In Leadership: The Problem With This Generations Leaders

What does it take to be a good leader?  This is a question that many of us have asked ourselves, a question that takes more than one answer.  I know one answer would be people that are genuinely willing to follow us.  Because it is impossible to lead if there is nobody to follow you.  Another answer would be to be a good follower, because it is impossible to lead if you’re not willing to follow.  These are just two of the many answers to this one question and all of them require a lot out of the person asking.  

Being a leader is not an easy task, but it is a task that has great benefits for the person leading and the people following.  I say this with the mindset of; if you are an actual leader then you’re doing it correctly.  I do not refer to bad leaders as leaders because they might only be a leader because of their rank or position not because it’s a personality trait that they’ve adopted.  A real leader is somebody that has set out to better themselves and the people that they’re leading, not somebody that just so happens to be in a position of authority.  It’s like a man that is a sperm donor calling himself a father.  If you’re not present to raise the children then you’re not a father, just as if you’re not willing to go through the process of becoming a leader that people are willing to follow then you’re not a leader.

We live in a time where words have lost their original affect.  People don’t hold certain words with the level of respect that they used to hold.  Words like honor, love, faithful, loyal, and leader.  We no longer have respect for positions of authority, nor do we have the desire to earn our positions and respect.  Instead we are so impatient that instead of taking the time to develop ourselves as leaders and instead of taking the time mentor other people to help them become good leaders we try to rush to the top to prove we’re the best.  We move ahead by ourselves and stand atop of the mountain and scream this is what I did by myself.  We don’t acknowledge anybody and we don’t help anybody.  We are the captains of our own ships and we are unwilling to welcome anybody aboard.  This is the era of selfishness.  This is the time of “me”.  Who wants to help others when I can help myself?  

We are no longer believers of the principle of serving something greater than ourselves.  We instead are serving nothing greater than ourselves, and the whole world is suffering because of it.  There are people that will do so much for their organization and community just to get ahead.  So many people that will find one person to mentor just to have somebody that’ll look up to them and kiss their….  

To be a leader we cannot be motivated by selfish desires.  The bible says to “seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.”  If we seek to do what’s right for our organization and the people we’re leading then success will come, raises will come, promotions, recognitions, adulation, everything that a selfish person desires, a selfless person will get just because he’s looking out for the interests of those around him and above him.  People will take care of you as long as you are willing to take care of the organization and the people within it.  Taking care of the people in the organization is not however blowing smoke up the bosses butt; it’s doing what you know to do to get the job done, and being an example and mentor to the newer less experienced people in your organization, even if those people aren’t in your direct chain of command or are unable to do anything to return the favor.

In Leadership: Driven

Driven: Propelled or Motivated by something.

Apostle Ronald D. Howell Sr. is one of the most driven men I have ever known.  He is the senior shepherd for the church that i attend, Life Changers International New Horizon.  Here is a man that s  not only spiritually fit, he preaches well over 250 sermons a year, he's also physically fit; he can get up and run 3 miles in the morning, then come to the gym in the afternoon and lead us through a grueling weight lifting routine where a majority of the weight we're lifting is over 200lbs, and while we are resting he'll be doing another exercise.  Nothing about this man is normal.  He does all this and is over 50 years of age.  Apostle Howell has taught us that if we are comfortable than we're not operating out of faith, and his whole life is representative of this.  None of the 60+ leaders that he is over can say that they have surpassed him, no matter how hard we work, how far we go, he's always in the front leading the way. 

This is what a leader should be, someone whose followers cannot pass.  Once you are passed by the people that you're leading then you are no longer a leader.  In this I don't mean that you have to be the smartest or the most technical, but you have to be someone that is constantly leading from the front.  Someone whose followers know that when they look back they won't see you bringing in the rear.

Apostle Howell is somebody that is driven by a purpose and refuses to quit.  His whole life is  an example of Philippians 3:12-14 when the Apostle Paul said "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.  Brethren I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

As a driven leader this must be your attitude, even if you're not a christian you should still have a focus that you're driven towards.  The people that we lead must see that we are constantly moving toward a goal, they must see that our life is constantly pressing to the next level of accomplishment.  We can never appear to be complacent as leaders.

In Leadership: Consider the Cost

Luke 14: 28-30 "²⁸For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?  ²⁹Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, ³⁰Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish."
 
