Latest / PAMOJA PODCAST | PAMOJA MINISTRY, A LIFE OF CHRIST INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES / REFINED FOR A PURPOSE — Conversation VI: When Character Cannot Carry the Anointing The Gift May Be Ready Before the Vessel Is Ready

Transcript

REFINED FOR A PURPOSE — Conversation VI: When Character Cannot Carry the Anointing The Gift May Be Ready Before the Vessel Is Ready · PAMOJA PODCAST | PAMOJA MINISTRY, A LIFE OF CHRIST INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES

• 0:00
  Welcome back again to Pamoja Ministry. Let's
• 0:04
  dive in together in this exciting and continuing
• 0:07
  conversation on Forged for a Purpose. We have
• 0:12
  been walking through a revelation that has become
• 0:15
  clear with every conversation. God does not waste
• 0:19
  the fire. The fire reveals. The fire exposes.
• 0:24
  The fire disciplines. The fire teaches us to
• 0:27
  govern our words. And in our last conversation,
• 0:31
  we discovered how a small tolerated seed can
• 0:34
  gradually weaken our resistance. But now we need
• 0:37
  to ask a difficult question. Why does God take
• 0:41
  character so seriously? Why does He confront
• 0:44
  things that seem small? Why does He expose attitudes,
• 0:48
  appetites, relationships, reactions, pride, anger,
• 0:53
  and hidden compromises? Why not simply give us
• 0:57
  the vision release the anointing, open the door,
• 1:01
  and allow us to fulfill the assignment. Because
• 1:04
  there is something we must understand. It is
• 1:08
  possible for your gift to take you somewhere.
• 1:10
  Your character is not prepared to sustain you.
• 1:14
  And sometimes the greatest danger is not that
• 1:17
  you will never reach the place God showed you.
• 1:20
  The greatest danger may be reaching it before
• 1:23
  the person carrying the vision has been prepared.
• 1:27
  for what comes with it. That is why God refines.
• 1:31
  We need to correct something that can become
• 1:34
  dangerous in Christian thinking. Being anointed
• 1:38
  does not mean being incapable of failure. The
• 1:42
  anointing does not remove human weakness. Being
• 1:47
  called does not eliminate weakness. Being gifted
• 1:51
  does not eliminate temptation. Having revelation
• 1:54
  does not eliminate appetite. Experiencing God's
• 1:58
  power does not automatically produce character.
• 2:02
  Scripture gives us too many examples to believe
• 2:05
  otherwise. Samson was anointed. Saul was anointed.
• 2:10
  David was anointed. Peter was called. Moses encountered
• 2:14
  God. Yet every one of them had areas of character
• 2:18
  that required the government of God. This is
• 2:22
  important because sometimes we confuse what God
• 2:25
  does through someone with what God is still trying
• 2:28
  to do within someone. Those are not always at
• 2:32
  the same stage. God can use you while he is still
• 2:36
  working on you, and that should produce humility.
• 2:41
  Samson may be one of Scripture's clearest warnings
• 2:44
  about this. Judges tells us that the Spirit of
• 2:48
  the Lord came powerfully upon him. His strength
• 2:51
  was extraordinary. His calling was real. His
• 2:55
  assignment was real. His anointing was real.
• 2:59
  But so were his vulnerabilities. Sampson repeatedly
• 3:03
  moved toward places where his weaknesses could
• 3:06
  be fed. He played with boundaries. He trusted
• 3:10
  his strength. He entertained relationships that
• 3:13
  compromised his consecration. And something dangerous
• 3:17
  kept happening. The gift kept working. Samson
• 3:21
  compromised and still had strength. He crossed
• 3:25
  boundaries and still defeated enemies. He became
• 3:30
  careless and still experienced supernatural ability.
• 3:35
  Imagine what that can do to a person. You begin
• 3:38
  thinking, I must still be okay. Because the gift
• 3:42
  still works. The door still open. People still
• 3:46
  applaud. The ministry still grows. The business
• 3:50
  still succeeds. The opportunities still come.
• 3:54
  You still feel powerful. But hear this carefully.
