You Are a Leader, Act Like One!

I was in a leaders class last night at my church and my friend who lead the class was talking about "fear" and how detrimental it can be in our walk with the Lord. There was a story that came up out of the Old Testament that piqued my interest and I thought I would write about this morning. It's found in the Book of Numbers, and is the story of Moses sending the twelve spies into the promised land to see what all it held for them.

You remember the story, the twelve went into the land and saw everything there, and came back and told Moses, Aaron and all the congregation of people what it was like. They told of all the greatness of the country, of how it truly was a place that flowed with milk and honey, but in the same breath they began also to talk about how the people and the cities were. They said things like, we saw giants there, and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight and so we were to them as well.

It was at this point that Caleb interrupted and called for everyone to be quiet. He said, "Let us go up and take the land now! We can do it!" (Numbers 13:30) But the damage was done. The people had already heard the evil report and believed it. I'm sure you know the rest of the story, how it took the Children of Israel forty years walking around in the desert and waiting, until they finally were able to go into the land and possess it.

The thing that I found really interesting and the point that I'm really wanting to bring out this morning is who the twelve spies were. In Numbers 13:1-2 MSG it says, God spoke to Moses: "Send men to scout out the country of Canaan that I am giving to the People of Israel. Send one man from each ancestral tribe, each one a tried-and-true leader in the the tribe." These twelve men were not just guys pulled at random from the tribes, they were tried-and true leaders. These were men who had proven themselves to be able to lead, and they held sway over people in their tribes.

Now you may be saying, but Dave I'm not a leader, I'm just a follower. Well to that I say, that's not entirely true. Each and every one of us has a sphere of influence, a group of people that we hold sway over. It could be at work, among friends, or maybe you as a parent to your children, we all lead somewhere in this life. And with that influence, we are leading others even if only by example. It has been said that all of us have people who are watching us, to see how we respond to the circumstances of life, and that is true, we all do. It is those people that we are leading, even if they don't know it.

These stories in the Bible are given for our example of what to do, and what not to do. Those ten leaders, those tried-and-true men who were appointed to go in and spy out the land by Moses used their influence and in doing so, kept the Children of Israel out of the inheritance that was promised to them by God. What about us, are our actions causing others to not experience all that God has for them? How do we handle the situations of life? What are our actions saying to those who are watching us, those that we are leading by our own actions and words? When you look at it this way, it kind of makes you re-think your actions and what you are saying doesn't it?

So what kind of leader have you been? Have you led like the ten spies who brought back an evil report, or are you like Joshua and Caleb? This is an answer that only you and the Lord will know, I would encourage you to take some time today and ask the Father about this. And if you find, like I often have, that you are leading like the ten spies, then make a correction, change your words and see your world change too. Get 'em up folks, let's go out and whip something for the Kingdom today!