The usual pattern of God moving in the Scriptures is that what happens in the lives of the leaders is experienced and replicated in the lives of the people they lead. Here are a few examples.

• Joshua – “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD. 16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! Joshua 24:14-16 (NIV) 

• David – Then King David said to the whole assembly: “My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The task is great, because this palatial structure is not for man but for the LORD God. 2 With all my resources I have provided for the temple of my God—gold for the gold work, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise, stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stone and marble—all of these in large quantities. 3 Besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple: 4 three thousand talents of gold (gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents of refined silver, for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings, 5 for the gold work and the silver work, and for all the work to be done by the craftsmen. Now, who is willing to consecrate themselves to the LORD today?”6 Then the leaders of families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king’s work gave willingly. 7 They gave toward the work on the temple of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze and a hundred thousand talents of iron. 8 Anyone who had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the temple of the LORD in the custody of Jehiel the Gershonite. 9 The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the LORD. David the king also rejoiced greatly. 1 Chronicles 29:1-9 (NIV)

• The same happened with Solomon with the building of the temple. He gave from his possessions and the people followed.

• We of course see this modelled through Jesus to the apostles during His years on earth, and then we see the apostles do the same to the followers in the early church.

That’s a invitation to all of us who consider ourselves leaders. If we have dreams that people in our communities will meet with God and be transformed for generations to come, then we have to be the leaders who have to not just teach it but live it. 

Of course this invitation doubles up as a warning. 

It can happen that God does something in the people that may not be fully present in the leaders but at some point that leaders will not be able to keep leading in that zone. It’s likely they will implode under the weight of what the Lord is doing because as the presence of the Lord shines light on our lives, anything in our lives that isn’t submitting to Him will be exposed.

I’d encourage each of us today to look at our lives and ask ourselves some questions as we seek to lead people into greater awareness of their identity in Christ. Here’s a few to get us started

1 – Am I more desperate for Jesus today than I was a year ago?

2 – Am I spending more time in His presence than ever?

3 – How is my private life? How’s my marriage (where applicable)? How’s my relationship with my kids/the rest of my family?

4 – What am I watching? How is my speech?

Leaders lead on…….