I met  with a Christian leader, and we got onto the topic, How do you lead in a storm?  How do you lead a church or organization or ministry or business or family in times of hardship, conflict and crisis, so that everyone comes out the other side stronger, wiser, better?

Well, here’s the answer in 2 easy steps – Of course, it’s not that easy. Not quite.  But it’s maybe easier than we think.

First, much of the Bible narrates and gives specific guidance for this very thing.  Most of the stories of biblical leadership “ Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Esther, Nehemiah, Paul, Jesus, and many more“ are stories of leading in a storm.  Joseph survives his brothers’ evil and rescues his brothers from their plight, and in the meanwhile saves a whole country from disaster.

Moses faces down Pharaoh.  Joshua faces down Jericho.  Nehemiah overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds to rebuild a city’s walls and a community’s hope.  Paul endures a juggernaut of opposition to fulfill his mission.  And Jesus, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame.Or just look at history: all great leaders were refined in fire, tested by storm.  All of these examples are there for us to glean their lessons.

Second, the deepest reality is that God is bigger than your storm.  He’s bigger than any storm.  If we don’t believe this, we’ll be like the disciples (many who were fishermen and should have been used to storms) panicking by the wind and the waves.  If we do believe it, we’ll walk on water.

Are you in a storm?  At work?  In your home?  In your finances?  Take courage from leaders who’ve gone before you and weathered storms, most worse than yours.

And take strength in knowing God is bigger than any and every storm, yours included.

By Mark Buchanan
Used by Permission

Further Reading

•  Being Honest and Ethical in Business 

•  From Success to Significance

•  Salvation Explained

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Consider this: the Lord took a self-assured world leader and reduced his opinion of himself until he possessed no confidence. And it was in this state of mind that God decided to use him. Moses was now qualified to lead

 ^“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;  and the^]base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,  that no flesh should glory in His presence.” 1 Corinthians 1:27-29

According to the Scriptures, Moses was “educated in all the learning of the Egyptians.” Indeed, as a prince in Egypt, Moses had grown to be a “man of power in words and deeds” (Acts 7:22). Thus, it is hard to equate this eloquent and cultured man with the stammering shepherd who, at eighty years old, was overwhelmed with his inadequacies, so much so that he pleaded with God to choose someone else.

Consider: the Lord took a self-assured world leader and reduced his opinion of himself until he possessed no confidence. And it was in this state of mind that God decided to use him. Having been thoroughly convinced of his unfitness for leadership, Moses was now qualified to lead.

Remarkably, the Lord would ultimately reveal Himself to Moses (and all Israel as well) as Jehovah-Rapha: “I am the Lord that healeth thee.” Yes, God is our healer, yet there are times when God’s hands wound before they heal. Indeed, He must cripple our self-confidence before we truly become God-confident. He breaks and drains us of pride so that we who were once full of self might instead be filled with God.

The Lord called Moses to return to Egypt as His spokesman. In response Moses pleaded, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue” (Exodus 4:10).

Never been eloquent? What about Egypt? “Moses the Eloquent” has become “Moses the Stammerer.” The identity of a sophisticated leader, a prince who knew the highest tiers of Egyptian culture, no longer functions in Moses. God has so humbled His servant that he cannot even remember his days of powerful words and mighty deeds. Moses has only one memory of Egypt: failure.

For Moses, the very mention of the word Egypt floods his mind with weakness; Moses fears returning to the place of his humiliation, especially as a leader. Yet God has not called him to be a leader, but a servant. And to be a servant, one need not be eloquent, but obedient.

The fact is, the Lord deliberately seeks those who know their flaws. Paul testifies that “God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong . . . the things that are not, so that He might nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God” (1 Corinthians. 1:27-29).

Therefore, let us not excuse ourselves from God’s calling because of our weaknesses.

You see, before the Almighty, we each are nothing, and we can do nothing of lasting value apart from Him. It is in our lowliness that God’s glory rises to its greatest heights.

Perhaps your last place of service to the Lord seemed to be a complete failure. Yet it is possible that the Lord has simply been making you perfectly weak so that He might manifest Himself perfectly strong within you.

By Francis Frangipane
Used by Permission

Francis Frangipane
info@frangipane.org
www.frangipane.org
www.icitc.org
www.arrowbookstore.com

Further Reading

•   We Plan – God Directs
•   Getting Life Back on Track by Marvin Kehler
•  Salvation Explained

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“Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying,” The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” Revelations 11:15-16

In the change of  our national leadership, I could not help but think of the implications of the seventh angel in Revelation. As I watched the inauguration, I noted the prayers of invocation and benediction, the singing of God Bless America and the many references to God in various remarks from the podium, but most of them seemed ceremonial and obligatory and few could claim any apparent sincerity. The references seemed superficial at best.

Perhaps it was because I knew the background of the speakers and the many past comments they have made which sounded like there was no connection to God or desire for Him to get in the way of their own personal (kingdom) agendas.

When people proclaim that it should be legal to terminate the life of a human being in the name of a woman’s convenience or those who proclaim that it is alright to marry the person of your choice, regardless of gender, I wonder what connection with divine inspiration they really have.

When people say that a policy of celibacy in singleness and monogamy in marriage is puritanical or claim that church attendance is for the weak, who need a crutch, I wonder if they really desire God to bless America, or do they want God’s approval for their self-centered kingdom.

Some day, when the seventh trumpet is sounded, America will find out how insignificant their kingdoms are when the kingdoms of the world become the kingdoms of the Lord.

The plain truth of the Bible reveals that the “Kingdom of God” is to be a literal government composed of spirit rulers who shall rule over all nations on earth. It is to take over the governments of the nations at the second coming of Jesus Christ. Christ will become the “King of kings,” and He will rule by the law of God.

Jesus Christ will return to earth for the purpose of setting up the Kingdom of God and judging the nations. This time, He will not come meekly but with God’s wrath against a rebellious mankind! The nations’ political rulers will be furious when they realize that Christ has come to abolish the governments of this world and to establish the Kingdom of God, which will rule over all the earth. Then those who glibly ask for God’s blessing over their personal ungodly kingdoms and agendas will find out what the Lord’s kingdom really is. Lord, come quickly, because we can’t hold on much longer. 
(a thought on life from John Grant )

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https://thoughtsaboutgod.com/blog/2009/02/02/jg_kingdoms/

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