Something stood out to me quite clearly the other day as I highlighted several verses from Isaiah and was reminded of their complementary verses scattered throughout the New Testament. Always remember—
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
When people attack their leader—or when sheep bite—it hurts!
Our first best response is to acknowledge, “That hurt!” but then we need to pause. Our natural response to an attack is fight-or-flight, but healthy leaders take time to learn why that bite occurred.
This is an excerpt from an episode of The Craig and Greg Show where Greg interviewed me about my new book When Sheep Bite.
If you would like to watch the full episode of our leadership podcast, you can find that here.
I am getting ready to facilitate a cohort for pastors who have gone through painful sheep bites—or perhaps they are feeling them right now! If you are a pastor, or if you know of a pastor who has been bitten, please check out this cohort here.
And if you would like to pick up a copy of When Sheep Bite for yourself, you can get that here.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
I want to give you a leadership practice that is going to set you apart from the crowd. It’s all about leveraging an amazing feature God has designed in our brain.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Anti-anxiety medications are prescribed at a higher rate than any other medication. As a nation, we have become—literally—a nervous wreck!
I think much of our handwringing and stomach churning is from our obsession with keeping up with “current events.” We have alerts endlessly dinging, screaming at us, “Look at this! Can you believe he said that?! Did you hear about this? We must do something about that!”
Christian, where is your hope? In what are you trusting for relief?
God says through Isaiah that sinners are terrified and godless people tremble at the news—
Sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling has seized the godless. “Who among us can live with the consuming fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning?” (Isaiah 33:14)
As these anxiety-plagued people are wondering how they can survive the latest deluge of terrible news, God answers the burning question of real security. He says it is…
…One who walks righteously and speaks with integrity, one who rejects unjust gain and shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe; one who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking at evil; he will dwell on the heights, his refuge will be the impregnable rock; his bread will be given him, his water will be sure. (Isaiah 33:15-16)
Did you catch what was in the middle of that list? Stop listening to the reports of bloodshed and stop watching all the news reports of evil people doing evil things.
Instead, God says that we should be watching our own lives closely so that we are:
walking righteously
speaking with integrity
not falling for the latest fads
not being “bribed” by so-called influencers to see things their way
When we are focused on God and on living our lives according to His righteous standards, we won’t have any time or mental energy to give to the evil and bloodshed in the headlines. Rather, we will live securely—protected and blessed by our loving Savior and Lord!
Isaiah 33 goes on to describe what we will notice when we turn off the world’s news and gaze at God: “Your eyes will see the King in His beauty” (v. 17), you will no longer be shaken by “fierce people” (v. 19), but you will know that “the majestic One, the Lord, will be for us…and will save us” (vv. 21-22).
Turn off the world’s news and dive into God’s Good News instead. You will immediately feel God’s peace replacing any fearful trembling in your heart and mind.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Light is sown like seed for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. (Psalm 97:11)
Jesus used the parable of a farmer sowing seed as a picture of the seed God wants to sow in our hearts. The psalmist says that God’s seeds are light—driving out the shadows of darkness, and producing an abundant harvest of gladness in our hearts.
I like how the Amplified Bible renders this verse in Psalm 97—Light is sown for the uncompromisingly righteous and strewn along their pathway, and joy for the upright in heart—the irrepressible joy which comes from consciousness of His favor and protection.
Let’s live in a such a God-honoring way that His seeds of light bring forth an abundant harvest that gives Him all the glory and points others to Jesus the Savior.
Even the well-known hymn The Solid Rock has the line that says, “When all around my soul gives way.”
Isaiah 40:27-30 gives us a helpful example from the eagle of how we can handle life’s storms.
Eagles have huge wingspans and can travel up to 125 miles in a single flight. When they see storms coming, they lock their wings in place and stop flapping on their own. Instead, they sense the warm currents of air and rides those up and over the storm.
So Tom gave us these steps:
Disengage from our own efforts—don’t try to handle the storm on our own.
Perceive the warmth of God’s promises.
Trust the everlasting God (Isaiah 40:28). “Everlasting” means that God is infinite, vigorous, strong, faithful, and capable.
Ride up and over the storm in God. When God says we mount up on wings like eagles (Isaiah 40:31), it means we are braided together with God.
Live in the renewed strength that only God can give us.
Jesus went through the most unimaginable life storm that any human has ever had to endure, and He said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46). We need to trust our Heavenly Father just like Jesus did when we face storms!
