Author: admin

Leaders are not necessarily the most skilled people in their organization. They may not be the smartest people on their team. But one thing spiritual leaders must be able to do well is to find their way into God’s holy presence. At times God’s people can become disoriented to God. The competing voices clamoring for our attention, the problems that continually surface, and the critics who demand a response can create a cacophony of noises that hide God’s presence.

While others are wringing their hands or assigning blame, this is the time when leaders must seek a meeting with God. There are moments when no ordinary consultation will do. We must break from our comfortable routine and do whatever is necessary to ensure we have met with the Lord. Moses ascended a majestic mountain to meet with God face to face. He did not stand at the bottom of the mount, waiting for God to come to Him. He did not climb the gentle slopes at the foot of the mount before stopping and waiting for God. Moses did not complain about the steep incline or jagged rocks or narrow trails he encountered. No, Moses knew there was far too much at stake for him not to hear from God. His people needed more than his opinion or best guess. Only a word from God would do. So Moses ascended to the very top of the mountain.

It is easy to brush over this phrase in our Bibles. But the reality is that before Moses experienced his life-changing encounter with God, he had to climb a mountain. When was the last time you made a similar effort to meet with God? What have your meetings with God been like, lately?

The discipline of a daily quiet time with God has dulled the spiritual senses of many. While it is good to be habitual and purposeful in our walk with God, meetings with the divine ought to be driven by more than a calendar or a routine. When we spend time with God, we are not merely conducting a Bible reading or indulging in a prayer time. We are relating to almighty God. The same God who spoke and created a universe is now communing with us. That ought to be a sobering reality every time we approach the heavenly throne. While lightning may not flash across the sky every time we bow our head in prayer, God’s presence is just as real. His splendor is just as awesome. The possibilities are just as enormous.

God is spirit and the spiritual world is His domain. Yet at various times He chooses to express Himself physically so His temporal creatures can experience first-hand His awesome power. While God does not utilize lightning and thunder every time He speaks to His people, there are certain moments when He ensures we do not miss His message. God has ways of ensuring we do not treat Him lightly or carelessly.

In later days God spoke to His people but not with the same frightening intensity of Mount Sinai. However, the Israelites knew that the God who could speak in the still, small voice was also the terrifying God of Mount Sinai. Just as the prophet Isaiah was astounded when he was allowed to see the spiritual reality of heaven’s court as he worshipped (Isaiah 6), so we should consider that when we enter the spiritual realm, there is far more happening than our spiritual eyes and ears may detect.

It is a serious thing to become casual in our walk with God. It can be tempting to try and rush in and out of God’s presence or to squeeze Him in to our full calendars. We are busy people with demanding schedules. Time is valuable. Yet throughout Scripture, God expected His people to prepare for their meetings with Him. God is sovereign over the universe. He will bring time to a climactic end and judge all of humanity. It is foolhardy to think we can hurry into God’s presence unprepared.

One must prepare for a life-changing encounter with God. This means we attend to our hearts and minds before a divine encounter. We cleanse ourselves from any known sin. We carefully consider who it is we are about to meet. Could it be that our lack of prior consecration is hindering the impact of our meetings with God? One ought never to leave a meeting with almighty God bored, listless, or uninspired. The children of Israel were instructed to take three days to prepare for their divine meeting. It took effort, but people are still feeling the impact of their encounter thousands of years later! What have your meetings with God been like? Have you been properly and thoroughly preparing for them? What might you do differently so you are ready for your next meeting with God?

Can people tell that you have heard from God? Is it obvious to others that you walk closely with the divine? God has ways of verifying His word to His servants. God promised Samuel that everything he prophesied would come to pass (1 Samuel 3:19). God assured Joshua that no enemy could defeat him (Joshua 1:5). God made Moses’ face shine after his divine encounters. For each of these servants of God, it was clearly apparent that they had received a word from God.

