TOUCHING
HEAVEN AND CHANGING EARTH
A review on Culture of Honor by Danny Silk
The supernatural culture
The stories of the supernatural happenings at
Bethel Church clearly point to the intimate relationship that they have
developed with the father to the point of drawing people to God through their
deep expression of love. The love that is given in abundance when one feels
like they least deserve it. That is the kind of love that Christ demonstrated
while he was on earth. He lived like us so that we may emulate him and gave us
the Holy Spirit as our helper to guide us on this journey.
I however often catch myself thinking and
feeling like I am not good enough, I have not done enough, I am not fasting
enough. This is clearly a lie and I know that. But why is it that the thought
easily crosses my mind and sometimes has the liberty to linger around?
This chapter clear points out the fact that
Christ coming into the world and walking this life as a man is a clear
demonstration that God values and desires relationship with us. Of course God
knew I would be this way, it surely hasn’t taken him by surprise. My take out
from this chapter is that it is up to me to cultivate that relationship with
the father. Once I cultivate my relationship with the father, I will be able to
operate from a position of love, grace and freedom because I have good
relationship with the father.
The funnel from Heaven
The five fold ministries clearly explained in
this chapter makes me think critically about my life. If these ministries each
have a critical part they play in the identity and purpose of the church, then
it’s crucial that I know my part and I play my part. I am therefore inspired to
discover my calling in ministry at Worship Harvest Church.
Governing from Heaven
2 Timothy 1:7 says that we have not been
given a spirit of fear but one of power, love and a sound mind. Exercising self
control and not giving into the fears of life is a sign that the Holy Spirit is
at work in one’s life. I have had moments where I had to exercise extreme self
control and not react in the heat of the moment. While this was hard and
sometimes left me wondering whether it is a sign of weakness, I have always
looked back and thanked God that I didn’t react in the moment.
Dearly loved children of light
As children of light, our default setting
ought to be operating from a position of love. The writer rightly states that
it’s natural to be offended when one breaks the rules. And we often call these
people who break the rules offenders who are deserving of punishment. What
offense does to us is that it justifies us withholding our love toward that
person we are referring to as the offender. This however is not how we should
live as the children of light. God calls us to love, even when a person has
offended us, because that is what God has done for us.
Freedom practice- Developing a wealth mindset
“Freedom causes our personal responsibility
to rise to the surface”
If we are to learn to steward the resources
of Heaven we must first learn to practice a wealth mentality. There are four
key aspects to this;
1.
God has called me to take on a greater responsibility than the
average person
2.
I have to be willing to leave leave the limitations that I have
come to accept as my security, my realm of comfort and influence.
3.
I must be willing to shift and break away from the perceptions and
identity that I have gained while growing up. Unless I think like a wealthy
person, I will not be able to handle my identity, role, responsibility, and
resources.
This mindset
not only trains us to see our immediate circumstances from a limitless
perspective; it also grounds us in our connections both to the global body of
Christ and to the generations behind and before us.
The Top priority of leadership
1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love, but
perfect love casts out all fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The
one who fears is not made perfect in love.
We must create a safe place where people come
to church and experience a safe environment in which to operate. This will
enable them discover who they are and why they are here. A safe place is what
gets cultivated when freedom is expressed through love.
This gets me thinking about whether I create
a safe place for people around me.
It is important to remember that high levels
of freedom can generate conflict as people may live out their new found freedom
in ways that we may not agree with. Honor
is therefore a vital value that we must uphold in creating a safe place for
people. This challenges me to honor people and not let our conflicts cause me
to dishonour them just because we have disagreed.
Kingdom confrontation
One of the areas that caught my attention in
this chapter is Honor and confrontation.
The author points out that we must approach
those that have made mistakes with a gentle attitude. This does not mean nice
or polite but rather not controlling the person. Being able to combine honor
and confrontation is key to sustaining an environment of grace.
It is obvious that as a leader I will be faced
with moments where I have to confront someone. My learning from this is that
confronting someone or a situation does not make you any less of a believer. We
just need to always remember to do it honourably.
Revolution to reformation to transformation
The church has to be able to create an
environment through which heaven flows into the earth. The Lord has gifted us individually as
pastors, administrators, teachers and evangelists and we need to develop core values
and new priorities to get us that new level.
This gets me thinking about what I am doing
as an individual. I am preparing myself as an individual in church leadership
to operate in the spirit world?
I therefore have to be intentional about
opening my mind and preparing my self physically, spiritually and emotional for
this shift.
As a church, we need to find a higher place
of honor and freedom for people. As we shift gears, we need to be mindful to
bring the people we are leading along. The people need to understand what is
happening so that they experience and appreciate the possibility of operating
in the supernatural. Failure to do so would most likely create fear among the
people and draw them away from the church into a place where they are in charge
again.
Culture of honor challenges us as church
leaders to cultivate a culture of self control and freedom by creating a safe
place for the church to operate in grace. It also makes me realize how we have
the ability to do exceptional supranational things continually and not as
accidental or occasional happenings. We therefore need to make adjustments to
allow for these experiences to happen in our lives and not just hear about
them.
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