Vasta N. Kamara

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.