THE PEOPLE GOD SENDS AROUND YOU
A Wordspired Message on Relationships, Leadership, Fatherhood and Discernment
There are people God brings into your life because they are gifts.
There are people who come as lessons.
There are people who come to multiply what God has placed in your hands.
And there are people whose presence can become a source of crisis if you do not discern them properly.
One of the greatest mistakes we can make in life is to assume that everyone around us is the same.
They are not.
Some people are blessings.
Some are assignments.
Some need restoration.
And some must be released.
That is why discernment is important.
1. THE JACOB KIND OF PEOPLE — THE MULTIPLIERS
When Jacob entered Laban's house, something changed.
Laban said in Genesis 30:27:
“I have learned by experience that the LORD has blessed me for your sake.”
Jacob was a multiplier.
Whatever you placed in his hands increased.
Give him an assignment and he doesn't merely execute it—he thinks about how to improve it.
Give him a vision and he asks:
“How can we take this to the next level?”
These are the people who use their own resources, ideas, energy and relationships to move the work forward.
They don't need to be pushed every morning.
They carry the assignment as though it were their own.
They are assets.
Impact is not simply being available.
Impact is being valuable.
There are people who are always available but add no value.
There are people who have been around for years but have never produced anything significant.
Do not confuse presence with productivity.
The Jacob kind of people are productive.
But there is something you must understand about productive people:
TAKE CARE OF THEM.
If you continually exploit them, ignore them, or take them for granted, they may eventually leave.
Some people don't leave because they hate the vision.
They leave because they have been continually used without being valued.
Don't use people simply because they are faithful.
Value faithful people.
2. THE JONAH KIND OF PEOPLE — THE DESTABILIZERS
Then there are Jonah-type people.
Jonah 1:4–6 tells us that a great storm arose while Jonah was in the ship.
Everybody was fighting for survival.
And Jonah was sleeping.
That is a dangerous picture.
Sometimes the person causing the greatest problem is not the person shouting.
Sometimes they are quietly sitting in the system while everybody else is wondering:
“What is happening?”
Jonah was in the boat, but the boat was in danger.
There are people whose presence brings unnecessary crisis.
You trust them.
You promote them.
You give them responsibility.
But somehow, things keep going wrong.
People begin leaving.
Confidential conversations begin appearing outside.
Conflicts multiply.
People who previously loved the vision suddenly become uncomfortable.
And you begin asking:
“What is happening to this organization?”
Discernment says:
Find the source of the storm.
Not every crisis is caused by the person you can see shouting.
Sometimes the real problem is quietly sleeping in the boat.
But there is another lesson here:
Do not become so spiritual that you refuse to confront destructive behavior.
If someone refuses correction, continually undermines authority, and makes people believe they cannot be called to order, leadership must respond.
You cannot claim authority while rejecting every form of accountability.
You cannot be under authority while refusing authority.
At the same time, correction should not become hatred.
The goal is not to destroy people.
The goal is to protect the assignment and, wherever possible, restore the person.
3. THE JUDAS KIND OF PEOPLE — PROXIMITY WITHOUT LOYALTY
Judas is another category.
John 13:2 says:
“The devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot... to betray him.”
Judas was not an outsider.
He was close.
He had access.
He walked with Jesus.
He heard the teachings.
He saw the miracles.
He was part of the ministry.
This teaches us something uncomfortable:
Proximity is not the same as loyalty.
Someone can be close to you physically and far from you in heart.
Someone can call you “father” publicly and still carry a different agenda privately.
Someone can have access to information without having the character to carry that information.
Therefore, don't give everybody the same level of access.
ACCESS MUST FOLLOW TRUST.
Not everyone should know everything.
Not everyone should enter every room.
Not everyone should carry every piece of information.
Wisdom knows the difference between being loving and being careless.
4. THE JOSEPH KIND OF PEOPLE — THE TRUSTWORTHY STEWARDS
Then there are the Josephs.
Joseph was trusted with access.
He entered Potiphar's house.
He was entrusted with responsibility.
He handled things that did not belong to him.
He could have abused his access, but he remained faithful.
That is the kind of person every leader needs.
You need Josephs in your church.
Josephs in your departments.
Josephs in your business.
Josephs among your staff.
Josephs around your family.
People who can see your humanity and still honor your calling.
People who can see your weakness without exploiting it.
People who can know what is happening in your life and still protect your dignity.
EVERY LEADER NEEDS SOMEONE THEY CAN BE HUMAN WITH.
Jesus Himself demonstrated this.
When He entered a deeply sorrowful moment, He took Peter, James and John with Him.
The Son of God experienced sorrow.
He allowed trusted people to see Him in vulnerability.
This raises a serious question:
Who can you open up to?
When you have not paid your rent...
When there is no food in the house...
When ministry is difficult...
When your family is going through something...
When you are tired...
When you are discouraged...
Who can you call?
You need people with human hearts.
People who don't only celebrate your public victories but can stand with you during private battles.
I pray that God will bring Josephs into your life.
People who will stand with you.
People who will not expose you.
People who will not use your weakness against you.
People who will not abandon you because you are going through a difficult season.
