Coffee with Phil. 42. Helping Others To Shine

Phil Strong

What would the world look like if each one of us, who are led by God’s Spirit, helped others to shine? What if each one of us who are led by God’s Spirit would help other people to shine? Helped to unlock things that are already in people, and activate them by helping them to be awesome. Imagine if we did that? The world would be a much better place. 

If you find yourself looking to shine, then maybe it’s time for you to join Phil as he discusses how you can shine by helping others to shine. 

If you’re the kind of person that only worries about feeling good today, you definitely won’t want to be challenged by Phil in this podcast. But, if you’re game, grab yourself some time and enjoy coffee with Phil. 

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Introduction.  

Well, good morning everyone and welcome to Coffee with Phil, my name’s Phil, and it’s a delight to be with you this morning. It’s early in the morning, decided that I was going to get up early and get into the studio. I’ve got a bit of catch up to do with recording some podcasts. So for those of you that like to listen to these, they drop every week, you know usually on a Wednesday here in New Zealand, so that might be Tuesday if you’re overseas. But we try to get the content prepared in advance and that just requires me to manage my schedule, and that means getting up early this morning to record a podcast, so let’s get into today.   

 Today is coffee with Phil Episode 42, called helping others to shine. And I just want to say this, I love helping people to be awesome. I love finding the gold in people and helping them to shine in a way that reveals the awesomeness of who they are. I spoke in Coffee with Phil episode 25 about the journey that I’m on with regards to becoming a spiritual father, and what I felt God say to me, what the journey is like, what the benefits are, what the challenges are. And from that basis I suppose I would say this, that the role of us assomeone who would influence someone. I was gonna say our role is influencers, but, you know, there’s a whole lot of weird looking people on the YouTube channel that would make the word influencer a negative phrase now, I just think it’s just such a hilarious thought that people would just spend their lives videoing themselves, and reckon that that influences people for good. Anyway, not what we’re talking about today. But we are called to influence people to help them to shine. To help them reveal the glory of their creator, and this is, I suppose, the crux of the matter for me, because I truly believe that every single person is created by God, and for the glory of God. I believe that each one is a child of God. I believe each person is created in God’s image. That means that they carry the essence of God inside them. And really the journey of life is about discovering, what did God deposit in us, that he wants to reveal through us?  

And so when people do their thing, when they find who they are, when they discover a passion or an assignment or a, you know, sometimes we say, find their calling. I believe that when they do that well, they reveal the God that’s in them to others around them, and that’s what I love doing. I love helping people to shine. One of my catch phrases, website, podcast, speaking, is to live a life of purpose on purpose. And when we’re determined and resolute, when we’re certain, when we’re confident, who we are and why God made us to be this way, then we can live the life on purpose, we can be deliberate, intentional, we can be living a life of design, being strategic about what we do, and what we do not do, giving our attention to what’s important. And as my old pastor used to say, Pastor Nick, he said, I don’t know a million times, just let’s keep the main thing, the main thing. And that’s really what it means to come into a place where you understand who you are. And I just want to say, I just love helping people be awesome, helping others to shine. 

What am I working on?  

As an example of that, I had a conversation, well having weekly conversations with someone at the moment, and they’re working on a project, and I just admire the passionate commitment, the amount of hours, and the prayer, and the study, and the work that’s going into this project. And when I met with her recently for a whiteboard session in my office, she just said, look, I just, I truly feel called to this, and there was a time in my life where I would hear other people speaking of God leading them, and revealing things to them, and calling them higher into a place where they could be his light in the workplace, or they could teach people how to pray, or they could go on a mission. And she said at that stage of my life I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing, and I was doing my job and I was doing it well, but I was doing it for my benefit, and really by my strength. She said, but this is so different because I have this passionate understanding that God really wants me to do this, that I must do this, that I really want to do this, and she feels called into this, like a higher calling, like a, you know, if you believe in God, then you believe that there’s a higher power above all things. God is sovereign, he’s over all, he’s above all, he’s in all. And that sense of awesome, awesome reverence that comes from knowing you’re truly called to something, that the God of heaven, that created the world and beyond what we know, he would be delighted to come and be a part of your world and call you into something where you live in partnership with him.  

