Gaining a particular title (apostle, prophet, pastor, leader) will not cause you to automatically become that in the Kingdom. It will simply make it that much more obvious when you aren't able to live up to the standard that you yourself have created. Be where you are, be honest with yourself and others about where you are, and don't try to "put on" something to try to be in a place that you simply aren't ready for yet. There are many in the body that are not quite ready to live up to the titles that they profess to have. If you're going to profess to be a leader in one of the 5-fold offices (Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, Teacher), make sure are fully ready to lead in that capacity...otherwise, the results can be disastrous. Also, if you are someone in the body who is looking up to and following a leader in one of the five-fold offices, be sure that person is fully equipped and has lasting fruit to show for the office they are claiming. Remember leaders, just because you want to be ready for something, doesn't mean you are. What is the fruit of what you are doing? I mean, the long-term, lasting fruit? If you have more people long-term that you are hurting, letting down and disappointing than you're helping, then maybe you're not ready to profess that title yet? Or maybe you need more training and preparation before you are ready to take peoples lives into your hands, which is what is expected of those in a 5-fold office? Being a leader on this level is serious business, and needs to be taken as such! I know you can quote the latest jargon and catch-phrases in the new fad that is floating around within these realms of Christianity...but can you walk it out long-term? Can you really be a true Pastor, Apostle or Prophet to those people? It's easy to have a title, but are you living out what you are professing to do? Are you living out all that you post about on FB...or are these merely theories that you are practicing on people who follow or look up to you as a leader? We must always remember that the Lord Himself holds leaders in His body to a much higher standard, and we will be held accountable for what we do, don't do, as well as how we treat those we have been intrusted with. Instead of asking others to expect less of us as leaders, it may be time to step up and actually be more and do better...or perhaps it is time to admit we may not be ready to lead on a certain level or capacity that we have stated we could? Hmm...just a thought? 😉 If you are not able to handle the pressure and ability that it takes to carry a particular title, then don't let pride & insecurity cause you to declare it prematurely. All it will do is make you (and the office or title) look bad in the end, and cause much disappointment and lack of respect from others, who expected you to be what you have declared yourself to be. I have seen so many in the body of Christ disillusioned and dissapointed with Pastors, Apostles, Prophets, and leaders...and it really does make the 5-fold look inadequate and incompetent to do the job when it's not being done correctly. And I must admit, the longer I have been in this, the more dissapointed I myself have become with many who claim these titles. I have found too many who want to claim the title, talk the talk, but who aren't actually being and doing the very thing they are talking about and declaring themselves to be. I do realize that sometimes it is because of previous hurts and issues within the people in the body of Christ themselves, but many times those issues have been made worse by abusive, controlling, or simply incompetent leaders. Leaders need to be held to a higher standard...they need to truly know what they are doing, be fully trained and equipped for the appropriate amount of time, and have the right heart motivation, to adequately do the work of a 5-fold minister. Ask yourself, why do you want that title? Is it so you can be fully equipped and authorized to do the work of the Kingdom, and so you can help others do the same? Or is it so others will have to recognise you for that title? Is it so you can feel more important in the Kingdom, and feel successful in life? Or maybe for a possibility of monetary gain? We need to be honest with ourselves and others. Unless you have long-term (several years) proof that you can do and be what you claim to do and be...just wait, and don't profess a title. It will be better for everyone, and the Kingdom, in the long run. We need to begin to have more wholeness, accountability, and standards for those who claim to be in 5-fold offices. Many are looking to us and following us, and we need to walk in purity, trustworthiness, and honor, in order to remain blameless and deserving of the respect that comes with being in the offices we declare. #FiveFold #Apostolic #Prophetic #Reformation #BeHonest #LastingFruit 🔄🍓🍑🍎🍒🍏🍊🍇