By Isaiah-Phillips Akintola

LEADING WITH PERSPECTIVE REQUIRES A CHANGE OF WINESKIN

These are epic days when we consider the prophetic time frame in which we are located. The level of prophetic activity that is stirring up a new kind of warfare is the beginning of the end. Hence, the Saints spiritual position must shift to a higher spiritual ground, as we have said earlier. The Lord took ample time to teach his disciples the emergence of his kingdom and other false kingdoms that sought to challenge his purposes. Yet we are told that after his resurrection, he taught his disciples only about the kingdom of God.

This proved the high level of spiritual warfare that his apostolic leadership would engage in in moving the reality of his redemptive initiative around the world. The principle of the kingdom of heaven is centered on leadership, and that means the kingdom will continue to develop the saints until they reach this full mature height in Christ.

Where there is no clear operational lifestyle of the kingdom of God, degression becomes the next reality. Fortunately, the current kingdom activity, which prophetically began from the days of John the Baptist, has continued to stir the advancement of the intentions of the Father’s redemptive objective, even as the forces of darkness fight and resist anyone who seeks to advance in this spiritual demand.

As we know, ancient Egypt is a powerful representation of a spiritual dominion, where the forces of darkness are used as their base and portal to unleash evil Spirit upon other nations. Therefore, moving out and advancing from a place like Egypt that helped the people of God in captivity for more than four centuries would require that the leadership type heaven will use has a profound orientation and philosophy of a well-established kingdom revelation of how to engage territorial satanic dynamics correctly.

The deliverance of the people of God, just like in our time from the hands of Pharaoh, is a profound miraculous journey that the forces of darkness were not expecting. Without a doubt, the Father is currently raising a Kingdom-oriented army, returning to Egypt in the confrontation of the powers of Pharaoh to free the people of God.

But we know that the powers and Satanic systems in Egypt will not give without a fight, as we saw how Pharaoh hardened his heart until the Lord started to kill all the firstborn of Egypt, beginning from the firstborn of the Pharaoh on the throne. Then, just as we saw, the final manifestation of the power and authority of God forced the hand of Pharaoh to let the people of Israel leave his land of bondage, and then changed his mind to chase so he could bring them back as his slaves.

Today’s nations need a leadership philosophy with the Moses and Joshua type of governmental leadership to force the hands of the false religious order plus the evil political systems that keep the people in all forms of captivity we witness. First, however, we need to precisely define this order or type of leadership, so we don’t presume any aspect of this leading character.

Hence, we need to study and clearly understand the operational nature of the times and seasons to appropriate the correct approach of governmental leadership demanded. Leadership is part of the Father’s prophetic design and intention for the development and maturing of his ecclesia.

We find the Spirit of leadership in almost everything created, because heaven’s leadership perspective brings order, structure, standard, and purpose to bear. Conversely, where there is confusion or misappropriation of leadership, everything is thrown into disarray and a dysfunctional state.

We are greatly enhanced and enriched when we see, understand, and utilize leadership correctly. However, leadership means different things at different times and spaces; it all depends on the season’s need and complexity.

The books of Ecclesiastics inform us that everything under the Sun has a precise time and a season.

Ecclesiastes chapter 3

To everything there is a season, and a time
and a time for every purpose under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to break down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 A time to search and a time to count as lost,
a time to keep and a time to discard,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

These various times and seasons highlighted reflect activity within a human realm, which requires different knowledge and emotional approaches.

OPPORTUNITY IS ABOUT PERCEPTION
The way we engage in a birth time is entirely different from a time of death. How we approach a time of peace is different from a time of war. Our leadership competence must be keenly aware of the various times, and as soon as we find ourselves, to precisely respond with the correct leadership required.

Leadership must know when to be quiet, and a time to speak clearly and loudly for others to hear and follow the voice of our prophetic direction. Times and space within leadership space can dramatically shift without warning, which means we can experience the various times and seasons in a period. We can have days, months, and even years between this season. And on the other hand, we can simultaneously experience all seasons in a short period, like Job experience.

There is no doubt that we are currently living in one of the most dangerous times in the history of man. Yet this season could be one of the most opportune times for the Body of Christ if those called to stir up the leadership of the ecclesia are well tuned and skillfully positioned in the Spirit of wisdom and maturity to respond effectively to revelation, like the Sons of Issachar.

