Please watch this then read below.
The old Dwarf King, Prince Durin’s father is relaying to his son the prince the story of his birth. He told that him that he was ill formed and his breathing was ragged, dry and pitiful. Everyone said he would die before winter. The old Dwarf king was able to keep his son from dying by holding him to the warmth of the fire. He also held up his chin so he could breathe freely.
Then suddenly while doing that he caught vision of His son when he’d grown and matured. He was POWERFUL, VICTORIOUS, MIGHTY AND TERRIBLE AS AN ARMY WITH BANNERS! He told (prophesied) to the prince’s mother that their son would live and would move mountains!!! Prince Durin responded with, “How do you expect me to move mountains father if you fall to pieces when I dig a single whole? You speak of greatness in me, but you suffocate in me any ambition, any desire, any thought that does not originate in you. The old king yells that the Iron that must bear the most heavy of burdens must also endure the most rigorous of tempering! (He was speaking of his own decision to leave the elves to die even though they could prevent it.) Prince Durin raises his voice back and states that consigning your friends to death is not tempering. Then he declares the Elrond the dwarf was as much a brother as if he’d been born of his mother’s womb.
The old king declares, “How dare you invoke your mother’s memory to defend your decision to betray your own kind”. Prince Durin then says, “NO! It’s you that has betrayed our kind! Squandering our future so you can cling to the past. You profane the crown that you wear”. Then the old king tears off the princely breastplate from prince Durin’s chest, essentially removing him from his legacy, prince hood and eventual kingship. Prince Durin picks it up and the old king says, “leave it, it’s not yours anymore”.
I’m looking at this from a spiritual context. I’m seeing it through the lens of what needs to happen between spiritual fathers and mothers and those they are mentoring and discipling.
To those being raised up
The authority in the past may have given you life, kept you alive having grand vision of your future conquests and prophesied about them. But when it comes time for them to begin to allow you to breathe by yourself, own the responsibility and authority you are supposed to exercise, they most likely will have struggles, I know by experience. They’ve had vision of what it looks like for you to have their kind of authority. But let me tell you, It’s difficult for those who have been carrying the vision and walking in authority to give it away so readily and easily. It takes someone with a deeper way of seeing. It takes the deepest of humility to give true and full authority to the generations coming up.
To those raising up others
Being able to see well enough and know what to do to save a life or a soul is wonderful. Being able to see well enough to recognize the greatness God has for those you are raising up, mentoring, or discipling is awesome and powerful. But seeing and knowing with a heart of humility so that you make space for the legacy of grace empowerment in them will create a momentum and perpetual growing. This is what will sustain a billion-soul harvest. That is what will take the seven mountains of influence. Jesus modeled this and stated in John 14:12, “greater things you shall do because you believe in me because I go to the father”.
Being in love with our own ideas, ways or victories will certainly impede us from valuing the opinions, authority, and decisions of those we raise up. We will suffocate them. They will lose confidence in us and even themselves.
To all of us who are in both of those camps
In order for there to be a succession of authority and a passing on of divine legacy in God’s kingdom realm, we all must live in the deepest humility. God gives grace to the humble. Meaning He empowers freely those whose hearts are completely His. Knowing from whom we’ve come, who sustains us and who will complete His work in us is true humility. But of course we all know the other part of that scripture, God resists the proud. God loves you enough to “NOT FEED THE MONSTER”. Why would God enable us if we think we are the source and power in our lives?
There is most certainly a tension in the giving and receiving of honor and authority. The tension between just letting everyone do what’s right in their own eyes versus controlling and suffocating is difficult to navigate and takes humility 1st with God and then each other, 2 Cor 8:5. We must have complete trust in the Lord first. We have to have our own relationship with Him in order to give ourselves to one another in a healthy way.
Any of you out there squirming a little right now feeling a little uncomfortable about following leaders God has put in your life? GOOD! Now you can take that to Holy Spirit and ask, Why am I uncomfortable with authority? Is there a place I need healing? God can you remind me of anything in the past that may have brought a lie to my life?
Any of you out there squirming a little right now because you are a leader and what I’m presenting right now feels a bit chaotic? Maybe you don’t like the idea of those you are leading being in charge a little. Is it possible that right now several people are coming to mind that you think should not be allowed to make decisions? AWESOME! Now you can take it to Holy Spirit and ask “Lord, is there any place in me that I try to control the outcomes too much? Do I resist giving or delegating decision making to those I’m raising up? Is it much easier delegating chores than it is authority? Lord, what in my past has stolen my trust of those I’m leading? Have I been betrayed or denied and still need healing?
I ask you to pray and seek God about this my friends because this is one of the greatest keys to sustained revival.
