Monday, August 26, 2013

PROPHETIC STEWARDSHIP - (c) Morris E. Ruddick

Morris Ruddick

SIGN

PROPHETIC STEWARDSHIP

(c) Morris E. Ruddick


"Then the king said, 'Bring me a sword. Divide the living child 
in two, and give half to one, and half to the other.' Then the 
woman whose son was living spoke to the king, for she yearned 
with compassion for her son; and she said, 'O my lord, give her 
the living child, and by no means kill him!' But the other said, 
'Let him be neither mine nor yours, but divide him.'" 
1 Kings 3:24-26

Solomon's wisdom in discerning the true mother is also a key to 
discerning true leaders. True leaders have the compassion that 
is willing to face personal sacrifice. It's the mark of stewardship. 
The perspective of the wannabees and unseasoned will tend 
toward being inwardly focused and driven by personal, 
wrong reasons.

True biblical stewardship is just the opposite. Prophetic 
stewardship bears an even higher standard. Kingdom 
leadership pivots on stewardship that seeks the community 
good. That may require a decisiveness that is neither 
popular nor comfortable. It demands a basis that 
understands the true heart of God and the long-term 
prophetic implications.

Joseph's service to Pharaoh began with a time of preparation. 
Scripture indicates that these years of preparation were 
a fruitful time, a time of abundance. Yet, what was 
required to gather and store the grain demanded discipline. 
It no doubt involved some belt-tightening for everyone. 
The tough standards and decisions required were not for 
the feint of heart or those with the need to be accepted.

Yet, when the years of abundance were over and famine 
came, then both the decisions and the discipline became 
even harder. Joseph's stewardship involved a balance 
between maintaining order, adjusting to the widespread 
famine, while establishing Egypt as solution-provider. 
It required a level of administration that not only 
was gifted, but drew from God's wisdom for the decisions 
being made.

Egypt, under Joseph, became the safe-place, the place of God's 
order when everything else was falling into disorder. That took 
tough-minded decision-making to set up and no doubt even tougher 
decisions to maintain and administrate. Genesis 45 reveals that as 
the famine proceeded, that the money failed. Prophetically God had 
shown Joseph the need to gather and store the grain. Because the 
staple with value was grain, Joseph was in the driver's seat. Clearly 
Joseph heard from God.

With the abundance of grain, Joseph cornered the livestock market. 
The people of Egypt remained fed, as Egypt's influence with those 
around them increased as a prepared-provider and a refuge during 
the turbulence. As things deteriorated, the people sold their land to 
Joseph for the food needed to feed their families. The famine was 
severe. No doubt the value of land had also dropped. Yet, Joseph 
the good steward, the prophetic steward, brought the people into 
the cities to live.

"When the money failed, Joseph bought the livestock; 
then the land; then brought the people into the cities." 
Gen 47:15-25

The suggestion is that there was safety and community order, 
again a refuge, within the boundaries of the cities. Joseph maintained 
the order needed during a severely difficult time, kept the people fed 
and kept them safe. Following the famine, Joseph restored the people 
to their lands requiring only a fifth on their produce in return.

The Prophetic Dimension
Operating in the prophetic means there are often times when we 
"see" or perceive things that we want to act on. However, the 
prophetic calling requires a lot more by way of self-control than 
the ordinary. It's too important. The mature prophetic response 
is from those who rule their own spirits.

The prophetic is first hearing from God. However, when we hear 
from God another key required layer is the issue of alignment and 
seeing things from the stance of what God is doing. It's becoming 
a participator in His destiny-shaping purposes and agendas. It's 
entering a dimension of God's big-picture beyond ourselves.

Yet, we can sometimes get the big-picture without seeing how God 
is getting us there. So, operating in the prophetic requires a continual 
checking-in with Him for the "interims." That's because none of us are 
at the place to where we nail it at each step, despite our best and 
most valiant efforts to do so.

One of the hardest things to learn is to NOT force issues. 
The flip side of that is holding steady when you don't yet 
see the change in the natural. Yet, faith and faithfulness 
are determined by those who grasp what is underway 
in the unseen world.

When we are in a place where there is something that 
God is doing that we haven't fully or even partially 
discerned, it represents a place of vulnerability. 
Well intentioned people unwittingly walk into cross-fires 
of judgment by yielding to the soulish in these interims.

