Leaders are supposed to be courageous, right? Someone said, “You can’t follow fear!” Fear has no direction. It lacks vision. Fear paralyzes us. Fear resists. As a leader, we need the courage to lead, in spite of our fears.

LET’S TALK

One of my favorite writers about the Holy Land is Wayne Stiles (Check out his website!). Recently he pointed out a great example of overcoming fear from the life of Jacob. It happened when the Lord told him to move from Canaan to Egypt – to go to a place he had never been before. God said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt.” Genesis 46:3–4

Here are the three promises God gave Jacob to help him overcome his fear of change:

1. “I am God.” Sounds simple, but how often we forget it. He is God and we’re not. He is the one in charge, not us. If we truly put our faith in Him, we don’t have to dread change. Remembering that God is always God gives us the courage to change.
2. “I will make you a great nation there.” Okay, don’t miss this…God said, “there”—not “here.” We want God to do something different in our lives, without having to do something different. “God, I don’t want to change! Bless me where I am!” It just doesn’t work that way! We must be willing to go “there”, to the place where God is leading. Why? Because it is only “there,” not where we are now, that he can truly bless us!
3. “I will go down with you.” Change is scary, I know that. We simply don’t know what is going to happen – that’s true whether we embrace change or not! Notice that God gave Jacob no details or specifics. All he had was the promise of God’s presence. “I will go down with you!” You and I have that same promise as we lean into the changes in our life and ministry. He said he will never leave us nor forsake us (Matthew 28:20).

BEFORE YOU GO

What is God asking you to do? Is fear of change keeping you back? My prayer is that these three promises will help you have the faith to overcome those fears.