Every leader wants to experience God’s blessing and favor. We long for God’s blessing in our personal lives and in our families. We yearn for God’s supernatural favor on the churches, ministries and organizations we lead. No matter where we find ourselves or who we’re surrounded by, we desire the fingerprint of God on our lives and leadership.

When you take a closer look at the Gospel of Matthew, it becomes clear that Jesus has provided a pathway to God’s blessing. I’m not suggesting that God’s blessing is a magic formula or a 1-2-3 step-by-step equation. Rather, Jesus states clearly, over and over, what it means to be “blessed.”

In this edition of Make It Count, we’re going to explore the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3–12). The word beatitude means “blessedness.” Jesus repeatedly proclaims, “Blessed are ... ” and then goes on to describe the kind of life that God blesses. According to Jesus, the life God blesses is more about character (who you are) than consumption (what you have).

When we lay the Beatitudes on top of leadership, we discover that God has called us to become a specific type of leader. We are called to be a ...

• spiritual leader;
• repentant leader;
• humble leader;
• hungry leader;
• merciful leader;
• pure leader;
• peaceful leader; and
• persevering leader.

As you read and discuss these eight lessons, you and your team will learn how to put the Beatitudes into action in a leadership context to become the kind of leaders God blesses.

This eight-week study, which appears in the November/December 2019 issue of Influence magazine, is now available online as a free download. Church leaders can print multiple complimentary copies of this resource and use it to promote development, spark discussion and inspire vision among team members.

The online resource also includes a fill-in-the-blank guide for team members to use as they follow along with the studies.

Adapted from the November/December 2019 edition of Influence magazine.