Skilled leaders know the importance of spending time with key followers, especially in the early stages of their time together. Read John 1:35-39.

When John the Baptist publicly recognized Jesus as the Lamb of God, two of his disciples heard him and followed Jesus. Jesus saw them following Him and invited them to come with Him and according to verse 39 they “spent that day with Him.” Jesus did more than spend time with these men; He opened Himself allowing them to have a relationship with Him.

Effective leaders know the powerful secret of being a good listener. Read Luke 2:41-52.

The Old Testament required those of the Jewish faith to go to Jerusalem each year to make special offerings at the temple and take part in the Feast of Passover. Children, including Jesus, were left behind until they reached the age of accountability. When Jesus was 12 his parents took Him with them to the Passover but when they left Jerusalem for the trip home, unknown to His parents, Jesus stayed behind. After three days of searching, His parents found Jesus in the temple courts “sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.”

Leaders gain more understanding from listening than speaking. Read Habakkuk 1:1-11.

The book of Habakkuk was written in 607 B. C. (approximately 21 years before the fall of Jerusalem). Habakkuk was a contemporary of Jeremiah who also prophesied in Jerusalem, and Ezekiel, the prophet assigned to prophesy in Babylon to the first group of captives taken to Babylon approximately 30 years before the final fall and destruction of Jerusalem.

Some leaders fail because of their inability to make the tough decisions. Read Jeremiah 42:1-43:13.

In 586 BC after Babylon captured Judah and exiled most of the populous to Babylon the small contingent of Jews left in the land was made up of the poor, those that came back to Judah from neighboring nations and some field commanders and their troops that slipped through the hands of the Babylonian army. Gedaliah, the governor of Judah appointed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, was assassinated by a rogue Jewish field commander. The other Jewish field commanders hunted down the rogue army but now those remaining in the land had a decision. Do they stay in Judah believing the Babylonians will accept the flight of the rogue field commander and his troops to Amon as justice for the crime or do they migrate to Egypt, where they felt they would be safe from Babylonian reprisal?

To be effective, wise leaders must find the real truth even when they receive contradictory counsel from multiple advisors. Read Jeremiah 38:14-28.

The Babylonian army had surrounded Jerusalem and built siege ramps to take the city when Egypt made a military flanking maneuver that demanded Babylon divert its entire force to solve that problem. When the Babylonian troops left Judah to battle the Egyptians some of King Zedekiah’s counselors used the temporary retreat to validate for the king that God was protecting His city and that Babylon would never capture Jerusalem. When Zedekiah put this question to Jeremiah, Jeremiah gave him the truthful answer that God had judged Jerusalem and Babylon would return and this time capture the city. Zedekiah had conflicting information and which he chose as truth would hold in the balance his life, the life of his family and the lives of most living in the city.