The Essence of Leadership Part 5

THE CHARACTER OF A LEADER

By Apostle Felix

Constantly be on your guard against phony prophets. They come disguised as lambs, appearing to be genuine, but on the inside, they are like wild, ravenous wolves! You can spot them by their actions, for the fruits of their character will be obvious. You won’t find sweet grapes hanging on a thorn bush, and you’ll never pick good fruit from a tumbleweed. Matthew 7: 15 – 16

Character is a composite. Leadership is about understanding the composition of leadership and becoming a practitioner. Leadership is not exerting power to make things to happen, but to bring power under control via character. We have people with too much power, but yet without godly character. A man with too much power but lacking godly character will be a monster.

Power can be dangerous in the hands of the ungodly. And by that, I mean, a man who lacks goodly character. A man can be an atheist, but yet possessing goodly character. I would rather vote a man into power, who has goodly character, than one who professes to be a Christian but lacks goodly character.

Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Ezra 1: 2

Cyrus, the king of Persia was chosen by God to build the Temple of the Lord. Cyrus was not a descendant of Abraham, but God chose him to build the Temple because he had a goodly character. Of course, the sovereignty of God was at play, but God also considers the state of person’s heart to be used.

That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid. Isaiah 44: 28

Cyrus’ participation in the building of the Temple was prophesied 150 years before he was born. God knew about Cyrus way before he was born. He knew what kind of person he will be. Just like God had prophesied concerning Jesus’ betrayer. He knew that Judas Iscariot will be a man with ungodly character. He will be driven by greediness. Character is so important in life. It determines what part of prophecy we get to fulfill. By the character, future is predicted. Sometimes, you don’t need to see a prophet to tell you about the future, just check your character and you will know how your tomorrow looks like.