CHURCH HURT LEADERSHIP ENDURES!

There is much leadership bashing from the world and from the saints. Though there are some concerns the body of Christ need to address and change regarding the character, integrity and Godly standards of leaders, bashing only breeds reproach, hardship, and division. The word tells us to esteem leaders and to pray for leaders.

1Timothy 2:1-3 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—  for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;

Many folks have hurtful things to say, but many of these people are not praying for leaders.  There is minimal compassion where leaders can be strengthened by the petitions, prayers, intercession, and honor of the saints, such that they endure less burnout and hardship.  Some leaders are hesitant to ask for prayer for fear of being viewed as incompetent, flawed, or experiencing public exposure. Many leaders are left uncovered and exposed to the wiles of the enemy.  We must acknowledge that leaders experience church hurt as well.

Chiefly, leaders have to press through despite the pain they endure. This is probably the reason many do not acknowledge, or address church hurt. They have been conditioned to believe it comes with the territory, and for them, this is indeed a truth. Leaders tend to be taken for granted so there is minimal to no regard for their church hurt pains. We want to dismantle this injustice by exposing the hurts leaders endure.  As leaders are delivered and healed, the oil of healing with flow to the sheep.

Hurts leaders endure are as follows:

➢      Being misunderstood by members.

➢      Being misunderstood and judged by family members, loved ones and even

peers.

➢      Judged harshly based on opinion and not through a Godly well.

➢      Having to deal with the fickleness and flakiness of people.

➢      People feeling entitled to judge and assassinate God, ministries, the body of

Christ.

➢      Members leaving without attempting to resolve conflicts or without a

willingness to work through conflicts.

➢      Members and people in general, aborting relationships or ministry

endeavors with the leaders.

➢      Members hurt and take advantage of one another and leaders must

intervene; leaders are blamed for these transgressions even though they had nothing to do with the situation.

➢      People lacking responsibility and accountability for their part in growing the

ministry and advancing the vision.

➢      Enduring warfare from the demonic realms for being the ultimate vision

carrier.

➢      Enduring word curses and witchcraft spells from saints, witches, warlocks,

ignorant people, and wicked people.

➢      Having to constantly sacrifice for the good of the ministry and people with

minimal to no appreciation.

➢      Enduring ridicule of having to choose between family and ministry

responsibilities.

➢      Unrealistic expectations where the leaders feel pressured or are pressured to

be perfect; or where their position somehow translates to perfection.

➢      Being dishonored, unaccepted, or made to feel less important depending on

their platform or ministry calling.

➢      Not being supported personally or ministerially by members, other

ministries, or the body of Christ.

➢      Enduring division and church splits.

➢      Being usurped by people who covet the vision or feel they can do a better job

than the leader.

➢      Experiencing betrayal from members and peers.

➢      Being made to bear the mistakes of other unhealthy and/or fallen leaders.

➢      Being blamed for the peoples’ lack of growth then they are being given

everything they need to align and advance with destiny.

➢      Not being sufficiently restored when they fall due to a transgression.

➢      Being ridiculed and persecuted by the world for the gospels’ sake.

By: Taquetta Baker
Kingdomshifters.com

ORDAINED IDENTITY DECREE!

ORDAINED IDENTITY DECREE!

Jesus, I decree that I am your (degree who you are - apostle prophet, teacher, evangelist, pastor, Minister, proclaimer of the gospel)!

I am your dreamer that provokes others to dream again, a birther of manifestation in the earth!

I am your chain breaker, your deliverer, your stealth bomber, your weapon of mass destruction!

I am manifold grace and glory, Chayzil armory overflowing with kingdom keys, be though made whole, and Euodoo prosperity!

I am soar prophetic, praise party, a leader to leaders, mentor to mentees!

I am your revivalist, your strategist, your solution to the body of Christ and to the world.

I am your scout, your gatekeeper, your watchdog, your watchman that lives and rules in spiritual realms, while governing my God ordained regions and spheres of influence!

I am your dismantler and displacer of demonic strongholds, territorial spirits, and principalities!