As leaders we must consider the cost of what it is we're doing.  We have people's lives in our hands.  It may not seem that drastic on a day to day basis but we are responsible for the livelihood of everybody that is subordinate to us.  We are responsible sometimes for their pay, education, training, discipline, advancement, and even whether or not they keep a job.  We cannot take this responsibility lightly. 
 
While I was task lead on one of the jobs I've had, I was responsible for making sure people's time-cards were signed.  If I didn't sign their time-cards then they wouldn't get paid on time.  Instead they would have to jump through hoops in order to get the pay they knew was coming to them.  Before becoming task lead I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I used it as a  learning experience.  One of the main lessons that I learned was that I needed more experience.  This was something new for me.  I was a leader in the military, but while in the military I wasn't a single point of failure.  There were always people that I could seek advice from on any problem that came up.  However it wasn't like this for me once I was out of the military.  People would come to me for answers that I would have to get from corporate, the problem with this was they were in a different country and didn't always get back to me in a timely manner.  However not getting an answer from corporate wasn't going to be an acceptable answer for the people that I work with.  As I said this was a learning experience.
 
We never fully know what we're getting ourselves into, but we must learn to be more aware of the costs involved.  As leaders you can't just jump into something blind because people will follow you into whatever disaster comes up due to your lack of planning.  In Matthew 15:14 it says "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."  No matter what our career is, if we as leaders are poor at planning then we are leading our people into disaster.  History is filled with examples of people dying as a result of poor planning on the part of leadership.
 
We cannot allow our subordinates to become victims of our laziness to plan.  If you want to be an example of what a leader should be or be somebody that people are willing to follow, then always have a plan.  As the saying goes, "He who fails to plan, plans to fail."  Without a plan you will fail, it's just a matter of time.

In Followership: Don’t get brought down by backstabbers

If you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing and you’re loyal to the organization then backstabbers can’t hurt you too much.  There are always going to be people that are opposed to you or what you’re trying to do.  They may not realize that that’s what they’re doing.    Sometimes people will set you up for failure by mentioning something you may have said to the wrong person.  Not all backstabbing is intentional, but it happens all the same.  The thing about working with people in an organization that you’re not in charge of is you will most likely end up being competition instead of a fellow laborer in the mission at hand.  We all, at one point or another, look at our coworkers or peers in whatever organization that we’re in as competition.  This is natural.  So we all, at one point or another, do something that can be perceived as throwing somebody under the bus or backstabbing, even if we were just trying to cover up something that we may have said or done.

We cannot let this type of stuff get us down, for the simple fact that most of the time it’s unintentional, and even when it is intentional, what can you really do about it.  We should be focused on how we carry ourselves around our peers and what we say so that when there is a misunderstanding or something is said about us to our boss that it isn’t true.  For example one time at work somebody told my boss that I was lazy because I didn’t do something that wasn’t in my job description nor was it something that I had training on.  I was upset at first but when it was brought to my attention, I was able to pass along the truth of the matter.  I didn’t go start an argument, and I didn’t let it bother me to the point that it would create any tension in the workplace.  I just let it go.  These things happen; we cannot let them affect our performance or attitude at work.  We need to just let it go, learn from it but let it go.

 I say let it go because these situations will occur more frequently throughout our career than we would like.  We can’t get upset and allow ourselves to be stressed every time it happens.  Instead we should use it as a learning experience.  We learn by knowing who not to talk to about certain things, who to speak with on a strictly professional basis, who to stay away from…etc.  Every time I feel betrayed by somebody I have to take a step back and replay the whole situation.  Usually it’s innocent.  Most people don’t realize what they’ve said could bring negative consequences to somebody else, or we don’t say “please don’t repeat this but” things just have a way of getting away from us.  As I said, we’ve done it to others just as they’ve done it to us.  We shouldn’t feel betrayed.  A part of being a follower is maintaining a certain level of discipline no matter what comes our way.  We are not the organization, but a part of the organization, we are not in charge but subordinate to somebody else.  So for us to cause tension or make a scene because we feel betrayed is disrespecting the organization and the people that are leading us. 

In the Bible God says that what you do to the least of these you do to me, and what you don’t do to the least of these you don’t do to me.  It’s the same in an organization, if somebody lies on you then they’re lying on the organization, but if they are pointing out a flaw then that’s a flaw in the organization.  We cannot carry ourselves as an individual when involved in something bigger than ourselves.  We must see the bigger picture always.  If somebody went behind our back and it was true then that is good for the collective.  I know this is easier said than done, and I probably wouldn’t want to look at it this way if I was the person going through this.  But it is a lesson that we must learn.  We were hired to do a specific role in an organization with a certain vision.  If we can’t live up to the role or if it comes out that we’re not living up to the role then the part that we play is in jeopardy of failing, which completely contradicts the purpose of us being there.  This must be exposed, so that the problem can be fixed.  We can’t take it personally. 

