Tuesday, August 14, 2012

The leader I want to be and develop in others

Luke 10:1-2
After this, the Lord appointed 70 other disciples and was about to send them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place that he intended to go. So he instructed them, “The harvest is vast, but the workers are few. So ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers out into his harvest.

This scripture came to mind today. As I was in prayer and thinking about what Jesus was doing, I was amazed by the leadership of Jesus. Who Jesus was and the gifts He brought to any circumstance weren't ever seen by him as "for him", but instead He desired to impart these gifts for the work of the ministry and to see people discipled and actively working in these gifts. He held nothing for himself!
It's easy when gifted in a certain realm to become very self focused.
"God has gifted me for the purpose He has made me for."

The difference between a self focused person and a people focused leader is that you no longer see yourself as the tool, but the equipper. It becomes less about you and more about equipping those around you to do the work of the ministry! As leaders, we are called to pour out to those we lead the very giftings we posess. Jesus did!
The word appoint in this text is:
to proclaim any one as elected to office
to announce as appointed a king, general, etc.
to lift up anything on high and exhibit it for all to behold

Jesus is placing these disciples in way to give them the same authority and gifts that He has by position. Not that they share the position of Jesus, but they carry all the authority and power by His name as appointed ones. He empowers them to fully realize that He has equipped them to the same work in the same giftings He carries!
Jesus was an equipping leader holding nothing back for himself.
When is amazing about this type of Godly leadership is that we see people being empowered and excited to be apart of Gods plan in any given moment of service.
Luke 10:17-20
The 70 disciples came back and joyously reported, “Lord, even the demons are submitting to us in your name!”
He told them, “I watched Satan falling from heaven like lightning. Look! I have given you the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to destroy all the enemy’s power, and nothing will ever hurt you. However, stop rejoicing because the spirits are submitting to you. Rather, rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

These people were able, through Jesus pouring into them, to do the work of the ministry that before His appointing and discipling, they were unable to fathom. What strong reminder though to rejoice not in the things we do, but that it is all possible because we are in the will of God! Rejoicing in our relationship with God from whom all blessings and gifts flow!
I want to be a leader that has a legacy of holding nothing for myself, but instead pouring out everything I have been given into those God has given me to lead. If you are a leader, it's a valid question to ask yourself,
"Who has been lifted up in your care? Who has seen untapped potential became a reality for the work of the Kingdom? Who has walked in the places you have walked and came back rejoicing because they have seen the previously impossible become possible because you poured into people the same way Jesus did?"

Don't be a leader who buries what God has given to you deep within yourself.....when God has given you position to plant that seed deep within those around you!
Ephesians 4:11-16
And it is he who gifted some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, and still others to be pastors and teachers, to equip the saints, to do the work of ministry, and to build up the body of the Messiah until all of us are united in the faith and in the full knowledge of God’s Son, and until we attain mature adulthood and the full standard of development in the Messiah. Then we will no longer be little children, tossed like waves and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, or by clever strategies that would lead us astray. Instead, by speaking the truth in love, we will grow up completely and become one with the head, that is, one with the Messiah, in whom the whole body is united and held together by every ligament with which it is supplied. As each individual part does its job, the body builds itself up in love.

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