The World, the Devil, the Flesh

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath 

Ephesians 2:1-3

Both the Devil and the world, in temptations, attack our flesh, causing us to sin. Interestingly, the pentecostal tradition tends to focus on the Devil, the Fundamentalists focus on the World and the Evangelicals tend to focus on the flesh. A balanced view would be that all of these work on us, since they are mentioned together in this verse.
So then when someone comes to you with a problem, considering all these things is a good perspective. 

Deliverance from Evil Spirits

On the mission field, sooner or later you will encounter evil coming from the spiritual realm. It's a good idea to have an idea of where you stand before you, for example, have to stand before a Muslim shaman doing a trance ritual, as I encountered two years ago.

Here's some salient points from my class on Spiritual Warfare

• The word 'demon-possession' is not an accurate translation of the original text. A better one may be demonized, or simply 'to have a demon'. The demons may not always completely possess, as in control, a person, but they may have influence. As seen in the NT encounters of Jesus with demonized people, sometimes they may seem fine but then may occasionally exhibit strange behaviors as the demon ramps up bothering them.
• A Christian can not be fully inhabited by a demon as our spirit is now the Lord's. However, in the same way that you can sin after becoming a Christian, you can also yield ground (say via sin) to allow demonic influence even after becoming a Christian. Sometimes this gets to the point where they are doing things they would not normally do or acting very strangely.
• Demonic influence can come from sin, curses, family spiritual inheritance (like children being dedicated to other spirits), trauma done to you (as in the case of abuse victims), and dealing with the occult. When dealing with occult spirits it is good to fast and pray to prepare yourself first.
• Casting out demons is actually a part of healing the person. So it should be in the overall scope of discipleship etc.
• When casting demons out, you don't have to shout, they are not deaf. Also do not get angry, remember you are battling a spiritual power, not the person. There is no need to be dramatic and you can also just tell them to be silent and leave quietly so they don't make a scene.
• There is no magic formula to casting them out, but saying something like this generally works. "In the name of Jesus, get out of here and do not return. This person belongs to Jesus and you have no control here. We cut off any ties and any influence from Satan."

Evangelisation in Thailand

People in Thailand come to Christ only 6% through missionaries. The other 24 % is through pastors and the other 70% through church members.
However only 4% of the church members are involved in further discipleship, leaving church growth slow.
- Ajarn Yuttasak Sirikul, call2all 2013

Location:ถนนห้วยแก้ว,Chiang Mai,Thailand

Call2All Chiangmai plenary session

Right now I'm at the opening session of Call2all world congress and this was a cool testimony the speaker, Ajarn Sydney, told.
He works with the Karen tribe in a poor area in the mountains. One day it was cold so they built a fire. As they did so they saw light streaming from the top of every mountain around. They knew it was strange so they said "let's gather every Christian and gather in the sports field and God will heal the blind."
As they gathered everyone saw the same vision of a river of blood coming towards them, and a voice saying "the blood of Jesus will cleanse this village."
Since then there has been revival in the village and it is now 20% Christian even though the rest of Thailand is under 1%.

Tithing

Numbers 18:26
You are to speak to the Levites, and you must tell them, ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe that I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you are to offer up from it as a raised offering to the Lord a tenth of the tithe

Sometimes people look surprised when they see tithing as part of my living costs as a missionary. Even some missionaries believe that they shouldn't tithe but be the recipient of it only.
I tithe for a few reasons:
* We need to be an example for the local church. If you don't tithe why should they?

* My church on the mission field needs money to keep running too. And they have many children's homes and other programs etc.

* If you look at the verse in numbers, even the Levites tithed and they were the set apart servants of God.

* Even Jesus tithed.

Aspects of leadership

Leadership is the idea of how the leader leads.
Several aspects to look at for leadership when analyzing an organisation are:

• History 
• Authority: Social right to exert power in certain situations
• Legitimacy: Culturally appropriate
• Support/Backing: Various groups wanting limited resources for their agenda
• Decision-making: The rules of the decision-making process, the appropriate timing.
• Exercise of power: Power is the participation in the making of decisions, it can be used or abused.

Leadership theories over time

Leadership as a term and concept has only been around since the 1900's so we start our timeline there.

Leadership ideas

• 1900's great men were born with specific traits
• Late 40's Rise of unions took power away from the one great leader idea and gave it to the people
• 50's - 60's Depression saw the reversal of the earlier trend as contingency leaders rose, one strong leader to pull people out of the pit
• 90's were all about vision, so if people didn't feel fulfilled in their job or in the vision they just switched work, no loyalty.
• 1995+ The fall of Enron and other companies bring the concept of morality into leadership.

Leaders we look to also seem to have switched from political leaders like Winston Churchill to business leaders like Donald Trump.

Servant Leadership thoughts

When the bible talks about leadership, it offers metaphors and relationships, like shepherd to sheep and father to child rather than models.
The metaphors the bible uses changes according to the society it's speaking to. So in the NT the metaphors change from rural ones (like sheep), to urban ones (like Greek gyms).
So what are the post-modern equivalents metaphors for servant leadership?

The truth is that leaders and followers share power. You are not a leader if no one is following. Now, the questions is does this work in our relationship with God? I think that God chooses to share power with his followers.