No Great Life Has Ever been Lived without Pain

2 Samuel 11:16-26; Psalm 51:4,12-14

As 2009 comes to an end ... I look back over the year at its ups and down. With each new year comes NEW adventure, NEW love, NEW chapters and sometimes even NEW PAIN.

David's Survival of his affair with Bathsheba shows that great leaders can indeed transcend their mistakes. I believe survival is best achieved when openness, forgiveness of others, and a recognition that we are all in the process of maturing happens.

Openness

I feel that openness is an imperative quality in a God-serving life! Those who can live in openness best survive their mistakes.

What is So admirable about King David is that once he was discovered (Him and Bathsheba) David openly declared that he was not above reproach. How many times have we hid behind our mistakes? How many times have we failed to be open and not above reproach as leaders?

Forgiveness

Forgiving others is not just medicine you give them; forgiveness is the tonic you take yourself. If you do not drink deeply of the forgiveness you extend, your grudges will in time poison your soul and you will be crippled for further assignments of the Lord.

I read a quote by Eugene Habecker the other day and Loved it!

"A leader who has not learned to be a good forgiver will not be as effective as one who has. Leadership affords too many uncomfortable incidents, too many inaccurate accusations, and too little time to keep track of everyone who has "wronged you."

Communicate the Process

Like all the world around us ... we must communicate that we are IN PROCESS! Process people are much easier to forgive when they are caught in error than those who try to project that they are perfectly finished and full of wisdom. If you are leading and you struggle with ... just remember that the "The right to mature is bought with our humanity."

The Cover Up

The cover-up approach is totally ego-defensive if you really think about it! The truth is my friend ... People can accept weaknesses more readily than hypocrisy!

I believe as leaders Genuine confession begins in the free admission that, when we hurt others, we really hurt GOD! God loves everyone! So passionate is that love that our very injuries become the wound of God. So our unacknowledged wrongs against others leave great gaps in our relationship with our heavenly Father!

Covering up bad relationships indicates that a leader has not dealt with the heavenly dimensions of His or her problems! Cover-up wounds the process!

Cover-up is a face-saving device designed to protect our reputation. Those who resort to it opt for saving their image, usually at the price of losing their authenticity!

Friends, we must return to the source of all spiritual vitality- SURRENDER!!! Such surrender grows for the leader, as it does for the follower, out of the double taproot of Galatians 2:20. We must be crucified with Christ to live Meaningfully!

No one expects a flawed leader to lead flawlessly. But EVERYONE, even people whose lives are flawed, expect moral leadership!

David's Repentance was written in much pain (psalm 51:12). But what I have learned, is that pain is always a healer! When our brokenness is splinted with the pain of our confession, then the healing can begin.

My husband and I had a very strong word given over us about 2 months ago.

"Just like a broken bone ... sometimes they aren't always healing completely straight. So a Doctor has to come in and re-break the bone- with your permission, of course- and reset it! AGREE to this process! Know that the ultimate healing of God's children somehow sometimes will lay in the difficult process of brokenness! God is going to DO SOMETHING AMAZING!!

This was my prayer after hearing that word:

"Make me to hear joy and gladness," Cries David, "that the bones which you have broken may rejoice" (Ps. 51:8)

I encourage you to study the Bible as you study leadership. You will then stir morality into your leadership recipe. you will also find the Bible a wellspring of Quietude!

STAND AND LEAD. But never forget leaders, that we purchase the right to direct with the currency of our obedience. Therefore, Speak only after you have listened! Lead only as you follow. STAND only after you have sat quietly in His presence. Raise your chin and command, only after you have bowed you head and Obeyed!

Blessings,

Sarah Holsapple

Power?

" The only thing that walks back from the tomb with the mourners and refuses to be buried, is the character." This is true! What a man is, survives him. It never can be buried!

As I continue on this study with leadership ... I am beginning to see a multitude of layers unfold in the midst of my study!! The question that sits heavy on my mind, and yet to be answered is .... WHAT DOES A GODLY LEADER LOOK LIKE?

I have truly enjoyed studying King David! Although King David did many GREAT things, He also struggled at times. King David was given GREAT power! I believe that his impact echos through generations because of what he did with the GOD GIVEN POWER that was given to him!

Have you ever been given power and used it in abusive way? The path to abusive power is easily traceable. It begins simply in our need for appreciation. I believe in many ways our current culture has made power a GOD. Many people can struggle with this thing called

" Arrogance" Arrogance, when well fed, begins to believe that the world owes it whatever it can seize.

