It's the season to make New Year's resolutions. We hope for great things in 2016 and expect great changes. But between the hopes and the desires, what is the key to actually seeing real change?

Maybe the key to change isn't found in trying something new, but in consistently doing something over and over again.

Are you a real leader or just a rockstar who can attract a crowd?

I have been challenged to rethink what I used to know about leadership. There have been a few people recently, who have caused me to wonder if the amount of followers leaders have is even that important. See, I had always (secretly) hoped that someday I would be a leader who had thousands of people flocking around me to hear what I had to say. That was what my dream of greatness looked like - me, on a stage with a sweet light show and wearing a trendy outfit while spewing my buckets of wisdom... Sounds real biblical, huh?

But then I met some people who had all of that. They seemed like the perfect leaders, but somehow they weren't leading anyone. In fact, they refused the leadership opportunities that were placed right in front of them because it involved service more than spotlights. For them, the idea of leadership was less about actually leading people to something greater, and more about attracting people to themselves. 

When I saw this in other people (because it was easier to see it in other than see it in myself), I learned something very important: Leaders lead, and great leaders lead to great places. Notice what I didn't say: Leaders attract, and great leaders attract more. A rockstar does that, not necessarily a leader. Leaders go somewhere and people follow them to that place. And the place that leaders take people is far more important than how many people they are taking there. When it comes to leadership, it doesn't matter how many people are following you as much as where you are going.

Jesus has called his people to lead others to him. This is the greatest form of leadership: making everything in your life about leading others to Jesus. And this form of leadership is starkly contrasted with what lots of people (and I used to be one of them) think of as leadership: being a rockstar and attracting loads of people to themselves. This may be the American Dream, but this is not Jesus' dream for his people. Jesus has called you to lead others to him. And if you are leading people, Jesus makes it clear that this road is paved with service and sacrifice, not power moves and popularity.

Jesus said,

"The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." Matthew 23:11-12

And then he modeled this kind of leadership. On the one night that he could have afforded to take a little bit of pleasure in for himself - the night that he was going to sacrifice his very self in the greatest act of leadership EVER - he chose to serve rather than be served. Check out John 13:3-14 for this account. For Jesus, it was less about how many people saw him do that, and less about power moves and popularity, and more about leading his followers to something greater.

So my question to you is: are you leading or just attracting?

Don't waste the gift that God has given you today. Lead others. Lead them to him.

I was recently given a waterproof Bible for my birthday. I love it! It has pages that are made of a flimsy plastic, making it able to shed water instead of absorb it. Its cover is made out of a waterproof synthetic leather. It is so fun to take it to places that had previously been "no book zones" just because they are wet places.

For example, I love showering with my new waterproof Bible. I usually do my best thinking in the shower (don't you?), and so spending time in the Word of God in the shower has been very eye opening. With my mind so clear and with my thinking so sharp in the sanctuary of my shower, God has been revealing some pretty awesome things to me lately.

The other day, I was reading my waterproof Bible in the shower, and I was spending time in Hebrews 11 (I'm sure those faith heroes would have loved to read a Bible in a shower...hehe). While there, a passage in particular hit me. Hebrews 11:13 says about the people in the Old Testament who had great faith,

"These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth."

Translation: the lifespan of their faith was lot longer then the span of their lives. Their faith lived longer than they did. Not even death could shake their faith in the coming Messiah.

So God began to ask me about my faith. How long is the lifespan of my faith? Will my faith outlive me? There isn't necessarily a way to answer this question other than proving it. There isn't really a good way to know other than living everyday with a faith that is stronger than my fears, quenches my doubts, emboldens my life, and encourages others until I take my last breath. I want to live my life with a faith that will outlast me.

So what about you? What is the lifespan of your faith? Is God more secure to you than your stuff? Could you leave everything you have in order to follow God's call on your life?

