Author: admin

Everyone serves someone. The only question is which master you choose to subjugate yourself to. God’s people have the opportunity to have Christ as their Lord. He is the one who laid His life down for His friends. He washed His disciples’ dirty feet. He promised to never leave them or forsake them. He offers to give each one an abundant life. He is prepared to accomplish in our lives exceedingly, abundantly more than we could ever imagine. No wonder the Apostles described themselves as “bondervants” of Christ!

Don’t fool yourself. If you are not actively submitting yourself to Christ’s rule in your life, then you are indentured to someone or some thing else. You may be in bondage to fear, or pride, or insecurity, or doubt. Perhaps love of money has enticed you to forsake those things in life that truly matter. Perhaps you are addicted to something. But no person is truly free.

At times God allows us to choose our master. You would think that when we compared our enslavement to the things of this world with the loving lordship of Christ, we would eagerly run back to Christ. But, as the English poet John Milton wrote, some believe it is “better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven.” What appears to be freedom is merely the sinister bondage of darkness, concealed. People delude themselves in thinking that because they have chosen their particular form of bondage, they are free. But when they begin to compare the servitude imposed on them by their own master with that of the reward of serving the Lord of the universe, the contrast is profound.

People can accomplish an enormous amount if they stay focused. Steady progress in one direction can enable us to achieve great advances. Our problems begin when we become distracted. Rather than keeping our eye on God and the goal He has set before us, we become intrigued by the world and the hollow enticements it brazenly offers. Critics assault us and we begin to heed their voices more than our Lord’s. The world offers cheap pleasures and we begin to be drawn by them rather than the “well done” of our Master. Those around us are constantly talking about the things of this world and soon our own conversation begins to be consumed with the trivial as well.

The problem is that our life will move in the direction we are focusing on. If we keep our Lord constantly before us, then we will be continually moving closer to Him and His purposes. But when we begin to gaze at the distractions about us, we find ourselves moving away from our intimate walk with God and His will.

That is why time with Christ in the morning is crucial. It helps us fix our gaze on Him before we enter the frenetic world in which we live and work. It allows us to make a fresh commitment to stay true to God’s purpose throughout our day. It opens our spiritual eyes so we don’t miss the divine activity around us. It enables us to measure our current state to detect if we have already allowed a drift to creep into our walk with God.

Have you moved, even slightly, to the left or right in your walk with God? Do you need to quickly realign your life so you are dead center where God wants you to be today?

Exactly how much do you want God to do in and through you? For some people, we expect little from God and so that is what we get. Conversely, some people are keenly aware that God has an infinite ability to bless and empower them. They refuse to settle for trinkets from God when He has the capacity to offer treasures.

Why is it that two people can serve the same almighty God and yet one receives much while the other receives little? The difference lies not with God, for He does not play favorites. The variance stems from people. Some are unwilling to leave anything on heaven’s storehouse shelves that are intended for them. Others blithely coast through their lives meekly accepting whatever appears to be their lot. Others do not want to squander even one day of their precious lives living beneath the level of what God intends for them.

We need God to give us an extra dose of holy ambition! We need to be filled with zeal to rise up early so we don’t miss anything God has for us in His word. We need to pray deeply and thoroughly so we have claimed every promise God has for us. We must cry out for God’s full measure of power so our lives exert their maximum impact. We must ask Christ to increase our faith so we are prepared to believe Him for everything He wants to do in and through us. We must dread living our Christian life half-heartedly, at half speed, with minimal impact. Life is too brief and too valuable to live it in any other way but in maximum trust and expectation in God and His provision.

Satan is not the only one who will oppose you and what you are doing. In fact, Satan is a lightweight compared to when God chooses to become your opponent. There is no record in Scripture of Satan ever destroying God’s people. However, there are several instances where God brought devastating judgment on His people. God will not allow us to ignore or dishonor Him with impunity. He has a multitude of ways to discipline us and to get our attention. The raising up of enemies and opposition is one of God’s most effective tools for such a purpose.

