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Hello friends! Welcome back to the series of Outstanding Leader written by Pastor Daniel Foo. The topic today is simple, yet primary – the love of the Father.
Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5: 5)
Sometimes, we feel we are not as smart as another person and we must depend on an external power source to keep us on. Leaders feel that way too, whether he is a politician or a CEO of a company or a pastor. Some seek power in the wrong sources, like the ancient Israelites, who were called to worship God but were constantly tempted to pray to the idols of their neighbours (Isaiah 2: 8).
Pastor Foo pointed out that this can happen to churches and her leaders. I heard of a pastor in Nigeria who slaughtered a cow and buried the carcass underneath the pulpit. The Nigerian pastor thought that this common pagan practice would help his church to grow further. No one in the church actually knew that until a man of God came to the church and discerned that the place was spiritually defiled. When church leaders received the word, they began to investigate. This led them to dig up the pulpit and found the carcass of the cow. Subsequently, people started to leave the church and the pastor was exposed.
Incidents like that happen around the world. I visited East Timor and found out that some Christians there practise a blended faith – mixing it with occultism via worship of a crocodile spirit! That is nothing new, for the ancient Israelites worshipped both Yahweh and the golden calf which was set up by King Jeroboam in Bethel and Dan (1 Kings 12: 25-33).
In Asia, business men often turn to the power of feng shui. The practice involves aligning the elements of wind (feng) and water (shui) so as to be in harmony with the environment to promote prosperity and well-being. In business, this could mean “tapping” into the energy of the environment by shifting the direction of doors or windows. And for developers, even the positioning of buildings or placing objects to divert the “flow” to “channel” wealth into the business.
God is the original source of power. We are reminded in Deuteronomy 8: 18, “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day”. God gives us the ability to obtain wealth and wisdom and to navigate through life to succeed. It is the devil who seeks and tempts us with counterfeit sources of power to lure us away from God.
During the violent times of the Judges, God appointed Gideon to deliver Israel from captivity. Like Moses, Gideon protested that he was not qualified. “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house” (Judges 6: 15).
Despite his doubts, Gideon took the first step to trust God. To further urge him not to trust in his own capabilities, God reduced the size of his army to 300 men – a defence force hardly enough to hold off thousands of Midianite troops. And God promised, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man,” (Judges 6: 16). And Gideon did.
As leaders, we must know where we derive our power from. When we embrace the Lord as the source of our power, the devil will not be able to touch or move us because we are God’s anointed ones. 1 Chronicles 16: 22 says, “…Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm.” So let us receive God as our power source.
Pastor Foo shared his personal experience: I have been at worship services where the Lord descended upon all of us and the Holy Spirit came upon me. I felt like He was hugging me tightly, and as I was being enveloped with His love, all I could think was: ‘I embrace You, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Take all of me – my thoughts, my feelings and my responses. Take full control over all my circumstances and situations, so that Your will may be done.’ What happened next? Pastor Foo was empowered to minister and release God’s words when the congregation responded to the altar calls.
There are three sources of power from God we must constantly experience:
What is the biggest danger? It’s trusting in our own abilities. We must know that the only power source we need is God Himself!
THE FIRST POWER SOURCE: THE LOVE OF FATHER GOD
The first source is to know and experience the Father’s deep and abiding love. Paul never stopped praying for his readers to taste God’s supernatural abundance for everything in their lives. This is found in Ephesians 3: 14-21, “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height — to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
The love of the Father is not given to us sparingly. Romans 5: 5 says, “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” The love of God is mightily poured out to us.
Receiving the Father’s love is the source of power for exceeding excess to everything in our lives. There are two descriptions of love in Ephesians 3: 14-21: Firstly, it surpasses our understanding, and our natural minds are not able to grasp the truth. As we hunger and thirst for Him, we progressively receive revelation and experience His love. Secondly, experiencing this love enables us to be filled with all the fullness of God. When we reach out to Him, we receive His abundant blessings and walk in His fullness.
Testimony: I have often read about how angels have protected and delivered Christians, especially pastors and missionaries. Although I have never physically seen one, I believe that I have numerous guardian angels. One day as I meditated on Psalm 103: 20, the Lord confirmed that every time I speak His Word, they take heed and minister to me accordingly (Hebrews 1: 14).
Recently, an intercessor shared with me that she had a vision of me sitting by the beach on a rock, and there were a lot of snakes around me! Immediately, she was alerted to pray for me. I thanked her for that assurance of God’s protection (Luke 10: 19). Later, a pastor confirmed this revelation – he had a vision of a mountain, which he interpreted as a representation of me and my ministry. There were many snakes at the base of the mountain crawling around, but they could not do anything to harm me.
When we are assured of God’s love and protection, this power source grows from one level to another. For me, I continually experiences God’s love during corporate worship in church. This washes away the hits and hurts from ministry and it also releases fresh strength and energy. This is my spiritual top-up in the presence of God.
Our spirit-man needs to be strengthened and enlarged in its capacity to receive the love of God. How can we receive that love from the Father, so that we may pour it out unto others?
We must recognise and understand that we can never love God on our own. We can only do so because He first loved us (1 John 4: 19). So, the starting point is to first receive the love of God.
Why? Because God Himself is the source of love. He is the fountain and origin of Love. We love each other to the extent that we experience His love for us (1 John 4: 7). If God is love, we must tap and connect to the source of love. Just like water from our taps at home is connected to water tanks, through underground pipes and eventually to the source (in Singapore, the reservoirs).
Romans 5: 5 tells us that the love of God is given to us by the Holy Spirit. He is the administrator and executor who takes this love from Father God and pours it into our hearts, Spirit to spirit. It is this love that enables us to love God and then to love one another.
Once applied into our hearts, the love of God will fill us and mould our attitudes and motivations. We love one another with the love of God has for us, and this love in us will cover a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4: 8). We may be angry or fed up with someone, but as long as we see them as God does, we will still love them and desire fellowship with them regardless how unlovely they may be at the moment.
Testimony: Margaret, an administrative manager, shared that in her 15 years of marriage with her husband, they would constantly quarrel over money matters and their children. At first, her husband still came home for dinner and spent time with the family. As they both involved in their careers, they drifted apart later and he did not return home after work. Margaret learnt from his colleagues that he was having an affair with one of his vendors. She was contemplated getting a divorce and started a new life with the children.
She responded in prayer after hearing a message shared by Pastor Foo about experiencing the Father’s love. Then a leader prayed for her that she would have a new revelation of God’s love. In desperation, she cried out to the Lord and asked Him to fill her with His love so that she could forgive and love her husband.
The Lord heard her prayers. Gradually, Margaret picked up the pieces of their broken marriage and started to pray for her husband. Her situation began to turn around. Her husband started to come home more regularly and his company promoted him. He worked in another job location with different vendors. Finally, he broke off the extra-marital relationship. A year later, their marriage got stronger and happier than earlier.
1 John 4: 8 says, “… God is love”. There is no love greater than the Father’s love for His love transformed lives. Let’s receive His love continually so that we can be empowered.
Do join us again next week. Stay tuned and goodbye.
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