leadership

Moses was one of the greatest leaders in history. God had a defined purpose to accomplish through him, which was the deliverance of His people. This implied a deep and arduous work in his character with the aim of getting him ready to realising the mission which he would later entrust him; it took the Lord forty years to mould him.

Then He revealed His purpose to him as he said: “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt” (Exodus 3:7a). Moses had lived so many internal struggles in the past that it seemed incredible to him to be an instrument in divine hands to do mighty things. For this reason, he sought to evade that responsibility presenting his own excuse: “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11). Faced with God’s calling, doubt is our first reaction.

The desert had successfully broken the old Moses, all the pride he carried having lived in Pharaoh’s palace had now disappeared. He was no longer self-sufficient, but a broken, simple and humble man that felt he was unable of doing things alone. God had to tell him: “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain” (Exodus 3:12).

The Lord says the same thing to us today: “Independently of what you think of yourself, I am with you. You won’t speak of yourself but about Me.” You need His presence and He needs a broken life upon His altar. If you surrender to Him, God will be able to use you and you will be a channel of blessing for thousands.

When the servant of the Lord has gone through brokenness, his life is willing to fulfil the purpose of God on this earth, as he will no longer have anything of himself to lean on. But all his strength will only be in God and the Lord will receive the glory for every great conquest.

A young man graduated from Bible School and consecrated himself to the Lord as a missionary to Africa. After preparing himself and when everything was ready, he had a car accident and lost a leg. With deep weeping he said: “God, my only yearning is to preach the gospel to African cannibals. Why do you allow me to lose a leg?” God kept silent. Regardless, he believed it all works for the good of those who love God. He put on a prosthetic leg and went to Africa.

Whilst preaching the gospel, a cannibal captured him. The tribal chief summoned the neighbouring tribes for a great feast, as the night’s main dish would be a white man. But the young man took of his prosthetic leg and threw it saying: “I’m white but you won’t like my flesh, it won’t do you any good.” The cannibals ran at the prosthetic leg and began to chew it, but they didn’t like it. They all tried to leave the place but the tribal chief said to them: “This is no man, but a god! How can his flesh be so hard and tasteless?” They knelt down before the young man as a sign of repentance. Having heard the message of the gospel, the tribal chief summoned all the neighbouring tribes and they repented before God.

Facing each and every one of the challenges I meet daily, I go with full confidence that God goes before me bringing down every force of the adversary. I know that to enter into conquest is to confront adverse powers, but I will defeat all of them in the name of the Lord Jesus.

The people of Israel could not let circumstances guide them, because these were saying everything contrary to what God was speaking to them. And if they looked at the great, walled cities, their tall inhabitants; they would have practically gone back to the dessert. But they had to strengthen themselves in God; without looking right nor left (v.1-2).

Today is the grand day of the miracle and the conquest.

Many times I’ve asked myself the question Moses asked himself: “who am I to achieve this?” There are moments I’ve felt incapable of receiving a great ministry from God. But my strength has been God’s answer to Moses.

God said to Moses that His name was: “I AM WHO I AM.” God’s purpose for this time is that we know him like the great I AM. This means knowing the God of today, not only the one of yesterday, nor the one of tomorrow but the one of this very day. To think that I AM is by my side makes me feel supported, accompanied and secure. I know that the miracle will happen today because I serve a living God, a God of today. I don’t serve the God of yesterday to not live of past glories; nor the God of tomorrow to not have torment in my heart (because hope deferred makes the heart sick). I serve the God of today because He can give me victory over my needs right now.

My parents are people that have always driven us (my sisters and I) to conquer great challenges. One of them was this year when I had the opportunity of preaching in the church of Miami on a Sunday morning. I acknowledge that I was only able to do it thanks to the motivation they both gave me. That morning my mum said: “Manuela, you have to give the offering message today” (most of the time she’s the one who does it). My attitude was like that of Moses: “who am I?” But thanks to her words I managed to fulfil the challenge and accomplish the feat.

Listen, you need to act the person you want to become and live the way God has called you to, before you get the title or recognition. From the time he was anointed, and even before, David, and Joseph as well, behaved as the people they wanted to be. Whatever you don’t conquer, conquers you. Therefore, we need to have faith and live proactively. In other words, if you want to be a millionaire, you need to give a millionaire’s tips. If you want to be somebody great, you need to read and prepare yourself because you are a prophet of your own destiny. God gave you that capacity.

Albert Einstein said: ‘You should be bothered about the future because you will live in it and your children will too.’ At this time God is taking us out of our comfort zone because that’s where we get stuck in a rut about what we want to be. Before David killed Goliath he had already killed two giants: a bear and a lion. He killed these in an effort to care for the sheep which God used to train him to be king of the great nation of Israel. From a very young age David acted in accordance with what he wanted to become; he was a brave warrior; a musician singing songs about the situations he found himself in (without giving it a thought that they would still be recorded today in the psalms that help us so much); he was powerful; a man of war; prudent with his words; anointed; and God was with him.

This was the kind of person he was known as among those around him even before he became a public figure. He acted in accordance with his dreams, just like Joseph also did. Joseph was such a dynamic, focused, excellent, spiritual and upright person, and a dreamer. He was all this before he became the most important man, after Pharaoh, in the most important country of the time.

How did he achieve all this? He believed he could be someone extraordinary and, just like David, visualised what he would become. I think if they were here now, they would say, ‘Hey, come on, act the person you want to become. From now on, speak the way you want to be, think as you want to be, and act exactly as you want to be.’

This isn’t just about one isolated moment or action. It’s not about how you are feeling at a particular time. It’s about making a decision that will affect every day of your life; it’s something that you can’t compromise on. Don’t just look at Joseph and David and think it’s just for them – they would want every one of you to follow their example fully.

Let’s not forget that they also went through difficult and painful times, but they didn’t focus on them; they focused rather on the future, on what was coming and on what they wanted to become. Just like Jesus on his way to Calvary; he was suffering such pain, but he focused rather on the millions of souls he would save by his death. Come on, let’s do something to change the history of mankind! We’re still in time!

Recently I was in Sweden for the funeral of a daughter of pastors who are part of my team.

A very beautiful, young lady, aged 25 years old, who, as a result of her illness which caused epileptic fits, is the first in her family not only to meet Jesus, but also to pass the test and to receive the prize, which no one can ever take away from her.

Everything that happened while we shared with her family was extraordinary. The words of her parents were touching, the way in which her siblings talked about her reflected family harmony. The words and attitude of her husband showed sadness, but at the same time satisfaction that at last she is free from her permanent illness.

However what impacted me the most was when Linn's disciples spoke. These eleven young ladies stood on the stage, with tears in their eyes, giving thanks to God for how He had used Linn, not only to save them, but also for the way she had formed them, and how despite her physical impediment Linn never stopped doing her cell. A young Iranian lady shared how she has not only found a sense of faith, but also family harmony. These young ladies were revealing Linn's fruit through their words.

This makes me think about what the apostle Paul said when he taught: "the work of each one will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames." 1 Corinthians 3:13-15

Linn proved that the disciples she managed to form are not only very committed to the Lord, but that they are also set to be firm leaders. And in the same way that the angel told the Virgin Mary: "Blessed be the fruit of your womb," I saw that the fruit Linn raised is blessed fruit.

May the Lord put his hand on these young ladies and may they be able to lift Jesus' name high. May the Lord bless Linn's parents and be pleased with the way they have been able to give back their daughter and managed to present her as a beautiful offering before the Lord. It is my prayer that a garment of consolation would permanently cover this family.