God is not obligated to protect His people at all costs. If we reject Him and choose to act independently of His guidance and standards, then He allows us the freedom to also use our own strength and resources to bring our plans to fruition and to defend ourselves from our enemies.

If we will not heed God’s still, small voice, calling us back to Himself, God will raise His voice! He can do that by allowing enemies to assault us. It would be foolish to assume that every time someone opposed us, it was the work of Satan and his evil forces. Enemies have a way of driving us back to God in ways that God’s blessings do not! If God’s favor has caused us to become proud or materialistic, or feeling as if we don’t need God for our success, then God may well allow an enemy to humble us and prove to us how much we need God. Are there presently enemies or opponents in your life and leadership? Do you need to return to a more intimate, dependent, trusting relationship with God? If so, don’t waste time! Return to Him humbly, and quickly.

Wise leaders heed godly counsel (Proverbs 19:20). It is folly to assume our thinking is always best. As long as Jehoash listened to the high priest Jehoiada, he acted wisely and received God’s protection and blessing. But after Jehoiada died, Jehoash wrongly assumed he no longer needed godly counselors. His decision ultimately led to his downfall. Pride has a way of blinding us to the truth. It makes us believe our success stems from our own skill and hard work and not from God’s hand or the contribution of others. Pride robs us of the wise counsel that is available to us.

At times people will seek counsel on their way up the corporate ladder. They will do anything to succeed! But, once they reach the top, they wrongly assume they no longer need counsel. They have nothing more to learn because they have reached the top! Pride causes some leaders to be unwilling to admit their need for others. We want to appear to be independent and to think for ourselves. In fact pride quarantines us from the wisdom that could preserve and bless us. There is too much at stake for leaders today to abstain from the godly assistance God readily provides to them. It is an abrogation of duty to reject the counsel God provides.

Who in your life has the freedom to speak truth to you? When was the last time you honestly sought feedback from a godly advisor? How did you treat the last counsel you received that you did not appreciate or agree with? Are there people you avoid because you do not like what they have to say? Perhaps you need to schedule a meeting with a godly counselor soon. Don’t allow pride to isolate you from the help God is trying to provide you.

There is a profound difference between being a peacemaker and compromising with evil. While we should love every person, we must never be unclear about our stance toward sin and evil. At times Christians are more concerned with “fitting in” or not “making waves” than they are about upholding righteousness. In our efforts to be peaceable, we inadvertently make compromises. God did not call us to make friends with darkness. He called us to be salt and light. If we are not careful we will dim our light so it does not offend our dark friends.

Jehoshaphat was a good man who chose to see the best in people. He may have disdained conflict. Or, he may have mistakenly assumed that unity is always the highest good. The result was an alliance with one of the wickedest leaders of the ages. He even entered an alliance of marriage with the wicked king Ahab. Just as Jesus declared that people were either for Him or against Him, so when it comes to evil there is no neutral ground. We either hate what God hates, or we love it.

While Jehoshaphat was able to guard his heart from the evil of Ahab, his children could not. His son Jehoram was married to Ahab’s daughter (2 Chronicles 21:6). Jehoram ruled not as his righteous father had, but in the evil ways of his father-in-law Ahab. He butchered his own brothers and acted wickedly. Jehoram’s wife Athaliah would later massacre Jehoshaphat’s grandchildren in order to gain power for herself (2 Chronicles 22:10). Could Jehoshaphat have dreamed that his partnership with an ungodly leader would lead to the massacre of his children and grandchildren? The seeds of his spiritual carelessness led to a devastating harvest among his descendants. Do you truly hate what God hates?

Do you know anyone who is too far gone to return to God? Some people have hardened themselves to God’s word. Others have passionately embraced sin. Some people seem so profane that only a miracle could make them confess their need for God. Ahab was such a man. Few people in biblical history rank as high as he does on the “hardened sinner” scale as he does. Married to Jezebel, he reached new depths in sinfulness and abominations. One would think there was nothing that could turn his calloused heart back to God.