The only thing we can do to combat this is to be blameless.  As I said we must do what we know to do so that if somebody stabs us in the back we are doing what we’re supposed to be doing and it shows.  We as followers need to always have proof that we’re doing our job to the standard that was established prior to us showing up, or even at a higher standard than was established.  We must make ourselves a valuable part of our organization so that if somebody says something bad about us, it’ll be looked at by our leaders as a misunderstanding instead of a fact.  We need to remove any future doubt by our present work. 

In Leadership: Followership

We live in a time where although people are starting to touch on followership more and more, they are still primarily focusing on leadership.  There are more books on how to be a great leader then there are on how to support a great leader, or even worse, a bad leader.  These are principles that need to be taught in more forums across the business spectrum.  In the military we got taught a great deal about being a good leader and nothing really about being a follower.  We did get taught about following orders to a certain degree, but they weren’t teaching seminars on it.  We don’t really realize how to be a follower until we become a leader.  But by then it’s all about our ideas and us trying to figure out ways to move our organization forward.  We get taught what to do if we run into a troubled subordinate, but not what to do if we run into a horrible boss.  This is damaging to so many people’s careers.  There are people who have gotten kicked out of the military and fired from jobs because they were never taught how to follow somebody that they didn’t see eye to eye with.  So instead of being able to cope with the situation with a level head they rebel.  This is the generation that we live in.  We get told to shut up and color, or just do the work, but not how to do it with the stress of dealing with an idiot.  But it’s so important for us to learn how to follow that it should be taught as thoroughly as leadership is.  This is actually something that should be taught in high school, or throughout Jr. High School, before people reach the work force.   If you don’t learn how to be a follower until you show up for your first job then it’s going to be a rough road ahead, which is something many of us find out the hard way.

We do get taught some forms of followership from a very young age though.  We get taught how to follow rules by our parents, we get taught about not showing up late, and how to turn in assignments on time in school.  We learn how to respect authority all though life from our parents to teachers and people in uniform, and yet we still never fully grasp the concept of being a follower.  As we grow up we also get taught to be our own person, to be a leader and not a follower, to set the example, that we can be whatever it is we want to be as long as we set our minds to it.  But we can only be by learning how, and only learn how by following.  We need to stop telling our kids to not be followers, that puts a stigma on submitting to authority figures and our future bosses.  Instead we need to tell them to not follow people that are going nowhere, or people that are getting into trouble.  We need to tell them that we must be mentored in order to accomplish our goals, and that without being mentored, or following we will never be what we want to be because people won’t waste their time on somebody that they can’t train. 

Being a follower isn’t negative when it’s done in the proper setting, in this post I’m not talking about followers of criminal organizations, or followers of people whose life is on a self destructive road to oblivion.   Instead I’m talking about being a follower in an organization that will lead you on the road to success or self improvement or community involvement.  In this case being a follower is positive.  It causes you to be recognized as a team player, a person who can receive instruction and get the job done, somebody who is not afraid of correction because they know the end result is the building up of the organization.   When we are able to follow we are showing that we know we don’t know everything but we are willing to learn.

As a follower we must be ready, willing and able to always have the back of the person or people leading us.  No matter what our feelings are towards these people.  We cannot let personal feelings get in the way of doing the job that’s laid before us.  We do not come on board with an opinion.  If we have a negative opinion about our leaders to the point that we can’t do a good job or refuse to do the job then we need to move out of the way so somebody else can do the job.  We have to know that we are serving something bigger then ourselves and the overall accomplishment of whatever task we were given is what’s important.  Too many times we as followers try to put ourselves above the person or people leading us.  But the problem is we’re not the leader so we are only working against ourselves when we do this.

When we are being led, we need to know that if we come up with an idea that the idea should be in line with the vision of the organization and be prepared to either have in depth details on our idea or do the idea to have something that worked so we can present it.  We also cannot be hurt if our ideas are rejected, because the completion of the mission or the furtherance of the vision is what’s important not our ideas. 

