Some people are chapter assignments. They were sent for a season, not the whole story. The person who shows up then, that's who you build with.
Welcome to another episode. My name is Pastor Morris and today we're going to talk about relationships in a spiritual context. Because you see, most people are praying for provision, for open doors, for breakthrough.
And those are legitimate prayers. But a lot of people are missing something more foundational. They are not praying for the right people.
God's plan for your life almost never arrives without human beings attached to it. The provision comes through a person. The open door comes through a relationship.
The breakthrough comes through someone who was assigned to walk with you through a specific season. And I need to say something before we get into the list because I'm going to talk about people you should tell God to give you. There is a difference between contending for the right people and depending on people.
Jeremiah 17:5 cast is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength. So everything I'm about to say has to be held in that tension. We are not building altars to human beings.
We are not worshiping mentors. We are becoming so attached to our relationship that when it shifts we fall apart. We are asking God to send the right people and then trusting God through those people and not instead of him.
That distinction is everything. With that said, God has always worked through people. He always will.
It is a principle. If you don't know what you are looking for, you will miss the assignment he's already trying to make. There are people you should tell God to give you.
people you should contend for in the spirit. One is the generous person. Generosity is one of the clearest sign of a kingdom heart.
And I want to be specific here because we often keep this concept vague. Let me give you some real examples of what a generous person looks like in an actual life. You see, if you have a generous boss, he will not delay your salary.
They don't hold what you have earned as leverage. When you have worked hard and results are showing, they give bonuses without you having to beg for recognition. They don't squeeze the people who made them successful.
A generous customer does not bag you down to nothing on every single transaction. They understand that the person across from them has a family to feed, a business to sustain. This is a people you contend for, the generous.
They don't celebrate your skill with one hand while trying to take your profit margin with the other hand. There is a kind of a person who always wants the best product at the cheapest possible price. And every interaction with them leaves you feeling drained.
That is not a generous person. A generous pastor does not ration truth. They don't hold back the parts of the gospel that make people uncomfortable.
They give you the whole council of God, not just the parts that keep attendance high. A pastor who only preaches what keeps people happy is not a generous pastor. A generous pastor will preach what sets you free even when it cost them something.
So the Bible says the generous soul will be made rich. He who waters will also be watered himself. Proverbs 11:25.
Generosity is not just a character trait. It is a spiritual climate. Generous people create an atmosphere where growth accelerates.
Stingy people, even if they never say a wrong word, create an environment where vision shrinks. You can feel it. And a lot of people are sitting in stingy environments, wondering why nothing is moving, not realizing the environment itself is the problem.
Some ministries have reached their potential not because God didn't fund them but because they were surrounded by people who consumed instead of contributed. This is a genuine prayer. Lord give me generous people.
Generous people will make the calling lighter. They distribute the weight. They keep things moving.
He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And he who sws bountfully will also reap bountfully. 2 Corinthians 9:6.
So you pray, Lord, surround my life with generous hearts. People who give freely, who celebrate without competing, who open doors and don't hold them shut behind them. Connect me to kingdom givers in every area of my life.
Contend God to give you generous people in your life. The second kind of people you need to contend for are the purehearted person. This is the most prophetic category in this list.
The pure-hearted person is not necessarily the most gifted in the room or the most spiritual sounding. No, you need purehearted people around you. They are the ones whose motives are clean.
What you see is what's actually there. No hidden layer, no agenda running underneath the surface of their kindness. You know, there are people who are suspicious even when they are kind.
The Bible says, "Blessed are the purehearted, for they shall see God. " Matthew 5:8. The Greek word for pure there is catharos.
It means unmixed without contamination. A pure heart is not a perfect heart. It is an undivided one.
And that distinction matters because we have normalized people with mixed motives so much that when we encounter someone genuinely clean in their intentions, we actually get suspicious of them. We think what do they want? You know, sometimes you have that critical spirit because we are so used to people wanting something.
But can I tell you there are purehearted people out there that most people don't talk about and they carry creativity. Creativity flows from pure hearts. When a person's motives are clean, one of the things God blesses them with is creativity.