Firstly and foremost, we need to clarify several critical principles as we engage in the prophetic reality of the third day assigned strong apostolic leadership spirit, ordained to lead the Body of Christ forward and not backwards. As we have noticed with the weak Aaronic leadership priesthood. We are told that while Moses was on the mountain, waiting on the Lord for the direction of the way forward, the people could persuade Aaron to lead them back to Egypt.

What does leading forward mean for us as individuals and, of course, for the corporate body of Christ in the current prophetic environment in which we find ourselves? It is important to contextualize and personalize this question so that we don’t have Aaron, in the name of proximity with Moses, who leads us back to Egypt with a golden calf image.

We must address this question thoroughly before we can say that we are moving forward in the current prophetic demand of the Father for us this season.

For example, many in the Church have read the story of Moses, about how God used him to lead his people out of the house of bondage. However, an updated, advanced prophetic insight, instructions and directives are recommended by the current members of the Body of Christ, so that we can view and understand the same storyline that carries a completely different context and emphasis that must be profoundly clear to us.

Many of the things we read in this article or other current truth resources may sound familiar or similar to what we are used to hearing in our former spiritual positions and traditional / confessional orientations. The fact remains, however, that these words are completely different from what we are familiar with. The Spirit of the Lord may use the same story, as he often does, but a completely different position of the emphasis of the kingdom, due to the current prophetic context of the season and the need to be ushered into our lives individually or in the company as the kingdom of the Body of Christ.

You cannot use the same template or old perspective to interpret the things of God to measure and understand the current, ascended level of spiritual emphasis. If you do, you will fulfill a scripture that says those who want to pour new wine into an old wine skin will suffer loss. Trying to use our former way of seeing the Word of God when the season changes and demands us to move toward a higher spiritual ground is an inaccurate attitude and a highly dangerous place to be that can spell judgment.

The fact is, the way we approach God’s Word must be in line with the current emphasis or demand of the Spirit for his Church. When we are expected to mature in the way of God, but when we still show treats of infancy, we become spiritually vulnerable to the attack of the enemy.

In deed, if you have been born again for five years or more, the way of your spiritual understanding and biblical perspective should accurately apply to the prophetic teachings and instructions the Spirit is currently emphasizing. We don’t want to be confused, misguided, or misjudging the current demand of the Spirit.

I felt this is an important point that needs to be highlighted if we want to see a change in our perspective as we mature toward the place of the [manhood] Telios in Christ. Layers of truth for development must become evident in our seasons of calling to move from one mountain to the next mountain in Christ.

DEFINING OUR FUTIRE END ALLOWS US TO CONFRONT PHAROAH.

Leading forward or moving forward is therefore a call to spiritual advancement and maturing until we enter the City of Zion; the place of perfected beauty, according to Psalm 84. Moving towards the place of perfect beauty is the ultimate desire of the Father for his Church. Out of Zion, God shines his glory for the whole earth to see, and this should undoubtedly be the place we are aiming to reach as the Saints who have left Egypt.

The Lord is calling his corporate Church to this new advanced position of the operation of the Spirit of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, which makes the Father’s redemptive and prophetic activity more visible and glorious across the earth in this season. Yes, the knowledge of the glory of God covers the earth, even as the waters cover the sea.

We are called to interact with the things of the kingdom from a different height and attitude of sacredness, which makes it possible not to ignore the current demand of heaven. As we see in the days of the rebellion of Pharaoh in Egypt, who said, who is that God should free the children of Israel to worship him outside the borders of his dominion? There are different kinds of pharaohs who are rising up today with pride in their hearts. Undoubtedly, they have made it their responsibility to curse and cancel everything in the name of God, and to observe the enslavement of the people of God in various areas of human affairs.

Therefore, the type of leadership that must face today’s Pharaoh must be a kind that has overcome intimidation, fear, self-doubt, and other dominating superstructures of Egypt. As we know, Egypt has its own gods who can perform signs and wonders to challenge your position of divine representation, as we saw in the palace of Pharoah when they challenged the rod of Moses authority. Egypt has the power of false prophets who can give life to the image of the Beast, who boast and will even fight Godly leadership, a kind of Moses and Elijah who are released for this great battle that has just begun.

As we watched the Lord correct the perspective of understanding and leadership of Moses before finally sending him to Egypt, we now need a kingdom-oriented type of leaders who have already been sent to the backside of the wilderness and are prepared under a strong apostolic, state-led rebuilding for the use of the Father’s spirit. Every form of fear, discouragement, disappointment, and other forms of dysfunctional weakness and lifestyle of the human being is dealt with.