As long as we follow Christ, we are safe! We are servants as long as we remember what Jesus said to Pilate: " You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above"

John 19:11

So often in life we find ourselves making a mess of our circumstances. Yet we often think in terms of how to fix things up rather than to make things right! Please friends remember that Fixing mess-ups falls short of being mended by the atoning work of Christ.

Are we so involved in selfish indulgence that we are blind to the signposts that God puts in our way to call us to Himself?

Again I say ... God made us to love people and use things. Why is it that we so often love things and use people? God longs to raise up those rare Christ-filled leaders who use their might to create right rather than claim that their might is Right!

Good Decisions Are Made in an Atomosphere of Joy

I believe that the first indicator of good decision making is that we have made our decision, not in moments of self doubt, but in moments of worshiping the living God! Second Samuel 6:14 -15 tells the story of David's bringing the ark into the city. It was done in an atmosphere of GREAT joy! David was so carried away he began dancing in excitement! Every time I read this portion of scripture I feel drawn to David's enthusiasm.

When it comes to getting people on board to follow a vision, I know my best decisions need to be contagious. Decisions need to be "Dancing Decisions." I have found the best way to put the dance in decisions: personal worship!

I believe that it is better to lead in joy, making occasional mistakes, than try to lead with sterile data and cold logic!

Not only do decisions need to made in joy but they also should be in favor of God before self. So many spiritual leaders only appear to be giants to others. To themselves they are in desperate need of God.

Abraham Lincoln, whom we now revere as the greatest of American leaders, confessed his neediness when he admitted, "I have been driven to my knees many times on the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go!" Paul the apostle readily said in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distress for Christ's sake: For when I am weak, then am I strong."

There is no leader quite so powerful as a spiritually needy leader. There are no decision makers who make better decisions than those unsure leaders who MUST have God's help with deciding.

Understand that Decisions have a life of their own. They are like persons who change the face of history. Great is the Decider who knows the right time and does not allow himself to be badgered into bad timing. Every Great leader is a futurist. They always consider what today's decisions will mean in tomorrow's world.

I want to be a leader who is not satisfied with yesterday's performance. I believe the best is yet to take place! My motivation for believing in the future is hidden in God's Continuing faithfulness. After all, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8)

Decisions Decisions ... What to do?

I am truly enjoying blogging about my study on leadership and King David! I hope you have enjoyed reading through my personal thoughts.

Today I continue to unfold the many layers of this thing called "leadership". I believe one of the biggest keys to leadership is this thing called "Decision Making". Decision Making is Risky. Every single time you do it, you run the risk of being wrong. Of course, you also have a wonderful opportunity of being right. There's no question about it, the safest of all courses is to doubt. But, while its the riskiest, the most exciting of all courses is DECISION. Doubters often live bored; Deciders never!

I am reading 2 Samuel 6:1-15; 7:1-13

One thing I am finding out through this journey through this portion of scripture is

"Leaders are decision makers."

In this passage we see that Israel has a proud new capital, Jerusalem, the "city of peace." But David realized it would become a city of turmoil without God's direction. Like all great leaders, David was decisive. For him, all decision making began and ended with God.

I remember learning about the 4 pillars of Decision Making

Decisions:

1. They Divide life into manageable segments

David never forgot the day he brought the ark of the covenant into the holy city. It became a milestone for him. Never forget the day you said yes to a wonderful Decision in your life!

2. They create New Beginnings

Your decisions, right or wrong, create places for you to start again. In such drudging circumstances, a fresh start is always welcome.

3. They authenticate Self hood

Decision forces you into the cauldrons of refining loneliness. Yet the loneliness of decision making is not a desolate aloneness, but a reaching aloneness.

4. They weld us into a strong relationship with God

Decisions make you a partner with God. Somewhere around 50 percent of all decisions you make will be wrong. An intimate walk with God can help you lower this dreadful percentage!

As I examine the life of David, I am unearthing the principles of decision making. I am learning from them. And I am seeking my own maturity in leadership by becoming responsibly decisive!

Anytime we find ourselves passing the same scenery because we are "redeciding," our lives are uncertain. We have lost the map to destiny. God is absent from our counsel!

Only four consequences can happen in Decision making :

The wrong Decision at the wrong time = DISASTER

The wrong Decision at the right time = MISTAKE

The right decision at the wrong time = REJECTION

The Right Decision at the right time = SUCCESS

Great Decision making always gets God involved in the process! Always remember to talk more to God about people than to the people about your problems. (Exodus 18:20)

To Be Continued :

Vision: Gathering It Up and Giving it out

Did you know that studies have shown it is almost impossible to give a dog and ulcer? Do you know why? Because dogs hardly ever try to be anything but a dog.

