Skip to main content

On the Kindle

This week I am kindling 'Be A People Person : Effective Leadershio through Relationship' by John C Maxwell. He has a great chapter on how to be a person people respect. A key part of having respect is "failure proofing" your life through listening for the “alarm bells” in your life. Here are Maxwell's 10 questions every leader must ask to help spot those warning signs.

1. Is My Personal Walk with God Up to Date? Every leader should be able to answer the question, “Do you have a word from the Lord that is up to date?” or “What have you been learning recently from the Lord?” We should have something that God is teaching me us today.

2. Am I Keeping My Priorities Straight? Countless numbers leaders have become “successful” only to discover the tragic price for their success was a broken marriage or loss of health. At some point along the road to success, their priorities shifted. Our priorities must be God, family and vocation - in that order.


3. Am I Asking Myself the Difficult Questions? We must ask ourselves the critical questions : Why am I doing this? What are my motives? How should it be done? When should I do it? When does God want his task accomplished?

4. Am I Accountable to Someone in Authority over My Life? Much of the problem of credibility in the Christian community is caused by people with power who struggle with the same tough moral issues as the rest of the world, yet are often not accountable to anyone. Authority minus accountability equals a very dangerous situation.

5. Am I Sensitive to What God Is Saying to the Body of Christ? Are you sensitive to the fact that God speaks to others too? If you can’t answer an unqualified yes, you’re skating on thin ice. God the Spirit speaks to others in the body who complement us and make up for our weaknesses.

6. Am I Overly Concerned with Image Building? Too many of us have become more interested in image building than in kingdom building. Change in this area requires us to ask : Do I make decisions based on what is right or what is most easily accepted? When I do something for the Lord, do people see me or do they see my God?

7. Am I Overly Impressed by Signs and Wonders? We all seek to experience revival. But more than seeking revival, we need to seek God. Then we certainly will experience revival, healings, and miracles. But if we pursue revival for revival’s sake, we’re seeking after secondary results. God is not in the entertainment business. When he works miracles, it is for one purpose only—the ultimate good of his kingdom.

8. Am I a Loner in My Service to the Lord? When we design our lives after the Lone Ranger concept, we are sure to suffer some unfavourable consequences. We develop a distorted perception of ourselves, our ministries, and other people. We become irrelevant because we don’t live where other people live. There is a sense of exclusiveness and an inability to relate to the real world.

9. Am I Aware of and Honest about My Weaknesses? To be forewarned is to be forearmed! Most of us know our deficiencies, but we have a tendency to try to cover them. We need to set aside time to reflect on our weaknesses. Areas where we become sidetracked and are prone to sin. We then need to ask God to strengthen us. Paul David Tripp has great advice about this. 

10. Is My Commitment Constantly Before Me? This is supremely important if God has called you into a position of Christian leadership. When Paul stood before King Agrippa, he said, “I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision.” Paul could have been tempted to give up, take other options, or yield to the persecution, but the thing that kept him on track was the vision before him.

Copyright © Chola Mukanga 2013

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Do Not Be Anxious

Do not be troubled if you are poor - Christ Himself had no place to lay His head. Do not let the prospect of future hard times make you anxious about how you will endure, for "you will not be ashamed in evil days, and in times of famine you will be satisfied." God has said (Psalm 37:19) therefore, you must believe it. Do not be overly concerned with securing provisions for old age, for by all appearances, you may not live to see it. It is more than likely that you will reach your journey’s end sooner than expected. Your body is frail - it is already declining, greeting decay as its mother before it has even fully entered the hall of this world. The supports of your earthly tent are being loosened little by little. Take courage, O my soul, for soon the devil, the world, and the flesh will be crushed beneath your feet, and you will be welcomed into eternal mansions.   But even if the Lord prolongs your days to old age, He who brought you forth from your mother's womb will n...

The Wound of Sin

Bless the Lord, O my soul, that when you were playing with the bait, unaware of the hook like so many others, He opened your eyes—allowing you to see your folly and danger so that you might flee from it. And now, be careful that you do not grasp at any of the devil's temptations, lest he ensnare you with his hook. For though you may be restored by grace, it will not be without a wound—just as a fish sometimes escapes the hook but swims away injured. That wound may bring sorrow and take long to heal. And you have already known this to be true. THOMAS BOSTON  ( Source : The Art of Man-Fishing) A sobering truth from Thomas Boston. Sin always damages. God always restores His children when we fall but it is never without the wounds. We often carry the scars of our sins. This is another m reason for us to avoid sin altogether. Sometimes in our presumption of His grace, we tend to be antinomian. Boston is warning that such an attitude is foolish since sin always damages. It always leaves ...

Jesus Never Fails

Many a times in my life, the words of this childhood hymn has been a tremendous encouragement. I pray this may encourage you too. Keep looking to Jesus! Jesus never fails, Jesus never fails The man of the world will let you down, but Jesus never fails. Your mother will let you down Your father will let you down The man of the world will let you down, but Jesus never fails. Your husband will let you down Your wife will let you down The man of the world will let you down, but Jesus never fails Your brothers will let you down Your sisters-will let you down The man of the world will let you down, but Jesus never fails Your church will let you down Your work will let you down The man of the world will let you down, but Jesus never fails Your friends will let you down Your country will let you down The man of the world will let you down, but Jesus never fails Your wealth will let you down Your health will let you down The man of the world ...