WVW #005: Do you have the heart to be a great leader?

(00:00): I really don't like reading sounds like a silly thing to say, but I love learning. And I'm so motivated to read books that teach me something I'm fascinated by people who accomplish great things in their life. Like my mom, her number one mission was to raise five self sufficient strong women. And she did it in her own tough, loving way. She did it, but unfortunately she died of cancer at a young age, 65, but you know what? She left us. That's going to last in eternity. The bond of love and family, the five of us share is tighter than tight. And I'm so grateful for everyone of my sisters who helped me have a life every single day. But back to my love of learning, I love studying leadership, which I believe started with my mom. I put her impact up there with the greats like Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, John Maxwell, Jesus, Google defines leadership as the act of leading a group of people, five daughters, a husband, two dogs. That's my mom. For sure. Synonyms for leadership are words like guidance, direction, authority, management influence. Guess what? That means. We are all designed to be leaders because every one of us leads in some area of our lives. The only way to avoid leadership is to isolate yourself from the world. We were born to lead. If you're feeling like you should be leading, but you don't know how or you want to do it better. This episode is for you today. We're going to share how to follow the number one leadership guru ever known to man.

(01:57): Welcome to episode five of the well versed woman podcast. I'm Renee teller here with my cohost Teresa Morgan. Our lives are perfect and we don't have all the answers, but we know the one who is perfect and does have all the answers. Our mission is to share our life's experiences with you so you can enjoy the same love and peace we've come to. Now. This podcast is about relationship. It's not a podcast about religion and each podcast builds on the last one. So go ahead right now, pause this and hit the subscribe button because you're going to want to go back and listen, if you haven't already. And the other thing we learned way back in episode one is that before we do anything, we need to plug into the power source, plug into our creator so that we can open our hearts and our minds and our ears to listen to this podcast and what God might be speaking to each of us through this. So, you know, when I say we're gonna sit still close our eyes, deep, breathe for 20 seconds. And if you're driving, please don't close your eyes. But those 20 seconds start right now.

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(03:37): That's it. That was 20 seconds. I know right now, I feel like I could use at least 30. I encourage you to build on that before you even set foot on the ground in the morning, try to grow that 20 seconds to 30 and 60 and see how it makes you feel. Back to my conversation about leadership. I attended my first leadership conference at 21 years old, right out of college. I went by myself. I was just motivated to hear John Maxwell speak. That was 1981. And in 2015, inc magazine named John Maxwell, the number one leadership guru in the world, another of our modern greats, Ken Blanchard says the most important thing in leadership is the leader. And the most important part of the leader is his or her heart. And the most important connection to a leader's heart is God. Wow. Pretty profound. These two men alone are among the grades who have been studying leadership for decades.

(04:50): These men have something in common with Theresa and I, and they've come to know and believe that Jesus is the number one leadership guru in and out of the swirled. I like to say, that's why we study him. That's why we study Jesus wisdom dictates. It's where we should start. So where's, where's that book. Where's that book for me to read? Well, how it exists? There is a book that was written by God and it's called the Bible. We've talked about this in other episodes, otherwise known as the word of God, Theresa, what does the Bible reveal about the earthly man? Jesus, and the word? How does it connect that? Absolutely. We have to look at that today because the Bible says that the word of God is actually God himself. So if we look at John one, one, we see that the word Jesus Christ became flesh and dwelt among us.

(05:53): The word of God is tethered to God himself because of the word of God is God. We have to understand that Jesus walking the earth was the living. God demonstrating the very attributes, character and power of God. He was the word in action coming to bring truth and grace healing and forgiveness to a broken humanity. And it was his love for us that compelled him to save us. So when we talk about leadership and when we talk about following somebody wouldn't we want to follow God himself. I was really excited Renee, as I was doing my morning devotions this morning, and the speaker was referring to John eight, 12 in Jesus was teaching. And he said, when Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

(06:52): So knowing the Bible is so tantamount to our success in our victory in this life. As we have seen in previous episodes, Jeremiah 29 11 teaches us that God has the plans for our life. He knows those blueprints, if you will. And if we just hunker in Dotty the word of God, fellowship with God on a daily basis, he will reveal all that he has for our lives. And in that way, our life will be led with peace and joy. And of course, we're going to have challenges, but God is there at every turn to meet us. So as we follow him, we're led in the right direction. Well, the other interesting thing for me, Teresa in the Bible, it says, the word is God, the word always was. And the word becoming flesh was prophesied way back in Genesis way back in the beginning of the Bible.

