1.  Remember that they are in charge.  As good as your idea may be, if they say no, that’s the end of it. God in his unfathomable wisdom give them the position of your supervisor and they will one day have to answer to Him for how they used their platform…but they DON’T have to answer to you. Your chance to be the boss may come one day, but for now you should learn to be humble and submissive to their leadership.

2.  Don’t throw them under the bus.  In the name of self-preservation, I have been guilty of this before. They have an idea that goes bust or seems to be obvious to everyone else that it was a bad decision. You then, in an effort to save your own reputation, will let EVERYONE know that you had nothing to do with it or you were just “following orders”.

Think about if you were in your supervisor’s position. Wouldn’t you rather have people working for you that have your back when you make a bad call? Treat your boss in the same way. When someone complains about the outcome of a decison, rather than throw your boss under the bus, just say something like, “Well we can’t change it, we can only figure out where to go from here”.

3. Let them give input. Ask your boss for his opinion even on things that are actually your decision. This is beneficial for several reasons. First, you may be able to glean from their wisdom. Second, it lets your boss know that you value his opinion. Third, it keeps you humble.

Start with these three things, and eventually you will win over a very powerful ally. Not only that, but you will begin seeing a change in yourself as you move from being a driven individual to a real team player. In the process of leading up, you’ll be building yourself up to be a genuine leader one day.

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Men, this is the example we should follow in our marriage. There are problems that arise that may be the fault of your partner. But this is when we need to walk out the gospel in our marriage. It may not be your fault, but it IS your responsibility.

The worst thing you can do is tell your wife, “This is your fault…you fix it.” Show your wife you have her back, and the next time issues arise because of something she’s done wrong, let her know that you’ll take care of it. THAT is the gospel in marriage.

It was easy to make the transition once I realized that tough love doesn’t mean that I’m giving up on a kid. In fact, its just the opposite.

Great discipline systems are black and white with flexibly gray undertones. Expectations, rules, and consequences for violations  should be clearly communicated, but the spirit through which these rules are upheld and consequences handed out should always have a temperment of love and compassion.

When a child messes up, you can discipline them without giving up on them. My goal before handing out a punishment to a student who has violated the rules is that the student understands what he did wrong, why he is being punished, and what should be done differently next time. Without these factors, punishments are merely punitive, missing key remedial pieces.

“Tough love” is a great phrase because it indicates that you are enforcing the expectations while loving the child enough to see where this behavior may lead in the future. Because you care so much for that child, you are willing to punish them briefly to deter them from ending up in a world of hurt later.

I have even expelled students from school who were able to shake my hand and walk away in a civil manner because they understood that even through this punishment, we were not giving up on them. When a child knows that we still believe his best days are ahead of him, he finds the courage to try again.

The punishment you’re thinking of giving your child may seem harsh to them now, but one day they will look back and realize that it was an act of love and you never gave up on them.

A student who had transferred years ago to another school sent me a letter. Not an email…a letter. The student went on to tell me about his new school and about an assignment that his sociology teacher had given him. The assignment was for them to write a letter to one teacher who really had an impact at some point in their life. Out of all of his teachers, I stood out in his mind.

As I read his words, my whole attitude began to change. I began to see these latest struggles as opportunities to make a difference in another student’s life. The student who wrote the letter hadn’t talked to me in years. He had no idea of the doubts that had been swirling around in my mind the past week. But he took the time to look back on his life’s important moments and say thanks.

Maybe you know someone that you’ve been meaning to encourage, but just haven’t done so for one reason or another. Why wait another day? After all they have done for you, this may be the one time you can pay them back. Gratitude is one of the greatest ways to make someone’s day.

The first thing I would do is spend part of the day in repentance and thankfulness to God. Before that final breath came, I would want to know that Jesus and I had a very close relationship. Sounds self-centered? Not really. It’s more Jesus-centered.

Secondly, I’d spend the rest of the day pouring out my love all over my wife and kids. I would tell my wife that there’s no one else I would rather spend my life with than her. I’d tell my kids how proud of them I am. I’d encourage them to live life with all of the passion they possess, to love Jesus, to respect and honor their mom. We’d spend the day laughing, crying, and holding each other.

That is what I would do if I only had 24 hours to live. A question like this tends to put the rest of life into perspective. It refocuses me on what is the most important parts of my seemingly complex life.

So now that I know what I would do if I were about to die, I wonder, why not start now?

How about you? What would your answer look like?

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But throughout life, you will encounter seasons of lost anointing. Some times you will be at fault, and at other times you won’t. You may lose the anointing due to sin, or a stupid mistake. The anointing may even be absent due to situations beyond your control (i.e. not in the right place, not met the right person, not the right time, etc.).

So what is a Christian to do when the anointing feels lost?

1.  Realize your mistake is not beyond God’s grace. Those who once operated in a powerful anointing and then go long periods of time feeling dry usually go through a grieving process. First you begin a relentless search in your thoughts trying to figure out what you did wrong. If you find that you did something wrong, let me remind you of the gospel that you at one time so whole-heartedly proclaimed.

