Victory!

"On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang: When the leaders lead in Israel, when the people volunteer, praise the Lord.  Listen, kings! Pay attention, princes!  I will sing to the Lord;  I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel" (Judges 5:1-2, HCSB).

The above is the first part of Deborah and Barak's song.  Leaders from Israel, from different clans like Benjamin and Zebulun, had gathered to fight against Sisera.  These Israelites praise the Lord, since God gave them victory over Sisera. 

Recently, I got to meet a woman who was running for the office of a judge.  She impressed me with how evident it was that she loved her family as well as the people of the city.

How do we love our God?  He has gifted us all in different ways, just like He gifted Deborah and this woman I met.  We can trust in Him to use our strengths and to help us overcome our weaknesses to do great, good things for His story. 

Deborah's story reminds me that no matter what I think of my weaknesses, that God is glad to lead His children.  If we love Him, believe in Him and call on His Name, He will be sure to answer (John 1:12).  I pray that we trust Him and that we remember to share how Christ died to save us, so that we may live (1 Peter 2:24).

"Lord, may all your enemies perish as Sisera did. But may those who love Him be like the rising of the sun in its strength" (Judges 5:31, HCSB).

God is Holy and Pure

"And one called to another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; His glory fills the whole earth” (Isaiah 6:3, HCSB) .

“God is holy and pure. There is no impurity in Him. He cannot look on evil. He is a God without blemish; He is a God who is free from all flaws. As leaders, we can only be holy and pure by coming before Him and allowing Him to cleanse us and sanctify us. We do not assume that saying a quick ‘God forgive me’ will do it. We take the time necessary to repent and to allow Him to remove our impurities and make us holy. We are to be holy because He is holy. Only those who have come before Him on a continual basis can be holy and pure leaders. When we disregard our need for Him, we lose our effectiveness to be the holy and pure leaders that He calls us to be.”

Oh Lord, make us holy and pure today. We want to lead like You.

(excerpts from Chapter 4 – Follow the Leader by Jaye Martin, Women Leading Women, Martin & Stovall, B&H Academic, 2008).

God is True and Honest

“Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’” (John 14:6, HCSB) .

“God is true and honest, holy and pure, right and righteous, just and merciful, compassionate and gracious, wise, hope, peace, love, patient, faithful and forever, and the list goes on. His character is who He is. He is the model for leadership. He shows us how to lead and live through His Son, Jesus Christ. Christ’s example on earth is the very picture of what a leader should look like. The Bible is our best text on leadership.”

“God is true and honest. That’s who He is. There is no lie in Him because that is part of His character. He cannot be true and untrue at the same time. There are no contradictions in Him. Being true means being absolute and consistent. God is true regardless of who believes in Him. We strive to be honest, trustworthy, and truthful in every aspect of our lives. One of the most important things we see in the postmodern world is the emphasis on integrity. People need to know that we are living out our beliefs on a daily basis. In every aspect of ministry, we evaluate every action to be sure that we are being truthful and honest in all of our dealings. Because He is true and honest, we must be as well.”

Lord, give me your truth and honesty so that I might live it and proclaim it this very day.

(excerpts from Chapter 4 – Follow the Leader by Jaye Martin, Women Leading Women, Martin & Stovall, B&H Academic, 2008).

Spirit-filled Leaders

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18, ESV).

“There are numerous good examples of leaders in the Scriptures. Some may have been more gifted than others, some may have been more obedient, but we can learn from all of them. When I think of leaders in the Bible, several come to mind. Nehemiah, Moses, Deborah, Joseph, Daniel, Paul, and Lydia are just a few. These were great men and women who chose to follow God. They became great leaders because God had gifted them but also because they allowed God to lead them.”

“Spirit-filled leaders are those who have accepted Christ as their Savior and come before Him on a daily basis allowing Him to forgive them and cleanse them of wrong-doing. To be Spirit-filled is to empty oneself of anything except Christ. It means that we say no to things that are not of God and focus on what God tells us to do. He tells us things through His Word and nothing He tells us will contradict with Scripture. God also speaks through other people and circumstances. We constantly seek God and His wisdom to be the Sprit-filled leaders that He longs for us to be.”

“The question for us is, will we follow and be all He desires us to be?”

(excerpts from Chapter 4 – Follow the Leader by Jaye Martin, Women Leading Women, Martin & Stovall, B&H Academic, 2008).

God: The Original Leader

For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end (Hebrews 3:14, ESV).

“God is the original, ultimate leader. Good leadership principles come from Him and from Who He is. They flow out of His character. When God’s leadership principles are followed, people will find success in carrying out His plan in His way. Ultimately, God is in control. He is the source of truth and the foundation for everything. He is the true foundation for leadership. He is the original leader.”

“The definition of leadership is built on the foundation of the Creator Leader God Himself. To be an effective leader, one is to base her leadership on God. This is a servant style of leadership that balances the characteristics of Who He is with what God created that person to be. When we understand Who He is, we will then understand the characteristics that are essential for us as leaders.”

“When I began to do in-depth study on leadership, I had to process through the concept that all leaders came from God. It is easy to take Godly leaders that are successful and see how they have depended on God and how He has blessed their leadership. The part that concerned me was that there were numbers of leaders out there who did not know God, did not care to know Him and certainly rejected any influence of Him in their lives. Yet, God is still the author of leadership. And our leadership is at its best when we are filled with His Spirit.”

Let’s be Spirit-filled leaders by confessing our sins and asking His forgiveness today.

(excerpts from Chapter 4 – Follow the Leader by Jaye Martin, Women Leading Women, Martin & Stovall, B&H Academic, 2008).

Leadership Defined

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27, ESV).

“To adequately define leaders and leadership, we should think about where all of this started. God is the Creator of all things as we clearly see in Genesis 1. He created the first man and woman and gave each responsibilities to carry out (Gen. 1:27-31, 2:15-25). He set the boundaries and kept in contact with those He created (Gen. 2-4). God is visionary influence. He is the ultimate leader.”

“Let’s define leadership. In Joseph C. Rost’s book, Leadership for the twenty-first century, he gives ‘four essential elements of leadership that flow from the definition: (1) a relationship based on influence, (2) leaders and followers develop that relationship, (3) they intend real changes, and (4) they have mutual purposes.’ I would define it even simpler: leadership is visionary influence. It is leading and modeling how to lead. It is showing others how to follow. The one who leads sees where people need to go and influences people to follow. You will find thousands of books on leadership. At the time of this writing, there were 156,000,000 web pages that came up in a Google search of the word leadership; so, there is plenty out there should you want to dive a little deeper into the subject or choose another definition.”

“What does the Bible say and what do we as women need to know about leadership in general? I am convinced that the reason that we have problems in the church is because of people, and specifically, leaders. We have a huge leadership problem in the church. Unfortunately, this huge problem often begins with us.”

“Let’s start at the very beginning and look at what God’s Word says about leadership. The best way to change the world is one person at a time so let’s begin with ourselves.”

Pray with me that we will be the leaders that God calls us to be!

(excerpts from Chapter 4 – Follow the Leader by Jaye Martin, Women Leading Women, Martin & Stovall, B&H Academic, 2008).