Daily writing prompt

Are you a leader or a follower?

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I’m a low-keyed leader. I try to lead from the side, not from the front. I try to lead by being an equal with everyone. I feel no need to pull rank, use human authority, or strong arm anyone. I believe that God’s Spirit leads me to lead by being a radical follower of the risen Jesus and seeking to demonstrate His love, truth, and presence through my life.

The Holy Spirit wants to develop all Christ-followers to be mature servant/leaders. When the body of Christ is mature every member does the work of the ministry in love and unity under the Headship of Jesus as each person is prompted by the Holy Spirit. A plurality of mature believers trains all the members of the body to listen to and obey God’s Spirit. They humbly oversee and lovingly monitor assemblies of the saints so they can gently redirect any member who speaks or acts contrary to the Spirit.

Then the body of Christ can build itself up in love, unity, and “the knowledge of the Son of God” as “each part (member) does its work” so the whole body can grow under the direct and literal Headship and control of the living, resurrected Jesus Christ and demonstrate to one another and to the world “the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” God has provided gifts so that all the members of the body of Christ can be trained to do the ministry and fulfill the 50+ New Testament “one another commands” as they are prompted by the Headship of Jesus leading through the Holy Spirit.

O for the day when contemporary Christians “will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.” O that the body of Christ in our time would grow into such maturity that every believer would be trained, encouraged, empowered, and allowed to speak the truth in love as led by the Spirit when we gather in Christ’s name.

We live in the daze of deception. Personal feelings and desires have trumped discernment and trampled truth. How we need to listen to, obey, and follow the direct, personal leadership of the risen Jesus. Open the floodgates of your heart and let the cleansing river of God’s Spirit freely flow from within you.