Copyright 2014 Theresa Harvard Johnson
(This post is primarily geared toward scribes who have asked for counsel from others concerning their scribal projects. Then, when they receive the advice released in love, they dismiss it. The purpose of this article is to encourage listening so that we can produce work that is pleasing to God in all areas.)
Proverbs 15:22 CJB says, “Without deliberation, plans go wrong; but with many advisers, they succeed.”
One of the most difficult challenges I have encountered in scribal ministry revolves around providing constructive criticism to prophetic people. It is as if there is this mindset that declares: “God told me how to do it, so I’m going to do it like this anyway.” And sometimes, that “anyway” is a very, very bad representation of their prophetic vision.
The truth is: We are indeed commanded to obey God. But we are to do so in the midst of common sense, sensibility, order, practicality and excellence. Otherwise, we risk becoming fools and standing as a mockery before men. In scribal ministry specifically, this is just not a good place to be – especially if you are a scribe positioning yourself to publish,teach and lead others. Some of you know what I am speaking of because, like me, you have been in this place of “knowing it all and rejecting sound counsel.” I am thankful to God for his chastisement, patience and for saving me from myself. (I know some of you are joining me in saying, AMEN, as it relates to your own journey.)
Proverbs 18:12 CJB, “A fool takes no pleasure in trying to understand; he only wants to express his own opinion.”
The term deliberation in this passage is powerful. It indicates a mental process of considering, contemplating, counting up the cost or entering into a place of intimacy in which you are being counseled – allowing Holy Spirit to speak to your heart. The process of deliberation often requires research, discussions, the reviewing of outlines and plans, or even counsel. The phrase “many advisers” is not about random people; rather, it is about reaching out into a circle of trust or within an area where others may have expertise or insight. It is reaching for WISDOM.
Because we have the mind of Christ, deliberating or considering a matter is good and even expected from God. Not everything drops out of the spiritual sky and into one’s hands. There are many things we work toward and grow into learning, perfecting at the helm of Holy Spirit. Godly counsel – when you deliberately seek it out – should never be casually dismissed as the Lord formulates scribal projects in your heart. Rather, it should be “deliberated.”
You see, a scribe may receive a spiritual download for a screen play. An obedient scribe will go through the scribal process of writing it all out and formatting it for their personal, local use. However, if the production is on a broad scale that involves submitting the screen play on a professional level; then that scribe must be prepared to submit a manuscript that meets those detailed and intricate guidelines. We cannot by-pass the professional process simply because “this is how I was told to do it or this is how I saw it in a dream.” So, counsel that comes your way to help you with this process is valuable.
People of God, we are not talking about changing the message of what you received. Rather, we are talking about organizing and presenting material in a way that others – besides you – know what is going on or taking place. This truth applies to every literary genre you can think of or imagine. Most people cannot submit a theatrical play to an agent in any-old-kind-of-format and expect those agents to follow what is going on in the manuscript; any more than you can submit a novel without character development, a setting or plot.
When I wrote my first book over decade ago, I did so from a place of spiritual vision while totally dismissing the practical. I closed my ear to anything and everything outside of “what I saw” – even when those who were spiritually sound and had professional experience above my pay-grade, so to speak, attempted to offer insight and help. I was too “spiritual” to listen, and it cost me time, money and embarrassment.
Today, I’m rewriting several books – but this time I am doing so with professional experience, an understanding of excellence and with counselors. I am walking it out from a humble, crushed place. You can take those necessary steps of humility now; so you don’t have to walk HARD.
When prophetic scribes fail to listen, they end up releasing projects that are mediocre or outright embarrassing to them (and those associated to them) instead of releasing their greatness. Small beginnings do not equal poor or deprived beginnings. Prophetic scribes who listen grow to the see the benefit of applying what they have learned, and they avoid embarrassment and calamity.
Proverbs 4:6 CJB, “Don’t abandon [wisdom]; then she will preserve you; love her, and she will protect you.”
We can choose to be unwise. We can choose to ignore sound advice. We can choose to do it our way. And when we do, we are also choosing to accept the consequences of not being taken seriously by our peers; and being a poor witness of the Gospel. It’s time to let go of the pride, the self-righteousness, the super-spirituality and learn to listen others.
