Leap in the Water!
Have you ever looked up 'leadership' on Amazon.com? I did, it came up with 91,864 results (just in books)! Wow! That's a lot of opinions about such an important topic. Who's right? Who's WAY off? I certainly want to be a better leader ~ I'm sure we ALL do! But, where do you begin?
There's lots of conferences, books, blogs and videos - some free, others really expensive. It seems like another wave of 'coaching' and ‘consulting’ has emerged - I’ve been on both sides of this: being coached by mentors and consulting other churches/pastors/leaders… We all need leadership. So we find someone to help us succeed — and this is usually led by people who feel they have reached a level of success in their field and now offer their insight to others not quite as successful or experienced (usually for a fee, of course)... which can be super helpful — and we should be willing to pay for it without complaint.
“Wisdom is the most important thing; so get wisdom. If it costs
everything you have, get understanding.” Proverbs 4:7
So, obviously, I'm not hatin' on any of these things but I am concerned that we're asking the wrong question or maybe we've got the right question but we're asking the wrong person? Hmmm… keep reading…
God knows about leadership.
Jesus knows about leadership.
The Holy Spirit knows about leadership.
~ have you asked THEM?
I've been thinking a lot about this... and, today, as I was reading Proverbs 21 something stopped me in my tracks! Check out verse 1 from the Message:
Good leadership is a channel of water
controlled by God; He directs it to whatever
ends He chooses. Proverbs 21:1
Let's take a look at a few leadership components found in this verse:
- channel of water: this speaks of something moving within a current. you can't wait until you figure everything out but, instead, must get into the flow of God's power.
- controlled by God: His banks cannot be flooded - you can trust that where He leads is where you MUST go. Don't desire anything beyond His banks - for there is only stagnation, dryness and death outside of His purpose.
- He directs: the source of your influence and leadership is ALWAYS Him. He is the spring from which all great rivers of leadership find life.
- whatever ends He chooses: I love this! He may choose to grow you and empty you into a sea of influence or fine tune your life into the cup for one parched soul. It's His call.
The best leadership ALWAYS begins and ends with the Lord. That's right, He MUST be Lord (not just Savior). When He's in charge, we are always suited to serve at the highest level. He may still choose to place others over you to be examples of the life He is developing inside of you - this is discipleship. Take some time today to examine your leadership - ask the Father to correct you, ask the Lord to guide you, ask the Holy Spirit to empower you. There's a spring about to break forth within you. Let it go and begin to really lead! Yes, LEAP in to the channel of His leadership!
In HIS current,
Chilly
