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Authority and Power Leadership Series pt. 3

Authority~ The skill of getting someone (or a group of people) to do something towards a common goal with enthusiasm and camaraderie.
Power~ The ability to get someone (or a group of people) to do something towards a common goal because of your entitlement.

We have been interpreting why we need to walk in Authority as much as possible as a servant leader. Now, we will look at what skill sets we need in order to work upon people the Father has set beside us for the vision at hand.

We could spend hours upon hours talking about different skill sets we could use, but I want to address two areas I feel the church and the workplace leader negates or just does not know how valuable the areas are to them.

1. Characteristic Traits
2. Love Languages

Psychology has broken down certain characteristic personalities into four areas: Sanguine, Melancholy, Choleric, and Phlegmatic. These God given Characteristic Personality Traits should be embraced and studied for our benefit and the ones we work with.

Sanguine Strengths– Appealing personality, Life of the party, physically holds on to listeners, emotional and demonstrative, lives in the present.
Sanguine Weaknesses– Has restless energy, naïve, controlled by circumstances, gets angry easily, disorganized, forgets obligations, decides by feelings.

Melancholy Strengths– Analytical, serious and purposeful, talented and creative, sensitive to others, deep and thoughtful, self-sacrificing, idealistic.
Melancholy Weaknesses– Remembers the negatives, moody, low self-image, has selective hearing, self-centered, persecution complex, sulks over disagreements.

Choleric Strengths- Born leader, dynamic and active, must correct wrongs, strong-willed & decisive, independent & self-sufficient, can run anything.
Choleric Weaknesses– Bossy, impatient, quick-tempered, comes on to strong, unsympathetic, tends to over dominate, impatient with poor performance.

Phlegmatic Strengths- Low-key personality, easygoing & relaxed, consistent life, quiet but witty, not in a hurry, can take good with the bad, peaceful and agreeable.
Phlegmatic Weaknesses- Unenthusiastic, indecisive, avoids responsibility, to compromising, self-righteous, lax on discipline, not goal oriented, judges others.

I would imagine as you were reading these traits, different people where coming to your mind. Now how does this help you? Watch and see how the next page unfolds!

We talk about the body of Christ; every joint supplies. We are in the Army of the Lord, Christ being the head of the Church, and we are the body and we have been commissioned to be his hands and feet. All that is good and true, but do we really understand how to best utilize the hand or a foot? Do we sometimes use a hand to do the foot’s job or vice versa? Putting people in the right areas for the Kingdom’s army can be challenging, to say the least. I believe by knowing and understanding these four characteristic traits, we will be able to ignite different people’s passions for building the Kingdom of God. That’s why we are authoritative leaders! We look to place people in their Godly appointed directives for such a time as this. Take a look at the following couple of scenarios and see why this skill set is needed in our understanding.

Let’s say Joe is a typical Phlegmatic. Because you want to “stretch” him (I’ve been guilty of this over the years), you continually push for him to be out front, making announcements, and leading groups in projects. If you watch carefully, you will see frustration start setting in because that’s not where his gifting flourishes. Joe would be great at administrative tasks, mediating problems, good under pressure, and he is competent and steady. His personality that the Father has given him is best executed in the background of things. It’s okay for everyone not to be a leader out in front of things. Some people have been gifted for being in the background and that is how God created them to flourish. See how that works?

Let’s say Lisa is a typical Sanguine. Because you want to “humble” her (I’ve been guilty of this over the years), you continually push for her to be in the background, mediating problems, and planning administrative projects. Again, if you watch carefully, you will see frustration start to set in because that’s not where her gifting flourishes. Lisa would be great at starting projects as a leader in an energetic and enthusiastic way, inspiring others to join projects, charms others to work towards a common goal, and taking control of a spontaneous activity. Her personality that the Father has given her is best amplified and executed in the front of things. See how that works?

Understanding these four traits will help you to put feet to the ground and hands to the plow according to how the Father has developed them. I believe you can be more of an effective authoritative leader for the Kingdom of God and this study will help you navigate the course of your vision plus the vision the Father has instilled in each person He has assembled around you. Here are a couple of books I would recommend for you to study so you can better understand how these temperaments work.
Behind the Personality by Florence Littauer
Spirit-Controlled Temperaments by Tim LaHaye

Authority and Power Leadership Series pt. 2

Authority~ The skill of getting someone (or a group of people) to do something towards a common goal with enthusiasm and camaraderie.
Power~ The ability to get someone (or a group of people) to do something towards a common goal because of your entitlement.

Now, let’s break this down even more! Walking in Authority is skillfully working upon each individual, so that we move the person towards the common goal and because we have been skillful, you create an atmosphere for the person you are working with to bring enthusiasm and camaraderie. One of the major keys here is that you must create the right atmosphere for vision and they will bring in the creativity and camaraderie.

Beloved, you must understand the dynamic of this process. So many times, people feel that the person leading the team towards the vision has to be dynamic, demonstrative, and outgoing; respectively, it would be great to have those qualities. But for the success of the people surrounding you, you must set the right atmosphere for the vision.
Atmosphere is crucial for success.
You create and they will bring! Why is the atmosphere you create so important? Question: Why can’t you build igloos in Saudi Arabia and why can’t you grow banana trees in Alaska?

Answer: Because the atmosphere will not tolerate it.

Atmosphere will determine what is built, grown, killed, or destroyed. It is a natural law and a spiritual law. It’s not that igloos are bad to build or that banana trees are bad to grow. It’s that the atmosphere will not tolerate it. So, it is safe to say that the atmosphere will DICTATE what is built and what is grown, what is killed and what is destroyed.