Judgment can also be triggered because of ones who, 
being convinced of their "rightness" regarding something, 
don't have the big-picture quite right. They lack a full 
discernment of what God is doing or their place in it. 
What results is creating a short-circuiting or backlash by 
which they and others are hurt. Prophetic stewardship 
requires keeping one's spiritual antennas high and at 
the times one is provoked over something, to back 
off until they hear specifically what the Lord has to 
say about it.

Cost of the Mantle
The dreams Joseph received from God as a young man 
came at a high cost. They cost Joseph everything that 
had been dear to him, including his freedom. Yet, Joseph r
ose to the standard that God had set for him. THAT took 
decisions that refused to give in to the soulish. It took serious 
discipline, humility and maturity.

Not only did Joseph demonstrate a right spirit; but as a 
good steward, he took it a step further in assuming 
the mantle of his great-grandfather Abraham: to be 
blessed to be a blessing. Long before his promotion to sit 
alongside of Pharaoh, with nothing to go on in terms of 
position, Joseph distinguished himself with Potiphar and 
then the jailer with both his influence and the stewardship 
of the mantle he bore.

The result came from a right spirit that stewarded the 
blessings of God in such a way that everyone around 
Joseph saw that God was real, through the demonstration 
of that reality through Joseph. Yet, it came at a cost; 
a very high cost. In the face of losing everything; in the face 
of slavery; in the face of unrighteous spiritual backlash; Joseph 
maintained his faithfulness as God's servant-steward.

Gravity of the Mantle
Leaders, who truly understand the times and know 
what to do, demonstrate a maturity that is above the 
soulish. They don't quibble or second guess when tough 
decisions are required. They guard their own hearts 
diligently and do not give in to soulish machinations. 
Yielding to the soulish is what opens the door 
for the demonic.

The contrast is demonstrated in Isaiah 22 with the 
story of two leaders, one whose decisions were 
short-sighted and driven by personal, soulish 
matters and another whose stewardship embraced 
the long-term opportunity resident in the heart of God.

"Go to Shebna, who is over the house, and say: 
Indeed, the LORD will throw you away violently; 
there you shall die. Then it shall be in that day, 
that I will call My servant Eliakim; I will clothe 
him with your robe and strengthen him with 
your belt; I will commit your responsibility 
into his hand. He shall be a father to the 
inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of 
Judah. The key of the house of David I will lay 
on his shoulder; so he shall open, and no one 
shall shut; and he shall shut, and no one shall open. 
I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place, and 
he will become a glorious throne to 
his father's house." Isaiah 22:15-23

Authority of the Prophetic
The authority of God for change is released through 
the prophetic. The story of Joseph reflects a progression 
of episodes in his life tied to how he heard and obeyed 
the voice of the Lord. This simple foundation in many 
untenable situations became the catalyst for a owner 
and an authority that was recognized as being from God 
by a whole range of non-believers, including those in 
authority.

That prophetic authority was the means by which God 
used Joseph to shift the spiritual climate within Egypt's 
power infrastructure. It set the stage for the prophetic 
alignment needed for Joseph's apostolic gifts to harness, 
redirect and then steward the resources of Egypt to 
accomplish God's purposes for the future of His people.

Discernment and Prophetic Alignment
Joseph's tenure in Egypt is laced with examples of 
Joseph's significant prophetic gifts. Prophetic stewardship 
will unmask the intentions of the hearts of those who 
serve a role, whether for good or for evil, in the initiatives 
being stewarded.

The story of the baker and the wine-taster exemplifies how, 
during Joseph's weakest hour in the natural, that God 
used him prophetically to judge and establish the removal 
of one key man from Pharaoh's court; and to restore and 
set up another, who became instrumental at the right 
time in aligning things for Joseph's promotion.

Similarly, Joseph's scrutiny of his brothers was not retribution, 
but the need to see the repentance that was needed for 
Joseph to establish parameters with those who once 
betrayed him. By the time his brothers came back on the 
scene, Joseph was in the full flow of his very considerable 
calling. He did not need the old issues and patterns of behavior 
demonstrated by his betrayers to manifest and disrupt in any 
way his role as God's servant-steward.