But only God knows peoples’ hearts. In fact, there was a moment in Ahab’s debauched life when he realized he had gone too far. God’s judgment was imminent and it terrified the wicked ruler. Ahab, the opponent of Elijah, actually humbled himself and asked for God’s mercy. How did God respond when the wickedest king to rule Israel pled for mercy? God showed him grace. If there was ever a person who did not deserve mercy it was him. But God loved Ahab. God desired for him to him to repent of his sins and to return to the true God. Right to the end of Ahab’s life, God was reaching out to him and warning him of where his rebellion would lead. Ultimately Ahab chose to reject God’s grace and to embark on his own destructive path. But God gave him a chance. In Ahab’s case, he chose rebellion. In the case of murderers such as Moses, David, and Saul of Tarsus, God’s grace brought transformation.

Is there someone you work with or deal with that you would rank in the category of Ahab? Has God given up on him or her? Have you? When we give up on anyone, we are saying we believe there are people so difficult even God’s grace is insufficient to set them free.

We may be private people, but we do not live our lives in secret. Whether they like it or not, leaders are placed upon a stage and people around them are always watching. In addition, the media constantly reminds us that one false step and we could be tomorrow’s headlines. Those truths alone ought to compel us to watch our step. But the most sobering reality is that everything we do is done “in the eyes of the Lord.” We must never forget that God sees everything we do.

We have a tendency to justify our behavior and to put it into the best light. If only people will let us explain, we can show them why our angry outburst was justified or our delay was explainable or our neglect should be excused . . . But the key is whether God, after having observed our behavior, considers it to have been “right.” We can argue all day that it was but ultimately what makes our behavior good is when God declares it to be.

Have you been living your life with the keen awareness that everything you do is being closely observed by a heavenly audience? Have you been vociferously pleading the justness of your behavior rather than seeking God’s opinion on the matter? We may not be able to fool others but we regularly deceive ourselves as to our righteousness. Why not try living this entire day with the ongoing, tangible reality that God is observing everything you do?

Our youth is an exhilarating time to pursue our dreams, uphold our ideals, and take stands for what we believe to be righteous causes. What we lack in experience and knowledge we make up for with youthful passion and zeal. Many a revival has been sparked by the enthusiasm of young people who chose to live their lives authentically and consecrated to God.

Tragically, however, as time passes, our passion for God can wane. We become distracted with numerous cares, concerns, and temptations. Over the years our idealism can deteriorate into cynicism. We can be tempted to neglect our relationship with God because of our numerous responsibilities only to discover that our love for Him has grown cold. We can mistakenly assume that we can function on yesterday’s walk with God. It takes effort to do the God-honoring thing every day! Unfortunately we can sometimes feel too tired to make the effort to do the right thing any more.

After years of walking with God, we ought to be enjoying the deepest, most profound relationship with Him of our lives. We should have moved beyond the shallow, emotion driven commitments of our youth to a deep, abiding relationship characterized by unshakeable faith and obedience. But that is not always so. Have the years softened your heart toward God or made it calloused and hard? Is your commitment to obey God whatever the cost greater than it has ever been? Have you reached new levels of insight into God’s word? Is your prayer life richer than it was five years ago? Or, along your leadership journey, did your heart turn from God, even slightly, so that today you find yourself far from where you were in your youth?

It is tempting to think that God made us leaders because of our faithfulness or because of His love for us. But what if He raised us into a leadership position because He loves His people? Solomon’s road to the throne was a windy and treacherous one. Many powerful enemies and difficult obstacles stood in his path. But, God chose to make him king nonetheless. King Hiram of Tyre was not a believer, but even he could recognize that Solomon’s wise leadership was a gift of God to His people.

Unfortunately for the people, Solomon began to view his leadership position as a gift of God to himself. He lived extravagantly and taxed his people exorbitantly to fund his lavish lifestyle. By the time Solomon’s son succeeded him, the people were at a point of open revolt against such leadership.

Those who strive for leadership positions because of what it means for them betray their sacred calling. God wants to bless people and He often does so through leaders He raises up. Is your leadership a gift to others? Are people grateful that God elevated you to your position? Or, have you viewed your role as God’s gift to you? How you live and lead reveals your attitude.