You Are a Leader by Bonnie Hagemann
Wait! Before you skip over this article because you think you’re not
a leader, hold on. I think you might find that this article is for you—
maybe just for you. You see, I work with leaders every day, because
that is my life’s work. I develop leaders. My entire focus is studying
and understanding leadership and then teaching it to others. Here is
what I’ve learned:
1. Being a leader can begin at any phase of life.
2. It’s a choice.
3. It doesn’t matter what mistakes you’ve made in the past.
There are two kinds of leaders: those who are leaders by
example, and those who actively lead others. Most of the time, we
think of leaders as those who run companies with employees, have
government offices with a lot of staff, or lead military brigades. But
individual contributors can also be leaders. For example, think about
a respected physician in town, a prominent athlete, a minister, or any
other individual contributor who lives his or her life with integrity and
courage. These people may not manage a single person, but they’re
still considered leaders in the community.
And that is why this article is for you. You can be a leader as an
individual contributor or as a leader of others—if you will live your life
with integrity and courage. Still not convinced you can be a leader?
Let me go one step further.
It doesn’t matter what mistakes you have made in the past. I
know many people who have failed in a major, devastating way, but
who rose again to make a difference in their families, communities,
businesses, and some even on a greater scale. I can name many
who are still around, but to save myself from having to ask for their
permission, let’s use some who are no longer here. How about Moses,
David, Abraham Lincoln, or Winston Churchill? All are examples of
repeated, impressive failures, followed by massive, historical success.
The truth is, I don’t really enjoy working with leaders who have not
yet been through failure. I like to work with people who have been
knocked down so hard that they did not think they could get back up,
because those are the ones who become the best leaders.
No matter what phase of life you are in or how major your
failures have been in the past, you can decide today that you are
going to be a leader. The first step is seeing yourself as a respected
person; someone you can respect, your family can respect, and your
community can respect. That takes integrity. Integrity is doing what is
right, no matter how much it costs you personally or financially. And
that will take courage. Courage is the inner fortitude to keep getting
up no matter how much it hurts.
This is a call. You may not be seeking leadership, but leadership is
seeking you.
How will you answer?
DON’T GIVE PLACE TO THE DEVIL | from page 34 _________________________________________________________________________________________________
On that day when I exploded in anger, I gave
place to the devil. As I tossed and turned in my
bed the night before, I knew I was making a
choice. I had pondered the problem so long that
I let anger well up inside me and make my
decision for me.
What about you? Have you ever given place to
the devil by allowing anger, resentment, bitterness,
or unforgiveness to have a place in you?
Let’s look at the word “devil” for a moment. The
word comes from the Greek word diabolos, an
old compound word made from the words dia
and ballo. This name is used sixty-one times in the
New Testament. The first part of the word is the
prefix dia, which means through and often carries
the idea of penetration. Because dia is used at the
first of this word, it tells us that the devil wants to
make some kind of penetration.
We’ve already seen that the devil is looking for an
entry point. Once a point has been located through
which he can secretly slip into people’s lives, he
begins penetrating the mind and emotions to
drive a wedge between those individuals and the
other people in their lives. The enemy’s objective
is to separate us from each other with his railing,
accusing, slanderous allegations.
You’ll know when the accuser has gone to work
in your mind, because your whole perspective
about the person you are upset with suddenly
changes. You become nit-picky, negative, and
fault-finding. You used to have high regard for
that person, but now you can’t see anything good
about him at all. It’s as if you’ve put on a special
set of eyeglasses that are designed to reveal all
his wicked, ugly, horrid details. Even if you do
see something good in him, all the bad you see
outweighs the good.
This is clear evidence that the work of the
accuser has found an entry point to penetrate
your relationship with that other person. The devil
is trying to disrupt what has been a pleasant and
gratifying relationship in your life. Don’t allow
that conflict, disagreement, or disappointment
to cause you to pick up a wrong attitude that will
ruin your relationship. That’s exactly what the devil
wants you to do!
Rather than allow this to happen, stop and
tell yourself, Okay, this isn’t as big a deal as I’m
making it out to be. The devil is trying to find a
place in my mind to get me to start mentally
accusing that person, and I’m not going to let
him do it.
Instead of meditating on all the bad points
of that person, look in the mirror at yourself.
Consider how many times you’ve let down other
people, how many mistakes you’ve made in your
relationships, and the times you should have
been held accountable but instead were shown
unbelievable mercy. Remembering these things
has a way of making you look at an offensive
situation a little more mercifully.
Ask the Holy Spirit to take the criticism out of
your heart and to cause the love of God in you
to flow toward that other person or group of
people. Pray for an opportunity to strengthen that
relationship so all the entry places to your life and
to that relationship remain sealed. Stop the devil
from worming his way into your relationships with
people you need and love.
kojministries.org Issue 4 2017 35
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