I am your judge of witches, warlocks, demonic powers, idolatry, wickedness on earth and in high places!

I am your pioneer, your trailblazer, your business owner, your marketplace infiltrator!

I am your vision carrier, your glory carrier,  your praiser, your worshipper, your servant!

I am your friend, your pen, your scribe, your author, your word made manifest in the earth!

I am fusion - fused with heavenly council and authority to reign internationally in the earth.  I am your hybrid believer, your disruptor causing disruptions and an overthrowing of demonic systems and kingdoms!

I am your kingdom shifter - A SHIFTER - mandated to raise up other kingdom shifters for your glory.  I do not apologize that my very identity SHIFTS people, situations, lands, atmospheres, climates, and regions.  

For through you Jesus, I have permission to be me.  I am one of many faces, mantles, and giftings, yet I walk in my true God given identity.  There is no one else I would rather be. I am who you ordained me to be. 

SHIFT AGAIN!

I decree I am eternally surrounded and consumed inside the glory and consuming fire of the Lord.

I decree I eternally operate in the revival streams of dominion and authority.  I am eternally seated inside of Christ in the third heavens and only go higher and deeper in the realms of your apostolic authority, revival fire, and dominion glory.  I saturate and cultivate myself in your authority and dominion and decree it is the consumption of my destiny and calling.

I honor God with my whole life - with my whole heart, my whole mind, my whole soul.  Nothing but honor will you receive from me.

I decree the eternal favor and blessings of heaven is the truth, will, purpose, glory and honor around me and all that concerns me.  

Because of the operations of the kingdom of heaven in my life, I am honored by God and man!  I cannot be denied for the kingdom of God works in my life, for my life, through my life, is the atmosphere and governmental rule of me and everything which concerns me.

I decree the DUNAMIS and EXOUSIA power and authority of the Lord is eternally upon me to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out devils, cleanse the leopards, and to freely give as I have received. 

I decree the EXOUSIA power of God gives me the ability, capability, privilege, authority, right, and enablement to successfully advance in my life’s vision and destiny.

I decree I sow myself - my life is a seed.  I sow in financial giving and through all God desires me to release.  I want for nothing because God is my provider; my seeds also produce overflowing harvest that takes care of all that concerns me and what God has granted unto me.  

I decree an unwavering spirit of belief, faith and kingdom authority is mantled upon me to produce immediate, sustaining, limitless miracles, signs, wonders, deliverance, healing, cures, and breakthrough, as I am a tangible witness that God is the only savior and reigning king. 

SHIFT AGAIN!

I decree a DEMONSTRATIVE warfare Mantle is upon me where I have:

• Power over all the power of the enemy and nothing by any means harms me
• Tower in victory and dominion over every principality, power, ruler of darkness, territorial spirit, ruler in high places, witches, warlocks, curses, ungodly plots, plans, assignments, and challenging situations
• Cast out every strongman and devil and dismantle and annihilate to utter destruction every demonic kingdom, webbing, trap, troop, force field, barrier, and fortress I encounter
• Heal every manner of sickness, affliction, transgression, disease, and distress
• SHIFT every person, atmosphere, region that I encounter into the glory, judgment, grace, salvation, likeness, kingdom, and will of God

SHIFT AGAIN!
1Corinthians 12 Power Gifts

I decree supernatural DUNAMIS and EXOUSIA power of the Holy Spirit operates immeasurably in me through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I decree the

1. Word of Wisdom
2. Word of Knowledge
3. Supernatural Gift of Faith
4. Gifts of Extraordinary Healing
5. Working of Miracles
6. Gift of Prophecy
7. Discerning of Spirits
8. Divers (or different) kinds of Tongues
9. Interpretation of (different) Tongues
10. Spirit of Empowerment, Proclamation & Exortation
11. Gifts of Helps & Hospitality

Operates in me with limitless evidence and unlimited measure in the name of Jesus.

I Decree The Seven Fold Spirit of God From Isaiah 11:2 Is Upon Me!

Spirit of the Lord

is the supernatural power source that creates God's thoughts in my hearts and produce God's will and plan in my life.

