David’s leadership exemplifies a number of great qualities. We should appreciate how God recorded the good in David and his character flaws. David will forever be remembered for his indiscretion with Bathsheba, adultery coupled with murder.

We do not want to make light of, nor ignore what is recorded about David. We should also remember he was a man after God’s own heart.

We could spend weeks with various articles, but we simply want to examine one area of David’s leadership: his respect for God’s will.

Even though David could have taken Saul’s life, and perhaps rightfully so, he respected God’s appointment of Saul as king of Israel.

Even though David was paying for the consequences of his sin, he understood and respected God’s answer in loss of his son.

Even though David was prepared to build a temple to honor God, he respected God’s decision that the temple be built by Solomon.

David was a man of great faith and one of the Bible’s great leaders. One of the reasons his leadership was great is because he respected God’s will.

The power of uniformity is based on developing the consistency, invariability, stability, and regularity that characterizes leadership.

These four words are the defining qualities of uniformity.

Our leadership must demonstrate the consistency of a life lived according to the message believed and proclaimed. Hypocrisy destroys leadership more quickly than anything else.

The invariability of leading without fail and without exception is critical to the success of strong leadership. No matter what the cost, invariably, leaders will show up.

Of all the qualities that describe uniformity, followers need leaders with stability. There is something significant about having a rock solid foundation. Stability provides followers with security.

Regularity demonstrates a leadership that is fixed, unchanging, and unvarying. There is power when leaders provide regularity. When others can count on their leader, they will follow…anywhere.

Uniformity is key to leading as God would have us lead today. While there may be challenges to developing and fulfilling these qualities, when we do so, our leadership grows stronger and lasts longer.

Various cultures around the world view or define success differently than other cultures. Oddly enough, even within the same culture, success is often defined differently.

Exploring the way God defines success is a bit more challenging, yet far more important to consider.

We cannot help but acknowledge that the most common factor defining success is quantitative. An increase identified with a specific number determines the measure of success achieved. Thus, from a corporate perspective, increasing the profit margin generally defines the success of the company.

An increase in the number of people assembling with the church on Sunday physically aligns with the idea of success as secularly defined.

We recognize the success of the 3,000 who were baptized on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:38-41). If we examine the context of Acts 2 and other passages throughout the Bible, we will find that the success of this event was not measured by the number involved, but by those who followed the word of the Lord.

When it comes to defining success, as God defines it, a good place to start is 1 Samuel 15:22-23.

“Earn your leadership every day.” Michael Jordan

The thought expressed here is extremely important, yet leaves us with an important question to answer: How? How can we earn our leadership every day? While it is not an exhaustive list, here are a few ideas to consider.

1) Ensure your life is consistent with your leadership.

2) Take responsibility for every word, decision, and action.

3) Lead in the fullness of core values.

4) Align priorities with goals.

5) Know what is worth dying for, and then live for it.

6) Help others reach their potential…always!

7) Learn to be an active listener.

8) Show others there is more to life than just “being right.”

9) Demonstrate the value of respect for yourself and others.

10) Understand the difference between image and reputation.

If we can begin applying a few suggestions, then our leadership will have immeasurable benefits to others.

Most leaders appreciate ideas for leadership and today’s post is no exception. Recently, a conversation about Moses when he stood on sacred ground revealed an idea about today’s leaders standing on scared ground. The thought raised two questions.

Why is leadership so scary? Answers to this question are abundant. Consider the responsibility of leading others spiritually with eternity in mind. Knowing that leaders deal with answering questions pertaining to goals, plans, maintaining morale, personality conflicts, providing resolution, etc., it does not take long to determine why the ground upon which leadership stands can be a scary place.

How do we overcome the scared ground for sacred ground? Spiritual leadership is a God-given role and He will help us overcome whatever challenges we face. Spending time in prayer will help us reach a more sacred footing rather than standing in a position of being scared. Studying individuals throughout the Bible, such as Hebrews 11, who were able to overcome with God’s help, will help us as we approach sacred ground.

It may not seem like much, but it is a start and sometimes getting started is half the battle.

The leadership of Joseph provides great spiritual lessons from Scripture.

