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Lead by Influence

Sometimes we lead by position, because we possess the title of leader and are even paid to be the leader sometimes. Sometimes, though, we lead by our influence only. Perhaps we are not the positional or recognized leader, but people end up looking to us as leaders. This is influential leadership and is as old as time itself. 

I saw this recently when I was reading from the book of 1 Chronicles. In chapter 11 before King David was king I read; In times past, even when Saul was king, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the Lord your God said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prime over my people Israel.’ 

David was to be Israel’s shepherd. It’s interesting that God was telling him he would be shepherd and not king. Shepherds aren’t usually looked up to as leaders but here David was being put onto the position of shepherd. Image

True leaders lead! They lead regardless of their title or position. This can be where our leadership gets its foundation. We usually don’t start out in an organization as the top leader but we can still lead with our influence. People want to follow those who lead well ,those who are servant leaders, those who lead with integrity and truly care for those who follow, regardless of their title. We don’t need a title for this; only the mantle of leadership that God places on us.

Posted by  |  May 17, 2013 | Categories: Just Thinking | Tags: , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Seeing things differently

I continue to be amazed at the wickedness that is our world today. It seems that the crowds of people in this world are so corrupt, so far from God, even so dangerous, that it almost makes me feel hopeless to make a difference. 

But, today I was reading the 9th chapter of Matthew and read a verse (probably for the 500th time) that really struck me. Matthew wrote it this way in the 36th verse. “When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Did you read that? Jesus was looking at the crowds of people, those people who would not listen to him, would not follow him, and would end up killing him, and he had compassion on them because of the state of the world they lived in and because of the state of their hearts. Image

Jesus saw beneath their stubbornness, beneath their sin nature, beneath their arrogant rebellion, and beneath their desire to do things their own way and he felt compassion for them because they were helpless and harassed. 

How many of us in the church today look at the crowds that way? How many of us look out into a crowd of people who are far from God, rebellious, and doing their own thing and feel compassionate toward them? I’m afraid the feelings that so many of us have toward the crowds is far from compassionate. 

I believe it was the Holy Spirit that opened Jesus’ eyes to see people differently than we do. I believe the Holy Spirit opened his eyes so he could see their hopelessness and helplessness and feel compassion toward them. But, I believe that same Holy Spirit that lives inside of us can open our eyes to see things differently, too! 

I have to ask the Holy Spirit to let me see people differently. I have to ask him to fill me and change my eyesight so I can see things differently; then, I pray that I will be able to look out amongst the crowds and see the helplessness, the harassment, and the hopelessness and feel compassion toward them. 

Then, I pray that my compassion spurs me to action. I pray that I will act on that compassion. Perhaps its just speaking encouraging words to someone. Maybe it’s helping someone lift a heavy load. Maybe it’s buying a warm cup of coffee or a cold bottle of water for someone. My action born of compassion could manifest in many different ways, but it can only be born of the Holy Spirit. 

I can’t continue to look at the crowds the way I have in the past. Holy Spirit give me eyes to see things differently.

Posted by  |  April 25, 2013 | Categories: Just Thinking | Tags: , , , | Leave A Comment »

Living like Caleb

Caleb is my hero.  Even as he got older and older, he was always active, always ready to be a part of the team, always ready to join his countrymen in battle.  He seemed tireless, healthy, and ready for action.

ImageI’m talking about Caleb from the Old Testament in the Bible.  Remember the ten spies that were sent into the promised land to check things out and bring a report back to Moses and the Israelites?  Caleb was one of the two who came back excited about the prospects of taking the land because God had promised it to them, even though the current inhabitants were like giants compared to the Israelites.  

About 45 years after his spying mission, we read more about Caleb as he came to Israel’s current leader, and his old spying buddy, Joshua as they were finally settling in the land.  In Joshua 13:11, Caleb said this, “I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming.”