Spirit of Wisdom

is all of God's supernatural thoughts themselves, mantling and becoming me - operating in me and through me. 

Spirit of Understanding

is God's personal illumination, enlightenment and revelation of those thoughts operating through me.

Spirit of Counsel

is God's personal instructions and guidance for Godly choices released in and through me.

Spirit of Strength & Supernatural Power

is God's supernatural ability to perform his thoughts, will and plan in my life, ministry, life endeavors, and destiny.

Spirit of Knowledge

is seeing God's intellect and truth manifested in my life actions, abilities, situations, and endeavors.

Fear of the Lord

is me towering in God's love, reverence and truth, fleeing anything that would quench His Spirit in and through me.  I am unquenchable through the fear of the Lord.  And greater works than Jesus I do, as I do only what I see and hear my father in heaven do, and leads me to do through my friend the Holy Spirit.

Daily, I live grounded from the kingdom of heaven and from a kingdom mindset and stance in the name of Jesus.  Daily I live inside the disruptive shift realm and momentum of God.  I am not afraid to DISRUPT AND SHIFT and journey through the impetus timing and purpose of God.  For we are in covenant and this is my inherited portion as a son/daughter, and heir to the kingdom of heaven. 

So Jesus!  I tower in your revealed grace, glory, love, and power from now and forevermore!  It is so in your matchless name! AMEN!  SHIFT!

Authored By: Taquetta Baker
Kingdomshifters.com
All rights reserved to Kingdom Shifters Ministries

DEFINING CHURCH HURT

You may experience hurt from:

✓   People

✓   Leaders

✓   Manmade denominations and doctrines

✓   Religious and traditional systems that are false representations of the

church

However, the church itself did not hurt you. Even though I just shared my testimony in a previous chapter regarding church hurt, the church itself did not hurt me. Your experience happened to be at church, and I truly sympathize and apologize for your experience.  I truly regret it occurred and I decree this manual delivers and heals you. I do, however, want to speak truth that despite your situation and my experiences occurring in a church or with church people, the church itself did not hurt either of us. Let me say that again, “your experience occurred in church, but the church itself did not hurt you.”

In fairness, when we are hurt on the job we do not call it "job hurt." When a family member hurts you, you do not label it "family hurt." You do not stop working and never return to work because you encounter challenges on a job. You do not ostracize your entire family because a few people in the family hurt you.  We do not throw away entire systems or do away with entire systems when we are hurt in other areas of life. We, therefore, must stop doing this with the church. Especially since God’s church is not a building, it is not a select group of people, it is not a particular ministry. God’s church is the body of Christ.  We are all his church.  I do want to state that in these systems many of the people are not saved, so we do not hold them to the same standard as we would the church, and rightfully so.  When we accept Jesus as our personal savior and begin to walk in relationship with him, we are committing to be better people, make better choices, and care for and protect the hearts of one another.  We therefore, have to stop making excuses for our inappropriate behavior in the church and implement standards, tools, and strategies to change our interactions and climate where we are becoming the bible we say we believe.  

Church hurt can be the worst kind of hurt for several reasons:

✓   You are trying to process how a Godly leader or person in church can hurt you.

✓   You are trying to process how a place that is supposed to protect and

empower you can harm you.

✓   You are trying to process how others can still follow that leader or attend

that church, while knowing you have been hurt.

✓   You are trying to process why God has not revealed to the people that

you have been hurt by a leader or person, or why they have not discerned your pain.

✓   You are trying to process how the leader or person can hurt you and still

be used of God to do mighty acts.

✓   You are trying to process how a leader or person from a church can hurt

you and still be blessed, even as the ministry continues to advance.

✓   You are trying to process how the leader or person can hurt you and can

call everyone else out on their sin but have no conviction for their actions towards you.

✓   You are trying to process how that leader or person can study and seek

God for mighty revelation, yet receive no insight on their actions towards you.

✓   You are trying to process how everyone else appears to be getting what

they need from that leader or church but you only received pain.

