Understanding SERVANT-HOOD....

Servant-hood is a choice- it is a work/ labor of the heart. It is not and can not be forced upon a person, he/she must make the choice to be a servant. Servants are portrayed by man as one of the lowest icons on the chain of leadership because they are placed above slave and beneath pauper, but the truth of the matter is: servants in the eyes of God is the highest on the leader board because they put themselves/ their selfish desires behind them to make choices and decisions both for the greater good and for the benefits of others... Now this may sound a bit contradictory in comparison to what we are taught, but the truth of the matter is the leaders that we appoint only do it for reasons of personal gain (i.e money, raise in popularity and stature and such the like...). I am not saying that servants are perfect because they too are prone to human error as well as selfish desire... If we look in the bible we can clearly see 3 different examples of what i am talking about.

• Example 1 MOSES (the servant of human error): Moses was born into captivity during a very volatile time for the Hebrews... He was born during a time when every male child born to a slave has commissioned to be killed by Pharaoh. Through the efforts of his birth mother and sister he was set free and ended up being raised by pharaoh's daughter because of her paganistic beliefs she thought he was a gift from the water god/river god... He was raised as one of Pharaoh's own... He later ran away from home and ended up in the wilderness got married to a shepherd's daughter. One day while tending the flock a sheep ran rogue and off he went to go find it, in the process he came across a burning bush in which God spoke to him and told him of his destiny as A/ The Servant/Messenger of God... Later we find that he accomplishes his first goal with no problems on his part... We don't see any error until his attempt of accomplishing the second goal/ task- taking the Hebrews to the promised land... They endured many hardships but if we look closely we find that Moses was told to speak to the rock, but instead he struck the rock ( Numbers 20:1-13). Even though Moses was insubordinate God still saw fit to give is people what they needed, but punished Moses because he did not do as he was instructed. God still let Moses into Heaven because he understood that he acted out of frustration and irritation, but for that very reason he did not let Moses enter the Land of Milk and Honey a new leader had to be chosen to accomplish that task: Joshua (whom we will talk about at a later date and time for a completely different subject matter).
• Example 2 King David (the servant of selfish desire): David's story is a very interesting one because we see a man who was poor/ a pauper who was later chosen to be a king. In the beginning he endured a lot (i.e starting off as a servant of King Solomon and putting up with his jealous tyrannical fits of rage because he knew this man would be the king that God has chosen to replace him and his entire line), to actually obtaining what was promised to him and having to later deal with his own dysfunctional family issues
  (i.e his son Absalom rebelling and attempting to revolt against his authority as King of Israel (2 Sam 13-16)). Now you may be asking what did David do to earn the title: servant of selfish desire? Well do u recall an astonishingly beautiful woman by the name of Bathsheba whom he saw bathing in the late night hours and had her summoned... Well because of his acts that night he had her husband (Uriah) killed , he later married her and she gave birth to the next King of Israel Solomon. He is given this title because he saw what he wanted went for it and did what he had to do to keep it because she was pregnant (with child)... He also paid a price of his actions ( 2Sam 11:1-27).

• Example 3 Jesus The King of Kings (and Emperors alike) (the true definition of servant-hood): I know that we hear over and over again about how awesome Jesus was/is but I wonder if we truly, truly, truly understand why it is so... We look at so many things and we tend to focus him showing us how/ the way to live but some of us rarely take a look at how much of a servant he was; yes when he walked the face of the earth he was a teacher- he started that at a very young and early age as far as man is concerned, but we also forget or need reminding that he was there before time was time, he was there when HIS father created the universe HE was the word put into human form, HE witnessed the very things that wisdom, grace, mercy and the angels witnessed as they occured... BUT what makes him a true servan.

1. Through out his whole life he was tested and tried and not once did he give in to temptation or selfish desire (i.e he was tested by satan in the desert while he fasted for 40 days and nights).
2. HE taught and healed his people even though he was accused of being a fraud.
3. HE fed his people on numerous occasions- he made the best of what he had.
4. When it came time for him to complete his last task/goal that he was sent here to do: against all odds, the beating, the false accusations, the cursing, the abusing, the taunting and such the like not for one second did he make motion or gesture to use his power to take himself off the cross, what he did instead was even more remarkable HE asked HIS father to forgive them, breathed his last breath and died, but even before that the power which he could have so easily used to take himself off of the cross he turned to one of the men on the cross near him and told him that even he would see the gates of Heaven- forgiving even him of his sins... He obeyed the father all the way to the very end, HE put the needs of others above HIS birthright, and he used it (the authority given to him via his birthright) to accomplish the task/ goal that was set before HIM (for these and other examples see Matthew, Mark, Luke and John).

I truly hope and pray the readers of this particular blog are blessed and enlightened by what is stated. It is my earnest prayer that the reader (s) see God and his works and not me by any means. It is my sole desire that his will be done and accomplished!
Peace, love, harmony and blessings,

D. Swan- Phoenix Jackson
aka Emperor Swan/ The Phoenix King