PUTTING YOUR INFLUENCE TO WORK

Turn Your Power Into Influence II

Pastor Tayo Adeyemi

Senior Pastor, New Wine Church

                                                                  Sunday 21 November 2010

Foundation Scriptures: Matthew 5 : 13-16; Ephesians 3: 20  

Pastor Tayo Adeyemi continued his thought-provoking and enlightening series, Putting Your Influence to Work today, encouraging us to identify the distinction between power and influence and challenging us to put our inherent power to work in a productive and effective manner.

You Are Powerful!

Before embarking upon this week’s message, we were reminded of the fundamental truth that we are powerful because we were created by God, born again and filled with the Holy Spirit and that in order for the power within us to be effective, we must put it to use towards a purposeful and productive end. Pastor Tayo recalled nine distinct types of power, being financial, social, attraction, intellectual, political, communication creative, physical and spiritual power and reminded us that when we put our power to work, this is called influence.

We were reminded that putting our power to work is like converting the potential energy of position into the kinetic energy of motion and further that if we fail to turn our power into influence it will be of limited benefit whereas turning our power into influence would ensure that our power and influence grow, will benefit a larger number of people and will outlive and outlast us. The four keys for turning power into influence, Pastor Tayo reminded us were to recognise that we have power, to remember the purpose for which we had been given power, to release the power to God and to receive understanding as to how to make use of it.

Turn Your Power into Influence!

Having reminded us of these foundational truths, Pastor Tayo sought to develop our understanding of turning power into influence and drew our attention to the Parable of the Talents. He encouraged us to study the entirety of the parable in Matthew 25:14-30 but focussed for the purpose of this message in particular on Matthew 25: 20-21 noting that the story involved a servant who had been given power, in this case financial power, and by putting his power to work, had gained influence, his master confirming “I will make you ruler over many things” and in addition, had multiplied his power, receiving a further five talents. In contrast to this, Pastor Tayo noted, the servant who had refused to put his power to work having buried it, had lost the little power that he had and lost his influence. 

In order for us to understand the power-influence dynamic to a greater degree, Pastor Tayo explained, it was important for us to comprehend the distinction between power and influence and he therefore provided seven contrasts, (each of which featured in the Parable of the Talents) as follows:

1.       Power is what you have whereas Influence is what you do with what you have;

2.       Power is inward focussed; taking, whereas Influence is outward focussed; giving.

3.       Power is dormant, static and rigid whereas Influence is dynamic, mobile and fluid.

4.       Power lives and dies with the owner whereas Influence outlives;

5.       Power is capacity, an empty bucket whereas Influence is what that capacity is filled with;

6.       Power is bestowed or taken whereas Influence is earned;

7.       Power helps to maintain a position whereas Influence will take one to greater heights from that position.

“Strong relationships are built not on power, but on influence”

Bringing the interrelation between power and influence into the context of our own lives, Pastor Tayo encouraged us to pause and think about the people who had exercised power over us as we were growing up, possibly teachers, parents or school prefects and recognise that the images that were likely come to mind were those of control, coercion, domination or even abuse with corresponding feelings of resentment, anger and fear. In the same manner, he encouraged us to think of the people who had influenced us when growing up, again possibly teachers, parents, school prefects and recognise that the images that came to mind were probably inspiration, example and support, with corresponding feelings of respect, admiration and inspiration.

The truth, Pastor Tayo observed, was that in every relationship, whether parent-child, husband-wife or boss-employee, there is an interplay of power and influence going on at all times. At times power will be engaged and at other times, influence; the relationship being comprised of varying proportions of power and influence respectively. When people respond to the power in a relationship, they do things because they have to whereas people responding to influence in a relationship do so because they want to. He explained further that when a relationship is based to a large degree on power, it is usually the case that the relationship is not a great one, whereas relationships with a high component of influence tend to be strong, cordial and successful.

From this we could extrapolate that strong relationships are built not on power, but on influence and those who rely solely on power to make their relationships work seldom succeed. Whilst it was the case that from time to time in every relationship it is necessary to wield power, this should be the exception rather than the rule. Power, Pastor Tayo noted was by no means a negative thing but compared to influence it is of inferior quality and for this reason, rather than seeking to be powerful, we should seek to be influential and on every occasion that power is handed to us, we should seek to find a way to convert it into influence.

Don’t Settle for Power When You Can Have Influence!

Pastor Tayo then proceeded to share five keys for increasing influence as follows:

1.   Believe in Yourself – how you see yourself will determine how others see you, as made clear from the account of the spies in Numbers 13:33, Pastor Tayo noted. “Don’t expect to be a person of influence walking around being timid and unsure”, he explained, making clear that there is a great difference between arrogance and self-confidence. Self-confident people, we were shown, could be identified by their words, associations, goals, decisions and even by how they dress.

2.   Build your Character – Influence and integrity go together; a person’s character cannot be separated from their influence, he observed noting that if people cannot trust us they will not allow us to influence them (Proverbs 20:28).

3.   Be passionate about your convictions – Stand up for what you believe and be willing to stand by your beliefs, whatever the cost. Addressing the young people in particular, drawing from the example of Daniel, Pastor Tayo stressed the importance of being willing to stand out and stand alone, even if this meant losing the approval and acceptance of others, noting that it is not possible to influence others if we lack conviction.

4.   Be a Servant – Be willing to put your own interests last. Influence is about change, Pastor Tayo explained, and if we are trying to change people for our own benefit, that is not influence but manipulation. The key difference between influence and manipulation could be found in the two questions “Why?” and “How?”; “Why?” speaking of motive and “How?” speaking of method.

5.   Be Genuinely Interested in Others – “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”, Pastor Tayo reminded us, noting that people will not open their hearts until they are convinced that you genuinely care about them and their interest is uppermost in your heart, which essentially summarised the law of access.

What Will You Do With All That Power?

In concluding this illuminating message, having established how we may increase our influence, Pastor Tayo posed the billion-dollar question “What are you going to do with all that power?” He challenged us to question ourselves as to whether we intended to hold on to it and let it die with us or whether we would commit to unleashing it and turning it into influence. We were encouraged to take the first step putting our influence to work in the coming week, by focussing on at least one kind of power that God has given to us and asking Him to speak to us and show us how to turn it into influence in the assurance that He will answer, and show us how to put our influence to work.