Greetings;
Leadership is a gift from God to people He loves. Yes, the highest form of communication is the Holy Spirit speaking to the human heart and no person can replace the hope of Christ within each man or woman. The Spirit of God within us leads each of us, but God also gives gifts to help us in our relationship with Him. Sometimes we need a visible expression or an audible sound that helps us receive what God is doing within us in order for us to respond fully to that inner voice. I believe that leadership is a gift from God and it is a sent voice of life to help us recognize the voice of God within us.
We are not in an Old Covenant where someone takes us by the hand and leads us. We are in a New Covenant where the inspirational voice of God within us empowers us to become all that God desires for us to be. The New Covenant is one of faith, but faith does not negate the need for leadership in our lives. We all need help in hearing God at times. Faith comes by hearing God personally, but sometimes we are looking or listening in the wrong direction. We need a gift from God that we can see to help us look in the right direction or listen to the right voice.
Leaders are not men and women of power. They are men and women who have been given an authority. This means that they are men and women who have been given a responsibility to lead. Many people associate the word authority with the word control, but those with true authority bring freedom and release to those they lead. A voice of authority is a voice of life, but it is a voice! God appoints leaders to enable people to fulfill the greater purpose of being part of the body of Christ, not merely live a testimony of individuals with Christ within them. The corporate purpose of the body of Christ is greater than the individual destinies of people. Together we are the fullness of Him, but individually we are merely expressions of Him.
Ephesians 1:22-23 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
The body of Christ is the fullness of Him therefore we need one another to discover the greater purposes of Christ. Leadership fulfills an important role in this corporate purpose. As leaders we must understand that God does not merely give us words to speak to those we lead. He causes us to become an expression of the word that He is writing in a corporate measure. We must be the first to respond to the will of God in our hearts and we must then inspire others to follow the inner voice of Christ within them to become what God desires them to be both individually and corporately together. This means that leaders are the first to walk into new territory. They are the first to think new thoughts. They are the first to respond to the change that God is bringing about through the corporate expressions of the body of Christ in the earth.
As a leader you can assume that what is going on in your life is for the sake of others. If you are facing challenges, you are facing those challenges for the sake of those you lead. If you need to invite the Holy Spirit to help you in your attitude, your focus, your purpose, your expectations, or any other thing, it is for the purpose of those you lead. If you will be the first to pioneer new territory in life others will also experience the benefits of those territories. This is called leadership. It is what you are becoming in Christ that counts. Embracing the journey of ‘glory to glory’ is part of the testimony of being leaders. We must be men and women of faith. We must be men and women of love. We must be sons and daughters of God to be qualified leaders in the body of Christ. It is not a position of hierarchy over others. It is a responsibility of becoming what God is calling His body to be in order for the fullness of Christ to be seen in a greater measure in the earth. Embrace the journey and embrace the responsibility to lead for the sake of others.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
