Do you see yourself as a leader?
Most people tend to think about leadership in terms of job titles. People managers, especially those who appear leaderlike or conform to cultural norms about leadership, are often credited with being good leaders. Whether someone is charismatic, assertive, or high ranking, however, has little to do with their leadership abilities. So, what is leadership, then?
Leadership is not a title but an ability to inspire followership.
I had my experience post motor vehicle accident! Prior, I was reserved about sharing my faith, it was a ‘personal’ thing. Yet, in my experience, I thinking it was a single nights dream (not a few months that I was in the coma) said that I would ‘share’ when I awoke, not aware that it would not be to the individuals in the operating room; but to an internet worldwide population! Fact, we all live and we shall all die. Then???
Very simply, I share my experiences. Yes! There are individuals who will say “it was a personal experience, what makes it global?”
Very complex, but rather easy to answer. I had brain damage and right sided paralysis. Then and now. I AM blessed!!! Hallelujah! Very few, if any can document the improvements that I have been blessed with!
In ALL things; I wait on The LORD. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of The Lord will come like a thief.
ALL things work together for good in the lives of those who Love God. I hold on fast to this promise! I am very simply doing as I am led by The Spirit of God. My blessings will be manifest in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
In the Psalms, Proverbs, and many other books of the Bible, we find commands to wait on the Lord” like this one: “Wait on the LORD: Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: Wait, I say, on the LORD” (Psalm 27:14, KJV). Most modern translations use “wait for the Lord.” To English readers, the idea of waiting on the Lord might seem like a passive exercise, but a closer study reveals that it’s nothing of the sort.
Patient, confident trust in the Lord is the central idea of the exhortation to wait on the Lord. The entire Psalm 27 is a prayer to God for help. It beautifully illustrates the meaning of waiting on the Lord. Throughout the psalm’s eloquent lines, David expresses authentic faith and courageous trust in God, based on his confident expectation that the Lord will rescue and save him in his time of trouble.
First, we see that we can wait on the Lord by trusting in Him. David expressed great confidence in the Lord, who was his light, salvation, and stronghold (Psalm 27:1–2). This kind of dynamic trust dispels fear and despair: “When the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident” (verses 2–3).
We can wait on the Lord by seeking Him. David conveyed his trust in the Lord by longing to be with Him, to commune in God’s presence and worship in His temple: “One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple” (Psalm 27:4). In God’s dwelling place, praising and worshiping the Lord, David felt safe and secure: “For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock. Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the LORD” (verses 5–6).
We can wait on the Lord through prayer, as David did in eager expectation of deliverance (Psalm 27:7–14). David asked God for wisdom, direction (verse 11), and protection (verse 12), wholly believing he would “see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living” (verse 13). Those who wait on the Lord can fully expect Him to fulfill their hope: “Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame” (Psalm 25:3, ESV).
Waiting on the Lord involves the confident expectation of a positive result in which we place a great hope. This expectation is based on knowledge of and trust in God. Those who do not know the Lord will not wait on Him; neither will those who fail to trust Him. We must be confident of who God is and what He is capable of doing. Those who wait on the Lord do not lose heart in their prayers: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” (1 John 5:14). Waiting on the Lord renews our strength (Isaiah 40:31). Waiting on the Lord by trusting, seeking, and praying establishes our faith and brings serenity and stability: “I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the LORD and put their trust in him” (Psalm 40:1–3). As this passage affirms, waiting on the Lord is also a testimony to others who will see our faith and, as a result, put their trust in God.
Waiting on the Lord brings God’s blessings: “Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4; see also 1 Corinthians 1:7).
Sometimes we might feel as though the Lord does not see or hear us—that He’s not answering our prayers. During these moments, we can put our complete faith and trust in the living God. We can wait on the Lord in eager anticipation, knowing that He is with us and in control of our lives. He will do what He has promised. He will rescue and save us. He is always working for our good, even when we don’t feel Him (Romans 8:28). Through patient, courageous, active trusting, seeking, and prayer, we can learn to wait on The Lord.
Right back to the main question on Leadership: Hogan’s definition of leadership focuses on team outcomes. Leadership is the ability to build and maintain a team that performs well relative to its competition. In other words, effective leaders can organize people to outperform other teams. This point of view means that leadership is not a title but an ability to inspire followership. Leaders are not people who are nominally in charge. They are people who form teams, units, departments, organizations, or other affiliations to achieve goals.
This definition of leadership is informed by the socioanalytic theory of personality, which fuses psychoanalytic theory and role theory with evolutionary theory. Throughout the history of our species, nearly every significant human achievement has relied on coordinated effort between members of a team and its leadership.
Why is leadership important?