Conversely, the evidence of a false prophet was that what they prophesied did not come to pass (Deuteronomy 18:20-22). There are those who loudly proclaim the validity of their words. They cry out for an audience. They assure people of the truth of their words. But God does not affirm them. What they proclaim never comes to pass. God does not affirm their words in peoples’ hearts. Despite their most eloquent words and earnest appeals, people are not moved by what they say.

The key for leaders is not to develop the most appealing strategy or grandiose vision but to receive a clear word from God. God will stand by every word He speaks. Not every word you utter. Could it be that you need to make your way up the sacred mount to enter into the thick cloud once again? Wait there as long as it takes until you have clearly received a word from your Lord. That word will change everything.

One of your greatest assignments will be to intercede on behalf of others. There are times when there is nothing you can do for those in need but go to the One who can do everything. As leaders, we are people of action. We like to “fix” things and solve problems. We know how to get things done. It can frustrate us to acknowledge that there is nothing more we can do ourselves.

Nevertheless, there is always something else we can do. We can always enter into God’s holy presence and present the needs of others to Him. While others may be discouraged or feel hopeless, our duty is to climb the sacred mount and enter into the holy of holies. There we earnestly plead with the almighty on behalf of others. Because we have often made our way to the holy place of intercession, we sojourn there once again. We plead not for ourselves but for others. We long to see God work in their lives. We seek for God to be glorified through the lives of those with whom we work.

God may accomplish much in the lives of those around us as a result of our prayers. Others may never know how things have transpired the way they have. But we will know, because we have prayed. As we intercede on behalf of others, God will share His heart for those people with us. We will begin to see what God sees and care about what His heart is concerned with. As we pray, God will invite us to join Him in His activity. We will witness God accomplishing what only He can do. It is an awesome privilege to intercede on behalf of others.

There is something compellingly seductive about being indispensable. Everyone needs us. People line up to talk to us. Our opinion carries weight. People think we are important. Nevertheless, it it is extremely poor leadership.

The leader’s role is not to do all the work but to equip others to get the job done. Leaders measure their accomplishments not by how tired they are at the end of the day but by how much others under their leadership were able to achieve. The problem is that when leaders are consumed with their own tasks, they have difficulty thinking about how to enhance the labor of others. Some people are enticed by feelings of being needed and even of being overworked. While they may complain of all the work they have to do, in reality, they wouldn’t have it any other way.

The reality is that help is usually not far away. However, as long as we plod along with our reams of tasks, we neglect those who could thrive doing the very work that is wearing us out. By refusing to invest in others, we rob them of the opportunity to rise to new heights of accomplishment. Is the problem that no one will help you, or that you have not taken the time to train and equip others? What will your legacy be? Will everyone talk about how hard you worked? Or, will they testify that they reached new heights in their own leadership because you invested in and believed in them?

God is not a doctrine to be believed but a Person to be experienced. All the head knowledge we have about God cannot take the place of those moments when we actually experience the reality of His presence in our lives.

Moses and the Israelites had heard that God was almighty. And He was. But one day God miraculously defeated their most bitter enemies. At that point, the Israelite’s knowledge of God’s provision was no longer theoretical, but experiential. They beheld God’s power with their own eyes. Their lives were spared by God’s protection.

As a result, Moses built an altar and named it, “The Lord is my banner.” It is significant that after profound encounters with God, people would build an altar to remember that encounter and the attribute of God they had experienced first hand. Over the years, altars would dot the landscape as God’s people had a series of divine experiences. Even years later the people could tell their children and grandchildren about the God they had come to know in a personal way.

What is your knowledge of God like? Is it theoretical or practical? Is it second hand or first hand? What attributes of God have you come to experience as you have walked with Him? How have you commemorated those moments where you experienced God in fresh, new ways? If you were to build an altar to God today, what would you name it?

God has no patience for those who wring their hands in fear after He has issued a clear command. Only heaven knows how many of God’s people have failed to experience victory and advance because they stood at the edge of God’s promises but were too fearful to take the final step required to receive them.