They are not spending mental and spiritual energy managing a hidden agenda, protecting a false image or calculating their next move against you. That freed up space becomes creative capacity. If you want to be creative, maintain a pure heart.
A purehearted person can give you an idea in five minutes conversation that can save your business, rescue your ministry, restore your marriage, pivot your career because they are seeing your situation clearly without self-interest clouding their vision. They are not advising you to serve themselves. They are genuinely trying to help you.
May God surround you with purehearted people. Most betrayals in ministry don't come from outsiders. They come from people who had access, people who are close, trusted, given a seat at the table.
And when you trace it back, it almost always comes back to mixed motives. Someone was loyal in public while nursing resentment in private. Someone was serving the vision while secretly wanting to replace it.
Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully.
Psalms 24:3 to4. Joseph is the biblical anchor for this. He was sold by his brothers, enslaved, falsely accused, imprisoned.
Any one of those things could have poisoned his heart, but it didn't. And when this moment came, there was nothing inside him blocking what God wanted to do. A pure heart doesn't just protect you from corruption.
It keeps you positioned for what God is building. So one of the prayers I normally make is Lord Father purify the motives of my heart. Remove every trace of jealousy, selfish ambition and hidden agenda.
And bring purehearted people into my life. People whose love is not calculated, whose creativity is not compromised, whose loyalty is not conditional. If God wants to bless you, he will send you pure-arted people.
The third category are the faithful persons. Faithfulness is rare than talent. We say that.
But most of us haven't actually tested what we value more. We spend so much time looking for gifted people. People with skill, charisma, ability, and we undervalue the one thing that actually sustains work over time, faithfulness.
and the things that you have heard from among many witnesses, commit this to faithful men who will be able to teach others. 2 Timothy chapter 2:2. Paul didn't say commit the work to the most talented.
He said faithful because talent builds a moment. Faithfulness builds a movement. And that's a significance right there.
The difference between the two things. I want to bring in a story here from uh the book of Mark chapter 2. There was a paralyzed man who needed to get to Jesus.
Do you remember that story? He couldn't get there on his own. The crowd was too thick.
The building was too packed. But he had four men around him. Four faithful men who looked at the situation, looked at their friend, and decided that the crowd was not going to stop them.
They climbed up on top of the roof, broke through the roof, and lowered the man down directly in front of Jesus. The scripture says when Jesus saw their faith, not just the paralyzed man's faith, they your faith he healed him. They your faith he healed him.
Look at that. Think about what it took to be one of those four men. Nobody was watching and applauding.
The crowd inside wasn't cheering them on. In fact, the people whose roof they just broke were probably not pleased. But they stayed committed to the person they came with and the mission they started.
The paralyzed man was healed that day, not only because of Jesus, but because four faithful men refused to give up when it got inconvenient. And that's what faithful people do. I pray for you.
May God give you faithful people around you. They don't quit when it gets hard. They don't disappear when there is no spotlight.
They don't reassess their commitment every time a better opportunity presents itself. They stick with you. They are still there when the roof needs to come off.
The Bible says he who is faithful in what is least is also faithful in what is much. And he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Luke 16:10.
So how do you identify the faithful? Don't watch them in the spotlight. Watch them in the inbetweens.
Watch them when there is no crowd, no recognition, no visible momentum. The person who shows up then that's who you build with. Also understand this.
Some people are chapter assignments. They were sent for a season, not the whole story. Recognizing that distinction protects you from placing book level expectations on chapter level people.
So you make a prayer. God send faithful people into my life. People who are not moved by applause and not derailed by difficult.
People who will stay when staying cost something. The fourth one is a little bit deep because this is about the wise counselors. You're talking about mentors, pastors, spiritual covering.
This you must contend. This category is one that needs careful definition because people use these terms interchangeably and they are not the same thing. So let me break them down one by one because who you give access to in each of those roles matters enormously.
What is a mentor? A mentor is someone who has walked a road you are trying to walk and is willing to share what they learned on the way. Very simple.
They carry grace in a specific area, business, ministry, parenting, leadership, and they make that grace accessible to you through teaching, giving you their experiences. So, a mentor doesn't have to be in your life every day. They might meet with you once a month, once in a moment, or once a quarter.
