Leaders are under immense pressure to identify and solve problems and can reach high levels of stress quickly. Effective leaders learn how to manage the stress. Read Psalm 23.

Psalm 23 is a profession by David of joyful trust in the one true God as the good Shepherd-King. Psalm 23 gives testimony that David had discovered the difference between problems and facts. Problems are something a leader can solve but a fact is something only God can do something about. Problems put a leader into action but a fact needs to be acknowledged and moved into the “trust the one true God” category. Read more »

“These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan (He did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience)…They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord’s commands which He had given their forefathers through Moses” (Judges 3:1-4). God desires the success of His people and will give the necessary resources to win and even teach, train and test His people. God also provides the leaders and leadership needed to help His people succeed. Effective leaders find a way to help their team win. Read Judges 3:1-33.

Othniel, the son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz, found his people surrounded by enemies from Mesopotamia. God put His Spirit on Othniel and he stepped forward, led the armies of Israel and prevailed. This victory led to 40 years of peace until the leader died. Read more »

Every leader will have emotional highs and lows and decisions will have to be made during each of those periods. During the high emotional times it is easy to be proactive and during the low emotional times it is natural to become reactive. Unfortunately, the reactive times may hurt a leader personally and their ability to lead effectively. Read Numbers 20.

By this point in their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, Moses felt unendurably weary of the complaining, the stagnation, and the lack of progress among the people. He was running on empty. Every leader knows the feeling. In Moses’ weakened emotional condition, he made a decision that cost him his future. Read more »

Problems are part of every leader’s life. Effective leaders do not let problems paralyze them; they know that solutions usually exist. Read Genesis 37:5-36; 39:1-41:16.

Joseph dealt with everything from being tossed in a pit by his brothers and left to die, to being sold into slavery and transported to a foreign country, to false imprisonment and yet these problems did not stop him. Joseph could have taken any of these “problems” and lost faith in his situation and in God. It would be very difficult to imagine how long the last two years in prison seemed to Joseph after the release of Pharaoh’s cupbearer who had promised to speak to Pharaoh on Joseph’s behalf because Joseph had correctly interpreted his dream. If Joseph had put his faith in people instead of God, this incident could have crushed his spirit. Read more »

The story of Esau, Jacob’s older twin brother, paints a powerful picture of a leader without vision. Read Genesis 25:29-34; 32:3-23 and 33:1-20.

Esau loved the outdoors from early life and was a skilled hunter and a rugged outdoorsman. His story is that of a leader that lived completely in the present, depending on his own strength and resources and he repeatedly made shortsighted decisions. Read more »