People and organizations tend to look for three elements when looking for a potential leader.  They look for things like great intelligence, powerful presentation skills or even a certain style or look.  How does he look?  How does he sound or come across?  Does he seem to know what he’s talking about?  This is how they measure candidates and, to some extent, the world around them.

God looks for other things when He is choosing potential leaders.  He looks for things like devotion, faithfulness and, most importantly, compassion.

The good news is that if you aren’t particularly brilliant or eloquent or stylish there’s still hope for you to be used in a mighty way by the Lord.  Others may write you off because you don’t stand out in some way that they can see but your real potential is still there.  It’s found in the Lord.

Don’t invest vital energy and effort into winning over those that merely look at externals.  Instead, devote yourself to the Lord.  Stand faithfully with Him through all the seasons of your life.  And, above all else, love Him and others with abandon.  If you do, God will most certainly notice and He will use you in amazing ways.  You will also be fulfilled.

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Don’t look at how handsome Eliab is or how tall he is, because I have not chosen him. God does not see the same way people see. People look at the outside of a person, but the LORD looks at the heart.“ 1 Samuel 16:7 (NCV)

When I look back at all the things that I thought I wanted over the years, I’m slightly embarrassed.  The truth is that I tend to think I want a lot of things in the moment only to look back later and realize that I never really wanted them at all.

When I was growing up I wanted to be a morning DJ at a radio station.  Those folks always seemed to be having a ton of fun and, as they say, I had a face for radio.  For a while, I went to a broadcasting school and I was fully intending on becoming a DJ.  It was my dream.  After I gave my life to Christ, I decided I would become a DJ on a Christian radio station but the dream remained essentially the same.

At some point, I felt called into the ministry and I laid down my DJing dreams.  I thought I was making something of a sacrifice for the Lord but I was cool with it.  I knew I was called to preach and teach.

Years later, I got asked by a Christian radio station to come in and record a prayer for the city that they would played at special times in the middle of the night.  I truly enjoyed the little recording session but I was shocked by what happened when I finished.  Suddenly, I had this massive realization that my career in radio had just come and gone and I was completely cool with it.  In that moment, I became powerfully aware that the brief stint of recording a prayer was all I needed.  That was it.  I didn’t really want a career in radio.  Not really.

All those years I thought I wanted something only to realize that it wasn’t the real dream of my life.  It was only a minor dream—an amusement at best, a distraction at worst.  One shot at it and that was all I needed.  I was done.

I’m thankful that God didn’t answer my prayer to give me a career in radio.  I’d probably be “Crazy Tony and the Mad Dog in the mornings on 95.1, Des Moines” or something like that.  And, that’s not who I am or what I want.

In big and small things, God has graciously not given me many things that I’ve asked for over the years and I’m very thankful for that.

Perhaps it’s just me but I find it extremely difficult to develop any deep friendships with people that haven’t failed, or won’t admit that they’ve failed at some point in their lives. When people come across as a “never failed” it…

I understand that looking for a good church can be a huge challenge at times. Certainly, at a minimum, it’s usually a very time-consuming process because you can only really check out a church once a week. It can be a frustrating process as well. I think, however, that looking for a church is a lot like looking for a spouse…

There are a lot of myths out there about prayer that really hold people back. These myths keep people from experiencing the real power and presence of God while praying. Here are the top five that I see…