And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. Mark 12:30
We are all called to be a leader and when we are given the opportunity we want to be good at it. As disciples of Christ leading others to Christ is what we are called to do. Even those who already know Christ as their Lord, and Savior, need to be lead to new levels of learning about scripture and digging in a little deeper. Thank God we don't need to know everything however, we should let others know what we have learned and are still learning about.
I have recently learned that the way we love God is the way we should lead if we want to be a good leader. We need to lead with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength. This is not an easy task for those of us who have been a follower most of our lives. So I will share what worked for me. This is the way God loves us and we are simply loving others in the same way. Don't think of leadership as a job think of it as following in the footsteps of Jesus. I am sharing what I have learned because when you have the opportunity to become a leader this is what needs to take place.
Before I dive in I want to add in one more important message. We need to learn to be a good listener. I made the mistake one day and said, "Lord please let them change the subject." It was a touchy subject in Bible study and a friend was pouring her heart out. I know this sounds like one of the biggest mistakes a person could make and yes, it was very selfish of me. I have definitely learned from it and will do better next time. I want you to be aware sometimes a touchy subject will come up and you will need to be a good listener and have some scripture to fall back on.
We need to lead with all our heart. This means we should show others that we love them by being kind, gentle, and full of compassion. Love is an action so we need to express this love with all our heart as an action rather than just words. Keep in mind when others were leading you all the love you felt from them. Now it is time for you to pass this on to someone else. This really is a game changer because if they don't feel loved they will probably go to someone else. Maybe I should say that I would. What I am trying to say is we all know if love from another is genuine or not. Don't lead half-heartedly!
We need to lead with all our soul. Praying beforehand and making sure when you lead others it is spirit-filled lined up with God's will. This is why it is so important to invite the Holy Spirit into every area of our lives. You never know when God is going to use you to serve another person in need. You might be able to help someone on your own but when it lines up with God's will you know that God is on the move and working through you.
We need to lead with all our mind. This seems to be what trips us up; is the way we think.
Before we even begin to think we can lead others we need to make sure our thoughts are locked in a positive mode. Too often I have found myself thinking about something negative and it shows up when we are trying to lead others because that is the first thing they notice. Our friends can tell when we aren't quite ourselves. We need to be bold and confident when we are leading others. When we lead with our mind we should have everything planned out so we are prepared.
We should lead with all our strength. Put all your effort into the people you are leading. This means that even when they are not around you should call and make sure they are doing well. Invest your time and stay committed to letting them know how much you cherish them. There may even be times you yourself are feeling weary, but even then you can always rely on the strength from God to get you through.
"Leaders must be tough enough to fight, tender enough to cry, human enough to make mistakes, humble enough to admit them, strong enough to absorb the pain, and resilient enough to bounce back and keep on moving." - Jesse Jackson
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