Scripture
And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.” Acts 6:3-4

Observation
A pastor-friend of mine vented to me over breakfast, “My senior pastor delegates to the staff and then bounces around the office saying, ‘I feel so much better now with a clean plate.’” My friend grizzled because he experienced not delegation but dumping. The dumping delegator off loads his responsibilities on others without a recognition of what God is up to. Delegation from God’s point of view is not about plate scraping but about mentoring a new generation of leaders.

The apostles off loaded the widow ministry and went back to their prayer meetings and Bible studies. God, however, was up to something, doing more with their decision than they anticipated. Stephen and Philip did not plod along forever in their duties. Once they started the widow ministry their potential was developed and new doors of ministry opened for them. For Stephen it was the work of a martyr. For Philip it was the work of an evangelist. Others would have to pick up their duties for the Lord had new plans for them.

When God delegates he does not dump. Potential is not suffocated under drudgery. When the Lord delegates he develops people and their potential. Waiters become warriors for the kingdom while the leaders are in their offices praying.

Application
When a leader delegates he should do so with a profound respect for the hidden potential of people. If a leader is a good leader then those around him will have more potential than he. Delegation is not a way of making a leader’s day easier but to strengthen the ability of team members for their future. When the leader delegates he should do so with a holy expectancy of what God is doing. David was sent to deliver groceries and came back with a giant’s head. One never knows just what God might do in the life of someone given a new responsibility. One never knows what might happen in me.

Prayer
Father, I want to be a developing leader that those around me excel beyond me. Give me a healthy sense of my own significance and surprise me with what you do with those who work with me. Amen.

Scripture
And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit.…Acts 2:4
“In the last days,” God says, “I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.” Acts 2:17

Observation
Most of us have a bathroom mirror experience of God for we see only how he affects our own individual life. When we have an encounter with the Lord we think of how it affects us and benefits our lives but not often of others.

God doesn’t see his touch on our lives in an individualistic way. Selfishness is unknown to God so he expects nothing less from us. The Lord vision is for all the members in a church to simultaneously experience the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Simultaneous experience was the way he worked at first in Jerusalem, then with Cornelius’ household in Ceasarea and finally at Ephesus. Communal experience of the Holy Spirit is God’s ideal.

So why is our corporate experience of God sometimes so ho-hum that we turn to worshipping God in the mirror of our self-centeredness?  We need to take lessons from the first Christians to be open for more.

For starters, they gathered together in Jerusalem, Casearea and Ephesus. We need to do more than just ‘go to church’ but make a choice to dissolve our importance and become part of the church. We are in this thing of following Jesus together so we will all get there together.

There was a sense of openness, vulnerability and approachability at Jerusalem, Casearea and Ephesus. In all three experiences God’s people were ‘all ears’. They were unexperienced and unaffected. They simply wanted more. What would happen if we could drop all of the theological hopscotch about the way the Holy Spirit works and simply come to church open and predisposed to say ‘yes’? Probably more would happen than we would expect.

They were obedient to take action with what God had given them to use. They spoke for God. They acted for God. They loved for God. There were no spectators. There were only participants. It is only as all of us in the congregation use what we have been given that a local church will come close to what God has in mind for them to achieve.

Application
I want more than an experience of the Holy Spirit, I want to be part of a congregation that corporately and continually is filled with the Spirit.

Prayer
Father, I come to you open and ask that you would navigate my life among those open to more of you. Amen.

Scripture
Now the LORD had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely. Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.” (The LORD made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people.) Exodus 11:1-3

Observation
The plagues were designed to get Pharoah’s attention, but they were important for Moses too. Moses arrived on the pages of the Bible as a broken down man. The grand prince of Egypt was doing what Egyptians despised: herding sheep.  God called him and Moses offered his brother. The fight had bled out of Moses.

But the ordeal of 10 trips to the palace and ten challenges to the greatest power on earth steadily increased Moses’ leadership strength. The Moses of Plague Ten was a very different man from the man at the burning bush. Moses had seen the fire, but it was not until he had passed through the fire that he was able to lead God’s people.

God lets leaders pass through ordeals not just to bring an answer but to develop them. In the midst of the plagues that is a comforting thought.

Application
There is more leader in me than I know of and that is why God demands more and more of me. I need to constantly pray the prayer, “Lord let me come out of this ordeal a better person.” We must not waste our troubles. These are what make us, with God’s help, better people.

Prayer
Father, today let the events of life today reveal in me more of the leader you have made me to be. Amen.

Scripture
The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them. Exodus 2:23-25

Observation
I wonder if a baby thinks that parents disappear when they leave a room, for their cries sound so frantic. It’s been years since I’ve lived with crying babies, but the memories are still fresh. We would hear the cries from our bedroom in the middle of the night. Sometimes we would spring to action because we discerned the sound of the cry. But other times in kindness we let our children cry because we knew that the process of waiting would be good for maturity.

Crying does not sound dignified, but it is incredibly significant to God. If we want something to change he calls us to cry out to him. But he won’t answer as quickly as we think he should. Our Father is a good parent, so his delays have a purpose. He knows when to intervene.

Even if nothing seems to be happening, God is listening. The Jews cried out to God in their slavery but nothing changed. In heaven, however, God was listening like a parent laying in bed at night. Oftentimes we give up praying just when God is preparing to answer. There are times our relationship with the Lord is one way: he can hear us but we cannot hear him. It is in those times when we think our prayers are making the least difference that they seem to make the very most impression on him. Our persistence to ask even without answers brings out of us a faith that matters very much to the Lord.

When we cry out to the Lord we should not always expect his immediate action, instead we should be aware that we do have his attention. God heard the Israelites groan and so he looked on them. Often when we cry out to the Lord and nothing changes we can begin to doubt him and grumble to others. We should remember at those times hat the Lord is watching. It is as if he is the Invisible Man in the room. Our words and actions in difficult times matter much to him. We should watch our actions for the outcome may depend on our faithfulness.

When God meets human problems he usually works through people. There is often the reason for the slow down. The lack of response from God may have nothing to do with the willingness of God but rather the slowness of humans to say “yes” to him. Moses was the answer, but it would take a process to bring him to the rescue. God is at work bringing the answer to our cries, but we may have to wait on someone to say ‘yes’ to him. What should we do? Continue to cry out to him.

Application
May the Lord find me crying out to him when he brings the answer from heaven. This continued desperation is the greatest sign that I trust him. May I continually remind him of his promises because it is the promises that he has made that move him even more than my problems.

Prayer
Father, I continue to ask because I know you are listening. But do remember that while you are invisible, I am not. There are real problems I face that stare me in the eye. Show up and work on my behalf to rescue me. Amen.