A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

We all know this one. Basically, this means that what you actually have is worth more than what you could have. You can miss a lot of REAL life while you hold out for a possibility. So let’s tweak that cliché a bit:

“It’s better to realize potential than to talk about it.”

Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.”

Does social networking have the same effect on ministers? Will we begin to see fewer miracles everywhere we go because they know we watched LOST and enjoyed that brownie sundae at Applebees? I think we tend to believe that visitors may have a stronger connection to God or stronger gift of faith than we do. But if we were to follow them on Facebook and Twitter, would we lose that ability to esteem them as highly?

Bill Johnson would argue that every family and church needs to intentionally cultivate a culture of honor, wherein we choose to not take our loved ones and lifelong acquaintances for granted. Bill says that by doing so, we often shut off a God-ordained source of life, healing, and comfort for ourselves. They’re around us for a reason, but we tend to take for granted those whom we know best.

And I’m not really asking whose fault it is. Should ANY of us share as much information as we sometimes do? And should we REALLY assume a person isn’t anointed because they watched the Cowboys game on the big screen at Buffalo Wild Wings while scarfing down a ten pack of garlic parmesan?

This really isn’t just about prophets. Imagine anyone with a revelatory, healing, or miraculous gift. Familiarity breeds contempt. How difficult a road will a guy like Todd Bentley have? Do you feel less likely to be healed by someone who tells you when they’re watching professional wrestling? Does that kind of information work in his favor?

I was just informed last night of this year’s Amber Rose Conference at Shady Grove Church in Grand Prairie, March 4th-6th. Some men from my home group are planning to attend and participate in the healing rooms.

We want to see people set free, healed, restored, and experiencing the goodness of our God! What better way to bless others, increase our faith, and practice the gifts of God? Who’s in?

As you renew your minds, be aware that reading God’s Word, as your only course of action, may not be enough. We will read some Scriptures over and over and over again, and the meaning is lost on us. The reason that’s true is because we hear ourselves read these passages through the lens of our own experience or through the tone of the person who introduced these biblical concepts to us.

Faith comes by hearing

Hear this, Beloved. Faith comes by HEARING. There is something dynamic and mysterious about sound. I grew up hearing the austere Methodist preacher talk in a monotone and lifeless voice about the marvelous “love of God”. It all sounded so dreadfully boring. I associated his tone and expression with those words. For years, whenever I heard someone read a passage of Scripture, I heard it through the lens and filter of their understanding.

This means it’s all too important who we choose to listen to.

We can increase our faith and our understanding by listening to people speak who have a deeper and less cluttered understanding than we have. Each person, when sharing their story or even reading a passage from a book, emphasizes and interprets the words through the filter of their understanding. That’s how people choose what tone and inflection to add when reading. They see “love”, and they read the word as they understand it.

When I heard Mike Bickle speak about the glorious Bridegroom, he rocked my world. Suddenly, Jesus was this God-Man so glorious and wonderful that I had to learn more. When I heard Gary Wiens speak with certainty about his loving Father, I knew I wanted to know a God like that. I knew that Christianity suddenly made sense if God was an extravagant lover and giver. If life was REALLY meant to be a passionate romance and pursuit of the Bridegroom, I could sign on to that.

It was hearing the reality in their voices that tipped the scales.

To this day, I seek out people with deeper revelation than I have. Whether it’s a streaming video, tapes, DVDs, sermon podcasts, or a testimonial of God’s power, I want to hear the people share who have experienced God and been transformed. Their stories expand my expectation and hope. I am excited to seek God and encouraged to trust more.

Take the challenge: In whatever area you wish you had deeper understanding and greater revelation, find testimonials, talks, and sermons on the subject from people who are more alive in that area than you. Don’t let anything stop you from listening to the voice of revelation.

If you want to grow deeper in a particular area but aren’t sure who to trust or who to listen to, leave me a comment or fill out the contact form and I will share my personal recommendations with you.

This has been an amazing revelation in my life. Don’t just read. You need to hear the voice of the one who has experienced greater depths of revelation. That the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. That the breadth of your expectation may be increased.

On the subject of discipleship, there is no example better than the letters from Paul to Timothy. Through his letters, we glimpse the premiere apostolic standard of mentorship and spiritual fathering.

²And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.

2 Timothy 2:2

What a remarkable command! Let’s look at this deeper.

Paul gives us a glimpse at a four generational approach to mentoring. Paul mentors Timothy, then instructs him to teach reliable men who not only will learn and receive his instruction, but who will ALSO be qualified to teach others.

Do you remember that famous cliche:

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Paul takes this wisdom a step further: Teach men to teach OTHER men how to fish and you feed an entire people group.

If we teach other men, we equip a single generation to live well. If we teach those men how to teach, they not only learn how to live, but they learn how to replicate. Then those people they teach will teach others, who will in turn teach others, until the end of time.

This is true discipleship. We need a multi-generational view of the Christian life. If your vision ends with your children or your immediate disciples, your vision is too small.

Moses discipled Joshua. We read throughout the Scriptures how Joshua was present day and night. He learned from “the man.” But the one thing he didn’t learn was to teach other men. Take a look at Judges 2:7 and 10-12:

⁷ The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel.

¹⁰ After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. ¹¹ Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. ¹² They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them.

Where Joshua had been discipled, the generation after Joshua apparently had not. They knew not God or His mighty acts on their behalf. Moses taught Joshua to fish, so to speak, but it doesn’t look like he taught Joshua how to teach other men to fish. So the discipleship dies out after a generation.

Let us adjust our vision and embrace the multi-generational view of discipleship which God intended when He told us to teach our children and our children’s children about His goodness, His character, and His mighty deeds.

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