My daughter, Rose Marie Morehead, is a four-year-old tornado. She is full of personality and attitude. Like all girls and toddlers, she rattles constantly and can ask 60 questions a minute. Like most parents we are often guilty of answering with vague answers to avoid commitment. Our favorite response when she asks such questions as, “Can we go to Chuck E Cheese?” is sure. Rose quickly caught onto this ploy and demands a firm commitment. Every time we say sure, yeah, okay or any other unapproved answer she will ask, YES? Then she will say, “YES or NO?” Rose is willing to accept nothing less than a firm commitment of YES!

I believe God is the same way. He is calling us to be a disciple of Him and a leader of men. The first thing God wants to know about us is “are you willing to follow me and be my disciple ‘yes or no’?” Jesus challenged the Rich Young Ruler, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and FOLLOW ME (Matthew 19:21).”

Every other place where Jesus offers “FOLLOW ME” it is a call to be one of His twelve disciples. IS IT POSSIBLE THAT JESUS WAS INVITING THE RICH YOUNG RULER TO BE ONE OF HIS DISCIPLES? Was it possible that the young man was in an interview for a spot into the most exclusive group in history and had his access denied because he did not give a resounding yes? If we are truly going to be a disciple of Christ we must pray for David’s “I Will” attitude to be imparted into our spirit:

1) I WILL ACT COURAGEOUSLY

David begins his I Will attitude by saying in Psalms 23:4, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Disciples of Christ will oftentimes walk through the valley of death. I have learned in order to complete your mission as a disciple and go onto your higher level of anointing you cannot go around the valley. You do not get a get out of jail free card out of the valley. Your family cannot parachute you over the valley. Your career cannot tunnel you under the valley. If you desire to reach your full potential in Christ, you must be COURAGEOUS and go THROUGH the valley.

DISCUSSION: What is one area of Fear that you are currently facing in your spiritual leadership growth process?

2) I WILL ACT WORSHIPFULLY

David continues in Psalms 23:6 and declares, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.” To obtain your calling you must stay in the house. My father is scared of everything but he is especially afraid of storms. When we were younger and the weather would get stormy he would yell, “everyone in the hallway!” He would gather every mattress in the house and go to the hallway and bunker down. I never understood this about my dad and over the years my brothers would tease him but later in life I observed that he dealt with personal issues of life the same way. There are some storms that you just bunker down with. Dad never left the house in stormy times or in life. He always stayed present and always had an “I Will” attitude of worship.

DISCUSSION: What is one area that you need to worship God in, despite the circumstance?

3) I WILL ACT CONSISTENTLY

Once again we see David’s “I Will” spirit in action when he states in Psalms 34:1, “I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” I believe that the greatest challenge to our witness and spirituality is our consistency. My experience is that most unbelievers or people that we are charged to lead do not expect us to be prefect. But they do expect us to consistently strive to be active in our faith. It has been said that on any given day a minimum of seven people are watching us. This became more humbling after I became a parent. I have noticed that Rosie begins to emulate everything that I do. Our followers will mimic the things that we do in leadership. If we are inconsistent in gratefulness so will they. If we are consistent through the great times AND the challenging times, then our followers will also demonstrate that same consistency.

DISCUSSION: What is one area that you need to develop consistency in your spiritual leadership?