Becoming Godly Leaders

People lead from their hearts.
They use their minds, eyes, ears, feet, hands to lead, but the desire, motivation and passion to lead comes from the heart.

Matt 15:13-19
He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit."
15Peter said, "Explain the parable to us."
16"Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them. 17"Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man `unclean.' 19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

The essence of a leader is someone who has people following them somewhere.
The leader is guiding them, showing them the way, in a particular direction and towards a desired outcome.

Since leadership is ultimately an issue of the heart, there are some qualities of the heart that as they are put in place, built up, developed will help us become better leaders. These will help build better leaders, regardless of the setting.

We are all called to be leaders in one form or another. We may be leading our families, perhaps we are leading others where we work, or leading things in our community, or in our church.

There are qualities that will help us be better leaders, as we build them into our lives. These qualities, when honestly dealt with, will challenge the issues in our heart and will cause us to be better people and consequently better leaders. No one has it all together, each of us can continue to grow in these qualities and let the power of Christ change us.

Character – demonstration of integrity, truthfulness and uncompromising lifestyle
Call – God is involved in determining what is done and how
Commitment – the ability to place obedience over cost
Competence – the desire and ability to do things well – pursuing excellence
Community – placing the needs and interests of others ahead of oneself
Confidence - recognizing and relying upon ones source of strength
Faithful – demonstrates trustworthiness to those relying upon them
Available - able and willing to use their resources to achieve the purposes
Teachable – Demonstrates a desire to learn from many sources.

I pray that as each of us are challenged by these we will choose to take the risk and deal with our own hearts and become better leaders of those following us.