The Inspired Leader: 101 Biblical Reflections for Becoming a Person of Influence Read Online Free PDF

so, how does the way you are living reflect that belief?
Alert Expectancy

    Lou Giuliano
    Chairman and CEO ITT CORP, retired. Workforce Ministries
    OVER THE LAST several years I have had the privilege of mentoring a number of businessmen in significant leadership positions who have a strong desire to follow the Lord. As I reflect on our conversations, they eventually revolve around career issues. Most people I talk with express dissatisfaction with where they are or they are facing job transitions that are raising vexing concerns. Of course, I don’t have answers for them, just more questions. God has you in your job for a reason. What do you think that is? Is God using your current position to open doors to new opportunities? Most often the answer is, “I don’t know,” which suggests the need for more prayer, Bible study, and patience.
    God provides practical guidance to us in the Scriptures. Unless we remain closely connected to Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5). Our first task is to continue to build our relationship with Him. Throughout our questioning and decision-making, He must remain at the center of our thoughts. Henry Blackaby puts it succinctly: “Find out where God is working and join Him.” We need to be “aggressive responders” to the Lord’s direction.
    But this is entirely foreign to what most business leaders are accustomed to doing! We are much more comfortable taking the lead, planning ahead, and making things happen. The idea of responding to another’s plan, rather than carrying out our own doesn’t fit with our training, experiences, or aptitude! As usual, this is the complete opposite of what the world has trained us to do. I have come to expect that if an approach does not run contrary to popular thinking, it probably is not coming from God!
    Abraham is a great example of God working in a manner that ran contrary to commonly held assumptions. God revealed His unusual plan to Abraham. Abraham believed and obeyed. The result: “We call Abraham ‘father’ not because he got God’s attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody.” (Romans 4:17 The Message ). God’s plan often requires patience and character, but if we are willing to remain faithful and in a state of “alert expectancy,” we are never left shortchanged ( Romans 5:3-5 The Message ).
    Alert expectancy. What an exciting way to look at things! Our faith in Christ gives us the opportunity to live in a state of alert expectancy; patiently waiting for what God will do next. People who choose this path will one day look back in amazement at what God did.
    In one instance a man chose to leave a good, long-term employer for family reasons, and accept a staff role in a new company. His friends all said moving from a P & L responsibility to a staff job was a mistake—a step backwards for his career. He was violating conventional wisdom. But he sought to put his family’s needs first, responding as he thought the Lord was leading him to. He not only enjoyed the new position, but within two years he was back in a P & L slot and within the next few years, he unexpectedly found himself as the CEO of this Fortune 500 company. It is amazing to watch God do through us what we could never accomplish on our own. It is comforting to know we have a God who is, always faithful, desires more for us than we could imagine, and perfectly capable of doing the impossible.
    If you are presently facing significant challenges in your life, trust in the Lord! Be an aggressive responder who lives with alert expectancy!
    Godspeed.
    REFLECT FOR A MOMENT
Would you describe the style of your Christian life as, “alert expectancy”? Do you assume God will show you what to do next?
Are you an “aggressive responder”? When God speaks, are you quick to respond?
How attached are you to your plan? Could you relinquish it for God’s? Have you?
Starched Collars and Black Robes

    David L. Dunkel
    Chairman