For Christians, hope speaks of a desire that includes expectation. When considering the promises of God, Christians know there is fulfillment.
Spiritual leadership is about hope. Our leadership must be characterized by a strong desire with expectation.
Listening, confident, learning, and conscientious leaders provide hope.
The very idea of “spiritual” leadership should exemplify the hope Christ came to provide all who would follow.
The ultimate deliverance was accomplished by Jesus at the cross. The result brought deliverance from our bondage to the consequences of sin.
This deliverance is identified as salvation, forgiveness, grace, and the indescribable gift.
It is the result of God’s immeasurable patience and love. Consider the lengths taken by God to provide for our greatest need and think for just a moment.
Our spiritual leadership is defined by it. The souls all around us depend on it.
Every company depends upon physical, financial, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual contributions. Without these gifts, success is hindered.
The development of our spiritual leadership hinges on what we contribute to the work. Are we giving whatever it takes to the needs that exist? Will our contribution make a difference?
When we contribute to the spiritual development of God’s kingdom, we know God will take what we have planted and make it grow.
Make a contribution today that leads others to know Jesus better. It is a gift worth giving.
Joy is an important and unique quality needed in leaders.
Paul could sing praises at midnight while imprisoned for Christ. He wrote from prison to the church at Philippi, “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I will say, rejoice.”
The letter to the Philippians also helps us see what happens when someone robs the church of that joy (Euodia and Syntyche).
Paul’s joy was based on his relationship with God, not his external situation, but he did not want anyone taking joy away from the church. Therefore, he instructed them to “live in harmony in the Lord.”
One of our tasks as leaders today is to have and instill joy in the church.
Tying a string around our finger does not really help. Mental exercises are often prescribed to assist, but few follow through because they forget. The older we get the more difficult it becomes to remember.
What can we do to help us remember? Leaders, we must connect to this need.
The writer of Hebrews instructs us to remember those who led us. Certainly, there is a need for leaders to remember also.
Remember there is accountability.
Remember souls are at stake.
Remember nothing is more vital to the development of God’s kingdom than leading.
The most valuable commodity we have is time. The greatest gift we can give is our time. Leading people requires time. We all have the same amount. How we use it determines the difference we make as leaders.
Solomon said there is a time for everything.
From birth to death, Jesus was on God’s time. Paul wrote “in the fullness of time God sent forth His Son.” Approaching the final days of His life, Jesus prayed, “Father, the hour has come.”
Paul instructs Christians to use their time wisely because the days are evil.
In this crazy, busy, scheduled life we live, how are we using our time?
Negotiating is an effort to reach an agreement or solution through compromise. Most often, there is give and take, thus, compromise.
Spiritual leaders need to exercise caution when it comes to negotiating. Far too often God’s word is compromised in an attempt to appease a larger majority of people.
Attempts to negotiate, compromise, or change the word of God are futile.
Our leadership should not move people away from God and His word. Rather, our leadership should move people toward God and His word.
In the Old Testament we find a great contrast between deliverance by the hand of the Lord and oppression by the hand of Israel’s enemies.
God’s hand holds both consequence and reward. While God’s hand creates fear, it also instills hope. “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Yet, Jesus sits at the right hand of the majesty on high and intercedes for us.
We are instructed to humble ourselves “under the mighty hand of God.”
The hand of leadership leads out of humility and provides hope.
We have an opportunity to make a difference with the use of our hand.
Why is it life and leadership cannot always be about the upside? Is there a purpose to dealing with the negative struggles challenging life and leadership?
Spiritual leaders know the downside helps in developing an appreciation for the upside.
God’s power is perfected in our lives as a result of enduring the downside.
The downside is designed to equip us with an ability to help others who are suffering.
The difference is found in the way leaders respond to these challenges. The downside indicates that challenges and problems will come. The upside is they are only temporary.
Lead with the hope of knowing there is an upside.
Problems arise when leaders abuse power, or base their power on an inward self-centeredness.
Spiritual leadership must be built on the power of God.
When our leadership turns inward and self-centered, it will fail.
True leadership is about the power that comes from our God through His gracious and indescribable gift, Jesus.
He is the power to save, to make all things happen, and to lead.
Paul wrote “no man has the power to lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus the Christ” (1 Co. 3:11).
Let us pray for His guidance and direction in our leadership.