 And so my role in helping this person to shine is just asking the right questions to draw out of her what she feels God’s called her into, and what that assignment might looked like. And then obviously how to complete it well. And so we wrestle with that, and we ask God to reveal things, and we draw it up on the whiteboard, as I love to do. Whiteboard sessions would be my favourite thing to do. And in this, you know I’m not trying to take glory for myself, what I’m saying is that there’s our calling on us, and I want to bring this to the main point as we go, but there’s a calling on us to help others to shine. So, by me, sharing with you, how I am trying to walk this out, I’m really hoping to inspire you, that you might also be awesome in someone else’s life. And so, this project that we’re working on, we’re diligent, and we’re deliberate, and we’re scheduled, because we don’t want to be delayed, we don’t want to be late to the party.  

I had a conversation with Kathy recently. Kathy, is a published author. She published her first book this year, but there’s a series of four books, and Kathy feels deliberate, and she feels called, she sees a sense of God’s purpose in this assignment of writing these books for young girls, and I’ve just helped do the final edit for her second book, which I’m gonna call her out here, might get in trouble. But, you know, she promised she was going to publish the second book in August, and it was mostly written by the end of April, but with work, and health, and challenges, there’s been delays in the publication of that book. And we were just chatting about it as we were going through the edits the other day, sitting at the breakfast bar, looking at all my comments or some of my comments, scratchings on my iPad. And I said to her, look, you’re serious about this, you’re committed to this, but you need to follow through with this, you know, stick to the deadline, and it rests with you, it’s not my responsibility to make it happen on time, it’s your responsibility. And that’s the sense of urgency that comes with a calling, and that’s what I’m talking about, and that’s, I suppose, what I’m trying to walk in. And really, I’m not trying to point the finger at everyone else and say what they should be doing. What I’m saying is, this is what I’m doing, what am I working on, because I love helping people be awesome. I love helping people to shine in, and it’s what I spend a lot of my time doing.  

I recently got to know a guy who is on a journey, and he’s an awesome guy, and he’s got huge potential and he’s had an up and a down season. And we speak property, because property is a passion of mine. And one day I might share some of that stuff with you, because I just I come alive when I talk about property with people. Was at a open home, or home viewing on the weekend, and just got caught up in talking with the people who owned the house, who were trying to sell the house so they can move into their new dream. And I just didn’t really want to buy their house. But I wanted to help them to be able to sell their house, and to just unlocking, I suppose, the potential in that property in the way that they can help the next person who’s going to enjoy that home to understand the benefits of what they’re seeing. And anyway, that wasn’t what I was gonna say, what I was gonna say is, I talked with a friend of mine about property and the subdivision of land. And I suddenly started to get inspired about how we can use opportunities like this to be able to serve first home buyers. And as I started to think more about that, I remember I was down at our lake house and I was having some quiet time, and I just really got out of circulation because I wanted just to spend time with God, and I wanted to, well I wasn’t looking for anything, I was just looking to hang out. You know, that’s what you do with your friends, right? You hang out with your friends and you prioritise time with them.  

