PROPHETIC JOURNEY TO SPIRITUAL DESTINY – Pt 2

Prophetically, the season that we are in, is that we are standing at the threshold of the greatest harvest ever known to man and the greatest battle. These are the days of the harvest. These are the days of Elijah. The fields are white and ready for harvest. Malachi chapter 3 and 4 clearly speaks of the season we are in. The moments that the messenger is sent with purifying fire to purge away that which is not of the spirit so that the gold and the silver will remain in our lives. Each of us is at a different place spiritually in our journey. Sometimes we have a difficult time identifying the destiny call that is on our lives. The great apostolic prayer of Paul in Ephesians 1:17-18, That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, that we know the hope of our calling. We need to realize that the Lord wants us to be spiritually successful and naturally successful not one or the other. He wants to prosper us as our souls should prosper. As the Word says, what good would it be to gain the whole world and lose your soul? All the natural personal financial success without the adjoining spiritual success leaves man empty.

Success is not the destination, but rather the journey. I need to clearly know where I am going, but I also need to know where I am at, and rightly identify who I am in Christ and where I am at in this journey. I believe that there are 5 cycles or passages to our spiritual destiny and many different phases even within those passages.

• DISCIPLESHIP
• MENTORING
• ACHIEVEMENT
• LEADERSHIP
• LEGACY

ACHIEVEMENT

This particular passage of your journey has to do specifically with putting those skills of one’s gifting, talents, ability, and potential into operation producing results. The heart of the man at the achievement level is personal peak performance. This is the season when the rubber meets the road. This is the time to implement, activate, focus and function. At this level, a man or woman has difficulty allowing others to do the work because obviously, no one can do it as good as you. They are totally honed in on the target. Production and fruitfulness blind their thoughts at times to the future. They are taking their vision and provision and fully producing tangible results.

Thus far in their walk, this is the most rewarding season. The strength of the horse within him is fully running the race. They can finally feel the wind blowing in their face and they feel like this is it, the achiever is finally doing what he or she was born for. There is nothing wrong with this stage, it is a necessary season of our lives and the life of a leader.

Some people come into the Kingdom from another area of life and immediately want to move into leadership, never having been discipled or properly mentored, and have no spiritual achievement, depth, or maturity, and wonder why people don’t want to follow them; but they have nothing tangible that they have produced. So it is, do as I say, and not as I do. If someone skips the achievement level and moves right into leadership they will never really be able to have empathy for the person who stumbles and falls and struggles. The best they can hope for is to sympathize with them, and what the leader really needs to be able to do is to understand what they are going through. Give them a hand up and not a hand down.

Finally, at this level, the achiever thinks “Wow, I’ve arrived,” but we all know that that is not the case. This is not the destination, just a whisp stop, along the way. The next phase is leadership. He wants us to be the head and not the tail.

LEADERSHIP

To these at the leadership level, suddenly the achiever/over-achiever has finally reached their personal goals and now their heart turns to multiplication and duplication because they have come to the reality, they are producing all they can off their own efforts. So, to be more productive, they now step into a place of management and leadership. They have no problem managing themselves and have proved that at the achievement level, now they must refocus their energy on equipping and empowering others. Now the focus is not on how well they do it, but on how well can they teach and coach others to do it. At the Leadership level, a person begins to mentor others in their gifting and calling. The purpose of the five-fold leader in the church described in Ephesians 4: 11, 12 is to perfect the saints to do the work of the ministry for the edification of the body.

At the achievement level, they are so focused on their own results, they have no time left or desire to sow into that next generation. It requires different personality skills, motivational skills, and conflict resolution skills at this level because it is about preparing, perfecting, equipping, and motivating others toward their peak performance.

Now the goal is no longer what I can do, but what we can do. Everything is no longer my vision, but our vision. There is also a great turn in the heart of the man or woman, out of the heart of the lion, and ministry of the ox, to the heart of the Father, and the vision of the eagle seeing the potential of others, and deriving personal satisfaction, from the achievement of others rather than self.

In this phase of my personal journey, I instruct others. Then I do and you watch, then we do together, then you do and I watch. Many times, the best leaders, the best coaches are not always the highest achiever. But it is the one that has the patience to walk with and work with others.

LEGACY

Legacy at first sight and sound appear to be secular in nature, but it is actually biblical and spiritual. The promise and the goal is that we would produce fruit, and fruit that lasts. At the Legacy level, it is a time of transition, a time of great change. It is passing the baton. It is releasing those who you have led into their destiny. It is supporting them in their vision. It is the extension and advancement of the Kingdom vision we see in others, enlarging the vision in the lives and ministry of others. Looking back and bringing your experience, your life experience, and life skills to bear on the future generations. It is passing the baton. It is delegating and releasing others into their destiny call.
This season is delegation, delegation, delegation. At the Leadership level, we lead. At the legacy level, we guide. The ball is in your court – You do all the doing and I do all the watching. The hardest season for a man or woman of achievement is that season where they must sit on the sidelines and watch others pursue their destiny.
Within the heart of the father, the heart of the Leader, the most wonderful moment of all is when we see our spiritual and natural sons and daughters become who they are called to be and reach their spiritual and natural success and destiny. The greatest gift that we can give and desire that we can have is to be the man or woman that our parents never will, so that our sons can be the men that we never shall be.

I hope that through this teaching you can find yourself and where you are in your personal journey. Certainly, there are different phases of your journey even within the passages I have described. Where you are transitioning in, where you have settled in, and then transitioning out into that next and new season. I want you to find yourself somewhere in here. If you are in a place of leadership, your actions would be that of a leader and not of an achiever, or if you are at that season of your life in discipleship, be careful that you are not trying to lead everyone, for this is your season to sit under the heart life and ministry of another. Your time will come. When the student is ready, the teacher shall appear. Believing with you for all of God’s blessings for his right timing for his perfect guidance. Let His will be done, His Kingdom come in your life and mine.