2 essentials for a Christian leader

There are a lot of things that a leader needs to be and abilities that he or she needs to have but none are more important to a christian leader than:

1. Being full of faith and
2. Being full of the Holy Spirit.

The leaders who were selected to serve in Acts 6:3,5 were people who were both full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit.

Full of Faith

As a Christian it is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6). It is vital for a leader to be full of faith because a leader needs to give hope to the people that he is leading. There needs to be a level of confidence in a leader about accomplishing the task that is set before the leader and the team. When it comes to accomplishing things for God it is impossible to do so without faith. God often calls leaders to do the impossible by trusting and having faith in Him! The Christian life is a supernatural life and the Christian leader must lead people supernaturally. This does not mean that learning various skills and growing is not necessary or unimportant. It just means that having faith is more important than having natural gifts and abilities. A persons faith grows when it is exercised. It comes from doing the Word and not just hearing it. So make a quality decision today to put the Word of God into practice and watch your faith grow.

Full of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is who empowers us to lead supernaturally. It is foolish to think that we can lead without the help of the Holy Spirit. Most people will agree that we need the help of the Holy Spirit but how many times do we really lean on and depend on the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us in making decisions and leading the people God has entrusted us to lead? In most cases with all the information that is available around us the Holy Spirit is the last person that we depend on for help. We seek counsel and advise from every place imaginable and when none of it helps we run to the Holy Spirit. This must not be the case of a Christian leader. The Holy Spirit was send to teach us, comfort us and guide us. Lets make a decision to lean on Him before we lean on other things as we lead.

So as you learn and grow to become a better leader make sure that you are always taking care of being full of faith and the Holy Spirit.

Are you watering the camels?

In Genesis 24:15-20 we see the story of Abraham's servant traveling in search of a young women who would be suitable to marry Issac.

Genesis 24:15-20 (New King James Version)

¹⁵ And it happened, before he had finished speaking, that behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her pitcher on her shoulder. ¹⁶ Now the young woman was very beautiful to behold, a virgin; no man had known her. And she went down to the well, filled her pitcher, and came up. ¹⁷ And the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your pitcher.”

¹⁸ So she said, “Drink, my lord.” Then she quickly let her pitcher down to her hand, and gave him a drink. ¹⁹ And when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” ²⁰ Then she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough, ran back to the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels.

Rebekah did something that the other young women around her did not do. When Rebekah saw a man and his camels in need of water she did not just provide the man with water but went above what was "required" of her and provided water for the camels too. She went the extra mile to serve. This was not an easy thing to do because camels drink anywhere from 20-100 gallons of water and the Bible says she provided water for all the camels! That was a lot of work considering they did not have the kind of plumbing that we have today!

Rebekah did not know that she was being watched and that she would be making a choice that would alter the rest of her life but she did it anyway. She served.

We never know who might be watching us and how a particular reaction might change the course of our lives. We need to get to a point where we serve and help people around us as a lifestyle and not as something we do only at certain occasions.

So who are the camels that you are not recognizing and watering in your life. Sometimes it might lead to increase and elevation and other times its a opportunity that you and I have to serve and spread the love of Christ in the world.

Be wise and look around you, there are a lot of camels that need to be watered. Will you?

3 things leaders need to fight against

There are many things that a leader has to face and fight against but if you are a christian leader, there are three things that the devil specifically uses against you.

1. Discouragement: Every leader faces discouragement at some point in their leadership journey. Even Jesus was discouraged during his earthly ministry. It is not something that can be avoided in the life but the way a leader reacts during those times is a choice. Every leader has the opportunity of choosing how to act during discouraging times. The opportunity to run to God and be encouraged by Him is just as close as the choice of having a pity party and staying discouraged. Choose wisely. RUN TO HIM!

2. Depression: There are many people in the ministry who struggle with depression. There can be many reasons for depression varying from medical reasons to hardships and circumstances that leaders find themselves in. The good news is that there is always hope for the christian leader. The Holy Spirit is available to heal, comfort and help us in the time of need. DEPEND ON HIM!