Followers must be able to build a rapport with the leader or leaders.  It is the job of the person following to make sure that the people or person in charge is comfortable with you, not the other way around.  When we are in a subordinate role it is our responsibility to prove our trustworthiness.  If you can’t trust your leadership then you’re in the wrong organization.  If your leadership can’t trust you then it’s your problem to solve.  We must be a person that when the people that we follow think of us they think of somebody that is willing to get the job done at all costs.  Not somebody that will try to get away with murder.

As followers we must be able to work well with others.  It doesn’t matter what somebody has done to us, or who we don’t like, for the sake of the corporate body that we’re apart of we must get along.  When we show up we need to put aside all differences of opinion and work to achieve one common goal.  If you are unwilling to do this then the people you work for might be unwilling to trust you or unwilling to keep you employed.  We must remember our feelings are not what’s important. 

We must learn to follow with a form of dignity and selflessness that will show others that we are here to do what’s required of us, not here to cause a problem for those around us or above us. 

In Christianity: Christ Crucified

CHRIST CRUCIFIED

1 Corinthians 2:1-2
And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of
speech or of wisdom declaring to you the *testimony of God. 2 For I
determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him
crucified.

Nowadays we're preaching the Gospel to non believers with Wisdom, and
trying to give the complexities of God.  Teaching people about the
fruits of the Spirit, and the Parables of Christ.  But the 1st thing we
should preach to them is Christ Crucified.  This is the foundation of
our religion, that Jesus Christ died for our sins.  That he was
sacrificed so that His blood can cover us.  If it wasn't for this
selfless deed then nothing else would matter, we would still be in our
sin, we Gentiles would still be worshipping our gods, instead of GOD.
So in this email I'll be talking about Jesus Christ and Him Crucified.

Some might think that the only place it talks about Jesus Christ's
crucifixion is in the New Testament.  However those of us that really
know God, and are in the word, know that our God is a Thorough God.  And
if there is anything that we should place Close attention to in the
Bible then it's repeated throughout the bible.  Well this is the same
thing that happens when He talks about the crucifixion.  Jesus Christ's
crucifixion is prophesied about throughout the Old Testament by the
Prophets and by David.  God did this so that when the time came for
Jesus to be sacrificed for us that there would be no doubt about what
was happening.  Like I said we serve a Thorough God.  He is not the
author of confusion.  He won't leave you wondering.  If God does
something, he'll let you know what's about to happen so when it does
happen you'll know that it was God, and nobody else but God.  So the
Following verses are going to help us to understand Jesus Christ and Him
crucified more.  The most amazing thing to me besides God, is him
showing me how His prophesies come true.

Isaiah 53:4-12
4 Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our
iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His
stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him
the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He
was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers
is silent, So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His
generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions
of My people He was stricken.
9 And *they made His grave with the wicked-- But with the rich at His
death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He
shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in
His hand.
11 *He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall
bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall
divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto
death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin
of many, And made intercession for the transgressors

Mathew 27:35
35 Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that
it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet:

"They divided My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots."*

Psalms 22:18
18 They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots

Mathew 37:38
Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another
on the left.
Isaiah 53:9
9 And *they made His grave with the wicked--

Mathew 37:43
43 He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for
He said, 'I am the Son of God.'"
Psalms 22:8
8 "He *trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him,
since He delights in Him!"


Mathew 37:46
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying,
"Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You
forsaken Me?"* Psalms 22:1 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?

Mathew 37:57-60
Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named
Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. 58 This man
went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded
the body to be given to him. 59 When Joseph had taken the body, he
wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and laid it in his new tomb which
he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the
door of the tomb, and departed.
Isaiah 53:9
9 And *they made His grave with the wicked-- But with the rich at His
death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

John 19:31-34
Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should
not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high
day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that
they might be taken away. 32 Then the soldiers came and broke the legs
of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. 33 But when
they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break
His legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and
immediately blood and water came out.
Psalms 34:20
He guards all his bones;
Not one of them is broken
Psalms 22:14
I am poured out like water

Luke 24:34
34 *Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what
they do."
Isaiah 53:12
And made intercession for the transgressors


I'll stop here, but there is so much more, I just did this to show you
why this is important.  There is soo much in the bible about Jesus, more
then what is shown in the Gospels.  So many prophecies to let us know
that he truly is the Messiah.  This is why Paul said that I came to you
knowing nothing else but Christ crucified, because once you can
understand Christ crucified then it will make you appreciate being a
Christian that much more.  God loves us so much that he told us that
Jesus was going to come, and be a Savior not only for the Jews but also
for the Gentiles, he told us that Jesus was going to suffer for us so
that we might be saved.  Jesus knew what he had to do long before he was
Crucified, and yet he Loved us so much that he went through with it
anyways.  Can you imagine being able to read in the bible about
yourself, and know everything that you're going to suffer for people
that won't appreciate it until you've suffered.  That's love, that's
AGAPE  We need to start being more obedient, to show Jesus that it
wasn't in Vain.  That we truly appreciate what he did for us.  It was no
small thing.

