Character – An actor in a novel, movie, or play.

Many today are mesmerized by the gift of an individual that they never consider the fruit of a man. So men are elevated to places of influence in the name of “God” and because they lack character, come falling like a dying star.

We not only make the mistake of promoting people because of gifting, but we promote men for their spirituality. Today men claim they have heard from God, saw a vision, or dreamed a dream. These spiritual experiences have caused multitudes to gather around them for their gift of spiritual insight, only to discover that these “characters” were involved in a scandal. While I want everyone to ascend into the portals of mystical encounters with Jesus, I believe genuine encounters with Jesus lead us all to greater maturity, responsibility, and character.

If I were to ask you what are some qualities of a Kingdom man, I wonder if you would have considered uttering the word, character?

Jesus had to address this issue of character in Luke 16:15, when He said to a group of religious leaders who were lovers of money, “You always want to look spiritual in the eyes of others, but you have forgotten the eyes of God, which see what is inside you…” (Luke 16:15, TPT) Jesus is not concerned with what you do in His name as much as you know who you are in His name.

Many will appear before Jesus on the day of Judgment with a resume of supernatural works, but He will have to say, “Depart from Me, you worker of lawlessness,” because they didn’t know Him intimately. It is safe to say if they didn’t know Him, they didn’t know themselves. This absence of identity has created “characters” performing on the stage of religion, deceiving the masses from the actual character of one who walks in union with Jesus.

The issue of never inspecting fruit has caused many to follow movements instead of connecting with Fathers. This kind of thinking has caused us to make beautiful masks that hide dark hearts. But in the Kingdom, Abba puts fathers in our lives who will destroy the mask to let Abba’s Light shine in our hearts.

We need fathers who will address character. If we are not willing to address these issues, we inadvertently empower a framework in people’s thinking that allows weak belief systems to prosper. We need fathers who can confront laziness, poor stewardship, and issues of integrity despite a person’s octave range, skill-set, money, or supposed encounters. We also need sons who accept correction and surrender to the process of character development so that we can become Image Bearers of the One who loves us unconditionally.

Can we be the generation that no longer plays a “character” and instead has character? Only then will people begin to move beyond goosebumps into transformation. After all, the world knows God grants gifts, but they want to know if God can transform.

That transformation begins with you, the real you.

Character – the real you, whole and undivided in Christ