But the value is in the concentrated wisdom they carry. What took them 10 years to learn, they can hand it to you in a conversation. That's the gift of mentorship, compressed time.
What about a pastor? A pastor is your shepherd. They are responsible for your soul, your spiritual health, your growth, your accountability, not your career, not your business, not your business decisions necessarily, but the state of your heart before God.
And never confuse this because there are people who go to the pastors concerning their business and their career. The assignment of the pastor is the state of your heart before God. A good pastor feeds you the word consistently, corrects you when you are drifting and carries you before God in prayer.
The relationship with you, a pastor is primarily spiritual and congregational. They are not automatically your closest confident but they are someone who has legitimate spiritual responsibility towards you. This is important because there are people who get used to their pastors.
Spiritual covering is different from a past. Covering speaks to spiritual authority and protection. It is the person or structure of accountability over your ministry or assignment.
Someone under whose authority you operate so that you're not building independently outside of proper spiritual governance. So long rangers in ministry are exposed ministry. Covering is not about control.
It's about protection. It's mainly for people with an assignment or a ministry. The enemy has a much harder time dismantling what is properly covered and what is submitted than what is operating in isolation.
What about a spiritual father or a spiritual mother? This is the deepest and the rarest relationship of all the four. Because a spiritual parent is not just someone who teaches you, they impact something of themselves into you.
Paul said to the Corinthians, I have begotten you through the gospel. That's not just teaching. that spiritual DNA being transferred.
A spiritual father or a spiritual mother carries a level of investment in your life that goes beyond information. They watch how you handle pressure. They speak into your character.
They call out the best in you and correct the worst. They carry your future in their heart, not just your present performance. And this relationship is mutual.
You can't appoint yourself a spiritual child. It's recognized on both sides. Each of these role is distinctive.
A mentor gives you wisdom. A pastor gives you shephering. Covering gives you protection for assignment ministry.
A spiritual parent gives you formation. You may need all four. You may find them in different people at different season.
What's important is that you know the difference so you are not putting the wrong expectation on the wrong relationship. Bible says where there is no counel the people fall but in the multitude of counselors there is safety. Proverbs 11:14.
So you can have all these fall in your life and most leaders make their worst decisions in isolation. The higher you go the more dangerous isolated decisions become. Vision can blind you.
Passion can distort your judgment. The wise counselor in whatever form they take is the person close enough to understand your assignment but detached enough to see it without the emotional charge you carry. You must pray God give me wise counselors.
Lord connect me with the right people in which of these roles. Send me mentors who carry the grace I need. A pastor who truly shepherds covering that protects the assignment and a spiritual father or a mother who will invest in who I am becoming.
not just what I am producing. The fifth are intercessors and encouraers. Some of the victories in life had nothing to do with your own prayer life in that moment.
Someone else was standing in the gap for you in a season when you were too drained, too confused or spiritually depleted to carry the full weight of intercession for yourself. So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land that I should not destroy it. But I found no one.
Ezekiel 22:30. That verse is one of the most sobering in all of scripture. God went looking for one intercessor, just one, and he couldn't find one.
What was following after that was devastating. One person standing in prayer could have changed the entire outcome. And that one person wasn't there.
Now I want to address something directly. What if you don't have an intercessor right now? What if you are in a season where that kind of person isn't around you yet?
Then be your own intercessor. Pray for yourself. Intercede for your own life, your own assignment, your own household.
Don't wait for someone to carry what you can pick yourself. The prayer life you build in private is the foundation everything else stands on. I also want to speak to the subject of prayer partners because this is one area where people get hurt.
A prayer partner is someone you invite into the most intimate space there is. You are sharing what you are believing God for and what you are struggling with, what you are afraid of, that's sacred ground and not everyone belongs in that space. Choose your prayer partners carefully.
Choose someone who has proven they can hold what is holy without mishandling it. Someone who is not going to take what you shared in prayer and use it as information in conversation. Someone whose own prayer life is real, not performative, real.
A prayer partner with a compromised spirit doesn't just fail to help you. They can actually open doors in the spirit you don't want open. Learn this early.
