I have been thinking a lot about leadership the past few months. What makes a leader? We are created in the image of God, and there is an inherent leadership quality that is a part of creation. Some people are born leaders. We see them all the time. Yet, many of these natural leaders never become spiritual leaders.
Some people become spiritual leaders, but they do not lead to the Creator, but to some other spiritual authority that may present itself as good and represent some of what the Creator intended, but ultimately direct people from the Creator. These misguided spiritual leaders are usually well-meaning, but their leadership comes from natural leadership skills plus their insights into a spiritual world, but they have no personal relationship with the Creator and do not lead people to the Creator.
Some people discover a personal relationship with the Creator, but lead out of their natural ability and/or their insight into the spiritual world. They never achieve a unity with the Creator and a true leadership role through knowing the mind of the Creator. They may lead people towards the Creator, but cannot get them all the way there because they have not been there themselves.
Great spiritual leaders have a personal relationship with the Creator that drives them to obedience, and reveals the mind of God. It is their obedience and spiritual insight that establishes them as mature, God-chosen leaders. It is their obedience that sets them apart from others, and it is because of their obedience that others choose to follow them.
If you want to be an anointed leader – strive for obedience in public and private, in word and deed, and, most of all, in thought. It is our thoughts that lead us to action. Obedient thoughts lead to obedient action.
2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV) We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Ephesians 1:17 (NIV) I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
Blessings!
David Watson
From Honduras
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Well said.
Father, as I die, teach me how to hold those thoughts captive to you. I know your ways are higher than my own and I seek you now.
Thanks David for your reminder of what a spiritual leader is!
“Great spiritual leaders have a personal relationship with the Creator that drives them to obedience, and reveals the mind of God.”
…it seems like this obedience many times is counter-intuitive and goes against the grain of what we would do naturally, and a weight of a faith relationship with God tips the scales when decision time comes…or the weight of this world push the decision the other direction, and bit by bit our lives take a general course…
thanks for the insights on spiritual leaders… i linked this post to http://www.newchurchreport.com – thank!
Hi, Scott. Your comment brought to mind Heb 2:1 (NIV) We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. Most committed believers do not decide to be disobedient. They just drift into it.
Blessings!
David Watson
great post – thanks david.