The Zone Gathering

Several months ago, I found myself banging my head against a wall trying to prepare a small group lesson. It was so frustrating. And then it hit me. I hadn’t even asked God what he wanted me to say. Yeah. That’s embarassing to even admit, but this is confession time here. I know I’m a pastor so that should be the first thing I’m doing, right? Yes, that’s right. But I often find myself thinking that I can rely on my own strength as a leader, and communication with God is something that we all forget to do at times.

Thursday Leadership Lesson is focused on the topic of Communication right now, and there is probably an assumption that certain topics will be covered– effective interpersonal communication, dynamic public speaking, navigating conflict, etc. And we will get to those. But if we truly want to be effective communicators in any area of life, then I believe we need to put first things first and prioritize our communication.

To be effective leaders, we must communicate with God first.

Throughout the Bible, we see men and women who landed in high positions of authority and history-changing positions of leadership, and they all had one thing in common. Communicating with God was a priority in their lives.

Joseph’s line of communication with God sprung him from jail into the second in command of Egypt.

Deborah received battle plans from God which resulted in a victory over the Caananites.

King David talked to God about his life, his joys, his mistakes, his fears, his dreams, and his sins.

Daniel, a court official in the Babylonian empire, preferred talking to God over avoiding the lion’s den.

How do we communicate with God? Let’s look at three things we can do to keep the communication line open and clear with God.

Margin
Good leaders never have enough margin in their lives, but great leaders have plenty of margin in their lives. It is an issue of prioritization. If we want to hear from God, then we have to carve out times and places to be with him. I am a big fan of praying throughout my day– in the car, between meetings, etc.,– and we should discipline ourselves to make our entire lives a prayer. But we also need times where we step back, remove ourselves from our spheres of ministry, and spend time with God and God alone.

Moses modeled that in Exodus 33:7-11.

It was Moses’ custom to set up the tent known as the Tent of Meeting far outside the camp. Everyone who wanted to consult with the LORD would go there. Whenever Moses went out to the Tent of Meeting, all the people would get up and stand in their tent entrances. They would all watch Moses until he disappeared inside. As he went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and hover at the entrance while the LORD spoke with Moses. Then all the people would stand and bow low at their tent entrances. Inside the Tent of Meeting, the LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Afterward Moses would return to the camp, but the young man who assisted him, Joshua son of Nun, stayed behind in the Tent of Meeting.

Moses was leading a few million people out of Egypt to the Promised Land. His life could have been completely consumed by the needs, complaints, and conflicts of the people, but he understood the need to regularly get outside the camp, and he made that a priority. This passage says that getting outside of the camp was his “custom.” He recognized the need to regularly leave the leadership and ministry behind and set up camp with God. Sometimes, we just need to create space and silence in our lives in order to hear God speak.

Prayer
Jesus prayed. All the time. Maybe it’s just me, but that has always really struck me. Jesus was God and walked in perfect communion with the other members of the Trinity– the Father and the Holy Spirit– and yet he prayed all the time. He prayed all night before choosing his disciples. I tried to pray all night one time, but I eventually fell asleep. Whenever the ministry demands became overwhelming, Jesus retreated to the mountains or the wilderness to pray. Whenever my ministry demands become overwhelming, I typically try to put in extra hours. It’s clear that my life bears little resemblance to that of Christ’s. Unfortunately, sometimes I enter prayer as an after-thought or as the last resort. Prayer should never be the last ditch effort, but if we are honest we will realize that we often approach it that way.

Prayer is one of the two primary ways in which God speaks to us, and it should be the first step in preparing a lesson, making a decision, navigating a conflict, or any other activities we do as leaders.

We don’t have to pray in the sense that God will stop loving us or we won’t get our ticket to heaven if we neglect it. But we have to pray if we want to follow Christ, lead ourselves well, and lead other well.

Scripture
While prayer is the primary way that we speak to God, the Bible is the primary way in which God speaks to us. God does communicate with us through dreams, visions, other people, and that still, small inaudible but unmistakable voice of God. But these other methods always line up with what he has already written in his word.

Andrew Murray wrote a book entitled In the School of Prayer, and he makes this observation about the importance of the prayerful reading of Scripture: “There is also a reading of the Word, in the very presence of the Father, and under the leading of the Spirit, in which the Word comes to us in living power from God Himself; it is to us the very voice of the Father, a real personal fellowship with Himself. It is the living voice of God that enters the heart, that brings blessing and strength, and awakens the response of a living faith that reaches the heart of God again.”

2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that Scripture gives direction for our lives: ” All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right.”

Sarah already did a great teaching on this passage, so I won’t go into it here. But link over if you have not already read it.

Jesus highlighted the importance of God’s Word when he said, “The Scriptures say, `People need more than bread for their life; they must feed on every word of God.’ “

Scripture is absolutely vital to our lives. Often, the response to our questions, fears, and worries are found in those pages.

Danger Ahead
Margin, prayer, and Scripture should be the priorities of every leader because our leadership is worthless without communicating with God. In fact, our leadership can have disastrous effects on us and on those around us if we are not in constant communion with Him.

But let me issue a warning. We say we want to “hear from God.” But do we really know what that means? Do we really want God to speak? Because that might mean changing our lives, our relationships, and our priorities. Abram heard God speak, and he had to pack up his family and home and move. He heard God speak again and climb a mountain, thinking he must sacrifice his beloved son Issac. He heard God speak again and became the father of a nation that would bring blessing to every tribe and tongue.

Hearing God speak will take us on a wild adventure.

Questions to Consider:

• What are some things you do to create margin in your life?
• What are some practical things you do to make prayer and Scripture a priority?
• Is it easy for you to hear God’s voice? Or is it difficult?
• How has Scripture helped you as a leader?

Feel free to use the comment thread to share.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 25th, 2006 at 9:48 am and is filed under Communication, Leadership Lessons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.