A Prophet Without Honor

Do you know who is sitting next to you? That’s a child of God with a unique manifestation of His character. That’s a vessel containing the power of the Holy Spirit if they choose to walk in it. That person sitting next to you could be the key to your breakthrough.

Have you neglected to notice who they are in Christ because you see them every day? Do you fail to acknowledge their anointing because you’ve seen them at their worst, or seen them grow up, or seen them fall a few times? Just because you know them as your friend, your mother, your son, or your colleague doesn’t negate the fact that they could be a live power line.

These people we know intimately are no different than the people we sometimes put on pedestals. We tend to clamor for these “big” people to speak to us or pray for us, but we look right past the people we see every day. These “big” people are really not that much different than you and I—they contain the same God that lives on the inside of every single person that is born again. And I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about it, but these faith giants probably deal with the some of the same shortcomings, stumbling blocks, and perception problems that you and your friends and families face. After all, these giants of the faith are somebody’s friend, somebody’s mother, somebody’s son.

It is much easier for us to honor the people we view from afar because we probably don’t know their every weakness or know who they were before they became the person we see now. We can honor them (or their ministry) much easier because we usually only see the good stuff and hear about their best moments. But I submit to you that the very people that you do life with can hold the miracle in your life that you are looking for if you will choose to start honoring them for who they are in the Lord. And that means you honor them fully…let me explain what I mean:

Let’s say I get to see one of my uncles a few times a year at family gatherings. I’ve known him my entire life. He has watched football with me, taken me to amusement parks, and bought me gifts at Christmas. I know him pretty well and have been around long enough (and heard enough stories from the family) to know his interests, how he used to be, and what he is like now. Now let’s say this uncle is a preacher. He travels around and preaches the Gospel. He is a great family man and loves his wife. I have the opportunity to approach this man in a several different ways. I can honor him as 1) the guy who grew up with my mother and tormented her; 2) my uncle that I’ve always known; 3) a man who probably doesn’t care all that much for money; 4) a provider for his family who is faithful to his wife, 5) a man of God who has led countless people to the Lord; etc, etc, etc. The way in which I choose to honor him is equivalent to how much I can get from him.

Notice that in Matthew 10:41, Jesus says, “Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.” Thus, by merely honoring a person according to their place in the Kingdom you can get everything that they have. In the case of my uncle, I can choose to honor as little or as much as I like, but whatever level I honor him that is how much I can receive. If I only look at him as ‘the guy who buys me presents at Christmas’ or ‘the funny uncle who makes fart jokes’ then I am missing something. If I don’t stop at the familiarity of knowing him and instead choose to honor him as a man of God who has spent his life to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ then I can receive so much more from him. The amount of respect and honor I give him is directly tied to how much I can receive from him.

It’s so much harder for us to see people that we know intimately as people who could be special…as people who could have a very unique place in the Kingdom. What if I said my uncle was Billy Graham? Would that change how you think I should view him? Guess what—Billy Graham IS somebody’s uncle. Somebody has the opportunity to only see him as their parent’s brother…only as a guy they see mostly at holidays. They get to choose if they will honor him as somebody they’ve always know intimately and heard crazy stories about his past, or honor him as being an evangelist to the nations.

You have the opportunity to look at the people around you differently than you have always done. These people aren’t only your friends and family; they are children of the Most High God. Choose to honor them fully and watch more life flow into your relationships.

Rip Up Some Roots

Moving forward, growing—it’s awesome. Sometimes it’s like you can see the world opening around you. You have a new perspective on things, you feel empowered, and you are loving life!

Other times it feels like you’re meeting resistance anytime you try to move. It’s not necessarily that the opening isn’t there to run into, it’s that something keeps you from completely arriving at the next destination. There is something that holds you back.

Maybe it’s time you rip up some up roots. Maybe the Lord is giving you a new level of anointing or authority in an area, but you are hindering the process. Maybe it’s a heart issue you’ve never worked out; maybe it’s an inability to honor those who’ve gone before you; maybe you have no respect for those who should be able to speak into your life.

It’s amazing how much blessing God pours out on us… more than I can even begin to comprehend. But I think that we prevent a lot of that blessing from overflowing like He intends for it to. We yearn and pray for the good stuff, but when it starts to flow down from Heaven, we seem to be too easily filled. Does that make sense?? It’s kind of hard to say this and not sound like I’m downplaying the significance or awesomeness of the blessings of God…..hmmm…..I’ll say it like this: I think sometimes God starts to pour out whatever it is He is giving us, and before the “full serving” has been consumed, we say, “Thanks. I’ve had enough.”

It could be that we’re scared of too much of God; I know that I’ve resisted giving up things before because I wasn’t ready—I knew that more of God would mean less of what I had decided I wanted to do. It could be that we only want so much of God’s blessings. It could be that we don’t feel worthy of something that would be considered an overflow of blessing. It could be a lot of things.

But then what about these other times when we want more, but it seems like we meet resistance and can’t seem to have that huge breakthrough we seek??

What I’m suggesting today is that maybe we need to rip up some roots. Maybe the thing keeping us from entering, and staying, at that next level is something we need fix before we can go forward. For example, let’s say you work in a suit-and-tie kind of office. Your boss raves about how much potential you have and how they’d like to promote you, but they can’t because you don’t carry yourself in a manner expected of management—you cuss like a sailor, won’t iron your clothes, and skip bathing for a few days at a time. Although you have promotion lying around the corner, you won’t change because maybe your family talked crudely when you were growing up, and you picked up bad bathing habits in college where nobody seemed to care. You gotta rip up some roots.

Example #2: you are a musician. Out of nowhere, you find your vocal range expanding to where you can hit notes that you never dreamed of, and opportunities are coming up that are obviously God-sent. You start to walk in your new level of anointing, but can never stay there because you don’t have the discipline to practice and hone your new God-given abilities. You assumed that since God blessed you with something that you wouldn’t have to work at it; you wouldn’t have to cut out your old habit of sliding around notes instead of hitting them. On top of that, you keep coming to rehearsals 15 minutes late because that’s been your habit all your life. Thus, resentment amongst those you work with starts to grow because they feel like you don’t respect their time. I am suggesting that you might need to rip up some roots.

It’s painful, yes, to start examining ourselves and seeing what needs to be improved/removed. At some point, we’ve all probably hindered what the Lord wants to do with us and through us because of our reluctance to change. If you are wanting to push through whatever it is that is holding you back, try praying to the Holy Spirit that He reveal things to you that you’ve never seen before or neglected to acknowledge. Then pray for the strength to do the Lord’s will in/with those things.

God knows we’re not perfect, but He also loves a willing and humble laid-down heart. Let’s rip up some roots today. Amen.