The Reader For Leaders Seminars, articles, and musings by Paul D. Casey

“Surrounding yourself wiith spiritually-tuned, well-grounded people is the single most important first step….The work of solving the problem is secondary to getting your team together. People who try to do it on their own rarely make it–and when they do, they usually cannot sustain the effort.” –Cloud/Townsend

When faced with a problem or difficult situation, what is the first thoughts that come to your mind? If you’re like me, it’s how to solve it using some experience or tool that I’ve used before. That’s not adaptive problem-solving, meaning that each scenario is different than a previous one, and most cannot be solved using the same formula–especially if it involves people! 

The first step is to gather wise counselors around you who are not emotionally connected to your problem, who can sense what God would have them say to you, to point you in the solution direction.  The “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” mentality might get you some short-term wins, but sustainable conflict-resolution usually requires a few heads together who bring different perspectives to the table.  And, let’s be real: isolation during hard times just adds insult to injury. Having some traveling companions who can empathize surely makes the dark times a bit brighter.

“God will do what only He can do, and your job is to do what you can do.”
“He is your Shepherd. Life is His pasture, and He will get you through it.”
“In God’s economy, getting to the end of ourselves is the beginning of hope.”  –God Will Make a Way (Cloud/Townsend)

It’s 2 sides of the same coin: when you are facing a big decision or a huge trial in your life, we must pray as if it all depends on God (complete faith, no doubting, letting Him be God), and then keep working on our “stuff” to get the best information, own our own issues, pursue healing, and work hard at it.  So, how big is the God you worship, and how big is His love for you? If bigger than the universe, and you believe that, it will be easier to trust His plan, to trust He has the end-game in mind, and what’s best for you on His radar screen always.  But giving up the steering wheel of the current situation is the ONLY way He’ll take your issue completely–and then HOPE can spring up as He says, “Thank you; it’s all mine now to handle for you.”

“When your back is up against a wall and you pray and seek His help, God will make a way through the trial…Just be willing to do whatever you have to do–and that somehow, if you act, God will come to your assistance.”  –Cloud/Townsend

So, you are feeling down and out, or mowed over, and your feelings are all askew.  Step one: pray for God’s help–even before trying to solve the problem YOUR way. Step two: trust that you have a big God Who knows what’s best for you and He is springing into action on your behalf behind the scenes. Step three: Take action on whatever He reveals to you through the Bible or wise counsel, no matter how difficult it is. It’s sort of your part/His part thing. Trust like it all depends on Him, and do what you need to do as if it all depends on you. Two sides of the same “You will get through this!” coin.

“When the student is ready, the guru appears.”

Teachability. I don’t think it’s actually a word in the dictionary, but boy, is it an essential skill of anyone who wants to grow. If you want to make an impression on this world, you first must become pliable, able to be shaped by God and those He uses to teach you life lessons of success.  Do you shut down when someone confronts you in love and with truth? Do you reject advice? Do you dig in your heels in your position and close your mind to wise insights? If any of those questions are YES, your growth will be limited. If you are “able to be taught”, like Proverbs counsels us to be, you will soar into your future with much less turbulence thanwhen fighting it all the way. Pray for teachability, and God will show up ready to teach some lessons that’ll rock your world!

“Begin where you are…’When the student is ready, the guru apears.’  To a man who wants to know who he is, and is willing to change in accordance with what he learns, the world and everyday experiences are his teachers.” –Sam Keene

Every day is a new day for starting again. It’s a fresh canvas to paint one’s life on.  A cup prepared to pour your coffee into (Ok, you get the point.). So, start the day as a learner, an eager, expectant sponge of what God wants to imprint on your heart. Without a teachable spirit, you are a locked vault, impenatrable to the good stuff He wants to pour into you.

