Enabling or Empowering?
This blog is a journey of things that God is teaching me. Having said that, I would like to share about enabling and empowerment.
Ephesians 4:11-14
11)And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12) to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13)until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14)so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
In this passage of scripture, we see God gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints and help them to grow into a level of maturity in their lives and their walk with God. They are called to empower people so they can go out and live the life that God has called them to live with confidence and an assurance.
A pitfall can come when we do not empower, but we enable people to not have to grow up, and not have to take responsibility for their actions. I have heard churchfolk say (myself included) “Brother, I need a Word from the Lord!!” or “I need you to pray for me. I stubbed my toe.”Let me just say that I believe in lifting up each other in prayer, and I also believe that God speaks to people. The problem is when we as leaders don’t use these times to empower those entrusted to us, and instead we just do for them what they can do for themselves. When someone needs a Word from God, are we using these times to instruct them how to pray, and read their bibles? When someone has stubbed their toe, are we instructing them how to pray for themselves and slap a band-aid on it?
This is for those of you who are not in leadership. At some point in your walk with Christ, you should be able to walk in some confidence as a Christian. There are some things that take longer than others to overcome but you should be maturing in your faith so you can help others. If you are not growing in your faith then you need to ask yourself and God why and what you need to do. If you aren’t scared of what you might hear, ask a pastor, source group leader, or elder. They want to see you grow and help you. They will tell you the truth in love. Sometimes the truth hurts, but it will set you free!
Leaders, if your people can’t even pray for themselves when they stub their toe, we haven’t done our job. If God put people in our charge, then we should be teaching people how to pray for themselves. I have no problem praying and standing with anyone, but if they haven’t even attempted to pray for themselves, I have a problem with that. This is enabling. This is not equipping. This is creating an unhealthy dependence that will cripple people and stunt their spiritual growth possibly for the rest of their lives!
Once again, let me reiterate the fact that there will be times when we need someone stronger in faith and authority at times. We were never meant to walk alone. We should always have at least one person we can lean on when we are getting our noses bloodied by the enemy that will cry with us and fight with us and for us when we can’t stand anymore.
Let us instruct those who need help, so they are empowered to stand with boldness and authority the next time that struggle faces them, so they can have the faith in God to stand when all hell breaks loose! Let’s help those who are struggling and give them tools to be overcomers so they can help themselves and others.
Kevin
