Tag: leaders

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Deuteronomy Devotionals

Who are you following?

Following God

I can no longer act as your leader…The LORD your God is the one who will cross ahead of you. (Deuteronomy 31:2-3)

Who is your faith dependent on? Your pastor? Your friends? Other people in the church?

There’s going to come a time when they can no longer be there for you. What happens then?

My hope is that you would set your eyes fully on God and follow him. That you would be strong and courageous and follow wherever he leads.

More importantly, that’s what God desires for you.

So let’s start learning how to do that now.

To feed ourselves spiritually.

To pray.

To listen to God’s voice.

To fear God.

And to obey him.

How about you? Are you learning those things now?

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Exodus Devotions

What we all need

Carrying burdens

“What you’re doing is not good,” Moses’s father-in-law said to him.

“You will certainly wear out both yourself and these people who are with you, because the task is too heavy for you. You can’t do it alone.” (Exodus 18:17-18)

“You can’t do it alone.”

I found it interesting that Jethro told Moses that not long after the battle against the Amalekites.

Moses literally couldn’t keep his hands up as he was interceding for the Israelites before God, but Aaron and Hur supported him until victory was achieved. (Exodus 17:8-16)

And now Jethro was telling him again, “You can’t do God’s work alone.”

That’s something we all need to remember.

Our leaders may seem like “super-Christians,” but they can’t do their jobs alone.

They certainly need our prayers and encouragement. But they also need us to do our part in ministry as well.

God has given each of us gifts to minister to others. Ministry is not just the job of the leaders. It’s the job of every Christian. (Ephesians 4:11-16)

But beyond that, all of us need support in our Christian lives.

Our personal ministries to our families and those around us can get heavy. Life itself can get heavy.

So let’s not try to live our Christian lives on our own.

Let’s support and encourage each other so that our load will be lightened and we’ll be able to endure. (Exodus 18:22-23)

As Paul put it,

Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2)

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2 Samuel Devotionals

Praying for our leaders

2 Samuel

Leaders will always disappoint us.

Whether government leaders or church leaders, they will disappoint us.

They disappoint us because they are human. And as humans, they have all their flaws and failings.

David may have been stronger been Ish-bosheth. But he was no better at dealing with Joab than Ish-bosheth was at dealing with Abner.

David also married many women despite God’s commands (Deuteronomy 17:17).

It seems he married at least one of them purely for political reasons. (2 Samuel 3:3)

In addition, he demanded to have Michal back, seemingly more for political reasons (she was a daughter of the former king, Saul) than actual love. This despite the fact that her new husband obviously loved her.

One also wonders how Michal felt. Certainly she had once loved David (1 Samuel 18:28).

But despite being treated badly by her father (1 Samuel 25:44), she did seem to have moved on.

Now she had to compete with multiple wives for David’s attention. And that may have led to her later attitude toward David. (2 Samuel 6:20)

And yet, God accomplished his purposes through David.

In the same way, he will accomplish his purposes through our political leaders and our church leaders, even though we can’t always see what those purposes are.

So let’s pray for our leaders. Pray that God will accomplish his purposes despite their flaws, despite their weaknesses.

For our leaders that don’t know God, pray that they will come to know him.

And for those who do know God, pray that God will continue to lead them and help them to become the leaders, more than that, the men and women calls them to be.

God shows them grace. Let us have that heart of grace as we pray for them.

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1 Timothy Devotionals

Praying for our leaders

1 Timothy

First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

This is good, and it pleases God our Savior… (1 Timothy 2:1-3)

How often do we pray for our political leaders? That’s what Paul calls us to do. What’s more, he says it is pleasing in God’s sight when we do so. 

Note two things. 

Paul doesn’t merely say, “Pray about our leaders.” 

Nor does he say, “Complain about and curse our leaders in your prayers.” 

He says “Pray for them.” 

If your leaders are godly and you like them, that’s easy to do. 

If they aren’t and you don’t, it’s a lot more difficult. 

The interesting thing is this, and it’s my second point: 

Paul wrote this when Nero was Caesar. And whatever you think of Trump or Biden, Nero was a million times worse than either of them. If you doubt me, just look at the history books. 

And yet, Paul said, “Pray for him.” 

How do we pray for ungodly leaders? 

  1. Pray for their salvation. For God “wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (4)
  2. Pray for wisdom in leading the country. They are mere people. Their position does not suddenly endow them with perfect wisdom in dealing with Covid or the myriad problems our country faces.
  3. Pray for courage to do what is right. That is especially hard when the direction of their party is going against them. 
  4. Pray for God’s restraint. At some point, God will take off all restraints on people’s evil, and then judgment will come. Pray that God in his grace and mercy keeps the restraints in place for as long as possible. (2 Thessalonians 2:6-7, Romans 1:24-32)

Finally, a word: “More praying. Less arguing.” 

