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deeper – further, wider, higher.
I have never been so on fire for God as I am now and the difference between this fire and the earlier ones is that it is fueled by His Word and fed by His presence. This is the first holiday that I’m not the last one to wake up, but actually the first – simply because I desired so badly (when I went to bed the night before) to spend time with the Lord in the morning. I have so many insights from the Lord that each journal entry could fill out a week of blog posts! Well, while I continue to discover and apply the truth, and reap its benefits before passing it on to you, I’d like to share the five key thoughts that the Lord has directed me to for this week.
Monday
The depth of my life is determined by how I do His commandments and depart from evil.
Tuesday
The divine cycle of glory is as such – God made all things to display His glory, only to put it under the dominion of Jesus; God’s creation celebrates the centrality of Christ!
Wednesday
Jesus came to redeem and restore us to the original requirements of intimate fellowship with God.
Thursday
When we imitate Christ, we initiate salvation to the unbelievers.
Friday
We can imitate Christ for His proven example helps us to overcome sin and temptation.
I doubt that I would (or even should) do this every week but I think it’s a good way for me to commemorate my commencement of the weekly devotional system that EC shared briefly in IDMC 2010. I truly have gleaned so much insight from God simply by delighting in, devoting to and being disciplined by and to the Word! I spent the weekend reflecting on what I’ve learnt through the week and here’s exactly what I’ve written in my journal.
End-of-week summary
The imitation of Christ (into His likeness) is both foundational (of our faith) and transformational (of our fruits); the deeper you grow – the further you go, the wider you spread, the higher you soar!
God – WOW. You blew my mind this week. I can’t wait to spend time with You in a few hours when I wake up! Thank You for Your grace to help me to love You more than ever, and in such a new-found deeper manner! You were indeed the highlight of my weekend getaway in Batam. And thank You for reminding me of Your glorious presence – through one of the most amazing sunrises I’ve witnessed. I love You, Jesus, deep down in my heart!
(my) desired qualities of leadership.
I don’t read many leadership books because I don’t really believe that leadership can be taught through text. I believe that leadership is a skill best taught through real-life experiences and best learnt through real-life examples.
As I watched the latest (leaked) episode of Naruto Shippuden 169, I couldn’t help but to be drawn to Naruto’s hidden and often-understated leadership and charisma. It may just be anime but it has taught me so much about life and in this case, leadership. (Actually, I wrote an article on the top ten reasons to watch Naruto before.) Naruto has a magnetic personality and he has qualities that just naturally endears you to him – he may be reckless but he’s so charmingly reckless you can’t help but to join him in his recklessness. I think Shikamaru got it right when he said, “That guy, has something no one else does… …When I’m with Naruto, ‘I want to walk alongside him’, is what I think”. I desire to have leadership qualities like that!
And so it got me thinking about the kind of leader I aspire to be as well as who and what I’m inspired by. I see some of these qualities in the leaders, mentors and role models that I look up to. In my primitive perspective, an outstanding leader should have or be:
- A forward-thinking visionary.
- Depth in character and understanding of self.
- Knowledge and expertise (a.k.a. IQ).
- Charisma and people skills (a.k.a. EQ).
- Determination and fighting spirit.
- Courage and a willingness to take risks and try new things.
- Wisdom, patience and maturity.
- Authentic and unafraid to exhibit flaws and shortcomings.
- An unquenchable desire to learn from mistakes, improve and improvise.
- Humility to acknowledge defeat and apologise whenever necessary.
- Confidence and an acute awareness of his strengths and weaknesses.
- Situational awareness and appreciation.
- A keen sense of strategy and shrewdness.
- Excellence and thoroughness.
- Commitment to follow-through with the plan and vision.
- Versatility and an all-rounded capability.
- Sensitivity and compassion to reach out to the underdogs.
- Spirit-controlled and a master of his temperaments.
- Consistency and a reputation that has been proven over time.
- Always one step away from fulfilling his glass-ceiling potential.
But most of all, I think, a leader must have followers. Otherwise, it is absolutely useless to possess all the above-mentioned qualities if you have no one to lead! If people aren’t willing and wanting to “walk alongside you”, then as a leader, you will simply be rendered ineffective and redundant. I think that’s the harsh but honest truth.
Frankly, it didn’t take me very long to list these 20 qualities and I could easily (and seriously) go for another 20 more (and I’m sure you could too), since I’ve merely shared my opinion of an ideal leader. However, the more I think about it, the more I think that Jesus is our perfect role model of a leader – I can’t think of a better example who has all these qualities and one whom I’d want to emulate than my Saviour.
I think I will expand on each of these qualities another time. For now, I just wanted to extract these thoughts out of my head. I need a good physical rest tonight!
joey asher | misunderstoodsunshinekid 