council..

the leaders' council last night was quite honestly a new start for me in my spiritual life. i've been struggling for years in the area of personal devotion and daily quiet time with God. somehow, along the way, i've subconsciously came to a point where i felt i already God's Word well enough, and that a cursory personal quiet time was good enough to keep me going.

how wrong i was.

Dr John Kirkpatrick shared last night on the importance for leaders to don the armor of God daily to sustain and protect us from the works of the enemy as we seek to serve God. when he touched on the Word, something he said struck me at that point- we can only give what we have. it sounds cliched, i know, but in the midst of so many other leaders, some that i really look up to, and some whom i have worked with over the years, and brothers who have grown with me and imparted so deeply into my life, amidst all of them, those words struck me as they never have done so before.

it is so important to be solidly grounded in God's Word when we work with the kids that God has placed into our care!!!

friends, i don't know if i can impress the importance of this into your lives, especially if you are a leader and God has placed lives into your care.

He spoke directly and specifically to me at that moment, that the leadership role He has given me is a tool to reach teach and keep lives for Him. and to bring it deeper, i have specific spiritual authority and covering over the kids, over ethan, amelia, kerryn, nicole, jediel, zhengjie, zeke, weiling, natalie and so many many many more of them! and i must MUST be grounded in His Word in order to impart the right values and teachings, and more, what He wants to say, into these young lives. to do any less would definitely be wrong!

God also reassured me that He has a plan for me; that my birth was not an accident, and that things that have happened happened for His reasons and purposes. what that may be, i know not right now, but i don't want it to be because i have not diligently studied His Word.

Lord Jesus, i recommit my life again to You and i pray that as i begin to study Your Word daily, i want to get to know You more dear Lord. i pray that You will reveal Yourself daily to me, and that i will come to hear and know Your voice, to know Your plans and purposes for me. i pray that i will learn Your truths, to pass them on to the precious, dear lives that You have placed in my care. help me to have the discipline to study Your Word daily, and more, to come to LOVE to study Your Word and not treat it as a chore. in Your Name i pray, amen!