Today, I am continuing my series on the 8 Pillars of Leadership. 

This week’s pillars are:

• Speaking Life 
• Faith-filled decision making. 

You can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Speaking Life

Proverbs 18:21 says “Death and life is in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruit.” One of the most important revelations we can get is this: Life is in the power of the tongue. I believe the future is in the mouths of intentional speakers. 

The last 25-30 years, I’ve dedicated myself to understanding the power of words. James 3 says, “The tongue is like a bit in the horse’s mouth and the rudder of a ship.” and “If we bridle our tongue, we can bridle our whole body.” If we can control our words, we can control our lives. 

In fact, I am so convinced of this that I have written a few books on the power of words:

• You’re Crazy if You Don’t Talk to Yourself
• Declarations
• Declare It! - a book of declarations

We can't change our life without changing how we talk. I used to only speak out words to describe my life instead of changing it . “This area is hard for the Gospel. I’m tired. Nobody around here wants to get saved. I can never seem to make any progress in this area. My car never works.”

Faith comes by hearing, and by speaking these things out regularly, I was re-enforcing self-limiting beliefs. We don’t ignore feelings and experience, we just don’t get our beliefs from them. 

Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth but only that which is for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers.” Our words are not just containers of information, they are releasers of grace to empower people into greater things. In John 6:63, Jesus strengthened this understanding by saying, “My words are spirit and they are life.”

This leadership pillar is one of the most important! We are not just thermostats, we are thermometers. We can set life-giving “temperatures” over our lives and the environments we are a part of by the words that we use. This is exciting. 

One more thought on this - I am a student of my words. I am very interested in hearing the words that come out of my mouth because they help reveal what I believe. Matthew 12:34 says, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” An example of this is when I found myself saying “I have to do this or that.”  This wording was from a poor belief system rooted in duty and obligation, not faith. The Lord asked me to change my language from saying “I have to” to “I get to”. This change communicates a sense of excitement, energy, and expectation for my commitments. 

Faith-Filled Decision Making

As a young leader, I said, “God, I can’t wait to do something great for you.” God said, “Steve, why don’t you attach faith to what you’re doing now and it will become great!” Attaching faith to who we are and what we are is an important part of being a high-level decision-maker. 

Here are some traits of good decision makers:

• They are seeking first the things of God in their lives 
• They believe they are good decision makers,
• They know when not to make them. 
• They surround themselves with people who inspire and encourage us to think higher.
• They clarify their options and with each option put the pros and cons of it, what key people are saying, what scripture says, and any apparent leadings of the Holy Spirit.
• They conclude what direction to go by seeing the “God story” in one of the options. 

I have a book on decision making called Fully Convinced that goes deeper in this process. In the book, I expand on this principle: A bad decision made in faith has a greater likelihood of success than a decision made in doubt. This is rooted in Romans 14:5 which says, “One person esteems one day and another esteems every day alike. Let each person be fully convinced in his own mind.” Two people can have a difference of opinion and both be right based on their calling, season, and the community they’re a part of. Our goal is to be fully convinced. Doubt and double-mindedness are enemies of great decision-makers. (Obviously, I am not saying to sin in faith.)

This pillar of faith-filled decision making is a crucial pillar. We have two more pillars to go in this series, so we will continue on next week. 

These 8 pillars are the foundation of my 4-month mentorship beginning September 11th. You can find out more information here. 

(My wife, Wendy, has a separate mentorship program. You can find it here.)