Leadership
In recent years Junior has been increasingly sought for leadership development. While many of these are ministerial or church-related, he has also helped communicators, sports coaches, developing business leaders, even teachers and doctoral candidates, in some of the most nuanced and often overlooked ways. Many of you have expressed interest in a regular devotional, mini-teaching, or commentary from Junior on leadership. See below for the most recent write-up, as well as the Archive section. (All content here and sitewide is the intellectual and copyright property of JDM. All rights reserved.)
Leader,
You are the genes of your group or organization. The unique helix of your original personality, recurring instincts, natural and supernatural abilities, practical experience, and overall maturity level will determine the visible nature and quality of your group. This imposes not only a stern mandate of personal growth and leadership development on our part, it also admonishes us to wisely discern the epigenetics of leadership: who we agree to lead, under what conditions, and for how long. You must become the right person who can be matched with the right place at the right time, for the right amount of time.
There is a perfect go-to scripture on leadership that captures "the heart" (inner health) and "the brain" (leadership skill) of leadership. It is Psalm 78:72 (NKJV): So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
Selah!
Junior
Samuel: From a Person to a Prophet
5/31/24
The following is an excerpt from my book, New Testament Prophecy: Healthy, Mature Prophetic Ministry in the Church.
Regarding personal development, four major domains are constantly emphasized in the Word: spirituality (our direct relationship with God and His kingdom), personality (our emotions, intellect, and will that produce our behavior), relationality (our relationships, social dynamics), and vocationality (our job, finances, vocational calling). There are around four verses in 1Samuel 2 and 3 that constellate these four areas in Samuel's development, first as a person, then as a prophet. Do not miss the sequence of these very specific, very intentional verses.
(1) Spirituality: Samuel Ministered Before & To The Lord
1Samuel 2:18, 3:1 (NKJV): But Samuel ministered before the LORD, even as a child, wearing a linen ephod…Now the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD…
Samuel got the foundation and greatest commandment right, his spirituality, his direct relationship with God. He lived and moved and had his being in the presence of the Lord at the tabernacle complex.
(2) Personality: Samuel Grew as a Person
1Samuel 2:26 (NKJV): And the child Samuel grew in stature, and in favor both with the LORD and men.
Samuel's spirituality inspired and informed his personality, and he grew and matured emotionally, intellectually, and volitionally in a way that pleased the Lord.
(3) Relationality: Samuel Grew in Relationships, Social Dynamics
1Samuel 2:26 (NKJV): And the child Samuel grew in stature, and in favor both with the LORD and men.
Samuel's growth as a person inspired and informed his relationships with others. This happened to such a godly, healthy, winsome degree that people began to appreciate and favor him.
(4) Vocationality: Samuel Rewarded with Vocational Purpose & Power
1Samuel 3:7 (NKJV): Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, nor was the word of the LORD yet revealed to him.
Samuel "not yet knowing the Lord" here is not salvific. It does not mean he was not in a saved relationship with God in the Old Covenant expression. The second phrase clarifies the first phrase. The writer is telling us Samuel did not yet know the Lord in the revelatory and prophetic dimension, i.e., "nor was the word of the LORD yet revealed to him".
To help us understand this spiritual nuance, we could look at an analogous situation in Acts 19:1-7. Upon arriving in Ephesus, Paul discovered twelve disciples. They had believed John the Baptist's message, repented, and were baptized. They were saved and in a saved relationship with God according to the spiritual information they had up to that point. When Paul gave them the rest of the story, they believed, were baptized, were indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and spoke in tongues and prophesied.
Like young Samuel, there was a specialized sense in which the twelve Ephesian disciples did not know the Lord, because the fuller word of God had not yet been revealed to them. But their not knowing Him more fully did not mean they were not saved at all. In fact, Luke calls them "disciples" in 19:1, acknowledging their entry-level salvation.
This is the idea in 1Samuel 3:7. The writer is telling us Samuel did not yet know the Lord in a specialized sense, not a salvific sense. That specialized sense was the revelatory and prophetic dimensions of God, which he was about to experience. The spiritual graduation rewarded Samuel's spirituality, personality, and relationality with vocational purpose and power.
1Samuel 3:19,20 (NKJV): So Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the LORD.
So many immature and amateur prophesiers dream of 1Samuel 3:19,20 being true of them. They try to make it happen through a mixture of genuine giftedness and aggressive or passive-aggressive self-promotion. For the sake of all that is good and godly, stop! Possess ye your soul! Humble yourself! Simply do what Samuel did, in the order he did it.