Posted by: pastorapbell | November 22, 2011

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!

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Posted by: pastorapbell | November 21, 2011

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!

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Posted by: pastorapbell | November 18, 2011

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.

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Posted by: pastorapbell | November 16, 2011

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!

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Posted by: pastorapbell | November 15, 2011

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!

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Posted by: pastorapbell | November 14, 2011

Words to live by as we lead by carrying the blessing and prepare to pass it on to the next generation IV

One of the most important things about those who carry the Blessing of the Lord is the need to live in covenant with God.
For the Joshua generation this meant renewing the covenant before they possessed the Land of Promise. Joshua knew about the promises that the Lord had made to Abraham and how they would possess their own land and govern themselves one day. He also knew that Abraham carried the Blessing and bequeathed it to Isaac who passed it onto Jacob who in turn passed it unto his twelve sons including Joseph. He understood the power of a covenant and the fact that: if God makes a covenant with you, he will fulfil it. It was well document how God had called Abraham (Gen. 12) and how he had blessed him and made him the richest man in the East (Gen 13). He also knew that God had cut a covenant with Abraham and promised to give the land of Canaan to his off-springs. He knew that he was he recipient of that covenant. So to receive the covenant promises Joshua knew what he ought to do. He had to keep the covenant as written in the book of the law (the Pentateuch) by Moses. After the whole nation had crossed the Jordon river on dry land [this was Joshua’s first miracle on his own], Joshua gathered them together at Gilgal and circumcised all the fighting men. These were the ones who were born in the wilderness and who had not known or seen the miracles of the Lord on their exit from Egypt.  Circumcision signifies a binding agreement between the people and the Lord. It was here at Gilgal that the reproach of slavery in Egypt had been rolled away for the Israelites. This was a training camp where soldiers were trained to fight and wounded soldiers were healed before they were allowed to go back into battle.  And nearly 1000 years later, the eternal covenant was enacted on the cross at Calvary when the reproach of the heart [disobedience to God] was rolled away from the whole of humanity at Golgotha which is derived from Gilgal. And so the old has become new again and wounded people, sick people, those who were outcasts can be trained, healed and restored at Gilgal [Calvary]. A good leader then must be a covenant person whose heart has been circumcised and the flesh that is prone to cause endless trouble is cut away once and for all. The promises of God are tied to the blessing of the Lord. Once we learn to keep the promises we will then activate the Blessing. Read Joshua 5&6.

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Posted by: pastorapbell | November 10, 2011

as we lead by carrying the Blessing and make preparation to hand it on to the next generation 3

A good leader must have a great mentor. However, the problem with having a great mentor is the tendency to copy all what they did and to try to emulate their actions and mannerisms. When Moses led the people out of Egypt, it is estimate that there were more than one million people including women and children [there were six hundred thousand men, Ex: 12:37); Joshua was by his side as his understudy. Throughout the forty years that they travelled around the wilderness, Joshua was by the side of Moses. Joshua saw the red sea parted in the early days by Moses listening to the voice of the Lord (Ex 14); he saw and tasted the bitter sweet water at Marah (Ex 15:22-26). He saw water flow from a rock and was instrumental in defeating the Amalekites (Ex 17:1-7), although there were not utterly destroyed at this stage (Ex 17:8-16).  Even though Joshua was mentored by Moses, God wanted him to be his own man, to have his own experiences and his own testimony to tell. So the Lord told Moses that he would not cross over to the Promised Land but Joshua would succeed him and fulfil this part of the plan (Deut. 31:1-9). In the beginning of the book of Joshua the Lord reminded Joshua that Moses was dead. This was rather strange, since eight weeks prior Moses had presented their new charge to them and they had spent the previous thirty days mourning his death. However, the Lord reminded Joshua that the old order was dead and it was now time for a new order to arise up and possess the land. Joshua needed his own mandate to stamp his own style of leadership on this new generation. So he needed to hear that Moses was dead and that he must be courageous in his new role. Although his mentor was now gone, God was still with him. To become a good leader ensure that you have a great mentor, someone who will spend time with you and will tell you the truth and challenge you about every aspect of your life. For example, who is questioning you about your prayer life? or about your marriage or your personal development? If the answer to these questions is no one, then you need a mentor. Read Joshua 4.

