LEADERS ARE POWERFULLord, it will infuse the outer man with strength and energy. That’s why
Paul prayed this prayer for the saints at Ephesus:
“I pray that out of His glorious riches, He may strengthen
you with power through the inner being, so that Christ may
dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you,
being rooted and established in love, may have power,
together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long
and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this
love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to
the measure of all the fullness of God” (Eph. 4:16-19).Authentic spiritual leaders down through the centuries have learned
what Paul learned – to lay hold of God’s dunamis power (Rom. 1:16)!
They allow God’s power and resources to flow in and through them.
Fred Smith shared his own experiences this way:
“I learned that with God’s presence permeating the meetings,
He was the source; I was only the spokesman. In other words,
God was the pump, and I was the pipe. The pipe never gets tired.
When I attempt to be the pump as well as the pipe, that
takes more than I have. When I try to substitute my power
for God’s, I become powerless, dissatisfied, even frantic and
defeated.”^7“When God selects, He sends power.”^6
(Fred Smith)We can see that all authentic spiritual power is endued from God through
His Spirit to our spirit. This “Spirit to spirit infusion of power” produces
an endument and energy in the inner man or woman that overflows to the
outer man or woman. When applied to the spiritual realm, only God can
endue or endow a person with true spiritual authority. Conversely, only God
can strip a man of that same spiritual authority and spiritual leadership. It
is an inviolate principle that “all spiritual authority is derived.” That means:
“To have authority, one must be submitted to authority.” There are only two
sources of spiritual authority in the universe: God and Satan.