Jeremy Pace

“He says, ‘It’s time to let go’.”

“How do you know!? How do you know something bad isn’t going to happen!?”

“…I don’t” ~Marlin and Dory, “Finding Nemo”

Oh no. The “F” word. The big one, the one I hear everyday, the mother of all Christian-ese, although it’s not an uncommon term to the world at large. “Just have faith,” a common phrase in movies and novels. Most people think faith is just a nice feeling, like trusting someone. But we as Christians know it as much more as a crazy even dangerous belief in something when no physical evidence points to it.

What exactly can faith do? According to Hebrews 11:33, and 34, it can do an awful lot. By acts of faith, those before have “toppled kingdoms, made justice work, took the promises of themselves. They were protected from lions, fires, and sword thrust, turned disadvantage to advantage, won battles, (and) routed alien armies,” (The Message). Short way to say with faith nothing of this world can stop you. These are acts of David, Gideon, Moses… all great leaders, who lead by faith. We could learn from them.

Moses, it says in Heb. 11:24, left the Egyptian royal family and choose rather to suffer with the people of God by faith. He didn’t know how it would turn out; he had no guarantee of victory, other than the ever present assuring voice and leading of God. He led them through the middle of a sea and across a burning desert for 40 years, not because he had a great plan or a strategy. It was because he trusted God to do it.

Gideon, in Judges 6, was hiding from the enemy, when God showed up and called him a “mighty man of valor” and told him how to defeat a massive army with only 400 men and some clay pots. Was that on Gideon, being one of the great generals of all time? No, it was on God, who saw Gideon’s faith, and called it his “might”. God saw him for his faith, not his ability.

The same is true of David, who sang to God as a teenager in a sheep field, and was risen up to be the next king. He never did anything to try and get the position; he only took it when God called him to take it. In the book “Tale of Three Kings” by Gene Edwards, the author looks deep into David’s heart, finding a great mighty king who neither looked to overthrow a demon-possessed king, or to stop his own son from rising up against him. Why? Because he didn’t care if he was king or not. He only wanted God’s anointed to sit on the throne, and whether that’d be Saul, or him, or Absalom, so be it.

All three of these great men of faith didn’t become leaders because they climbed the ladder of success and stepped on others along the way. They only lead because God told them to. They cried “Lead me in thy truth, and teach me… on thee do I wait all the day,” (Psalm 25:5). They had faith in His word on their lives, and would have followed Him whether He told them to lead the nation or to shovel dung in the stables. They weren’t in it for themselves, but only for the benefit of God’s people.

Leading is serving, and serving is believing. Leading by faith is serving by believing. It’s work. “What does it profit a man who has faith but does not have works?… Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?” (James 2:14). Faith is work, and leading is serving. Leading by faith is the hardest way to be a leader, because it’s the most sacrificial. But oh, it’s the greatest.

Think of all the great heroes, in reality or fantasy. By faith George Washington led America to victory, not so he could become president, but because he loved his country. Aragorn didn’t want to become king, but by faith he took the mantle when it would benefit and rescue his people. By faith William Wallace fought with passion for the freedom of Scotland from Longshanks. Luke Skywalker believes in the unseen power around him and by faith uses it to save the galaxy from evil. Jesus of Nazareth began a ministry that changed the world, and lead to his grizzly death, driven only by the faith that it would save the world and He would rise again. Craziness. And all by faith.

All these admired people fight with passion for the people they love, and others join them, not because they have to, but because they believe in them. And any true man of God isn’t leading for the power or the prestige, but for the benefit of the people under him. And how can you do that? Not by your own ideas and great gifts, because then it’s back to you making a name for yourself. It’s by faith. By honest, loving faith in a God who trust you to shepherd or teach or lead or govern His beloved children on earth. And if you’re trying to lead out of pride, Jesus told how you would be dealt with in Matthew 15:14; “’Every tree that wasn’t planted by my Father in heaven will be pulled up by it’s roots.’” God Himself plants leaders. And if you try to do it by pride, you may as well kick your own butt. When you can say, “I can’t do this, it’s not about me, it’s all about them, and You, and I need you Lord”, then you’re leading by faith. And people will want to follow you.

So where’s that leave you? Maybe you feel called by God to lead, maybe you do have a love for others, and desire to see them set free. If God’s calling you, then be like Neo, and believe that you are the one, that the laws of this world no longer have sway to you, and that no lie or attack of the enemy can stop you from saving Zion. Just remember that leadership is never won, it’s given. And have faith in the God leading you. Oh, and one more thing; if you fail at first, don’t worry.

We all miss the jump the first time.

“Faith is a belief of the truth, from a spiritual taste and relish of what is excellent and divine.” ~John Edwards