Who Did God Call Me to Lead?

With so many needs, where would God have us share our lives?
I tackle this one in my latest post at the Internet Cafe.

Who Had God Called You to Lead?

I hope it brings you hope and peace.

When Someone is Jealous of Your Ministry

Hello,

I'm over at the ministry counter at the Cafe' today.

When Someone is Jealous of Your Ministry

Stop over and join in the conversation!

Sue

Who Are You Following??

Hello!

I'm over at the Internet Cafe' today...

Be a Conduit for Him!

Be careful not to follow man...follow God! And if you're a leader...lead them to Him, don't worry about building a following.

August Giveaway and an Announcement!

Happy August Girlfriends!!!
Try your best to squeeze the fun out of every last drop of summer!

This month our giveaway includes, the fabulous CD by Mercy Me:



You'll also receive some delicious COFFEE and...

This fabulous set of gift cards by Becky Schultea!

To enter the drawing, it's simple:
1. Leave a comment on THIS post. Drawing will be August 11th and the winner will be posted on THIS post then.

2. Make sure I have a way to contact you if you win.

3. If you have any of my blog buttons on your blog, let me know in your comment and you will be entered twice.

4. Note: Past winners are eligible to enter again 1 year after they win.

Feel free to tell your friends on Facebook and Twitter about the giveaway and thank you if you do!!

EDITED TO ADD: Winner is Trina Martin!!!

AND...

I am so excited to announce that I am now a "Counter Barista" at the Internet Cafe' and I will be writing articles at the "Ministry Counter" which will post for a whole week out of each month over at the Cafe'!

My first article about ministry is out, you can view it here:

"When God Brings New Ministry"

Quick and Simple, think about it...

Heb 13:4
Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage.
NLT

The word honor is translated as:
valuable
costly
beloved
precious

Sometimes I get busy cleaning up messes and I forget that my marriage is the most important part of my life on this earth and that I need to remain faithful to my husband. I need to guard against anything or anyone that would try to come between us.

Ladies, I feel impressed to tell you today that-that includes ministry. I love WHAT the Lord allows me to do in ministry but I have to make sure I don't forget WHO He created me for.

Gen 2:18-19
And the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion who will help him."
NLT

I'm praying for our marriages,
Sue

Don't underestimate His holiness, He's watching it all

I was reminded of this story as I was re-reading "Facedown" by Matt Redman...

I highly doubt any of you have idols sitting around your house in the form such as "Dagon" but I love that God will have no other gods before Him.

This takes place as the Philistine nation captures the Ark of the Lord. They are unaware of the power involved with the presence of God and they carry it in to the temple and place it beside the idol of Dagon.

Read here:

1 Sam 5:1-4
After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 Then they carried the ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon. 3 When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4 But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained.
NIV

(As it says in the book, "if you find your god bowed facedown on the floor before another God, then it's time to get a new one!")

"No power set against our Almighty God can stand in His presence. And those who dare to set themselves up against Him are setting themselves up for a fall...it is a facedown fall."

We can not underestimate His holiness. He IS paying attention to everything happening right now, in our individual lives and in the lives of those who lead others.

Our God is a holy and jealous god.
Let's bow by choice and not by force.

Leadership: True Leaders...won't let others grow dependent on them.

We love our boxes don't we?
We go to THIS church, with THIS pastor. We listen to THIS preacher and make sure that everything we do and believe lines up with their teaching.
We so limit the possibility of God speaking to us in different ways and through different means.

God used men, angels, chickens and even donkeys to speak to us.
But so often we get caught up following a leader and filter everything through them instead of God's Word.

Paul writes:

1 Cor 1:10-13
10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.

11 My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.

12 What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ."

13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?
NIV

Paul knew that for us to follow after any one person was dangerous, and he was a mature enough believer to correct those who did.

There is nothing wrong with being plugged into one church, that is a good thing, but if being plugged in means that you are not allowed to hear God's Word anywhere else, that's dangerous. I know women who are fearful of their leadership finding out that they visited another church or meeting.

