Pastors can only fulfill their calling as shepherd leaders with the vitalizing power of prayer, and must pray for themselves first. A healthy, prayer-full pastor is an effective pastor. My newest book is to help pastors in this vital discipline of prayer.
Amen Indeed fuels growth by providing more than 100 prayers for pastors to pray for their own mental, physical, spiritual, and relational growth. Each is sourced from Scripture and rings with the “Amen” that Jesus promised to add (2 Corinthians 1:20).
“There is one assured way for our prayers to be answered: It is to pray the will of God.
“There is one assured way to pray the will of God: It is to pray Scripture.
“As ministers of the Gospel we would be wise then to primarily pray Scripture, for ‘the word of our God stands forever’ (Isaiah 40:8).” —Dick Brogden, Founder of the Live Dead Movement
“When it comes to prayer, we need some help. And in Amen Indeed, help is at hand. Whatever is keeping us from prayer, Craig Owens can help us push through to a more consistent and more consistently joyful and fruitful life of prayer.” —T.M. Moore, Principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Remember your leaders… (Hebrews 13:7).
As the writer of Hebrews closes his epistle, he speaks to the saints about how they should interact with their leaders (Hebrews 13:7-21). He concludes this section by saying their confidence in their leaders brings joy to their leaders.
But I would like to flip the script on this to describe how leaders are supposed to live in a way that makes it a joy for people to follow their leadership.
So, leaders, let’s make sure we are…
…speaking the Word of God, not any kinds of “strange teachings” (vv. 7, 9).
…living a life worthy of imitation. This requires a consistent and steadfast example of Christ-like living (vv. 7-8).
…strengthening people with grace, not man-made strategies (v. 9).
…not giving ourselves special privileges just because we are in leadership positions (v. 10).
…not concerned with public perceptions while we stand for Jesus (vv. 11-13).
…keeping in mind that our reward is in Heaven, so we don’t look for human accolades here but in “the city that is to come” (v. 14).
…setting the example in hospitality (v. 16).
…leading with the integrity and gentleness that makes it easy for saints to have confidence in our leadership (v. 17a).
…serving with sober joy (v. 17b).
…praying for others to be empowered “to live honorably” and with a clear conscience (vv. 18-19).
A mark of a godly leader is one who makes it desirable for others to follow Jesus.
Jesus is “that great Shepherd of the sheep” (v. 20). We are merely under-shepherds of small flocks, but we have been appointed to this pasture by Him.
He will equip us “with everything good for doing His will” (v. 21a), which means we don’t have to attempt to equip ourselves. Instead, we can operate in His empowerment.
He will also work in us “what is pleasing to Him” (v. 21b). We are not trying to please people, but we should want to please the One to Whom we must give an account.
All “glory for ever and ever” goes to Him! We are not serving as His under-shepherds so that we can be recognized, but so people can draw closer to Him. We shepherd people to make Jesus known.
If we will keep these things in mind, we are free to serve. Leaders who are secure—who are humbly confident in their calling—are leaders who are easy to follow.
Let’s pray: Holy Spirit, help me to lead in a way that allows others to see Jesus because of my lifestyle. I want to be an example that helps others draw ever closer to Him. Amen!
This is part 88 in my series on godly leadership. You can check out all of my posts in this series by clicking here. And you may also want to check out my books for church leaders—Shepherd Leadership and When Sheep Bite.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run withPERSEVERANCEthe race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Pioneer and Perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him HeENDUREDthe Cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who ENDUREDsuch opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:1-3)
The words perseverance (v. 1) and endured (2x in vv. 2-3) are all the Greek word hupomone. This word means: not swayed from the goal, not hesitating to run the race, pushing forward no matter what.
These three verses also identify three thing that could trip us up:
Sin. Not just blatant sin, but any area where I am hesitating to respond to the Holy Spirit.
Shame. Paying attention to how I look in the eyes of others, and then feeling ashamed that I don’t measure up to their standard.
Opposition. The attacks from the devil and his willing agents.
Fortunately, this same passage also tells us the three ways to avoid these trip-ups:
Throw off the sin! Make the changes the Holy Spirit has shown me—do it immediately.
Keep my eyes on Jesus. After all, it doesn’t matter what anyone else things of me. If I keep my eyes on my Savior, I can be fueled by the same joy that kept Him from getting tripped up.
Consider the opposition. The Greek word for “opposition” is literally a combination of “anti” and “logic.” The opposition has opinions that are illogical, but I have the logical Truth in Jesus!