(07:57): And what I think rang true for me was when I really studied the Bible, like not just said, I read it a little bit here and there, like skimming the chapters. But when you really study it, you see that the word, the Bible prophesied about the things to come, which Jesus, you know, for those who don't realize there's an, what they call an old Testament and a new Testament. And Jesus is the new Testament. It's the new word. It's when the word became flesh was the turning point, right? And so that old Testament, prophecy lends validity to the truthfulness. The, the, I can't even think of a word big enough, Teresa, about what, how powerful, how, how real, how alive the word of God is? This book is like no other book that I read to learn something. This has, this has crazy. You know, some people would call it magic, right?

(09:00): It's not magic to us. It's the spirit of God. It's alive. That's right, Renee, you know, and Hebrews chapter four, verse 12, the word says that the word of God is living and powerful. You know, what does that actually mean? How does that translate when we read it? Um, the pages of the Bible that say the word of God is living and powerful. Okay. How does that affect me as a person? Well, it affects me directly because when I put my faith, in the words, on the page, those words become life to me. I have then an interaction with God himself through the third part of the Godhead, the Holy spirit, he starts interacting with me because he responds to faith. So what we're talking about here today, what we're going to talk about, probably every single podcast can be traced back to our faith in putting faith, in the words of the pages of the Bible.

(10:06): So when we read, when we meditate, faith is born in our heart, in the power that God has available, starts to transfer to us. You know, Renee God's word is so powerful that the Bible teaches that God not only made the world. You know, we can see that in Genesis one, he spoke and things came into existence, but that all things are upheld by the word of his power. Wow. He has the power to create. He has the power to answer prayer, the power, to heal bodies, the power, to bring about change and blessing in our lives. As we look to him in faith, Renee is we plug into the power sources. As we like to say, we plug in through our faith. My experience with God is so precious because when I give him just a little boy, he comes rushing in like a flood with his love, with his wisdom in, with everything I need on a day to day basis.

(11:10): It's, it's so beautiful, really Theresa. And I think it's really been the last five years that I learned the power of words and realized, and actually exercised my, my daily baking my daily talk. Just the words, not, not only meditating and speaking biblical truths, but just the words we use every day. Uh, there's a great, another leadership guru that I love Michael Hyatt. And he reminded me. And I remember it going on like a light bulb years ago, God, like you just said, God spoke the world into existence. That's the power of our words. And when we believe in this higher, all knowing all powerful God, if, if we can grasp with our finite minds, which is very hard to do that, take on faith that he exists. He set some principles, some simple truths in place. And one of them was how he, how he spoke everything into existence.

(12:20): You've heard me talk about being in the construction business. He didn't get out his bulldozers and build this universe. He spoke it. You can barely wrap your arms around that, but you can start to realize the power of your words. If you just do that little bit of exercise every day, catch yourself, you know, Michael Hyatt said, um, what if you completed every sentence because with this, because that's the way I like it. And I looked back to my mom and how many times she might've said, you know, you girls are driving me crazy because that's the way I like it. Like if you realize that when you speak those words, they are also alive. They also live in though in the world, our words are so powerful and that's why you and I are trying to help each other and help the listeners come back to understanding and learning the most powerful words, which are in the great book.

(13:25): Those are the most powerful words that we can learn and speak and change our lives with. Right? Theresa. That's exactly right. You know, one of my very favorite scriptures and I like it so much because the truth that brings is so life-giving, or it will either give to our life or take from our life. And it's Proverbs 1821. It says that life and death are in the power of the tongue. And those that love it will eat its fruits, Renee, you and I in episodes to come, we'll be talking about the words of our mouth in how careful we really have to be when we do speak. But today we're talking about the power of God's word. When God speaks something, it will come into existence. And that is really from the front of the Bible to the back of the Bible. That is exactly what we see time and time again.