A strong-Godly leader would never fear you being ministered to by anyone else. A healthy leader would never be jealous or envious of you fellowshipping with believers outside of your church. I've actually heard of churches that try to control who their congregation spends time with, unbelievable!

Our identity as Christians should first be with Christ and not the name of a certain group or church.

There is a danger in making people dependent on its leaders, it's made God’s people passive in their own spiritual growth. We wait for others to show us how, or even just follow them in hopes that they’re getting it right. Jesus wants this relationship with you and He wants you to be an active part in that process.

Jesus is the way to the Father. As you learn to yield to his Spirit and depend on His power, you’ll discover how to live in the fullness of his life. Yes, He’ll often use other people to encourage or equip you in that process, but the people He uses won’t let you grow dependent on them. Healthy leaders would never get between you and the greatest joy of a growing relationship with the Father himself.

I am not saying you should run here and there grasping for truth. We need to use discernment whenever learning about God's Word from someone. Jesus was the greatest Teacher, but He left us His Word and the Holy Spirit to pick up where He left off.

John 14:25-26
25 "All this I have spoken while still with you.

26
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,
will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to
you.
NIV

Let God's Word be the final authority in all situations and trust your gut!!

Leadership~ A True Leader Cares

Matthew 8:5-13

5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering."

7 Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him."

8 The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

10 When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour.
NIV

What a beautiful example of leadership.
1. First, the centurion soldier came to Jesus for the sake of his servant. A beautiful picture of how we should care for others, especially those who serve us.
It can be assumed that by this example, the servant probably served his leader well out of response to the way he was taken care of by his leader.

When we are treated well by leaders, we will serve them honorably.

2. Then note the humility of this leader. He says to Jesus, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.
This is a man of great authority, a centurion soldier, but he acknowledges that Jesus was much greater than he.

No matter how much authority we have on this earth, we need to recognize our need for God and that we are but servants to Him first.

3. This leader also had great faith. He had confidence in Christ and a great assurance that He could heal him.
And not only that He could heal him, but that Jesus could heal the servant with just His word.

These are just a few points from this amazing story. How can we learn from this for ourselves as wives, mothers, employees, bosses, ministry leaders etc?

Leadership is not just position, in fact it has little to do with position. Leadership is influence and the more you care about others and help them, you will gain influence. I believe the centurion soldier shows how much he cares and how wise he is by his words and actions. I’m sure his men would give their lives for him if needed and that is because of how he cared for them.

Lead out of a heart that cares. Help those you lead and if you need to, bring their plight before Jesus, He is more than able to take care of them! We are not to be the answers to their prayers, but we should be bringing them to the One who is.

Leadership ~ Jesus Led with Silence

Have you ever been falsely accused? Have others said things about you that were complete lies or a cruel distortion of the facts?

Yeh, me too! It is a very painful thing to deal with. And for some reason, it so often happens when we are motivated to do something good for others. Our motivation is to help them and for whatever reason, it gets taken out of context and ends up flying back in our face.

I am watching this happen to some people that I dearly love right now. People that are doing everything they can to help others, but are being attacked for it on every side.
Of course we know that our true enemy is satan, the father of lies. He twists and manipulates things to get people in as much strife as possible because he knows quite well that if we are arguing with one another- we will be distracted from God's will and purposes.

Jesus gives us such a beautiful example to follow. As He is brought before Herod in court, he is mocked and falsely accused.

Luke 23:9-12
Meanwhile, the leading priests and the teachers of religious
law stood there shouting their accusations. 11 Now Herod and his soldiers began
mocking and ridiculing Jesus. Then they put a royal robe on him and sent him
back to Pilate.
NLT

How did Jesus respond? I know how I would have wanted to respond...I would have defended myself. I would have told them the truth!

But in the book of Matthew, Jesus shows us God's response to accusations and lies being spoken against us.

