There are only thirty days left in 2011 and so let us reflect on the past eleven months to see what have learnt? Firstly, we 
understand that time goes quickly and whatever it is that you are mandated to do, DO IT. Secondly we must understand that we are in a battle which is fought on many levels, and we are called to fight. As disciples of Jesus Christ we sometime forget that when we go from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, we are declaring war on the rulers of the darkness and the evil minions who work to cause confusion and separation among us. It is his will that we institute the ‘Willie lynch’ theory among us and thus highlight our differences rather than focussing on our similarities. This year saw the uprising of ordinary people across the Muslim world who, as one people are fighting for the democratisation of their nations and for political freedom. We have seen the once great nation of Egypt burn with incandescent flames as the people who gave us the pyramids and the first international university of repute, not only have they lost their way but has descended to the pitiful state where 50% of the population are illiterate! Remember that the author of the biblical narrative that forms the Pentateuch, the first five books of the bible and the torah was written by Moses who was educated in Egypt as also was the apostle Paul’s physician and fellow traveller, Dr Luke. And finally this last eleven months has seen a dramatic shifting among the believers of Jesus. Many of us have had life changing situation to deal with this year. And many have had major moves in their Jobs, ministries and homes. These changes are designed by God to take us to another level as we see the day approaching. We are being stretched and extended so that God can use us mightily in the coming year to take over. Yes that’s right, God wants his people to be advisors and mentors to governments and nations. So the word for today is this, get ready for 2012 as this will be the year when we will be established in what God wants us to be! Read Genesis 37 and dream of big things.
as we get ready to take over
Posted in Progressive Leadership | Tags: Confusion, Darkness, Dominion, Dreams, Foresight, Illiteracy, Light, Reflectivity, Uprising
as we feed our faith and pull the curtains down on our fears!
As the autumn season sets in and nights get dark, it is easy to become complacent and forget the benefits and promises of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. Since we quickly forget the promises of the Lord, there is the propensity to do the wrong thing and to justify the wrong and call it right. From the original mandate given to humanity we are supposed to take authority over everything including evil spirits. The darkness presents and encourages the spirit of fear and it is this fear that stops us dead in our tracks. The well documented acronym for fear is False Evidence Appearing Real. It is the appearance of the ‘real’ that stumps us and circumvents our destinies. Our mandate is to: pass on the blessing, prosper, look after the bit of earth that we possess and rule over it. However the advent of fear or the appearance of evil dictates that many of us abandon the original and embrace the fake. When the original carrier of the blessing failed, the task was given to God’s special people. They also failed and it was left to God’s son Jesus Christ [the anointed one] to defeat the evil one and thwart his plans. Today as followers of the Son, many of us are still under the influence of the evil one. This is not possession but oppression. We believe his lies, we are afraid of our own shadows, and above all we keep un-forgiveness in our hearts. The sole purpose of the Son’s coming is to restore us back to the father and the original mandate. The darkness which comes with the changing seasons is a transient mist that is designed to throw us of our track. My recommendation to all those who confess Jesus as the Lord is this, do not allow the fear factor to get to you. Fear is the enemy of faith. But faith is the food of the spirit. So go ahead and feed your spirit. Read Romans 8:18-39.
as we re-member that we are part of the body!
Lest we forget, this is the mantra of those who fought in the 20th century’s great wars. In the First World War over 35million 
people were killed, with over 60million perishing in the Second World War. Although so many people perished we continue to see uprisings and vicious killings all over the world. Could it be that a spirit of murder was released on humanity and we have forgotten about the devastating effects of war? How many more people will die if there is a Third World War? Ever since Adam was deceived by the serpent in his domain, the Garden of Eden, the whole of humanity is on a downward spiral toward annihilation. We tend to forget that we were created to have fellowship with our creator. We tend to forget that we are our brother’s and sister’s keeper and that we are responsible for our actions and for the actions of those we have influence over. Adam forgot his mandate from God, and as a consequence we display the same traits, even when we write them down. Every human being is mandated to do the following:
- Carry the blessing and pass it on the next generation (Gen 1:28)
- Be fruitful and multiply, add to the family rather than subtract from it
- Subdue the earth, cultivate your patch of the planet
- Take dominion over the whole of creation, oversee but preserve life.
