Selfless Love
Over the past few weeks my church has studied the fruit of the Spirit in its small groups. When we studied love, more specifically agape love, the Lord caused me to focus on the selfless nature of it.  1 Corinthians 13:5 says, “[Love] does not seek its own…”

Choosing to walk in agape love is not easy. We must allow the Spirit to lead us in our actions, words, and even motivations. We in ourselves will never be able to love freely, completely, and effortlessly. But when we are filled and our cups run over, the love we walk in is to be touching other people’s lives.

I was listening to a really good cd Jarrod gave me the other day. It was a roundtable discussion with many recognizable worship leaders talking about the “new sound coming.” And although I was motivated by the thoughts and revelation of these men, the words that moved me the most weren’t all that prophetic. They were more words of lovingkindness.

One of the men humbly shared his desire to see everyone in his church engaged in praise and worship. He wanted everyone under his watch to experience fellowship, communion, and intimacy with God. He couldn’t hardly share these words without crying. And I couldn’t hardly hear them without doing the same. I was hearing the love of the Father articulated in a simple, yet powerful way.

We can never get so far with “our” ministries that we fail to see how important people are. God’s love working in our lives enables us to take time with people, relate to people, and make sacrifices for people.

Graham Ord, an English blues man and great worship leader, wrote in a Matt Redman book, “People are precious.” I thought that statement was a little hokey at first, but now I am realizing how truly cool it is. At a conference a few years ago I went up to Graham at the end of the last night. I wanted to do what many of us do with guys like that. I probably said things like, “Dude, your stuff rocks.” And  “ Man, your worship really ministers to me!”

Graham in his big hearted way, quickly had me ministering with him to another young worship leader. I was giving words of encouragement alongside of Graham Ord. I was praying and also listening to his prayers. I observed a man who had his name on many worship cds and songbooks behave more like a father than a celebrity. And my soul was taking notes. People really are precious.

Wise As Serpents and Harmless As Doves
A few months ago in prayer I kept hearing the phrase, “wise as serpents, harmless as doves.” And like any other experience when the Lord drops a phrase into my spirit, I quietly pondered the meaning of it. One thing that initially stood out to me was the fact that we Christians are being told to be like snakes. Most charismatic Christians that I know hate snakes, always associating them with evil. And I would probably include myself with that group. But we have to read this scripture in light of Romans 1:20. It states, “For ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature and attributes, that is, His eternal power and divinity, have been made intelligible and clearly discernible in and through the things that have been made (His handiworks).”AMP That means God teaches us about his kingdom through natural means.  We can learn something about how we are to act from studying the characteristics of snakes and doves.

In this verse snakes are described as wise. When you look up the original Greek word, you will find that it speaks of having understanding and exhibiting a cautious character. Snakes are some of the finest creatures at avoiding danger. They have an innate ability to get out of harm’s way by listening to, smelling, and feeling their surroundings. Likewise in stalking their prey, they exhibit great cunning. Some snakes actually have the ability to see radiated heat using infrared receptors lying deep within their nostrils. That means that they can see in the dark.  Their survival is directly related to how well they perceive their environment or how great their awareness levels are.  Like these creatures we as believers must live in an awareness that allows us to see in every dark situation we face.  We should obey Paul's writings and choose a lifestyle of walking in the Spirit and not the flesh.  This behavior will challenge us to live in submission and piety, but the rewards are worth it. 

On the other hand doves are described as harmless. The Greek word here means innocent and simple. Doves are universally seen as symbols of peace because of their passive demeanors. Like them we are to be bearers of peace that is a natural part of our character, not artificial and man-made. We are to exemplify the Lord’s peace—one that is supernatural, life changing, and beneficial to all mankind.

I see many Christians having a tendency to walk in one of these areas but not the other. They may be very smart and aware, but go home every evening and verbally abuse their families. Or they are so peaceable that they are unwilling to stick their heads out of the sand and be useful to the kingdom. I really believe we are living in a day when we must somehow reconcile the two. We’ve got to realize that we are called to be cunning warriors against the kingdom of darkness and at the same time, bearers of His peace in a violent and unjust world.

This is a model of behavior for “doing the stuff.” Early in the same chapter Jesus commands his disciples saying, “as you go, preach, saying,'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” (7,8) NKJV   If we are really going to carry out these and even greater works, I know we will have to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

God’s kingdom is often full of paradoxes. He calls us to be lions and lambs, bold and meek, in the world but not of it, and in this case snakes and doves. And for all you Sci-Fi geeks I’m not talking about strange hybrid creatures. As we walk in His image it will confound our natural minds. And as we stretch and contend to be like Him, we will constantly be challenged to walk out His eternal kingdom here on earth.

          The Path of Service

More often than not our destiny, calling, or true identity takes time to emerge. We have to grow into it. We have to allow time for God to clean us up, draw us in, and renew our minds. In the initial stages we may receive direct prophetic words that make our ministry purposes very clear, but we have to take steps in claiming them. And these steps may take months, years, or even decades. Early on as we identify specific gifts in our lives, we must actively position ourselves to mature and develop in them.

One of the most overlooked means of spiritual maturity is service. Our western culture fails in understanding this. Somehow we think the more books, tapes, and conferences we take in, the more anointed we will be. But this is only part of the journey. An ancient part of the passageway to anointed destiny is humble service—making ourselves available to help those already walking in the anointing and revelation we are searching for. This means we find someone doing what we are called to, and we hang with them for a time. We choose to help them in any means possible for their life and ministry to prosper.

The ancients had a clear understanding of this. When Elisha’s moment of destiny came, he was honored and called upon because of his service. In 2 Kings 3:11 the king of Judah is in need of a prophet.  “Jehoshaphat said, "Is there no prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of the LORD by him?" So one of the servants of the king of Israel answered and said, "Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah." 12 And Jehoshaphat said, "The word of the LORD is with him."   When it was revealed that Elisha served Elijah, the king knew that Elisha was the man he was looking for. The king knew Elisha's service had lead to something great.

How can we do this today? In our modern, hectic lifestyles how can we serve a prophet or teacher? I think the answer is partially based on how much time we have and how much desire we want to develop in the Lord. So time and desire are crucial. Young people can do this a lot easier than many of us. We even see this in scriptures.  Eccl 12:1 Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, Before the difficult days come.  But there are ways that all of us can serve. We can occasionally give a day to helping a pastor or leader. We can take time to pray and fast for prophets or evangelists we relate to. We can even do little things like bringing a leader and his family a home cooked meal.

Service is an old path that we cannot forget. We must enter into it in reverence and humility and not a “what do I get out of this?” attitude. God always looks at our hearts in this process. Where our heart is will determine how long we will be in a season of service.