The part of the Word where Peter speaks from his own reasoning in response to Yeshua’s disclosure that He is headed for death on a cross is key light we need right now re: the way our design and functioning truly is as vessels. Matthew 16:21-24 reveals a discernment about the unseen realm that leaders and we, their followers, must possess so as not to buy into deceiving spirits.

From the Amplified Classic:

From that time forth, Jesus began [clearly] to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders and the high priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised from death. Then Peter took Him aside [b]to speak to Him privately and began to reprove and charge Him sharply, saying, God forbid, Lord! This must never happen to You!But Jesus turned away from Peter and said to him, Get behind Me, Satan! You are in My way [an offense and a hindrance and a snare to Me]; for you are minding what partakes not of the nature and quality of God, but of men.Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying, also].

If we truly understand verses such as John 6:53, John 15:5, and Romans 6:22 and even realize that in Genesis 3; the real sin was humankind choosing independence from their Maker vs. a dependent existence of flowing in the eternal life of God, ever drinking from the Almighty as source, we will get the scene with Peter and Jesus. 

In Eden, upon Adam and Eve’s choosing to operate by their own choice, their own reasoning and logic, satan got a stronghold and the captivity of Adam and his offspring ensued. Satan got expression in the earth which is what the evil one ever tries to do and does do again and again when leaders fail to yield and flow in the anointing or empowerment of the Spirit of the Lord. And when they fail to have Yeshua’s mind via His Lordship. “Yet not my will but [always] Yours be done” must continuously rule us if we are to have dominion over the demonic forces arrayed against our race. 

(See Eph. 6:10-20 The Message.)

Some verses revealing the radical dependence of the true Christian walk are: 

And Jesus said to them, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, you cannot have any life in you unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood [unless you appropriate His life and the saving merit of His blood].He who feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood has (possesses now) eternal life, and I will raise him up [from the dead] on the last day.For My flesh is true and genuine food, and My blood is true and genuine drink. (John 6:53-55 AMPC)

I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples. (John 15:5-8 The Message)

But now you are free from the power of sin and are slaves of God, and His benefits to you include holiness and everlasting life. (Romans 6:22 TLB)

It’s only by way of deliverance from pride and rebellion and all idolatry of self that anyone can truly lead the way the Lord wants His sons and daughters to lead: “Pattern yourselves after me [follow my example], as I imitate and follow Christ (the Messiah).” [1 Cor. 11:1 AMPC] Jesus, Intercessor and Head of the church, always ministers in selfless love, and He is the Pattern Son. In 1 Cor. 13:3, we must face the truth that “without the pure motive of love, I would gain nothing of value.” (TPT)

Leaders who are not in union with the Lord, who are doing their own thing, and who are failing to give God glory as their source are often operating out of orphanhood. They do not know Abba’s unconditional embrace in Christ Jesus. Thus, they tend to performance mode. The need is for leaders to receive the love, affirmation, and attention/recognition they need as sons and daughters from the Father who called them to serve Him in the first place. We must pray that leaders fully bow before the Lord in humility such that pure Christ is released to their listeners. If they do not yield to the Lord Christ within them as they minister; the adamic mind of logic, reasoning, and control results. The human intellect dominates over the co-creativity, via spirit-to-Spirit union, with the flowing river of God happening in gatherings or one-on-one, that YHVH desires for His offspring.

A keen Rock Hill, SC sister in Christ has observed how quickly and how often believers, pastors, and other leaders proffer their own opinions and advice in ministry and counseling situations drawing upon all the books, videos, and teachings they have absorbed as opposed to listening for the voice of the Holy Spirit and only saying and doing what the Father is saying and doing like Jesus did. The Immanuel Approach, immanuelapproach.com, is a very necessary corrective to such tendencies, as by this approach, Jesus does the ministry. We must all go deep in intimacy with the Father’s heart as communicated to us in the Son and by the Spirit to come into our design as vessels meant to express the love of God. How we all need to drink and drink and drink of God’s unconditional love and acceptance to get free of any drive to prove ourselves or outdo others. The truth is the Father loves each of us as much as He loves Jesus. We are all a very important part of the Body. And the Father has scheduled the works we are to walk in before the foundation of the world. (Take in Psalm 139.) May our aim be merely to fulfill our individual callings to minister God’s love as Jesus did according to Luke 4:18. May we humbly obey the Master.

Michael Sedler wrote in Stop the Runaway Conversation, “Until I find my security in Christ, I will look for recognition from people, materialism, performance and other worldly ways. Of course, only repentance, deliverance, and healing from God will truly clean our spirits.”

Galatians 2:20 is the deliverance from self at the center: “I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (AMPC)

Deliver us, Lord, from the Diotrephes spirit. 

“I wrote to the church. But Diotrephes likes to be the number-one leader, and he won’t pay any attention to us.” (3 John 9 CEV) 

Let us wait upon the Master and stay submitted and receptive to Him. May we please Him and not idolize self, our Shepherd who gave His very life for us. (Study John 10:11-15 EXB)

The rule for the church: Likewise, you who are younger and of lesser rank, be subject to the elders (the ministers and spiritual guides of the church)—[giving them due respect and yielding to their counsel]. Clothe (apron) yourselves, all of you, with humility [as the garb of a servant, so that its covering cannot possibly be stripped from you, with freedom from pride and arrogance] toward one another. For God sets Himself against the proud (the insolent, the overbearing, the disdainful, the presumptuous, the boastful)—[and He opposes, frustrates, and defeats them], but gives grace (favor, blessing) to the humble. (1 Peter 5:5 AMPC)

Our Abba wants us to be great by His definition: the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 23:11 records Jesus’ clear plumb-line: The greatest among you is your servant.

Postscript

Paul, the Lord’s designated master builder of the church, was “one with Christ’s inward parts, in which he enjoyed Christ as the supply of grace,” Witness Lee writes in his notes to Philippians in the Recovery Version of The New Testament. (Phil. 1:8 note 1) Paul lived subject to the cross in his inner man Lee explains. Footnote 1 to Phil. 1:21 states, “Paul’s life was to live Christ. To him to live was Christ….Christ was not only his life but his living. He lived Christ because Christ lived in him (Gal. 2:20). He was one with Christ in both life and living. He and Christ had one life and one living. They lived together as one person. Christ lived within Paul as Paul’s life, and Paul lived Christ without as Christ’s living. The normal experience of Christ is to live Him, and to live Him is to magnify Him always regardless of the circumstances.”

“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Phil. 1:21 RcV)

Recommended Reading

Humility by Andrew Murray

The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee

The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit by Watchman Nee

Miracles are Normal —Co-Creating Through Oneness with God by Virginia Killingsworth

Crisis in Masculinity by Leanne Payne

Listening Prayer by Leanne Payne

Union with God Madame Guyon

The Walk of Love: Walking in the Light as He is in the Light, ebook by Katherine Bell, request by email katherinefbell@me.com. 

The Harness of the Lord Bill Britton, https://www.restorationlife.org/Notes/2017/The-Harness-of-the-Lord.pdf 

Walking in the Spirit in the Church by Katherine Bell, https://bondslavefreedom.com/2015/11/19/walking-in-the-spirit-in-the-church/