Leading with God: The Importance of Intimacy and fear
The intimacy of the LORD is for those who fear Him; He will make His covenant known to them. My eyes are ever toward the LORD... Psalm 25:14-15.
To be an effective leader, the basic condition is to be someone who is intimate with God, a friend of God. Intimacy with God leads the leader to know Him as someone who has a living relationship with Him, and through this, knows Him like no one else. As a result of this intimate relationship, the leader comes to understand much more clearly God's plans and intentions for our ministry.
Notice that the text says this intimacy is exclusive to those who fear Him. Without proper fear, there is no way to know His covenant, His purposes, His directions.
Fearing God means having such great reverence for Him that it certainly influences how we live our lives. Proverbs 9:10 says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Therefore, fear precedes wisdom, and without wisdom, it is impossible to be intimate with God. It is clear and easy to understand that without the proper fear of God, wisdom does not come, and without it, our tendency would be to act on our own. Here lies the danger: acting on our own does not allow us to penetrate His purposes and intentions to guide our ministry.
We can extract two precious lessons for our ministry of leadership:
1. Wisdom can only be attained when there is fear in our hearts.
2. Let us imitate the psalmist who says in verse 15: "My eyes are ever toward the LORD."
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