EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP

EVERY BELIEVER A LEADER

The leadership that God has chosen to establish is different from that of the world. Man was created to subdue the earth and have dominion (Genesis 1:28), or in other words, each person was created to be a leader. Understanding this implies a change in your way of thinking, which for lack of revelation, has caused you to believe that leaders are generally those who are the most charismatic, best trained, and possessing the strongest temperament. Reject these erroneous concepts. You were born and created to lead.

John Maxwell affirms that leadership is influence, therefore those who through the Spirit are full of power and authority will influence many others. This implies that whoever does not exercise influence does not act as salt, because whoever acts as salt has influence.

In light of this, I want to mention four foundational principles without which no church or Christian organization should establish anyone as a leader.

Image produces dominion

The exercise of dominion is intimately associated with image (Genesis 1). We cannot separate the exercise of dominion from image. Everything is determined by the image or identity that we possess, whether it is that of a scorpion, a serpent, a lamb or the Son of God. In the book of Revelation we read that God has the appearance of a Jasper stone (Revelation 4:3) and that the New Jerusalem will be built with Jasper (Revelation 21:11; 18).

Image is expression. If we have the proper image, the more we express ourselves the more we exercise dominion and leadership. Image is the expression of the author and creator. Only He can authorize us as leaders to exercise authority. Because of the fall, we lost our image, but the work of the Holy Spirit transforms us so that we can again express God. The word “transformation” occurs three times in the Bible.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2)

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

The third reference is in Matthew. In the place of “transform”, we read the word “transfigured”, but the word in Greek is the same, metamorphose (Matthew 17:2). In another passage, Jesus said that some would see the manifestation of the kingdom (dominion) (Matthew 16:28). The (Dominion), the transfiguration of Christ represented the manifestation of the kingdom. Only when we are transformed or transfigured do we genuinely express the authority of the kingdom. There is an unavoidable principle related to this: those who have image receive dominion. Invariably the Lord will place those who have his likeness as head.

The priesthood introduces royalty

Image speaks of priesthood and dominion speaks of royalty. The New Testament shows us that God has made us kings and priests (Revelation 5:10; 1 Peter 2:9). The priesthood always introduces royalty.

In the Old Testament, there were two basic ministries: the priesthood and royalty. The priesthood introduces royalty in the same manner that Samuel, the priest constituted David as king; or John the Baptist the priest of the tribe of Levi, introduced King Jesus of the tribe of Judah. If we are genuine priests, we will introduce royalty.

David’s ministry as a king was successful because he was also a priest. He ate the consecrated bread that was only lawful for the priests to eat (1 Samuel 21:6). He was not a Levite priest, but he certainly prefigured a priest of a higher order. First, we become priests leading people to God, and then we become kings manifesting the authority of His kingdom on the earth.

You may be thinking, “If we are all leaders, then who will be the followers?” Remember that the Lord is the King of Kings. This title was given to Him because His followers are also Kings. Today Christians are a nation of priests. If we are a nation of priests, we can also become a nation of Kings, or in other words a nation of leaders.

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:5-9)

We are a holy nation made up of kingly priests who carry within our spirits a new nature that qualifies us as a new elect race.

Dominion is for service

If we read Matthew 20:20-28, we will see that the Lord did not reprimand or rebuke the disciples for their desire to rule as kings over the people. He even said, “If you want to be great in God’s kingdom”, this shows us that the desire to rule exists in each one of us because that is what we were created for.

However the Lord showed the manner that we should lead: by serving. This does not mean that we will have to do tasks that have no meaningful purpose. The Lord Himself was an example of someone who served. He demonstrated the manner that we should serve by fulfilling the purposes of God for His life. Christ came to give His life as atonement for many. Upon doing this, He served and exercised dominion. Therefore, the true spirit of leadership is serving others by fulfilling the purpose for which God has called us.

Every true leader is merely a glorified servant. The path to leadership is the development of the service to the call that we have received from God, which is His purpose for us. We serve God and man by fulfilling His purposes.

The power is for dominion

In order for Adam to exercise dominion, he needed God’s image, but he also needed a second element: the fruit of the tree of life. Only after having eaten of the tree of life would he definitively be able to exercise dominion as head over the earth.

The eating of the tree of life is nothing more than receiving the life and energy of God within us. Just think of the example of a computer without electrical power: so much potential, so much information, so much usefulness lost for lack of the most important element, electrical power to make access possible.

The Lord’s last promise to His disciples was not heaven, but power (Acts 1:8). This power is an enablement to impact, to change and to alter circumstances. The power of God transforms us into lions.

The author Miles Monroe once said: “an Army of lambs led by a lion will always win over an army of lions led by a lamb”. David had a flock of rejects, but since he was a lion, he transformed them into giant killers.