Action - Leadership Prayers
Action
I am not sure what to do, God, but here I go. Please make it work out right.
We know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into his plans. Romans 8:28, TLB
Leaders live for the action. It is our strength and our fatal attraction. The predetermined outcome does not require leadership and thus does not entice. We exist for the adventure in which we see the mighty hand of God.
WHEN I am following you, God, I feel a bit lost most of the time. But that makes sense. I am not leading you. You are leading me.
If I want complete certainty, I cannot expect to be led by your Spirit. I cannot know what will happen next, nor demand control. And I know that following you is the only way I can make a great and beautiful difference in the world.
I cannot control what happens outside, but by your grace I can increasingly know myself. Help me to master who I am and how I give meaning to actions and events around me. May my wealth, power, and wisdom enable others to achieve extraordinary success. I know I can give freely of myself because in the economy of the Spirit, you always replenish my jar of oil.
I know when I am listening to you because your Spirit encourages me, points to the truth, lets me decide, and holds me accountable. And somehow you always make it work out. You provide the necessary resources: wisdom, strength, time, helpers, money, skills, and all the unanticipated things that I never could have planned for anyway. More wonderfully, you redeem my mistakes. You weave beauty out of my broken, mixed-up threads, not for my reputation or ego, but for the common good. Help me, God. The people I lead feel even more uncertainty than I do. They trust me, but they know I sometimes blunder.
I have done all the analyzing, conferring, thinking, planning, double-checking, and praying that I have time for. There is never enough information, and there are always conflicting opinions and priorities. I cannot sort it all out, but this is what seems best.
Following you is the only way I can make a great and beautiful difference in the world.
Is there anything else you want to tell me? It is time to act. I hope this is right for everyone involved. Now it is all up to you.
I am not sure what to do, God, but here I go. Please make it all work out right.
Reflections
Those who followed Jesus in the flesh were just as confused and uncertain as we often feel. He answered questions with ambiguous illustrations and more questions. He was not who they had planned for him to be. He was much more. The finale was not what they had expected. It was much better. Their path meandered over rough ground through dark nights, and they were lost until daybreak disclosed where they had been. By then they were on their own, guided only by the relationship they had known and the truth they had come to believe. It was enough. They were ready to lead.
They made mistakes. All leaders do. Perfectionists do not lead. Imperfect, passionate, true believers lead. They remind us that we cannot sit here forever and that until we act, God has nothing to work with. Leaders live on the edge, always squinting forward, always inventing, always convincing, forever building confidence among those they lead, but with no way to be absolutely certain. For leaders, every time is the first time.
Later, when the fog has lifted, we will see where we all wandered, the dangers we missed, the miracles, the serendipity of God’s grace. Leading through the Spirit means depending on God to make things work out. The certainty of seeing comes after the action of believing.
The fearful ask, “Are you certain this is going to work?”
The honest answer is, “No, but we need to move ahead anyway.”