So me and the Lord are hanging out, and I’m sitting on the couch ,and I’ve got some music playing on the TV there, and I just felt this, almost like a unveiling, and it was a revealing of this this idea that I truly believe God was giving me, to be able to serve first time buyers. And now I’ve done that for a long time, and I remember the first person I helped to buy a house, and it was just so inspiring to watch them in the exciting journey of being able to purchase their first home. These days it’s just such a difficult assignment for people, a challenge, and people have got a well, not just understanding how to do it, but being able to do it with the excessive price of construction and land, and you know you’re now talking about some people having to spend $1,000,000 to buy their first home, and that’s just, that’s huge. And so me, I’m now inspired and excited because there’s potential, and I see in this guy to be able to unlock things for people. And then I see, you know, like, if we held hands together as a partnership, then I could say my opportunity here is to create a system and a methodology by which people can come into the place where they can actually, truly, feel like they can achieve the goal of buying their first home. And I’ve scheduled a meeting with a developer for, I think it’s next week. But the idea is that we might unlock more for people as opportunities, and then think about, this is the challenge, is to think about, well let’s not just think about the transaction of the first house, let’s think about how do we coach, and support, and mentor these people, through their financial disciplines, and accountability for their decisions, and being inspired by their own goals, and help them to get on to the second step of the property ladder. Because, you know, the first house I lived in, I definitely didn’t want to raise my kids in it. It was too small, and it wasn’t right, and it was in the wrong place, and so there was multiple steps I took to get towards our family home, our first family home. And then obviously we’ve taken steps beyond that. So, just helping others to realise their dreams, and their goals just inspires me, and I feel like the Lord just pours his fuel on that and I’ll speak about that in a little moment.  

The third example that I’ve got of things that I’m working on is really it comes back to the church. In 2015 the Lord very clearly called us out of a place where we were living and asked us to come to Te Awamutu, and to be leaders of a local church, and we felt it was the right thing, we were absolutely convinced that God was calling us to do it, and we still are. But in that, I was aware that God was not asking me to lead a small church, in a small town, to keep people happy. And in fact it was about building a launching platform for a small church to touch the world. And that sounds ambitious, and it truly is. But isn’t every goal or assignment that the Lord gives us? But in that, there’s no way that I could do that by myself, there’s no way that I’d want to do that by myself, and in fact, if I’ve gotta do everything then I’m gonna just kill myself in the process, and so this idea that leading a church is not so much about doing everything, but it’s about building a launching platform so that the people of the church. When I say a small church, I’m not being disrespectful, I’m saying it’s a small group of people. And church is people, it’s not a building, it’s not a meeting, it’s not an organisation or a legal structure. So putting a launching platform for a small group of people to be able to touch the world with the message of Jesus, that is actually what church leadership is about, and I guess, as I’m saying that, I’m thinking, well, that’s what Jesus did, right? Jesus came with an assignment from the father. He says, I only want to do what the father has asked me to do, and I’m about my father’s business, and he chose twelve guys. And one of them he chose, he knew he was going to betray him. And he worked with those twelve guys for three years, and they walked in the dusty roads of Israel up into Samaria, and they sailed across the lake in a boat that felt like it was gonna sink. Well, from Peter’s perspective at least. And here’s Jesus, he’s just building a launching platform for a small group of people to touch the world, by revolutionising what we understand as faith in God. And that’s inspiring, you know I think, well if Jesus is a good example for me, then I can and work with the father to create a launching platform for a small group of people to be able to touch the world. And in that each one gets an opportunity to shine, and in that each one gets to discover what’s inside them, each one gets to discover their part to play, you know, the passage of scripture that we refer to often in this example is 1 Corinthians 12, where we say, look the eye can’t say to the ear I don’t need you. And if you’re a hand you’re most definitely not a foot, but when we all come together we complete the assignment that God’s given us.  

This is me learning how to shine. 

And so these are just examples, I suppose, of how I love to help people to be awesome. And in that I’d have to say, this is me learning how to shine. So, in my journey, in helping others to shine, I’m learning that that’s how I get to shine and demonstrate the glory of God to other people. Because when we truly do what God’s called us to do. When we truly represent the creator inside of us, surely people get to see him? Like, if we think like him, we look like him, we’re about our father’s business, don’t we get to reveal God? And in fact, didn’t Jesus actually say that? When, I think it was Philip, said, look, hey, Jesus, would you just show us the father? And he’s like, have I not been with you? Have I not been with you? And what he means by that is, look, if you see me, and I’m about my father’s business, then you get to see the father. And that’s what it means for us to shine. And so I’m learning how to shine. I’m learning how to walk in my assignment. I’m constantly trying to live a life of purpose on purpose, not as a cliche, but as a demonstration of my commitment to God who has created me. And this was just reinforced on the weekend, we had a moment in a church gathering, and we were just really asking God to reveal himself to us as ABBA father. And when we cry, ABBA, we cry out to the God who is our creator. And the question that was asked was, and you know we often do this, we just ask people to ask God a question. It’s the best way to connect with God, is to shut your eyes and focus on him being close to you, and then just ask him the question, and often the role of the leader is to ask the question and let God answer it. 

