I am in the middle of my speaking tour on Leadership in the Philippines. My tour diverged tremendously today to speak at Christian Broadcasting Network Asia in Manila. My escort, Derek Ross, founder of True Love Waits Philippines, a former U.S. Marine, agreed with me that for CBN Asia's staff I should speak on some of the principles the Bible presents concerning leadership. As we approached the headquarters, Derek made another suggestion as to what he wanted to hear me talk about. I simply said that the Holy Spirit was telling me to speak from the heart, but I was sure that it would incorporate his fantastic suggestions.
After the praise and worship was over, Peter Kairuz, the CEO of CBN Asia, introduced Derek, and Derek introduced me. I began with my family background as one of the children of the first active-duty U.S. Navy Pentecostal or charismatic chaplains in world history, Stanford E. Linzey, Jr., and my lovely mother, Rev. Verna Linzey, who was a crusade evangelist and renowned author. When I shared about the church they built and how I received Christ there when my parents returned as evangelists in 1963, my heart broke, because God saved me and has kept me in His will from then until now. His faithfulness to me has been tremendous and I am eternally grateful for His saving grace.
I said, "At 5 years of age, God saved me from pornography, sex, alcohol and drugs..." When I said this, the staff looked extremely concerned. But when I continued, "... before I had a chance to get into these things," they breathed a sigh of relief, and it brought down the house. I was at the altar, because that was the right place to be when the altar call was given by my father. But when I turned around, one of my sisters motioned for me to come to her at the front row. She explained the plan of salvation, quoted John 3:16, and asked if I wanted to received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and live eternally with Him. I said that I did, and she led me in the sinner's prayer. And in tears, I shared with the television audience that this commitment to Christ "stuck" with me and made a difference in my life since then to today, and in the lives of thousands of military personnel and civilians I've led to Christ on military bases and in crusades since then.
After sharing several experiences of dramatic changes in the lives of military personnel in my military ministry as an active-duty chaplain, I closed with the key to finding God's will for our lives and five spiritual leadership principles based on Psalms 37:1-9:
- Do not fear because of evildoers, for they will quickly wither and fade like the green herb.
- Trust in the Lord, and do good and you will dwell in the land.
- Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.
- Commit your way to the Lord; trust also in Him, and He will bring it to pass.
- Hope in the Lord and you will inherit the earth.
The difference between principles one and five is similar to the difference between renting in the land and owning the land itself. The key to finding God's will for our lives is found in principles three and four. Taking joy in all the things of God—obedience, sacrifice, keeping his laws in action and attitude, proper relationships, reading His Word, praying, attending church, all His provisions and everything else of God—will result in God granting us the desires of our hearts. This means that we may then pursue our hearts' desires because He gives them to us, and He does so because these are born of His will. When we are in His Word, we can then see through the deception of our hearts and see what we truly desire, and discern the difference between the desires of our fleshly nature and our hearts where His Spirit and will reside.
I would appreciate the prayers of my brothers and sisters in Christ as I speak on leadership for the pastors and church leaders conference in San Fernando, and the prayer breakfast for military, civic and church leaders in Bacolod, and churches in the area as I preach the gospel of Christ. 
Jim Linzey is the chief editor of the Modern English Version Bible Translation, published by Charisma Media. He is a retired U.S. Army chaplain with the rank of major.
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