 Once you have the attitude of the learner, put on the attitude of an adjuster. Since everyone and every circumstance is a potential learning experience, as that truth sinks in, an action item often is linked to it. At that moment, we can choose to incorporate it into our developing life (into the image of Jesus), or to discard it as simply knowledge.  I think God wants us to make the changes and to grow!

“In our hurt lies the source of our healing. The bird with the broken and mended wing soars the highest. Where you stumble and fall, there you find the treasure.” –Sam Keene

God will use this exact pain you are feeling right now to make you an overcomer and a healer of others. Without this pain, you never would have learned what you know now–never would have the experience-well to draw deep truth from.  There’s a bunch of great counselors out there who have been deeply wounded in their pasts, and want to comfort others as they have been comforted.  Adversity, though we want to resist it at all costs, makes us stronger, like the broken bone that heals stronger than it was before.  What we must do is fall forward, grieve the loss and then look around at what God wants us to see from that different perspective–on the ground–instead of taking too long nursing the wound. We truly might be able to tell others about what we tripped over.

Deuteronomy 17:18-20 (MSG): “The first thing he [a leader] must do is make himself a copy of this Revelation….to remain at his side at all times; he is to study it every day so taht he may learn what it means to fear his God, living in reverant obedience….He must not become proud and arrogant, changing the commands at a whim to suit himself or making up his own versions. If he reads and learns, he will have a long reign….”

A prayer for leaders:  “My Father, this passage reminds me that Your Word is the first place and my daily place to go in order to know what to do, what is Your bidding. Sources of human strength cannot be consulted first. Hopefully, they (self, counselors, experience, etc.) only confirm Your decisions as You speak through them. Help me never stop learning from Your Word and Your daily words to me so that I have a truly successful and impacting leadership life ahead of me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Deuteronomy 5:29 “What I wouldn’t give if they would always feel this way, continuing to revere Me and always keep all My commands; they’d have a good life forever, they and their children!”

Deut. 5:32 “Don’t veer off to the right or left”

I was digging hole for some shrub-planting alongside my new bride this morning, and our property is full of rocks. I dread digging because of this. Whenever I try to dig where I want to dig, hitting a rock makes my shovel veer off-line and gives me a jolt in the arms.  Isn’t that just like life? I want to make good choices and obey all God’s commands to get the “good life” promised by God, but I often let obstacles/temptations/busyness veer me off track. I still hit dirt, but not the sweet spot of a life in the center of God’s will. Like in my rocky soil, I have to then get down on my knees and root out the rock before continuing to go deeper. Great imagery! What’s your rock that prevents you from going deeper today?

Deuteronomy 4:29 “If you seek God, your God, you’ll be able to find Him, if you’re serious, looking for Him with all your heart and soul…”

God doesn’t play mindless games with us. “If you’d just look harder….” “If you’d just attend church more often…” ”If you’d cry more….”  He is pretty clear in this verse that a singular-focused, unrelenting search for Him nets a result of His attention.  Granted, we have to DO something, we have to play a role: the serious seeking in prayer for His presence. But He’s not a God afar off; He’s really close and connected, waiting to commune with us, to guide, us comfort us, display yet another amazing dose of His unexplainable, unconditional love to us. Not sure why I try to seek every other resource I have before seeking the key Player in the game of life!

Deuteronomy 4:9 “…Stay alert. Keep close watch over yourselves. Don’t forget anything of what you’ve seen. Don’t let your heart wander off. Stay vigilant….”

It’s so easy to let your guard down.  Obstacles to alertness/vigilance are busyness, complacency, pride, improper focus on others, fatigue, etc. So we are swimming upstream to stay battle-ready in this journey of serving God day-in and day-out. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, as they say.  Alertness means examining myself for any weeds growing through the cracks in my heart, any strongholds starting to get a grip, any “idols” that are taking more priority over my love for God.  While it’s fun to take the road less traveled or explore new adventures, the one kind of wandering we must never do is heart-wandering away from our Lord and Savior into any destination apart from Him. Fellow soldiers, let’s stay sharp today!