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Are you intentional?

Last year my wife and I decided to take our family to Cleveland, Ohio to visit my grandparents.  We loaded up the minivan, entered my grandparents’ address in our GPS and headed out on our adventure.  With about 1,100 miles and 16 hours ahead of us I knew it would be a long trip with our young kids so we had to stay focused.  The problem was that every hour somebody had to go to the bathroom, I kept getting hungry and of course every time we saw a Dairy Queen I felt it was my duty to stop and get an Oreo Blizzard.  Unfortunately, our 16 hour trip was quickly turning into a much longer journey.  Finally, I had to make a decision…no more bathroom breaks, no more stops for meals and I even had to cut out our Dairy Queen breaks (that was difficult)!  I knew if we weren’t intentional about getting to my grandparents we would never make it because of all of the distractions.

As leaders it is critical for us to be intentional as we seek to lead others into their God-given potential.  I want to share with you three areas of our lives we must be intentional about as leaders.

We must intentionally…

1) Develop our relationship with God

In James 4:8 we are told to, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” In our busy world we can sometimes squeeze God out of the picture and just “DO” life without growing with Him.  I’ve learned that I can’t allow my schedule and responsibilities to push my personal connection with God out of the picture.  My ability to lead is dependent on my personal relationship with God.

• Ø When your life gets busy, what is one of the first things that gets squeezed out?

2) Develop ourselves

Jesus addresses the importance of leading yourself when he tells his disciples, “They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.” (Matthew 15:14).  In order to successfully lead others, we must first be able to lead ourselves.

• Ø What is one thing that you can do that will improve how you lead yourself?

3) Develop others

“And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2).  The greatest impact that we can have on our community, region and even the world will come as we develop leaders.  When godly leaders are developed, then God’s message of life and hope will be broadcast effectively throughout the earth.

• Ø Who can you begin to intentionally help develop as a godly leader?

Wherever you are on your leadership journey make sure you are intentional about developing your relationship with God, developing yourself and developing others.