PROPHETIC DYNAMIC OF THE SEASON
We must look at the prophetic dynamics required to develop a corporate understanding of this apostolic Spirit and grace, so that the people of God can identify these calibers of heaven-sent leaders, so that our obedience to follow their voice on the way to the glorious city of the Lord can be achieved. In the movement of the people of God under the leadership of Moses, we are told that God’s presence was among the people as a witness of the Pillar of Fire at night and the Pillar of Cloud at day.

This manifest symbolic presence of God is a kind of approval of the leadership of Moses that the people cannot deny. In addition to this kind of prophetic / apostolic representation, we are told to watch out for another symbolism of leadership by carrying the Ark of God on the shoulders of men, which acts as priestly representatives of heaven. In this leadership administration, we are informed that to be on the lookout for the priests carrying the Ark of God upon their spiritual shoulders, and then follow them within a distance.

Moving forward therefore requires an advanced, mature and prophetic spirit within the twelve tribe camps of the saints. This is fundamental in building the right spiritual framework of a kind of leadership that will bring the people of God to the next order of the intention of heaven, while we continue to follow the concept of exodus. 14:15.

While this instruction given to Moses 430 years ago was that the children of Israel should move towards the place called the Promised Land, the Lord, in the same breath, is releasing the exact word of command to us today to travel towards the place called Mount Zion; the place of perfect beauty, as we have already said.

The definition and contextualization of the prophetic voice of the Father in our spiritual progress is crucial to measuring our obedience and response to the demands of the Spirit. We need to accurately and honestly define and context the meaning of going [leading] forward in the 21st century, post-truth culture.

This scripture in Exodus 14:15 carries various spiritual dimensions, layers of prophetic truths, and directions that we must examine and extract all the necessary emphasis of kingdom values to precisely realign ourselves in our advancement and transition. For this reason, we must follow the necessary apostolic spirit of leadership that heaven is releasing to march the demand of the current epoch, as we are told that before the return of the Lord, there will be a [return] release of the ministry of the two witnesses, Moses and Elijah.

The ministry of these two witnesses will be highly relevant to the acceleration of God’s prophetic goal as we move closer to the end. Therefore, the Body of Christ should begin to look for a typology of the ministries of Moses and Elijah, since the nearness of the kingdom of God affects all inhabitants of the earth.

TELL THE PEOPLE TO GO FORWARD… EXODUS 14:15
PERSPECTIVE AND CONTEXT

As we have established, Exodus 14: 15 introduces us to the direct instruction of leadership given to Moses at a time when the nation of Israel had just experienced a deliverance for which it has waited for four hundred and thirty years. Freedom finally came, and everyone was glad they came out of the house of bondage. However, this experience faced another challenge, as it is normal with any worthwhile initiative to develop and advance in life.

The pursuit of Pharaoh was behind them while the Red Sea was before them, and it looks as if there is no way out to see that the fulfillment of this word becomes reality. The apostolic leadership of Moses was thrown into a confusing state that pushed him into a religious panic mode of prayer, which is often what we all do when we find ourselves in similar confusing or frustrating conditions.

The word of the Lord to Moses was to rise up and command the people to move forward. Moving forward is the heart of heaven’s redemptive counsel for his people; it is the signal of a new season of possibility that must be viewed from a new visionary height of the Spirit.

However, the people and the head of each of the twelve tribes suddenly plunged into confusion, fear, uncertainty, regret and overwhelming fear as they continued to observe the unabated chase of the Pharaoh army behind them. It will take more than just packing a bag to move from one location to the next to achieve God’s prophetic counsel and intentions for our lives in this hour.

Advancement requires that we develop a new sense of vision, faith and trust in the Father, so that our lives experience the courage to enter the new season of the Father. This is often enhanced by the quality of the leadership spirit assigned to improve our sense of knowledge, wisdom and prophetic vision.

The Bible is filled with many men and women who are called to perform a leadership task and task for the Father at some points and stages, which requires a unique quality of expression. As we are currently being called to take another leadership initiative in the prophetic objective of the Father for this third day, we need to carefully glean from the vast leadership knowledge and perspectives of these unique instruments.

There are several things the prophetic mind of the Lord is revealing, as we consider the symbolic meaning of the leadership of Moses to our current need for a company of heaven-sent apostolic leadership company that will lead the Saints towards the next frontier of heaven’s redemptive Mandate.