Matt 27:12-14
But when the leading priests and other leaders made their
accusations against him, Jesus remained silent. 13 "Don't you hear their many
charges against you?" Pilate demanded. 14 But Jesus said nothing, much to the
governor's great surprise.
NLT

Our natural response is to say something...to explain the truth and defend ourselves. That is why the governor was so surprised at Jesus' silence.
It's just not natural to remain silent in such a situation!

This is a powerful key to leadership.
Don't let the lies and accusations of others affect you.
Jesus didn't.
Instead, He knew His purpose in this life. He knew that the heart of man could be evil and yet He chose to love those who He had every "natural" right to loath.

He even goes a step farther than not responding...He chooses love and forgiveness.

Luke 23:33-34
When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals-one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
NIV

What an incredible example of leadership for us to follow.

Sometimes the very people that are pouring pain into our lives are the ones God wants us to love~ even as they are hurting us.

Hurting people, hurt people.
Healthy people love.

1 Peter 2:15
It is God's will that your good lives should silence those who
make foolish accusations against you.
NLT

Thankfully, God doesn't expect us to do this without His help.
When I am faced with a situation like this I have to go to the Lord in prayer and plead for His help because my natural response is not always love. I have to follow hard after Him if I want my actions to reflect His love!

I believe that the Lord wants His women to be leaders in this area.
Woman Up!
Follow hard after your God...
Lead soft with love!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some of you have asked for this leadership button.

Here is a link to it and it will bring them back here to all the "leadership posts".

<a href=" http://praiseandcoffee.blogspot.com/search/label/Leadership "><img src=" http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee177/praiseandcoffee/Womanupbuttonlg-1.jpg "></a>

To put it into your sidebar:
1. click on layout
2. click on "add a gadget"
3. go to "html" gadget and click the + sign
4. paste the code and save!

What makes a woman a great leader?

Recently, I was asked to do some leadership training/teaching for a women’s group. On my own I feel completely inept to take on such a task, but as I look into God’s Word I see that Jesus displayed leadership very clearly. He has given us a beautiful example of leadership to follow.

If we want to be a great leader, we need to look to our Savior. We need to follow hard after Him (and His heart) and the result will be that our leadership will come from a heart of love to those we are leading.

Here are a couple of the things Jesus did to show us how to lead:

Jesus knew that the most important thing about being a leader, was serving the people you are called to lead.

Mark 9:35
Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all."
NIV

Note that Jesus tells them this because they were arguing about who was the greatest!
Some things never change huh?
I would have taken this opportunity to give them a talkin’ to and probably called them selfish little brats. Instead, Jesus tells them something that makes them think about their motives and He shows them what their true priorities should be.

Matt 23:11-12
The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
NIV

Leadership is not about greatness, it is about humility and serving others.

Another leadership cue we take from Jesus is that He knew when to say no.

John 11:2-6
3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick."

4 When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." 5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.
NIV

Quite clearly, Jesus’ answer was no, He would not drop what He was doing and come. But, He had a plan they did not understand.

John 11:14-15
14 So then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."
NIV

John 11:40
40 Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
NIV

John 11:43-44
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
NIV

By Jesus saying “no” they were able to see the glory of God through Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.

Sometimes we need to say no. If we don’t, we will be completely out of the will
of God and others will not see the glory of God.

The immediate need is not always the greatest need.

As leaders we need to have discernment about what we commit ourselves to. We need to know if the Lord is directing us or if He is telling us “no” or “wait.”

There are many opportunities to do good things, pray about which good things the Lord would have you do. Our priorities need to be in order, or we could run ourselves ragged doing “the work of the ministry” all the while missing God’s will in our life. And we could end up missing the opportunity for God to receive the glory He so rightfully has due Him!

So…we’ve heard the phrase “man-up” which means to act like the man God created them to be, well I say~

“Woman-UP”
Follow hard (after your God) and lead soft (with love)!