5. FATHERHOOD IS TESTED IN DIFFICULT SEASONS
A father is not only a father when the son is successful.
Fatherhood is tested when the son is struggling.
If your son is going through a difficult season, that is not necessarily the time to turn your back on him.
If he has made a mistake, correct him.
If he is wrong, confront him.
But don't confuse correction with rejection.
The ministry God gave us is called the ministry of reconciliation.
2 Corinthians 5:18 speaks of God giving us the ministry of reconciliation.
Sometimes people don't need another person to tell them how bad they are.
They already know.
They need someone who will say:
“Come. Let's talk.”
“You made a mistake, but your mistake is not the end of your story.”
“Let's work through this.”
“Let's restore what can be restored.”
You don't win people by condemning them.
You win people by showing them truth, love, accountability and the possibility of transformation.
6. BE CAREFUL WHAT INFORMATION YOU CARRY
Not everything you know needs to be repeated.
Someone tells you:
“He fought with his wife.”
“He was sleeping.”
“He did this.”
“He said that.”
And you carry the information from one person to another.
But ask yourself:
What does this information produce?
Does it increase your spiritual life?
Does it make you wiser?
Does it help you pray?
Does it help you restore someone?
Does it help the assignment?
Or are you simply carrying information that was never yours to carry?
Not every secret needs a messenger.
Not every conversation needs an audience.
Not every observation needs to become a report.
DISCERNMENT IS KNOWING WHAT TO SAY, WHAT NOT TO SAY, AND WHO TO SAY IT TO.
7. BE CAREFUL WHAT INFLUENCES YOU
There is a powerful lesson in the life of Peter.
Peter could say:
“Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus acknowledged that revelation.
Yet shortly afterward, Peter resisted Jesus' announcement about His suffering, and Jesus rebuked the influence behind his words.
The lesson is not that Peter suddenly became an evil person.
The lesson is that a good person can say the wrong thing under the wrong influence.
Therefore, pray:
“Father, may Satan not use me.”
Your mouth must not become a weapon against the very thing God is building.
Your emotions must not become a doorway through which destructive influences operate.
Your frustration must not become rebellion.
Your access must not become betrayal.
Your information must not become gossip.
Your influence must not become destruction.
8. INFORMATION AND RELATIONSHIPS DETERMINE YOUR NEXT LEVEL
There is a powerful principle:
Who you meet matters.
Who meets you matters.
What you read matters.
What you repeatedly listen to matters.
Your relationships and your information shape you.
If you constantly surround yourself with people who criticize everybody, eventually you may become a critic.
If you constantly surround yourself with people who build, create, pray, learn and solve problems, their influence will begin to shape you.
That is why you must be intentional about your relationships.
You cannot remain the same person while constantly changing the quality of what enters your mind and the quality of people influencing your life.
9. DON'T MAKE A TRIBE OUT OF AN INDIVIDUAL
Never take the weakness of one person and make it the identity of an entire people.
One person's arrogance does not define a tribe.
One person's failure does not define an organization.
One pastor's mistake does not define every pastor.
One person's behavior is not a license to stereotype millions of people.
Arrogance is not a tribe. It is a character issue.
Character must be dealt with at the level of the individual.
10. KNOW WHEN TO RESTORE AND WHEN TO RELEASE
This is where wisdom becomes important.
Not everyone who makes a mistake should be discarded.
Some people need correction.
Some need mentoring.
Some need restoration.
Some need another opportunity.
But persistent rebellion is different.
Persistent betrayal is different.
Persistent destruction is different.
There comes a time when someone may choose to leave.
And when they choose to leave, don't allow their departure to destroy the assignment.
People come and people go.
But God's work must continue.
The answer is not hatred.
The answer is not revenge.
The answer is not bitterness.
The answer is:
Keep building.
CONCLUSION: ASK GOD FOR THE RIGHT PEOPLE
Lord, give us Jacobs—
people who multiply what You put in their hands.
Give us Josephs—
people who can be trusted with access, responsibility and influence.
Give us people with human hearts—
people who can see our humanity without despising our calling.
Give us people who will correct us when we are wrong and stand with us when we are weak.
And give us discernment concerning Jonahs and Judases—
not so that we can hate people,
but so that we can protect the assignment, maintain healthy boundaries, and pursue restoration wherever possible.
May we ourselves become the kind of people we are praying to receive.
May we become multipliers.
May we become trustworthy.
May we become faithful.
May we become people who carry information responsibly.
May we become people who restore rather than destroy.
May our presence bring peace rather than storms.
May our access never become betrayal.
May our influence never become destruction.
And when God gives us people, may we have the wisdom to recognize who they are, what they carry, and how they should be handled.
WORDSPIRED DECLARATION
I will not be merely available; I will be valuable.
I will multiply what God places in my hands.
I will be trustworthy with access.
I will not carry information that God has not asked me to carry.
I will not allow my mouth to become a weapon against God's people.
I will correct without condemning.
I will restore where restoration is possible.
I will discern my relationships wisely.
I will become a Joseph to someone else.
I will become a Jacob to the assignment God has given me.
And I will walk with God in wisdom, humility, faithfulness and love.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
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