Tag: Devotion

Leaders Must Have Vision

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When leaders lead, they need to have a vision of what can be and should be done. John Maxwell is the modern leadership guru who has written a lot of books. In The 360 Degree Leader, Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization, he has a section on vision where he says it the key to successful navigation. The more you invest in the vision, the more it becomes your own. People respond to a vision is different ways:

  1. Some attack it: with criticism and sabotage mainly because they did not create it or even understand it, so they don’t agree to work with it.They feel unneeded to achieve it and they aren’t ready for it.
  2. Some ignore it: they do their own thing.
  3. Some abandon it: they leave the organization.
  4. Some adapt it: by finding ways to align with the vision.
  5. Some champion it: they take the leader’s vision and make it a reality.
  6. Some add value to it: the vision becomes something more than originally anticipated. It is rare but not impossible to add value to the vision.

Another Maxwell book is The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Become the Person People will Want to Follow, he mentions vision as quality 21. “A great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.” Vision leads the leader, it’s that important. It sparks and fuels the fire within.

  1. Vision starts from within: you can’t borrow someone else’s vision; and you must draw on natural passions and abilities.
  2. Vision draws on your history: key events in your past are instrumental in creating vision.
  3. Vision meets other’s needs: vision is far-reaching and does more than include others, it adds value to them.
  4. Vision helps you gather resources: it is the magnet that attracts others, challenging and uniting them.

The more challenging the vision, the more winners it will attract, and the harder the participants will fight to achieve it. Check out this familiar Bible verse:

When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is joyful. (Proverbs 29:18)

Robert Fritz wrote, “It is not what a vision is; it’s what a vision does.” It is active. Vision is the ability to see. Helen Keller was asked, “Is there anything worse than being blind?”She said, “Yes, having eyesight but no vision!”

Leaders imagine a preferred future, which is the essence of vision. Vision is the image of the compelling future God wants to create through you. Leaders can stand up and say this is where we are going.

I read about Mike Vance who tells of being at Walt Disney World soon after its completion when someone said, “It’s too bad Walt Disney didn’t live to see this.” Vance replied, “He DID see it—that’s why it’s here.”

So, what kind of vision do you have?

Myopic vision: Leaders with myopic vision are so nearsighted that they live only for today. Their vision of the future is fuzzy. They can barely see beyond their noses.

Peripheral vision: Leaders with peripheral vision are blindsided by side issues. These visionaries are hampered in moving forward because they catch the threatening images of lurking problems in the corners of their eyes. They are fearful of shadowy difficulties and people lurking on the sidelines who will defeat their efforts. These folks are easily distracted.

Tunnel vision: Leaders with tunnel vision see only what’s dead ahead of them and assume that their narrow view of reality reflects the whole world. They don’t see other people or other issues.

Panoramic vision: Leaders with panoramic vision see the big picture. They see beyond today. They see what is ahead of them. They see what is to the sides of them. They have a basic understanding of the key ingredients of a healthy organization and know the steps that it will take to get them there.

Vision is perhaps the greatest need of leadership today. How’s your vision? Without it the church or your company will be like an unbridled horse. With it the organization will be focused, moving toward the fulfillment of the dream.

Leaders Must Guard Their Integrity

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As men, we must constantly be on guard in walking with integrity. People are looking even when we think they are not. More than likely, all of us have broken some sacred trust, perhaps to our wife, kids, or close friend. It’s not easy to live up to the expectations of others, but we break trust by not living up to the standard we have set for others. Hypocrisy might be an accurate word. King David is one of my favorite men in the Bible; he was so great in the eyes of God and men, but he was also so stupid at times.

The life of King David was filled with numerous triumphs, conquests, and successes. He took down Goliath all by himself with a sling and a stone. He wrote many of the psalms from which we find comfort in our times of difficulty. He led the nation of Israel and was considered by many to be its greatest leader. But he had a darker side that was eventually exposed by the prophet Nathan. Surely the sins of David would find him out.

