The Inspired Leader: 101 Biblical Reflections for Becoming a Person of Influence (38 page)

Let’s make sure we are allowing God to prepare us for His plan.

REFLECT FOR A MOMENT

1. How do you normally make your plans? What role does God have in your planning? What role ought He to have?
   

2. If God wanted to add something into your schedule, how could He do it? God knows the future. We do not. How could He guide you into the future? What process do you have to incorporate God’s guidance into your planning?
   

Joshua 24:15

David Ratcliffe

President, CEO, Southern Company

AS I MATURE in my life and faith, I am increasingly compelled by the notion of choices. Joshua 24:15 is Joshua’s challenge to the Israelites to choose whom they would serve. Like them, we must choose also. Obviously our first and most important decision is what we will do with the person of Jesus Christ. There is no more critical choice to be made in our lives. The challenge of “choice” is mine, not my wife’s, my mom’s, my dad’s, or anyone else. It is I, and I alone, who must choose. And, there is no middle ground since not to choose is to choose!

Beyond that most important decision, the real challenges begin. They involve the specific choices we make concerning how we will live our life. Our instructions are clear: we are to choose the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5) and the lifestyle that Christ instructed. As Paul said, “
wretched man that I am, the things I want (and know) to do I don’t do
” (Romans 7:15-24). I find great solace in the fact that one of our greatest Christian role models also struggled with always choosing the correct response!

I have tried to improve on the habit that Stephen Covey refers to as “proactivity” (
7 Habits of Highly Effective People
). He notes that we can choose how we respond to life’s issues and to the people we encounter. In fact, only we can
choose. It is not just a right or an opportunity; but for followers of Christ, it is a responsibility and provides accountability. For we are called to be “in this world but not of this world.” We are to be different and if we are to be successful then we must become better at the discipline and process of making choices. We must choose to be Christlike in those times when the world deals us cruel and unfair circumstances or offers angry remarks or opposition. That means our response cannot be to retaliate. We must leave justice in God’s hands. He is fully capable of handling our problems (and our opponents!).

As we develop the discipline of choosing to become more Christlike, we mature in our walk with Him. Our reward is that we are freed from the world’s expectation for us. We also develop the ability to rise above even our most difficult circumstances. It really is liberating to choose how we will respond. I am nowhere near where I want to be. Like Paul said, I am a wretched man. Yet I find that the more Christlike my choices become, the more joy I embrace. I know that will be your experience too!

REFLECT FOR A MOMENT

1. How effective are you at making wise choices? How often do you have to rescind an earlier decision? Are you living with many regrets from your previous choices?
   

2. Have you developed a process for making decisions? Or, are you haphazard each time you have a choice to make? How much of your decision making is based on your feelings? How much of your decision making is determined by seeking the Lord’s guidance?
   

3. What choices could you make this month that would lead you to become more like Christ? List three decisions that could strengthen your walk with God. Now make specific plans to carry them out!
   

Richard Case

CEO, Benchmark Associates, Inc.

IN 1787, AFTER months of work, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention from the 13 original states had reached an impasse about central government versus state rule. Larger states were pushing for representation according to population and smaller states for equal representation. They were ready to give up and disband. It was then that Benjamin Franklin proposed a day of going to the local churches and seeking God’s wisdom. After this day of prayer in hearing from God, they returned to the Convention and came to the remarkable solution we have today—the U.S. Constitution.

In the challenging days in which we live, we are all facing such uncertainty that we wonder if there are any real solutions ahead. God is calling us again to humble ourselves, seek Him, hear His voice, and expect His solutions to become clear to us. When we lack wisdom (when we are unclear concerning His will or His solutions to our circumstances), He invites us to ask Him. He promises to reveal His wisdom—but (and it is a big condition)—we must ask, believing He will tell us. We must determine that when we ask, He will answer with His generous wisdom (see James 1:5-8).

David teaches us how this works in 1 Samuel 23. Being pursued by King Saul, David was focused on his adverse circumstances when he became aware of a city, Keilah, near his camp that was about to be ransacked by the Philistines. He asked God if he should go and save Keilah. God said, “Yes, go.” David’s men said, “This is not a good idea, we are having enough problems of our own—it is too dangerous.” David could have said, “You’re right,” or “You have to go because God said so,” but instead he went with his men, back to God and sought confirmation. God again said (He does not mind clarifying again, particularly when we are seeking unity with those around us), “Yes, go”—and “I will deliver the Philistines into your hands.” David and his men heard God speak, immediately obeyed, and went and saved Keilah.

Saul recognized the perfect opportunity to kill David since Keilah had only one way out of the city. David heard that Saul was again coming after him (he had good market researchers working for him), so he asked God, “Will the men of Keilah deliver me into the hands of Saul? Is Saul coming after me?” He thought that since he had just saved Keilah, certainly its citizens would protect him, but David understood the value of not being presumptive about anything without the wisdom of God. God answered that Saul was coming after him and that the men of Keilah would indeed betray him to Saul. He left Keilah and, as a result, his life was spared. Ultimately God fulfilled His promise of making David king of Israel and bringing the Messiah through his lineage.

Instead of moving toward resignation or fatalism over these days, instead of trying to figure all this out on your own—go to God and ask Him for wisdom—He promises to give it and will lead you through the morass you are facing into His plans for you—plans for good, not evil, plans of hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). Believe Him.

REFLECT FOR A MOMENT

1. How does prayer factor in to your decisions? Do you pray over every major decision your make? What about minor ones? How do you decide when you need God’s guidance?
   

2. Do you recognize when God is seeking to guide you? When was the last time you sought specific guidance from God about a matter and He provided it to you? Do you think this is meant to be normative for the Christian?
   

3. What types of issues do you think God wants to be involved with in your life? Does He care about your business decisions? Does God simply concern Himself with “spiritual” issues? Why don’t you seek God’s guidance on some mundane issues in your life this week? Invite God to become actively involved in the ordinary living out of your life. See what God can do!
   

OUR LIVES CAN influence people we never see. At times this is because of the
breadth
of our influence. Our actions can affect people working in other departments or offices at our company. Our decisions may influence people working in other cities or even various nations. In the global market in which we function, a decision made in Connecticut can exert an immediate impact on Cameroon. But our lives also exert a
length
of influence. That is, long after we have acted, people can still experience the consequence.

God cautioned those who would ignore His commands. He warned, “
For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments”
(Deuteronomy 5:9-10). Our lives can affect others for generations to come.

Those who recklessly defy God and disobey His commands are inadvertently bringing grief to their descendants. A broken marriage, an addiction, or a weak character quality in our life can inflict devastation to the generations that follow us. Long after we are gone, our descendants can be feeling the pain of our foolish choices. Conversely, when we choose to love God and heed His word, we transmit a blessing to descendants we may never meet. How will the coming generations remember you?