A Servant’s Heart: True Leadership

What make a great  leader? Is it Rank, Status, Celebrity, Clout, Style.  Is leadership automatically bestowed by a box on an organizational  chart?  No! I submit to you that  leadership demands Service, Sacrifice and Selflessness. A proud and self-promoting person is not, cannot and will not be a good leader no matter how much clout he/she has. The greatest leaders will have a servant’s heart. They will exemplify sacrifice. These are not characteristics that most people associate with leadership but they are absolutely essential in order to influence people and establish trust.   Intelligent people will not follow people they do not trust. A true leader inspires followers.

Again, I maintain that leadership demands a servant’s heart. Let me be clear. It is by no means the case that everyone with a servant’s heart is thereby a leader. To put it simply, leadership is influence. The ideal leader is someone whose life and character motivate people to follow. The best and greatest kind of leadership derives its authority from the force of character and example,  not merely power, prestige or personality. Real leadership seeks to motivate people from the inside, by an appeal to the heart not by external pressure and coercion. It is because of this that I believe leadership is not about style or technique. It’s ALL about character. Character yields trust. Trust allows you to positively influence others.

In my life I have had the privilege to work under several great leaders. I have compiled a list of characteristics that I believe were crucial to the effectiveness of their leadership. They are as follows:

A Great Leader:

1.       Is Trustworthy

2.       Takes the Initiative

3.       Uses Good Judgment

4.       Speaks with Authority

5.       Empowers Others

6.       Strengthens Others

7.       Is Optimistic

8.       Is Enthusiastic

9.       Never compromises the non-negotiables (His/her Values)

10.   Leads by example

11.   Cultivates Loyalty

12.   Pays attention to the details

13.   Has empathy for others

14.   Maintains a clear conscience

15.   Is Decisive

16.   Does not abuse His/Her authority

17.   Does not abdicate their role in the face of opposition

18.   Knows His/Her Limitations

19.   Is Passionate

20.   Is Resilient

21.   Is Discerning

22.   Uses Time Wisely

23.   Is Disciplined

24.   Knows How to Delegate

25.   Demonstrates care for His/her followers

These are not in any particular order but all are character traits that allow leaders to influence others. To those of you who aspire to any type of leadership, Take heed. It is your character that gives you entrance to the place where you can lead others.

#WhenIRuletheWorld

Those of you who follow me on Twitter know that I use a hashtag called #wheniruletheworld. When I use it it refers to something that I see in our world that needs changing. While in my study recently, I began to reflect upon my life. Upon that reflection, I saw my accomplishments and failures. But what troubled me most were the things that I could have done. The things that were within my grasp that I gave up on because of fear, lack of effort, time etc. These thoughts were with me for days. I found it interesting that I often consider what I would make others do when I rule the world when of far greater importance is what I am doing to rule my OWN world. Thinking more about this, I realized that the question really is "Am I willing to put forth the effort? Am I willing to do that which is necessary to effect the change I want to see in my own life? With the realization that there are likely more days behind me than ahead I've decided to go for it. I'm determined that I will make the maximum effort, to do that which is required, to ask and answer is it "I can't" or is it "I won't". I'm determined to overcome the obstacles. I'm determined not to run but to stand my ground before my fears and fight the fights that need fighting to reach the place that I want/need to be. I feel like Rocky training for one of his fights (they always look soooo painful).

I'm beginning a new journey and I'm excited by it.

I'll let you know #whenIruleMYworld.

SLOW BLEED

"Sometimes I fall asleep and then I lose control. I try to find my way out without letting go...."

My brothers and sisters in Christ. My greatest failures have often come on the heels of my greatest victories or after some blessing. Sound familiar? Yep, probably does. So many of us have this sad testimony.  Because so many have reported this to me, I have discerned a principle : "Failure Rides On The Wings Of Success"

The ground is fertile for this when we begin to smell ourselves and think how brilliant we are, become charter members of our own fan club and ignore the biblical principles that brought success in the first place. I must confess that 90 per cent of the problems in my life I have caused myself. These messes rarely occurred all at once but in hind sight, I discovered that they were the result of slow, imperceptible changes that I call Slow Bleeds. Their inevitable result is to leave me saying" How did I get here?" "How did things get so bad?" To make matters worse, far more often than not, when I try to fix my messes, I make matters even worse.  Through hard, painful experience I learned that when I fall victim to the Slow Bleed I must give to God the messes they inspire because I will only make a bigger mess of things.

The nature of our humanness causes us often to wander from the God who is our source and strength. This is fertile ground for Slow Bleeds. They deceive us into thinking we are two steps ahead when we are really five steps behind.

Slow bleeds are just that....slow.  but their life wrecking results can be just as deadly as a bullet to the head. The key is to keep our eyes focused on King Jesus. When He is enthroned in our lives we will avoid the destruction, despair and pain so often caused by the Slow Bleed.

