How much time do you spend reading God's word? How much time do you spend on building your personal relationship with Jesus?

How you answer that question might reveal alot. If you are reading in the effort to just produce sermons and teaching lessons, you're off to a rough start. Why? Because our first passion, above and beyond ministry, is to KNOW the Lord Jesus! This is where we get off track as leaders...

Ministry can be busy and overwhelming, but your first priority is to know the Lord. I promise you that if you spend more time communicating in prayer and reading God's Word all of the ministry STUFF will happen naturally. A friend of mine, Pastor Steven McKnight, once said, "Nothing else will be in rightful order, until God comes first." That is so absolutely true!

Ministry is difficult on us as leaders. Often, if we're being honest, we sacrifice our relationship with the Lord to build His church. (That doesn't even make sense!) Do you think that is what God wants? What do you value more; the ministry or your relationship with the Savior?

So...Not only does our relationship with the Lord suffer but also the relationship with our people suffers. You must establish time in your daily life to be in God's Word. This isn't just so the church or your ministry can grow...it's detrimental to YOUR growth!

As leaders we are called to preach, give, and serve from an OVERFLOW! That means we have a sermon that we are studying for on Wednesday/Sunday...but we also have a personal devotion going on as well...because if, as a leader, you keep giving the food on your plate to someone else YOU'LL STARVE. Makes sense, right?

Last thing...I would advise you to keep a journal. When you read the Bible, most often, you are reading about other people's lives first hand. My favorite verse that talks about this is found in Nehemiah...

Nehemiah 1:1 (NLT)

"These are the memoirs of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah..."

How would you know Nehemiah's story if he didn't write it? How much do you think Nehemiah's testimony helped the next generation? Now think about how much your WRITING might effect the next generation!