Month: June 2016

E.M. Bounds in his classic little book Power Through Prayer said, “Men are God’s method. The church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men.” God is on the search for people He can use to raise up as leaders in their world. Ezekiel 22:30 says, “I (God) looked in vain for anyone who would build again the wall of righteousness that guards the land, who could stand in the gap but I FOUND NO ONE.” What a sad evaluation when God looks and looks but no one was willing… no one had the substance of character… no “better men” were found to lead in Israel of Ezekiel’s day.

What about today? Leadership, we find, has far more to do with the inner person than external appearance, ability or images of success as the world marks leadership. God is looking throughout the land at HEARTS… not resumes. There are brilliant people, wonderful minds, beautiful individuals, who are hollow as chocolate Easter rabbits on the inside. These are people who though talented could not stand up to the pressures that will be brought against any person who would be used by God to make a difference in their world. They may know better methods… but they are not better people.

God is looking for people… people prepared not by institutions of education or elected by the masses but people tried as though by fire. The crisis of leadership we see today is a crisis of character… we are not putting better people in places of leadership in our institutions, our churches and our nation.

What the world needs now… what the church needs now… what our homes need now… are not more effective ways of building an economy or building attendance or managing our children. What we need today are people who will do what God looked for in Ezekiel…”build the wall of righteousness that guards the land….” And when we find them, our world will change.

FOR MEMORIZATION: The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward Him.                   2 Chronicles 16:9a

FOR REFLECTION: Think again about a person you know who is an effective leader. If they are still living, say a prayer for them now that God will continue to inwardly strengthen their hearts. If they are no longer with us, say a prayer of thanks to God for their influence on you.

Is leadership something that we aspire to or something to which we are called? In some cases it’s both. In many cases it’s the first. In biblical terms, it’s the latter. We are looking into the life and heart of a leader that God built, literally from the ground up. Nehemiah as far as we can see, had no aspiration to be a leader. He was not running for office. He had a comfortable life, a position of prestige and influence, the ear of the King and nothing restless within him to make him want to be anything else.

But God interrupted his life. Or more accurately, aimed his life in the direction He had always intended. God “dislocated” Nehemiah’s heart, to borrow a phrase from Chip Ingram. “And it came to pass when I heard these words that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted and prayed before the God of Heaven.” (Nehemiah 1:4). When a joint is dislocated, it is all you can think about until it is fixed. When a heart is dislocated, it is all you can think about until something begins to be done for resolved the issue.

Biblical leaders are called. They have a sense that God intended them for this role… that He had “known them when they were still in their mother’s womb” (Jeremiah 1:5). A calling is a sense of drawing toward and being pushed toward a certain direction… often both at the same time. C.H. Spurgeon called the pastor’s calling a sense of being “compellingly induced.”

Our “calling” to be a leader with excellence may not have as dramatic a sense as that. For Nehemiah, his calling was not to be a pastor or shepherd or prophet or preacher… it was to build a wall. To be a part of fulfilling a promise God had made… and intended to keep. A sense of being THE ONE who had to do something about this… and not being able to find peace or rest until he was released to that task.

Nehemiah was called. He never was asked… he was broken within and the only way out of that sense of brokenness was to take on the role of a leader to complete an unfinished task. He was never prepared for what he had been called to do… God trained him as he went by faith.

Maybe, like Nehemiah, God has “dislocated” your heart over something… perhaps a project or a specific job. Maybe God has touched and dislocated your heart over a need that must be met… a people group that must be reached… a compelling problem that has broken your heart… a need to make the glory of God known in your world. You may feel inadequate for the task and unprepared to undertake it. Good. So was Moses. So was Nehemiah. So was Jeremiah.

And what we find is that in our weakness God’s strength can most perfectly be seen. Trust God.

And then by faith take the next step!

FOR MEMORIZATION: But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness.”   2 Corinthians 12:9a

FOR REFLECTION: A calling is being worked out when you are able to see a need that few others or no others can see. What is needed in your world that you have the ability to see but others may not? Is God calling you to do something about that? Is He raising you up to be a leader?

