Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Becoming a Trustworthy Leader "Full of the Holy Spirit and Wisdom"

The book of proverbs says "Seek Wisdom more than gold or silver" The entire first six chapters of Proverbs is an analogy of a woman (wisdom) calling out to us. We are exhorted to seek her more than anything. We are given insight that wisdom comes from God and the knowledge of God is the foundation of wisdom. We are told that wisdom teaches us to do right and to have understanding. But what is wisdom?
Wisdom to the Hebrew is not being able to talk good or being able to write well. But is being able to live by God's moral order and being a good manager of people. All wisdom is known by experience and comes from the deep contemplation of our experiences.

Wisdom takes hard work. I find it quite discouraging that few people are willing to spend a great deal of time in prayer, where we contemplate our life with God's help and in scripture memory, which is a great way to internalize scripture.

One way to gain wisdom is to develop a daily well defined prayer process. I believe this takes more than one hour per day.
1. Spend time getting to a place of total surrender to God. This is worship. This is the beginning of the Lord's Prayer. Commit yourself to nothing but the kingdom (i.e. 'seek first the kingdom', 'Thy will be done'. This usually takes a good 30 minutes of settling oneself and worshipping God.
2. Begin to consider your day. Begin to trust the Lord by presenting Him with your day in detail.
3. Go trough a process of forgiveness for others and receiving forgiveness from God. Think about the Gospel and praise the Lord of the Gospel daily.
4. Consider the temptations of the day. Trust God for power to walk in purity and holiness.
5. End in praise.

Do you have a daily cycle. Do you know the pattern of prayer that cleanses your heart and teaches you wisdom? If not do not expect to grow into a trustworthy leader as a parent, at work, or in the church. The foundation is our connection with God who gives wisdom.
Let's seek Him in our generation and become shining lights that the world takes notice of to the glory of Jesus Christ.
brad

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