Introduction

As a leader, you’re accustomed to making decisions and setting direction, even without all the information that you wish you had. It’s part of what makes you a leader. As a Christian leader, however, there sometimes seems to be an extra layer of missing data and uncertainty: knowing what God wants.

Your calling as a leader is not only to lead well, but to lead in the direction God has planned for you and your team, company or organization. Big responsibilities with many unknowns. On top of that, finding God’s will is difficult, takes time and may not even offer conclusive insights within the timeframe in which you need an answer.

And so, seeking God and His will is easier to relegate to personal life, Sunday worship and church activities. In any case, how can you figure out God’s will for your work, and even if you could, how would you fit that into your work processes?

And so, if you’re like most Christian leaders, you look to God for the big things, the decisions with longer-term impact, and take care of the day-to-day issues yourself. A nice balance between “getting things done” and “waiting on the Lord” … Besides, God already equipped you for the work at hand, and so, as long as you stay in touch at the higher, directional level, everything’s good, right?

Not quite.

God actually wants to be involved in all aspects of your life, and yes, this includes your work. Not in a way of telling you exactly what to do, but in a way that pervades all you do so that His touch and His presence impact every decision and every action – each and every day, all day long.

Walking in relationship with God. Making a difference in all that you do. Helping build His Kingdom, one day at a time.

All nice words, but the question remains: how do you know God’s will for your particular situation?

• How do you know whether to hire or fire?
• How do you know which programs to support and which to abandon?
• How will you explain progress and directions to your team, your management, your board?
• How can you know what God wants?

To top it all off, when you let others know your struggles, you might only get back some vague reassurances and a Bible verse or two from fellow Christians like this:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV)

That’s not very helpful, is it?

Ultimately, God wants you to draw close to Him, seeking Him for wisdom, for insights, for guidance. An alternative to the above promise from Jeremiah, a Bible verse taken from the book of James, the brother of Jesus, might be more helpful:

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” (James 1:5, NIV)

Besides such a request for wisdom, the Bible is chock-full of practical insights with plenty of detail as to how you might know God’s will in a way that can help you each and every day, in all aspects of your leadership role.

This set of readings seeks to distill the key teachings of the Bible into a practical 5-step process to help you discern God’s will.

Of course, your walk with God is much more than a 5-step process, but even so, these simple steps can help bring clarity when it otherwise seems unclear.

May you be blessed as you discover His will for your leadership life!

Reflection/Application

1. Is there a difference in how you seek God’s will for your daily work as opposed to your annual plan? Why would that be?
2. Reflect on the last time you searched for and found God’s will to a leadership issue that you faced. How did you find God’s will then? What happened?
3. Do you think God wants to be more involved in your leadership work? In what area would that make sense, and why?