I gave you your master’s house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more. Why, then, have you despised the word of the LORD and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife. — 2 Samuel 12:8-9

David also learned a harsh lesson about the importance of trust. While sitting on his rooftop one day (2 Samuel 11:2) when he should have been at war (2 Samuel 11:1), he saw Bathsheba bathing and sent for her. This act led to adultery, the murder of Uriah the Hittite, and a cover-up of the whole situation (2 Samuel 11:14-15). Only when the prophet Nathan confronted David about his actions did the king ask God for forgiveness (2 Samuel 12:7, 8, 9, 13). However, the Lord did not let David off easy. The child he fathered with Bathsheba died (2 Samuel 12:14), there was a constant threat of murder in his family (2 Samuel 12:11-12), and his son Absalom caused David problems until he was killed in battle (2 Samuel 18:9, 14-15).

When someone is trusted with a leadership role, they are given the opportunity to use their talents, time, and influence for causes bigger than themselves. As they make good decisions while showing integrity and concern for others, they earn trust. John Maxwell says this is like putting change in your pocket. When a man betrays that trust, it becomes difficult to regain. The leader has to pay some of their change back to the people. When someone runs out of change, trust is gone. When trust is gone, the leader ceases to be a leader.

King David’s story should serve as a reminder of the importance of trust and how quickly it can disappear. Men, allow God to mold and refine your character so that your decisions will inspire others to trust your abilities.

Leaders Exercise Self-Control

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Paul addresses the issue of self-control in the list of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), and it appears that her ends the list with the one quality that just might hold all the others together.

A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls. (Proverbs 25:28)

In ancient times, cities were often surrounded by walls for their protection. If those walls were breached in any way, the city became vulnerable to attack from all sorts of enemies and invading armies. The maintenance of city walls was of constant concern. Nehemiah heard about the walls of Jerusalem being broken down and his soul was so deeply troubled that he wept, mourned and fasted for days (Nehemiah 1:3, 4).

Proverbs 25:28 compares self-control to a city wall. When we maintain self-control, we keep ourselves safe from forces that would drag us down, attack our weaknesses, and prey on our failures. The Bible warns us that losing our self-control can lead to disastrous results. We may have tendencies to lose our tempers easily, gossip about neighbors or coworkers, or criticize those in authority. We may have an unhealthy desire to own lots of stuff, an addiction toward food, or an obsession with television. A careless word, a broken promise, or a disrespectful action is an outward sign that our inner wall of self-control has collapsed. Weak self-control makes us vulnerable to living a life of hypocrisy, and then we lose all credibility as a witness to the freedom and joy we have in Christ.

Developing self-control is not just a matter of “willing” right behavior. We all have experienced the “just do it” break-down. We decide that we will finally regain control of a certain personal weakness only to find a few days later that we have fallen once again to that temptation. Self-control is not as simple as just “doing it” or “not doing it.” Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit desires to guide our lives. Only he can overcome our sinful desires and build self-control. As we turn our daily routine over to the direction of the Holy Spirit, we will find that we are more often able to resist those things that used to prey on our weaknesses. It is with the power of the Holy Spirit alone that our walls of self-control can be securely maintained.

Application: Take an inventory of your life and pinpoint your areas of weakness. Allow the Holy Spirit access to your desires, attitudes and lifestyle, and have the courage to make changes as needed. It’s one thing to desire the Spirit to control us, it is another to allow the Spirit to control us. Take courage, self-control is a life long process of God working on us to conform us to the image of his Son. Make progress each and every day. Rejoice in the victories and seek forgiveness and reconciliation when you fail. Encourage one another because there is strength in numbers!As you lead, take others along with you; pass on the qualities of leadership that God teaches you.

God Calls us to Sexual Purity

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Last year about this time we began challenging the congregation to read the Bible in 90 Days. As we went through the Old Testament, there were some pretty “R” rated (if not “X” rated) passages. I heard about one family traveling on a trip with the grandchildren, reading the Bible aloud while the other was driving. They had to stop reading out loud because the kids where listening! Grandma just couldn’t read certain passages and speak the words aloud. Leviticus 18 is one of those chapters. As I work with men, statistics tell me that when it comes to sexual purity, men who are in church are not too much different than men outside of the church. Purity is a desire, but impurity is a great temptation.

