What Leadership Is and What it's Not

Servant-leadership is real time leadership

Jesus was an outstanding leader because He was a servant. He did not only advise His disciples to serve others, He led by example as he was addicted to serving others. He wasn’t looking out for people that will serve Him; He was looking out for people to serve.

In Matthew 9:35, Jesus said “…if any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all and servant of all”. You are not a leader because people serve you. You are a leader when you serve others. The moment you see yourself as lord over others, you lose your place in leadership. Remember, leadership is not a position, leadership is a disposition; -the disposition of service.

Jesus in His statement meant to say; if you want to be the head, you must learn to think less of yourself and think more about the welfare of those you lead. If you want to be the first, make yourself the last.

Don’t try to be first by exploiting people. Don’t lobby your way to the top. Be a servant. That is the genuine way to the top. You need to lower yourself. Humble yourself. Many heads of groups are so proud they want everyone to worship them.

Jesus, the first born of God Himself stooped so low that He was washing the feet of ordinary men. In fact, He said to Peter; “…if I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me” (John 13:8). In other words, the only way you can create lasting impact on your followers is by serving them, not asking them to serve you.

Today we have more lords than servants and that is why we have so many failing organizations and groups. We have more masters than stewards, so the world is in chaos. Everybody wants to be a master; only few want to do what is required.

Leaders are makers. As a leader, let your focus be to establish people, not to use them. When Jesus called His disciples, He said “follow me and I will MAKE you fishers of men”. We have so many users of men, but only few makers of men.

What becomes of people after they have had contact with you? How do you leave them? Is it better or worse? Your goal as a leader is to improve your followers, not to deplete them while enriching yourself. You must enrich them too in every aspect of their lives.

In many nations of the world today, the people we call leaders are mostly extortionists. They’re people who use political power to suppress and oppress citizens. We have many exploiters in offices today. The third world nations are especially wallowing in stagnation because they are led by gluttons. We have so many leaders that don’t care to invest in their followers; rather they invest in their stomachs.

It’s time to experience a turning point. Leaders arise and lead responsibly. You are not a leader because you occupy an office; you are a leader because you affect people positively. You are only a good leader when you become a servant of all (Mark 10:44).

What the Bible Said About Angels

The subject about Angels is not a myth, neither is it mere philosophy. It is not an imagination that somebody somewhere came up with. Angels are as real as you and I.

The Bible said in Psalms 34:7; “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him and delivereth them”. Here we are told that Angels are agents from the Lord that surround those that fear the Lord in order to deliver them. The word “encampeth” as used in this verse means ‘to mount or build a camp and to hang around thereby’. We can therefore conclude that; for as many that are children of God, there are Angels camping around them to deliver them from destruction.

If you are a child of God, there are Angels assigned to you. When you move, they move. When you stop, they also stop; mount their tents and camp around you in order to ensure you are safe.

In Psalms 91:11, the Bible says “for He shall give His angels charge (warning) over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways”. God has given His angels strong warning concerning your safety. They are warned to ensure nothing evil happens to you. God instructs His Angels to keep you in your way whenever the devil tries to put you out of the way.

We need to know that Angels are beings with a well-defined duty. Their job description is clearly stated in the pages of scriptures. They are NOT sons of God. They are servants of God with an assignment to protect the sons of God; and we are the sons of God. We can confirm this from Hebrews 1:13-14 (Amplified Version).

Entering into God's Covenant of Protection

I want you to know that your safety can be enacted by a covenant between you and God. God said “and I will make with them A COVENANT OF PEACE (Ezekiel 34:25)”, and “moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will place them and multiply them…” (Ezekiel 37:26).

God is saying here that “my protection is only guaranteed you by a covenant. If you want me to protect you, then you must agree with me on its terms and conditions.” As long as you will fulfill your own part of it, He is more than ready to fulfill His. 

What are the terms and conditions of this covenant?

    It begins with new birth: John the beloved said “for whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world” (1 John 5:4). It is only those who are born of God that have the power to overcome the devil. That’s why “…as many as received Him, to them gave He Power…” (John 1:12). Power is given only to those who have received Him (Jesus). The moment you receive Jesus, you experience a re-birth –what we call new birth. And through this re-birth, God automatically bestowed upon you certain undisputable powers over oppression.

Jesus said; “these things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world, ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Therefore, until you are in Christ, you will never have peace. In fact, as Jesus said, if you remain in the world –unsaved, you will have plenty of tribulation. If you want to be an overcomer, then you must be attached to the one that has overcome the world –Jesus.

Jesus said in another verse; “come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). John the beloved speaking again said; “ye are of God little children, and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you that he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). So when you open the door for Jesus -the overcomer, to dwell in you, you become a winner in the world because He has conquered the world.

John was trying to say that new birth enters you into God’s family, and then “ye are of God”. After that, you can “overcome them”; -that is, those out there who are used by the devil as instruments of destruction.

    Purity keeps you in the family: While new birth enters you into Gods family, it is purity that keeps you there. Know this; every child of God was adopted by God and can be disowned at any time when he or she violates certain family rules. The Bible confirms this: “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba Father (that is, dear father)” (Romans 8:15).

You are only able to call God your father in the first place because He adopted you from the world. We were all sinners and dirty (Romans 3:23). Through His mercy, He brought us in, and we must appreciate that. That’s why John the beloved said “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God” (1 John 3:1). In other words, we were never worthy to be called God’s sons in the first place. In fact, John was so amazed that God ignored our filthiness and still adopted us that he asked “what kind (manner) of love is this”.

