I was reading during my quiet time and part of my reading required me to read Genesis
12 & 13. As I started reading, this was dropped in my spirit. I’ll give you
the first 4 verses of Chapter 12 and then share what was dropped in my spirit:
Genesis 12:1-4 says this:
Now the Lord had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot
went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from
Haran.
Now many times we talk about prosperity, and all that when
we read those verses. Let's look at this from a leadership perspective. Abram
was called out of his comfort zone (or we could say comfortable place), leaders
when they want to be effective, will step out of their comfortable place. Abram
had faith in God to obey; leaders step out into the world of the unknown. But a
leader that's grounded in Christ can leave a legacy like Abram.
Let’s look deeper into those verses: God said to Abram that
He will make him a great nation, bless him and make his name great. Sometimes
when God wants to bless you, He has to get you away from your comfortable place
like He did with Abram. Abram had
nothing to lose but everything to gain when He stepped out and left his
country. Leaders when they’re going for something big, they have nothing to
lose going in. I’m sure Abram counted the cost before leaving. They say that
leaders aren’t born, and every leader that has left a legacy counted the cost.
So I ask every child of God, do you want to be used to the fullest? Count the
cost and be open to His Spirit and what He’s trying to say to you. Don’t be
alarmed if He pulls you from your surroundings. He has so much for you. I’m
willing to believe that every leader can testify to that.
Let’s look down in Chapter 13 (I promise you that I won’t be
long). Let’s start at verse 10 when Lot and Abram split up. I want you all to
see this.
Verses 10-13:
And
Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well
watered everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the
garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar. Then Lot
chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they
separated from each other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in
the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. But
the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord.
I want
to stop here for a minute. As you are walking with the Lord, don’t think that
everything that looks good is what is supposed to be in your life. Pray, get
alone with God, fast, before making a hasty decision. Leaders carefully count
the cost and discern before making decisions that could have an impact that’s
either good or bad. Lot lifted his eyes and saw that the land was well watered.
And he went for it. Now Abram gave Lot the first choice. That is what you call
serving – giving other people a voice. That’s what good leaders do. But I also
want to bring out here is the power of choice. We live and die based on choices
we make.
Now
watch what God does after Lot leaves Abram (starting at verse 14):
And the
Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and
look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward;
for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. And
I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could
number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be
numbered. Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give
it to you.”
A godly
leader always gets alone to let God speak to Him because he knows that God is a
leader’s provision. It doesn’t get better than that. In fact, faithfulness to
God always brings promotion. Think about it, Abram left his country, and always
trusted God as his provider and God elevated Abram – which you’ll find as you
read on in Genesis.
But what
I wanted to show was that in order to discover that God is not a man that He
should lie, that He watches over His Word to perform it; He will fulfill every
promise to us, we have to take that step of faith to Him and allow Him to
direct our paths and be obedient to Him no matter the cost. That’s how you can
be a leader after God’s heart and get this: in the Bible, when Abraham, Isaac
& Jacob passed away, you’ll find that people always made reference to the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac or the God of Jacob. They’ll remember you and
want to serve the God that you serve.
Blessings.
The
Mayne Man
