Leading with God The Importance of Intimacy and fear

Intimate with God Leader

“The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant. My eyes are ever on the LORD, ... Ps. 25:14-15.

To be an effective leader, the basic condition is to be intimate with God, a friend of God. Intimacy with God leads the leader to know Him as someone who has experienced life with Him, and in doing so, to know Him like no one else. As a result of this close relationship, the leader comes to understand much more clearly His plans and purposes for our ministry.

Notice that the text says this intimacy is exclusive to those who fear Him. Without the proper fear of the Lord, there is no way to know His covenant, His purposes, or His direction.

To fear God means to have such great reverence for Him that it will certainly influence how we live our lives. Proverbs 9:10 says that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. Therefore, fear comes before wisdom, and without wisdom there is no way to be intimate with God. It is easy to see that without the proper fear of God, wisdom does not come, and without it our tendency would be to act on our own. That is where the danger lies, because acting this way leaves no intimacy to enter into His purposes and intentions to guide our ministry.

We can draw two precious lessons for our ministry of leadership: First: Wisdom can only be attained when there is fear in our hearts. Second: Let us imitate the psalmist who says in verse 15: "My eyes are ever on the LORD.