Hey Christian Leader, Want to Increase Your Leadership Capacity?

When we Christian leaders need resources to draw from, the Lord keeps saying to us, “I have the resources you need. Come to me, learn of me, follow me and I will give ...” He has given, “everything we need for life and godliness” 2 Pt 1:3 – 8. Sadly, far too many Christian leaders and professionals discount what God clearly has provided for their success.

We all want to do better and achieve more. I’ve built a business around it. For the serious Christian leader, increasing our capacity to work and lead with greater effectiveness and improved results comes with responsibility. It requires that we maintain dependence on God. And being dependent on Him means that whatever we have, energy, health, money, things, time, gifts, they are to be available for God to use as he sees fit. If he increases our capacity – for whatever and in whatever – He wants it to be surrendered to Him.

Too often, we Christian executives, leaders and professionals divorce our professional life from our private walk with God. Professionally we put in all the effort to improve, develop and rise higher. But … God does not want our effort divorced from His provision. It will simply remain ‘our effort’ and nothing more. But when we realize we have one life, a life made up of all we are and everything we do, at home, at work, in the community, publicly and privately and that it is ALL under God, then we can make real progress.

Christian leaders are more like reservoirs with an inlet and outlet through which God’s blessings flow. If there is no control at one end to conserve and reserve what has come in, that water simply flows through with limited benefit available, if it is put to use at all. But, harness that reserve and benefit can be gained even through dry seasons. Not only that, others can benefit from the overflow of the reservoir. There will be availability when normal supplies are not there. That’s when leaders stand out, drawing from reserves others may not realize are available.

God never allows the increase in your life without wanting it harnessed in the benefit of others, even if it is never seen in a public way. Otherwise the increase, the new capacity only goes to the head and puffs us up with pride. Harnessed and directed, it can be used by Him in multitudes of ways. Blessing our employees or volunteer staff, building into our community, creating improved products that help people, coaching our staff to greater lives and contribution ... and the list goes on and on.

Only in the practice of allowing good things to flow through us do we see our God-given capacity for their stewardship. We begin to understand that there is great blessing in giving and being a channel.  And only in surrendering that stewardship during the use of it do we experience the extent of the blessing God is desirous to put in to our reservoir. Often in God's way of doing things, the more we allow to flow over or through our reservoir, the more He brings in to keep it full, refreshing and useful.

Increasing your capacity in a way that is honoring to God is predicated on two things. The first is that you enjoy it. God has given it to you as a wonderful blessing in your life. You daily need to be grateful for His goodness. The second is that you use it for Him. Wise stewardship of new learning, time, space, money, energy, opportunity, love, information and wisdom is an investment made in eternal things. It advances the kingdom of God and all the good and blessing that may imply for you and your family, company, organization, church, community or world.

God is our ultimate reserve. We have everything in Christ. If our “assignment” from Him finds us feeling low on reserve, with the well appearing dry, God is there just as He is when we feel filled to the brim. Paul said he had learned a secret. It was good that others shared with him and strengthened him. Nevertheless, even without those resources he could still “do everything through Him who gave him strength.” (Phil 4:10 – 14). God is our ultimate resource.

How One Leader Managed His Time, Saved His Family Life and Avoided Job Burnout

Having a reserve means we don’t have to keep being distracted and drained by the need. Rather, we will eliminate problems and pressure and have the unencumbered ability to reach our potential best.

Imagine a well. If it has just a little water in it, what happens? You start being very careful with using the water you have. You keep checking the level. You may start worrying. You constantly search for emergency sources. Now imagine the well filled to the top with water. Notice how you feel now. Concern has decreased dramatically. Our lives can be like that almost empty well. We live beyond the limits of what we have on hand. There is little left to draw from.

Consider Phil, struggling to juggle work and family. Phil wanted things to be done right. He’d give 110 percent to any project he put his hand too. He was noticed. More projects and offers of promotion came his way. His experience and expertise were sought out. You’d think this success would energize him, but the opposite took place. Phil’s discretionary time eroded. Since work had to be done, his family had reluctantly slipped into the discretionary category. Phil had little time for his family, little time to spend with God, no time for himself and constantly lived in the future, longing for a day when it would be different.

Several trips to the hospital later, with panic attacks, missed work and a deteriorating approach to people around him, I received Phil’s call. Over time we strategized about the future he saw and how to bring it into the present. Phil needed to carve out some time to actually relax and figure out where he was going.

After gaining some real clarity about his tending towards being a perfectionist, he started by saying “no” to new projects until he finished a project already started. He cut the number of projects back to reflect a more comfortable working pace. This moved him closer to balance. Phil began praying more and he physically started booking his family in as priority time. He concentrated whole undistracted days on unfinished business, cleaning up his long to-do lists.

Bits of discretionary time started to appear. This gave him a little time to relax and think about the offers coming in and just what he and his family really wanted from life. Clarity led to an intentional, but flexible strategy being developed to cover the short, medium and longer term in his life.

What did Phil get that was so important? Time. Once that was carved out, he could think clearer, act smarter and begin to enjoy his wife, family and himself again. Having a reserve of time improved how he looked at people, his health and his approach to living. Talking about it garnered the respect of others around him. Now, things have changed. No offer or activity could convince Phil to deteriorate that reserve of personal time he now guards so closely.

Leaders and Professionals Avoiding Burnout Draw From Reserves

Having a reserve means you have something kept back for future use, something extra. You are not demanding more than you have available. It means you are ready to meet any daily need or emergency that demands those resources. 

Reserves do not imply that we don’t give life our all. It does imply that God made us capable of managing ourselves in such a way that our availability to the Lord is not cut short by our own lack of understanding of the resources that God made available to us.

A good biblical example comes from the Joseph’s measures to provide for a coming famine in Egypt. (Gen 41:35, 36) “Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh, to be kept in the cities for food. This food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine.”              

WHAT KIND OF RESERVES ARE THERE?

A random list of 18 reserves mentioned by some of my clients is below. Notice how diverse they are. You and I might add other areas to it, unique to each one of us.

1. Discretionary time: Having lots of time to stop, think, relax or do what you want.
2. Assistance: Having more than enough people in place so you never ever have to do it.
3. Rest: Getting the kind of sleep and relaxation that your body and soul specifically need.
4. Stability: Having a completely stable home and work environment around you.
5. Momentum: Having more than enough positive, forward and motivational motion.
6. Personal Quiet Time: Never, ever having to rush your time alone with the Lord.
7. Structure: You have a framework for living so you always know where you are at.
8. Money: Having more than enough, so money, bills and the future is never a worry.
9. Information: You always have access to all the information you need, when needed.
10. Love: Your daily life is full of rich, real, caring and mutual relationships.
11. Physical Space: Expansive and energizing areas always surround you.
12. Emotional Energy: You receive more than you give out, always having a joyful soul.
13. Physical Energy: You have all the physical get up and go you need, and more.
14. Time for Prayer: Other than emergency, your prayer time never gets bumped by anything.
15. Opportunities: You have created a pool of opportunity of fulfilling things to do.
16. Wisdom: You have 24-hour access to wise, godly people and resources around you.
17. Outdoor Environment: Never a day goes by when you don’t enjoy the outdoors.
18. Stimulating Surroundings: You surround yourself with things that energize you.

These leaders and professionals know that having sufficient and extra of any of these elements would enable them to have choices instead of always trying to scramble to make up what’s missing.