RECONNECTING WITH THE LEADERSHIP SPIRIT

THE SPIRIT OF LEADERSHIP IS A SPIRIT THAT IS

COMFORTABLE IN THE CREATORS’S COMPANY

When we understand that man was created in God’s image, likeness, and nature and possesses His essence and characteristics, then it should be obvious that, in order for man to understand himself and his true potential, abilities, and nature, he must reconnect to his Source, the Creator. The leadership spirit is the essence of the spirit-man, who can comprehend his identity only from relating to his Source. This relationship should be natural and mutually fulfilling. God and man belong together, and therefore the presence of God is man’s natural and ideal environment.

WE CAN GOVERN OUR ENVIRONMENT INSTEAD OF

BECOMING VICTIMS OF THEM

True leaders are born in the presence of their Creator because that is where they discover the truth about themselves. Just as the life hidden within a seed is brought forth when the seed is placed in the right environment of the soil, the true potential of humanity germinates when it is in the presence of God. To discover the truth about your ability and destiny, you must rediscover the value of relationship with your Source.

The first man, Adam was created in God’s presence and enjoyed spiritual relationship with his Creator as a natural experience, not as a “religious” one. Adam didn’t have to try to get into God’s presence. He didn’t need to perform sophisticated religious customs or rituals. In the first book written by Moses, it is recorded that Adam “walked and talked with God in the cool of the day.”

THE ATTRIBUTES OF THE LEADERSHIP SPIRIT

When we talk about the attributes of leadership, we are referring to the manifest qualities that reflect the natural source and nature of our Creator. According to Merriam-Webster’s 11^th Collegiate Dictionary, the word attribute comes from a Latin word meaning “to bestow.” The Creator has bestowed on us the attributes of a leadership spirit. Here are some of the definitions of attribute: “an inherent characteristic,” “an object closely associated with or belonging to a specific person, thing, or office,” and “a word ascribing a quality.”

Once more, since God is our Creator and the “material” from which we were created, then in order to understand our leadership attributes, it is naturally imperative for us to explore, study, and come to understand the nature of His attributes. In essence, if you want to know and understand yourself, your nature, and your abilities, it is necessary for you to know God, who is your source.

OMNIPOTENCE

The first attribute of God is that He is omnipotent or all-powerful. How do we apply this attribute to ourselves? Omnipotence means “all-inherent power.” It can also be described as a sense of secure ability in pursuing and fulfilling one’s purpose and will. Since we were made in the image and likeness of the Creator, and possess that same ability in a measure, this means that we inherently have power that enables us to accomplish what we were created to do.

In addition, power can be defined as the proper use of energy. The application for us is this: God does not use energy in a negative way. His power is creative. A true leader who has tapped into his essential nature uses power to create things, to make things better for people, just as God does. The Creator uses His power to produce what is good, and we are meant to do the same.

OMNISCIENCE

The Creator is also omniscient or all-knowing. Because we have His nature, we have the facility to understand and retain knowledge. I believe that we are capable of learning as much as we want to. In this sense, our ability to learn is infinite. Moreover, we can never grow too old to learn. We have the capacity to know more than we think we can.

This means that whatever you’ve learned so far is not enough for you to know. Our ability to know is inherent, and any perceived limitation of this ability is based on our conclusion that we’ve learned all that we can or want to know. Yet this is not all that we are able to know. We have a long way to go in order to match our potential for knowledge.

Paul of Tarsus said that a day will come when we will meet our Creator face-to-face, and then we will “know as we are known.” I can’t bodily go into the heavenlies to communicate with and learn from God, I have the capacity to do this in my spirit. We need to be more aware of our ability to know our Creator and the world that He has made.

OMNIPRESENCE

The third attribute of God is that He is omnipresent. This means that He is everywhere and that there is no place in heaven, the universe, or on earth that threatens or intimidates Him. Here is how I apply this attribute to our leadership spirit. When you read about the life of Jesus, you sense that He could be anywhere and be comfortable. He was equally at ease in the presence of high officials, the poor, His family, His disciples, and anyone else He met. A true leader has the capacity to adapt to and function among any group of people effectively.

In addition, as I said earlier, you can put a natural leader anywhere on earth, and in a matter of time, he is in charge of his environment. His environment doesn’t control him; he controls it. Again, because we are made in the image of our Creator, we have the ability to dominate our environments. We can control and govern them instead of becoming victims of them. But we have to first discover that we have this ability because of the Source from which we came.

