Too Big for Small Things, Too Small for Big Things

Chapter 8
Serving with Respect for Protocol

Every home, relationship, school, church, ministry, company, organization, nation, and people group has a code of conduct. This code of conduct could be written or verbally handed down or both. The institutions mentioned above (careful choice of the word) have a gate or entrance point through which you access them without any qualms. But there is a problem: this gate is invisible. This explains why you can live in a house but not access the home. A woman may be married to a man but has no access to his heart. A child can go through an educational system and obtain a degree without getting the education. A man works for a company for thirty years yet did not access the vision. A man is happily married for ten years but cannot penetrate his wife’s family. A young man gets his father’s inheritance but fails to access his wealth; people go to church but fail to access the anointing available to lift burdens and destroy yokes; you serve under a man or woman of God and obtain an ordination certificate without access to the mantle they carry. These things ought not to be so, but people perish for lack of knowledge. There is an invisible gate into every institution. We must of necessity walk in the conscious awareness of its existence. Lacking knowledge of this truth does not diminish its presence; it simply makes you stagger and grope in a dark maze for years, while the gate is hidden in plain sight. There is a code to access this invisible gate: it is the code of conduct; it is its protocol.

 Protocol has nothing to do with wrong or right; it has everything to do with an acceptable, existing, and established way of life within a particular institution, realm, or environment. Success will not be attained by anyone who does not follow, from a place of honor, the protocol of achievement. When you choose to enter that environment, it becomes your prerogative to study the protocol in order to gain access. Some protocols are nicely written down and filed away in company manuals: a company’s rules on staffing, hazardous waste disposal, fire, communication, conflict resolution, and so on. Some are summarized, laminated, and posted on hallway bulletin boards, above-the- door ledges, elevators, and restroom mirrors (depending on the content and severity). Some are verbally handed down (dress code for a birthday party, for example). Others appear at the bottom of a brochure you are given at the wedding, graduation, church service, or funeral program. Some are nonverbal and nonwritten; that means, you figure it out! So, pay attention:
 You want to get into an institution.
 It has an invisible gate.
 The gate has a code that will grant you access (protocol).
 It may be written, verbally communicated, or a puzzle for you to solve.
 You must gain access to this institution because the benefits are enormous.
 Quitting is not an option; getting frustrated will not help; being in a hurry may be of no use; being arrogant and self-promoting is not a good idea; pushing and throwing weighty names may not cut it.
 You must assess the environment for clues into the protocol of that institution and respectfully follow it, even if it defies your logic.

Service is the key to influence, and you must gain access in order to serve in an impactful way. Access must be given, never seized. You can call a mandatory staff meeting in which you lecture for hours but fail to get through to your staff members because even though they are physically present, they are actually absent. You cannot usurp access; it must be given. People give you access when you show honor and respect for their existing protocol. We know we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, but our saltiness and illumination are not felt or seen in certain circles because we lack respect for protocol necessary to access that milieu. I will never forget an experience I had on October 10, 2013. We had been praying that God would make us relevant to our community, as a ministry, and He had been faithful in giving us instructions to follow. On this remarkable day, I had a waking dream, and at exactly 04:45 a.m., I suddenly sat up in bed with these words coming out of my mouth: “If you want legal grounds to comment on someone’s message, you must get in beyond the iron curtain.” I pondered on that information, praying in tongues and listening in for an explanation from God. The Spirit of God spoke these words to me in prayer: “You must be given access to affect and influence. There is an invisible gate through which you must pass, and the key to accessing the other side of that iron curtain is your honor for existing protocol.” This revelation caused a shift in my being and has significantly shifted things in our ministry. Praise God!
Jesus was given access to read the Word in the synagogue, though He was and is the Word (Luke 4:17). When He was done reading, He closed the book, gave it back to the minister, and sat down (Luke 4:20). Do you greet the people as asked and return the microphone or do you preach the sermon too? Do you come up to give a testimony but end up singing a song before the testimony? Jesus knew the importance of proper representation as it pertains to access. That is why He schooled the disciples on respect for protocol before releasing them to the towns and villages where He would later go (Luke 10:1–10). He knew that if they misrepresented Him in any way, the invisible iron gate would be shut to Him. Does your conduct close the door to the Gospel? Many born-again believers are such poor representatives of the Gospel in…