NOT GIANTS. ONLY DESPERATE.

Strong and admired personalities do not power the kingdom. Even the most famous carry little weight if not for God's Holy Spirit moving about. Calvin Miller wrote in The Empowered Leader,

Please remember that great leaders are not those who have worked their way up to personal confidence. Nor do they see themselves as God's ready achievers in this world. Spiritual leaders only appear to be giants to others. To themselves they are in desperate need of God.

Every effective leader is desperate for God. I feel sure Rick Warren, Philip Yancey, Beth Moore, and Erwin McManus feel Miller's statement is right on target. If God doesn't deliver the goods, we are simply unplugged. If He doesn't grace us, we wither. No man or woman can lead if God is not the Singular Supplier. There is not a preacher, an elder, a congregation who needs more members or more money before it needs more God. We must have Him. We hunger and thirst for His right ways. Our ways lead us to be sluggishly dim. God's ways sparkle with simple and often surprising effectiveness.

Sometimes in prayer I will ask God what He wishes I would do that no one has yet to think about. I don't believe they (the most brilliant of leaders) have exhausted God's storehouse of creative thinking. There's such room for the rest of us to tap His brilliance. Young leaders, be encouraged to think into God rather than coast along the party lines of your fellowship. Dare to let the Spirit who knows all things about God roam His inventory and see what might be pulled out just for your participation.

Desperate for God? If He doesn't come through, I'm sunk. Yes, I'm desperate. And you?