Each of us as leaders are shaped on the crucible of life experience as we navigate the path that our Heavenly Father has already prepared us to walk in.
It is an undeniable fact that the personalities that speak into us, the historical currents that swirl around us, and the vocational circumstances that characterize our individual ministries, shape us significantly as we travel this pilgrim journey with Master Jesus.
Yet behind and beyond all of these natural dynamics, there is a stirring in the supernatural. The very Spirit of God who indwells us is constantly whispering to us about the untold treasure that are being made available to us as we seek the Father in prayer.
This insistent whisper of the Holy Spirit leaves us with a soul stirring sense that Papa has more to invest in us and entrust us with. I have found in my own life that there has been a deepening awareness not only of my need as a leader to prioritize prayer, but in experiencing a greater appropriation of the power that prayer unleashes as we submit to the active leadership of Holy Spirit.
This same Holy Spirit who inspired the Scripture’s writers, and who illumines the Scripture texts that we seek to explicate, calls us as to press in and be transformed by touching the very face of God as we intimately connect with our Creator in prayer.
One of the greatest encouragements of my life is found in the example of King David. His raw & transparent series of prayers as recorded in Psalms has not only encouraged the faithful down through the generations, but continues to encourage me as I seek to grow deeper in a lifestyle of prayer
Listen to the prophetic words of Psalm 131:1-3
“O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.”
This text helps us to understand the four descriptors which define the life of a leader whose ministry is fortified by, and erupts out of, a lifestyle of intimate connection with God through the discipline of prayer.
Humility before the King
The Scripture is clear that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. He takes great delight in those who seek after His own heart from a posture of humility. To use an athletic euphemism, the “starting block” for the leader is a recognition that God is God and we are not. Any pretense of pride must melt away as we present ourselves prostrate in the glory presence of God.
Resting on the Fathers Chest
Rest is not just a discipline that our Papa calls us to, it is the very atmosphere of heaven. Rest is the posture in which we place ourselves completely at the mercy of the provision of God. If I may be so bold as to use a metaphor which hearkens back to my own childhood in rural New England, Abba calls us to climb up into his lap and rest our head upon His chest. He is the One who is in control. He is the One who will encircle us with His arms and meet our need according to the great and consuming affection that He has lavished upon us because of the obedience of Master Jesus. Prayer helps us not only to receive His favor, but on a deeper level, to be present in His presence.
Dependence on the Holy Spirit’s Activity
Biblical leadership is derived from, and empowered by a recognition that we are completely dependent upon the work of God, who is constantly & powerfully at work within us. Dependent prayer helps the leader to recognize that all of the missional activity that he or she is called to is a result of Abba’s intimate embrace. Dependence upon God declares that the leader rejects both frenetic religious striving and the tyranny of the urgent. Dependence declares that the leader can do nothing apart from the Fathers directives, which are revealed to Christ’s servants through prayer.
Hope’s Glorious Expectation
The final facet of the iridescent jewel of prayer is that we are called by the Scripture to have hope in the Gospel’s final uncompromising promise; namely, that “all will be well & all will be well.” God is at work and is using the vehicle of payer to bring His “Kingdom Come” to a greater degree today than yesterday. Doesn’t that stir your spirit to praise? It does mine!
Someone once said that if we don’t expect to encounter the miraculous work of God in our lives, we will never see it. I couldn’t agree more! May I encourage you to pray with expectation, asking Papa to do the miraculous in your life & through your ministry? Abba delights in revealing Himself.
Dear friend, take heed of David’s cry and live your life from a listening posture. Listening to voice of God as He reveals Himself to us through the privilege of prayer brings hope, empowerment, & vocational efficacy. Prayerfully discerning Abba’s heart prior to taking any action will enable you to realize your destiny without unnecessary wounding or undue weariness. Press in, listen up, and carry out the mission that you are uniquely designed to fulfill.
Foye Belyea is the founder of WarriorPriest and founding shepherd of Anam Cara alongside his wife, Maria. He also serves as a member of the Creo Collective movement team.