WHERE ARE THE TEACHERS?
At one of our Prophetic Alliance meetings I asked a friend from another
Bible Study group I was a part of to sing. Her husband came with her and
he told me, "I am a teacher, a God called five fold minister teacher, but
no one regards that. They just use me, put me in teaching a Sunday school
class or this or that, but they don't see my office."
He wasn't just belly-aching over "being used," he was stating something
that the Lord wanted me to see. Each ministry gift has its distinction.
And there is a spiritual price to pay for it. Many pastors are gifted
teachers and some believe the two "just go together" as the term "pastor
and teacher" from Ephesians 4.
I am convinced that each of the equipping gifts have a God given anointing
to teach, but I also know that some are called with the predominant five
fold ministry gift of ~teaching~ and this is a gift FOR THE BODY. We need
to respect this gift!
The Church at large needs to recognize this gift. I have been in an
outpouring of God where His Presence was so tangible that we could only
bow down in worship. I am talking about a large congregation of
thousands. If they didn't want to, they left. Spiritual gifts in such a
holy anointing manifested and people had visions and revelational words
and prophecies - it was awesome and life changing and I am feeding off of
that still today.
This move of God built, crested and then dissapated. There were reasons
and I believe I felt the grief similar to what the Book of Acts Church
must have felt when the leaders were scattered. Sin in the camp will
quench and halt the move of the Spirit, but so also will complacency and
taking the things of Life for granted. When outreach stops, the flow from
Above will, too. Do I need to tell you that we need to live right, if we
want to see the blessing?
The hungry, when dispersed, will seek to build the presence of God where
they have been scattered to. It takes prayer, agreement, worship and
praise and good works and anointed leadership. Many try to make church
happen and I was in a church one time where they tried to assign different
people five fold ministry gifts, but that can only come from God, not man.
When you invite and activate the presence of God through pure worship and
prayer and the anointing comes, the spiritual gifts that are in people
will rise to the surface and if your gift is prophesying, teaching,
helping, pastoring, missions, comforting, whatever, you will feel that it
is time to get on with the program! When the anointing comes, your gift
is stirred! Suddenly people have a verse, a word, a song, a prophecy, a
thought, an idea...
This is a challenge for leadership because people begin telling the pastor
or leader "what ought to be done" and some get offended when the
leadership doesn't do it "the way they see it."
Some get offended and stay offended, (the immature), but some stay with a
teachable spirit to find out how their gift can work in the move of God,
and mature sensitive leadership will work to enable it.
The Church will never be put together or brought together on man's agenda,
as well meaning as man might be. God has hidden gifts in earthen vessels.
When you put Him first, asking for His will, finding out what He wants
done, then a move of God can take place in your personal life and/or in
the church.
Sometimes your gift will take you out of the church into another but be
careful it doesn't take you just "out." You are missing it, then. We may
have quiet set-apart contemplative seasons but they should not be for very
long. You have to stay connected to the Body. (Thus saith the Word of
God! Hebrews 10:24-25)
Some just want to see and do "what works" and that will only be a spurt.
We must hone in on the purpose and focus of God and that is for His people
to get a revelation and relationship with Him. We must grow and become
established in His Will. This is one reason we need teachers. They will
ground you to His Word.
Just like all the other gifts, teachers have been in the church, just not
with their name distinctions so focused upon. Most ministers have been
taught by gifted anointed teachers. They may not have had the title
bestowed as a five fold minister, but they were there none the less. Most
true five fold ministers don't even want the attention or publicity of
their gift, they just want to do it.
It's not wrong to state your gift, Paul the apostle did frequently in his
letters to the Church, and some, like me, were visited with the
distinctive words from the Lord. It's needed for understanding. It is
not wrong to reveal your gift, it's just how you do it. Is it done to
help equip others and their faith, or is it done for selfish reasons and
pride? Some are falsely accused, but persecution does go with the
territory. God will vindicate the true because He is not ashamed of His
ways or Plan.
A great revival is coming and even is at the door. As long as the focus
is on Jesus, the anointing will come pouring in. But as it does and the
lost and backsliders are drawn in, there will be a great need for the
teacher.
One of the things that needs to be lovingly and anointedly taught is how
to fit into the work and plan and order of the church. The temptation is
great for people to become "experts" and know "better than others" how
they are to be fit in and controlled. When you get that spirit, Watch
out!!!
There will be friction but the Spirit focused will win out in love and
blessing. Teachers will help explain the plan of God according to
Scripture and this will be another beautiful fold in the five fold
ministry. Right now there is still way too much competition and petty
jealousy for attention for being right. Anointed teaching will make you
see what is right, how it works and make you understand it when it happens
and you will rejoice in the Plan of God (not man). We need anointed
teachers!!!
Some teachers have specialties and they are needed, but we need to find
our places and fit in the big picture. Teachers have to be careful not to
overload people in the details they delight in to the point that they
overwhelm or change the focus of what is needed to be taught.
In God's ordered Church everyone has a satisfied place and a great value.
When you are doing your God called ministry, it's only the devil who is
grieving.
Let's pray for our Teachers. |