The number of years you have been saved and the number of years you've been a Christian, does not = automatic growth in the kingdom of God.
There is no such thing as automatic growth as a Christian. It just doesn't work that way.
When a father imparts true revelation, it's always based on experience. It's something they've been through. You can read something and regurgitate it and teach it that way, and there's nothing wrong with that.
But there's a whole other level when it comes from hard earned wisdom, and that person has experienced what they're speaking about.
They've put some reps in.
They've been through some seasons of loss, perseverance or character development or conformity where the message carries more of a weight.
The Difference Between Being Just a Teacher and Being a Father
Paul told the Corinthians they had many teachers, but few fathers (1 Cor. 4:15). The heart of a spiritual father carries an experience of something they've been through where they can impart that wisdom on a fatherly level.
So, the statement I made that the number of years you've been a Christian does not equal automatic spiritual growth; what I mean by that is your natural birthday is a specific day and how many years you've been alive is your age. It doesn't necessarily work like that in the spirit realm because growth doesn't happen automatically.
There's certain things you do to partner, cooperate with and submit to God which equals output. You don’t just say prayer once, live life on your terms any way you want, and then say, well, “I've been a Christian for so many years, now.”
Just because decades have passed since you gave your life to Jesus doesn't mean you've learned the lessons and you've cooperated with the Lord like you should have.
There's something you must do.
How does transformation happen?
I have an equation I’ve been sharing with guys in my Mastermind, and it’s this: when you have revelation plus obedient action, that will equal transformation.
Revelation + Obedient Action = Transformation
Notice I didn't say information.
More information is not what you need. This equation is not information plus action leads to transformation; it is revelation.
Revelation is when the Lord reveals something to you; when he speaks it to your spirit and he gives you the command. When he shows you instruction and wisdom that he's highlighting in a specific season of your life.
It can be a word that comes to you that's quickened, and you're like, “wow, the Lord is really highlighting this to me”.
If you're just listening to a message, or even my podcast and you're not marrying what you hear with some level of action, you're not going to obtain transformation. It will be just mere information for you.
This applies to any teaching you're listening to, but when the Lord reveals it, you MUST couple that together with obedient action. And when you do that based on what he's showing you, that will start your transformation process or continue your transformation.
So the equation is revelation + obedient action = transformation.
Faithfulness
Another ingredient to include in the “equation” is a quality of character; if it's missing, it will be impossible to accomplish anything with God and in life. But specifically, in the spiritual realm first because that's where true transformation occurs. That's where all transformation occurs first, and then it shows up in the natural realm.
This particular quality is a qualifier, meaning without it there's no promotion in life. Without this one thing, you do not pass, go. You do not collect your $200. You do not get to go to your next assignment.
The quality is faithfulness.
We all want to be promoted and there's a qualifying factor for having any promotion: have we been faithful stewards with what the Lord has currently entrusted to us?
It's so easy to get distracted and look at what the guy next to us is doing. How big is their platform? There's always something or someone to compare yourself to, and it will be a derailer of remaining faithful with what you have in front of you.
Faithfulness has to do with endurance. It's consistency. It's not this shiny object, or a sensational thing; it looks very monotonous. Showing up, doing what's required, and it's not really attractive to see. Day in and day out in the times and the seasons where there's no spotlight, where there's nothing super attractive about it, where there's no crazy energy on it, but they're required to do it.
It's a stewardship. It's something they're required to set their hand to and pay attention to what's been entrusted to them.
If we look at our current culture, we're programmed to see status. We're programmed to see follower size. We're taught to see all these external measures that give us external results which measure external impact.
But that is never how God does anything.
Right now, God has men and women that are hidden out of sight, doing his work. They're in obscure countries and places where they're not being celebrated or recognized, but Heaven knows their name. Promotion isn’t always about being seen, having a big platform, or other status symbols.
There's a Mountain For You
There's a territory that we're appointed to, but we have to be very careful that we don't put the world's measurements of success on what God is calling us to do. So faithfulness does not get your attention when you see it. Showing up consistently can be easily viewed as being boring, but it is THE pathway to promotion.
I recently came across a reel on Instagram by Alex Hermozi, a phenomenal business person I respect and who has a lot of wisdom. He’s built incredible businesses and really has a great social platform where he shares his unique insights. He was talking about the number one skill needed for ultra success in business: mastering the middle.
What did he mean?
Anyone can start a marathon and have people cheering you on from the sidelines. It's easy to start something. People do it all the time. It's easy to be a visionary and start the project, but it's really learning how to master the middle.
That's being faithful.
That's being consistent.
That's mastering the part that's not glamorous. It doesn't get attention, but you're being a good steward with what God has given you in the place that you currently find yourself.
Alex says that it is in the middle where most people quit. I think it's the same in the Kingdom of God; there's a difference between having a fast start versus turning to something else halfway through or right after you start.
Be a man that carries things all the way to completion.
This is a mark of a man of God; someone who can finish what they've started. You actually learn how to exercise dominion when you finish what you start. This is a trait that men of God in the Bible and throughout history have exhibited in and qualified them for promotion.
Moses was faithful in all of God's house as a servant. Forty years in Egypt, forty years in the desert, and then another forty years leading the nation of Israel through the wilderness. He was faithful in the whole process and also of Christ that he was faithful as a son over his house.
Nothing greater can be said of any person than that he or she was faithful to the end.
Nobody Can Impart Faithfulness To You
It's not a prayer where you get an impartation of faithfulness. It’s a highly personal commitment. It's a picture of self-discipline, but it's also not legalistic. So when you hear of self-discipline, it's not the worldly version of discipline where you’ve gotta beat yourself up and become aesthetic and just power through and muscle your way through everything with sheer willpower and natural soul force.
On the contrary, this self-discipline is a fruit of the spirit birthed out of God’ grace. It comes from following Jesus, resulting in discipline showing up in my life because I'm a follower and that becomes my identity.
Faithfulness is a character trait, and your character is your identity.
Make it part of your character that you will be faithful and be a faithful steward who will finish what you started and steward the current assignment where you find yourself right now. If you are faithful in small things, you will graduate and go to the next assignment.
If you can't be faithful where God planted you, you will not be qualified to go to the next assignment, to go to the next level. This is the price you pay to show your stewardship and to work your character and to exhibit your identity as a kingdom driven man.
To be faithful in small things, faithful and small things, when no one sees you faithful and small things when you're in the hidden place. Faithful in small things when there's no reward or spotlight.
Is that where you find yourself right now?
If you do, I want you to rejoice in that there's a contentment that can come from realizing the season you're in. Not trying to jump ahead, not trying to jump the gun or get to the next level or run through and say, “look at me” and get into the spotlight, or build the platform.
Be faithful with where you are right now,
Faithfulness is not just something you do, nor is it something you are at the end of our life; when we stand before the Lord, the declaration that we want to hear from Jesus is “well done, good and faithful servant”.
Join the Unfair Advantage Challenge
If you feel that you're in the gap between where you are right now and where you're supposed to be in life, that place that God has promised you, that promised land that he has for you. Then I want to invite you into the Unfair Advantage challenge. It's an 11 day email training. I want to equip you and teach you how to access the unfair advantage that God gives all men who are walking with him.
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