Through His Eyes
Phil Hanlen is a fire fighter and first responder for the Long Beach Fire Department. Even though Phil is on call to respond to emergencies at a moment’s notice, he realizes that his primary call is from God to serve God’s people the bread of life.
Phil’s spiritual journey started after the 9/11 attack of the World Trade Center. He was compelled to help. When he arrived at Ground Zero, the Lord touched his heart and he was devastated and crushed at the sight of death and destruction. As he sobbed in despair, in his mind’s eye he saw the vision of a bold lion and they locked eyes. This snapped him out of his stupor. Since this life changing encounter with the Lion of Judah, Phil has dedicated his life to serve his Lord. He guards his heart with God’s calling to follow the Lord’s direction. Phil’s attitude is, “Here am I Lord, send me.”
Jesus said, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened, ask and you shall receive. When God puts on our hearts the direction he’s calling us, then when we obey his calling, he will work in us and through us to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Jesus said to his disciples, I need to go away, but that’s a good thing. When I leave, then the Holy Spirit will come upon you. The Holy Spirit will teach you the all-truth. The Holy Spirit reveals to us God’s will and purpose for our lives. The Lord’s spiritual leaders are led by the Spirit…. when we listen to his still small voice, it’s Christ’s ears behind our ears, his eyes behind our eyes, his heart behind our heart.
Jesus said, set your affections on things above, not on things of this earth. The things of earth will soon pass away. However the things of the spirit, heavenly things will last into eternity…
The first step for spiritual leadership is humility. Jesus was a servant-leader. He lived to minister and not to be ministered to. He said, leaders of this world want to be front and center. They want the praise and glory of worldly men. However, Jesus said, whoever will be chief among you must be servant of all. Jesus said, come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. For I am meek and lowly of heart… My yoke is easy and my burden is light. I will bear your burden as you come unto me with a heart of meekness and humility.
The second step for spiritual leadership is to know the Word of God. When he was tempted of the devil in the wilderness, Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” He taught his disciples that there are two great commands that summarize all of the Old Testament commandments: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart soul, mind and strength and the second commandment is like unto it: thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
The third requirement for spiritual leaders is prayer. Prayer aligns our heart with God’s heart. The dialog with God that runs through our minds is what it means to pray without ceasing. Jesus was a man of prayer. Even though the crowds followed him demanding his time, he carved out special moments to meet with his Heavenly Father in intimate prayer free from worldly distractions.
The fourth leadership requirement is to build bridges to non-Christians. Jesus did not come to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. Jesus said that our great commission is to go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
J Oswald Sanders wrote a book called “Principles of Spiritual Leadership.” He said spiritual leadership requires spirit filled people. This has nothing to do with worldly values such as intellect, strength, people connections, and political power. Instead spiritual leadership requires a spiritual connection, sanctified… set apart according to God’s holy purpose. Spiritual leadership initiates discipleship to intentionally and deliberately discipline our hearts to follow the Lord with a spirit of humility to serve others from a heart of love and gratitude.
God has inspired Phil to lead an initiative to reach young men and to teach them according to Jesus’ action plan to make disciples of all men. The name of this ministry is “Through His Eyes Thursdays.” Meetings are currently scheduled the third Thursday of each month at Voyagers Church in Irvine at 7:00 p.m. Through His Eyes Thursdays is affiliated with Influencers OC. The purpose of this monthly prayer, worship, and discipleship ministry is to unite together as men of God to examine cultural, local, national and global issues from a biblical perspective. The focus is for younger men to develop an understanding of current events from a biblical world view.
This ministry is also an opportunity for seasoned men of God to influence younger brothers in Christ for one hour time slots twice each month either in person or on-line. These twice a month one on one meetings are to build up, encourage, comfort and instruct younger believers in the word of God and the direction that God is leading them.
The email address to register as a mentor is: ThroughHisEyesThursdays@gmail.com. Just say, “I’m in” and you will receive a return message with details for available monthly one hour time slots.
Paul’s message to his young protege Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2 is still true today: And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
… That we may live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael
