Tag: Servant of God

“Christian Servant Leadership -Quotes and Scripture”, C.S. Lewis & Christian Leaders (humility, shepherding, servants of God)

Posted on by Linda Willows

Christian Servant Leadership – Quotes from Servant Leaders and Scripture. 

Qualities of a Strong Leader; Quotes of C.S. Lewis 

• You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.

• Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.

• Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.

• Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.

• The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.

• We are what we believe we are.

• Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours.

• The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are.

• If a man thinks he is not conceited, he is very conceited indeed.

• There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.

• The Past is frozen and no longer flows, and the Present is all lit up with eternal rays.

• No good work is done anywhere without aid from the Father of Lights.

• It is not your business to succeed, but to do right; when you have done so, the rest lies with God.

You must ask for God’s help. … After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again.

• God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons that we could learn in no other way.

• Don’t let your happiness depend on something you may lose.

Quotes on Leadership from Servant Leaders

“The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead.”–Robert K. Greenleaf

“One of the problems with discipleship is you can’t hide…You have to be a Godly person”. “Natural temperament always has a dark side because it participates in your idols”. “Unless you’re really a Godly person, discipleship will not work because people aren’t going to believe you”. “You can’t lead them where you are not yourself”. —Tim Keller

“The three Cs of spiritual leadership are Character, Competency, and Confidence. Character must lead.” “Humility is the most important attribute of character”. “If you lead with confidence, your competency is going to be exposed.” “The hardest person that you will ever lead is yourself”. “A good leader is a great listener”. –Tom Holliday, Alexandria Presbyterian Church

“A true shepherd leads the way. He does not merely point the way.” — Leonard Ravenhill

“It takes more than a busy church, a friendly church, or even an evangelical church to impact a community for Christ. It must be a church ablaze, led by leaders who are ablaze for God”. —Wesley L. Duewel

“The heart of the learner is humble, the student is not above his master, he must learn to lead, Jesus said in Matthew 16:24-25 “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it”. “You offer yourself to Him. We do that to the Power to make ourselves Holy. Without Effort. It is His Effort. Not our own. It is Divine Power.” —Tom Holliday, Alexandria Presbyterian Church

“The authority by which the Christian leader leads is not power but love, not force but example, not coercion but reasoned persuasion. Leaders have power, but power is safe only in the hands of those who humble themselves to serve.” —John Stott

“Never when in authority rebuke anyone in anger, but only when anger has passed away; and so shall the rebuke bring forth good fruit.” – Teresa of Avila

“The first order of things to be changed is me, the leader. After I consider how hard it is to change myself, then I will understand the challenge of trying to change others. This is the ultimate test of leadership”. – John Maxwell

“The very first thing which needs to be said about Christian ministers of all kinds is that they are “under” people as their servants rather than “over” them (as their leaders, let alone their lords). Jesus made this absolutely plain. The chief characteristic of Christian leaders, he insisted, is humility not authority, and gentleness not power”. –-John Stott

“The authority by which the Christian leader leads is not power but love, not force but example, not coercion but reasoned persuasion. Leaders have power, but power is safe only in the hands of those who humble themselves to serve.” – John Stott

“According to Scripture, virtually everything that truly qualifies a person for leadership is directly related to character. It’s not about style, status, personal charisma, clout, or worldly measurements of success. Integrity is the main issue that makes the difference between a good leader and a bad one”. –John MacArthur

“Father, make of me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a milepost on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me”. —Jim Elliot

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” –-Martin Luther King Jr.

