ENDTIME LEADERS (2)

August 4, 2023

1 Samuel 9:18-19
“Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and said, ‘Please tell me, where is the seer’s house?’ Samuel answered Saul and said, ‘I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for you shall eat with me today; and tomorrow I will let you go and will tell you all that is in your heart.’”

Today, God is not talking about the task of the leader but his nature. God is looking for ordinary men and women who remain ordinary, despite their position in leadership and the power they bear. There is a common saying that “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The leaders God will work through in these end times, will be people who carry great spiritual authority and yet are uncorrupted in their lifestyle.

Look at Samuel, the great prophet, the greatest minister of God in the land at that time. Look at how simple he lived and how simply he moved. He looked so ordinary that Saul and his servant did not recognize him as anyone special. They met him on the way and asked him for the way to the seer’s house.

First of all, Samuel was approachable; no complex protocols around him. Secondly, they were with the seer but had no inkling that he was the seer, because he did not look it. Imagine that! It meant that externally, there was nothing to show that Samuel was a “man of God.” His dress was ordinary. He had no entourage with him. No strong protocols. He had no special effects around him. If you saw Samuel on the street and nobody told you he was a prophet, you would never know.

Are these the kinds of ministers we have today, or have we built up a new cadre of men and women who must “look, act and behave” in such a way that everyone recognizes them as “ministers?” What happened to the simplicity of Christ? There are some things I cannot teach in church today because they will be offensive to the ministers there.

But as pilgrims, we need to wrestle with these things together. Why can’t we be ordinary? Why can’t we be like Jesus – who though being God, looked like every other man around Him? All His glory was hidden in humanity, and only when the glory needed to manifest, did it come forth, usually to the shock of all the people around.

Even after Samuel told Saul that he was the seer, he still did not take the lead to the feast, but asked Saul to “Go up before me to the high place.” He still preferred Saul to go ahead of him and to sit down first. He came up after Saul. How can a leader allow a follower to, first of all, be seated and settled and taken care of, before him? What kind of thinking is this?

This is the paradigm needed for God’s servants in these last days. Ordinary men and women of great valor and might. Outside, nothing special. But on the inside, full of grace and glory. Halleluya!

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