Leadership

So, today I woke up thinking about leadership. I don't really know why other than the fact that ever since I was 12 there has been a cry in my heart to be a great leader. I told the Lord that I wanted to be a man that HE would write about. It wasn't a prideful thing in my heart but it was my desire to live a life that so pleased Him that He would want to write about me. I wanted to be someone that people could and would want to follow. But this begs the question...what makes a great leader?

Well, here are two things that I was pondering this morning that I believe help make a great leader.

1. We must always be more concerned about the condition of our own heart over the condition of other peoples hearts.
Now, here is kind of a tricky one because obviously as leaders we must be concerned about confronting and dealing with issues in peoples lives but unfortunately sometimes we get so focused on dealing with other peoples problems that we lose sight of our own. Jesus speaks clearly in Matthew 7 that we are to first get the plank out of our own eye then we can see clearly to remove the speck in our brothers eye. It isn't that Jesus doesn't want us to speak to each other about our issues but He wants us to do it in the right order and with the right heart. It is also interesting that Jesus says there is a plank in your eye and you are trying to remove a speck, which indicates that sometimes we actually have a bigger hindrance in our own eye that hinders us from being able to see what are the real issues even in others. A lot of times we think others have BIG issues when in reality it is us with the BIG issue. I have found that if I am more focused on dealing with my issues than not only do I see better to deal with the issues of others but the people under me respond better because they see my willingness to deal with my issues.

2. If you want to lead great you must serve great!
Now, this is one that we usually all agree on because Jesus is SO clear in the gospel as He spoke to His disciples about being a great leader. He who wants to be the greatest among you must serve and be humble. True humility is the key because sometimes we can even serve with a selfish heart that wants to get noticed or is trying to work the "system" of if I serve than I will get exalted. It's not just about our actions of service but more about our heart of service. We must serve with out expectation of return. If we serve only if it benefits us or because someone important is going to see it then it's not true service and it's not true leadership. We always think of leadership as being over people but it is really way more about coming underneath people and pushing them up and forward. We need to have more of a desire to come along side and underneath people than to be over them. The word says do not lord "over" them as the Gentiles do but serve. Now I am not saying leaders shouldn't boldly and clearly lead. There are obviously times when we must take a clear lead but it should always be with a heart to see the ones under us succeed, grow, and released into their destiny as the next generation of leaders.

In this day we must see a generation of leaders that walk in true humility to see their own hearts dealt with and to be willing to lay down their lives completely for each other with no expectation of anything in return. I write this not from a place of feeling like I have attained it but I am first challenging myself and pressing towards the goal of continually becoming more like Jesus. So, I also challenge you today to not just hear and know these truths but to be a doer of these truths.

That's the way Jesus led and that's the way we are to lead!
That is true leadership and true greatness!

Motivated By Love

One thing that I desire for my life and for this emerging generation is that we live a life motivated by love. Now, first you have to understand that I am not talking about some romantic or fantasized view of love. I am talking about real, true, authentic love. Which can only come from and through knowing God. To know God is to know love.

The kind of love that I am talking about is not a feeling or an emotion but a CHOICE to walk in a self giving and self sacrificial way of life. A choice of love that we lay down our wants, desires, and personal longings for the people around us. Always esteeming each other over ourselves. That's the love that I am talking about. See the way that Jesus lived his life and the way the early church lived their lives wasn't really about the actions but about the motive. They were motivated from this place of true divine love for each other that then had an effect on their actions and the way they lived out their lives. So many times in the church we focus on trying to get all the outward actions in proper alignment but the motives of our hearts are in the wrong place and so we eventually get burned out or just give up because our hearts aren't really in that place of true love for one another.

As we are ministering here in Brussels, I see a generation of people that have no idea what true love is or looks like. They are motivated by their hurt, insecurities, lusts, and false realities of life. BUT GOD,! We have been seeing a great release of the Fathers love over the young people here in Belgium that is awakening their hearts to the reality of His love and purpose for their lives. They are getting saved, healed, and delivered. True freedom is coming to their hearts, minds, and emotions.

This excites me because I want to see a generation who have their hearts fully alive and awakened to God's love and see them walk in a life motivated for love, to love and by love!
We are seeing it happen!

What are you hungry for?

Hunger- a strong or compelling desire or craving

I have been thinking about hunger a lot lately...it might have something to do with me really missing food from Texas right now. :) So, it got me thinking about what we hunger for as Christians. I mean I can think of a lot of good thinks to desire and crave...salivations, healings, revival, reformation, city transformation, etc.


I think all these things are great things and we should want to see them but is it what we should hunger for? The Psalms talk about hungering and thirsty for God and about it being the one thing. I agree that the one thing we should desire and crave is God Himself. I have heard the saying seek Gods face not His hand(His works). Although, I believe you can even take that statement to the wrong extreme of only seeking after Him and then not having any effect on the world around you but if you are truly hungering for more of Him and being filled and satisfied by Him then you get His heart and the leading of His Spirit to then see His hand move on your behalf and the behalf of those around you. The apostles of the early church all walked in the signs and wonders of His hand but it was all from the place of hungering for intimacy with Jesus. Even Jesus Himself drew away to be with the Father and it was from that place of intimate devotion that He heard His Fathers voice and obeyed.


Today as we all, I hope, are wanting to see a massive revival and a massive harvest. Don't forget or leave the place of being hungry for Him and Him alone! It is from that place that God moves in us, on us, for us, and through us!

Falling on my knees

What is this movement of 24/7 prayer really about?
Is it just the latest church buzzword?
Is the newest church structure?