Still, the discernment of Joseph was not an end in itself, 
but the means of aligning things first spiritually and then 
in the natural, for God's purposes. Stewarding the will of 
God begins with resetting the spiritual climate. When the 
spiritual climate is properly aligned, it allows God's order 
to be established. Only then, will the stable flow come 
needed to counteract the forces of judgment and the 
tentacles of evil.

The Prophetic Steward
The prophetic steward is the one who maps out, builds 
up and brings increase in the face of the enemy's schemes 
to divide, confuse and destroy.

I have previously noted an organization I was a part of 
many years ago. The standard for entry was high. 
The standard to be maintained was even higher. 
Members of this organization became known by the axiom 
of "when the going gets tough, the tough get going." 
It is unfortunate within the Body that many confuse 
soft standards of the world with the level in which, 
we as a Body are expected to operate. Our standard, like 
that of Joseph's is higher. It's much, much higher.

I have had the joy of working with two men of God who 
operate with this higher standard. They each are very 
different in their leadership styles, yet very similar in anointing. 
Each reaches hard for God's heart and God's will on the 
issues before them. Both are unusual in their roles as 
prophetic stewards.

One is incredibly gifted in discerning the gifts and will of 
God operating in people, with the ability to draw forth 
and put those gifts into operation. The other is a very 
high-level administrator, whose ability to discern the 
big-picture and then mobilize leaders to address it, is 
timely and strategic. One is a model for the Body locally; 
the other globally.

Both are incredible peacemakers, a very high standard i
the progressive maturity unveiled by Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. 
They each have a gift for tapping and aligning things spiritually 
to establish God's order and to release the supernatural for change. 
We need more of that standard.

We've entered a time that Jesus spoke of as when even the 
very elect would be deceived. It is a time when the 
convergence of good and evil will trigger both judgment 
and change. Prophetic stewardship sees the alignments 
and change in the spirit from God's perspective. It then 
navigates and anticipates the responses needed to shape 
and release God's purposes.

The Lord Jesus also told us that many are called, but 
few are chosen. The criterion for leadership, established by 
Solomon's wisdom, begins with sacrifice and compassion.

It is evidenced by those who not only face, but traverse and 
emerge whole from the fires. It pivots on an unpolluted 
prophetic stewardship that pays the cost to unswervingly 
maintain the steps needed to change the spiritual climate 
and to establish God's order.

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may 
see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven." 
Matthew 5:16
___________________________________________________

Morris Ruddick has been a forerunner and spokesman for 
the call of God in the marketplace since the mid-90s. 
As founder of Global Initiatives Foundation and designer 
of the God's Economy Entrepreneurial Equippers Program, 
Mr. Ruddick imparts hope and equips economic community 
builders where God's light is dim in both the Western and 
non-Western world.

He is author of "The Joseph-Daniel Calling;" "God's Economy, 
Israel and the Nations;" "The Heart of a King;" "Something More;" 
and "Righteous Power in a Corrupt World," which address the 
mobilization of business and governmental leaders called to 
impact their communities with God's blessings. They are available 
in print and e-versions from Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com 
and other popular outlets.  

Mr. Ruddick is also a contributor in the just released five-volume 
"Aligning with the Apostolic," edited by Bruce Cook with Forwards 
by Peter Wagner and Bill Hamon. It is available through 

Global Initiatives Foundation (www.strategic-initiatives.org) is 
a tax-exempt 501 (c) 3 non-profit whose efforts are enabled 
by the generosity of a remnant of faithful friends and contributors 
whose vision aligns with God's heart to mobilize the least of 
these our brethren. Checks on US banks should be made out 
to Global Initiatives and mailed to PO Box 370291, Denver CO 80237 
or email us at sign@strategicintercession.org for access 
information on our secure web-site.

2013 Copyright Morris Ruddick - sign@strategicintercession.org

Reproduction is prohibited unless permission is given by a 
SIGN advisor. Since 1996, the Strategic Intercession Global Network 
(SIGN) has mobilized prophetic intercessors committed to targeting 
strategic-level issues impacting the Body on a global basis. For 
previous posts or more information on SIGN, check: http://www.strategicintercession.org

Morris Ruddick
Global Initiatives Foundation
www.strategic-initiatives.org
www.strategicintercession.org 

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Thanks for sharing. Blessings on your head from the Lord Jesus, Yeshua HaMashiach.

Steve Martin
Founder
Love For His People
Charlotte, NC USA