• 3:58
  The continued operation of your gift is not necessarily
• 4:03
  God's endorsement of your condition. Sometimes
• 4:06
  the gift is functioning while the vessel carrying
• 4:09
  it is deteriorating. Listen carefully to this
• 4:13
  principle. Do not confuse mercy with approval.
• 4:18
  We touched this subject in our last conversation,
• 4:21
  but here it becomes even more serious. Sometimes
• 4:25
  God gives us time to repent, and we interpret
• 4:29
  the absence of immediate consequences as permission.
• 4:33
  Nothing happened, so we do it again. The ministry
• 4:36
  survived, so we do it again. The marriage survived,
• 4:40
  so we do it again. Nobody discovered it. So we
• 4:44
  do it again. The opportunity remains, so we assume
• 4:48
  God must not be concerned. But mercy is not approval.
• 4:52
  Mercy is time. Time to recognize. Time to repent.
• 4:57
  Time to establish boundaries. Time to seek help.
• 5:01
  Time to return. Time to allow God to refine what
• 5:05
  could eventually destroy something much larger.
• 5:08
  The dangerous question is not, can I still function?
• 5:12
  The question is, am I still becoming the person
• 5:15
  God is calling me to become? Then we meet Saul.
• 5:20
  Saul was chosen. Saul was anointed. Saul was
• 5:23
  positioned as king. But eventually something
• 5:26
  inside Saul began competing with what God had
• 5:30
  entrusted to him. Insecurity, fear, jealousy,
• 5:35
  the need for people's approval. David's success
• 5:38
  began threatening Saul. The people sang. Saul
• 5:42
  has struck down his thousands, and David his
• 5:45
  ten thousands. And Saul could no longer simply
• 5:49
  see David as someone helping the kingdom. He
• 5:52
  began seeing David as a threat. Why? Because
• 5:55
  an unresolved insecurity had entered a place
• 5:58
  of authority. And when weakness receives authority,
• 6:01
  weakness gains resources. An insecure person
• 6:05
  without authority may struggle privately. An
• 6:08
  insecure king has soldiers. An angry person may
• 6:12
  wound someone with words. An angry leader can
• 6:16
  create systems around that anger. A jealous person
• 6:19
  may dislike someone. A jealous person with authority
• 6:23
  can begin using position to fight the person
• 6:27
  they fear. This is why God cares about character
• 6:31
  before expansion. Because authority amplifies
• 6:36
  what is already inside us Listen to me carefully
• 6:42
  Promotion does not heal character Sometimes we
• 6:46
  believe the next level will fix what is wrong
• 6:48
  with us if I get the promotion I will become
• 6:52
  secure if the ministry grows I will become confident
• 6:57
  if I get married Temptation will disappear if
• 7:02
  I make more money financial irresponsibility
• 7:05
  will disappear. If people finally recognize me,
• 7:09
  insecurity will disappear. Not necessarily. Sometimes
• 7:13
  promotion does not remove weakness. Promotion
• 7:17
  gives weakness a larger stage. Money can amplify
• 7:20
  poor stewardship. Authority can amplify pride.
• 7:25
  Visibility can amplify insecurity. Access can
• 7:29
  amplify appetite. Influence can amplify an uncontrolled
• 7:33
  tongue. That is why God sometimes works on the
• 7:36
  person before increasing what surrounds the person.
• 7:40
  We keep praying, God enlarge me, and God may
• 7:43
  be answering, let me strengthen what will have
• 7:46
  to carry the enlargement. Let's talk about the
• 7:49
  weight of purpose. Think about a bridge. Before
• 7:53
  engineers allow greater weight to travel across
• 7:56
  it, the structure must be capable of carrying
• 7:59
  the load. The issue is not whether the destination
• 8:02
  is good. The issue is whether the structure can
• 8:05
  sustain what is coming across it. Purpose has
• 8:09
  weight. Influence has weight. Leadership has
• 8:13
  weight. Marriage has weight. Parenthood has weight.
• 8:17
  Ministry has weight. Success has weight. Money
• 8:20
  has weight. Authority has weight. And sometimes
• 8:23
  we ask God for the weight while resisting the
• 8:27
  process that develops our capacity. But God loves
• 8:30
  us too much to be impressed only by our ambition.