Leviticus 18 contains a series of laws that have to do with sexual expression (except for Leviticus 18:21, which forbids child sacrifice, which is really a whole other topic). We might wonder why God didn’t simply say, “Have sexual relations only with your spouse,” rather than offer such detail in the form: “Do not have sexual relations with… (you name it).”

The answer to this question comes in Leviticus 18:3. God is leading the Israelites out of Egypt, where various forms of sexual immorality were common, into the land of Canaan, where the people do the very things Leviticus 18 prohibits. As Leviticus 18:27 explains, “All these detestable activities are practiced by the people of the land where I am taking you, and this is how the land has become defiled.” God was concerned that the Israelites would easily be tempted to imitate the Canaanites’ sexual impurity, so he spelled out graphically the relationships in which sexual activity was forbidden. He knew that his people were like young children who needed specific instructions and prohibitions.

Although our context differs a lot from that of the Israelites, we face a pretty similar situation. We live today in a culture that endorses unimaginable sexual activity. Even though our society still agrees with Leviticus 18 about some things, like the wrongness of sex with a close relative, our world presents us with new challenges to our sexual holiness, like readily available pornography.

The New Testament does not really offer an updated list of sexual “don’ts,” like a new rulebook for Christian sexual conduct. Rather, it calls us to holiness in every part of our lives, including our sexuality (see 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8). We should not imitate the ways of our world when it comes to sexual expression, but we are to devote our whole being to God, which includes our bodies. We are to live each day with the realization that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:18-20). So, we have the obligation and privilege of honoring God with our bodies. When we take this calling seriously, each day we will desire to dishonor God with our bodies less and less. We will seek to give him all that we are, all the time, giving Him honor.

Application: In what areas of life are you tempted to compromise in the are of purity? How have you come to realize your weaknesses? What safeguards have you set in place? What in our culture tempts you to set aside God’s standards for sexuality? What helps you to live according to God’s standards? What lures you to adopt the ways of our fallen culture? What has been your track record over the past few months? If you wish to start over, what prevents you from confession, restoration and commitment to purity (1 John 1:9)? Who is the man who holds you accountable? Whom are you holding accountable, your neighbor, brother, son, co-worker?

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Ways to Worship Daily

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Worship is a priority in the life of a believer, and Jesus tells us that the Father seeks worshipers (John 4:23). It is really our only priority, because when we get this right, discipleship, missions and evangelism burst forth. If we don’t have a clue about His greatness and worthiness to be worshiped, we will relax in these other critical areas.

Quotes:

A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling “darkness” on the wall of his cell. — C. S. Lewis

All of history is moving toward one great goal, the white-hot worship of God and His Son among all people of the earth. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. — John Piper

Top 10 Ways to Rebel Against Idols:

  1. Give God the best part of your day, not your leftovers.
  2. Volunteer one Saturday this month at the homeless shelter.
  3. Pass up the $100 Converse for something comfortable and affordable.
  4. Pray each day, specifically for those in your sphere of influence.
  5. Feed your soul with kingdom-affirming images from television, music and movies.
  6. Take an international missions trip this year.
  7. Enjoy sports, but don’t overdose.
  8. Build a healthy body instead of a glamorous image.
  9. Develop your spiritual gifts as intentionally as your career.
  10. Make it your lifelong quest to know God and yourself.

Connecting in Prayer

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Prayer is often misunderstood. It is more connecting with God than it is a formula for getting answers or even stuff from God. Sometimes we think that God is like a genie waiting to grant our wishes if only we would ask Him. The fact is that the more we get to know God, the more our prayers are changed. We ask differently when we begin to realize the sacrifice of Christ. When we go through the pit with Christ, that experience changes our prayer life. Oswald Chambers once wrote something like, prayer is God’s avenue of change in us. When we pray, God will change our hearts and will often use us to bring about a solution or an answer to our prayers.