No regression. No hesitation. Only upward and onward every single day!
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here.
Have you ever heard the phrase, “Choose work you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life”? I’m not sure that is totally accurate. Work that is meaningful and fulfilling will be draining, hard work. We see Jesus taking time away from His work to be replenished from the activities that drained Him.
Instead, I think we need to find joy in our work. That joy comes from knowing why we are working. If we know the answer to the question, “Why do I do what I do, even if what I do is hard and demanding work” (and we can stay focused on that), then I think there is a joy that makes our duty a delight.
Jesus knew His duty from the very beginning. We see this in the story Luke shares with us about 12-year-old Jesus visiting Jerusalem (Luke 2:41-50). The phrase “I had to be in My Father’s house” (NIV) is rendered “must be” (NLT, KJV), and “I had to be here dealing with the things of My Father” (MSG). And I think the AMPC version is especially telling: Did you not see and know that it is necessary as a duty for Me to be in My Father’s house and occupied about My Father’s business?
Jesus came to Jerusalem every year for the festivals of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits (see Leviticus 23:4-6, 9-14). Now at “twelve years old” He has had His bar mitzvah and is considered a Man in the eyes of the Jewish community. Eighteen years later, we see Jesus still focused on this same duty (Luke 3:23, 9:18-22).
Jesus found delight and fulfillment in doing His duty (Luke 10:21; John 4:31-34).
Jesus calls His followers to this same food that sustained Him (John 4:35-38). He calls this “hard work” that allows us to “be glad together.” Our joy is the joy of Jesus. Notice in Luke 10:21 that His joy was because His followers found joy in doing their duty for Him (Luke 10:1-3, 17).
Don’t look for the wages or your reward here, but do your duty joyfully in expectation of future and eternal rewards (Luke 17:7-10; John 3:27-30).
Let’s go back to 12-year-old Jesus in the temple. He was there during three Old Testament feasts that all pointed to Him and were fulfilled in Him:
Passover (Abib 14)—the day Jesus was crucified
Unleavened Bread (Abib 15-21)—when Jesus was in the grave
Firstfruits (Abib 16)—the day Jesus was resurrected (see James 1:18)
Pentecost (50 days after Firstfruits)
Twenty-one years after this story in Luke 2, in the very same place where Jesus is interacting with these religious leaders, the followers of Jesus would be baptized in the Holy Spirit! He is the One Who makes our duty a delight.
We get a foreshadowing of the joy in the Holy Spirit in Luke 1:41-44 when just a greeting from Mary—who was pregnant with Jesus by the Holy Spirit—causes the baby in Elizabeth’s womb to leap with joy in the Holy Spirit. We, too, live in joy when the Spirit is actively at work in us (John 15:11; Romans 5:3-5). The Spirit reminds us of the rewards for our joyful duty (Matthew 25:34; Luke 12:35-37).
You can stick with your have-to-do duties if you have a get-to-do attitude that comes from the joy the Holy Spirit gives.
Which is why Jesus prays for our joy to be complete, and Paul prays, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).
Check out all of the messages in this series about the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives by clicking here.
Sometimes leaders will have to part ways with a staff member. The way this is done can either bring resolution or it can create lingering problems. Check out this clip from our conversation on combatting toxicity in the workplace.
I thoroughly enjoyed this commentary from John Piper on the power of silence in the face of critics and revilers. Pastor John noted, “Both the teachings and the sufferings of Jesus are meant to teach us how to respond when we are treated badly, unjustly. We are to glorify God by finding in Him the reward that satisfies our heart deeply enough that we don’t need to return evil for evil.” I really leaned into this supernatural response to critics in my book When Sheep Bite.
“To preach Christianity meant primarily to preach the Resurrection. … The Resurrection is the central theme in every Christian sermon reported in the Acts. The Resurrection, and its consequences, were the ‘gospel’ or good news which the Christians brought: what we call the ‘gospels’, the narratives of Our Lord’s life and death, were composed later for the benefit of those who had already accepted the gospel. They were in no sense the basis of Christianity: they were written for those already converted. The miracle of the Resurrection, and the theology of that miracle, comes first: the biography comes later as a comment on it.” —C.S. Lewis, Miracles
“We all know that exercise makes us feel better, but most of us have no idea why. We assume it’s because we’re burning off stress or reducing muscle tension or boosting endorphins, and we leave it at that. But the real reason we feel so good when we get our blood pumping is that it makes the brain function at its best, and in my view, this benefit of physical activity is far more important—and fascinating—than what it does for the body. Building muscles and conditioning the heart and lungs are essentially side effects. I often tell my patients that the point of exercise is to build and condition the brain.” —Dr. John Ratey
“When it comes to leadership, attitude becomes even more important. You need to see possibilities when others don’t, encourage people when they are feeling defeated, and demonstrate commitment when others want to quit.” —John Maxwell
J. Warner Wallace not only makes the case that original accounts in the Gospels haven’t been changed over time, but he also shows how the corroborating sources affirm the original account—
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here.