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way”. —John C. Maxwell

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“God ultimately raises up leaders for one primary reason: His glory. He shows His power in our weakness. He demonstrates His wisdom in our folly. We are all like a turtle on a fence post. If you walk by a fence post and see a turtle on top of it, then you know someone came by and put it there. In the same way, God gives leadership according to His good pleasure.” —Matt Chandler

“A true and safe leader is likely to be one who has no desire to lead, but is forced into a position of leadership by the inward pressure of the Holy Spirit and the press of the external situation. Such were Moses and David and the Old Testament prophets. I think there was hardly a great leader from Paul to the present day but that was drafted by the Holy Spirit for the task, and commissioned by the Lord of the Church to fill a position he had little heart for. I believe it might be accepted as a fairly reliable rule of thumb that the man who is ambitious to lead is disqualified as a leader. The true leader will have no desire to lord it over God’s heritage, but will be humble, gentle, self-sacrificing, and altogether as ready to follow as to lead, when the Spirit makes it clear that a wiser and more gifted man than himself has appeared.” — A.W. Tozer

“You lead your own heart first, then the flock.” “The twin graces of a gospel leader are humility and boldness.” (Acts 20:28) “Your ability to listen to other people has everything to do with your ability to listen to God”. –Tom Holliday, Pastor, Alexandria Presbyterian Church

Scripture on Leadership

But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
John 10:2-4

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:16

Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. Luke 22:26

As each has received a gift, employ it in serving one another, as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms.
1 Peter 4:10

(God said…) “He who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, like the tender grass springing out of the earth, by clear shining after rain.”

But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant.
Matthew 20:26

He must become greater; I must become less.
John 3:30

Select capable men from all the people–men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain–and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.
Exodus 18:21

“The Sweetest Freedom”, Christian Quotes and Scripture on Freedom (in Christ, Truth, of God)

Posted on by Linda Willows

The Sweetest Freedom in The World; Know God, Love God…

In almost everything that touches our everyday life on earth, God is pleased when we’re pleased. He wills that we be as free as birds to soar and sing our maker’s praise without anxiety. –A.W. Tozer

He that is kind is free, though he is a slave; he that is evil is a slave, though he be a king. –Augustine.

 It always seems inexplicable to me that those who claim free will so very boldly for man should not also allow some free will to God. Why should not Jesus Christ have the right to choose his own bride? –Charles Spurgeon

The lost enjoy forever the horrible freedom they have demanded. –C.S. Lewis

A man has free choice to the extent that he is rational. –Thomas Aquinas

The great comprehensive truths written in letters of living light on every page of our history are these: Human happiness has no perfect security but freedom; freedom none but virtue; virtue none but knowledge; and neither freedom nor virtue has any vigor of immortal hope, except in the principles of Christian faith, and in the sanctions of the Christian religion. –-James H. Aughey 

Free will carried many a soul to hell, but never a soul to heaven. –Charles Spurgeon

There are two freedoms – the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; the true, where he is free to do what he ought. –Charles Kingsley

 If a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. –C.S. Lewis 

To serve God, to love God, to enjoy God, is the sweetest freedom in the world. —Thomas Watson

Scripture on Freedom

Galatians 2:20 — have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 5:1 —For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

2 Corinthians 3:17 —Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

John 8:36 —So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

John 8:32 —And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Galatians 5:13 —For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Romans 8:1-4 —There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

1 Peter 2:16 —Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

Romans 8:21 —That the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

“The Tender Heart” by Richard Sibbes, 2 Chronicles 34:27 (Humility, Honor, Service, The Beatitudes)

Posted on by Linda Willows

The Tender Heart, by Richard Sibbes
Sibbes, Richard
2 Chronicles 34:27
Because your heart was tender, and you did humble yourself before God, when you heard his words against this place…


We see that waters of the same colour have not the same nature and effect, for hot waters are of the same colour with plain ordinary waters, yet more effectual; so the words of man coming from a man may seem at first to be the same with others, yet notwithstanding, the words of God coming from the Spirit of God carry a more wonderful excellency in them even to hearts of kings. Therefore Huldah speaks to the king, “Thus saith the Lord,” etc. Josiah in uprightness sends to inquire, and the Lord returns him a full and upright answer. Whence we may learn —

