As a school leader, you hold a crucial role in seeing the government of heaven established upon the earth. God has positioned you to equip and deploy believers to shine and reveal the King and His kingdom to all they encounter. To carry out this mission, it’s important to not just embrace your calling, but to also know the One who called you!
In part three of the Role of a School Planter series, Graeme Morris, a graduate of Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, shares about how important it is to know the intimate voice of the One who first put the dream to plant and lead a school in your heart. Knowing Him personally will bring you life and strength throughout your leadership journey!
Pursue Intimacy Above All
How can you know that you have been called to plant a school if you don’t know our Caller’s voice? How can you recognize His voice without knowing Him? In order for your face to be set like flint (Isaiah 50:7), you need to know the voice of the One who called you to fulfill your destiny.
Jesus said, “My sheep recognize my voice!” (John 10:27, NKJV) His sheep know His voice because they spend time with Him and they are His possession. It’s not enough to just have head knowledge of God. You have to experience Him intimately to know Him. Your experience is more valuable than simple head knowledge. Bill Johnson would say, “A man with an experience will always triumph against a man with an argument.”
If I marry my wife purely on the basis of reading a manual about her, the marriage wouldn’t last very long. I married her because our spirits connected as we experienced each other’s love. After getting married, we fell more in love by experiencing and fighting for connection together. I know now that she will never leave me because I experienced her unconditional love when I needed it most.
Discover Faith: the Fruit of Unconditional Love
Truly knowing God is how we build our hope. Hope is the confident expectation and desire for God’s goodness to manifest in the future. It is knowing that He is who He says He is. When we know our Father’s goodness, it overflows as an action and we call this action, “Faith.” The Bible says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1 KJV).” Faith pleases God (Hebrews 11:6). If you want more faith, get to know the Father. If you want to get to know the Father, pursue love encounters with Him.
You can’t simply follow God into battle with something you only read or heard about Him. When you experience pressure, you will buckle if you don’t intimately, experientially know that He is who He said He is, and can do what He said He can do.
This is how righteousness was credited to Abraham. Scripture says he did not waver in unbelief, but he grew strong in faith after considering the promise of God (Romans 4:20). One translation says, “And being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.” (Romans 4:20, NASB) Abraham knew Who his God was, and he knew who he was. Like Abraham, it is God who fully assures your resolve and empowers your faith.
Lead His People by First Being Led
When God told Moses to possess the promised land, Moses asked that His presence would go with him (Exodus 33:15). Moses would not lead God’s people without knowing He was with them. We learn that God’s assurance to go with them was not enough. Moses makes another profound request, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” (Exodus 33:18, NASB). That word “glory” there is translated “goodness,” “renown,” or “reputation.”
Only someone who is intimately connected to God could ask such a thing.
Moses knew that he had the relational equity to ask for something impossible for his time; something that was made available when Jesus returned to the Father (John 17). Moses knew that in order to lead the people, he had to see God’s goodness, His renown, His reputation. You would think that all the signs and wonders Moses experienced would have been evidence enough to lead Israel into new territory. But Moses asks for a greater encounter than he had experienced before.
Before we lead others, we need to know “Whose” we are. We need to know His voice. We need to build historical and relational equity with the King so we can be confident to pull on the resources of the kingdom. I like that Moses responds immediately to the call by asking God to show him the way. Moses knew that in order to lead, he had to be led. He knew that the only way to know God’s ways was to know Him face to face.
Knowing Him and knowing His voice will help you stand when thousands of voices in your head disqualify, distract, or disarm your resolve. The enemy and even your thoughts at times are deceitful. They can make a lie look like your destiny. Only God can pull you towards your destiny. It is imperative we learn to recognize His voice.
Follow the Grace of His Voice
God’s voice is often hidden to draw us in to seek Him. He likes to lead us into His heart and protection. His voice will sometimes be a whisper and other times a megaphone for good reason. It isn’t the volume, the frequency, or even the method He uses to communicate that determines the authenticity of His voice. The true voice of God can only be discerned by our spirits yielded to Him.
My wife once had a dream of us following a trail of Skittles candy through the forest. We discerned that it was like following God’s grace through scary, intimidating times. My wife and I hold onto this dream when we are making decisions. It is the root of a simple decision hierarchy we use in order to manage our lives and lead those around us.
The first thing we ask ourselves is, “What did God say?” Following God’s voice takes precedence over everything else. Following His voice is like following the candy through the forest. We know that when we diligently seek Him we will find Him (Proverbs 8:17).
Here is our decision hierarchy:
- What did God say?
- What do your core values say about this?
- What does logic dictate?
- Never make decisions based on emotions!
- If we can, try to make the opposite decision that fear is dictating.
More about Graeme Morris
Graeme and his wife, Christina, are school and church planters currently living in Kelowna, Canada. While attending Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM), Graeme had a vision to plant eight schools of supernatural ministry in eight different countries. Since their time at BSSM, they have planted five schools in four countries over the course of five years. They are currently planting a church in Kelowna to create a dwelling place for God and man. Graeme regularly preaches on revival, imparts kingdom culture, and creates opportunities for others to encounter God in all His goodness. He is also an itinerant speaker that focuses on supporting Christians to develop a healthy sexuality and helping couples find freedom to love each other well.
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