These checkpoints are what I would label as “friendly fire.” Friendly fire is defined as a weapon firing from one’s own camp that causes injury or death. We expect the demons to hurt us, wicked people to hurt us, people who hate God and his word to hurt us, but we do not expect those within our own camp to harm us. We deem ministries to be our heaven on earth. They are our safe havens for being protected by the presence and power of God. The saints are our friends, our allies, our partners, and supports who help us to take the kingdom by force. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, we never expect to get hurt by those on our team. When this happens, we demand a logical explanation, but because it is within the church, and we do not expect church hurt to happen, any explanation tends to be viewed as illogical and unacceptable.

As I explored the concept of church hurt, I would have to contend that challenges within the church are inevitable. We will experience them. We are imperfect people seeking to be perfected by a perfect God. God does not promise us that we will not have challenges and trials within the church. He does expect us to be transformed by his presence, standards, strategies, and guidance so as we are SHIFTING in our transformation, we should be more loving, considerate, honoring, empowering, and unified with one another.  When SHIFTING from level to level and glory to glory in and with him, God also provides us with wisdom and guidance regarding how to handle conflicts and trials. I, therefore, would first like to dismantle the myth and mindset that church hurt should not happen. It will occur. We, however, need to be trained and equipped in how to handle it. How to care for one another's emotions, hearts, souls, and identities, such that we SHIFT into the perfect church that God is in pursuit of.

Decreeing personal and ministerial transformation such that God's church and body begins to looks like him.  SHIFT!

Book available at Kingdomshifters.com and on Amazon.  

TRUE PURPOSE OF THE CHURCH

One factor we need to consider is often we equate the purpose of the church to doctrines and denominational systems within the church.

Religious Doctrines are religious creeds, philosophies, and standards a church abides by (e.g. We believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation, we believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the evidence of speaking in tongues).

Denominational Systems are organizations that a church or ministry tend to identify themselves with to create a corporate culture with norms, rules, and expectations (e.g., Baptist, Pentecostal, Methodist, Nondenominational).

Often doctrines and systems are manmade standards men set using many biblical principles to help bring structure to a ministry vision, a church, or church body. But this is not necessarily God's purpose of the church. Especially if the doctrine or system has biblical errors, untruths, and becomes more important than God, God's people, his word, vision for that ministry and the body of Christ as a whole.

Some church doctrines and systems may include standards regarding attire, code of conduct, and activities that are more based on what that doctrine’s or leader’s personal perspective of being saved, holy, or modest is, rather than God’s biblical perspective of salvation.

The other challenge we have with doctrines and systems is that if some people decide they believe something different than the doctrines and systems of that church, many become hurt by it. Especially if it excludes them, challenges a sin they want to compromise or engage in, or causes them to have to disconnect from that ministry. The challenge with this is, often if these perspectives are rooted in sin and compromise, a person will consider that assembly religious. The expectation of God loving all people, while recognizing that God has a standard for salvation has become distorted, confusing, and debatable, despite what the Bible says.

A lot of ideologies we call religious today are not religious. For example, if someone seeks to keep or iterate the standard of holiness that is the foundation of God and his biblical word, we automatically call that person "religious." Many often proclaim the concept of grace, or the fact that we all sin to counterattack what we deem to be "holier than though," "self-righteous jargon," regarding the need to be holy and pursue holiness. Holiness is not a doctrine or a system. It is a biblical truth of God's character and nature and is a biblical expectation he has for us as his people. God does not want his people willingly living in sin, bound by devils, and compromising his word and standards. He wants us to have a clear understanding of his holiness, and to live in pursuit of his holiness.

Because doctrines and systems have set standards to define holiness, and we have learned over the centuries that some of these religious acts and perceptions are not important to God, many have rebelled against God's standard for the church. Many want to throw God’s entire purpose of the church out rather than acknowledge and correct the errors within some systems and doctrines and teach people to have a relationship with God, and honor his word so that we begin to live and morph as his true church.

God's church is designed to save, deliver, heal, empower, and equip people to walk in their ordained destiny. That is the whole reason Jesus came to earth, was crucified, and rose for our sins.

Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down.

