What a man is always comes out. A man must know who he is and what he can do. People ought to be honest with themselves. God’s calls are in conformity with personalities. No man should seek to destroy himself.
Callings and the Kind of Wife
Look, even in the realm of marriage, there are women who are women of the people and others who are not. To want to twist her into something else is unfair. Therefore, the woman you choose has determined the scope of your ministry. A national pastor who lacks a cheerful wife is surely going to fail. A pastor must make his choice of a wife in accordance with his call—a companion fit for pastoring. If the woman will not accept inconveniences because of people, the pastor- husband will fail. If the woman cannot feed many people with little amounts of money, then many things will fail. If she is not hospitable, much cannot be done. This is determinant. People may forget your sermon, but they will not forget the fact that they did not eat in your home. These are not moral issues, but they are eliminatory.
Primary and Secondary Leadership
The missionary must have the gift of leadership. He must not only be a leader, but leader number one. He must be able to command a spontaneous following. He must see more than the rest and lead the way. The number one leader must be a man who sees. Secondary leaders are better called managers; to execute what the primary leader sees. The primary leader says, “Go to China and bring gold.” Then the secondary leader works out what is needed to accomplish this project: the strategy, the risk, the workers and so on. He gets down to the executing phase until he finally brings the gold. David was a first-class leader, but Solomon was not. You don’t hear about Solomon’s mighty men. David had the future at heart. He saw. To that kind of leadership, God gives capacities that see the story of very many gener- ations ahead of time. The main leader must be a bulldozing man: tearing down, shattering and paving the way. This ties with the personality of the man. Look at Jacob right from the womb. He started fighting his wars from the womb, when he was nine months of age.
Accept Yourself
All we can do is to accept ourselves and accept that God was right in placing us where we are. On the other hand, the pioneer leader must ask God to give him the gifts that he needs in the beginning, when many other ministers are yet to rise. Normally, after God begins to raise ministers, some of such gifts will disappear so that others should come in. If we move on the crest of God’s wave, old gifts will disappear, giving room for new ones. We believe that spiritual gifts are not static. This means that other minis- ters must make full contribution or the work fails.
Accompanying Gifts and Talents
A man to be chosen or appointed to an office must have the gifts and talents accompanying the demands of the office. He must be prepared to actively cooperate with God to put off and put on a lot. A national leader is of necessity a fighter. He must ask himself whether he has what it takes to start and develop an abiding and fruitful work. He must ask himself whether he has the right wife. He must ask, “What in me qualifies me for the job of a national leader?”
Leadership and Character
If you have been unfaithful with what has been given you, you cannot talk about new gifts. An unfaithful, lazy or disloyal man will fail irrespective of whatever gifts and talents he has. Leadership must meet with character. Whatever be God’s original purposes for a man, they could come to nought if he does not work to bring in godly character. Character and talents bring a man to be noticed by others and be approved as lead- er. Though given a great call, Paul accepted to be considered the least of the apostles. He put on the character needed and his story changed course in a very short time. Barnabas’ failure was also a failure in character, tied to a failure in consecration: the lack of separation from his family. If a man will not be a servant, then he has failed; for who will appoint a boss? Look at David; how is it that knowing that he was already the anointed king, he under- took to serve King Saul? The proud of heart constitutes a shipwreck, whatever the plans God had for them. If you never become all that God meant you to be, it will not be because of a short- age of gifts, but a defect in character. Does a man share the intimacies of his heart with a disloyal wife or a disloyal co-worker? No!!! The purposes of God for a man are rarely frustrated by anything except by character, which is what the man ought to contribute.
Keeping A Growing Team
The leader does not only see. He has the capacity to keep his team. He has the capacity to discipline and also to completely restore, so that new people are added to the team without replacing the former ones. He must know how to handle a man’s failures in order to make a better man out of him. The men with whom David started were idlers, angered and embittered persons; yet he believed and built up these men to what they became at the end. The leader must be able to believe people and keep them even in their weakest state and low estate.
Be Yourself
God is anxious to produce originals. You cannot put on the personality of another person and succeed. Just be yourself and let go. There is so much to give; don’t hold back! Jesus was fully Himself and He gave Himself away naturally. We insist that if a man will not maintain a healthy relationship with his wife, he is disqualified for spiritual leadership. A man cannot fail with his immediate collaborators and pretend to lead spiritually.
Intuition or The Holy Spirit?
A man who is led by the Holy Spirit receives what is correct before God, but one led by intuition, by the human spirit, is correct according to the world. Logic and intuition are both human and worldly. Intuition is the voice of the human spirit. It holds very correctly for things at the human level. Those who have it can very easily be mistaken because often they leave aside the Holy spirit. The only good leadership is that of the Holy Spirit. There is a world of difference between the Spirit of God and the human spirit.
Excerpt from: You, Your Team and Your Ministry – Z.T. Fomum