Jesus says in the gospels that His house shall be called a house of prayer but what does that really mean for you and me? I believe Jesus was more talking about the core foundation of our lives then He was talking about a church structure. We have to guard against taking the things that the Holy Spirit is doing in these days and not just put them into programs and structures when really He is wanted a heart shift in His people. We can so quickly merchandise and commercialize the "new" things He is doing and step right back into the things that were happening in the temple when Jesus utter those words, " My house shall be called a house of prayer." It can't just be about an outward expression but an inward heart cry.

The prayer movement of our day is about God calling His people back to the place of pure, undivided devotion to Him. It is not about establishing a building where prayer goes up night and day but about establishing a people whose hearts are crying out to Him and dependent upon Him every night and every day. Now, I am not against houses of prayer. At this moment I am helping to get one started in Brussels, Belgium and we are in the process of looking for a building. I believe we need them to help establish this culture. What I am saying is that we can't make it about the building but about the culture that God is wanting to bring. Through His people being established in that place is what will bring about His Kingdom being established on the earth.

One of the problems is sometime we strive in our own strength to establish His Kingdom that brings salvation, healing, and deliverance and when that doesn't work through our striving then we turn to prayer for a little bit before we give up or get burned out. Instead we should establish ourselves in a lifestyle of prayer and fasting not for the sake of revival but because we our in love with Jesus. The reality is you can pray and fast with wrong motives and your heart be far from God. When we pursue Him for the sake of loving Him then His heart is moved and He moves on our behalf. He may not move when we think He should or how we think He should but He will move on behalf of His elect. Prayer should be the first thing we run to because it is in that place that we are running to Him but so often we try everything else and then say, "well I guess I'll go pray about it." It is amazing how backwards we have been living.

So fall on your knees today with no other motive or desire but to see His face and dwell on His beauty and I promise you, He will reveal Himself and begin to move on your behalf in any and every situation. He will speak to you and reveal to you the path that He has laid out for you each day. Set your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith and lay aside every weight and sin that so easily ensnares.

Consumed

Consumed: to absorb; engross; to use up

What are you consumed by? What are you engrossed in? What is it that is using you up?

Cause the reality is everyone of us is being consumed by someone or something. There is a deep longing in all of our hearts to be giving wholly to something. The problem is we usually give it to someone or something that never fully satisfies our longing. So we find our selves moving from one thing to the next or one person to the next. Always with a feeling of disappointment that we still haven't found what we are looking for. So, we end up spent and empty. Eventually it will move us into deep depression and hopelessness and even suicide. It is the plan of Satan, move us away from the one thing that can satisfy and eventually we will either live life dead or not live at all.

Here is the truth: Colossians 1:16-19
16 For by him were all things created , that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist . 18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence . 19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell

We were made by Him and for Him. He, Jesus, is the only One that can fulfill us. He is the only one that can consume us and yet still live full of life and purpose. "In Him all fullness dwells." All the hope, all the joy, all the happiness, all the fulfillment is found in being consumed by Him. So, if you haven't been in that place of being consumed by Him, just cry out to Him and tell Him with all your heart that you want Him more than anything and anyone and trust me...He will begin to come and move on your heart and you will become completely unsatisfied with anything but Him!

Let's be a people that are consumed by Him and for Him!

Son, stay back!

The other day I was putting a bunk bed together. I was sawing metal piping to fit the top and bottom beds together. As I was sawing Judah was playing near by and decided to come closer for a look. To protect Judah from the saw and the metal shavings that were flying around, I said "Son, stay back!"

Immediately, Judah, without hesitation moved back and went on playing a safe distance away. Right then the Lord spoke to me about how this situation speaks about His and mine relationship.

The Father is always watching over us and wanting to protect us. The Father sees the big picture. When we are just walking through life unaware sometime of the dangers that are around. God speaks and moves and adjusts our lives to keep us from something or to get us to somewhere or someone. If we are listening He is speaking and guiding us, but it doesn't just take us listening, it takes us being quick to obey.

Judah, the son, heard my voice and responded immediately to what I said to him. No questioning. No arguing. Not anything but complete and prompt obedience. I looked at that and thought about it. I want to be both the father that looks at for, speaks to, and guides his children in the way that they should go. I also want to be the son that hears and responds in obedience quickly. So, I encourage you today to be a son or a daughter that hears what the Father is saying and responds with quick obedience. It's what will keep you safe, happy and fulfilled!

Punched in the Face!

I don't know if you have ever been punched in the face before, but just so you know...it's not a pleasant experience. I recall the first time I got punched in the face, not that it has happened often, but there have been several times. After all I had a brother.

I was 10 years old the first time it happened. I was playing catch with whom I thought were friends at a church we were visiting. Well, at one point a ball got overthrown and so I went to get it for him. After picking up the football, I walked up to him and....BAM... he punched me right in the FACE! A severe stinging sensation ran through my face and then came a thought..."What the heck was that all about???" Not knowing what was coming next I gave him the ball back, turned and walked away. It knocked me a little out of reality. I walked like a zombie to my car and sat down beside my sisters and brothers. They looked at me and knew something was wrong and asked,"Whats wrong? What happened?" I was totally out of it and had no response. It took a few hours for the fog to lift and then I was fine.

All of this to say that I have experienced that feeling again this week and not from any human being but from a thing called...JET LAG! I have been punched in the face by jet lag. It's that same feeling of numbness and loss of reality that sneaks up on you and slaps you upside the head! The same issue of people talking to you and waiting and waiting and waiting for a response only to hear me say...I'm sorry what did you say? The bad thing about jet lag is it can be a week long beating instead of a one moment instance. Just as bad as it is to get punched from a person, it is even worse by jet lag. Trust me.

Anyways, hopefully you have never been punched in the face by a person or by jet lag, but if you have...I know how you feel and good luck!