In Christianity: Forgiveness

 
Mathew 18:34-35
34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he
should pay all that was due to him. 35 So My heavenly Father also will
do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother
his trespasses.

We all know that forgiveness is important.  In the above scripture Jesus
talks about what will happen to us if we don't forgive our brother from
our heart of their trespasses.  But an important thing to remember is we
will not be forgiven also if we can't forgive ourselves of our own
trespasses.  Being a Christian we believe that Jesus Christ was
crucified on the cross and died as a sacrificial lamb to take away all
of our sins.  By that selfless act all of our sins were forgiven.  So
why do we not forgive ourselves when we stumble?  Why do we call
ourselves a failure, or an idiot.  Why do we walk around ashamed of
ourselves when we slip.  There are something's that we have going on in
our life that we are trying to be delivered from.  And just when we feel
we've been delivered from it we will slip up and do the very burden that
we feel has been taken off of us. And what do we do when that happens,
we curse ourselves.  We condemn ourselves and sometimes we turn our
backs on God because of it.  We'll turn our backs on our brothers and
sisters in Christ because of the shame that we feel.  How can we forgive
others if we can't forgive ourselves.  How can we love others if we
don't love ourselves, how can we love God if we can't love ourselves? 

We are told to always speak nice about others, and not gossip, we're
taught that if we don't have anything nice to say then don't say
anything at all, but do we practice that when it comes to us?  Jesus
says:  Mathew 12:35 "36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may
speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgment. 37 For by
your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be
condemned".  So if by our words we will be justified or condemned, why do
we speak negative things to life?  If you call yourself a failure then
you're a failure and you won't be delivered, but if you say I will be
delivered from this and give it to God then you will be delivered.  We
expect it in our own time, instead of in God's time.  God knows that he
wants you to be delivered from your afflictions.  God doesn't want us to
keep sinning, but God also knows that we are human.  God knows that we
rely on him.  God wants us to know that we rely on him.  When God
delivers you from something he doesn't ever want you going back to it.
So when you keep on going to God eventually he'll make you so turned off
by the very thing that makes you stumble that you won't even think about
doing it again.  Some things are detrimental to us so he'll deliver us
from it right away.  Others we have to struggle with for awhile, but the
whole time we're struggling we're supposed to be going to God.  Paul
talks about this in his letter to the Corinthians in it he says:  2
Corinthians 12:7-10 "7 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the
abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a
messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8
Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might
depart from me. 9 And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you,
for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I
will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest
upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in
needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am
weak, then I am strong".  Paul said that he will boast in his
infirmities.  He boasted and praised God in everything that we will cry
about and beat ourselves up over.  We need to stop doing this.  We need
to praise God no matter what. 

Christians aren't supposed to have Low self esteem, Christians aren't
supposed to have a bad attitude at all, whether it's because of
something that somebody did against us, or what we did against
ourselves.  We can't sin, and then because of the sin, sin.  That
doesn't make since.  When you sin you're sinning against God, whether
you sin against a brother, or you sin against yourself, Paul also says
that:  1 Corinthians 3:16 "16 Do you not know that you are the temple of
God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"  So if you are the temple
of God and you stumble, ask for forgiveness and move on don't talk down
about yourself, because when will it go from us beating ourselves up, to
us putting God down.  People know that we belong to God by our actions:
Mathew 5:16 "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your
good works and glorify your Father in heaven".  So we need to start doing
what we're called to do without any negative thoughts, whether directed
towards God or other people or ourselves.  If you stumble praise God,
because you know that eventually that'll be something that'll be taken
from you, at least you know what you stumble over:  Proverbs 4:19  "The
way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know what makes them
stumble+.  If you're happy praise God, if your sad Praise God, no matter
what Praise God, because in your Praise is redemption, in your Praise is
Love, in your Praise is God