God’s leadership building strategy does not involve finding or calling out the most qualified or even the most likely candidate for what He wants to accomplish. In fact, God delights in using the weak, the unlikely and sometimes those the world would quickly discount as of little account. (1 Corinthians 1:26)

God has the ability, if He so chooses, to use the most powerful of men to accomplish His goals. “The heart of the king is in the hands of God… He turns it wherever He wills.” (Proverbs 21:1). God used Cyrus, the King of Persia who had conquered the Babylonians… the most powerful empire in the world… and set the Jewish people free to return to Jerusalem after seventy years of captivity. He even called Cyrus “my anointed (my “messiah!”) because He specifically chose Cyrus for this special task of leadership. (Isaiah 45:1)

But the next time God raised up a leader to deal with His people, He chose not a king… but a cupbearer. He did not choose an ordinary man because no noble person could be found. He chose an ordinary man to show that it is not by man’s power that these things are accomplished but by God’s! As He told the prophet Zechariah, ” it is not by might, nor by power but by My Spirit, says the Lord.” (Zechariah 4:6)

And so God built a leader… from the ground up… by using a person without formal training in management or construction or military strategy or ministry… and made him a leader, a construction foreman, a military commander and a minister… by showing the one thing that is indispensable for any leader in any profession to be successful:

Complete and utter dependence upon God.

FOR MEMORIZATION: Now I was the cupbearer for the king.                  Nehemiah 1:11

FOR REFLECTION: As we begin this series, think about people in your life whom God has used to influence you as leaders. These may be people in church or at work or in school. What are the qualities that made their influence effective in your life?

Single parenting is no longer an anomaly in our culture. Whether divorce, death or a relocation of one spouse due to work or deployment, single parenting is one of the most challenging tasks in the world. Add to that stress the aspect of a job or career and the stress escalates exponentially.

Some thoughts along the way may help a bit if you are sharing custody of your child or children. Doubt you’ll see anything in this blog that will be brand new, but some things may be worth doubling down on as you move forward:

1.) I heard a single parent say once that the three most important things in successful single parenting are consistency and consistency and then consistency. Your child needs this; especially in times like bedtime and as they grow older in the kind of entertainment that is appropriate, style of music, food and diet, clothing choices, curfews, etc. It may tempting for us to create a “good parent, bad parent” dynamic especially if the “good parent” is you. But the ultimate damage done will be to your child when they learn how to play both against the other… and both parents lose control.
2.) Communicate with the other custodial spouse. Often. About items that you may think would not concern them. Run the risk of giving too much information verses not telling them something that may be essential for them to know. Again, the loser is your child if they are being trusted to the care of an uninformed parent, who didn’t know that extra time needs to be spent on history homework because of a pending bad grade or an upcoming doctor’s visit had been scheduled.
3.) Do not use the child as the messenger or spy when they are with the other custodial parent. Don’t pump them for information about the other parent. It is not their job to report back to you and you will add stress to an already stressful circumstance. Don’t make it worse.
4.) Do not talk badly about the other parent. If you disagree with something, be an adult and speak to them about it… not your child. And remember something VERY IMPORTANT: What you say about the other parent is internalized by the child who IS A PART and will always BE A PART of the other person. Unconsciously, they cannot separate your verbal tirades from how you feel about them.

I am aware that for many single moms and dads, the last thing they ever wanted to be was a single parent. This was not how you saw your parenting being done. But, as the Bible gives us several very positive examples, you can do this with excellence. Be careful to manage your negative emotions, especially in early months following a separation or divorce when things tend to be most volatile. While you and your mate may no longer be able to live together, your child has little choice in the matter. Your job is to make that transition as easy for them as possible. And believe me, God is able to bless your efforts, even when you feel like you have no idea what you’re doing. Maybe I should add the fifth suggestion here:

5.) Pray. Specifically. A lot. Out loud. Cry if you need to. Shout. Carry your frustrations to God in prayer. He will hear. He cares. He knows.

TRUST HIM.

FOR MEMORIZATION: Cast all your cares on Him for He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

FOR REFLECTION: Remember the times God has been faithful to single people in the Bible… specifically single parents. Hagar, who bore Abram’s child in the Book of Genesis. Mary, the mother of Jesus, who in all likelihood spent some years as a single mom following Joseph’s death. Jacob, a single father… and patriarch of Israel. The stories are there. God doesn’t forget.