Courageous Leaders - Part 1

I think in order for some of us to be courageous leaders we need to do some things right up front and here is a quick list of those items. Courageous leaders should only accept a God given assignment. Have you ever noticed that there are a lot of people who hear God for you, or at least they think they do? To be a courageous leader you will need to make sure you hear what God is calling you to do and not just the opinions of others. It takes courage to say "no" to the good so you may say "yes" to the best. Often time when we lose our courage to do what God has told us and how God has told us we begin to listen to others and how they think it should go and in what timing they feel it should happen. Once we listen to others we only reap the benefits of those man made decisions. When we listen and stay courageous to what God has said and how He says it should and when He says it should happen is when we get to reap the benefits of what God has in store. The great thing is that not only do we benefit from obedience but many others benefit as well. Courageous leaders lead with courage because they are honest about their feelings of inadequacy. We need to remember that courage comes from God not from within ourselves. Some things that help us to not lead with courage are:

• Past Failure
• Unrealistic expectations. My church is starting at 10 people and in 3 weeks we will be running 1000+. So when this doesn't happen we quit, we throw in the towel, and next time when God really does want to do something in our lives we play back the time that in our flesh we said or heard someone say in 3 weeks.... so we figure what God said to us this time won't happen. The difference is what God says and what man says – remember, courageous leaders accept only God given assignments.
• Unparallel comparisons. I can do this but so and so does it much better than me. We actual just use comparisons often times as an excuse to do nothing.
• Uncontrollable circumstances. I will only teach this class if I can have the chairs set up in this way or that, if not I am not teaching maybe it could be something like, I want a bigger room and if not I am not going to do it. Instead, we should just make the best of what there is.
• Lastly, unrepentant sins. When we have sins in our lives and we refuse to repent.

I do pray that these two will be a good starting point for some of us who need to be courageous leaders but we just haven’t stepped up to the plate yet.