When we fret and worry and complain we reveal our ignorance of the One who has brought us to that point. When almighty God issues a command, nothing can prevent Him from accomplishing His will through our lives. No obstacle can stop us. No enemy can thwart us. No need can derail us. How we respond to God’s directives clearly reveals what we actually believe about God.

Don’t claim that you have faith in God if you are still standing on the shoreline of your Red Sea. Don’t speak of your high view of God if you are filled with worry and fear. God measures your faith in Him not by your pious words but by your advance. Are you moving forward in God’s will? Are the waters parting before you as you obey what God said? Are your enemies being miraculously defeated?

God’s people have a tendency to want God to remove every obstacle before we take one step in the direction He is sending us. Once the finances are in place, all opposition quieted, everyone in agreement, sufficient laborers recruited, then we will take our first step! We want to stand at the edge of obedience complaining to God about all that He has not yet put in place to our satisfaction! But God is not our servant. We are His. When God issues a decree, we immediately begin advancing. We assume that when we come upon a Red Sea in our path that God will deal with it in due time.

Complaining accomplishes nothing, especially when it is against God! It merely reveals our lack of faith. Have you been advancing or complaining? If you have come to a standstill, stop trying to demand that God make your life more comfortable. Time may be of the essence. Stop crying to Him and begin moving forward. Nothing can calm our hearts any more quickly than the exuberance that comes from advancing in God’s will.

Somewhere we have been mislead to think that if we will do things God’s way, our life will become easier. We have been assured that ‘The safest place in all the world is in the center of God’s will.’ That is not necessarily so. The prophet Elisha would not have had enemy armies trying to capture him if he had remained on his farm. David would not have been pursued by King Saul if he had remained in the fields with his flocks. Esther would not have faced the king’s wrath had she remained silent concerning her people’s peril. Peter, Andrew, James, and John would not have been threatened, arrested, or executed if they had remained in their fishing boats. But when these people left the comfort and security of their normal life to go on mission with God, things got dangerous!

Moses assumed that by doing what God said and delivering his divine message to Pharaoh that everything would fall neatly into place. Moses might have envisioned that people would be grateful to him for coming to deliver them. Instead, Pharaoh mocked him and the people he came to deliver accused and rejected him. Things got worse instead of better. How could this be? Wasn’t Moses following God’s will?

Of course, Jesus was following His Father’s will and it led Him to painful betrayal and a brutal cross. Nowhere does God promise easy sailing if we do what He asks. That is because we live in a sinful world. The powers of darkness hate it when God’s people obey Him. Those who walk in darkness do not appreciate it when light shows up! On top of all of that, God is an expert in maximizing His glory on earth. If He can be more glorified by you enduring hardship, expect trials to come! God does not exist to make your life comfortable. You exist to glorify God. The greatest way to honor God is to obey Him immediately, wholeheartedly, and steadfastly, no matter what the circumstance.

God does not have two standards for people: one for leaders and another for followers. Leaders are not exempt from God’s commands. Rather, they are expected to model what sincere and eager obedience to God looks like. The reason God has such a high standard for leaders, is because the leader’s example and influence has a significant impact on others. If people watch us treating God’s standards carelessly or flippantly, they will assume they can do the same thing with impunity. That is why God expects more of leaders. In fact, He judges them more harshly (James 3:1).

At times we can rationalize why we are not practicing what we are preaching to others. Our schedule is too hectic. We are tired. We intend to make up for lost time later. No one will know. We have already sacrificed enough. We do so many other things in God’s service that we can be excused for this one area of neglect . . .

The truth is that God carefully scrutinizes those He calls to lead. We might be able to fool others with our rhetoric but we do not deceive God for one minute. He knows full well what we have and have not done. He recognizes if our words match our deeds. He can spot a hypocrite a mile away.

Don’t ever think God will treat you less severely since you have done so much for Him. To whom much has been given, much is expected. Just as God raised you up to be a person of spiritual influence for good, so He will deal with you severely if you treat His calling lightly or you fail to bring glory to His name because of your behavior. If the testimony of Scripture and history reveal any truth for us to consider it is this: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).