Guided Prayer for Leadership

Take a moment right now and just breathe. Take a deep breath in and slowly exhale. Again, breathe in and exhale. Let your heart and your mind settle. Let the weight of the day and the worries of tomorrow wash away as you carve out this time to just be with your father. Let him strengthen you, let him speak to you, and let him lead you. Leadership carries weight, but for the next few moments, simply rest in God's presence. God says if you draw close to me, I will draw close to you. Father, first forgive us for not taking time to draw closer to you. Forgive us for allowing the thoughts of the day and the responsibilities grow greater than just spending time with you. Remind us today that you're not mad at us, you're mad about us. Your greatest desire is to just be with us. Apart from what we do, you just want to be with us. Apart from who we are, you just want to be with us. So we submit this time to you to be with you. Holy Spirit, speak to us, lead us, guide us, show us, correct us, love on us. Whatever it is that you want to do in this time, we give you the opportunity to do that. We surrender this time to you and offer it up as a sacrifice. Leadership often comes with responsibilities that few people see. Decisions, pressure, expectations, challenges. Sometimes leadership can feel lonely. Maybe you're carrying the weight of people depending on you. Maybe you're trying to lead well while navigating your own struggles. But God never intended for you to lead in your own strength. The Word of God clearly says that in our weakness, His strength is made perfect. So the areas that we are trying to insert our strength, let us recognize and humble ourselves before God to realize He's the greatest leader of them all. We cannot be a good or effective leader if we are trying to do it in our own strength.

We would be burning ourselves out. There is a refreshing when we allow God to take the wheel. When we take our hands off of the outcome and we act in wisdom for the decisions, but surrender whatever comes from those decisions to God, it releases pressure. At the end of the day, it will be what God wants it to be. We just have to show up with humble postures for God to lead us and direct us. We thank you for the wisdom, God, that you offer. In James chapter 1, it says, if you need wisdom, ask our generous God and He will give it to us. He doesn't rebuke us for asking. He doesn't push us away for asking for things that we need. The world tells us we need to figure it out. God says, come to me. All of you who are weary and are heavy laden, I will give you rest, rest in your mind, rest in your thoughts, rest for trying to figure it out. I give you the rest that you are looking for. I will give you the supernatural blueprint of heaven for you to perform the tasks of leadership that are in front of you. Whether you are leading one person, whether you are leading a toddler into potty training, whether you are leading your children into the next season of life, whether you are leading an entire organization as the CEO. The leader of level, the level of leadership does not matter. The level of leadership does not matter. How we show up is what matters. Asking God for the language of those we are leading so that we are effective in our communication and allowing the outcome to be led by you. Proverbs chapter 11 says the wise are guided by integrity. And Isaiah chapter 40 states those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

You equip those who are called. You don't call those who are equipped. We allow you, we surrender to you to equip us for whatever level of leadership you have called us to in this season. We also recognize that seasons change. Leadership changes. Our influence in leadership changes. Let us recognize who we are leading, what we are leading, why we are leading it, and the impact that it will have. Guide us and lead us, Father. Let us be good students in order to be great leaders. Father, give us the humility to be led first, to be led by you and to be led by others. We come before you right now, bringing every responsibility of leadership to the foot of the cross. You see every decision. You see every challenge. You see every personality that we have to deal with on a daily basis. Father, we may not like the people we co-labor with, but you have called us to love them. It's okay if personalities rub us the wrong way. Help us to identify what it is in the people that we're leading that may be rubbing us the wrong way. Is it that we see something in them that we've overcome and it's a trigger for us? Is it that we see something in them

that we actually want to be or have and we feel like we may not be good enough? Is it insecurity? Father, let us lead with humility, not with pride. Father, let us lead whole, not in brokenness. Healing and wholeness are two separate things, Father. When Jesus healed the lepers, he healed 10 of them. One came back to say thank you. Jesus' response to that leper was, where are the rest of your friends? He said, I don't know, but I came back to say thank you. Jesus looked at that leper and he said, not only have I healed you, but go. You have been made whole. Let us lead from a place of wholeness. Let us not lead from a place of open wounds. We recognize that there is brokenness within us, God. We ask for your spirit to fill us today so that we can lead effectively, whether it's our families, whether it's a church, whether it's an organization, whether it's a team, whether you are a soccer coach. You are leading others. Let's not minimize our leadership in this season. God, we quietly bring before you the leadership responsibilities. We will not minimize the leadership that you have given us. Let us recognize that our identity comes from you and not from the title that you have given us.

Our identity comes in Jesus Christ, not in the title that we wear. Let us cast our crowns down today and pick up the crown of thorns that your son picked up. Leadership hurts. We are all simply limping leaders, but let us lean into that weakness so that your glory can be revealed in our leadership. All that matters is your glory, and glory simply means Christ plainly seen. Glory is not this scary word or weird supernatural word. Glory simply is Christ plainly seen. Let Christ be seen in our leadership and how we talk to others, how we package things, how we speak to one another. Let our leadership be shown in the dark places, God. When we are cleaning up places that nobody will know we go, cleaned up. When we drop something, a piece of garbage, and nobody's around, but we pick it up, let our leadership be shown in those moments, God. Because honestly, we just want to be seen by you. Because if we want to be seen by others, your word says that's all you'll get. You'll get the accolades on earth. You'll get the claps. You'll get the applause. But that fleeting five minutes is not eternity. Father, we want to be good leaders so that we are good stewards for the impact and the influence you've given to us. Let our wisdom go beyond our own understanding. Help us lead with humility and integrity, with compassion and mercy. Help us lead with intentionality. Help us understand that the people that we are leading are not all the same. It is not cookie cutter. What works for one doesn't work for another. Just like with children, God, one style of parenting works for one child. It doesn't work for the other. Give us the wisdom to know how to lead those that you have trusted us with. At the end of the day, leadership is just that, trust. You have trusted us with the people we're

leading. Give us the strength to do that. So right now, I want to encourage you and invite you to open your hands. This is a moment of surrender. Say, I surrender everything to you, God. The burdens that have been weighing us down, I give them to you. The pressure, the expectation, the fear. You said you have not given me the spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind, which means self-control. Let me operate from the place that has been given to me as the inheritance of a child of God, not as an orphan. We don't come to you begging. We don't have to. We are your sons and daughters, and you have empowered us to lead in this time and this place. It wasn't happenstance that we were born into the time we were born into. So I ask that you say this with me. God is giving me wisdom. I will lead with humility. I will lead with integrity. God is strengthening me. I do not lead alone, for you, God, are with me. I will serve others well, and my leadership reflects the heart of God. Father, I thank you for those that are listening, those that feel burdened by leadership, those that feel misunderstood by those they are leading and those that are leading them. God, I ask for you to strengthen their heart today. God, your word says that you heal the brokenhearted and you bind up their wounds. I lift up the limping leader today, the ones that are continuing to show up faithfully, but they're bleeding internally, emotionally, and spiritually. God, I ask that you supernaturally fill them up. Fill their cup. Fill them with your love and your joy and your presence. Fill them with your power. We resist fear. We don't submit to it, but we surrender to your will being done on earth as it is in heaven for the leadership and influence that you have given to us today. Lead us and guide us in your truth. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.