- Eat the fruit and seeds of the fruit bearing trees for strength and sustenance
I would like to suggest that we revisit the original script and re-establish the fellowship that humanity once had with the creator. All of us have the access code. It is the intention of God that none of his creation should perish, but that all should come to repentance and acknowledge his sovereignty (2 Peter 3:9). This can only be accessed through what his son Jesus Christ did on the cross. Jesus was murdered so that we would not have to face murder. He died so that we should not be carriers of death but carriers of life. He was broken in pieces so that we can become members of his body. Essentially when we re-member him, i.e. we put his broken body back together we are forgetting the evils of death and destruction. So today, let us forget the evils of the past and become pointers to a brave new world where life is promoted and death is defeated. Read Romans 3.
Posted in Progressive Leadership | Tags: Annihilation, Blessing, Deception, Dominion, Forgetting, Fruit, Mandate, multiplication, Murder
as we remember not to forget the blessing that God has in store for us!
The people of God have a propensity to easily forget and this anointing of forgetting can have disastrous consequences. Having 
been created and called by God the onus is on us to maintain our relationship with God and to develop and expand that relationship. When we are called we are given a specific time-bound conditional mandate. For Adam is was:- take care of the environment you are in, be ecologically aware (Gen 2:8); occupy all the earth but replenish and recycle everything, that is, be environmentally friendly (Gen 1:28). Take dominion over the animal kingdom; ensure that they are not driven to extinction by senseless disregard for them. Be a protector and a provider, provide covering for those who you have authority over and protect those who are in your circle of influence. The final command to the first person singular was this: all the food you need is right there in your vicinity. Eat what you want. You may juice it, cook it, boil it or bake it, but it is all there for you to enjoy. You may even foment it and drink the juice but do not get drunk on it, for it can be potent. There is only one condition, do not eat of that tree, yes that one right there in the middle of your domain. Don’t even touch it. For the day that you eat of it, you will think that you are a god and can do everything for yourself and you will try, trust me. However, that day will be the starting point of the downhill journey towards the pit, and you will think that you know best for your eternal survival!
After hearing all these instructions Adam obeyed and enjoyed the fruit of God’s labour. However, when physical Eve came on the scene and after a protracted period of time, things began to change. A member of the created order chose to hanker after God’s throne. And since this was not possible, he was ejected to the earth. Whilst there he made his way into the garden, he obviously got through the gate, and worked on Eve. It is interesting that this mode of operation, of using food as the starting point of deception, is still our Achilles heel today. Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and gave some to Adam to eat also (Gen 3:6).
Humanity forgot that everything they needed was there for them. Their basic, intermediate and advanced needs were all being met. But the propensity to forget and to do the opposite of what God commanded us to do is an ever present threat. And so from generation to generation God’s people kept on forgetting. They went into slavery because they forgot God (Exo 1), were subsequently delivered by God after months of fighting with the god of Egypt (EX 12), but went back into slavery several hundreds of years later as they forgot God again (see Daniel & Ezekiel’s work).
Today let us ask the Lord to help us to remember and count our days, since the propensity to forget is so strong, write down the salient things commanded by Yahweh and keep them on your wall, and pray the prayer of Moses in Psalm 90. Oh yes, remember to read it through, Psalm 90 that is!
Posted in Progressive Leadership | Tags: Care, Covering, Dominion, Ecology, Environment, Forgetfulness, Gatekeeper, God, Occupy, Provider, Yahweh
as we shelve our differences and work together for the common good!