As James said, “People’s anger does not lead to the righteous life God wants us to live.” (James 1:20)

It takes away from our witness when we’re hostile to unbelievers. And when we’re fighting with each other, we lose sight of what God is calling us to do in this world: to bring his salvation to people who are lost and dying. 

So let us put aside all our anger and arguments, and lift up holy hands together, praying for and working for the salvation of our nation. (8)

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1 Peter Devotionals

Humility

1 Peter

All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. (1 Peter 5:5)

Here Peter addresses specifically the relationship between leaders in the church and their sheep.

Leaders are to clothe themselves with humility to the people they are shepherding.

Why? Because leaders stand accountable to the Chief Shepherd.

And unlike the Chief Shepherd, they do not know all things, nor are they all-wise. And so they need to be willing to learn, even from the sheep.

In the same way, the members are to clothe themselves with humility to their leaders.

Why? Because they also stand accountable to the Chief Shepherd.

And because their elders have been put in their position by the Chief Shepherd. God does not do things randomly.

I will be honest: I struggle with humility. Especially when I think I’m right and the other person is wrong.

But if I do not clothe myself with humility, two things will likely happen.

  1. If I am actually wrong, I won’t be able to see it. Or if I do, I will have a hard time swallowing it because of my pride.
  2. If the other person is wrong, they’ll have a hard time seeing it because of my attitude.

Either way, we will be acting in ways displeasing to our Chief Shepherd.

So when we disagree with each other, let us strive to maintain a humble attitude. Because ultimately, we all will have to answer to our Chief Shepherd.

God resists the proud
but gives grace to the humble.,

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God… (5-6)

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2 Samuel Devotionals

Praying for our leaders

2 Samuel

I was just reading this passage with my wife this evening, and verses 3-4 really struck me.

The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me,
his word was on my tongue.

The God of Israel spoke;
the Rock of Israel said to me,

“The one who rules the people with justice,
who rules in the fear of God,
is like the morning light when the sun rises on a cloudless morning,
the glisten of rain on sprouting grass.” (2 Samuel 23:3-4)

My first thought in reading that was, “Why can’t Prime Minister Abe (I live in Japan) and President Trump (especially President Trump — I am an American citizen) be like that?”

My second thought was, “How often do I pray for them?”

It’s so easy for us when we’re praying to complain about our leaders. But God doesn’t call us to complain about them.

He calls us to pray for them.

Specifically,

First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

This is good, and it pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:1-4)

If we want to “change the number” in our countries, that is, to see many more people come to know Christ and give their lives to him, we need to start praying for our leaders.

Don’t waste your time praying about your leaders’ failures and stupid choices. Pray for them.

Won’t you join me in praying for them today?

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Deuteronomy Devotionals

Who truly leads us

Deuteronomy

At the end of his life, Moses said something to the Israelites that must have left them with a sick feeling in the pit of their stomachs.

I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you… (Deuteronomy 31:2)

Moses had been their leader for so long. For Joshua, he had been a beloved mentor. But now Moses was about to die, and he could no longer lead them.

How did they feel?

Scared?

Inadequate?

Probably.

But Moses encouraged them,

The Lord your God himself will cross over ahead of you. (2-3)

No matter how good a leader is, he or she cannot lead you forever. No matter how revered a mentor you may have, that person will not always be there for you.

But God himself will always be with us. And he can take us to places where our leaders and mentors cannot.

So even while they are with us, let us not focus or depend so much on our leaders, pastors, or mentors.

For the time will come when they depart, and we will be left behind.

But as Moses told Joshua, he tells us now.

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.

Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. (8)

And God himself confirms to us,

I myself will be with you. (23)

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Hebrews

Serving the one who never changes

Hebrews

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)

This is a famous verse, and one of my favorites.

It reminds me that my Lord is unchanging. And that is comforting in a world where people change all the time, and not always for the better.

In Jesus, we have someone we can always rely on, someone whose word we can trust, and someone who will always be faithful to us.

That’s why the writer of Hebrews tells us,

Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. (7)

For the Jesus that transformed them, and who worked in them and through them is the same Jesus that transforms us, working in us and through us.

So as we look at our leader’s faith and all that God did in their lives, we can be encouraged that if we walk in faith, we too will see God’s work and faithfulness in our lives.

