6 Stages Of A Call Of A Change AgentSample

Stage 4: The Cross

The fourth stage of the 6 stages to discover, navigate, and fulfill your purpose is the cross. There appears to be an unwritten spiritual law that God requires of leaders in whom he uses significantly in his kingdom. I call it the graduate level test. This test contributes more to a leader coming to his or her own personal cross than any other activity.

Many who have matured in their faith journey needed help to get to that maturity. There are certain experiences God allows that are designed to bring us to the absolute end of our carnal lives. This is so that Christ fully lives through us. Even the best of saints are unable to crucify the flesh by themselves.

We might be able to put two nails into our own cross, but it always takes someone else to drive in the third one. And that usually involves some type of betrayal in the life of the leader. Most of the great leaders in the Bible experienced some form of betrayal:

• For Moses, it was Korah.
• For Job, it was his three friends.
• For Jesus, it was Judas.
• For David, it was Absalom.
• For Joseph, it was his brothers and Potiphar’s wife.

  Betrayal is God’s graduate level course for leaders. Joseph would have never been made prime minister of Egypt had he not passed the test of forgiveness from the betrayal of his brothers. Job would never have been restored had he not forgiven the betrayal of his three friends who wrongfully judged him. David would never have become the leader he was without the betrayal he experienced. And Jesus would never have become the Savior had he not forgiven our betrayal of him and taken on our sin. He also needed Judas to fulfill his role in putting him on the cross. You are nothing in the kingdom of God until you have been betrayed, until you have come to know the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings. This wounding must be experienced so that one can be acquainted with his grief.