TO TRUST AGAIN
RE-ENGAGING IN GOD'S DESTINY FOR YOUR LIFE
SESSION 2 - THE DIAGNOSIS UNIT
"guard
you heart for it is the wellspring of life."
Proverbs
4:23
In this section we will deal with the concepts of
what causes damage to the believers heart.
The
Types of Casualty
Burnt
Out and Discarded
Abused
and Mis-used
Assassination
& Territorialism
Neglected
& Ignored
Friendly
Fire
Burnt Out and Discarded
Burnout is a specific
problem experienced by people who throw everything into what they are doing
without taking care of their own well-being.
This comes about sometimes because of our own desires or it can also be
because of leaders who have not taken good care of their people.
·
Lack of enthusiasm
·
Unwillingness to engage in non mandatory
events
·
Negative attitude
·
General disinterest
·
Lethargy
There are many others
but these are the main ones. The main
thing to remember, when it comes to burnout, is that you must guard yourself.
No one knows what you need, in regards to rest and rejuvenation, like you
do. You also know when you are pushing
the limits of your abilities or time.
The problems comes in when
people who have reached the end of their ability to serve find it difficult to
understand why more is required. There is a gap between what they are capable
of giving and what is being asked of them.
This tends to bring resentment and a negative attitude towards their
leaders for the lack of support and respect they feel. This is when the
discarding process takes place.
The main thing to remember is this:
1. Serve
the Lord where he calls you to serves in the manner He tells you to serve.
2. Your
spare time is yours. You get to decide
how you use it.
3. Don’t
let guilt trips or emotional pleas motivate you to do things you are not supposed
to be doing.
4. Stay
within your gifting. When you agree to
do something the person you are serving may well expect you to do as well as
they can, even if you have told them you can’t.
By accepting the job, you accept the responsibility to get it done.
5. You
are a slave to Christ, not to man.
You are a child of the
most High God remember that. Which of us
would allow someone to treat our children this way?
Abused and Mis-used
Now when we come to the areas of spiritual abuse
I am afraid it is not going to be pleasant topic for anyone. Spiritual abuse is when a leader chooses to
ignore his/or her mandate to take care of the flock in favour for the vision
they feel the Lord has given them.
A definition of
Spiritual abuse could be phrased as follows:
“When those in spiritual
authority manipulate, intimidate, and control others out of lust for power,
fear of sin or insignificance.”
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.
Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves
be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
Galatians 5:1
The context for this verse speaks specifically about some leaders
who were requiring specific religious acts to prove their commitment to
God. In this case circumcision. Now in the
Post Modern church there are many
misleading doctrines being put forward.
We have once again become enslaved to the next big teaching that comes
down to pipe line.
We must guard ourselves towards
anything that is contrary to the scriptural instruction given to us by the
writers in the new testament.
Mis-use is
where people may be being used outside of the abilities the Lord has given
them. They perhaps have stepped into a
position for a season to fill a need but now find themselves locked into a role
that does not suit them and they find no joy or fulfilment in it.
Regardless of how good
the motivation was at the beginning there will come a time when you will start
to resent the fact you are not being used according to your gifting.
Assassination &
Territorialism
This is not the physical type of
assassination. This speaks directly of the destruction of the character, or
standing of a person. It is to our shame as a body that this is happening. It is specifically when the shepherd turns on
one of the sheep and destroys them. The reasons can be varied.
§
Pride (usually motivated by a presumed threat to
their own status in the group)
§
Fear of loss of power
§
Sin
§
Personality conflict
§
The person being assassinated is ridiculed or
maligned by the leader.
§
False accusations are brought forward and the
person who is being accused does not have the opportunity to defend themselves.
§
The accused will usually leave rather than
confront. They do this for several
reasons. Because of their desire not to
bring Christ into disrepute they choose not to fight. Another reason is that that they fear the
pain of the process of clearing their name.
Neglected & Ignored
In Acts Chapter 6:1 we see the first reference to
spiritual neglect. This is where some
parts of the body were not considered in the same way others were.
“In
those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews[a] among them
complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked
in the daily distribution of food. “ Acts 6:1
No matter what situation we may
find ourselves in. As a leader there is
no reason to react in ways that we have described above. Spiritual abuse is present in the
body. We are not meant to be a
doormat. We must serve Christ according
to the way his Word says, not man’s interpretation of that word. This is why Paul instructs us to test
everything.
“19
Do not quench the Spirit.
20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.” 1 Thessalonians 5: 19 – 22
Friendly Fire
Generally it is the ones closest
to us, the ones we have allowed to get close that cause the most harm. Now this is no reason to withdraw completely
from the body. Like any family our
spiritual family has it’s ‘Issues’.
There are some we don’t want to invite to family gatherings specifically
because what they might do.
There are some specific reasons
though why we are sometimes attacked by our brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Tall Poppy Syndrome:
Let’s say you are growing and
that you are sharing what God is doing.
Well I am sorry to burst your bubble but not everyone is going to be
happy about that. They are going to try
and take you down a notch or too.
Perhaps they think they are being helpful and giving you a dose of
reality. The truth is that we as
believers may say we rejoice at others victories and growth, but there are
times we resent them as well.
Caught in the Crossfire:
You may get wounded even when you
have nothing to do with what is going on.
Perhaps there is a feud or disagreement in the body and you just
happened to get caught up in it. No matter what the reason this is
something that most people have encountered at some time in their Christian
lives.
Witch-hunt's:
There are some people in the body who feel it is
their spiritual calling to be the ‘Sherriff’ of the flock. This maybe because they have been in that
church so long they feel a sense of ownership or because they feel they are
spiritually superior enough to do the job.
They may not even like the job but they do it anyway. For these people perfection is not the goal
it is the standard.
Loose lips sink ships (or Churches):
Gossip is one of those areas that some believers
think they have every right to engage in.
They feel it is their responsibility to let people know what they
know. Even if there is little or no
truth in what they say.
The old adage “sticks and stone
can break my bones but names will never hurt me…” has been used to tell people
they are not allowed to feel the pain of unkind words. They are told by well-meaning friends that
they just need to get over it. Unfortunately these scars are carried for
life. Not on the outside but on the
inside.
“the
last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of
circumstances, to choose one's own way..”
Victor
Frankl’s – Man’s Search for Meaning
"guard
you heart for it is the wellspring of life."
Proverbs
4:23
Shalom
David McLachlan
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