Daily Encouragement: Year 1, Day 18
Adapted from Handbook to Leadership
Personal Development: Dependence on God
No leader can model faith in God until he or she has developed a consistent dependence on God. Once that faith is established, opportunities will arise when others can’t help but see it. For instance, before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead He prayed, thanking God for hearing Him, so that the people listening to Jesus would benefit from hearing it (John 11:42).
Jesus’ faith in His Father was exercised in a way that demonstrated the power of God in a seemingly hopeless situation. This was faith in the midst of illness, death, and deep despair. As leaders we want to cultivate the kind of dependence on God that others can see in real-life situations. Such a faith is not cultivated during a crisis, but before a crisis. It’s developed during routine days.
Jesus knew that faith in God was the basis for strength and hope in the midst of despair. That same hope is available to you today, through the Spirit, in whatever situation you may face.