Leading With a Worshipful Heart

For many people, when they hear the word “worship,” the image that immediately comes to mind is of people raising their voices and hands up to the Lord in song and surrender. Worship is often immediately linked to music in our minds, and this is not a bad thing, by any means. Corporate worship through song is one of the easiest ways for people to come together as a Body in one voice to worship the King of kings. 

            But what about other parts of our lives? Can they be forms of worship as well? Certainly, we can worship through prayer, through Scripture meditation, through taking the Lord’s Supper. We worship through giving and serving. We worship through fellowship. But what about leading? Can we worship through leading? I believe wholeheartedly the answer is yes! 

            In Luke 22, Jesus is having what we know as the Last Supper with His disciples. Luke writes that, “In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays him!’ They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this” (v. 20-23). The disciples were in a rough spot. Not only were they hearing that the Rabbi they loved and had given the last three years of their lives to follow was about to die, but one of them was the betrayer who was going to hand Him over! Not surprisingly, they were concerned. 

            Their concern about the identity of the betrayer evidently did not last long because in the very next verse, Luke records that, “A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest….” Is that weird?? Does it seem odd and out of place to anyone else that at one moment the disciples are asking themselves who it is that Jesus is saying is about to betray Him and the very next, they’re arguing about who is considered the greatest?!? Those two things seem like polar opposite thoughts, don’t they?? Who’s going to betray Jesus? Oh, and who’s the greatest? That’s wild!! 

And yet…..

I wonder if we sometimes do the same. We can be so very aware one moment of our flaws and weaknesses and susceptible areas, and the next minute, we can be battling pride and arrogance. One minute, we can be saying, “Lord, if You don’t show up and move right now through me, I’m toast because I’ve got nothing!” And then the next minute, we can start patting ourselves on the back, saying, “Man, I’m pretty special! Isn’t the Lord so lucky to have me on His team?” 

Here’s the reality: Pride and insecurity seem like polar opposites, but in truth, they are just two sides of the same coin, and we can flip from one to the other like…snap….that. We have a God who loves us and has beautifully crafted us to fulfill His mission and His purposes, and when we recognize our own fallibility and our need to be simply the vessels through which the Master Craftsman does His work, then we can rest securely in Him and experience the joy and the thrill of seeing Him use us to accomplish His purposes. But what happens too often? We get in the way. We make it all about us. I think it’s similar to what the disciples experienced at the Last Supper. They were trying to figure out how they measured up so that they knew what to think about themselves and how to rank themselves in Jesus’ service. And I hate to tell you this, Sisters in Christ, but we do the same thing today, especially as leaders. 

So, what do we do? 

Going back to Luke 22 and picking it up in verse 25, we read that, “Jesus said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors.” In other words, leadership from a world’s perspective is about dominance and power and patronage. “BUT… you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.” Or in Matthew’s account of this conversation, Jesus says, “Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:26-28).

Jesus completely flipped upside down the expectation of what leadership should be. Instead of dominating, we are to be humble and gentle (the only two words Jesus ever used to describe Himself, Matt. 11:29). Instead of having a power struggle or climbing up the ladder by age or experience, we are to be like the one at the bottom rung of the ladder. Instead of patronizing people like a benefactor, we are to treat people with dignity and respect. Instead of being served, we are to serve. That’s pretty wild. It’s wild today and it was especially wild in Jesus’ day, where they were living in the middle of the Roman Empire and leading was all about power and dominance. 

But even today, we focus a lot on leadership, which is not a bad thing, but I think we miss Jesus’ point. As author Brant Hansen points out, you can walk into a bookstore and find all kinds of books on leadership but very few about followership, yet followers is what Jesus calls us to be. 

Why does this matter? Don’t we need leaders? Yes, we need leaders, but I think the reason it matters is this: Although God does have us lead things, we were made to worship, and if we’re not careful, we’ll start to worship ourselves or our position or authority. 

All of us have the capacity to get things wrong in our leadership, whether that’s thinking too highly of ourselves and becoming arrogant or thinking too little of who we are in Christ and getting insecure or feeling like it all depends on us and so getting lost in a flurry of activity. We can start to live in the past or in the future and fail to be present where God has us right now. But the good news is that we also all have the capacity to recognize when we’ve lost the way and to place Christ back on the throne of our lives. As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Church in Philippi, “if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Phil. 2:1-4).

Remember what Jesus said to the disciples at the Last Supper? He said, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.” Jesus and Paul are saying very similar messages: If you want to have a really profound impact, then humble yourself and become a servant. 

