There are some leadership traits that seem to lead to God’s special favor. Read 1 Chronicles 4:9-10.

God singled out one man, Jabez, from a genealogical list of more than 600 others for special recognition in 1 Chronicles. Why? What can we learn about Jabez from this brief mention in the Bible?

Verse 9 says, “Jabez was more honorable than his brothers.” According to the dictionary definition, Jabez was a man of personal integrity, guided by or with a reputation for having strong moral and ethical principles. Interesting that a leader’s character stays at or near the top of God’s list for a leader to be blessable! Read more »

The fruits of the Spirit of God are love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control and patience. It is interesting that leaders great or unknown, empowered or restricted, experienced or at the beginning of their journey, wealthy or without financial resources can all experience the fruits of the Spirit without limit or restriction. Every leader should look introspectively on a regular basis and determine if these gifts from God are present, increasing or decreasing. One of the fruits that tends to be a gatekeeper to enjoying all the others is self-control. As we move through the first 9 chapters of 1 Chronicles it is good to stop and look at one leader that lost it all because of lack of self-control. Read 1 Chronicles 3:1.

In the genealogy of King David, Amnon was his first born. One might suppose the firstborn son of a great king was foreordained to do great things for his people. Yet Amnon will end up little more than a footnote in Israel’s history and forfeited any claim to leadership because of his lack of self-control (2 Samuel 13:1-19). Amnon’s lack of self-control led to the disgrace of his family, destroyed his half-sister’s life and eventually resulted in his own death at the hands of a vengeful half-brother. Read more »

A leader’s legacy is remembered several ways. There are those on our team and in future generations that will remember our personal weaknesses, others will remember our successes, and still others will keep memories of our civil or religious achievements. As we enter the book of 1 Chronicles to view leadership principles it is important to know that whereas the books of 1 and 2 Samuel and 1and 2 Kings taught us principles of the personal weaknesses of Israel’s leaders, 1 Chronicles looks at the priestly perspective of David’s reign and stresses that leaders of purpose, vision and integrity leave a lasting legacy. Look through 1 Chronicles 1-9 and search for names you recognize from other Bible accounts.

The first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles furnish a genealogy of Israel’s leaders. The genealogies take up almost a third of the book! The amount of space given the lineages of these Jewish leaders in this God-inspired book, the best seller in all human history and the single most important book in a Christian’s life, gives some indication of the value God puts on family, past tradition, and legacy. There are some things we can learn from this record of Jewish leaders: Read more »

A leader’s reputation takes a lifetime to build and just a moment to tarnish. Read 2 Kings 20.

Hezekiah’s overall life legacy is listed in 2 Kings 18:5-7a, “Hezekiah trusted in the Lord God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow Him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook.” What a tremendous legacy for a godly leader. Read more »

Effective leaders are always on the lookout for good people. Virtually every leader carries around a mental list of what kind of people they would like on their team. It would surprise some leaders to discover that the teammate they get has less to do with what the leader wants and more to do with who the leader is. In most situations a leader draws people to them who possess the same qualities that the leader has. Read 2 Kings 2:1-15.

Elijah had a charismatic personality that affected all those around him on every level. Remember the lessons from 1 Kings 18 when Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal, he connected with the people of Israel. He didn’t just sit idly by while the prophets of Baal did their incantations to call down fire on the sacrifice; he taunted them and made sarcastic remarks concerning Baal napping. When the time came for Elijah to implore God to bring the fire to ignite the wood on the sacrifice he poured water on the wood and made a display that won the people’s hearts. And, when he called for the execution of the false prophets, the people were captivated and on his team. Read more »