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Posted by: pastorapbell | November 9, 2011

as we lead by carrying the Blessing and make preparation to hand it on to the next generation 2

Carrying the Blessing requires that you become a ‘good’ leader. For us to become a ‘good leader’ there are certain things we
need to implement in our lives and we need to stick to them. Obviously if there are good leaders, there will be bad ones. Bad leaders are not bad people per se, they just make bad decisions. An example of this is Saul, the first king of Israel. During his tenure as king of God’s people, he made some awful decision.  See 1Samuel 14:24 where he instructed his soldiers to go on fasting whilst fighting the enemy and almost killed his own son because he did not hear about the command and ate some honey.  Similarly when he was instructed by the Lord to destroy all the Amelikites, he spared their king and kept the best of the cattle. Needless to say that Saul was rejected as king and ended up dying an ignominious death on his own sword. On the other hand good leaders ensure that they are accountable and are hearing from God about what to do. David had Ahitophel who counselled him for years until he joined the conspiracy of Absalom 2Sam 16:23.  Joshua had Moses who mentored him, Elsha had Elijah and so on.  Good leaders need to be good followers and to develop traits that will stay with them for a lifetime. Traits such as: loyalty, faithfulness, trustworthiness, confidentiality and so on. To carry the Blessing of the Lord we need to be people of integrity, that is, our words must be reflected in our actions. All these traits must be underpinned by great faith. Follow the faith of your leader/mentor but try to avoid their faults.  Read Joshua 3.

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Posted by: pastorapbell | November 8, 2011

as we lead by carrying the Blessing and make preparation to hand it on to the next generation

Since Adam, which in the Hebrew language means reddish man, was the first to be created, he had the responsibility to ensure that the order that God created originally is maintained. Firstly, Adam was created as a spiritual man (Gen. 1:27) who had no form i.e. no physicality and he only became a physical human being when God fashioned him from the dust of the earth and breathed the created Adamic spirit into his nostrils. Thus he became a living breathing spirit filled man (Gen 2:7). So Adam became a physical man with an eternal spirit with the remit to carry the Blessing of the Lord and pass it on, i.e. be fruitful, replenish the earth and take dominion over it (Gen. 1:28). Adam was deceived by the serpent and lost his ability to pass on the blessing of the Lord. So Abraham walked with God and was called his friend. Isaac, Jacob and Joseph carried the Blessing in spite of their character faults and passed it on. The purpose of Jesus coming in human form is to restore the order that once was and allow each  individual, starting with the man, to walk again in the Blessing of the Lord. Although the Blessing of the Lord a huge topic, it is a vital ingredient of the believer’s walk. It is our responsibility to carry the blessing and to pass it on unto at least three generations of our offspring. However, the Blessing is not just material things but comes in its fullness when we become recipients of the covenant made between God and Abraham in Gen 12 and explained in Galatians 3 particularly vv.13 -18. When we become people who live by faith we learn to activate the Blessing. So today let us become spiritual people by living ‘in Christ’ so that we can become friends of God.  Read Joshua 2.

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Posted by: pastorapbell | November 7, 2011

As I learn how to I develop my leadership role in my family first and then in my community and my local church?

To develop suggests that we are going to dig deep then polish off any rough edges that we find when we unearth our treasures.  The objective for developing our roles is to get a biblical understanding from the study of the lives of particular biblical characters, so that we are empowered to fulfil our roles in our families, our communities and our fellowship. To meet these objectives we firstly need to reflect back on the role of the original human as defined in the biblical narrative of the book of Genesis. From the creation narrative we notice that after the infrastructure of the earth was created, that is everything was set in its place, human being or humanity was created and given a specific mandate, viz “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over everything.”   We must recognise here that the creation narrative states that God created ‘male and female’ v.27 and he Blessed them in v.28 and gave them the mandate to be fruitful and to multiply. We can draw from this narrative that God was and is not a misogynist [a hater of women]. The concept of men dominating women was not in God’s original mandate but came after the deception and the introduction of sin in Gen 3:8ff, as the very good creation, humanity heard the voice of the Lord, but ignored it and listened to the deception of the fallen angel, Lucifer, instead vv.1-7. This instituted the notion of curses on humanity, which leads to toil and hard labour to achieve the things we want. Our objective should be to get our minds aligned with our spirit so that from today we to start to listen and tune into the voice of the Lord [Adonai] God [Yahweh] again. So to become a leader in all the spheres of my existence I need to Live by Faith and activate the Blessing in my life so as to become a Friend of God. We will start the leadership process by reading from Joshua 1.

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