We can deduce several parallels from the quality lifestyle and competence skill we see in Moses as an apostolic leadership instrument designed to bring a people out of a (political and religious) system that has held them in bondage. Arguably, there’s never been a time in the democratic history of contemporary society where human freedom is so threatened by the same people who claimed to be the guardian of human rights and freedom.

Democracy, as we know, is not the best description of authentic, selfless leadership, but the best blind, and untransformed humans can offer themselves. For this reason, we need to reevaluate how we define leadership as the ecclesia in this season.

We are told that as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the coming of the Son of man. The book of Daniel is filled with prophetic writings and symbolic descriptions of the end-time activity, which manifest before our eyes today. We are in the midst of profound fulfillment of biblical predictions, foretold almost four thousand years ago.

THE ORDER OF A PROPHETIC LEADERSHIP MOVEMENT.

Numbers 10:1-7

The LORD said to Moses: “Make two trumpets of hammered silver, and use them for calling the community together and for having the camps set out.

When both are sounded, the whole community is to assemble before you at the entrance to the tent of meeting. If only one is sounded, the leaders —the heads of the clans of Israel—are to assemble before you.

When a trumpet blast is sounded, the tribes camping on the east are to set out. At the sounding of a second blast, the camps on the south are to set out. The blast will be the signal for setting out. To gather the assembly, blow the trumpets, but not with the signal for setting out.

We are called to break out as we hear the silver trumpet of Moses type of leadership calling us to march out in the order of our spiritual tribe and regiments. As the sensual operational practice and humanist philosophy continue to invade the community of the leadership position of the Church, we hear a more distinct voice of the next prophetic marching order, calling us to move to a higher ground of the mountain of the Spirit of the Lord, where the compromising ancient, idolatry mythology and all the dead religious methodologies invented cannot reach.

AN ASCENDED VISIONARY LEADER

The kind of leadership being demanded from a Moses type of leadership at this stage requires an upgrade of vision to see and hear from a higher prophetic perspective to accurately represent the heart of the Father.

As you will agree, it would have been easy for Moses to lead the people forward if the road before him was visible, and of course, it would have been even much easier for the people to listen and follow his leadership instruction.

However, what was visibly ahead of them contradicted Moses’s leadership demand, making it almost impossible to envision moving forward. To move forward in a time and situation where there seems no evidence of a road or direction will take a different type of leadership to Spirit, who the source of inspiration is heavenly by default.

This means that the level of such a leadership vision must be so calibrated insight that such a leader can genuinely speak as the mouthpiece of God when everyone is speaking contrary. In other words, the current requirement of leadership, particularly from the, must be an advanced prophetic spirit.

At this point of leadership, those who demanded to go forward were already contemplating returning Egypt to their former position of lifestyle and thinking. Egypt, as we know, symbolizes a place of captivity, where its leadership is a tyrant and authoritarian, abusive, compromising by all standards.

When we face the reality the Children of Israel met at the back side of the wilderness, it is easy to start contemplating returning to the familiar spot and pace of our past, even if the condition were worse than our present location.

The voice of our former location, livelihoods, and lifestyle always seems stronger and still feels louder in our heads, especially when we are yet to experience the true essence of our redemption heritage. Going back to submit to Pharaoh was a daily contemplation and desire among so many that came of Egypt, even though heaven’s presence was manifested through the Pillar of cloud by day and the Pillar of fire by night.

The uncertain, manipulative, and to a large extent, abusive political environment and the religious climate of the elites we have witnessed is without doubt beaten specific individuals to the point of fear and submitting to what is now being defined as cancel culture political correctness.

Amid this uncertainty and dysfunctional attitudes, the Lord commanded Moses to tell the people to go forward. Going forward spells freedom, reformation, transformation, and restoration, and that takes a different spirit of visionary leadership to make it a reality.

One of the vital essences of Godly leadership is to inject knowledge, wisdom, faith, courage and understanding in the collective achievement of heaven’s prophetic objective. Hence, the requirement for a different type of leadership visionary spirit is one of the hour’s demands.

Friends, there are several things the Spirit of the Lord is doing within his redemptive and restorative initiative within his Church. One of them is the recalibration of our redemptive, heavenly nature, which includes how we see and interact to life.

Both the stirring and the refreshing engagement of our ascended leadership Spirit, in my opinion, is one of the significant ongoing prophetic reconstruction and restoration taking place in the Body of Christ globally. Unfortunately, many might be limited in the operation of the outpouring due to their presumptive perspective of what leadership means.

To be continued!