Acts 6:3: Therefore brethren, seek out from among you, seven men OF GOOD REPUTATION, FULL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AND WISDOM.
Of all the three things considered before the appointment of deacons in the early church, character was major. Character should precede competence.
Wisdom is needed to manage the affairs connected to your office.
Power, which is a result of the infilling or influence of the Holy Spirit is for meeting the needs of the people.
Good reputation on the other hand is integrity or character, your love walk, the fruit of the spirit you are manifesting.
2 Timothy 1:7: For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of POWER and of LOVE and of a SOUND MIND.
Our Christian walk is anchored on these three things. Wisdom is sound mind, knowing what to do about people’s situation. Power is for meeting the needs of the people while Love is your relationship with them. If you don’t love people, you won’t be able to meet their needs(power will be useless) and you won’t know what to do in their situation (sound mind will be useless). Love walk is the leg that power and wisdom stands on. Without a strong love walk, power and wisdom are both useless.
Do you have a call into ministry? The first thing you need to build is not a platform, it is character, good reputation, integrity. Do not desire the gifts of the Spirit above character. Character will sustain the gifting. It is the capacity that will preserve your gifting.
It is not enough to be able to speak in tongues, spit fire, command miracles and yet have no control over your anger, sexual appetite or inordinate desire for money. The reason many are not walking in the miraculous today is because they haven’t developed the character that can handle it. In the end, you might be too full of yourself to return the glory to Christ. In order to preserve you in ministry, God has decided to limit your expressions till you have developed enough capacity to sustain the miraculous.
The same instructions were given Timothy by Apostle Paul in choosing bishops and deacons in 1Timothy 3:1-13. Their integrity outside church was emphasized, not what men perceive them to be in the church only, but what people perceive of them in their secular jobs, their neighborhood. We represent Christ in the world not in the church.
No matter how much you desire spiritual gifts, love must be your greatest pursuit. Improve your integrity daily. Strengthen your love walk with men. Every time I fall short in my love walk, I go back to the scriptures, pray it, and consciously express love to men. Do not say, ‘that’s how I am’, that’s the enemy of progress. Make progress daily
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