Quotes:

Prayer is not a means to an end. In so many ways, it is the end itself. — Beth Moore

Prayer lays hold of God’s plan and becomes the link between His will and its accomplishment on earth. Amazing things happen, and we are given the privilege of being the channels of the Holy Spirit’s prayer. — Elizabeth Elliot

Work, work, from morning until late at night. In fact, I have so much to do that I shall have to spend the first three hours in prayer. — Martin Luther

Top 10 Steps to Connecting in Prayer:

  1. Inward – reflect, breath, prepare.
  2. Noise – declutter anxious and distracting thoughts.
  3. Let go – inhale the nearness of God, exhale hindrances.
  4. Hurts – acknowledge and confess your brokenness.
  5. Distractions – focus thought and life upon your Source.
  6. Holy space – be, receive from your heavenly Father.
  7. Outward – freely you have received, freely give.
  8. Self – savor the gift of God that is in you.
  9. Planet – feel the passion the Creator has for His cosmos.
  10. Others – call forth the purposes of God in your relationships.

Leaders in a Dark Valley

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I read just yesterday about several pastors who resigned their churches and “are available for interim or other full time work.” It broke my heart because I interpreted this to mean they had no other choices but to leave their position due to some sort of issue(s). I talked to a former pastor friend of mine the other evening and he left his pastorate for personal reasons but we talked about a lot of the dysfunction that is in the DNA of the congregation.

I read this leadership devotion just this morning and wanted to pass it on to you. Taking courage because His presence will not leave you:

Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)

Life in general is filled with highs and lows, but it can especially be apparent for those in Christian ministry leadership positions. Just look at how many pastors, youth ministers, and worship directors eventually leave ministry. The work wears on a person. The constant complaints of doing too little of this or too much of that can drain anyone. As a leader, you are expected to be there for everyone at every moment of the day. No one is able to be there at all times. Still, guilt fills the mind and causes you to doubt your ministry and your effectiveness.

Yet, we are not left alone in this world. Through the darkest valleys of life, through the most difficult times of ministry, God is with us. As we lead his people, we can rest knowing that God leads us. When things get tight, the problems don’t seem to go away, and we struggle with guilt–the false guilt of not being able to be there for everyone–God will comfort us. He shields us even during the assaults of bitter people and harsh words. He will always lead us in a path meant to protect us and keep us strong.

When the road is dark and tough, God will guide and protect you. When you feel overwhelmed with loneliness, the Lord is close beside you. When your heart is asking hard questions and you feel beaten down, God will sustain you. We don’t need to live in fear, for God is always with you. He is willing to comfort and protect you. He guides you through every mountain and valley of life. He is your true Leader/Shepherd. And the more you trust him as Lord, the more you will experience the wonder of having a Shepherd.

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Where to Hear from God

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Once again I hope to emphasize the importance of hearing God’s voice. I started a couple of days ago with this post on How to Hear from God. Let’s continue.

Paul and Barnabas were in Antioch, where the disciples of Christ were first called Christians (Acts 11:26). They are in the list of prophets and teachers in the church (Acts 13:1), men not so much in it for the title or position, but they had a passion for God and His mission. Notice where they were when they heard God’s voice (Acts 13:2). The Message puts it this way, “One day as they were worshiping God—they were also fasting as they waited for guidance—the Holy Spirit spoke:” I believe that these men heard from God because they were in a position to hear his voice; basically, when God spoke, they were listening. You’ve got to be near God to hear God.

What perfect timing. Paul tells us he was set apart from birth (Galatians 1:15) perhaps around AD 10. His salvation did not come until around AD 36, but he was not set for his primary ministry until around AD 46. No time was wasted, Paul used these years to prepare for this moment. When the time came, he was ready. So after the church fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off (Acts 13:3).