Do you know what the end result of this kind of attitude has? If we keep going in Philippians 2, Paul writes, “Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.’ Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.” What happens when we have an attitude that is contrary to the world, when we don’t grumble or argue or complain? We shine like stars in the universe as we get to hold out the word of life to those around us! Do you want to be an effective leader? Then make it all about glorifying God, and you will be the type of leader that God uses because you’re surrendered to Him! Your leadership can become an act of worship that points everyone around you to Jesus! It’s not that we don’t try to lead well. Quite the opposite. It’s that we want to lead incredibly well because we know that it’s not about us. It’s about honoring the Head of the body. We’re just the hands and feet and eyeballs and pinky toes. We’re each given a role, a sphere of influence, a group to lead. Your group may be enormous. My group may be small. It doesn’t really matter because it’s not about us. It’s about honoring the King of kings and Lord of lords. 

 “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that.” May we instead be women who lead with hearts of worship so that people see us but look to Jesus. 

Leading Through Transition

Transition is hard. No matter who you are or what role you play, transition is never easy. It often comes with frustration, tears, and doubt. As leaders, learning how to lead through transition is difficult. As we walk through our own struggles, we are still called to lead. But how well that is done is the challenge.

I believe there are five biblical fundamentals for leading through transition. When these principles are applied, there is an empowerment from the Holy Spirit that flows from heaven to His servant, and then it flows out to those being led.

The first “must” in leading through transition is to always function in your purpose. Don’t confuse functioning in your purpose with your calling—they are different. In a nutshell, functioning in your purpose means glorifying God. Above anything else, we are called to glorify Him. First Corinthians 10:31 makes it clear that whatever the situation, or how much we struggle or suffer, we are meant to glorify God.

Above the messiness of transition, believers must be determined to function in their purpose—we must resolve to glorify God. With this mindset, your ability to navigate the struggles and hardships of leading through transition will prevail, whatever you encounter.

Developing a firm, unshakable foundation is the second “must” for leading through transition. In Matthew 5, Jesus preaches the most valuable sermon of all time. He begins His message with a series of beatitudes and then transitions into real-life stuff—he teaches about the law, adultery, divorce, money, praying, loving our enemies, and much more. He tells us how to live a righteous life in Christ.

At the end the most robust sermon ever preached, Jesus sums it up with a parable. The parable is about two guys each building a house on two very different foundations. A storm comes, and there are two very different outcomes.

Through this parable, Jesus emphasizes that if you want to live righteously and be successful in all areas of life, then you must be rooted in Christ. You will have many trials and storms. But if your foundation is in Jesus, you will stand firm and lead well.

The third must for leading through transition is prayer. Prayer is power. Prayer is the believer’s weapon to fight off the enemy. It is our fuel to survive. Jesus knew that His ministry was dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit working through Him—that is part of why we see Jesus praying continuously throughout the Scriptures.

Jesus was in constant communication with the Father. And it was through that communication that the power of the Holy Spirt was unleashed. The disciples recognized the connection between prayer and movement of the Holy Spirit, which is why when they could have asked Him for anything, they asked Him to teach them to pray. Every miracle Jesus Christ performed hinged on His connection to the Father through prayer. Nothing was accomplished without prayer. If you are not praying, you are simply not leading.

The fourth “must” is to let go of the former things. Isaiah 43 tells us to forget the former things. Why? Because God is doing something new. We can’t see the something new if we are paralyzed in the past. The yesterdays of ministry are gone—learn from them, and then let go. God is doing something new. Maybe you are surrounded by wasteland with no end in sight. But you can trust God for the streams ahead.

The fifth “must” to lead successfully through transition is to persevere. James 1:12 says, “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.”

Rekindle Your First Love

This summer my husband and I celebrated 40 years of marriage. With that many years comes many peaks and valleys, disagreement, arguments, but also much joy, adventure, and shared experiences that tighten the bond. Eventually your children leave the nest for good and you are left looking at one another to decide how we will focus on one another in a new way as we spend these latter years of our lives.

Revelations 2 reminds us of 3 ways God wants to rekindle our first love with Him. The angel came to address the church of Ephesus. It is an active church with good attendance and hard workers, but it has forgotten the most important thing in relationship. It has forgotten love and moved to pragmatic functionality. This church is getting stuff done. They are hardworking, persevering, enduring, and tireless. In many ways they are exactly the kind of people we want in our churches. YET. Yet, they have forgotten their first love and the messenger of God has come to invite them back to choosing love.