The Way Of The Warrior

I'm tired and my strength is failing....Press on

Enemies from without, doubts from within..... Press on

The voice of God which once seemed clear is now silent..... Press on

Uncertainty dominant, clarity hides in a foggy mist.....Press on

The desire to give up.....Press on

Repeated effort, Failure abounds......Press on

The foul hiss of the devil is getting louder.... Press on

Temptation overwhelming.....Press on

Confusion assails my mind....Press on

Prayer without answer.... Press on

Weakness is gaining strength.....Press on

The treachery of friends.....Press on

The strength of enemies......Press on

Reminded of my hope.....Press on

Declaring who and whose I am....Press on

Back straightening....Press on

I can see the finish line ....Press on

Almost there..... Press on

I will lay hold of what my God has laid hold of for me so I...Will....Press....On!

Transforming Fear into Faith

Most people who know me make the assumption that I am a supremely confident individual. One who confronts things directly without fear, one who takes charge, one who is "fearless". I smile inwardly when folks say things like this to me. Why? Because fear is a very constant companion of mine. At one point, fear was THE driving factor in my life and I did not know what to do it about it. I remember saying to myself:  Lord, you can't want me to live like this..... Do Something!!!!! I believed with all my heart that He could and would so I prayed, prayed and prayed some more. Over time, through circumstances and the continued whisper of a small voice in my head, what God told me was to make good use of my "needy moments". Needy moments are any time I feel frightened, fearful, anxious or uncertain. When I feel this way, I have learned to go to God in prayer.

Time and experience have taught me that prayer is an attitude of the heart. It is an attitude of helplessness. This attitude of helplessness is not meant to drive us to anxiety and worry but rather to drive us to God. In other words, prayer is helplessness plus faith. I stumbled over this until I realized that faith is simply coming to The Lord Jesus Christ with my helplessness. When we petition God in prayer, we come to Him and tell Him what we and those we pray for are lacking. Among other things, prayer is opening up our needy lives to Him.

I had asked God to give me clear insight into my own unhealthy fears. If you do this you may well  be surprised how significant a motivating force fear is in your life. I asked the Lord " What are the things I do or don't do that are motivated by fear or rejection" The relevance of this is that we are to seek God in prayer at every point of our fears. Psalm 34:4 says: I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. Over the years I have learned that we must seek God at the point of our fears and need to look in scripture for specific promises that can transform fear responses to faith responses.

To this day, when I am called upon to preach, teach or speak publicly in a professional setting, I get nervous, fearful. "What happens if I mess up?" What happens if I say something wrong?"  "What happens if I forget what to say?" "What if I can't answer the questions I am asked?" etc. God uses verses like Psalm 67:7 to calm my heart.  It says: God blesses us, that the ends of the earth might fear Him. The principle here is that I can count on God's blessing as I seek to benefit others. God is eager to help us process our fears as we seek Him in prayer.

In Phillipians 4:6 God commands us to " Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be known to God". This means that every time we are tempted to be fearful or anxious we are to view it as a prompting from the Lord to pray. In prayer we can talk to God about our anxiety. I have found that at times I don't even know what's bothering me and have to ask Him what my problem is. I tell Him what I want Him to do about it and give thanks for the answer I am going to receive.... Whatever it is.  Thanksgiving links our heart to God as we thank and praise Him for His knowledge and concern of the situation as well as His desire to carry the burden.  When we do this we can count on the promise of Phillipians 4:7 ..."and the peace of God which surpasses understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Why do I believe this so strongly?  Because it has been my experience that when I comply with His Word, God will always bring the truth of it to pass in my life. I've experienced this time, time and time again. God will always honor His Word. Believe me when I tell you that there is nothing special about me. What He has done for me He will do for you!

God invites us to cast our cares upon Him (1Peter 5:7). Some anxieties are easier than others to cast upon God. The more something means to you the harder it is to trust God with it. But He wants us to trust Him with that which is most precious to us. During the period of time that culminated with the death of my son, God taught me how to use prayer to process my fear and to trust Him with that which was most important to me. Through great pain I learned to surrender my fears, worry and anxiety to God and realize that He is able to guard that which I entrust to Him. I have learned that what you try to control is up to you to worry about and work out. But when we give it to God He gets to worry about it and work it out. It is better to let God worry about it and work it out.

When I pray about my fears do they go away immediately? Not always, but If they don't, I take it as a sign that I need to pray more still about the matter. What has always been true is that even if God does not change my situation, He ALWAYS changes me so that I can handle the situation. He will do the same for you.

The upshot of all of this: God wants to move us from fear to faith by coming to Him in prayer. Not one of His people ever has to live in a constant state of fear and anxiety. If we give it to Him, He will take the burden. This is true of every believer in Jesus Christ. If you don't know Christ as Lord and Savior, then stop now and get that done. God asks that you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. With that confession and belief God calls you His own and will work to transform your responses in life from fear to faith.