How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity. It is like precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, 
even Aaron’s beard and running down unto the collar of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon, which fall on the mountain of Zion. It is there that the Lord commands his blessing even life for evermore, Psalm 133, paraphrased. For the spiritually intelligent it is better to focus on our similarities than to highlight our differences. If we focus on the negatives they will magnify in size and become real stumbling blocks. On the contrary if we focus on our sameness then they will magnify and pull us together. You have heard the term that the devil is in the detail, meaning that it is in the details that you will find the little things that are designed to trip you up. For those who seek to understand spiritual things, it is not the devil that is in the details, but the Blessing, capital B no s. In this piece of prose, the Psalmist paints a picture of what real spiritual fulfilment would be like. It always starts of at the bottom. How pleasant it is when we live together in unity, suggesting that unity of purpose, vision and attitude causes us to achieve things that were seemingly impossible before. It was in a state of unity that Joshua was able to defeat Jericho (Joshua 6), Gideon was able to rout the Midianites (Judges 7) and Jephthah who was rejected and ostracised by his brother eventually came back and defeated the Ammonites (Judges 11). Unity is being knitted together like a mosaic or an elaborate tapestry, all the individual parts are different, but when they are brought together they paint a beautiful picture. It is at this very basic level when all our physical needs are completely met that we can see the picture from others perspective. Here the mountain represents that magnificence of our God. He is our Hermon and it is from him that everything we need flows. The Blessing flows from God to his people the church, depicted here as Zion. And the blessing only flow in one direction, from head to toe. So in the home, there must be headship, in the marketplace there must be leadership and in the church of the living God there must be head/leadership. In our psalm Aaron is depicted as the spiritual leader and it is from his head that that the Blessing flows until it touches every part of garment. Today as the body of Jesus Christ puts aside its differences and prays the prayer that Jesus taught us, viz. ‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’, we will see amazing things happening even in our own circles. This is the era when kingdom people must apply the kingdom principles and use the kingdom keys that we have. Unlike Willie Lynch, let us minimise our differences and maximise our commonalities so that His kingdom will come and His will be done in our local areas. Read Joshua 11:6 and watch and see if the Lord does not hand over our oppressors to us.
Posted in Progressive Leadership | Tags: Battles, Direction, Flow, Kings & Priests, Mission, Mountain, Valleys, Values, Vision
as we shake of the shackles of the past and act intelligently!
The character of Joshua is fascinating in that he seemingly had no airs and graces; he just got on with the job at 
hand. Throughout his time spent serving Moses there are no instances recorded of him meeting with God or having a personal encounter. He was an ordinary young man who had a desire to serve the man of God. This was the practical outworking of spiritual intelligence. He exhibited the natural gifting and traits that will serve anyone well. They are: the ability to be loyal and trustworthy; the ability to act justly with equity and the ability to behave oneself wisely. Joshua saw firsthand the power of God and was the recipient of some of Moses’ anointing in Numbers 11.
We are living in a system which was built on the back of slavery and colonial imperialism. Our ancestors were treated as objects and had ingrained in them the tenets of ‘the Willie Lynch’ theory. This was drilled into them. I will reproduce an excerpt from his letter to slave owners in Virginia, USA in 1712 almost 300 years ago.
“In my bag here, I have a fool-proof method for controlling your black slaves. I guarantee every one of you that if installed correctly it will control the slaves for at least 300 years. My method is simple, any member of your family or any overseer can use it.
I have outlined a number of differences among the slaves, and I take these differences and make them bigger. I use fear, distrust, and envy for control purposes. These methods have worked on my modest plantation in the West Indies, and it will work throughout the South. Take this simple little test of differences and think about them. On the top of my list is “Age”, but it is there because it only starts with an “A”; the second is “Colour” or shade; there is intelligence, size, sex, size of plantations, attitude of owners, whether the slaves live in the valley, on a hill, East, West, North, South, have fine or coarse hair, or is tall or short. Now that you have a list of differences, I shall give you an outline of action–but before that, I shall assure you that distrust is stronger than trust, and envy is stronger than adulation, respect, or admiration.
The Black Slave, after receiving this indoctrination, shall carry on and will become self refuelling and self generating for hundreds of years, maybe thousands.”
Today as recipients of the power of God and the spirituality that comes from a personal knowledge in and of Jesus Christ, we should all jettison the ‘Willie Lynch’ theory and use our spiritual knowledge to support and build up each other starting with our own community first. And because of ignorance, many of our young Black men are still reeling under the curse that the ‘Willie Lynch’ methodology placed on our ancestors. As our eyes are opened and our spirits as awakened, we need to put off envy, colour prejudice, ageism, sexism and so on and like Joshua, display, loyalty, justice trustworthiness and wisdom and so make our spirituality a practical one of upliftment. Today we can do one of two things, complain about our situation or tap into the limitless power of Yahweh. Read Number 11 is you dare particularly v.23!
