Good day and welcome to Leaderview™, I am Lara Gboyega Adedeji. It is such a joy for me to be on this platform sharing with you leadership tip that will help make your leadership experiences more effective. And today we will be looking at The Heart of Leadership: How To Perform Exceptionally in Your Leadership Placement.
Listen To Podcast: THE HEART OF A LEADER: HOW TO PERFORM EXCEPTIONALLY IN YOUR LEADERSHIP
Very briefly we want to examine what the heart of leadership is and how can we perform exceptionally in our leadership placement. I will like to start by making us to understand that the platform for the execution of the will of God is in the heart of men. The heart of men is the platform upon which God executes His will. And I will love us to see a Scripture in Acts 13:22. The Bible says “And when He had removed him, (talking about Saul, king Saul) He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, (let us listen to the testimony of God about this leader) ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’”
That is the testimony of God concerning this leader, king David. He said ‘I have found David the son of Jesse.” And what was the qualification? God said “‘I have found David a man after My own heart.” And it is amazing if you see the same thing God was seeing here in 1 Samuel 16:7, God telling Samuel the prophet how His criteria for leadership, how that leadership is about the heart. And see what God said in 1 Samuel 16:7: “But the lord said to Samuel don’t think Eliab is the one just because he is tall and handsome.” Don’t think I chose leaders just by their looks. Don’t think I am into charismatic leadership. Don’t think I am always looking at the physical attributes of people, whether they are tall and squared shoulder, and they have good looks, or they are six foot tall and they have broad shoulders. Those are not the qualifications of leadership.
He said: “Eliab is not the one just because he is tall and handsome he isn’t the one I have chosen. People judge others by what they look like, but I God judge people by what is in their hearts.” I anoint leaders by what is in their hearts. So, the heart of leadership is about the heart. The platform for the execution of God’s will is about the heart. God is always recruiting leaders based on their heart and not their looks. So when men are looking at the outward appearance: How tall, how handsome, how they speak, their disposition and charisma, God is always recruiting based on the hearts of men. So, you will realize that your heart is the altar of your leadership.
Before God, your heart is the altar of your leadership. What happens on your altar will ultimately happen in your leadership. And how do I know this? In Luke 6:45, it says: “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good;” So, how do you know a good leader? By what the leader produces from his heart. What a leader produces from his heart shows whether he is a good person or not. And an evil person out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil.” You cannot produce differently from what is on the altar of your heart. And the Bible concludes by saying this: “For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
You cannot influence a people positively if your heart is not right. You cannot influence a people negatively is your heart is right. So, the altar of your heart is the place of treasure for your leadership. If your heart is not filled with what is required for your leadership, your life and your leadership experience cannot produce it. So, your heart is the altar, it is the platform where your leadership treasures are drawn from. So, you must be mindful of what comes out of your heart. That is why Proverbs 4:23 says keep your heart with all diligence, from it flows the issues of life. It springs forth from your heart.
Everything you have seen about your leadership today is something that have come out from the treasure of your heart. So, what is it that you are looking at that you are not comfortable with in your leadership today? You need to go back to your heart and correct it. You cannot be useful and make the much kind of influence you desire to make on the earth and in the lives of the people that you have been called to, if you don’t sit down and treat the issues of your heart. And you must make sure that your heart is right. No wonder in Psalms 51:10, David haven sinned against God and haven had his heart corrected; went back to God and said:
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
My heart had been corrupted. The things coming from my heart, because at this point; the same David that was a man after God’s heart was the same David that had committed adultery. He was the same David that has murdered another man. His leadership is now producing evil and death. But David didn’t sit down and throw in the towel simply because of his bad experiences in leadership at this time. He simply went back to the drawing board, how the whole thing started. And that is why he could search and find out that his heart has been corrupted and become evil. And it is the same reason his leadership was producing evil results. And that is why in Psalms 51:10, he was able to pray this prayer. He said:
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
David knew if his heart can be right, his leadership will be right. If he can get it right in his heart, he can get it right in his leadership. And you don’t want to have a leadership that is not pleasing to God, where you are just doing your own thing, living your own life, and when it is all said and done; and you appeared before God, your maker and your Father, and He said “go away from me, I don’t know you; you workers of iniquity.” That is why we have to make sure that our hearts is right. And I came across a verse in Proverbs 21:2, very instructive. It says: “all deeds are right in the eyes of the doer” and this is so instructive for leaders. In your own eyes, you are doing something great because you are the doer. But guess what, there is a God in heaven that rules in the affairs of men. And who is He? It says “But the Lord weighs the heart.”
When David, the man after God’s heart, who is our case study for today, he got to a point in his leadership and decided to count the number of people in his kingdom. In his eyes, it was a good thing. But God was not pleased with it; it was not the will of God. And when he decided to do this, God was displeased with him and God struck the land. Why? Because God weigh his heart and He knew this was not His instructions, this was not what will glorify Him and what is good for the people. And that is why we have to be mindful as leaders. A leadership position is such a sensitive one. You might be doing things and it looks good to you, it looks alright. It does not hurt a fly. But God weighs your heart.
God is concerned about what is streaming from your heart. And that is why you have to pay attention to it, make sure you submit that heart to God. God said this one I will not look away from. One that has a broken and a contrite heart. So, your heart must be in a perpetual position and posture before God for you to have a leadership that is pleasing to Him. For Saul, he was dethroned by God because of his heart and God anointed David because of his heart. God does not anoint the head of leaders, He anoint their hearts. When God find a heart that pleases Him and gives Him pleasure, God anoints such hearts for leadership.
So you have to make sure that your heart is right with God as a leader because this is the heart of leadership. Thank you very much for investing your time to listen to this tip of leadership effectiveness on Leaderview. Stay blessed, stay leading, and posture your heart correctly before God.
God bless you.
Article Source: Centre for New Dimension Leadership