And so the leader of the meeting asked this in the gathering, it was like, God, what is the gift you packaged inside me to be a blessing to others? And I was in that meeting, was standing at the front there, and I just, in that moment I just felt the father just wash over me with his love, and a feeling of a sense of being created by him, perfectly, uniquely, intricately, and the Lord started to show me things, and reveal things to me. And I don’t want to get into that now, that’s actually gonna be a whole other podcast I’m guessing. But what I want to do is to encourage you to take a moment to ask that question. And look, it’ll be in the transcript below if you can’t find it. I’m going to repeat it for you. Maybe you even want to pause this podcast right now. Maybe you wanna grab a friend and say, hey, let’s do this together, and I want to share with you, so that you can support me on the journey, and I can support you on the journey. Because when you help others to shine, you in fact learn to shine yourself. But here’s that question again. Just find a quiet moment,shut your eyes to shut out the world, focus your attention on God, who is near you, he is close to you, and he wants to reveal himself to you, and ask him this question. God, Father God, what is the gift you packaged inside me to be a blessing to others? And I know as you do that God’s gonna reveal himself to you, and I’m excited for you, I’ve got this anticipation that there’s a stirring amongst those that would call on God as ABBA father, that he would stir them into a place of activation, because the world needs us, it needs the light to shine in the darkness, and his light, shining through you, is the message of Jesus.  

I find my prophetic voice the key to unlock and activate.  

One of the things I wanted to say, because I’m talking about me. Is just to say I find a prophetic voice, my prophetic voice, is the key to unlock and to activate. So, in that statement I’m saying I find my prophetic voice, meaning my ability to hear God and speak what God says. I find my prophetic voice the key to unlock and to activate. So, let’s just take those three keywords. Because I was thinking about them as I was preparing for this podcast. The Prophetic is a gift from God, so check out 1 Corinthians 14. You know Paul says, look, we’ve got lots of gifts and loves the greatest, but quite frankly I wish you would all prophecy, meaning learning how to hear God’s voice. The prophetic allows us to connect with God’s heart for others, and in my experience as a teacher of these things, and running classes on how to hear God’s voice, one of the greatest, tools I suppose, that the Lord taught me in this, is to help people to unlock this, is not to focus on themselves. And So what I’m suggesting to you is, the way that I’ve learned to shine is to help others to shine, and in that uncover what God’s deposited inside them.  

And so, I used to teach people this question when they’re learning to prophecy, is say something like, father God, you love this person they’re created in your image, what gift of love would you like to reveal to them through me today? What gift of love would you like to reveal to them through me today? And when we do that we’re demonstrating to God that our desire is to serve someone, to love them, to reveal him and his love to them. And of course, what Father wouldn’t want to be doing that? And so this is how I’ve learned to unlock that prophetic voice. And it’s what I’ve used to unlock, I suppose, my clarity around what God’s asking me to do, and when I don’t have clarity, I can come back to this as a tool in my tool belt. Say God, is this what you’re really saying? Is this what you’re really asking me to do? Is this the right path for me to walk down? Is this the right person to talk to? What would you want to reveal for this person that I’m helping to shine? And so the prophetic voice is very key. Because I would rather do that out of a leading by God’s spirit, than knowledge, and obviously, if I do it in my own strength, then it’s just gonna risk having too much Phil and not enough God. So, the prophetic voice is a real key to that. And the key is to unlock what is contained inside people already, but may not be given room or permission to operate. So, the idea here is that we would unlock what God has deposited inside them, we would unlock what God has planted in someone when he created them, when he dreamed their life up, when he called them into a relationship with him as an infant. And so the idea is, we don’t have to create that, we don’t have to build it, we don’t have to say, this is what I think you should be doing. We’re saying, look, God’s already put it in there, let’s unlock it, let’s reveal it, but let’s give permission, to each person, to walk in what’s called them. So, this idea that, we don’t want to lock people away, we want to have them reveal the glory of God through their lives.  