The church does what it is created to do.  Jesus was an embodying representation of the church. Regardless of the actions of man, implementations of denominations, doctrines, and systems, God’s design of the church does not change and does not hurt anyone but the devil.

Though we have different churches all over our cities and the world, Jesus never said we were to be our own separate church.  To Jesus, we are all one church and upon us all, he builds and fulfills his kingdom in the earth.

Matthew 16:13-18 The Amplified Bible Now when Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, Who do people say that the Son of Man is? And they answered, some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He said to them, But who do you [yourselves] say that I am? Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Then Jesus answered him, Blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are you, Simon Bar-Jonah. For flesh and blood [men] have not revealed this to you, but My Father Who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter [Greek, Petros—a large piece of rock], and on this rock [Greek, petra—ahuge rock like Gibraltar] I will build My church, and the gates of Hades (the powers of the infernal region) shall not overpower it [or be strong to its detriment or hold out against it].

Ephesians 4:4-8 The Amplified Bible [There is] one body and one Spirit—just as there is also one hope [that belongs] to the calling you received—[There is] one Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of [us] all, Who is above all [Sovereign over all], pervading all and [living] in [us] all.

Yet grace (God’s unmerited favor) was given to each of us individually [not indiscriminately, but in different ways] in proportion to the measure of Christ’s [rich and bounteous] gift. Therefore it is said, when He ascended on high, He led captivity captive [He led a train of vanquished foes] and He bestowed gifts on men.

As a church and as a church member, to Jesus, we are one body with different gifts, visions, workings, and operations. Our vision from ministry to ministry may be different, but we are one church.

1Corinthians 12:12-20 For just as the body is a unity and yet has many parts, and all the parts, though many, form [only] one body, so it is with Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). For by [means of the personal agency of] one [Holy] Spirit we were all, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, baptized [and by baptism united together] into one body, and all made to drink of one [Holy] Spirit. For the body does not consist of one limb or organ but of many.  If the foot should say, Because I am not the hand, I do not belong to the body, would it be therefore not [a part] of the body?

If the ear should say, because I am not the eye, I do not belong to the body, would it be therefore not [a part] of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where [would be the sense of] hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where [would be the sense of] smell? But as it is, God has placed and arranged the limbs and organs in the body, each [particular one] of them, just as He wished and saw fit and with the best adaptation. But if [the whole] were all a single organ, where would the body be? And now there are [certainly] many limbs and organs, but a single body.

Each church and each person has a measure of Jesus that we bring to the world to help make up his complete church.

Ephesians 4:8-13 The Amplified Bible Therefore it is said, When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive [He led a train of vanquished foes] and He bestowed gifts on men. [But He ascended?] Now what can this, He ascended, mean but that He had previously descended from [the heights of] heaven into [the depths], the lower parts of the earth? He Who descended is the [very] same as He Who also has ascended high above all the heavens, that He [His presence] might fill all things (the whole universe, from the lowest to the highest).

And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and

expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers. His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ’s body (the church), That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ’s own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him.

1Corinthians 12:21-27 The Amplified Bible And the eye is not able to say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. But instead, there is [absolute] necessity for the parts of the body that are considered the more weak.  And those [parts] of the body which we consider rather ignoble are [the very parts] which we invest with additional honor, and our unseemly parts and those unsuitable for exposure are treated with seemliness (modesty and decorum),

Which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so adjusted (mingled, harmonized, and subtly proportioned the parts of) the whole body, giving the greater honor and richer endowment to the inferior parts which lack [apparent importance], So that there should be no division or discord or lack of adaptation [of the parts of the body to each other], but the members all alike should have a mutual interest in and care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the parts [share] the suffering; if one member is honored, all the members [share in] the enjoyment of it. Now you [collectively] are Christ’s body and [individually] you are members of it, each part severally and distinct [each with his own place and function].

We were never supposed to be viewed as our own separate church. We are one church, even though we are in different locations. Our experiences within the church are not God’s church hurting us.  Receiving this truth will help dismantle fears, indignations, generalizations, and separations that keep us bound in hurtful church experiences.

Decreeing you are receiving truth and SHIFTING forward with enlightenment and healing. SHIFT!