, a fast-beating human
heart.
Then, a butterfly…signifying
LIFE and TRANSFORMATION.
You see greatness in people
and you see ways to challenge them and call them up.
Use what the Lord reveals to
you to pray for them.
Just because you don’t see
the transformation doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Oftentimes it’s in secret, within their
spirit, like the transformation of a caterpillar inside a cocoon.”
Vision #2 from Lacey
“A vision of a heart.
God begins to pull at the top
corners and at the bottom of the heart until it becomes a butterfly.”
*****
God gently whispered to me,
“Love brings transformation.”
*****
Paradigm…shifted.
Eyes…opened.
Mind…enlightened.
Heart…awakened.
Life…altered.
Forever.
*****
Talk about godly sorrow that
leads to repentance!
I wept before the Lord.
Because I realized I’d had it
all wrong.
I was trying to be a
Transformer, when all He called me to be was a Lover…
Allowing His Spirit to do the
transforming.
Turns out, our great
responsibility in leading was quite simply Jesus’ two greatest commandments in
Matthew 22:37-40:
Love Him.
Love them.
*****
So, rather than asking God
for the wisdom to fix His children, I began to ask the right questions…
“Dad…How do You want to love
Your children today? How can you love
them well through me today? What does
that look like?”
Interceding on their
behalf? Encouraging? Challenging? Listening? Comforting? Rebuking? Serving? Hugging? Affirming?
Could look a number of ways
on any given day.
My role is to merely listen
for His answers to those questions, obey them and leave the outcome and
transformation to Him.
“For I am confident of this
very thing, that He who began a good work in [them] will perfect it until the
day of Christ Jesus.”
(Phil. 1:6)
HE completes the work HE
started.
Not me.
He
just told me to LOVE.
Last week someone posed the
following question:
“If faith can move mountains,
and love is greater than faith, then what can love do??!”
One thing I now know…
It brings transformation.
And as I said in my last
blog…
There’s no greater miracle
than a heart fully surrendered to the Lord and the transformed life that
follows…
My attempt at drawing the vision. 🙂