-Steve Brown

Proverbs 29:18 reads, "Where there is no vision the people perish". John Haggai contributes to our understanding of this verse when he reminds us that the "true meaning of these words is, that without vision, the people cast off restraint. When a group is under the direction of a person who has no vision, the result is confusion, disorder, rebel ion, uncontrolled license, and -at worst- anarchy.

I believe that Most dynamic leadership is always fueled by vision as the word is defined in Scripture. How do you get vision? Where do dreams come from? Karl Jaspers was an existential philosopher who taught that ll living, to be meaningful, had to touch some "axial point." This axial point may come as a crisis of personal pain. But even periods of pain may bring us a new vision that redefines our lives.

But PAIN may be too mild a word. Often vision comes as the result of some tearing circumstances by which we come to an end of our own ability to make life work. In the darkness of such times, we may achieve a breakthrough. It may be a laser of hope that, slices through your gray existence and illuminates some new direction - a clear glory you had not been able to see before the pain came!

Here are some ways I turn reversals into opportunities in my life...

1. Nothing happens to us by accident; all reversals are God-given challenges sent to transfer our complacency to Passion!

2. never sidestep challenges. Grab every charging bull by the horns and slap him twice across the face. Remind him that God is in charge of you, and you're in charge of him!

3. Love people, use things. Never, ever revers this order or you have become unworthy of the high character of God's servants! The Lord is all about us loving others ... always remember that true joy comes from : Jesus first, others in the middle and you last :)

Surely Christ is the fount of our best imagination and vision! I must sound this word of warning. God does not shout His best vision through hassled christian living. It is in the quiet that He gives the most delivering visions of life!

The more electric and driving a vision is, the more it will inspire greatness in all those who hold it!! So hold onto your VISION ... Gather it up, and GIVE it out!

Do you have "YES MAN" Syndrome?

The yes-man may be nice to have around, but they also never question things, thus enabling anything to grow. Are you Surrounded by Lovers or Gentlemen in your life? Lovers want whats best for you (or an organization). Gentlemen merely offer accord. Lovers confront in order to better their world. Gentlemen smile and agree.
The strongest people we really want to involve around us are the people who can say "no" to us. The leader who has to surround themselves with yes-people is not building a creative team. Neither can a leader who insists that you agree at every point contribute to overall growth of an organism of any kind! Max De Pree says, "Diversity of opinion is as necessary as light and air, a diversity of opinion that is encouraged and exploited for the good of the group!"
The word says that "Iron sharpens Iron" Accountability is foundational! True Biblical fellowship cant exist without the elements of stimulating one another in TRUTH.

I believe that it is in looking back that we are tempted to cherish our heritage while growing blind to our destiny. Nevertheless, our past performance can also instruct us. If we have done poorly, our past, painfully examined, can help us toward a better future. If we have repeatedly done something well in the past, we have established a pattern of HOPE! David, in 1 Samuel 17:34-36, remembered how well he had done with a slingshot in the past. So he proposed to transfer training. What worked with a bear would probably work with a giant, he reasoned. His slingshot methodolgy was transferable! Empowered leadership wisely makes the past its teacher. Goliath fell prey to proven principle. Empowered leadership takes good notes on life and writes all its future lectures out of past examinations!

The Beautiful People

The scripture says David was "Beautiful" (1 Samuel 16:12) David must have been one whose inner life rendered him beautiful. What is it that makes us beautiful? I know one thing ... Beautiful people are others-centered.

Self-Centeredness is ugly; altruism is beautiful . Stephen Covey says that self-Centerdness is like Israel's dead sea, for it welcomes in freshness but grows stagnant because it will not give! Personal growth comes from the giving life!

Let God Empower You to be the leader He Needs

God blessed King David only after David submitted himself to God's stregnth. I am excited to blog about the study that I am doing in my personal time on King David! I am excited to break down and Discover what Davids approach to leadership can teach us today. I cant wait to blog openly about how this part of scripture is impacting me "right now" right where I am !

King David was a great yet ordinary man "Great & ordinary" is the usual recipe of leadership. I am reading 1 Samuel 16 through 2 Samuel 9 right now .... WHAT A BLESSING!!! make no mistake the principles of leadership found in Scripture are applicabel in every area of secular and spiritual leadership!!

I hope that my blog will bless and challenge you in mighty ways!! Please feel free to give feedback!!!