Posted in Progressive Leadership | Tags: Emancipation, Hope, Ignorance, Justice, Loyalty, Mental slavery, Trust, Upliftment
as we temper the spiritual and the emotional with the practical
Each and every individual has needs and for us to act as truly altruistic people it is important that all our real and perceived 
needs are met. The needs at the lower level must be satisfied before you can progress to the higher more complex levels. This means that our desire for clothing, food, shelter and security must be met before we can sit and think about the varied philosophical stand points that there are. Once our basic needs are met, we are no longer motivated by them and hence we progress to higher-level motivators. At all times all our needs are present. However, like Jesus did, we can withdraw for a period of time to condition ourselves to face the rigors that lie ahead of us, see Luke 4 for Jesus’ example. Once we are self-actuated, we learn to balance our emotional and spiritual life by being practical. So we learn to accept other people for what they are and where they are. We learn to become spontaneous in our thinking, in our emotions, and in our behaviour. We become problem-centred rather than self-centred, I.e. we seek to solve the problems of others rather than focus on our own problems, pressing though they may be. This will mean that ‘you’ may spend regular times away on your own processing your thought processes, reviewing your mission and re-establishing your vision. You will know when you are spiritually intelligent when you are autonomous but still accountable, independent but dependent on others, and are able to remain true to yourself even in the face of rejection or unpopularity.
A real spiritually intelligent person will have a continuous freshness of appreciation and will learn from their experiences so that they are able to identify and empathise with those going through particular problems. This person will not condemn, but will provide a solution to the problem and encourage that individual not to travel along the same road again.
Finally, a practical spiritually intelligent person will be democratic in their thinking and have a highly developed ethical framework. And so like Jesus did we will deal with the sin and set the sinner free and by so doing resist the propensity to conform to the prevailing culture. Read Joshua 10 and see what God can do!
Posted in Progressive Leadership | Tags: Alturism, Ethics, Intelligence, Motivators, Needs, Passion, Progression
as we decree a thing and live by it! as for me and my family we will….
Our spiritual intelligence dictates that we are aware of ourselves and live a life in the realisation of who we really are. One of the 
saddest things in Christendom is the fact that many Christians are regenerated but are never delivered from the old mindset that keeps them indelibly linked to the past. This was the case for the people who came out of Egypt with Moses. Although they were making their way to the Land flowing with milk and honey, every step of the way they complained. We don’t have enough water to drink, we don’t have enough food to eat, and we don’t have enough variety in our diet and so on and on. Although Moses had a vision of where he wanted to take the people, it was difficult to openly share it with them as they had no intention of visualising what that place would look like. They were more interested in the here and now, the ‘how am I going to fill my belly tonight’ and nothing else. Joshua was aware of the innate trait among his fellow travellers and had to be reminded that that mindset would never survive in the New Season that God was bringing them into. So after Moses died God reminded Joshua of this audibly. Moses is dead, i.e. the old order is no more, the days of complaining and bickering over trivia is dead, long live those days, but it to time to embrace the new. In the new, we follow the angel of the Lord. Every individual is responsible for their household and this is the main reason we have to be aware. Once we are aware, we have to maintain our focus and have a clear distinct vision of where we are going. If our vision becomes blurred or non-existent like Samson who played with the enemy and lost, we will become the but of the enemy’s jokes. Or even worst like Eli, we could break our necks, lose the glory of the Lord and institute a generational curse on our descendants. To circumvent this we need to be like Joshua and declare publicly, that “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”, Joshua 24:15. Spiritual intelligence dictates that we get our house in order first before trying to fix the houses of others. So today become spiritually alive and clean up your house! Read Joshua 9.
Posted in Progressive Leadership | Tags: Intelligence, New Mindset, Order, Spiritual, Spiritualaity, SQ, The Blessing
as we impelment EI to defeat AI!
