Godly leaders need at least three key traits to do God’s missions: patience, humility, dependence (God’s PhD). Without these, Moses would have failed to carry out God’s mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 3:10). Often, he would have been frustrated, flustered, and distressed with himself, the children of Israel, and with Pharaoh; perhaps, even with God. We will miss the mark when God calls us, unless we apply His PhD.

Patience

It took ten plagues before God freed the Israelites. Probably, I would have given up after the third plague. When would you have packed up? With a clear view of God’s call, and a firm understanding that when God calls us, He will equip us to do the job, still, we need patience–patience to deal with subordinates and colleagues, and patience to wait on God’s perfect timing.

Patience is one of three planks the spiritual leader needs to build a solid leadership foundation. Impatience trips up many people primarily because they do not know how to wait actively on God. Many folks think waiting on the Lord means doing nothing. Each of us, especially Godly leaders, must learn to wait actively on the Lord. Here are three ingredients for active waiting:

1. While we wait, we must do everything we know is relevant to God’s mission. As well, we must recall and do Jesus’ assurances, and his general ‘will’ that’s laid out in the Bible. Moses knew God would deliver the children of Israel (Exodus 3:12), and so, with each setback, he pressed on, doing the next thing God told Him.
2. As we wait, we need to ensure the conditions to hearing from God exists. Are we seeking first His Kingdom and righteousness (Matthew 6:33)? Do we have un-confessed sin in our lives? We must keep examining our lives and asking God to reveal them (Psalm 139:23). Un-confessed sin will prevent us from hearing from God. We need to ask God to show us what is blocking us from hearing Him. What is our little “g” god? Men, look at 1 Peter 3:7 to see if we have been inconsiderate to our wives. If we have been, our prayers will not be answered.
3. We must pray continually, and as the Lord leads, fast, while we do items one and two, repeatedly.

King Saul didn’t wait on Samuel and lost his kingdom (1 Samuel 13:9-12). King David waited on God to become Israel’s king (1 Samuel 26:8-11).

Isaiah 30:18 (NIV) says:

Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!

Humility

The second leg is humility. We must understand that alone, we don’t have answers. Surely, we do not have relevant questions, to boot! We need people. People to help us, people to work with us, and people to work through. We must encourage, guide, mentor people to do their best always. Most of all, we must let them challenge us. To grow and let Jesus shine in us, we must be teachable, be prepared to be wrong, and be open to accept God’s truth.

One Peter 5:6 tells us that we need to humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand so that He may lift us up, in due time.

The Godly leader is a servant leader like Jesus the Messiah, who condescended to come to earth and take our sins that we might inherit eternal life. As He dealt with people, Jesus listened, asked questions, encouraged, and showed the fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22). Shouldn’t we do the same?

Dependence

Do you have a picture of dependence on God? I like what God told Joshua 3:13:

And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap.”

Did you get that? When the soles of the feet rest in the waters, the body’s weight has shifted forward and there is no turning back. We must go forward without knowing if the next action from God will work as we think. We must understand that God knows the future, we don’t.

After getting God’s mission, the Godly leader must press on, even when he can’t see the next step, and when it seems impossible. With God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). The spiritual leader’s focus, therefore, is to lean on Jesus and do as God shows her, remembering always that it is God’s mission, not hers.

God’s mission, His goal, will be clear; it’s His “what to do.” His, “how to do it,” is His plan that will not be clear, always. We need to depend on Jesus to show us how to do His mission.

Summary

Like Moses, we will meet road blocks as we carry out God’s missions. These tasks are part of our sanctification journey designed to draw us closer to Jesus. Road blocks are major learning stations we should embrace so we might blossom, and let Jesus shine through us. Reject them, and we fail to learn, ‘glow,’ and grow–we stagnate, or even regress.

Where are you today? Are you working with God’s mission or yours? Have you experienced plagues numbers one to five, and you are ready to give up? Remember Moses. He stood firm–he was patient, showed humility, and he depended on God.

Will you ask God to help you to start working on His PhD today?

Copyright (c) 2012, Michel A. Bell