3. Doubt: A leader cannot live a life without any doubt but he/she needs to make sure that they don't doubt what God has told them about their life or what they are supposed to do. There cannot be any room for doubt when it comes to trusting God and the promises in His word regarding what He wants to do in and through your life.

TRUST IN HIM!

No matter where you are in your leadership journey fellowship with God, spending time in His Word and having strong relationships with a close group of friends who help you is a must for every christian leader.

Believe

Believing has never changed.

What you believe dictates your actions and life.

Believing is a choice. It is a decision.

You chose to believe the people you did and chose not do believe the people you didn't.

This right here is what I believe.

Make sure what you believe is true because your life depends on it.

You have the choice of believing the truth about you or lies about you.

What or who will you choose to believe today?

My top 5 free leadership resources

With blogs, youtube videos and podcasts being free, there are more free resources available than ever before. You can find material for free on any subject that you want.

Leadership is one of my favorites subjects are here are my top 5 free leadership resources in no particular order:

1. Catalyst podcast - The Catalyst podcast is one of the best leadership podcasts that I have come across. You can listen to some great leaders and thinkers here. They do it on a consistent basis and it is well worth the listen.
2. Seth Godin's blog - Seth Godin is a bestselling author, entrepreneur and agent of change. He writes a blog post everyday! He is a brilliant thinker and you can learn a lot from what he writes.
3. Harvard Business's Channel - This is Harvard Business reviews youtube channel. You will find many interviews from professors, authors and leaders here. Great information that you can use in your work and personal life.
4. Andy Stanley leadership podcast - Andy Stanley is the Pastor of North Point Community Church. He is one of the leading voices on the subject of leadership, especially in the church world. The episodes are pretty short but have great information on them.
5. Fast Company - Fast Company is one of my favorite magazines. I almost visit the website daily. i really like the leadership section of the website. Lot of great articles and videos about the very latest things that are happening in the business and leadership world.

I do visit many more websites and listen to other podcasts but these are the ones that I visit or listen to the most when it comes to the topic of leadership.

Even if the topic is not leadership, what are your favorite resources? Go ahead and share.

5 essentials for young leaders

In 1 timothy 4:12 we see Paul writing to Timothy who is a young leader. Paul lets Timothy know that he is responsible for setting an example for others to follow.

The five areas that Paul tells Timothy to set an example in are:

1. Speech: As young leaders it is very important to make sure that we control and keep in check the words that come out of our mouths. The Bible is clear in teaching us about the power that is present in the tongue and the words we speak. We need to be mindful of what we say. (Ephesians 4:29) Make sure that what you say is helpful and beneficial to others.
2. Life: We need to live lives that bring glory to God and cause people to draw closer to Him. Leaders have the responsibility of setting the bar high and being accountable in all areas of live. Living a transparent life for others to see causes people to trust and follow you.
3. Love: Walking in Love is the most important responsibility of a christian (Luke 10:27). It is even more important to do so as a leader. There will be many opportunities to get offended at people around you but there will never be a good reason for not walking in love as God commanded us to do so. Every time you are faced with the temptation of not walking in love, think of the love that God showed towards you on the cross and ask Him for strength to stay humble and walk in love.
4. Faith: According to Hebrews 11:6 it is impossible to please God without faith. Faith is a very important part of the christian life. Faith is like a muscle that grows as we excersice it. Step out in faith. Believe God. There are many examples of young people both in the Bible and present time who stepped out in faith and did great things for God. By great things I don't mean that every young person needs to write a book, be on the cover of a magazine, plant a church etc. You can begin by trusting God and putting your faith in Him in the everyday things of your life, from
5. Purity: (Psalm 24:4) We need to be pure not just with our sexuality and thoughts but it every area of our lives. Andy Stanley says "Purity paves the way to intimacy." This definetly applies to sex but it is true of every relationship. When there is no purity in relationship, there are hidden agendas and secrets present. A healthy and genuine relationship cannot be developed between two people when there are hidden agendas and secrets present. When we let go of purity in our lives we are letting of very important relationships in our lives.

Most of the things mentioned above are not new for most christian leaders but everyone of us need to be reminded on living lives that are examples for others to follow.

How have other leaders in your life set an example for you to follow?