“So far I guess I’m establishing that any Asset I do develop should have practice in both Evaluating and being Evaluated, as well as giving and taking Feedback… But if I decide to go to the final verses of this set of Scripture from here, I’d be missing out on why I pulled up these verses in the first place. Besides analyzing the conversation and the exchange of Jethro and Moses, let’s take a look at what Jethro ACTUALLY said.” – The First QA (Black Dawn, Repurposed) – February 1-9, 2024
We talked last time about how Jethro was comprehensive in his evaluation, and graciously direct in how he gave feedback… And to be honest I really wasn’t supposed to get into that but as I was going along with it, it seemed necessary for us to dive a little deeper into.
Now, however, we look at what we can learn from the actual feedback he gave to Moses.
Let’s go back to the Scripture we were going through, in Exodus 18:
Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone.
Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God,”
Representation By Communication: A Priestly, Prophetic Role
This was Jethro’s charge to Moses, before he mentioned what other folks were to adhere to. Moses, first and foremost, was to ‘represent the people before God‘.
Now, I remember where Joseph Prince was talking about the Transfiguration of Christ, where Moses and Elijah appeared at the top of the mountain with Him. I found it quite insightful for Pastor Prince to point out that Moses was the priest of priests, while Elijah (surprisingly, not Isaiah as we revere in conventional Christianity) was the prophet of prophets.
He then pointed out a significant difference in the ministry of both roles – the priests communicated to God on behalf of the people, while the prophets communicated to the people on behalf of God.
Through the first books of the Bible, we read the myriad of roles and responsibilities of the priests, we shouldn’t be overwhelmed, but relieved; Those of us who have come to know and appreciate the saving power of Christ will eventually be led by the Spirit to understand that (1) Christ is now the High Priest who speaks on our behalf, and (2) through Christ, we ourselves have been re-created, not only to be a royal priesthood who serves at the temple, but we OURSELVES have been made temples of the Holy Spirit!
So with all this said, what I can say regarding our ‘representing the people before God’, and the charge to Moses to ‘bring their cases to God’? I feel, with the understanding of who Christ is and what Christ has done, that all this just means that we as Assets have the responsibility to represent others to the Lord… and intimidating as that may sound, I believe all it entails for us is to pray.
But what about the other side to it? How about how we communicate to the people on behalf of God?
We read through the Old Testament of how the Prophets weren’t exactly the favorites of the people of Israel – I’m to understand that the so-called Prophet of prophets, Isaiah, was thrown into a hollow log and sawn in half. If we’re distinctively led by the Holy Spirit to speak to the people on His behalf, we may run the risk of backlash… But we shouldn’t be intimidated, but we should be at peace.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4-7
From this word of Paul to the Church in Philippi, we read that those of us who have come to know and appreciate the saving power of Christ should pray. We talk to God for peace before we talk to anyone else… and we can be sure that the Holy Spirit would respond; Christ Himself says that His Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, who shall guide us into all truth (John 16:13).
The Holy Spirit: Our Mentor In Communication
So it works both ways: Whether we speak to God on behalf of the people, or we speak to the people on behalf of God… we pray.
And while most of us would claim to have a so-called ‘template’ to follow, which we like to call ‘The Lord’s Prayer’, I believe that we have something greater than a mere ‘template’ (which, by the way, can easily be repeated in vain) – we have the Holy Spirit Himself:
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26-27
So we’ve come to a conclusion regarding additional skills that Assets should have: Representation, communication, and mentorship.
We are to practice representation… and in representation, we would do well to work on our communication. And when it comes to communication, we would do well to have a mentor to hear from, and to talk to… just so we would be able to be effective when the time comes for us to do mentoring ourselves.
Fortunately for those of us in the Body of Christ, we are blessed to have the Holy Spirit as God’s Representation: He is our Mentor when it comes to communication.
Based on the Scripture we just pulled up, we read that the Spirit both literally prays for us, and the Spirit leads us to pray. And considering what we talked about in our previous post on this project, I also believe that the Spirit is also with us when we make our evaluations, and when we give our feedback.
To be honest, it’s the next point that I wanted to spend more time on, but I feel that not only should I stop here for now, but, man, there was a lot to unpack here already.
Until the next post, God bless you.
62178 -582 – 954 after repurposing = 60642 / 365000
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