Example: I work a secular job at a restaurant. Periodically, we have all position meetings. Different managers will spearhead these meetings. Tim is a power leader. Jay is an authoritative leader. Whoever is leading, at the end of that meeting, the same question is always asked. “Does anyone have any questions or ideas on how to better the restaurant?”

When Tim (power) asks the question, all you hear is crickets chirping. Not one person will raise their hand. We all cannot wait to get out of the meeting. Tim barks orders and pushes people to get things done.

But when Jay (authority) asks the question, we will spend the next half hour or so discussing ways we can make the restaurant better. Why? Because Jay has skillfully worked upon each of us and he has moved us, not pushed us, and he has created an atmosphere for us to bring enthusiasm and camaraderie, thus it germinates creativity! Creativity is like the spices that we add to a meal. The meal can be good without spices but when you add the spices, the meal now is spectacular and more people want to eat it!
Enthusiasm and camaraderie germinates creativity!

Tim pushes us to just get the job done, thus it kills and destroys creativity. This is the Orphan mentality.

Jay moves us to building and growing because he walks in authority. This is the Father’s mentality. The Father's mentality always moves creativity forward, thus, building and growing His Kingdom.
Which leader would you want to be more like?

THE NARROW PLACE IS YOUR BIRTHING PLACE

In scripture, there is a good example of someone who learned how to press through the NARROW PLACE.
Let’s look at Isaiah chapter 36. Hezekiah is being threatened by the king of Assyria and his field commander. Harassment, lies and threats from the king of Assyria were so intense that Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on a sackcloth and went into the temple. He then sent this word to the Prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 37:3
“… This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there
is not strength to bring forth.”

Interestingly, the word “trouble” in this passage translates as “narrow”. Hezekiah was in a very narrow place! Why? Because his enemy was attempting to invade his territory and take him along with everyone else captive; if not to destroy them!
Keep in mind that the king of Assyria was having his field commander speak lies concerning God’s ability to protect them and also lied concerning Hezekiah’s ability to lead them into victory.

Question: Has the enemy been lying to you also? Has the enemy been declaring that God will not protect you? Maybe the words from your enemy sound similar to these words…
• You keep declaring that you are strong in the Lord, but you’re really weak! Do you believe that just because you declare that you are strong in Him that you really are?
• You testify that you are depending on the Lord. Do you really believe that He cares about your circumstances?
• Why don’t you just agree with me? You know that God doesn’t hear your prayers. Just quit praying! Nothing good will come from your senseless prayers.

Listen, my friends… you are in the Selection Process of God. The adversary would love to get you to a place where you believe the lies. Let the truth of His Word set you free! You are part of the royal priesthood, a part of His Holy Nation. Cast down every imagination that has been whispered or shouted your way. You are an over comer!

The Narrow Place is a process in which you have to go through in order to birth and carry His Glory. The Word says, for many are called but few are chosen. Hezekiah was chosen, but He still had to go through the Narrow Place.

Proverbs 25:2
“It is the Glory of God to conceal a thing, but the honor of a person to seek it out.”

This process weeds out the purposes in which you seek Him. Many times, God plays hide and seek. The process of seeking Him changes you into more of His likeness. He’s waiting for us to become more like Him.

In Genesis, the Father created us in His image and His likeness. When sin came into the picture, we lost the likeness. Everyone on the earth has been made in His image. We that have accepted our Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior are getting back to His likeness when we seek Him. Likeness has the idea of some type of representation. The more you seek Him, the more Glory gets on you. The more you seek Him, the more people see the likeness or representation of His Glory.

Another word that is connected to the word (being) “troubled” is the word “travail." Travail is defined as a time of giving birth, delivering a child (promise!), being weary and distressed. Travail is required from us in this season. We are birthing our future. We are birthing REVIVAL. We are birthing a measure of His Divine Presence that will reveal His Glory at a new level. The cleft of the rock is a Narrow Place. Sometimes it’s uncomfortable to get to. Sometimes it’s uncomfortable to reside in that place. Hang in there, the reward will be great in what you’re birthing!

When Hezekiah was under intense pressure, he was describing his Narrow Place. It was intense; it was stressful; it felt as if he was vexed and he was in travail! How is that? Well, he was travailing for breakthrough. It felt to him, as he described, that it was like being a mother who was attempting to deliver, but there was no strength left to do so.

However, many of us are like Hezekiah. We have heard the shout from the enemy and his lies have weakened us. It feels as if there is not enough strength to move on. But, this is what the Lord says to us today:

"He will not give us something to birth unless He intends to bring it forth! Your Royalty is connected to your loyalty."

We cannot do this in our own strength but in His strength and grace, we can get the victory over the enemy!

Isaiah 66:8-11
“Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? Saith thy Lord: Shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? Saith thy God. Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her; rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her; that ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, be delighted with the abundance of her glory.”

I dramatically hear the Spirit saying to us, “When I placed the seed of destiny in you, I planned also that you would birth it. At the moment that I spoke it, the conception for completion occurred. There will be a completion of the vision. It is being purified with fire and released to places of perfection as the Holy Spirit leads. For He says, I have not abandoned you nor have I not forsaken you. You shall see your destiny fulfilled as you travail and bring forth the promise of My Words.”

Oh my friends, God is simply seeking a people to endure the process of perfection…. The time of fullness will come!