And a third word in there that’s part of how I like to work, is to activate people, which means making room for them to shine, making room for them to move, making room for them to be awesome, and that’s what I love doing. I love, you know, people come to me with an idea or they say, look, I feel like this is what God’s saying, or I’m in a challenging situation and I want to find a way out of it. Then I’m like all about helping them. I’m all about lifting them up. But I’m sure as heck not wanting to do it for them. So, activation means to set something alight, it means to release something, it means to click it into its function. You know, if you activated, well I’m just looking at my computer on the desk here, if I activate my computer I’m turning it on, I’m switching it, so it can function in the way it was built, and that’s what it means to activate someone. So, what I’m saying is, in my journey to help others to shine, I love helping people them be awesome, but I’m finding that my prophetic voice is the key to unlock, and to activate. And so, perhaps for you, perhaps you need to work on the strength of your prophetic voice, and God would want to help you with that.  

What would the world look like if each one of us who are led by God’s Spirit helped other people to shine? 

And so, I want to move this to a landing, and I want to say, what would the world look like if each one of us, who are led by God’s Spirit, helped others to shine? What if each one of us who are led by God’s Spirit would help other people to shine? And so, maybe you’d take this as an inspiration, and I want you to take it as permission to get out there and find your prophetic voice, help to unlock things that are already in people, and activate them by helping them to be awesome. Imagine if we did that? The world would be a much better place. It’s not just the role of parents to do this in their children until they leave home. It’s the role of parents to walk with their children through their lives, in order to help them be awesome. Not to do it for them, but to help them to be mature, and responsible, and accountable for the life that they live. It’s the same with your responsibility with the community, you know, the other people that we relate to, is to help them to find ways to be awesome. I remember going to a leaders meeting in South Africa in 2018 and a pastor was speaking in this leadership conference, or it was a gathering. And he said, Jesus is asking you as leaders, who are your twelve? Jesus had his twelve, and he gathered them around him, and he led them. And for me it was quite inspiring. He’s still asking me who are those twelve? Who those twelve that you’re investing into? That you’re developing? That you’re discipling, you’re teaching, you’re leading, you’re encouraging, you’re helping to be awesome. There’s an accountability. There’s an accountability, in those who have much, of them much will be required. So, if you’ve got the gift and the grace on your life, on leadership, and God doesn’t want you just to focus on your own life, he wants you to help others. 

And so what about you? What if you just think about one, who’s the one? Who is the one person that you’re gonna positively contribute in the season? And get alongside them. And in that I just wanna, you know, make a warning here I suppose. I don’t want you to insert yourself into someone’s life when they don’t want it. And so the key here is safe and significant connections. So, think about who you’re close to, who you have a feeling of a safe relationship with, and they would feel that you’re safe for them. And in that, discover that there’s a significant connection. So, what I’m suggesting to you, what I’m commissioning you to do, what I’m challenging you to do, is to go out there and build one or two safe, or significant connections, and then help them to be awesome. Unlock what God says about them, what gift of love he has for them, and that he’s already put in them. And give them permission to feel like they can shine in that space, and then help by activating them, which means making room for them to shine, and that’s what I’m going to do.  

So, I just want to say thanks for hanging out with me today, I hope you enjoyed your coffee. Your early coffee, or your late coffee, whatever. It’s, Coffee with Phil is an opportunity to sit with me and journey with me through life in the perspective of faith, and I hope today has been helpful for you. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast, and make sure you share it with someone, this is how we spread the word, and how we connect with more people. So, God bless you. Have an amazing day and I look forward to catching up with you real soon.