Just this morning, I was praying for my wife - like I do every morning. And as I was, something hit me hard. God gave me a realization that what I was doing was absolutely amazing. I was talking to God! And when I realized this, I was fascinated! God gave us the ability to talk to him, and we should never take it for granted. Here are 3 things that make prayer so awesome:

1. Prayer is an awesome thing.

Think about it. When you pray, you talk to the Ruler of the Entire Universe. You aren't just uttering a quaint pre-dinner phrase. You are entering the throne room of heaven to lay your humble request at the feet of the Lord of All. And the thing that is really amazing is that, in Hebrews 4:16, He calls us to do this with confidence!

2. Prayer is amazing thing.

Not only is prayer a high privilege, but it is uniquely special because it opens the door for us to have a living, breathing relationship with the One who breathes stars. Psalm 33:6 says,

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
And their starry hosts by the breath of His mouth.

The moment you cease to be amazed by the fact that you are known and loved by this God is the moment you have lost sight of Him altogether. You can't relate to God without having your mind blown consistently. He is infinite in His glory, splendor, and desire for you!

3. Prayer is an affecting thing.

Prayer has a great effect. Prayer affect God, ourselves, others, and our world. How cool is that??? God has specifically given us, as fellow heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17), the ability to reach into the storehouses of heaven and affect God and his activity here on earth. THIS IS SO AWESOME!!!

Andrew Murray said in his book With Christ in The School of Prayer,

"Lord, teach us to pray." Yes, to pray. This is what we need to be taught. Though in its beginnings prayer is so simple that the feeblest child canary, yet it is at the same time the highest and holiest work to which man can rise. It is fellowship with the Unseen and Most Holy One. The powers of the eternal world have been placed at its disposal.

So I want to challenge you today to reach into the heart and hands of your heavenly Father and experience the wonder and power of prayer. This is the unique privilege and plan God has given to you in this very moment. Don't let today end without laying hold of this amazing blessing.

This week, the Lord really impressed upon my heart the need to ask big things of Him in my life.

I have been journeying through the book of 1 Samuel and I was spending time in the account of the battle between David and Goliath. And I think that the main thing that we always notice in this narrative is the truth that you can overcome any giant in your life when you fear God more than the giant in front of you.

However, something I didn't notice until the Lord showed me this week was that David could have been in my youth group. He was the same age as my high school students. He was the young guy on the outskirts of the circle. He was the kid that his youth leader didn't notice too much. He was the dude who was trying (however unsuccessfully) to get his crush's attention. He was the student that nobody ever noticed.

And yet, what happened? God chose little David to change the course of his nation's history and to bless the world for eternity through his Messianic seed. Could anybody have seen this when he was fifteen? Absolutely not! But as God revealed to Samuel at the anointing ceremony,

"Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." ~ 1 Sam. 16:7

So what is the difference between what people see in a person or situation and what God sees? The difference is the unpredictable power of the Holy Spirit.

And what is the difference between what I see in a student or a situation with at work and what God sees? The difference is the unpredictable power of the Holy Spirit. He can do "far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think" (Eph. 3:20) with every single impossible situation or person. Anything I could possibly dream of God doing pales in comparison to what he can actually accomplish. My biggest dreams are small potatoes compared to His divine ability.

What's left for me to do is to "ask big." James 4:2 says, "You have not because you ask not..." So this week, I was convicted to ask huge things of God - things that I don't see ever happening - because I know that that is the place where He loves to show Himself off. I need to ask big, hairy, audacious things of God.

God operates in the realm of big, hairy, audacious prayers (BHAPs). That is His happy place. Things that occur naturally, and thus don't require a miracle, don't fall into that category. Faith is asking God for the impossible, and then acting as if the answer is on the way. That is what it means to pray BHAPs to God. And when the answer comes, it will be obvious that God was the only one who accomplished it.

So I prayed some impossible prayers this week. I prayed that thousands of souls would be saved as a result of our youth ministry. I also prayed that God would do something so big in and though our students that it would still be affecting people hundred of years from now.

Only God could be responsible for such an amazing outcome. So I continue to pray that way, and I continue to pray BHAPs because I have to believe that God is still in the business of doing huge things on planet earth today.

So what about you? What's the most impossible thing you could pray for this week?