Leading Gods People… Gods Way.
If I want to be a leader, I have to decide what I want to lead. If its human beings, then I must become one. (Phil 2:7) Far to many “leaders” operate from a sense entitlement, achievements, education or a flawed self perception. First time managers are a nightmare to work for. Real leaders are in the midst of the people they lead. My pathway to leadership begins with understanding my inabilities, my weaknesses, my flaws, the cracks in my armor, and if I dare, my own sin!
I have to count the cost, assess and inventory my own heart, mind, and soul realizing I am incapable of leading without being led. FACT: I can have no authority at all, no realm of leadership whatsoever without someone in my life who can tell me… No!… Bad plan… I wouldnt do that!!! Leadership without accountability is tyranny.
When I myself put down all thoughts of perfection, sinlessness, narcissism, pride, and control , I can enter into Gods leadership program which stretches from the day I understand this till I die. One graduates when their heart stops. God builds leaders in the furnace of affliction, in the belly of a whale, a cold darkened dungeon, on a hill far away from all the comforts of home.
There were three crosses on Calvary. His, so all of humanity could choose. The Thief, representing all who fear God and want to be saved, and the Blasphemers cross, representing those who reject their only avenue of redemption, dying eternally lost within a few feet from Jesus. Such was the lot of Judas.
Jesus said pick up your cross and follow me. Decide once and for all which side of the line you will take your stand. Paul said I am crucified with Christ; yet I live. If you ever want to be with him in paradise, you are going to have to walk with him here. If you must be born again, then you must die first.
There must be a “first fruits” in our lives. I have ministered long enough to know I am going through it first. I will face whatever is coming at the church I lead, before it shows its head in the assembly. America is about to go through the longest hardest economic downturn it has ever faced… a year ago I was terminated from my job…. “Joe, you are going to have to teach these people to live by faith, so here goes…” not fun at all but totally necessary for their sake.
We minister out of our pain, our brokenness, and our failures with compassion and love supplied by our experiences. That is why Joseph needed his brethren, Daniel needed his lions den. His friends needed their furnace, Noah needed his vineyard, Jeremiah needed his cistern, Job needed his friends, Sampson needed Delilah, Paul needed his thorn, Barnabus needed Paul, Peter needed to deny Him and Jesus needed the Cross; for how shall a way be made with out the dying out of our flesh?
Whenever I go through something painful, something devastating, some great loss or personal tragedy… I have come to ask myself, what have I learned? What is the takeaway?
One of the VP’s to Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, made a error in judgement that cost the company 600 million dollars. When asked if he would fire the man, Jack replied, why would I give someone to my competition that I just paid 600 million to educate?
Hear and understand oh gentle reader, Jesus has no intention of tossing us to the dogs, one’s for whom he paid such a great price in personal suffering. You are blood bought….yet he evermore will educate us. That my friend is always always always done on two pieces of lumber fastened with love by Divine design ; sometimes publicly sometimes in private, but you are going to feel that hammer send home those nails, and you will die whether you like it or not, and when He resurrects that sorry carcass, only then will we be useful in His hands. Only then will we be capable to lead.
Jesus made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
For the Joy set before Him…. Welcome to the Cross