So, Caleb is now 85 years old and he’s telling his leader that he’s as fully alive now as he was 45 years ago when he was called into service to spy.  He stood strong in the days he was called to spy the land and he stood strong years later when it was time to fight for and inherit the land.

Caleb didn’t retire and let the young guys do the work.  He kept himself fit so he could work alongside the younger guys and lead them, direct them, teach them, and mentor them.  Caleb is my hero.

Caleb is a hero for me because of the strength he maintained throughout his life.  He didn’t let old age make him old.  I picture him as a guy who was very active all of his life, working hard, playing hard, living a balanced and healthy life.  Caleb was fully alive!  I see Caleb as one that multiple generations looked up to as a role model of balance in life; physically, spiritually, and emotionally.  

That’s the kind of role model I want to be as I get into my 50′s.  So many in our society would write of a 50 year-old man with big dreams, but I just remember Caleb and his strength and get encouraged to live out those dreams, fully alive.  I want to be that guy who is physically ready to do whatever God calls him to do, so I stay in shape and get plenty of exercise.  I want to be that guy in his 50′s who is so enthusiastic about growth and change that I lead the next generation into growth and change. 

There is so much a 50 (or 60 or 70 or 80) year-old man can do if he stays young in heart and mind.  There are so many dreams that can be fulfilled by older men and women that can lead and inspire younger folks to dream and plan and live fully alive.  

Let’s be sure we don’t write someone off just because they don’t fit in the ‘young leader’ demographic.  Let’s recognize the energy and enthusiasm of those who might be a little older but who are living life fully alive with no plans of slowing down.  I plan to be that guy!

Posted by  |  March 28, 2013 | Categories: Just Thinking | Tags: , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Fully Aiive

Our Easter focus this year at Grace Capital Church is on becoming and being ‘fully alive’ in our walk with the Lord.  Perhaps we don’t even know the power of becoming fully alive by surrendering to Jesus and being filled with the Holy Spirit.  During one of my journaling times this week I was led to one of my favorite verses in the book of Psalms (Psalm 69:1).  The verse is simple and reads like this, “Save me, O God!  For the waters have come up to my neck.” Image 

I think this Psalm speaks to a lot of us who feel overwhelmed by all of the things we carry on our plates.  We can feel as if our very next breath will be our last, like we cannot live unless God intervenes for us and saves us from the rapidly rising waters that are quickly up to our neck.  With today’s fast paced and technology filled days, we can feel this way easily.  

As I thought about this more, though, I think God wants me to be in a place where the waters are up to my neck and I must depend solely on Him for my next breath.  I’ve discovered that as I’m living this way; with the waters up to my neck, that’s when I feel fully alive.  I feel fully alive when I’m to the point of depending on God to save me for the waters have come up to my neck.  

If I’m wading knee deep in the water, then I can be self-sufficient and work at half-capacity to get things done.  But, I’m afraid this isn’t the fullness of life that God has called me to.  I want to live a life that is fully alive by being neck deep in what He’s called me to, knowing that I can only succeed, only take my next breath by the strength He gives me and by the grace and mercy that He always affords to me.

Are you fully alive?

Posted by  |  March 21, 2013 | Categories: Just Thinking | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

Regardless of cost

Do you ever wonder about the cost of following Jesus?  Sure, sometimes we talk about the cost when we are talking about missionaries sacrificing so much as they sell all their belongings and move to some remote part of the world or we talk about tithing and the sacrifice that is involved in giving God what already belongs to Him.

However, I recently read the story in the book of Mark where Jesus set a man free from the demons that were plaguing him and I started thinking a little differently about the cost of following Jesus.  He had come to this region and preformed a powerful miracle, requiring the Legion of demons to flee from this man who had been tormented for years.  The man was made whole and the demons were expelled to the herd of pigs that was feeding on a nearby shore.  The pigs then ran straight into the water and drowned themselves, presumably costing the pig herders lots and lots of money.  Now, all of a sudden, they were anxious for Jesus to leave the area. Image 

I wonder how many of us welcome Jesus into our lives, our towns, our churches, and our families until it starts to cost us something.  Do we welcome him as long as he’s doing miracles for us, prospering us, and not requiring sacrifice from us?  I’m afraid we do view things this way sometimes. Do I want Jesus to do miracles for me and my family, but then when he calls me and my family to something that looks like it will cost us money ask him to leave the region because I can’t afford to have him meddling around any longer?  