Be careful with prayer partners. The Bible says, "Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the spirit that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me. " Romans 15:30.
Paul with everything he carried apostolically still asked people to fight alongside him in prayer. He knew that the warfare attached to his calling was bigger than one person. The intercessor assigned to your life often prays without being asked.
They wake up with your name on their heart. They feel burdens. They can't always explain.
When they reach out, I have been praying for you this week and that week was one of your hardest you had. That's not a coincidence. That's an assignment.
The encouraers belong in this same category because they serve a similar function. They come alongside you when your strength is running low. They don't fix the problem necessarily.
They remind you that you have what it takes to outlast it. Remember Banabas in scripture was called the son of encouragement. So for me I put intercessors and encouragers in the same category.
That was a gift. He saw Paul before anyone else did and he put his name behind him. That one act of encouragement redirected the trajectory of the early church.
Never underestimate the person whose primary gift is showing up and saying don't quit. That person is an encourager. Ask God to give you encouraers and intercessors.
So we pray, Father, raise up intercessors and encouraers around my life, around your life. People who will feel what you cannot always articulate. Who will stand in the gap when I am too weak to stand for myself and teach me to be someone else.
The other category I call them your people. There is a category in scripture that doesn't get discussed enough. the people whose spirit is aligned with your users in a way that goes beyond convenience or proximity.
I call them simply your people. And we see them in Romans 15. Paul writes something that is easy to skip over.
He asks God to deliver him from those who do not believe. Essentially those to whom his message is not assigned. He understood that not everyone was meant to receive what he carried.
Not everyone was his audience. Not everyone who shows up you are sent to. And walking in that clarity actually protected him.
Because he says, "Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ that through the love of the spirit that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me that I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe. " Romans 15:30 to31. Your people are the ones who believe in you before it's popular.
Not because you are famous. Not because you have proven yourself to everyone's satisfaction, but because something in their spirit recognizes something in yours. They cover your weaknesses.
When you are struggling in an area, they don't expose it. They quietly compensate. They cover your weakness.
They protect your name when you are not even in the room. They don't speak against you when you make a mistake. Now, there are people like that.
I call them your people. They speak for you. And when things get hard, they don't distance themselves from the association.
They move closer. You need to contend for these people. Tell God to give you your people.
These are people that are rare. And one of the mistake leaders make is taking them for granted because their loyalty is so consistent that it stops feeling remarkable. Don't do that.
These are people that are not even related to your blood. The people who stayed when others left, who believed when others doubted, who covered when others exposed, those people deserve to be honored. not just managed.
Ask God to show you who your people are and ask him to protect you from giving access to people whose spirit is not actually assigned to you because not everyone who shows up with enthusiasm is carrying genuine alignment and they can erode your calling. The Lord gave the word great was the company of those who proclaimed it. Psalms chapter 68:11.
God gave the word to one person, but he built a company, a crowd of people who carried it forward. The calling comes to one. The fulfillment requires many.
Destiny was never designed to be a solo project. So stop trying to carry this alone. Stop assuming the right people will just show up without prayer, without discernment, without intentional stewardship.
Be nice to people. start contending specifically for the generous, the pure-hearted, the faithful, the wise counselors, and the intercessors. You are people, resourceful people.
You pray in the spirit. You contend. You say, "Lord, send these people my way.
Not because they replace God, but because God uses them. " So, let us pray. Father, we come to you with this specific request, not just for open doors or provision, but for the right people.
Send the generous ones who create an atmosphere of growth. The pure-hearted ones whose motives are clean, the wise counselors, the spiritual coverings, the mentors and the fathers who carry grace we don't have yet. The intercessors who pray what we can't articulate.
The truth tellers who love us enough to wound us. Our people who believe in us and cover us. The resourceful ones who know the way.
And the courageous ones who hold our hands up when the battle is long. Build the right community around every calling. represented in these conversations and keep us from making idols of the very people you are sending.
Let every relationship point us back to you in Jesus name. Amen. It is not only about what you carry.
It is also about who walks with you. I believe this video has blessed you. Like, subscribe and drop in the comment section.
Oh Lord, send me my people in Jesus name. God bless you.
