Lisa Harper: How to Be More Humble with God (Full Teaching) | Praise on TBN

The Importance of Humility in Leadership

Our practice of orthopraxy must be grounded in humility. The best leaders emerge from a place of humility, driven by a continuous awareness that we cannot succeed without Jesus. “Jesus, I need You today. Without You, I will fail. If I am to lead well, You must dwell within me.” These are the cries of a leader seeking divine guidance.

I hesitated before sharing this message because it’s a challenging one, not something you hear often. I initially wondered how to express it without saying it directly. Eventually, I found a way to hint at the message subtly, so it wouldn’t be too jarring. The word I want to convey is menopause, a season I’m currently experiencing. In this season, I’ve gained a new spiritual gift: projectile perspiration!

I felt compelled to share this with you because you might just get a little wet here—this is going to be an unpredictable, refreshing experience, much like Sea World. I want to let you know where I am in my season because a few weeks ago, I woke up early, drenched in sweat, thinking, “This is unpleasant.” So, I decided to go to the kitchen and make some really hot coffee, hoping it might trick my body into feeling cooler, like a sauna.

I thought I had a full bag of coffee beans, but when I opened it, I discovered there were only a few left. I don’t know if you’ve ever felt the disappointment of realizing there are barely enough beans for one cup. I decided to make the most of it and French-press the beans, even though it takes forever. It only made a small cup of hot coffee, but I planned to savor it. I took the coffee to the kitchen island, sat down with it, and thought I might take a quiet moment for reflection.

However, as I sat down on my leather bar stool, I slipped due to the perspiration, and the coffee spilled all over the kitchen island, covering some papers. At first, I wasn’t sure what the papers were, but upon closer inspection, I realized I had spilled coffee all over my daughter’s homeschool homework.

I’m a single adoptive mom, and I adopted my daughter, Missy, from Haiti two and a half years ago. She’s seven years old, and yes, she’s cuter than most kids you know. In the midst of experiencing the challenges of menopause, I thought it was a good idea to homeschool her. In the process, I even started considering buying a margarita machine for Christmas!

Realizing the homework was ruined, I quickly made an executive decision: we would go to the mall for a lesson on capitalism instead. And yes, I almost felt the Holy Spirit whisper, “It’s okay for you to stop by Starbucks on the way.” So, I told Missy about the change in plans, got her dressed, got myself halfway ready, and we made our way to Starbucks.

In Nashville, we have a lot of frustrated musicians who end up working as baristas, and this particular barista sounded frustrated when taking our order. But I remained positive, trying to be the best Christian I could be. I ordered apple juice for Missy and my usual winter drink: an extra hot, non-fat mocha with whipped cream. I like to think the non-fat and whipped cream balance each other out!