(14:20): Um, you know, a scripture to back up. What I'm explaining today is in, uh, Isaiah 55 11 followed up by Jeremiah one 12. Um, God says, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. Wow. It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please. And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Jeremiah one 12, actually God says, I watch over my word to perform it. So what we teach here, Renee, or what we explain on a week to week basis is when we read the word, when we understand what it says, when we meditate on it, the Holy spirit gives us revelation of it. Our faith begins to grow and all of a sudden we're accessing God himself. The very God that spoke this world into existence, we are accessing his power, his love.

(15:19): We have to remember that everything God does is based on love, but because God is all powerful. You can't separate God from his power, right? So a simple example to bring this to a very practical place in our life would be when we see that God heals, God has the power to heal. You know, we say, okay, he's all powerful. He made the earth. He can heal. Boy, look at all of the scriptures in the new Testament where Jesus healed is that available to me today is that healing, Oh boy, that we saw in so many cases in the new Testament, is that for me today? Well, we can look at it and say, I believe it is. And I'd like to share a real quick testimony. You know, my dad back in the early two thousands came down with a cancer called multiple myeloma.

(16:19): And at that time I was researching God's word to wanting to see what God had to say about healing and healing for today. So I saw the scriptures where God heals it's God's will to heal. And I said, okay, God, I'm going to test you in this. And I prayed for my dad. I believed for healing. And I prayed for my dad for two years. Whenever I saw him, I would lay hands on him because the Bible teaches about laying hands on the sick. And they shall recover in my faith was so engaged that you know what, Renee, by the time we went to the myeloma clinic down in little rock, Arkansas, and by the time my dad went through the battery of tests in the doctors came back and they said, there is no cancer in his body. It's totally in remission. Actually what they said was Renee.

(17:12): What they said was what cancer in that moment, I felt God speak to my heart. The scripture that I watch over my word form. It, it does not return void to me. So that power of God's word, that I believed in my heart that I spoke out of my mouth. Every time I saw dad, every time I talked to dad, I kept confessing those healing scriptures by the stripes of Jesus. Dad, you have been healed. God's power was an hushing that cancer back in Qatar. You know, the end results. The proof in the pudding, if you will, is that my dad was cancer-free. So that in essence, in a practical way is how faith operates and how it operated in my life. What we've said in previous episodes is this meditating on the word. And when we say that happened for you, Theresa doesn't happen for everyone.

(18:19): Those are ours to figure out God is in control and he has a plan. But it's these kinds of things that when you know the word, you meditate on the word and you see things come to fruition that your faith grows. So each of us is at a different place on the journey. And like we're saying, if you don't know the word, if you don't read the Bible, study the Bible, listen to a podcast. If that's the easiest way to get started to help you grow this faith, then it's very difficult for the word to come to pass when you don't know the word and you're not using it. Right. That's exactly right. Interesting. I think if our listeners today said, Hm, can you succinctly tell me what I can take away from today's episode? I would say, you know, in three easy steps, we must know what the word of God says.

(19:16): As we said last week, second, Peter, one, three and four, we're called to study the word second, Timothy, two 15. We're called to meditate on the word. Because as we meditate, we come to, to know the word in this causes faith to arise in our hearts. And it's this faith in our heart that pleases God and causes God to move on our behalf. Faith, pleases God. And then the next two weeks, we're going to talk more about faith and accessing the power of God through prayer. That's perfect. Theresa. I want to remind you that we love questions. We love for you to be inquisitive and curious and challenging. And you know, even God says, test me. He says, test me in this. So challenge us to get you the information you need to grow your faith, leave us questions. We're so excited about that because then we can directly respond to your needs. That's why we're here. We're here to help you grow, understand this amazing God that we serve every single day and know that our lives are so much better for it. And so much more peaceful. We have joy in turmoil and we want the same for every one of you. So Theresa until next week. What is the book of Romans have to say, that's right. Renee, Romans 10, 17, our cornerstone scripture. So faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. We love you. Amen.