According to socioanalytic theory, people have three basic evolutionary needs, which are also known as the “master motives.” These include getting along (in cooperation for social acceptance), getting ahead (in competition for status and survival), and finding meaning (through systems such as philosophy, sciences, and religion). Individual differences in how people pursue and meet those goals contribute to the success of the group.
Throughout history, warfare has made cooperation within groups necessary. Because coordinated groups typically outperform disorganized groups, the primary goal of leadership is to persuade people to set aside individual desires temporarily for the good of the group. This means leadership is fundamentally a resource for group survival—and bad political leadership can put our survival at risk. Estimates suggest that as many as six times more people were killed by their own governments than by foreign or internal war in the 20th century.
But, we read the Bible and Jesus is The Word of God in the flesh!!! An Example He is!!! All we deal with and way more, He experienced/went through. Amazing! He Who Created ALL things came as a servant!
My one challenge today is: “Are you Christ-like?”
Several years ago, there was a popular trend among Christians that encouraged them to ask, “What Would Jesus Do?” Merchandise featuring the WWJD logo was ubiquitous. What many people did not know is that the question came from the 1896 novel In His Steps by Charles M. Sheldon. The book’s storyline follows a group of people who vowed to live for a year making no decision without first asking themselves, “What would Jesus do?” To be a follower—a disciple—of Christ is the essence of the Christian life; we want to be like Him. We can never share in Jesus’ deity, but we can share in His holiness. One day we will be perfected in holiness, but, until then, we should do our best to follow His example of obedience. The following passages help to make this clear:
Romans 8:28–30: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” Regardless of one’s view of election or predestination, one of the key points in this passage is that God desires His people to be “conformed to the image of his Son.” God’s goal for the believer is to be like Jesus.
First John 3:2: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” Again, the goal is for the believer to be like Christ, and this will happen in perfection when He returns—when we see Him. In the next verse, John continues, “All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure” (verse 3). In other words, if perfection in holiness is the anticipated goal, then we should be working toward that now. We should strive to be like Jesus, and we do this by obeying the things that God has told us to do. What would Jesus do? Anything God commands.
There are many things that Jesus did that were culturally specific and do not have to be imitated. We do not have to wear sandals, for example, become carpenters, or carry on itinerant ministries. However, other things are clearly important for us to emulate. The Gospels tell us that Jesus frequently spent time in prayer, sometimes all night long (Luke 6:12). We would do well to pray more. When met with temptation in the desert, Jesus countered the devil with Scripture (Matthew 4:1–11), giving evidence that He knew the Scriptures well. We should get to know them well, too. There are many other specifics about the way Jesus conducted Himself that we might do well to imitate.
Guiding us in our endeavor to be like Jesus are several passages that specify actions of Christ to follow. We should pay special attention to these:
John 13:12–17 says, “When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. ‘Do you understand what I have done for you?’ he asked them. ‘You call me “Teacher” and “Lord,” and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.’”
Matthew 25:25–28 gives another way we can be like Jesus: “Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’”
And Philippians 2:3–8 says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross.”
In the three passages above, we are specifically told to follow Jesus’ example of selfless service. Jesus is the ultimate servant—from washing the feet of His disciples to giving His life to save His people. Perhaps nothing marks a person as being Christlike more than selfless service.
The title of Sheldon’s book comes from 1 Peter 2:21, which tells us that believers should follow “in His steps.” While this is good general advice, in context, Peter refers to a specific situation. The larger passage reads, “If you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’ When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:20–23). A person who does good and is unjustly punished for it, and who then accepts the mistreatment without retaliation, is following in Jesus’ steps.
Asking “What would Jesus do?” is not a bad idea. However, there are some branches of liberal Christianity that see the primary purpose of Jesus’ life as providing an example to follow. (Unfortunately, this seems to have been the theology behind Sheldon’s book, although the novel is still profitable and thought-provoking.) Jesus did give us an example to follow, but rather than asking “What would Jesus do?” it would be better to ask “What does Jesus want me to do?” because He is more than our example; He is our Lord and God.
Mind you! We have Jesus. Are you Christ-like? As stated above, there was a fad WWJD; it in the life of believers should be an everday/every moment quest. We are Christians. No? Essentially, Jesus-ians. In every occurencesee you should commit your day unto The LORD. God knows your path. When you need anything, in your heart, ask in faith and receive in the physical.
So, I don’t think the apostle Paul or any of the disciples saw themselves in any special position. The very simply served as we should.
And we pray:
Father LORD, I am all Yours in my entirety. Take me LORD, use me LORD. Your will be done in my life. LORD, wash me with The blood of Jesus. Speak through me, shine forth in the works of my hands. In my life LORD, be glorified, in The Name of Jesus, Amen.
