I read this little verse in my Wide Awake book by Erwin McManus and it begged me to read it over and over again.
Hebrews 10:38: "But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back."
God calls us to a life of faith. How can he use us, call us, stretch us, if we are unwilling to trust Him and take steps requiring faith? Every person from the Bible who was involved in something extraordinary, trusted God and took a step of faith and God honored it. He stretched them. Were they afraid? Maybe. Did they doubt? Probably. Did they obey? Definitely. Did they see the very hand of God in the situation? Absolutely.
God is looking all over this earth for people who are willing to be used by God, no matter the cost. Will his eyes land on you? Or will you be passed over? Are you fully surrendered to the will of God for your life? You have accepted Him as Savior, but have you accepted Him as Lord?
This verse says God takes no pleasure in the one who shrinks back. No pleasure. Don't you want God to take pleasure in you? I know I do. Don't be afraid. Trust in the one who loves you more than anyone else. As God stretches out His hand to you, place your hand confidently in His and let Him lead you on. A great adventure awaits you, if you will just trust Him and obey. Blessings on this cloudy, breezy, cool wonderful Monday.
Showing posts with label trust. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trust. Show all posts
Monday, July 21, 2008
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Nuggets #25
An Unstoppable Force by Erwin McManus
Empowering Spiritual Entrepreneurs
If you can affirm everything that isn't changing, while highlighting something that strategically is changing, you'll more easily gain adherence and support.
Through pilot projects, an apostolic environment can be introduced and affirmed one layer at a time.
When a particular project fails and you acknowledge its failure but don't lose hope, it does two things. It teaches your people that you are more committed to the purpose than you are to the particular project. And secondly, it demonstrates to them that you have integrity when faced with failure and successes. When you acknowledge failure for what it is, you gain the confidence of others as you speak on God's behalf.
In many situations, failure is the very thing that restrains God's people from doing great things for God. They've been taught that failure is equivalent to sin, and so they'd rather not try at all than risk failing. When you face failure with humility and hope, you teach others how to risk. When you affirm those who risk great things for God and count them as successful even if their particular endeavor has failed, you have affirmed something far deeper than any particular project or strategy could every encompass. It is not so much the experiment that is of greatest value, but the affirmation of spiritual entrepreneurialism among God's people.
This is such an important truth and I think part of it has to do with trust. When you trust an individual to do what God has called them to do and let them do it, it gives them the freedom to soar and do great things for God. They're not working under their own power anyway, they have God on their side. Any failure is just an opportunity to learn. Any success gives glory to God. It's a win-win situation.
Empowering Spiritual Entrepreneurs
If you can affirm everything that isn't changing, while highlighting something that strategically is changing, you'll more easily gain adherence and support.
Through pilot projects, an apostolic environment can be introduced and affirmed one layer at a time.
When a particular project fails and you acknowledge its failure but don't lose hope, it does two things. It teaches your people that you are more committed to the purpose than you are to the particular project. And secondly, it demonstrates to them that you have integrity when faced with failure and successes. When you acknowledge failure for what it is, you gain the confidence of others as you speak on God's behalf.
In many situations, failure is the very thing that restrains God's people from doing great things for God. They've been taught that failure is equivalent to sin, and so they'd rather not try at all than risk failing. When you face failure with humility and hope, you teach others how to risk. When you affirm those who risk great things for God and count them as successful even if their particular endeavor has failed, you have affirmed something far deeper than any particular project or strategy could every encompass. It is not so much the experiment that is of greatest value, but the affirmation of spiritual entrepreneurialism among God's people.
This is such an important truth and I think part of it has to do with trust. When you trust an individual to do what God has called them to do and let them do it, it gives them the freedom to soar and do great things for God. They're not working under their own power anyway, they have God on their side. Any failure is just an opportunity to learn. Any success gives glory to God. It's a win-win situation.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Nuggets #24
An Unstoppable Force by Erwin McManus
Do Not Pass Go!
The fourth step in the process of effective transition is energizing the possibilities.
Many leaders make the mistake of beginning with what rather than why, so the what is quickly rejected. Sometimes the reason we as leaders do this is because we've thought about the why so much that we think it's obvious to everyone.
It is when we move from the strategic to the tactical that the people of God can be most powerfully unleashed.
The Creative Enterprise
As tightly as a leader must grasp the purpose of the church, he must equally relinquish his grip on the creative process of how the church accomplishes the mission of Christ. Too many times, we confuse a call to leadership as a monopoly on the creative process. Just as some churches are unwilling to follow genuine spiritual leadership, some pastors find it difficult to entrust and empower God's people.