For God, Christianity has always been about love.  The Trinity decided to add to their harmonious relationship by creating mankind to share in it. God’s purpose in this addition was always love. An invitation for people to choose simple and pure devotion to Jesus. As sin entered the world and a chasm was created between God and mankind, people used different methods to prove their love.  Hard work, sacrifice, perseverance, busyness replaced love. Ministry for God replaced relationship with God.  This Ephesian church is not the only church to need this reminder.  We, the Church, big C, today, needs this reminder as well.

God wants to help us rekindle our love for Him in three ways.  They aren’t necessarily difficult things to do, but will take our focused intentionality.

The first way God wants to rekindle our first love is tenderly and simply. When we first fall in love, we are hyper-focused on the person. We can’t get enough of their presence and want to be with them as much as possible. There is something about the person that the Song of Songs refers to as “ravishing my heart with one glance of your eyes.” In our relationship with Jesus, when we have “tasted and seen that the Lord is good” we want to keep experiencing that love. It bypasses our minds and awakens our heart’s longings for love.

The second way God wants to rekindle our love for Him is by asking us to realign ourselves to His wooing. This is another way of saying repent. He asks us to turn back from the things that have distracted us and realign our heart to His ways and will. Oftentimes getting off track happens very subtly. Slowly we stop spending time in His presence. We skip our daily routines that anchor us in the Word. We stop making time to listen for His voice. We stop waiting for Him in the secret place.  Over time our love grows cold, but we keep going through the motions with little or no feeling of love or desire for intimacy. It is always His wooing that causes us to return to Him. His tender calling of our name to come back to Him and give ourselves to Him again. It is always His kindness that leads to repentance. It may be faint, but He’s calling your name.

The third way God wants to rekindle our love for Him is by asking us to return and do what we did before. What did you do when you were desperate for God? What did you do when you had nowhere else to go? Jesus is asking us to remember and return to those routines and habits that helped fuel our passion and deepen our love and trust in Him. God wants relationship that leads to work, not work that leaves out relationship. Return to the simplicity of pure devotion to Jesus.  He is calling your name.  Make room for Him today and rekindle your love.

Rise Up Like Hagar

Sarai and Abram were desperate for a child in their old age. Though Abram received a promise from the Lord that they would have descendants as numerous as the stars (Genesis 15:5-6), he did not tell Sarai, so in her impatience and doubt, she took matters into her own hands.

Hagar was an Egyptian maidservant to Sarai and Abram. Sarai planned for Abram to take Hagar as his second wife, a common practice in their culture, hoping to fulfill her longing for a family through her maid. Hagar soon found herself pregnant with Abram’s child. At first, this might have brought her the sense of fulfillment and worth that she had longed for—however, as her pregnancy progressed, tensions grew. She began to despise Sarai, maybe feeling a glimpse of newfound power and importance that clashed with her previous identity as a servant.

Sarai, in turn, reacted with jealousy and mistreatment towards Hagar, blaming her for the situation she herself had created. Even Abram, the head of the household, failed to intervene, leaving Hagar to Sarai’s cruelty (Genesis 16:6). Faced with oppression and distress, Hagar fled into the wilderness.

Near a spring in the desert, the Angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar in her despair, urging her to return and submit to Sarai. “The Angel of the Lord told her, ‘Go back to your mistress and submit to her’” (Genesis 16:9). Despite the mistreatment she endured, we see Hagar rise up in grace, humility, and obedience. She chooses to trust in God’s plan, even when it seems impossible.

Despite being caught in the crossfire of human failures, she rose above her circumstances, finding strength in submission and trusting God. Her journey reminds us that even in our darkest moments, God sees us, knows us, and calls us to trust in His goodness. It’s easy to flee from a devastating diagnosis, family problems, depression, anxieties, grief, or barrenness, but God knows exactly what you are going through.

Hagar’s experience serves as a reminder of God’s compassion and sovereignty. Just as He saw Hagar in her distress, He sees each of us in our moments of suffering and uncertainty. He knows how you are feeling. He sees you and me. Nothing is hidden from Him. He pursues us. He wants to help us live out the plan He has for us.  In fact, he knows exactly where we are, and He meets us there. He will never leave us or forsake us. His grace is sufficient for us, made perfect in our weakness.

In the end, God’s faithfulness prevails. He blesses Hagar with a son, Ishmael, and reaffirms His promise to her. Through her story, we are reminded that we are never alone in our struggles. God is with us, guiding us through the wilderness towards a future filled with hope and promise. We just need to humbly obey and trust Him.