NEHEMIAH’S LEADERSHIP - PART 1
A great man once said, it took him forty years of learning Leadership for him to come up with his own definition for Leadership and I also find it to be the most useful for helping people grasp the nature of a true leader. According to Him, Leadership is the capacity to influence through inspiration, motivated by a passion, generated by a vision, produced by a conviction, and ignited by a purpose. On this note, I will like to relate this leadership definition to one of the greatest leaders in the Bible days. This was a man who showed all the traits of a true leader: NEHEMIAH.
Nehemiah was one of the men the Bible calls visionaries. We see this in chapter 1 of the book, Nehemiah-a praying visionary, a working visionary. For a true visionary, He always desires to prosper in that thing given unto him. He is always zealous for the purpose He drives. Let’s look at some of these traits possessed by Him.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF PURPOSE
Let us study the start-up of life of Nehemiah in order to understand carefully this element of Purpose. Nehemiah was the son of Hakaliah, and at that time he was working in Shushan the palace with the king as his cup bearer. Here he was when one of his brethren called Hanani together with some other men came from Judah; he questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exiles, for which he got a reply from Hanani. This question birthed the purpose for Nehemiah. Through his quest for answers, he was able to discover his purpose. We have to learn that there needs to be a desire for us to find our purpose. It was this desire Nehemiah had that led him to the purpose for his life. No man can truly claim to live without finding the definition to purpose, and certainly you cannot lead without a definition to purpose. Purpose is the reason for being alive, Purpose is the reason God created us on this planet Earth. Every leader recognizes that he has a special purpose and he is to serve it in the area of his gifting. Purpose is the problem you are created to solve. The problem Nehemiah discovered was the wall of Jerusalem that was broken down and its gates been burnt in fire (Nehemiah 1:3), and those that survived the exile being in great trouble and disgrace. This drove him right to his purpose. One of the ways we can discover our Purpose is by encouraging the gift we can contribute to the world and the problem we were born to serve.
CONVICTION
Conviction is the belief in one’s significance and the deep-held belief i.e. your upheld belief, based on a commitment to one’s Purpose. Conviction is that firmly held belief. It’s that thing that gives you a sense of direction in life. Conviction is the result of Nehemiah’s discovery of Purpose. Purpose just doesn’t stop there. It grows to become a Conviction. It grows to become the reason for our existence, the depth of the knowledge we pursue, that strong instinct inside of us. Nehemiah developed a conviction about what he should be doing with his life and this conviction made him take the steps he took. We see after He had gained Purpose, he began walking in the light of that Purpose. Walking in the light of your Purpose is Conviction. From the scriptures (Nehemiah 1:4-11), we see Nehemiah began to pray, just trying to seek God’s face on what had been revealed to Him. He took steps, and according to the Bible, He took not just steps but bold and giant steps. You cannot truly identify with Purpose and not be desperately torn in that direction. It just becomes the reason you do the things you do, the reason you stand for the things you stand for. Nehemiah’s conviction made him go before the king-an ordinary cup bearer (Nehemiah 2:2). He stood before the king and never for once shook from Purpose, because He had a clear definition already. This is Conviction. Having a conviction is what enables a leader to remain stable and trustworthy even in the midst of difficulties or temptation. If as a leader, you sacrifice your belief system in order to please others; then you are not a leader, you are only a Compromiser.
TO BE CONTINUED…
The Men That Lead
Building Manhood
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