I spent several years planning medical missions trips around the world. On one of my trips, to India, we had only two providers, and saw hundreds of patients in a small town far away from our hosting church. It was a long day, with many difficult cases, hard circumstances, and what seemed like thousands of flies. I find, especially when I’m tired, I notice all the negative details and forget about the bigger picture of what we are really doing.
After the clinic, the pastor asked that we make a quick stop across the street, and I was reminded of something quite incredible. We went to a plot a little ways away and had a little ceremony. The medical clinic we had set up was one of many outreaches that the church had been doing in the community, and they had finally acquired some land. They were making plans to start a church plant in town. Part of our goal for the outreach that day was to go and pray over the land and believe for the future possibilities.
We had the sweetest of ceremonies, just a few pastoral leaders singing acapella worship songs. We took a simple block and laid it down in the ground as a foundation stone for the future building they still didn’t even have money to build. They prayed, in tears, for the people in that city, and the things that the church would be able to do one day.
And what struck me the most was how different it was than when I build something in my field. I start with research, and then add on funding, and strategy. I start building on a ground level and later come back on to dig on a spiritual one. I never start with prayer, and add on faith and tears. I see my goal in my mind and start climbing the stairs of possibilities right away without ever stopping to make sure my plans and my footing are sure and secure in God’s will and God’s plans. Then I often have to dig down later, tear down through my own hard laid work and sweat and plans to lay the foundations I should have laid before it ever got that far.
But great leaders don’t just do the base requirement for things- they put in another level of dedication. And great Christian leaders dig down on a spiritual level- in faith, prayer, and love. They don’t start with their own personal knowledge, or the field’s knowledge, or their own strategies. They always start with God. They entrust the one who gave them the dream to begin with to start the project, and then they get in there and do the hard work on top of his provision.
It’s easy to start with ourselves- that’s what we’ve been trained to do our whole lives! But it’s the grace and anointing that God brings to something that allows us to take it to places that our world has never seen before.
So how are you doing in your field starting with digging deep your foundations in God rather than stepping out boldly in your own strategies?
“In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” Proverbs 16:9