• 8:34
  He sees what the assignment will require, so
• 8:37
  he works on the structure. David was anointed
• 8:41
  by Samuel long before he became king over all
• 8:45
  Israel. Think about that. The anointing came,
• 8:49
  but the throne did not immediately follow. There
• 8:52
  were fields, there was Goliath, there was Saul,
• 8:56
  there was rejection. There were caves. There
• 9:00
  were battles. There were opportunities to retaliate.
• 9:04
  There were moments when David could have killed
• 9:07
  Saul and accelerated his own journey toward the
• 9:10
  throne. But David refused. Why? Because God wasn't
• 9:15
  simply bringing David to a throne. God was developing
• 9:20
  the man who would sit on it. The cave was doing
• 9:23
  something the crown could not do. The waiting
• 9:26
  was doing something immediate promotion could
• 9:29
  not do. The injustice was revealing something.
• 9:33
  The opportunity to retaliate was developing restraint.
• 9:38
  Sometimes the distance between the anointing
• 9:40
  and the assignment is called preparation. And
• 9:45
  this is where our theology must remain honest.
• 9:48
  David was refined. David learned restraint. David
• 9:53
  walked with God. and David still failed terribly.
• 9:57
  Bathsheba, Uriah, consequences entered his family.
• 10:02
  So does that mean the refining process failed?
• 10:04
  No. It means refinement does not make us incapable
• 10:08
  of failure. We remain dependent upon God. And
• 10:13
  perhaps one of the greatest signs of character
• 10:15
  is not merely that you never fall. It is what
• 10:19
  happens when God confronts you. Nathan came to
• 10:23
  David, and David eventually said, I have sinned
• 10:27
  against the Lord. No blaming Bathsheba, no blaming
• 10:32
  pressure, no blaming the responsibilities of
• 10:35
  kingship, no manipulating Nathan. David was confronted
• 10:40
  and broken. Psalm 51 gives us the cry of a man
• 10:44
  who understood that what needed restoration was
• 10:47
  deeper than reputation. created me a clean heart,
• 10:52
  O God. David didn't simply need the consequences
• 10:55
  removed, he needed the heart addressed. That
• 10:59
  is refinement. Listen to this principle. Character
• 11:04
  is not perfection. We need this distinction.
• 11:09
  Character does not mean perfection. If perfection
• 11:13
  were the qualification for purpose, scripture
• 11:16
  would contain very few usable people. Character
• 11:20
  means that increasingly, your inner life is coming
• 11:23
  under the government of God. You can be corrected.
• 11:27
  You can repent. You can accept responsibility.
• 11:31
  You can establish boundaries. You can tell yourself
• 11:34
  no. You can apologize. You can submit your appetite.
• 11:39
  You can admit weakness. You can seek accountability.
• 11:43
  You can choose obedience over image. A person
• 11:46
  of character is not someone who says, I cannot
• 11:50
  fall. A person of growing character says, because
• 11:54
  I know I can fall, I will remain dependent upon
• 11:58
  God. That is a completely different posture.
• 12:02
  Peter had to be broken before he could strengthen
• 12:05
  others. Peter gives us another extraordinary
• 12:08
  picture. Peter was bold. Peter loved Jesus. Peter
• 12:13
  was called. But Peter also had confidence in
• 12:16
  himself. Jesus warned him that Satan had asked
• 12:20
  to sift him like wheat. Peter essentially responded,
• 12:24
  I'm ready. Prison? I'll go. Death? I'll go. But
• 12:29
  only hours later, Peter denied Jesus three times.
• 12:33
  And perhaps something had to die in Peter before
• 12:36
  Pentecost. Not his calling, not his personality,
• 12:40
  not his boldness, his confidence in his own strength.
• 12:44
  After the resurrection, Jesus restored him, and
• 12:47
  the Peter who later stood at Pentecost was still
• 12:51
  bold. But now he knew something he had not fully
• 12:54
  understood before. He needed the Holy Spirit.