It’s important to note that if the Holy Spirit sends, He is also going to equip those He sends. God gave these men wisdom, experience and even a helper (John Mark – Acts 13:5 – who later would be the writer of the gospel of Mark). So off they went.

At the first stop they find an interesting man whose name was Bar-Jesus (or Elymas), an attendant to Serguis Paulus, the governor of Cyprus (Acts 13:6, 7). The governor wanted to hear God’s Word but this Bar-Jesus did all that he could to prevent it (Acts 13:8). Interestingly enough, it is here that Saul name officially transitions to Paul (Acts 13:9). Paul looks at him and calls him the son of the devil (Acts 13:10) which is a play on the man’s name (Bar-Jesus means the son of Jesus). Paul describes him this way:

  1. Full of deceit – bait, fraud, guile, deceit – the man was involved in magic, astrology and enchantment.
  2. Full of trickery – often a word used for thieves and con men involved in wicked schemes or plots.
  3. Perverted the right ways of the Lord – to turn or twist, distort, pervert, seduce, mislead, turn away.

It is also here that Paul performs his first miracle (Acts 13:11) and the man becomes blind. The result was that the governor came to faith (Acts 13:12). God wants to amaze us with His Word as well. If we will only seek Him and examine His truth, He can blow our minds with what He was for us. How did the governor come to faith? Because he wanted to hear the Word of the Lord (Acts 13:7). He was ready to receive and God honored that desire.

Application: Are you in a position to hear God’s Word? Do you have a desire to hear from Him? Are you actively involved in worship or does that not fit in your schedule? How about a small group of people who can help you understand the Bible better and be challenged to live it out in everyday life? As in this story, our enemy will do everything in his power to distract you from hearing God. Stay focused, do not get distracted from your goal (Romans 8:29, Galatians 2:20, Acts 20:24). Allow God to use you for his kingdom. Be available to serve Him and others by putting yourself into a position to hear from Him.

The Son of a Pharisee

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It’s probably a verse you have come to know over the course of your Christian life. We quote it around Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and use it to remind parents of their responsibility to raise godly children; it does not happen just because we take our kids to church.

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. – Proverbs 22:6

For the parents of the apostle Paul, these were not simply words of a short verse worth memorizing; they were the foundation of family life. In a Jewish home, it was not the job of the mother to teach spiritual things to the kids, it was the father’s responsibility, who learned it from his own father.

Philippians 3:5 tells us a bit of Paul’s early childhood: circumcised on the eighth day, a part of the children of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, and even a “Hebrew of Hebrews.” The readers understood that Paul meant nothing but Jewish influence surrounded him in those early years.

The Code of Jewish Law states that “it is the duty of every father to train his children in the practice of all the precepts, whether biblical or rabbinical” and “to guard his children against any forbidden act.” Paul’s father took this responsibility very seriously.

Looking back through New Testament eyes, we tend to put Pharisees in a negative light, since Jesus had so much conflict with them and they ultimately schemed the crucifixion of Christ, but in the first century the Pharisees held a position of great honor. I wonder if Paul spoke from experience when he penned the words to the Ephesian church that fathers must not exasperate their children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4).

The Jewish historian Josephus (under contract with the Roman Empire) wrote the Jews lay greater stress on the training of children than on anything else; as one of the most important duties.

Being a Hebrew was not just about religion, or a way of life, but it defined who you were, how you thought and how you felt about life. It affected how you dressed (even the wearing of phylacteries – Exodus 13:9) to what you celebrated (the regular ritual and feasts).

So men, has there been a time in your life when you delegated the task of spiritual instruction to your wife, thinking that religious stuff was for women, or raising the kids is primarily woman’s work? I challenge you to make sure you rethink that position and learn from the life of Paul that religious instruction is the father’s role in the family. There is a phrase that should haunt each of us, “Like father, like son.”

While I don’t want to discount a miracle of God working in our kids lives, but how can we expect our children to mysteriously be right with God one day, or stand up for godly principles, if we ourselves are not right with God? We must model what a relationship with God is all about and train our kids in the way they should go. They might choose another path later on, but it won’t be for a lack of instruction on the father’s part when they were young.