John Piper was asked to weigh-in on the value of repetitive phrases in worship songs. He said, “The issue’s not repetition per se but whether there is enough substance, enough rich content of truth about God woven into the repetitions to justify them, to warrant them. That’s the issue. There’s a difference between repetitions that are called forth by the repeated crescendo of new, glorious truth, and repetitions that serve as a kind of mantra without sufficient truth that is simply used to sustain or intensify a mood. Moods in worship should be awakened and sustained primarily by truth, assisted by music—not primarily by music with a little truth thrown in to justify the singing.”
Pastor John Piper used Psalm 136 as an example in the post above. T.M. Moore also shared this thought about Psalm 136: “The term most frequently used to describe this everywhere-present-and-always-at-work love of God is translated as ‘lovingkindness’ or, in some versions, ‘steadfast love.’ Especially Psalm 136, with its antiphonal arrangement of verses, insists that the cosmos is upheld, sustained, and pervaded by the lovingkindness of God. … It would improve our learning to pray without ceasing if we simply took some time out during the day to thank the Lord for the many ways His steadfast love surrounds, sustains, and swarms us at every moment!”
“When people refer to a man as a man of the Book, meaning the Bible, he’s generally found to be a man of multitudinous books, which simply isolates the one Book to its proper grandeur. The man who reads only the Bible does not as a rule know it or human life.” —Oswald Chambers
Men’s Health magazine shared an interview with Jeremy Renner, who was nearly killed in a tragic accident. I love his attitude about making today better than yesterday. His words remind me of a poem my grandma used to use to motivate me to keep “besting” what I had already done.
Christopher Ash writes about reading the Psalms through the lens of Jesus. He concludes this way: “I remember seeing on the wall of a church the words of Psalm 20:4: ‘May [the Lord] grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans!’ How wonderful, you might think. The Bible promises me all that my heart desires. Until you read the psalm and realize that Psalm 20 is a prayer for the king in David’s line. Ultimately, it is a prayer that Jesus will have His heart’s desire granted and that His plans will be fulfilled. And they will! The Psalms are not all about me. If I think they are, I will end up disillusioned. But when I grasp that they are all about Christ, my heart lifts in joy that He is the blessed Man and I belong to Him.”
Listen to the audio-only version of this podcast by clicking on the player below, or scroll down to watch the video.
Stress might have six letters, but it seems like some leaders have a knee-jerk reaction to treat it like a four-letter word. While it might be nice to fantasize about an stress-free life, this is both entirely unrealistic and detrimental to your leadership. The truth is, a mild amount of stress can be helpful to you personally, as well as your organization as a whole. Join us as Greg and I unpack why you should embrace a bit of stress in your life.
[0:14] I have a brain block to start the show!
[0:59] Let’s define stress in a work environment, as opposed to simply work tension.
[1:51] An interesting study about allowing moderate stress to remain in the workplace.
[5:30] Mild stress is helpful for our brains.
[7:37] Stress expands and strengthens our team connections too.
[10:26] Can stress help increase someone’s work performance?
[13:01] Our physical bodies use a stress hormone called cortisol. How can leaders maximize its effects?
[14:38] Stress can help us rise to the challenge in a way that easy times can’t.
[16:02] I share an example of a teammate who grew through stress, as well as a supporting quote.
[18:40] Greg shares a negative example of an organization that became stress-free and drifted toward failure.
[19:30] When times are easy, we can begin to slide into apathy.
[22:40] Should we teach crisis leadership to our teams? If so, how should we do this?
Check out this episode and subscribe on YouTube so you can watch all of the upcoming episodes. You can also listen to our podcast on Spotify and Apple.
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their lights. … For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood firm. (Psalm 33:6, 9)
We literally live in, on, and through the breath of God. Everything was created as God spoke them into existence—including you and me.
Let’s personalize verse 9, making it our prayer and our declaration:
“For He spoke my name, and it was done; He commanded the plan for my life, and it stands firm even today!”
God created you on purpose and for a purpose. He knew exactly what He was doing when He breathed life into you, and His plan still stands firm. You are invaluable in God’s perfect plan❣️
In my Bible reading plan that is taking me through the whole Bible in chronological order in a year, I’ve been in the Book of Isaiah for the past few days. 
The Old Testament and the New Testament fit together. They enhance each other and show a complete picture that we would miss if we cling to only one of the Testaments. 
Here’s just three quick examples I saw in one day’s reading:
Craig T. Owens 