If you are reading the Gospels with the words of Jesus printed in red, there is one place where the red ink virtually disappears: When Jesus is on trial before Pilate, Herod, and the Sanhedrin. There’s an important lesson here for us.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
There has always been a lot of discussion in the field of counter-factual history. That is, asking the “What if” questions and then trying to guesstimate what might have been. Howard Blum shares an adventure that might have triggered a whole bunch of “What if” questions, except his story is factual history.
Imagine if the Nazis would have assassinated Winston Churchill? Or if the Axis powers had been able to take out Franklin D. Roosevelt or Joseph Stalin? Or, even more frightening, what if they were able to target and eliminate all of the leaders of the Allied nations? Shockingly, this was almost a reality, as Howard Blum relates in his book Night of the Assassins.
This book is primarily told from the perspective of the Nazi spymaster who was trying to pull off “Operation Long Jump” and the head of FDR’s Secret Service detail that was trying to keep the US president out of harm’s way. This true story is full of the twists and turns of leaked plans, lucky guesses, unexpected double agents, good luck, bad luck, and blind luck. Even though I already knew that the Big Three weren’t assassinated by a highly trained Nazi commando squad, I was still on the edge of my seat to see how Blum’s account would play out.
Students of history and aficionados of detective stories will both thoroughly enjoy this book!
After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. (1 Corinthians 3:5 NLT)
The most well-known evangelist is only God’s servant, and the most obscure pastor in the smallest of communities is only God’s servant.
It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. (1 Corinthians 3:7 NLT)
God‘s rewards are not for how big I did my ministry, but for how faithfully I did my ministry.
The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work.(1 Corinthians 3:8 NLT)
The subtitle of my book Shepherd Leadership is “The metrics that really matter.” The whole third section of my book When Sheep Bite is about remaining faithful to the field where God has called you.
Your faithfulness to God’s call is what matters. God sees you, God will sustain you, and God will reward your faithfulness!
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here.
The first temptation of mankind was to doubt the God was good and that He was trustworthy. That’s why satan tempted Adam and Eve by saying they could become “like God.” Every Christian faces temptation, and one of the biggest is still satan’s same strategy: to try to get us to handle things on our own.
The baptism in the Holy Spirit is to help us realize that we cannot rely on ourselves, but we must rely totally on His power.
David Wilkerson said, “This is an ongoing problem with many Christians. We look to the Holy Spirit as some kind of booster shot to empower or energize our human will. We expect Him to build up our supply of grit and determination, so we can stand up to temptation the next time it comes. We cry, ‘Make me strong, Lord! Give me an iron will, so I can withstand all sin.’ But God knows this would only make our flesh stronger, enabling it to boast.”
Overcoming temptation is not about willpower but Spirit-power. Paul said this in 2 Corinthians 12:9.
Being tempted to sin is not a sign that God has abandoned me or that I am living apart from Him. Jesus was perfect and yet we are told He was tempted in every way (Hebrews 4:15). So we can easily determine that temptation is not a sin because Jesus was tempted (Luke 4:3-13). This story is told in all three synoptic Gospels (Matthew 4:1-10; Mark 1:13).
Look at what preceded this temptation: Jesus was baptized in the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-12; Luke 3:21-22, 4:1-2). The Spirit was the One Who led Jesus into the wilderness specifically to face temptation.
Temptation comes the the Latin word meaning “to stretch.” Oswald Chambers noted, “Every temptation of satan is perfectly wise. The wisest, shrewdest, subtlest things are said by satan, and they are accepted by everybody as the acme of human philosophy; but when the Spirit of God is at work in a man, instantly the hollow mockery at the heart of what satan is trying to do, is seen. When we understand the inwardness of the temptation we see how satan’s strategy is turned into confusion by the Spirit of God.”
Temptation is not a sin, but a stretching. It is a call for us to give up our willpower and trust the Spirit’s power.