• 12:58
  That is refinement. God doesn't always remove
• 13:01
  your strength. Sometimes he removes your illusion
• 13:05
  that your strength is enough. The Holy Spirit
• 13:09
  and Discipline This brings us back to something
• 13:13
  foundational to this entire season. There are
• 13:17
  two things we desperately need. The help of the
• 13:20
  Holy Spirit and a life of discipline. We cannot
• 13:24
  produce holiness through willpower alone. We
• 13:27
  need grace. We need conviction. We need the Holy
• 13:32
  Spirit. But grace does not remove responsibility.
• 13:36
  The Holy Spirit may expose the weakness. You
• 13:39
  must respond. The Holy Spirit may warn you about
• 13:43
  the relationship. You must establish the boundary.
• 13:47
  The Holy Spirit may convict you about your words.
• 13:51
  You must learn restraint. The Holy Spirit may
• 13:54
  show you the seed. You must stop watering it.
• 13:58
  The Holy Spirit may reveal pride. You must humble
• 14:01
  yourself. This is partnership. God transforms.
• 14:06
  We surrender. God empowers. We obey. God warns.
• 14:10
  We listen. God refines. We remain on the altar.
• 14:15
  A question. Remain. What if God is protecting
• 14:19
  you from your own success? Now consider this.
• 14:22
  We often ask God to protect us from enemies.
• 14:25
  But what if one of God's concerns is protecting
• 14:28
  us from receiving something before we have the
• 14:31
  character to carry it? Because success can destroy
• 14:35
  an unprepared person just as surely as adversity
• 14:38
  can. What if the delay is mercy? What if the
• 14:43
  closed door is mercy? What if the season of obscurity
• 14:46
  is mercy? What if God is developing something
• 14:50
  privately because he knows what will happen publicly?
• 14:54
  Maybe you are asking, God, why haven't you opened
• 14:58
  the door? And perhaps God is asking, can your
• 15:02
  character survive what is behind that door? Can
• 15:05
  your humility survive recognition? Can your marriage
• 15:09
  survive greater access? Can your integrity survive
• 15:13
  more money? Can your discipline survive greater
• 15:17
  freedom? Can your prayer life survive success?
• 15:21
  Can your character survive influence? Can your
• 15:25
  relationship with God survive applause? Those
• 15:29
  are difficult questions, but they are loving
• 15:32
  questions. This principle is true. The gift attracts
• 15:38
  people. Character determines what they experience.
• 15:42
  A gift can attract people. Talent can attract
• 15:46
  people. Charisma can attract people. Leadership
• 15:50
  can attract people. Anointing can attract people.
• 15:55
  But once people arrive, they eventually encounter
• 15:58
  your character. They encounter how you treat
• 16:02
  people who cannot benefit you. They encounter
• 16:05
  how you respond when challenged. They encounter
• 16:09
  how you behave when nobody is applauding. They
• 16:12
  encounter how you handle disagreement. They encounter
• 16:16
  how you handle power. They encounter how you
• 16:19
  speak about people when they leave the room.
• 16:22
  They encounter whether your private life agrees
• 16:25
  with your public message. The gift may introduce
• 16:29
  them to you. Character determines what happens
• 16:32
  after they arrive. And this is why character
• 16:35
  protects vision. Listen carefully. This truth.
• 16:42
  God is preparing the vessel. Maybe this changes
• 16:46
  how we understand the fire. We thought God was
• 16:50
  punishing us. Maybe he was strengthening the
• 16:52
  structure. We thought God was delaying us. Maybe
• 16:56
  he was developing capacity. We thought God was
• 16:59
  restricting us. Maybe he was teaching boundaries.
• 17:03
  We thought God was hiding us. Maybe he was developing
• 17:07
  character without the distraction of applause.
• 17:10
  We thought God was taking things away. Maybe
• 17:14
  he was removing weight that could not accompany
• 17:17
  the assignment. We thought the fire was standing
• 17:20
  between us and purpose. Maybe the fire was preparing
• 17:24
  us for purpose. Do not ask only for more anointing.