Jesus paid it all. You may have backslidden or simply made an unwise decision that caused great backlash. Whatever the case, there is nothing that has been done that can’t be forgiven. Once you figure out where everything went wrong, repent.

2. Begin where you left off. There has never been a marathon judge who looked at a fallen runner laying on the ground and said, “You need to go back to the starting line to begin again”. Instead, he says the same thing God would say to you today, “Get up from where you fell down, and begin running again”.

3. Your mission and purpose has not changed, although the strategy may have. God has a mission and a purpose specifically for you when he decided to bring you into the world. Whatever that is, it has not changed. Romans 11:29 says:

“For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”

Take for example someone that is called to teach God’s word. During certain seasons of their life, this may be carried out through preaching, blogging, writing books, online podcasts, leading a small group, etc. The mission and purpose has not changed, but the strategy through which they are fulfilled may change many times throughout the course of his life.

4. Fellowship with the right people. There are gifts within you that must be stirred up again. There are certain people that stir my spiritual gifts every time I get around them. These are people that are in someway connected to your ministry. They carry a similar anointing. Paul talked about this with Timothy:

“…I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” –2 Timothy 1:6

Rather than fellowshipping with the right people, maybe you need to sever some ties to people who are pulling your desires towards things that are not related to your life’s mission.

5. Be patient. God has not forgotten you. You are far to precious to him. If you feel that you’ve been placed on the shelf, continue to faithfully seek after him. Jeremiah 33:3 reminds us “Call unto me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”

How have you handled those seasons when you feel you’ve lost the anointing? Please feel free to share. You may be able to help someone else.

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When implementing change, it’s sexy to shake everything up, change everything all at once, and make a statement to everyone through the new policies that this is the way things are going to be from now on. But sexy isn’t always healthy.

At the time of this post, my youngest son, Micah, is four months old. He has been feeding off of milk for his entire life. My wife and I know that he will eventually be able to enjoy the pleasures of juicy steak, hearty chili, and delicious hot wings, but it would be ridiculous and certainly detrimental to his health to start feeding them to him now.

His doctor wants us to start feeding him baby food. So today, I broke out the finely pureed green beans. He hated it at first! In order to get him to eat, I had to give a small spoonful of green beans, then wash it down with the all familiar milk. Over time, Micah’s meals will get more variety and the textures more solid.

If this method makes sense for introducing change in a baby, then what about your organization?

Transitions are a very healthy way to implement lasting change. Think of them as baby steps. While there are some great things to be said about starting with a clean slate, and I’ve used that approach before, there are plenty of benefits to be found in taking baby steps.

1. There are clear steps to the finish line. Everyone knows what is expected out of them at each phase of the plan, allowing for things to flow much smoother than if you had no plan. As a result, you know when you’re heading in the right direction and what constitutes a “win” for you and your organization.
2. Your plan can be adjusted during implementation. Every plan has its bugs that need to be worked out. When change happens incrementally, it allows you time to think through your decision, received input from others on the team, identify the plan’s flaws, and adjust the plan on the fly.
3. Slow change still allows for some familiarity. Veterans of organizations tend to be the slowest to adopt new changes. Each has found some source of comfort in certain characteristics of the organization. In order to embrace change, they must still be able to hold onto some since of familiarity, even if only for a short season. If change is implemented to quickly, especially in the area where they have found comfort, you will only villainies yourself in their eyes. Your goal is to get them on board with your vision.
4. Slow change allows time for the indirectly affected parts to adjust. Think through your potential decision for a moment. Who will it immediately impact? Then who? We are often good at allowing time for those who report directly to us to adjust, but what about those in the third and fourth rings of leadership. Change in an organization is like dropping a stone in a calm pond. Ripples (plural) eventually spread throughout the entire pond. It touches everyone and everything at some point. Taking things slow allow even those who are indirectly impacted to adjust.
5. Change becomes part of your culture. The last thing you want change to become in your organization is an event. You should be constantly trying to improve. Planning for transitions allows change to be an ever present part of your organization. It sends the message that no strategy is sacred. The vision at all costs!

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Your critics see your actions and they feel the pressing of the waves of change. They despise you for making things different. They see how your decision is affecting their environment. They see how you’re affecting their friends. They see how you react to their criticism. But the one thing your critics can’t see is your heart.

Sincerity is only seen up close. Only those with whom you share your most intimate circle of trust can see your intentions apart from your actions.

Critics are mistakenly viewed as unreasonable. Sometimes the disconnect between you and the critic is not that the critic disagrees with your vision. It’s that the critic does not view your vision from the same perspective. Would it be worth your time to share your heart with your critic? Would it help if they saw the vision with the same passion as you first saw it?

As leaders, we must not just be advocates for change, but our heart must be seen in our policies. Granted, some critics may always find opposition in the things we do. But others may be won, when we allow them close enough to see the vision in the way we see it.

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