Outsiders’ demands have a tendency to sidetrack a leader from accomplishing the goal. Effective leaders stay focused on the vision and goals rather than giving time to every peripheral demand. Read Nehemiah 6:1-9.

Several regional leaders had enjoyed great favor with the Persian kings and had great wealth and power from the area known as Judah before the Jews had resettled the land after the Babylonian exile. Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem were all regional leaders or area governors of Judah and Jerusalem prior to the Jews being allowed to leave exile in Babylon to resettle the land. Every step the Jews made to become self-sufficient and a sovereign nation directly serving the king of Persia threatened their power over them and their ability to tax them. A wall being built around Jerusalem would greatly diminish their ability to intimidate the Jews living there and exacting taxes from this group would be virtually impossible. Read more »

Effective leaders understand the need for the constant restatement of goals and core values. Read 2 Chronicles 17.

King Jehoshaphat was 35 years old when he became king of Judah and reigned in Jerusalem for 25 years. Jehoshaphat desired to be a leader that led a nation that honored the laws and moral code of the one true God not just in his palace but every part of the nation under his rule. In a day when the communication and transportation options were limited it would be difficult to see how a leader would quickly turn around not just people’s observance of an external set of laws but the internal value system they chose to live by. Read more »

The book of Judges can help a leader understand a cycle that is repeated, even today, when there is no central leader to give voice and example to godly core values and goals. Read Judges 2-16.

Without a leader to keep them focused on core values and God’s central goal, the people of Israel went through a series of downward-spiraling cycles. The people found themselves oppressed by foreign powers because without the leader’s constant restatement of goals that kept them focused, they gradually forgot about their part of the covenant with God and became disobedient. Each of these downward-cycles is characterized by: Read more »

The leadership and life example of godly leaders focus people on godly principles and God’s word. Without godly leaders it is virtually impossible for any group to have centralized, agreed upon, godly core values and when godly values are compromised, kingdom advancing goals are non-existent or compromised. Read Judges 1:21-36.

After the death of their central leader, the Israelites disregarded God’s directions and decided to negotiate some deals and compromise with the inhabitants of Canaan. The people hoped by doing so they could make friends and avoid confrontation. Compromising their values led to compromising their goals and the lack of a leader to focus an entire nation on commonly accepted godly core values had disastrous results. Read more »

Many of us work daily on specific areas of personal/character development or becoming better at specific leadership techniques and principles. This daily effort allows us to utilize the potential God created in us. Along with this daily growth, we are well served to periodically look at the big picture of how God develops a leader and make application to our own situation.

Joshua became a leader at one of Israel’s most difficult times in its history. Within days of his appointment he led the nation across the Jordan River into hostile territory and set out to conquer, divide and settle the land God had promised the Hebrew people. It was a daunting task but Joshua succeeded in this assignment as God’s leader. A brief review may help you see how your daily work fits into the big picture of becoming God’s leader for the assignment He has given you: Read more »