Category: Article History

Copyright 2013 Theresa Harvard Johnson

(This post is written specifically for seasoned leaders who have been seeking the Lord for strategies to keep order within the ministries entrusted to them. So as you read it, do so within the context of what has been entrusted to you personally, not from the perspective of the body as a whole — even though some elements relate to this. This series is intended to identify and expose a subtle attack that the enemy is using in this hour to bring division and distort authority in the midst of core leadership groups. At its conclusion, we will also look at how to guard what Father has entrusted to us. Christ maintained the proper relationship with his disciples – with each one of them, outside of the son of perdition, knowing their relational boundaries and navigating humbly within them. It is with this respect and honor that I share what the Lord has been teaching me personally in this area. I pray that it blesses your soul.)

The Foundation: Defining Respect

The atmosphere in which we practice our faith has been so watered down in these last days that very few people understand what it means to respect leadership, respect mantles or even to respect one another. We can see this clearly in homes where children tend to run the household; and parents break and bend at their child’s every beck and call. You can see the struggle in trying to figure out who is the parent and who is the child.

 

In the atmosphere of the congregation you can see it in fathering, mothering, shepherding and mentoring relationships. People come to be taught but are unwilling to bend into the mantle of a student.

 

Father has been ministering to me deeply about how the adversary is pouring the cup of division among the people of God. In this hour, there is an intrinsic, diabolical attack on Godly relationships – especially those centered around the “making disciples process” and the non-bondage centered mentoring, fathering and mothering relationships in the Spirit (Matthew 28:18-20; 1 Corinthians 4:15).

Copyright 2013 Theresa Harvard Johnson

Introduction

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to encounter hundreds of literary ministers either through teaching at conferences and events, by phone, in passing or by email. Generally, they fall in three categories as it relates to scribal ministry: (1) those who are Christian but have not acquired a vision for writing as a Christian, (2) those who are Christian and are committed to missional style writing; and (3) those who write only as they are led, empowered or inspired by Holy Spirit. All three groups, however, can struggle with understanding the conversation surrounding secular and sacred.

Copyright 2013 Theresa Harvard Johnson

Let’s face it. Facebook can be an awesome tool to evangelize, market, push causes, release relevant news or stay connected to family, close friends, co-workers, your favorite organizations, groups and such; but it can also be a place of great chaos, confusion, unbelievable division and great temptation for Christians. In some instances, it can even become a place of pride, narcissism, a point of addiction, gossip, a root of judgment and criticism, a weapon of shunning or even bullying.

While some see Facebook as a virtual community that is fictitious in nature, the reality is this: It isn’t. It has fast become the neighborhood that our present and rising generation is learning to live within and navigate. Long gone are the common neighborhood visits to the little old lady down the street as we have known it.

Copyright 2013 Theresa Harvard Johnson

This article is dedicated to all of those who have had tremendous obstacles to overcome that “seem” to make them strikingly different from others inthe world, and it is for those who love them.

 

Every morning for past the five days, my son Jeriah (whom we affectionately call JJ) has opened the back door, thrown his arms behind himself in a flying motion, pointed his head forward like an eagle in flight and raced out of the back door and through the garage in a swirling, swaying zigzag all the way to the school bus shouting unceasingly, “Mama! I am SUPERman!”

 

This morning, I found myself suddenly unloading tears as I watched him.

Copyright 2010 Theresa Harvard Johnson

1 Sa-mu-el 17:34-40

34 David answered Sha’ul (SAUL), “Your servant used to guard his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear would come and grab a lamb from the flock, 35 I would go after it, hit it, and snatch the lamb from its mouth; and if it turned on me, I would catch it by the jaw, smack it and kill it. 36 Your servant has defeated both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised P’lishti will be like one of them, because he has challenged the armies of the living God.”

In my walk with the Lord, I have sown a great deal of faithfulness in my service to His people. I boast in the Lord in this, not in myself. I’ve walked with some mighty and anointed vessels. Whomever I sat under as a student, I gave them the very best I had to give — and did so without reserve, and often to a fault… unquestioned loyalty. Father said to me a few years ago that “because you have sown this kind of faithfulness in the Kingdom, I will return faithfulness to you as you follow hard after me.” All I can think of as I share this is the passage of scripture that says, “A man reaps what He sows.”