I want to welcome Jesus and his miracles regardless of the sacrifice I have to make.  I want to trust him beyond the miracles that require nothing from me and allow him to do miracles in me that require my obedience and sacrifice.  

This is a hard lesson that hits us in a sensitive area; our wallets.  But, it’s a lesson that opens up our lives to great growth in our walk.

Posted by  |  March 7, 2013 | Categories: Just Thinking | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment »

Audience of One

Have you ever felt like no one notices your contributions?  I remember seeing a cartoon once that gave a good, but funny, description of this.  The cartoon had one guy in it.  He was dressed in a business suit and he said, “doing a good job around here is like wearing a dark suit and wetting your pants, you get a warm feeling but nobody notices.”  I think we probably all feel that way sometimes regardless of whether we work in a factory, an office, or at home.Image

Sometimes, though, we are working only for an audience of one.  We can work, serve, struggle, fail, and move forward and the only things that seem to draw notice is the struggling and failing part.  It’s important, though, for us to remember that God recognizes all of our efforts and He is pleased with our heart of service, our willingness to struggle, and our desire for excellence.  He doesn’t just seek out the things He thinks we could do better, but He sees our hearts and loves us for serving.  He is pleased.  He sees our desire to grow His Kingdom and He rejoices.

So, the thing for us is to be encouraged as we are serving this audience of One.  He sees, He cares, and He is pleased with us as we serve.

Posted by  |  January 24, 2013 | Categories: Just Thinking | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

A Dream Fulfilled

The story of Joseph is so interesting to me.  There is so much to learn throughout the whole story of his life; leadership lessons, lessons in perseverance , God’s providence, and even dreaming big dreams.  Joseph definitely dreamed big dreams.  When he told his brothers about his dream; that they and his parents would bow down to him someday, the brothers got a little upset.  They got so upset that his circumstances when haywire; his brothers start to hate him, they try to kill him, sell him off into slavery, he gets accused of rape, put in prison, and ends up the guy second in charge to the Pharaoh.  That’s a wild ride!

ImageThen, despite all the circumstances, his dream is fulfilled as his family does come before him bowing to him.  It seems that Joseph’s dreams came true without his pushing, scheming, or making them happen.  It almost seems that his dreams were fulfilled serendipitously.  

But, in looking further I can see two things that I think were important about Joseph’s dream coming true.  Joseph kept his dream alive in his heart and Joseph continued to serve and honor God despite his circumstances.  

Maybe the key to us fulfilling our dreams, then, could very well be keeping the dream alive in our heart and continuing to serve God and allowing His Holy Spirit to work in us.  As this happens, I’m sure the Holy Spirit will prompt us to do things to get us closer to our dreams, to take the next step, but the key is to remain true to the dream and close to the heart of God.

 

Posted by  |  January 17, 2013 | Categories: Just Thinking | Tags: , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Order in creation

I especially enjoy my Bible reading plan in January as I start reading in the book of Genesis and then continue to read some of the great stories of the Bible.  In Genesis I read of creation, of Noah, of Abram who becomes Abraham, and then of Joseph and his amazing story.  I love re-reading these and being reminded of the timeless truths found in such old stories.

ImageJust as I was reading Genesis 1 this week, I was reminded of some of the things that God has put into order as he created the earth.  For example, in Genesis 1:12 I read, “The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind.  And God saw that it was good.”  

The creation story fascinates me every time I read it.  God created heaven and earth out of nothing.  And He did it with such great order.  Not only did He do it with such great order, but He even tells of of the order we can expect from His universe.  We can expect, and only expect, that a pine tree will come from seeds of a pine tree; a maple tree only from the seeds of a maple tree, and fruit trees from the seeds of fruit trees.  

