LEADER: 3 Important Thoughts from God

1 Corinthians 10:12 NLT
If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall.

Proverbs 12:7 NLT
The wicked die and disappear, but the family of the godly stands firm.

Proverbs 4:23 NLT
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

There are so many things that are important to those who lead.  Yet it obvious that you cannot stand up, you cannot lead.  Unless you have strength, stamina and purpose, you are done.  I continue to pray that as God renews my mind and give me strength that He will also narrow my path.

Let me give that "narrow my path" thing some feet.  The more confident we are about our purpose the more intent we will be on getting it done.  We more we see the goal, the result, the desired outcome the more we will do what it takes to get there.  As it applies to our church we have stated from the start, over 6 years ago now, that we believe God has called us to do a few things well and not do a lot things and do them poorly.  That means we have to often reevaluate what we do and why.

These three verses hit my heart because of the seeking that I am doing as of late.  Several thoughts ... 

If we are standing on or for the wrong thing, we will fall.  If our stand is conditional based upon what someone else does, we have wrong motives.  If our stand is not one that came from God, we will find ourselves getting weaker and weaker.  Standing strong for me is to stand not on my thoughts of my understanding.  It is to stand on the word of God.  It is to stand on the calling that God has given.  It is to stand for what is right even when few others or no others are standing with me.  Often standing strong is misconstrued as arrogance or pride.  How do you tell the difference?  There will be a mark of humility when we stand on, with and for God.

The second has to do with our families standing strong.  I am more convinced than ever that my ministry is my family.  Everything else dies if my family goes away.  When we dwell on the wrong things or spend time in the wrong places, we tend to take our hearts and minds away from our family.  What will keep our families strong?  What will keep us centered on, praying for and having healthy families?  The answer is right or Godly living.  As I have said to you this is the time to do what is right.  It makes a huge difference.

The last piece is to guard your heart.  Here I am going to speak a bit more personal.  I met a man this weekend who recently went through a tough bout of health problems.  Literally his heart caught a virus.  Joshua was near death several times right around the time of back2school.  He is well and healed now.  But his heart was very sick  Our spiritual hearts can get a similar but spiritual sickness.  What we look at longingly, lovingly and for a lengthy time will determine our direction and our healthy.  Spend too much time eating.  You know what you get.  Spend too much time away from home.  You can think about what happens.  Our hearts have got to be healthy so that we can lead well.  What are we looking at and going after?  I want to catch myself often pursuing the right things even when I don't realize it.  Pursuing my wife.  Pursuing my kids.  Pursuing God.  By the way, pursuing means what you let take hold of your heart.

I wrote these thought with our church leaders and servants in mind, yet they apply to anyone who wishes to succeed in life.  Success is based upon who we follow and how we follow.  Success is based for the Christian upon on obeying God.  I am learning that as I obey God that the blessings and the increase are awesome.  That's what I want.  Therefore I will pursue what is right!

Philippians 4:8 NLT
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Hebrews 12:2 NLT
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.