Never Push, Presume, or Pretend

(Redeemer sanctuary)

I had many takeaways from James Goll when he spoke on our HSRM online mini-conference. Once of them was this.

Be led.

Not pushed.

So, when it comes to leadership:

Lead people.

Don't push people.

This is about influence. Great leaders influence people. And great leaders for God are influenced, and led, by God.

The leadership of Moses exemplified this. In Numbers 12:3 we read that "Moses was a humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth." Moses' humility was a precondition for his ongoing dialogical relationship with God, for his being-led by God.

Moses was close to God because he did not...

• pretend he was what he knew he was not;
• presume a favorable position for himself in any respect;
• push or try to override the will of others in his context.

Dallas Willard says, "This is a fail-safe recipe for humility: Never push, never presume, never pretend." (Willard, Hearing God Through the Year, p. 47)

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My three books are...

Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God.

Leading the Presence-Driven Church

Encounters with the Holy Spirit (a book I co-edited with Janice Trigg)

I''m now giving attention to Transformation: How God Changes the Human HeartThen, Linda and I will co-write our book on Relationships.

Followed by... Technology and Spiritual Formation.