Living by Faith not Fear

For the past year I have been learning a lot from the life of David, I have also be teaching a lot and talking a lot about moving from living out of fear to living in faith. Well its easy to say you want to live that way, and easy to say when you aren't facing major life changing decisions. So the time has come to learn to walk in faith and you know what it kind of stinks... its not comfortable, there aren't any guarantees, people misunderstand you, you doubt yourself, and friends leave you... but what I have to keep telling myself (because my emotions, and sometimes logic are screaming something else) that I have to pursue what God has placed in front of me regardless of the odds against. He hasn't called me to comfort, he has called me to life obedience and continual life transformation.

I read an Article Blog Post from Perry Noble today that Challenged me to be a Leader like David, not Saul...

Ten Signs A Leader Is “Losing It!” March 25, 2010

I’ve been reading through the OT lately and have been challenged by the downward leadership spiral that Saul went on…here are TEN signs from his life that point to a leader “losing it.”

#1 – The ministry he leads moves from being about the name of God to the name of the leader. (Compare I Samuel 14:35 with I Samuel 15:12!)

#2 – He gets impatient with the process that God is taking him through and thereby tries to “make something happen” rather than waiting on God’s timing. (I Samuel 15:5-10)

#3 – He makes self centered leadership decisions that slow down the people he works with rather than empowering them. (I Samuel 15:24–notice the references to himself in this verse.)

#4 – He refuses to completely obey God because it places him in uncomfortable situation. (I Samuel 15:1-9)

#5 – He allows fear of man to trump his fear of God. (I Samuel 15:24)

#6 – He refuses to take action and deal with the obvious issue in front of him…and if anyone attempts to do so he is quick to tell them they cannot! (I Samuel 17:32-33)

#7 – He cannot celebrate the success of others. (I Samuel 18:8-9)

#8 – He tries to discredit/destroy anyone or anything that looks like it is successful apart from him–Saul actually became more obsessed with destroying David than he did leading the kingdom! (I Samuel 18:10-11)

#9 – He resorts to trying to see the spectacular apart from the presence of God. (I Samuel 28)

#10 – He refuses to deal with the fact that his jealousy, insecurity, disobedience and self reliance is not only going to cost him…but cost others as well! (I Samuel 31:1-3)

(end article)

Love this Article, #5 is the one that seems to kick my tail quite often. Its kind funny (not really) that God is putting me through areas of my life, or allowing me to go through things that cause me to actually live this and not just keep it around like a nice little nugget of truth.

Alright time to step away from the keyboard, where it is easy, and to go out in the world and actually let it be a part of who I am and how I live.