i want more of You

This has been laying on my heart pretty thick lately and I wanted to just share some insight that God has revealed to me the last few days. Last Wednesday I doubled dipped and went to Wednesday night service and then college life. Both messages were dramatically different but coincided with exactly what is going on in my spiritual walk.

Pastor Branker started my wonderful Wednesday night off with Lessons in Leadership and brought to my attention the powerful leader, Nehemiah. There are four different categories that Nehemiah's leadership can be categorized by and they are: character, compassion, prayer and mission (Nehemiah 1:1-11). This was so hard for me to swallow. I'm in so many different leadership positions and all of them are different types. For example, at school I tutor first graders twice a week, I lead the guest services team at College Life, I am the service flow coordinator for element (behind the scenes), and finally I am leading a mission trip with my future hubby this March. All of these vary as far as leadership goes. How in the world do I spiritually lead in all of these different ways? It seems nearly impossible. Nehemiah is a great model and the more and more I looked into his life I found myself desiring to lead just like he did.

First and Foremost Nehemiah was a servant...now who would have ever thought? He was also constantly in touch with God through prayer. This made me think of a series that I went to back at Argyle Baptist. They talked about being able to beep beep God. Think of a Nextel phone, you can beep someone and have a conversation or just a quick hello. Nehemiah was constantly beep beeping God, he never let the anxiety, pain or worry of every day life bog him down, he was constantly bringing it to God instead of losing sight of God. He had a huge passion for his people, the people he was serving. I can only imagine what kind of leaders there would be in this world if we laid down our lives for the people we are serving and had an all out passion for them! Finally Nehemiah didn't just sit around and let things happen, he did something about it! This is where the next message comes in.

Liz Cook spoke later that night about God's purpose for our lives! Nehemiah never sat around waiting for God to come to him or to tell him specifically what to do (this was in the old testament so it could have happened that way, lucky for them), instead Nehemiah did something about it. Liz used the example of Paul, remember when Jesus walked on water and Paul was with the other disciples on the boat in the raging waters and winds (Matt 14: 25-32)? Jesus said "Come" .... who got out of the boat? Paul! What about the other disciples? Were they still in the boat? Is that us? Just sitting back as Christians waiting for the right moment to step out and have total and complete faith? What about our leaders, are they serving those they minister too? God laid it on my heart to share this with you because as Christians and leaders especially we need to stop living in a motionless state and do something about it. I encourage you to take the challenge. Dive into God's word and find out what he wants for your life. What are some areas your can improve and be challenged? Express these things to God through prayer and fasting and He will surely answer your prayers and bless you!

I love you guys :)