So, what do you need to do to better model what a relationship with Jesus is all about? How well do you know the Bible and the teachings of Christ? Can you pass on the stories and teachings at appropriate times throughout the day, helping your kids know that Christianity is not just something we do on Sundays? Can you quote Scripture in front of your kids, and challenge them to memorize verses as well? How can you relate the teaching of the Bible to the struggles and situations in their daily lives? Have you set up a time each day to read Scripture, a devotional thought and pray? It’s never too late to get on the right path.

Did That Just Happen?

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Men, if you’re like me, you catch the news fairly regularly.  Then perhaps you’ve heard about or seen Kanye West’s wildly inappropriate outburst at the MTV Video Music Awards. This is not what you would call a great career move, but I guess the silver lining for Kanye is his honorable mention in the Urban Dictionary for September 17 (be warned that the language on that site is appalling):

Imma let you finish [eye-ma-let-yoo-fin-ish]:

1. Obnoxious way to interrupt someone and steal their moment, while wryly mocking that media train wreck that is Kanye West.

Based on West’s instantly infamous interruption of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Female Video with his insane microphone-stealing shout out to Beyonce.

Bob: Thank you Mr. Brown for having us in to give this sales presentation. We’d like to talk to you today about…

Alfred: Yo, Bob, I’m really happy for you, and Imma let you finish, but I just got to say our product is one of the best products there is!

I guess West did let Taylor finish…sort of, but the cool part was the moment Beyonce recognized Swift and gave her a chance to have her moment of glory.

Have you ever been completely and rudely interrupted? I’m thinking that most of us can relate, but how about being interrupted during an extremely important moment in your life by someone who obviously doesn’t care about you or your mission at that moment?

Think about it…have you ever stopped to take time to pray, and suddenly your thoughts are bombarded with anxiety or unpleasant memories? Or have you planned your devotional time to read the Bible, and suddenly the phone rings, or you remember something you just have to take care of first? What about sharing the gospel with someone and then other people start cutting into the conversation which distracts this person from hearing the best message on earth?

This is not a coincidence…we have an enemy (Satan, meaning, the adversary) who is completely dedicated to stopping any efforts on your part to connect with God, like through prayer and reading the Bible, and he is literally hell-bent on halting even a single word about Jesus Christ from escaping your lips.

Just check out a few descriptions of this from God’s Word:

    1. Satan, who leads the whole world astray… (Revelation 12:9).
    2. Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).
    3. We wanted very much to come to you, and I, Paul, tried again and again, but Satan prevented us (1 Thessalonians 2:18).

      See what I mean? Satan just sits back and waits until you try to take the stage for Jesus Christ, then he jumps in and steals your microphone and your chance to glorify God.

      Oh get this – Satan doesn’t let you finish.

      Here’s the great news though. If you can see an interruption coming, you can usually prevent it or ignore it. When you know that spiritual disturbances are headed your way whenever you try to connect with God or share the gospel of Jesus Christ, you can be more prepared.

      First, recognize the interruption for what it is and take it to God. That way, what Satan meant for evil will actually focus your thoughts more on God! Pray something like: “Father, I know that what’s happening right now is an attempt to keep me from connecting with you. Please help me keep my thoughts and spiritual eyes focused only on You.”

      Second, resist Satan, and you can be sure of this promise: Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you (James 4:7-8).

      Here’s the way The Message version of the Bible puts it: Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time.

      Finally, refuse to give up. When you stop praying, you miss out on God’s peace and blessing. When you stop reading the Bible, you lose out on God’s truth and strength. And when you stop sharing the gospel, you trash the opportunity to lead someone to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

      Bottom line: stay the course, connect with God, read His word, and share your faith. Refuse to be interrupted and never give up. On Judgment Day, God will call you back on stage and you’ll hear the words from Jesus that are more valuable than any earthly praise: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:21). Now that is how you should finish.

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