Monday, July 2, 2012

Leading by Fear of Loss

But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart; for he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, who had made Israel sin. (2 Kings 10:31 NKJV)
---He set up golden calves so the people would not go to Jerusalem to worship God because he was scared to "lose" those people.---

As I am journaling through the Bible, I continue to find great examples of bad leadership. I researched the passage above to find out, "What was Jeroboam's sin?" I tried to over-spiritualize it at first, but really it came down to competition of keeping the people in his kingdom versus going to his brother's kingdom. So, he set up some golden calves.

I am not sure if I have blogged on this before, but it gripped my heart this morning. Many leaders are so scared that people will leave them that they begin to lead by fear and insecurity. I have seen this first hand. If you are under this tyranny, it can be very hurtful.

In 2004, I felt God leading me to go be the youth pastor at another church. Our church plant merged with another church and they did not have "room" for me. I prayed, fasted and sought God. My wife and I felt God's leading. When I went to visit my pastor, I did not get what I expected. I asked for prayer, counsel and blessing. He brought his prophetess in to give me a "word." They said I was leaving for money and control. That was awesome because I was a college student and the church could not pay me very much. He went on to trash that church and promise me I was making a big mistake leaving him. He also stated that a prophet just spoke at his church and told the congregation that anyone who leaves will be cursed. Long story short: best move I ever made; their church shut the doors and by the grace of God we have a cordial relationship today.

I shared that story for this reason; Don't let fear of people leaving inspire you to heighten your level of insecurity and scare tactics. Don't trash them. Bless them and love them. Create an environment where people can seek God and make their own decisions.

One final thing.... Don't play "God told me to tell you" tricks. Let people follow God and if it's wrong, He is big enough to speak to them. You can disagree with someone and still walk with them through their decision.

Don't walk in the "sin of Jeroboam."

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