And it’s why the writer of Hebrews tells us also,

Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so. (9)

In other words, Jesus brought us the message of grace. And because he is unchanging, his message will not change. He will not all of a sudden say, “Hey, you need to eat and avoid certain kinds of food to be right with my Father.”

So we should run from anyone that would bring us teaching that would take us away from the grace of God.

We no longer live by law, but by the grace of God.

Our goal is no longer to please God to earn our salvation. Rather, because we have already received our salvation through Christ, we seek to please him out of gratitude and our love for him.

The writer of Hebrews then tells us the great privilege we have in Christ. He says,

We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat. (10)

What is he talking about? He’s talking about the priests and the sacrifices of atonement they offered for sin.

The priests were allowed to eat from some of the sacrifices, but they could not eat from the sacrifices made on the Day of Atonement.

Instead, the sacrificed animals were completely burned outside of the camp where the Israelites pitched their tents (11).

But at the altar of the cross, we “eat” of the one who is the Bread of Life.

That is, in coming to Jesus and putting our trust in his work on the cross, we now have eternal life.

So the writer of Hebrews tells us, “We have a right that even the priests of the Old Testament didn’t have. They could not take part of the sacrifices of atonement. In Christ, we can.”

And then the writer of Hebrews goes back to the theme of the unchanging Christ.

And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. (12)

That is, this Jesus in the past offered his life completely to atone for our sins outside of Jerusalem.

Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. (13)

In other words, let us now go to that same Jesus who is waiting for us outside the camp, that is this world.

Put another way, let us leave behind all the sin and pleasures of this world, being willing to suffer for doing so, just as Jesus suffered for us.

For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. (14)

This world is not our true home. Our true home is in heaven, where this same Jesus reigns forever and ever.

And so the writer of Hebrews concludes,

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.

And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. (15-16)

Each day then, through our words and our deeds, let us glorify this Jesus, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

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1 Timothy

Biblical principles: God’s standard for pastors

1 Timothy

The standard to which pastors and elders are held is a very high one. Why? Because they represent Christ to their congregation and they represent the church to the world.

We’ve all seen what happens when they fail in this and scandal rocks the church. It not only hurts people within the church, but damages the church’s reputation in the world.

And so while Paul does require two or three witnesses before admitting a charge against the pastors and elders, he makes it clear to Timothy that when the charge is proven, he cannot simply ignore it. Rather he is to bring it in front of the church and rebuke that pastor or elder.

Why? For one thing, it proves there is no double-standard between the leadership and the congregation.

Second, it shows the church that sin is taken seriously and will not be ignored no matter who commits it.

Third, it serves as a warning to those who are being tempted to sin in the same way.

But as important as it is to deal with these problems when they come up, it’s even more important to do everything possible to make sure that it doesn’t happen at all.

We should choose leaders who are full of integrity and won’t fall in such a way that it brings disrepute to the name of Christ and to the church.

Because of this, Paul told Timothy,

Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure. (1 Timothy 5:22)

When people were chosen as pastors or elders, people like Timothy or Paul would lay their hands on them, praying for them, and committing them to God for that work.

So what Paul was saying was, “Don’t be hasty in choosing someone to be a pastor or elder. Don’t share in their sins by supporting them for that position without checking them out first.”

And the most important way to test a pastor or elder was to watch their lives. Paul said,

The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them.

In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not cannot be hidden. (1 Timothy 5:24-25)

In other words, some people are easy to disqualify because their sins are so obvious.

Other sins, though, are not so easy to see, and you won’t notice them until you have spent time with that person and gotten to know them.

On the other hand, there may be other people that you think are not so special or qualified. But when you take a closer look at their lives, you’ll see that they are the very ones that are most qualified.

Either way, watch those within the church who are candidates for pastor or elder. Make sure of them before assigning them to that position. If you don’t, you could very well find yourself with a disaster on your hands.

While Paul is focusing on pastors and elders, I think you could extend this to any ministry where a person needs to take a leadership role.

It might be for the process of choosing people to be small group leaders or Sunday school teachers. Anyone who represents the church as a leader or teacher is to be held to a high standard.

So we need to be careful who we choose.

And for those who are in leadership or teaching positions, we need to be careful to always represent Christ well by how we live.

How careful are you being?

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1 Corinthians

Who we follow

1 Corinthians

As we go through life, there are any number of people that we look up to as our examples, starting with our parents, then teachers and coaches, to pastors and so on.

And hopefully, all of them are good mentors to us. But Paul reminds us here to be very careful about who we choose to follow.

There are many people, even in the Christian world, who sound good. But as Paul says,

The kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. (1 Corinthians 4:20)

And so Paul said when he came to Corinth,

I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. (1 Corinthians 4:19)

That’s the question we need to ask ourselves. What power is behind the people we are following?

