He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul.”

Psalms‬ 23‬:2‬-3‬ ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

The Four Pillars

I began mentoring Tony in January of 2023. Within six months, Tony’s spiritual growth trajectory was beyond anything I could have imagined. He was set free from long-standing addictions; his marriage relationship had significantly improved and his passion for the word of God was growing.

The focus of my mentoring was to get Tony daily hearing God’s voice, building a desire in him to remain in the Spirit and to support him in his teaching gift. When I first asked him to rate himself on a scale of 1-10 on how the fruit of the Spirit was manifesting in his life, he gave himself a three. Within that six-month period, his rating had grown to an eight. 

This was the beginning of my teaching around what I now refer to as the four pillars. I have now mentored other young men and I have seen remarkably consistent results in each of them as we continue to focus on these four pillars. I now incorporate the four pillars as we train business leaders and their teams as we develop spirit-led cultures in their companies.

Here is a brief overview of these pillars:

Pillar One: Hearing God’s Voice daily

Verses for reference: Romans 10:17, John 8:47,10:27, Isaiah 30:21

Since the quality of all relationships is based on the quality of our communication, if we want the closest possible relationship with the Lord, and we want to consistently make Spirit-led decisions in our companies, we must be confident we are hearing from God daily. 

God speaks to us through his “logos” (written word) as well as through his “rhema” (spoken word). Over the course of our lives, the Lord may communicate with us much more through his spoken word, but his spoken word will never violate, or contradict, his written word. This makes it imperative that we are actively reading the Bible so we can quickly and easily discern his voice from the other voices, which includes our own voice as well as that of the enemy. God is constantly speaking and he loves to make his voice known. He wants us to hear him clearly so that we are not insecure in our relationship with him.

Pillar Two: Flowing in the Spirit

Verses for reference: 2 Peter 1:21, Galatians 2:20

The Bible is full of references to living (and what I call flowing) in the Spirit. It is not supposed to be mysterious, difficult or cumbersome. Some of my favorite references are in Galatians 5:16, 18, and 25 where Paul tells us to walk with, be led by, and live in the spirit. And in John 15, Jesus uses the word “remain” 10 times when commanding us to remain in him (in the Spirit) as he is in the Father. That is a lot of emphasis for just a few paragraphs. 

I have defined in previous articles what it means to flow (or remain) in the spirit, so I will just repeat here what I said about pillar one: this is not meant to be mysterious, difficult or cumbersome. When we learn to remain in the spirit, it is like learning how to stop straining at the oars and simply hoist the sails. 

Pillar Three: Function in Your Gifts

First Corinthians 12:1-11, Romans 12:6-8, and Ephesians 4:11 list numerous spiritual gifts that we are given to bless the body of Christ. It is our responsibility to learn what our gifts are, to seek the greater gifts (1 Corinthians 12:31) and to make sure that they are actively being used for the body of Christ. As in Jesus’ parable of the talents, the Father gave us spiritual gifts to invest and he will not be pleased with us if we bury them and act as if we did not possess them. 

When you and your team identify and function in your spiritual gifts, a new level of passion will arise in your company as people begin to do what they are supernaturally wired to do for others.

Verses for reference: 1 Corinthians 12:7-10, Romans 12:6-8, Ephesians 4:11

Pillar Four: Manifest the Fruit of the Spirit

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The best measure of how we are doing in the first three pillars is how this fruit is manifesting in us. The more consistently you are hearing God’s voice and flowing in the Spirit and functioning in your gifts, the more supernaturally the fruit of the Spirit will be produced in you.

You do not produce (or work for) this fruit any more than an apple tree works to produce apples. When you are living as you were designed to live, you will produce this fruit just like an apple tree naturally produces apples.

When we act with patience from a conscious decision to be patient, our patience is dependent upon our continued ability to will it into being. It does not naturally flow from us. But when patience is flowing from the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives, we will naturally continue to be patient as long as we remain in the Spirit. 

Tony’s self-rating grew from an average of a “3” to an “8” in all the fruit of the Spirit not because he became more disciplined or diligent. He increased to an eight because flowing (remaining) in the spirit had become a lifestyle.

Imagine the culture of your company being defined by your team, and your customers, as being loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled. Doesn’t that sound like a company culture that would just naturally thrive by every measure of success?

Verses for reference: Galatians 5:22-23