Then he went on to say “whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not…” (Verse 6). In other words, if you want to retain your place in God’s family, don’t give room to sin. As soon as you entertain sin, you are cast out. After that, he said “he that commiteth sin is of the devil…” (Verse 8). Meaning, sin enters you into the devils family. Sin takes you out of God and hands you over to the devil. It takes you out of the covenant of peace and registers you into the school of tribulation.

John went on saying; “whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin…” (Verse 10). Also, “…but he that is begotten of God KEEPETH HIMSELF and the wicked one TOUCHETH HIM NOT” (1 John 5:18).

Therefore, to be free from wicked oppressions, retain your place in God’s family by departing from iniquity. Touch no unclean thing (Isaiah 52:11) because God knows those that are His (2 Timothy 2:19).

How to Create Success Pt.1:

IT TAKES GOOD THINKING

            Many years ago as little boy, I saw a Toyota advert on TV where one of their slogans from 1953; “Hǎo sīxiǎng, hǎo chǎnpǐn” translated “Good Thinking, Good Product” was mentioned. Right from that moment, I developed this mentality that “if anything good must come out of you, you must be given to good thinking.”

            In the world of manufacturing for example, some products are more outstanding than others. However, every such outstanding product is a result of good thinking, -by the manufacturer.

            Similarly, if you must create success in your field of operation, you must not only be a thinker, you must be given to “good thinking”. The level of your success is determined by the depth of your thinking. The more you think well, the more you succeed. The less you think well, the less you succeed. Show me a great thinker and I will show you a man bound to have an accomplished life.

            Many people are frustrated by their lives today and the way things are going; but they hardly devote time to thinking. And even those of them that dare to think often think on negative things; -probably about how things will not work out or about the current situations and crisis they face and why they cannot come out of them. Very few actually engage in “good thinking”.

           My mentor and spiritual father, Bishop David Oyedepo once mentioned that he has in his house a “thinking room”. In that room, he has thinking papers and a thinking pen. Whenever he goes there, he just meditates and notes down in his thinking paper the ideas that come to him. Those ideas soon turn out to become action plans that eventually create success stories.

           SCRIPTURAL PERSPECTIVE

            Let’s see what the Bible says about thinking.

“O Lord, how great are thy works and thy thoughts are VERY DEEP” (Psalms 92:5).

            Here David the psalmist was talking about God Himself. He was in awe of God’s wonderful creation of the heavens and the earth and everything within it -including man. Then he concluded “...and thy thoughts are VERY DEEP.” Simply put; God was able to invent everything He did because He was given to deep thinking. Incredible, isn’t it?

            It was through deep thinking that the whole world and everything in it were created. God is a thinker, a deep thinker. He sat down to think deeply before He embarked on this great creation. We will talk about God’s creation till forever.

            The problem with most people who run around and are still stuck in the circle of frustration where they are is that they would just not sit down to think. You need to control your mind and be focused on the things you want to achieve.

           If you are not making progress in your life, then it’s time to sit down and analyze why. Strategize how to move from where you are to where you should be; but it takes good thinking to do that. The deeper you think the higher you go. The less you think, the less you grow. It’s a law (Rom 11:33).

           The Bible says “come now and let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18). God beckons on you to start reasoning. This is an advanced form of productive thinking. Reasoning simply means thinking about something in a logical way in order to come up with a solution. God therefore, is asking us to start thinking logically and making analysis about our lives and the steps we have taken so far. He wants you to refine your approach in order to come up with more productive ways of succeeding.

            THINKING GENERATES IDEAS

            A popular writer once titled a book “Ideas Rule the World”. And as I often say “it was an idea that even created everything; including man.” Yes! It was an idea; just an idea that created you and me. You remember when God came up with that idea? “…and God said, let us make man …” (Gen 1:26).

            There was a problem. There was chaos and disorder on the earth and God needed a manager to put things right. Then he called the other two in the God-head and he said “…. Let us make man”. That was one of the most productive ideas history ever recorded. It’s results remain unmatched till today.

            What most mediocre-people need today is just an idea; one that will turn their world around. But only those given to good thinking can be inspired with great ideas.

            Many years ago, it was really difficult travelling around the world, not even over the seas. Those that eventually moved across the continents spent so many days and even months on the sea.

            Then two brothers came up with an idea. They thought if we create a machine that could fly over the sea; we would cross continents in record time. They thought so deep and their productive thoughts gave birth to the airplane technology.

            When you are confronted with stagnation, sit down and think deeply. How can I create success?  The four lepers at the gate of Samaria thought deeply. They said to themselves “we mustn’t sit here until we die” an idea was born and champions emerged out of them (2 Kings 7:3-13).         

            A prostitute was brought to Jesus; in order to test him. “What should we do to her?”  They asked. Then Jesus stooped down to think deep; to reason with God. When he rose up, all his opponents ran away. Deep thinkers are threats to challenges. When a deep thinker faces a challenge, he steps on it so easily.

            There are so many graduates in Nigeria today who are struggling so badly. However, very few of them are given to deep thinking. When you keep waiting …and waiting for a job you may never get one. All you need do is to sit down and think about what to do to create a financial future for yourself; and at the same time, making as much impact as you should.

            Opportunities are everywhere. You just need to recognize them and think deeply; about what to do with them. Abraham Lincoln said “we can complain because rose bushes have thorns or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” If you must change your level, you must be given to good thinking.

            Remember “as a he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). You are a product of the type or nature of your thinking. Your ultimate destiny is shaped by the depth of your thoughts. Friend, it’s time to wake up. Stop running up and down. Settle down and draw the course of your future. It is good thinking that yields good products. And I want to repeat that Toyota slogan from 1953; “Good Thinking, Good Product”.

this is an excerpt from my book "How to Create Success." 

Call me to order a copy (+2347036999170)