• 17:30
  Maybe our prayer needs to change. Instead of
• 17:34
  only, God increase my anointing. We should also
• 17:38
  pray, God increase my character. If you increase
• 17:42
  my influence, increase my humility. If you increase
• 17:46
  my resources, increase my stewardship. If you
• 17:50
  increase my authority, increase my compassion.
• 17:53
  If you increase my platform, increase my accountability.
• 17:58
  If you increase my opportunities, increase my
• 18:01
  discipline. If you increase my voice, increase
• 18:05
  my wisdom. And if there is something inside me
• 18:09
  that cannot survive where you are taking me,
• 18:12
  deal with it now. That is a dangerous prayer,
• 18:16
  but it is the prayer of someone who understands
• 18:20
  purpose. Don't protect what God is trying to
• 18:24
  remove. This brings us back to conversation two.
• 18:28
  When the fire exposes something, don't immediately
• 18:31
  defend it. If God reveals insecurity, let him
• 18:35
  heal it. If he reveals pride, let him humble
• 18:38
  it. If he reveals an uncontrolled appetite, establish
• 18:43
  boundaries. If he reveals anger, deal with it.
• 18:47
  If he reveals jealousy, confront it. If he reveals
• 18:52
  a dangerous relationship, listen. If he reveals
• 18:56
  that your identity has become dependent upon
• 18:58
  people's applause, return to him. Because what
• 19:02
  God exposes today may be what He refuses to allow
• 19:06
  to destroy tomorrow. Exposure can be mercy. This
• 19:13
  principle is true. The vessel must be able to
• 19:16
  carry the oil. God has purpose for your life,
• 19:19
  but purpose carries weight, and therefore God
• 19:22
  is not merely interested in what He can do through
• 19:25
  you. He cares deeply about what He is doing in
• 19:29
  you. Samson teaches us that gifting without discipline
• 19:32
  is dangerous. Saul teaches us that authority
• 19:36
  cannot heal insecurity. David teaches us that
• 19:40
  preparation matters and that even after failure,
• 19:44
  humility and repentance matter. Peter teaches
• 19:48
  us that confidence in ourselves must eventually
• 19:52
  give way to dependence upon the Holy Spirit.
• 19:56
  So perhaps the fire you are experiencing is doing
• 20:00
  something you cannot yet see. It is strengthening
• 20:03
  the vessel. It is developing restraint. It is
• 20:07
  exposing weakness. It is deepening humility.
• 20:11
  It is teaching dependence. It is developing character.
• 20:15
  Because God knows something you may not yet know.
• 20:19
  He knows the weight of what He intends to entrust
• 20:22
  to you. And perhaps that is why he refuses to
• 20:26
  leave you exactly as you are. The goal is not
• 20:31
  simply to become more gifted. The goal is not
• 20:34
  simply to become more visible. The goal is not
• 20:38
  simply to become more successful. The goal is
• 20:41
  to become someone whose character can carry the
• 20:45
  responsibility attached to the calling. So don't
• 20:48
  despise the preparation. Don't despise the correction.
• 20:53
  Don't despise the waiting. Don't despise the
• 20:57
  boundaries. Don't despise the fire. God is preparing
• 21:01
  the vessel for the weight of purpose. And one
• 21:04
  day you may realize the delay was not denial.
• 21:09
  The correction was not rejection. The fire was
• 21:13
  not destruction. It was preparation. God was
• 21:17
  refining the person who would have to carry what
• 21:20
  he had already placed inside them. You are being
• 21:24
  prepared. You are being strengthened. You are
• 21:28
  being humbled. You are being disciplined. You
• 21:32
  are becoming capable of carrying greater responsibility.
• 21:36
  You are being refined for a purpose. This is
• 21:41
  Paimoja Ministry. And in our next conversation,
• 21:44
  we will move into another dimension of God's
• 21:47
  refining process, the people who enter our lives.
• 21:51
  Some will encourage you, some will support you,
• 21:55
  some will challenge you, some may even wound
• 21:59
  you. But when your life is surrendered to God's
• 22:02
  purpose, he is able to use relationships and
• 22:06
  encounters in ways you may not understand until
• 22:09
  much later. Conversation seven, the people God
• 22:14
  uses in your process.