I. THAT GOD DOTH GRACIOUSLY FIT PROPHETS FOR PERSONS, AND HIS WORD TO A PEOPLE THAT ARE UPRIGHT IN THEIR HEARTS. Where there is a true desire to know the will of God, there God will give men sincere prophets that shall answer them exactly. But those that are false-hearted shall have suitable teachers, who shall instruct them according to their lusts. If they be like Ahab, they shall have four hundred false prophets to teach falsehood to please their lusts (1 Kings 22:6); but if they be Davids they shall have Nathans. If they be Josiahs they shall have Huldahs and Jeremiahs. God commended Josiah because his heart was tender. A tender heart is —

1. Sensitive.

2. Pliable.

3. Yielding.

II. THAT IT IS A SUPERNATURAL DISPOSITION OF A TRUE CHILD OF GOD TO HAVE A TENDER, SOFT, AND A MELTING HEART. All by nature have stony hearts in respect of spiritual goodness. Say what you will to a hard heart, it will never yield. A hammer will do no good to a stone. It may break it in pieces, but not draw it to any form. So to a stony heart all the threatenings in the world will do no good. You may break it in pieces but never work upon it. It must be the Almighty power of God. All that are gracious must of necessity have soft hearts.

III. THEREFORE I WILL SHOW —

1. How a tender heart is wrought. It is made tender by Him who made it (Ezekiel 11:19).

1. God through the use of means softens it by His Word, in producing apprehension of judgment.

2. It is wrought by an apprehension of tenderness and love in Christ. Many say that an adamant cannot be melted with fire, but by blood. I cannot tell whether this be true or no; but I am sure nothing will melt the hard heart of man but the blood of Christ.

3. When the heart is made tender by the Spirit, many things will work tenderness.

(1)  The works of God.

(2)  His judgments.

(3)  The Word and sacraments.

(4)  God’s promises.

2. How it may be preserved and maintained.

(1)  Keep under the means whereby God’s Spirit will work.

(2)  Seek to realise the forlorn state of the Church abroad.

(3)  Labour for a legal and evangelical faith.

(4)  Associate with those who are tender-hearted.

(5)  Take heed of the least sin against conscience. As water, when it begins to freeze, will not endure anything, not so much as the weight of a pin upon it, but after a while will bear the weight of a cart; even so at the beginning, the heart being tender, trembles at the least sin, and will not bear with any one; but when it once gives way to sins against conscience, it becomes so frozen that it can endure any sin, and so becomes more and more hard.

(6)  Take heed of spiritual drunkenness; that is, be not drunk with an immoderate use of the creatures (Hosea 4:11).

(7)  Take heed of hypocrisy.

(8)  Take heed of great sins.

(9)  Consider the miserable estate of hardness of heart.

8. How it may be discerned from the contrary. By applying of the soul unto objects —

(1)  To God. As it is tender from God, so it is tender for God. He that hath a tender heart cannot endure to dishonour God himself, or to hear others dishonour Him.

(2)  To His Word. A tender heart is sensitive to —

(a) Its threatening (Isaiah 66:2; 2 Corinthians 5:11; 2 Peter 3:11); its promises, its directions (Isaiah 6:8; Psalm 27:8).

(3) To the works of God. A tender heart quakes when it sees the judgments of God upon others.

(4)  To our regard of the estate of others, whether they be good or bad (Psalm 119:136; Philippians 3:18; Matthew 23:37; Matthew 11:25).Conclusion:

1. What an excellent thing a tender heart is (Isaiah 57:15).

2. It fits a man for the end for which he was created. The service of God.

3. It is fit for any blessedness. It is capable of any beatitude.

4. Consider the wretched state of a heart that is not tender, and will not yield.

( R. Sibbes..)

Parallel Verses

KJV: Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the LORD.

WEB: because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before God, when you heard his words against this place, and against its inhabitants, and have humbled yourself before me, and have torn your clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard you,” says Yahweh.