INTEGRITY

The fourth attribute of God is His absolute integrity. This means that He is always pure in His motives and intentions. In essence, God is always and completely integrated or one with himself. His intent, words, and actions are one with Himself. This is also the concept of being Holy. It means that what He says, what He does, and who He is are one and the same. In God, there is no contradiction. True leaders are honest. There is no manipulation or deception in their dealings with others or their pursuit of their visions. True leaders possess candor and sense of self. They are true to themselves first and then to others.

LEADERSHIP IS BECOMING YOUR TRUE SELF FOR THE BENEFIT OF OTHERS

When God told Adam to name the animals, for example, Adam didn’t sit back and try to argue with Him about it, saying, “There are too many animals. How can I name all these species?” he never hesitated. Instead, he just did it. He had the confidence, the conviction, and the authority of the spirit of leadership. It is important to note that God did not give Adam a list of animal names to choose from. Instead, he allowed Adam to draw on the capacity he had within him, in order to show him that his ability to do so already existed.

The capacity to respond to responsibility is inherent in the nature of all humans, but most of us avoid opportunities to activate or maximize it. I believe that the Creator has designed life in such a way that it constantly makes demands on our hidden leadership potential. Again, the principle is this: Whatever God calls for, He provides for.

When we speak of the nature of someone or something, it has to do with what is natural to the person or thing. It expresses the concept of “inherent essence.” Every created thing possesses an innate nature. It is a natural part of its existence. The nature of a thing is determined by its purpose and function, and it dictates its intrinsic instincts, gifts, and abilities. Just as a bird’s nature is natural to its inherent purpose of flight, and its design, anatomy, and abilities are built to reflect that nature. Likewise the nature of a fish expresses its inherent purpose.

YOU ARE DESIGNED TO DOMINATE

Every manufacturer designs his product with the right components, engineered to fulfill the function that the product is created to perform. In essence, the purpose of the product dictates the mechanical and engineering components required to fulfill the manufacturer’s intent. Its “circuits” are right for the job.

This principle holds true for all creation, including human beings. The Creator caused to be inherent in each created entity – including the apex of His creation, mankind – everything it needs to fulfill its original purpose. Just as the fish is destined to swim, the birds are destined to fly, and seeds are destined to be planted, grow into a tree and produce fruits without deviating from their purpose. The original purpose for mankind, defined and established by the Creator, was to “rule (“have dominion”)…over all the earth.” Since the word “dominion” in this case means to reign and rule, the Creator wired all humans with the capacity and natural ability to lead.

We can conclude that human beings are wired for leadership. Humanity has the natural circuitry to have dominion over its environment. The greatest evidence of what a product can do or is capable of is determined by the demands made on it by the one who made it. Therefore, God’s requirement that we dominate is evidence that the ability to lead is inherent in every human spirit. This is the leadership spirit.

THE SOURCE OF THE LEADERSHIP SPIRIT

PRINCIPLES OF CREATION

Principles of creation will help us understand the source of the inherent leadership spirit that is in us. A careful review of the creation account in the first book of Moses in the Holy Scriptures reveals that everything in creation was created from a specific raw material or source. Now let’s look at it: 

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Vegetation, birds, and animals, in essence, came from the soil. Fish and other sea creatures were created from the waters, and the stars were produced out of the firmament. All the wonderful products of creation that we have on Earth consist of whatever their source is, and when they die, they, in effect, return to the components of that source. In the case of plants and animals, they return to the dust from which they came.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule “have dominion” over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

The most amazing distinction here is that, in His creation of mankind, the Creator did not speak to the soil, the water, or the firmament. He spoke to Himself, saying, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule (have dominion or rulership over the rest of creation).” Humans were not just made by God, but they were also drawn out of His own nature. To be made in God’s image and likeness means that you possess the spiritual nature, characteristics, essential specifications, and “substances” of God and are reflection of His spiritual qualities. It also denotes that you were designed to be like, act like, and function like the Creator. In essence, God created you from his own substance and released you from His own Spirit, and therefore, as far as species go, you are in the “god class” in the sense that you are considered his “son” or offspring.

However, even more important than this knowledge is knowing and understanding why God the Creator chose to create you and me in this manner – reflecting His amazing qualities. The reason God did this is the key to understanding the nature of the human (leadership) spirit.