Intimacy With God, The Truth About Influence, Kobe on Purpose
Welcome to the first edition of The Disciple-Leader Newsletter. Here, we share the 3 best things we saw this week in discipleship, leadership, and mental performance.
DISCIPLESHIP
"Anyone who is intimate with God will never be intimidated by the world." - Leonard Ravenhill.
This is a novel idea, but it also makes perfect sense. Anyone who is intimate with shooting a basketball consistently every day won't be intimidated by a moment of pressure. If you're intimate with a speech you've written by practicing its delivery over and over again, you won't be intimidated by a crowd.
If you are intimate with God, the world won't be able to intimidate you. "The world" includes fear, worry, anxiety, discouragement, distraction, and much more. Get intimate with God. Spend real time with Him and watch how He will change you.
LEADERSHIP
"Influence is the sine qua non of leadership. Without influence, leadership does not exist." - Peter G. Northouse
This is a solid teaching, but I don't fully agree with it. This suggests that influence may or may not be occurring at any given moment. I disagree.
Everything you do has influence. Every choice you make influences someone else. And if you're not positively and proactively influencing, there is a negative effect. Robert Saleh, head coach of the New York Jets, often teaches, "Where there is a lack of communication, negativity fills the void." This is the correct idea. You're never not influencing. You're never not communicating. A lack of communication actually communicates a message pretty clearly. And that message is negative.
MENTAL PERFORMANCE
Transcript:
People have a certain energy about them. When there are people in the world who are focused and wake up in the morning with a purpose, this is what I’m doing, you can feel that energy. You can feel it. It's kindred spirit. Those are the people that I tend to work with a lot. And if you don’t have that, I can sense it. I can sense it. We are also very disciplined. If you are a person who’s very distracted, hanging around the wrong crowd, and not having that sense of purpose, we don’t want to be around it. We don’t want to be around it. Because that stuff will bring you down, man. That stuff will bring you down. We are very very disciplined, very very focused on finding writers, editors, and story artists that have a true true passion for what it is that they do.
Does this describe you? Do you wake up each morning with a purpose? Do you have a passion for what you love? If you had a conversation with Kobe, which group would he lump you in? Would he sense that energy from you?
CONCLUSION
This upcoming week is the perfect time to recommit to growth as a disciple-leader. To be Jesus-led and to lead like Jesus.
Have an amazing week, friends.
Aaron @ The Disciple-Leader