A real problem faced by leaders is that of dealing with the sin of others. Not only is dealing with the individual difficult, dealing 
with the after effects can also be problematic. Whilst issuing pronouncements, we are well aware that ‘but for the grace of God’ I could be in that same predicament. As leaders however, it is a situation that must be addressed, for if sin ‘remains in the camp’ it can have devastating effects on all the members of the camp and halt whatever progress was being made. Joshua could have allowed his emotions to control his actions and assume that since we all have the propensity to fail, then we should forgive whoever it was and move on. However, this is how he dealt with it and could be a model for how modern leaders deal with gross misconduct in their context. He got all the leaders together to pray, and they fasted and prayed all day. Joshua 7:6. He petitioned God and reminded him of his promises to them vv.7-9. He listened and heard what the Lord God said to him, vv. 10-15.
Joshua used his ability to listen and hear what God said about the situation to save his fledgling nation from defeat and annihilation by those who served other gods. Emotional intelligence is the ability to listen better to help to resolve problems. It must never be placed above SI (Spiritual Intelligence) as this gives you the ability to be aware of the situation. For Joshua he realised that if sin remained in the camp then they would all perish. And although in the end, all of Achan’s family perished, the million or so Israelites survived to take the Promised Land. Today as a leader, ensure that you PQ follow your EQ which in turn follows you IQ and SQ! If not then the pronouncement of the Lord to Joshua will apply, “I will be with you no more unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. Proceed to sanctify yourselves, if not, you will not be able to stand against your enemies”, v.12b-13. Many leaders are being destroyed because of compromise. Today apply the Joshua model and clean up your house. Read Joshua 8 to see what happens when you do!
Posted in Progressive Leadership | Tags: Avoidance, Cause, Effect, Hearing, Humility, Implementing, Listening, Petition, Sin
as we carry the blessing by being emotionally and spiritually intelligent!
Emotional Intelligence, or EI, describes an ability or capacity to perceive, assess, and manage the emotions of one’s self, and 
of others. Our EQ, or Emotional Quotient, is how one measures Emotional Intelligence. Emotions have the potential to get in the way of our most important business and personal relationships. Emotional intelligence raise the individual’s skills in areas such as how to listen better and the ability to help those being led to resolve problems on their own; how to empower and inspire others, and how to become more effective personal leaders. Essentially though, emotions have no intelligence by itself. Your emotions are an integral part of your psychological state of mind and not an isolated entity. Our emotions are a part of feelings are therefore dependent on a myriad of different conditions such as the environment, the physical season, who we are with and so on. Reacting to our emotions can and does lead to grave mistakes being made. Your spirituality is to ‘know’ who you are and Spiritual Intelligence is to ‘realize’ who you are and to live life in that awareness. You have always been who you are and, in truth, you can never be other than who you are, but it requires ‘realisation’ i.e. that moment when you ‘see it’, when you ‘get it’ and then you ‘be it’. Spirituality is the knowledge of yourself as spirit/soul/body, and the understanding of your highest spiritual qualities and attributes, which are love, peace, purity and bliss. There is a tendency to try to separate spirit/soul/body and to present them as separate entities. This tendency will lead to dualism and then into error as our ancient forefathers found out. Spiritual Intelligence is the expression of these innate spiritual qualities through our thoughts, attitudes and behaviour. Being spiritual means the ego has dissolved, virtue has been restored to character and spiritual values connect your inner and outer worlds, that is, your thought to action. It is the ability to see every other human being as soul/spirit/body, a whole unit, and thereby transcend all the false identities of race, colour, gender, nationality, profession and religion. Essentially every human being has the same raw materials and the same propensity to have intimacy with the creator. It is in this awareness that we are then able to recognise and connect with the Supreme Power, Jesus Christ. To develop spiritual and emotional intelligence dictates that we become self actuated people. We all subscribe to the hierarchy of needs as proposed by American Psychologist Dr. Abraham Maslow (1908 -1970). When these needs are met we seek to satisfy the next level of needs until we become people who are meeting the needs others, This means that once our basic needs are met we seek to meet our emotional and spiritual needs. Once these are being satisfied we use the Blessing to become ‘Blessors’and hence spiritually and emotionally intelligent people. Read Joshua 7 to see how he dealt with Achan!
Posted in Progressive Leadership | Tags: Actuators, Blessing, emotions, Hearing, Identity, Listening, Management, Perception, Probelm solving, Spirituality
Pastor Bell's Words To Live By 