Prayerful Leadership
Hey guys! Oh it feels good to finally get up in this blog! Just following chapter 12 and using my time wisely, application. But what I want to encourage all of us on is the chapter 'Prayer and Leadership'.
I thought this chapter was awesome and needs to be considered a great deal. As I was looking over my heart and this topic I found myself convicted because I personally do not spend enough time in prayer. As Oswald Sanders said, "And yet the most advanced leader is conscious of the possibility of endless development in his prayer life." The only way we can find this endless development is if we are truly devoted to prayer, just like the famous Colossians 4:2-
2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
This is something that cannot be taken lightly. Prayer is a "... Strenuous spiritual exercise that demands the utmost mental discipline and concentration"(pg 86). Being a leader is a serious task, so prayer needs to be a serious commitment. If we do not take it as serious as portrayed in God's word, we will be weak in our prayer and get extremely lazy. But as read in this book, we need to give prayer a large section of our day, in all things we do. We see this example in Luke 6:12-
12One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.
Wow! What extreme commitment we find in the Son of God, I don't know about you guys but an all nighter of prayer and meditation is impossible for me! Or is it? My flesh says its impossible but God gives us the strength. Remember that it is not our flesh in whom we find our strength, but the Spirit that Christ has given us, so lets pray in the Spirit! We cannot rely on ourselves, it would make such things impossible.
Without prayer we will be powerless leaders who are not relying on God but on ourselves, which makes us no leaders at all. We cannot take things such as this in our own hands, but rely on the power and energy of the Holy Spirit. To echo Oswald Sanders again on page 87 near the middle-
"For its superhuman task, prayer demands more than human power. We have the Spirit of power as well as the Spirit of prayer. All the human energy of heart, mind, and will can achieve great human results, but praying in the Holy Spirit releases supernatural resources."
This chapter was really exciting to read and blessed me a great deal! Hopefully it does this to all of you too, this topic is so serious and we cannot be hypocrites standing up leading as a Shepherd and not relying on THE Shepherd. We do this through prayer and the reading of His word. So lets pray continually in a way that mimics this chapter. I know I bounced around a lot but there was much to say but little time to say it all.
I thought this chapter was awesome and needs to be considered a great deal. As I was looking over my heart and this topic I found myself convicted because I personally do not spend enough time in prayer. As Oswald Sanders said, "And yet the most advanced leader is conscious of the possibility of endless development in his prayer life." The only way we can find this endless development is if we are truly devoted to prayer, just like the famous Colossians 4:2-
2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
This is something that cannot be taken lightly. Prayer is a "... Strenuous spiritual exercise that demands the utmost mental discipline and concentration"(pg 86). Being a leader is a serious task, so prayer needs to be a serious commitment. If we do not take it as serious as portrayed in God's word, we will be weak in our prayer and get extremely lazy. But as read in this book, we need to give prayer a large section of our day, in all things we do. We see this example in Luke 6:12-
12One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.
Wow! What extreme commitment we find in the Son of God, I don't know about you guys but an all nighter of prayer and meditation is impossible for me! Or is it? My flesh says its impossible but God gives us the strength. Remember that it is not our flesh in whom we find our strength, but the Spirit that Christ has given us, so lets pray in the Spirit! We cannot rely on ourselves, it would make such things impossible.
Without prayer we will be powerless leaders who are not relying on God but on ourselves, which makes us no leaders at all. We cannot take things such as this in our own hands, but rely on the power and energy of the Holy Spirit. To echo Oswald Sanders again on page 87 near the middle-
"For its superhuman task, prayer demands more than human power. We have the Spirit of power as well as the Spirit of prayer. All the human energy of heart, mind, and will can achieve great human results, but praying in the Holy Spirit releases supernatural resources."
This chapter was really exciting to read and blessed me a great deal! Hopefully it does this to all of you too, this topic is so serious and we cannot be hypocrites standing up leading as a Shepherd and not relying on THE Shepherd. We do this through prayer and the reading of His word. So lets pray continually in a way that mimics this chapter. I know I bounced around a lot but there was much to say but little time to say it all.
posted by Matthew Crane at 7:45 PM
2 Comments:
Awesome, thanks Matt for the post, and I agree how quickly we over look the outlet of prayer for strength, help, wisdom, and change (to echo an earlier post). A verse that came to mind when reading this, that gave me encouragement and comfort in praying is Romans 8:26-27, talking about the Holy Spirits work through our weakness, especially in prayers :) Its nice to know that the right message is rising up to the LORD.
Thanks for the "bouncing" Matt! That was a great post and reminder of how important prayer is. It's a strange paradox, prayer is the simplest, yet hardest discipline to master. I love how Sanders said something like, "between God and the devil is a Chritsian at prayer." Wow, great imagery, huh?! What a privileage to have - talking to the alimighty sovereign Creator of all existense...we need to always remember that fact.
Post a Comment
<< Home