Maxwell - A Leaders Heart

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A
LEADERS
HEART
365-DAY DEVOTIONAL JOURNAL

JOHN C. MAXWELL

A Leaders Heart
by Maxwell Motivation, Inc., 2003, 2010

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Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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Published in association with Yates & Yates, LLP, Attorneys and Literary Agents, Orange, California.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from THE NEW KINGS JAMES VERSION. 1979, 1980, 1982, 1992, 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Other Scripture quotations are taken from the following sources: THE MESSAGE (MSG) by Eugene H. Peterson. 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved. HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV). 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. THE CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH VERSION (CEV). 1991 by the American Bible Society. Used by permission. The KING JAMES VERSION (KJV).

Cover design by UDG. Design Works, Sisters, Oregon

Project editor: Lisa Stilwell

ISBN: 978-1-4041-8947-8

Printed in China

10 11 12 13 14 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1

GOD HAS PROMISED
HIS GUIDANCE :

I will lead them in paths
they have not known.

I will make darkness light before them,

And crooked places straight.

These things I will do for them,

And not forsake them.

ISAIAH 42:16

MAY YOU FOLLOW HIM
AS YOU LEAD.

For the LORD gives wisdom;

From His mouth come
knowledge and understanding;...

He guards the paths of justice,

And preserves the way of His saints.

Then you will understand righteousness
and justice,

Equity and every good path.

PROVERBS 2:6, 89

CONTENTS

A nyone can follow a path, but only a leader can blaze one.

Thats often not easy. If youre a leader, a lot of people depend on you:

Family and friends need leaders who model purpose-driven lives.
Children need leaders who help them reach their potential.
Churches need leaders who chart the course and equip the ship.
Businesses need leaders who build great places to work while making a profit.
Communities need leaders who create a better place to live.

As others depend on you, upon whom can you depend? The answer is God, the Ultimate Leader!

Leadership is not for the faint of heart, but its encouraging to know that youre not in it alone. This daily devotional is designed to connect you to God, provide you with daily leadership thoughts to help you grow, and help you stay focused on leadership issues as you approach the challenges of the day.

If you take a few minutes every day to make sure you are following the Ultimate Leader and learning His leadership lessons, then you will undoubtedly blaze a path that takes youand your peoplewhere only God can lead.

May God bless you on the journey. May you live in His wisdom. May He preserve your way.

THE CALL TO LEADERSHIP IS A
CONSISTENT PATTERN IN THE BIBLE.

JANUARY 1

INVITATION TO LEAD

Then God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth...

GENESIS 1:26 (NIV )

G od is the Ultimate Leader, and He calls every believer to lead others. God could have arranged His creation in any number of ways, but He chose to create human beings who possess spirits and the capacity to relate to Him and follow Him, yet who are not forced to do so.

When mankind fell into sin, God could have executed a plan of redemption that did not include sinful people, but He has called us to participate and to lead others as we follow Him. God made that clear from the beginning when He stated, have dominion (Genesis 1:28 NKJV).

The call to leadership is a consistent pattern in the Bible. When God decided to raise up a nation of His own, He didnt call upon the masses. He called out one leaderAbraham. When He wanted to deliver His people out of Egypt, He didnt guide them as a group. He raised up a leader to do itMoses. When it came time for the people to cross into the Promised Land, they followed one manJoshua.

Every time God desired to do something great, He called a leader to step forward. Today He still calls leaders to step forward for every workboth large and small.

The Maxwell Leadership Bible

What other leaders come to mind?

JANUARY 2

GROW A LEADER GROW THE
ORGANIZATION

So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people:... many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.

ACTS 3:12, 4:4

A company cannot grow without, until its leaders grow within. I often am amazed at the money, energy, and marketing that organizations focus on areas that will not produce growth. Slick brochures and catchy slogans will never overcome incompetent leadership.

In 1981, I became senior pastor of Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego, California, which had averaged 1,000 in attendance from 19691981. It was obviously on a plateau. When I called my first staff meeting, I gave a lecture with the thesis, Leaders determine the level of an organization. I drew a line across a marker board and wrote the number 1,000. I shared that although I knew the staff could lead 1,000 people effectively, I did not know whether they could lead 2,000 people. When the leaders changed positively, I knew the growth would become automatic. Now, I had to help them change themselves.

The strength of any organization is a direct result of the strength of its leaders.

Weak leaders = weak organizations.
Strong leaders = strong organizations.

Everything rises and falls on leadership.

Developing the Leaders Around You

When have you seen the strength of a leader improve an organization?

JANUARY 3

IN YOUR FOOTSTEPS

And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to [David]. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him.

1 SAMUEL 22:2

T he men who David attracted while he fled from Saul eventually became like him. Some even killed giants, as he didshowing that what you are is what you reproduce. Observe what David teaches us about his leadership:

1. David attracted men even without pursuing them.

2. David drew deep loyalty from them without ever trying to get it.

3. David transformed these men without disenchanting them over their initial state.

4. David fought alongside these men and turned them into winners.

Consider the astounding exploits of some of these men. Second Samuel 23 tells us that Adino slew 800 men with a spear in one battle (v. 8); Eleazar struck down the enemy until his hand clung to his sword (vv. 9, 10); Shammah defended a plot of ground against an enemy army (vv. 11, 12). David attracted men like him souls in distress. He also reproduced men like himwarriors and conquerors.