Is it God? Or is it something else? Natural charisma? Money? Position? Or is there even an evil spiritual power behind them?

How do we tell what kind of power is behind them? By the fruit that they bear. Jesus tells us,

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.

By their fruit you will recognize them. (Matthew 7:15-16)

What kind of fruit do we look for? The fruit of their teaching and the fruit of their lives.

Paul himself points that out when talking of Timothy and himself.

For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord.

He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. (1 Corinthians 4:17)

When we find such people in our lives, we should follow their example. As Paul said,

Therefore I urge you to imitate me. (1 Corinthians 4:16)

But when their fruit is rotten, we need to run as quickly and far away as possible.

How about you? Who are you following?

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1 Corinthians

Elevating people over Christ

1 Corinthians

I suppose it’s natural for people in the church to look up to Christian leaders as their example, and as the ones they admire.

After all, these leaders have been following Christ longer, and presumably have more wisdom and knowledge than we do. More, we can actually see them, and have face to face conversations with them.

By no means am I saying that it’s bad to look up to people within the church as role models. But the danger comes when we elevate them over Christ.

Instead of following Christ, we follow these leaders. Instead of making Christ our example, we look solely at our leaders.

One problem that can come from this is divisions within the church, as the Corinthians had. Some people were saying, “I follow Paul.” Others said, “I follow Apollos.” Others said, “I follow Cephas (Peter).”

And Paul gets very sarcastic saying,

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? (1 Corinthians 1:13)

In other words, “Who are you following anyway?”

Later, he would tell them in chapter 3,

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe–as the Lord has assigned to each his task.

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. (1 Corinthians 3:5-7)

In short, “Stop elevating people over God. The people are merely servants of God.

No one seeks to elevate the servant in the household, but the master. So why do we elevate the leaders in the church when they are merely servants?”

But so many people do. And we have seen it lead to divisions within the church today.

The other problem with elevating people above God is that they are merely human, and because of that, they will inevitably let us down.

And if our faith is based on the lives of these people rather than God, then when they fall or disappoint us, our faith will fall as well.

So let us not elevate people, no matter how godly they are, above him who died for us and rose again. Let us not get into fights over this pastor being better than that pastor.

Each has their own work as God has assigned it to them. It’s not our place to judge them, and we especially have no right to judge them compared to other pastors.

Leave the judgments to God who alone knows what he has required of them.

And let us not rest our faith on the faith of others. Rather let us rest our faith and hope in God alone.

If we rest our faith on others, we will inevitably be disappointed. But if we put our trust in Christ, we never will be put to shame. (Romans 10:11)

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Acts

What pastors and leaders cannot do

Acts

The early church was not without its growing pains. And we see an example of it here.

Among the things the church did was provide for the needs of the poor among them. But as the church grew, the responsibilities for this ministry grew exponentially.

At first, the apostles took care of the collecting and dispersing of the money. We see this when Barnabas and Ananias came before Peter and the apostles to present the money they had received from selling their land.

But now, with the great number of believers within the church, balls were starting to get dropped.

Not only that, a racial divide started to develop between the Hebraic Jews and Grecian Jews, with the needs of the Grecian widows being neglected in favor of the Hebraic widows.

How could this happen? I don’t know. I don’t believe the apostles were purposefully racist. But with too many other things to attend to, they definitely dropped the ball on this.

Their solution? They said,

It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.

Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.

We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word. (Acts 6:2-4)

Upon doing so, the Word of God spread, and the church continued its rapid growth.

What can we get from this? One major thing.

There is one thing that our pastors and leaders cannot do: everything.

Yet so often, we leave ministry to the “professionals.”

The truth is, all of us are part of the body of Christ. We all need to do our part. But to do our part, we all need to be filled with God’s Spirit.

Too many people in the church complain when balls get dropped in the church and they criticize the leaders for it.

But are we daily being filled with God’s Spirit, and doing our part to take the burden off of them so that they can do the things that God has specifically called them to do?

Are we helping them to avoid getting distracted by the things that would detract from their calling?

I suppose the question from the pastors’ side is what do they feel their main calling is as a pastor? What is God calling them to do within the church? And what things do they need to let go of so that they can focus on that calling?

Just as importantly, are they raising up Spirit-filled people who can take on the other responsibilities of the church?

Pastors and leaders can’t do everything. And if we can learn that, from the pastor down to the newest member in the church, God’s church can grow.

But if we don’t, we will face definite limits going forward in trying to extend God’s kingdom.

How about you? Are you doing your part?