Lion Heart ENCOURAGE - Responsibility

Intro:

Hey man of God! I think navigating this world has always been a challenge. From the early days many centuries ago, through to today. Each age has come with its own challenges. One of today’s challenges is busyness. Our lives are full. But are they full of the right stuff? That’s just a thought to get you going.

Lion Heart Journey Group:

Thank you so much for those who attended yesterdays Journey Group in Pretoria East, it was an encouraging and strengthening time. Praise God. We were frank and open with one another, and we opened our hearts for God to come and refine and purify us.

If you’re interested in starting or attending a Journey Group, please reach out to me at info@hopenation.faith

Encouragement:

Last week we started this section of showing yourself to be a man. And today I’ll continue with one of the basics of being a man which is: taking responsibility. Now I know, it’s a basic, and you’ve all mostly got this one buttoned down, right? But let’s work through this together.

Ok, so you’re a man hey. Good. This is good. You’ve been endowed with authority, strength and anointing to fulfill this role. But it’s not for naught that you have these God given attributes, these God given gifts!

It is for a purpose. Manhood has a purpose, and it’s not just procreation!

This purpose goes well beyond your own skin. With this purpose comes responsibility. Yes, well I’m going to have to say it, and I know it’s been overused, but it is true: With great strength comes great responsibility.

You have these ‘powers’ so that you can serve! You have these gifts, these God bestowed gifts, for the benefit of your tribe. (Now just to recap what do I mean by tribe? Well, not all of us are married, not all of us have children. So I’m using a broader term to describe ‘those close to use, and those that depend on us’ as our tribe.)

A king doesn’t get a crown so that he can sit of his jack all day doing nothing. No! A good king gets a crown and sceptre, signifying his authority and position, to rule over his kingdom for the benefit of his subjects. The benefactors of his authority and position should be his subjects.

The crown of ‘head of the home’ also comes with responsibility!

So let’s look back a Adam a little. Let’s look at what sin did to us as men. Gen 3, this is just after the serpent deceived Eve, and Adam didn’t step in to stop it. A little later we see God coming down to the garden to deal with the first sin, and what does Adam do when he hears God walking in the garden and calling him:

10 Adam answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

One of the first things our fallen nature does regarding responsibility is run and hide. Our fallen nature doesn’t stand up and face the music. It hides. It hides in sports, it hides in alcohol, it hides in work, it hides in video games, it hides behind anger, it hides anywhere that makes sense at the time. If you’re allowing your responsibilities to get neglected because you’re ‘hiding’, then you’d better man up, and step up!

I understand that many times the reason for this ‘hiding’ is not a simple one, and there are many cross matrix influences in our lives that cause these many ‘difficulties’. I understand that it’s not always as easy as it sounds just to ‘man up’. I get it. But, the process to manning up must start somewhere, and this is where you must stand up and start the process.

Second, just two verses later, as God continues to press Adam for answers we read:

12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

We see here that Adam is a master at passing the buck. Our fallen nature just hates taking responsibility. It will find any excuse not to take responsibility.

As a man, you have to take the lead when it comes to responsibility. Having that authority, strength and anointing, comes with responsibility.

Now what does this mean? Taking responsibility generally refers to the act of acknowledging and accepting the consequences of one's own actions, decisions, or behaviours. Now this can be both on the positive side, as well as the negative side. 

Furthermore, and I think this is even more important, being responsible means that you’re accepting the outcome as yours to effect. Read that again. Being responsible means that you’re accepting the outcome as yours to effect. If it flies, I’ll be there to praise those involved and thank God for his Grace. If it fails, I’ll be right up front manning up to the mistakes made, and taking the lead on how to fix from here on out.

It’s yours to effect: It means that I will do what it takes to make this what we want it to be. I have the vision, I have the authority, and I will lovingly and wisely direct this matter towards the desired outcome.

We also see that responsibility is tightly aligned with Commitment. Commitment means I’m in for a penny and I’m in for a pond. I’m not only a fair weather sailor. When I put my hand to the plough, I’m not stopping until this is done.

My encouragement to you men today is to apply the three R’s:

• Renounce: verbally reject and renounce those things that you have being doing wrong. This might mean publicly to your tribe. As well.

• Repent: Turn back to God. Turn away from the bad ways that you have walked in, and follow after God’s ways.

• Redeemed: Jesus redeemed us from the marketplace of sin, into the Kingdom of light. But we now have to allow that process to take place in all areas of our life. Allow the work of the Holy Spirit to transform us into the men that God originally purposed. Men of light. Men of God.

  
  

In essence, 'taking responsibility' is about having the courage to admit mistakes, acknowledge your role, and take proactive steps to address the situation in a Godly manner to move forward in the chosen direction.

Let’s man up, and move forward on the path before us!

Please fwd this message to those who you think can benefit!

Your Brother in Christ,

Stanley