When Jesus came to earth, He gave up His rightful prerogatives as God. The stretching test here was this: Would He continue to rely on the Spirit’s power or would He try to reclaim the power He surrendered?
It’s the same question for us when we are tempted: Will we take matters into our own hands, or will we leave ourselves in the Spirit’s hands? In one paragraph, James tells us both the blessing of overcoming temptation and where temptations originate—
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. When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone, but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. (James 1:12-15)
The Spirit shows us the way to have the mind of Christ in overcoming temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13).
Just before Jesus was tempted, we see the help that is promised to all of us through the baptism in the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:15-16).
There are some things we will learn about ourselves in a time of temptation that we cannot learn in any other way. Being baptized in the Holy Spirit is about empowerment, but it is really the power to submit—full and unconditional surrender to the only One who can bring me safely through (Hebrews 4:15; 5:7-9; 2:17-18).
As we talked about last week, the Spirit of Truth gives us the mind of Christ (John 16:13, 15; 1 Corinthians 2:16).
We, just like Jesus, can be victorious over these temptations by doing what Jesus did. (1) He was fully submitted to His Heavenly Father, (2) He was sensitive to go where the Holy Spirit led Him, and (3) He uncovered the shrewd and subtle arguments of satan by using the Word of God.
Instead of saying, “I gave in to temptation,” we can say, “I gave in to the Holy Spirit, Who helped me defeat temptation!”
Check out all of the other messages in our series We Are: Pentecostalby clicking here.
Doing the duty God has commission you to do isn’t about making you happy. It’s about helping others and glorifying God. Don’t look for the easy way out, but trust that God has empowered you to do your duty!
“We must see that we are no good unless God takes charge of us. When God has real control of us, our future takes on a new outlook. What a wonderful open door of opportunities for God to use us!” —Smith Wigglesworth
“Great men may make despotisms; but democracies make great men. The other main factory of heroes besides a revolution is a religion. And a religion again, is a thing which, by its nature, does not think of men as more or less valuable, but of men as all intensely and painfully valuable, a democracy of eternal danger. For religion all men are equal, as all pennies are equal, because the only value in any of them is that they bear the image of the King.” —G.K. Chesterton
Fossils show some creatures being much larger in the past. This report from ICR reminds us, “This is just one more example of the widespread phenomenon of fossil giantism. Many pre-Flood fossil creatures were gigantic. These include not just extinct giants like dinosaurs but also the ancestors of creatures that are still alive today. … Obviously, the staggering size of many fossil creatures suggests they had access to abundant food and lived in an environment that was, even after the Fall, still “very good” in many ways (Genesis 1:31).”
“One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody.” —Mother Teresa
“I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.” —Maya Angelou
“What was the pitch that covered the Ark? Many have wondered what this could have been. Was it oil or some type of tree resin? A newly discovered Roman shipwreck has revived this debate. But this time, maybe it offers a resolution.”
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here.
When some sort of chemical or toxin is spilled in the environment it doesn’t just stay put, it spreads, corrupting everything around it. The same principle is true in our organizations—toxic behaviors that are allowed to fester will spread until they consume your entire team. So put on your hazmat suit and join Greg and me as we address common toxic behaviors and offer strategies on how to root them out before they can take hold.
[0:00] Introduction
[1:00] A quick list of some toxic behaviors leaders will have to address.
[3:09] Let’s think about the analogy of our organizations as a human body that’s nursing an injury.
[5:50] How should leaders treat toxicity in their organizations?
[9:38] Greg wants to know how I have addressed toxic teammates.
[11:20] Greg shares how moving the problem instead of dealing with the problem actually multiplies the problem.
[15:17] At some point leaders might have to admit that a toxic teammate isn’t a good fit for the organization. Now what do we do?
[17:42] There was an important part of my book When Sheep Bite that Greg helped me to see more clearly.
[18:54] Being too quick to deal with problems is just as dangerous as being too slow to deal with it.
[25:28] It’s easy to get swayed by your emotions when dealing with these toxic topics, but an outside coach isn’t emotionally invested like you are, so they can give you a much more objective viewpoint.
[27:00] The behavior you accept will determine the culture of your organization.
Pastors can only fulfill their calling as shepherd leaders with the vitalizing power of prayer, and must pray for themselves first. A healthy, prayer-full pastor is an effective pastor. My newest book is to help pastors in this vital discipline of prayer.
Craig T. Owens 