...perhaps our most important role is to be able to identify a great idea when we hear it.
For creativity to flourish, it has to be nurtured and affirmed so that people get a clear sense of whether their ideas are genuinely valued. You can energize an environment in which the best ideas emerge by allowing questions, affirming ideas that are not your own, and asking questions rather than giving answers. Perhaps most important of all is inviting people into the process before you get too close.
This is so true. I like the line about pastors finding it difficult to entrust and empower God's people. This is also true with staff and ministry leaders who haven't been trained in how to do this. Sometimes it is a mindset, but sometimes it is a lack of knowledge.
When it's a mindset, I think fear and pride can play a role in it. It may be that these leaders are afraid of losing their position in the church, so they don't encourage others to succeed and rise above them. The best thing to do is try and out-position yourself. In the corporate world we call this succession management. You will be more valuable to the organization the more things you can do, the more flexible and willing you are to learn new things. If you are the only person who can do what you do, and you leave, the organization suffers, and that is selfish.
In my corporate experience, the company would identify individuals (usually MBAs who played golf, who were young, good-looking, and never challenged the way things were done) who were willing and flexible and would take them through a variety of different jobs, rotating them around the organization. This gave them a great exposure, not only to business processes but also to individuals, from vice-presidents to secretaries. After several years of this, they got to decide what area they wanted to work in most, and that's where they landed. But they could also be picked up and moved anywhere else at anytime that was needed. This reduced the cost to the company of hiring and training another high paid MBA. Everyone just rotated around. The lessons learned from this experience and exposure were wide and quick.
So, the moral of the story is to develop the leaders around you and put yourself out of your current position. But you need leaders who are not territorial, or fearful, or prideful. You need mature individuals and a plan to carry this out. The organization will be much stronger and more protected from people leaving abruptly.
Do Not Pass Go!
The fourth step in the process of effective transition is energizing the possibilities.
Many leaders make the mistake of beginning with what rather than why, so the what is quickly rejected. Sometimes the reason we as leaders do this is because we've thought about the why so much that we think it's obvious to everyone.
It is when we move from the strategic to the tactical that the people of God can be most powerfully unleashed.
The Creative Enterprise
As tightly as a leader must grasp the purpose of the church, he must equally relinquish his grip on the creative process of how the church accomplishes the mission of Christ. Too many times, we confuse a call to leadership as a monopoly on the creative process. Just as some churches are unwilling to follow genuine spiritual leadership, some pastors find it difficult to entrust and empower God's people.
...perhaps our most important role is to be able to identify a great idea when we hear it.
For creativity to flourish, it has to be nurtured and affirmed so that people get a clear sense of whether their ideas are genuinely valued. You can energize an environment in which the best ideas emerge by allowing questions, affirming ideas that are not your own, and asking questions rather than giving answers. Perhaps most important of all is inviting people into the process before you get too close.
This is so true. I like the line about pastors finding it difficult to entrust and empower God's people. This is also true with staff and ministry leaders who haven't been trained in how to do this. Sometimes it is a mindset, but sometimes it is a lack of knowledge.
When it's a mindset, I think fear and pride can play a role in it. It may be that these leaders are afraid of losing their position in the church, so they don't encourage others to succeed and rise above them. The best thing to do is try and out-position yourself. In the corporate world we call this succession management. You will be more valuable to the organization the more things you can do, the more flexible and willing you are to learn new things. If you are the only person who can do what you do, and you leave, the organization suffers, and that is selfish.
In my corporate experience, the company would identify individuals (usually MBAs who played golf, who were young, good-looking, and never challenged the way things were done) who were willing and flexible and would take them through a variety of different jobs, rotating them around the organization. This gave them a great exposure, not only to business processes but also to individuals, from vice-presidents to secretaries. After several years of this, they got to decide what area they wanted to work in most, and that's where they landed. But they could also be picked up and moved anywhere else at anytime that was needed. This reduced the cost to the company of hiring and training another high paid MBA. Everyone just rotated around. The lessons learned from this experience and exposure were wide and quick.
So, the moral of the story is to develop the leaders around you and put yourself out of your current position. But you need leaders who are not territorial, or fearful, or prideful. You need mature individuals and a plan to carry this out. The organization will be much stronger and more protected from people leaving abruptly.
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