This seems pretty elementary, but it is a basic tenet of God’s creation, things reproduce and only reproduce what they are.  If we choose to plant maple trees, then it’s maple trees we will get.  If we choose to make bad decisions, then it’s bad consequences we will get.  This is a universal truth that cannot and will not change.  

So many of us think we can change this universal truth.  We think we can plant our maple seeds and get pine trees or we think we can plant seeds of deception and find truth or we think we can plant seeds of hatred and find love.  The universe just isn’t made to work that way.  We have to acknowledge that God has set the world up with such universal truths and, although God could do a miracle to work around this truth, all we do is subject to these things.

We reap what we sew.

Posted by  |  January 4, 2013 | Categories: Just Thinking | Tags: , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Promises

I really enjoy reading and re-reading Hebrews 10 and 11 where the ‘faith hall of fame’ ist listed.  I love reading about those of old who had so much faith and walked it out just because they heard what God said for them to do and they believed Him.  What lessons I can learn from Abraham, Noah, Gideon, and others!

For example, Hebrews 11:17 says, “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.  He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son.”  Abraham was able to see beyond the obvious problem of sacrificing his son, Isaac, because he had already received the promise of God that he would be the father of a nation.  I believe that once we receive God’s promise for us, we are able to see that the things many people consider problems are just details (and sometimes miracles) for God to work out.  

It’s so important for us to receive God’s promises by faith so that we can live victoriously as we walk and work and pray through what seem to be problems.  There are plenty of circumstances in my life that I can look at as problems if I forget about God’s promises.  Over and over again, I can come back to God’s promises that are listed in His Word and see that for every problem I can conjure up, He has a promise that will sustain me.  

My focus on the problem is really the only problem that keeps me from the promise!

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Posted by  |  December 20, 2012 | Categories: Just Thinking | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

More Than Keeping the Rules

follow-the-rulesI’ve been thinking a lot about Jesus’ interaction with the rich young ruler in the book of Matthew lately.  This ruler comes up to Jesus and asks him what he must do to get eternal life.  Jesus first tells him what he probably wanted to hear; keep the commandments, honor your mother and father, don’t kill anyone, don’t commit adultery, etc.  I think the rich man was happy to hear these because he could answer Jesus by saying, “I’ve kept all these rules since I was a kid.”

Then, Jesus follows up with the hardest part, though.  He says something like, “yes, you’ve kept the rules but now you need to sell everything you have and give the money to the poor and then come follow me”.  Whoa!  I can imagine the rich man thinking something like, “oh no, anything but that.  I’ve worked hard all my life to acquire these riches, I can’t get rid of them!”

I think life would be easier, more black and white, if I could just know what the rules are and follow them.  If I know the rules, I can follow.  But, when it comes to just putting my agenda aside, walking away from all the comfort that I’ve worked so hard for, and following Jesus wherever he leads me, life becomes a little more difficult.  First, I have to get to know Jesus and trust him so I have to be in the Word.  Secondly, I have to discern his plans for me and put these plans (plans that are often only fueled by faith) ahead of the plans I might have for myself.  Thirdly, I have to surrender my plans to his plans daily so that I don’t get off course.  These things are hard, they aren’t black and white, but they are the key to finding all that God has in store for me.

The question comes to, “am I willing?”  Am I willing to do whatever God wants me to do even if it doesn’t coincide with my own plan?  Am I willing to serve Him wherever He wants me to, even if that means obscurity and humility?  Am I willing to go wherever He chooses for me?

It’s easy to judge the rich ruler for walking away sad because he held so tightly to his money and possessions, but we shouldn’t be so quick to judge because we need to answer the same question from Jesus, “Are you willing to go beyond following the rules and follow me?”

Posted by  |  December 14, 2012 | Categories: Just Thinking | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

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