Joseph endured adverse circumstances. He was rejected by his brothers, sold into slavery, tempted, falsely accused, wrongly thrown into prison, and forgotten.

HOWEVER, the entire account teaches us wonderful lessons about spiritual leadership.

No matter what happens, God is always with us. Throughout the account of Joseph we find a key phrase; “and God was with him.” With each event in Joseph’s life we are reminded of this truth.

Remember God is always working toward a greater purpose. Joseph trusted that God was working for good, even in what appeared to be evil. God saw the ultimate saving of Israel, not just the well-being of Joseph.

Faithfulness will exult an individual and a nation. Joseph was eventually elevated to power over all of Egypt. This act led to the saving and development of God’s people.

These are powerful lessons in application for leaders today. If we can learn God is with us, He works in our lives for a greater purpose, and faithfulness will result in exultation, then our leadership is rooted in the right foundation.

Most people have experienced or know someone who has experienced surgery. Interestingly enough, the older we get the more difficult recovery from surgery becomes.

The surgery is not the problem. Two, three, or four weeks of recovery, however, is another matter.

Think about the nature of recovery.

Time is involved. The capabilities of the body recovering is amazing, but healing requires time. Leadership development and recovering from mistakes involves time. If we give the necessary time for recovery, in the long run we become stronger.

Repair prevents permanent damage. The nature of surgery and recovery is to prevent problems of an irreparable nature. When we understand the steps needed to prevent permanent damage, our leadership can avoid major breakdowns in the future.

Successful recovery requires following the physician’s instructions. We often overlook this point. The expert advice of a physician is critical to recovery. The same is true as spiritual leaders trying to heal. Follow the great physician’s instructions.

More could be discussed, but for now, keep in mind the purpose and necessity of recovery. It can make all the difference.

How is success determined? The answer to this question may greatly depend on what we want to achieve. The fact that success is defined in numerous ways increases the challenge of how we determine success in our lives.

As leaders within the spiritual setting, the ultimate determination of success will be made on the other side, at the throne of God.

Until then, however, consider the following ways for determining success.

1) Having smart goals, and plans to reach those goals, is the foundation for success.

2) Are we continuing to grow and develop in relationship to God and others?

3) Using the truth of God’s word as the standard for our decisions results in success.

4) Assisting others in reaching their potential, and seeing they have the tools to do so, brings success.

5) Never allowing failure to be final will always bring success.

6) Knowing God…

I realize there are other ways to determine or define success, but if we can implement a few ideas from the beginning, success will follow.

“Winning is not everything, losing is! Learning to lose properly is a very healthy thing. Lose your pride, your fleshly desires, your sinful habits. The sooner you acknowledge that God is the ultimate winner, the sooner you can taste true victory, but you have to lose first!” Phanat Ouch

Building off the words of Jesus in Matthew 16:25, today’s thought summarizes the powerful need to reevaluate our approach to life.

In a world that believes in winning at all cost, the concept of losing does not possess much popularity. Even though several attempts to change this way of thinking are commercialized, the underlying mindset of success emphasizes the “W.”

From a spiritual perspective, however, true success is measured in the ideas expressed by Phanat: losing our pride, fleshly desires, and sinful habits. When demonstrated in leadership, followers find an incredible example that reflects the true nature of Christianity.

In every culture, the ideas of winning and losing generally follow the same pattern. Therefore, we need leaders today who hold up the biblical standard of true success by acknowledging the only way to win is losing self and siding with God.

Everyone seeks timeless nuggets of advice unaltered by time, generation, or culture. These nuggets are not always easy to find and often they are overlooked for something believed to possess greater value.

From a leadership perspective, Joshua was given a small snippet of advice meeting our criteria. God told Joshua, “be strong and very courageous.” God emphasized strength and courage three times in the context of Joshua chapter one, but only once did He use this specific phrase “strong and very courageous.”

The context of this one phrase has powerful implications in the realm of spiritual leadership surrounding God’s law. Notice the following list:

Be careful to do according to all the law.

Do not turn from it to the right or to the left.

This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth.

You shall meditate on it day and night.

Be careful to do according to all that is written in it.

God specifies how Joshua’s success depends on following this advice. Imagine how different our world would be if spiritual leaders today had the strength and courage to do the same.