Leadership development is vital to the Fulfilment of destiny.

10 Feb Leadership development is vital to the Fulfilment of destiny.

When God’s purposes are fulfilled in our lives and we end up becoming all He had in mind for us to become, we are said to have fulfilled the destiny He had for us. This involves our development in various aspects of our lives, including our character , (in becoming more like Christ), our knowledge of who God is and His plans and purposes for our lives, our knowledge of who we have become in Christ and what potential has been invested in us.

Destiny has to do with, 1. Maximising the potential God invested in you. 2. It is living a life that fulfils the purposes for which you were put on earth. It demands discovery, development and deployment of potential.
It involves process wherein you are being built up to fulfil the end result God had for you. God created us with loads of potential. Laziness, ignorance and carelessness can be avenues through which potential can be lost and destiny forfeited. God’s word reveals the potential He put in us at creation.

Genesis 1:26-28 (NKJV)
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Proper spiritual Foundation, affects our attitudes, relationships, personal development, and warfare.
Foundations should be laid for every aspect of life.
Correct foundations should be laid on the word of God’s grace.

Matthew 7:24-27 (NKJV)

Build on the Rock
(Luke 6:47–49)
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

We hear the sayings but what has registered in our minds from our nurture, culture and nature can prevent us from being built on the word of God.

To be built on the rock is what enables the house to stand the rain, the floods and the winds. Surely they will come. Trials, tests, misunderstandings and other things that can break down whatever is being built. Building on sand is building on human nature, human thoughts and the flesh.
To build on the Rock implies a commitment to doing the Word of God. Doing the word can be contrary to our feelings, or thoughts, or what is convenient. That’s why many are not built on the word of God.

Our Identity: your spiritual identity should be built on the word. Every aspect of our lives should be built on the word including our personal plans and purposes including Marriage should be built on the word.

Spiritual Identity starts with one level of knowledge but doesn’t end there. The need to keep building on the new insights one gets in the word is essential.

2 Corinthians 5:14-21 (NKJV)
14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Romans 8:28-30 (NKJV)
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

Mark 16:15-18 (NKJV)
15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Marriage foundation should be on the word.

Ephesians 5:20-33 (NKJV)
20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.
Marriage—Christ and the Church
(cf. Col. 3:18, 19)
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Our financial future should be built on the word of God.

2 Corinthians 8:9 (NKJV)
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.

The foundation upon which you are built will and should determine your thoughts, lifestyle and expectations in life. Knowing God as your source is one fundamental issue when it comes to provisions. Your job or business is an avenue through which provision comes but God should remain your source.

Like any other provision by the finished work of Calvary, we need to not only believe, receive and appropriate but get built upon the word and cultivate a lifestyle of obedience, alignment and commitment.

Attitudes of humility, diligence and sacrifice.

Humility implies teachable ness. God has so much to show , teach and enlighten us to but our disposition towards knowledge acquired can stop the process. Knowledge puffs up.
Diligence implies going the second mile, doing what ought to be done not just what is required of us.
Sacrifice implies that if we are going to pass our tests, sacrifices are involved. There are tests to pass for advancement in the journey to destiny to continue. How we interpret the circumstances in our lives will determine whether we understand our tests or not. Anything that will justify disobedience to God is a test failed.

Usually our attitudes are silently informed by our disposition to our circumstances in life. Through our nature nurture and culture, we develop certain dispositions, depending on what has informed our disposition borne out of our interpretation of the things we have been through or we are going through right then.

(If Joseph had interpreted his experiences in life as God has deserted him, abandoning him to failure and suffering, he will not have had the attitude that we read about in the bible. )

1 Peter 5:5-10 (NKJV)

Submit to God, Resist the Devil
5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for
“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

Joseph’s life exemplifies these attitudes.

Genesis 37:14-17 (NKJV)
14 Then he said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem.
15 Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?”
16 So he said, “I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.”
17 And the man said, “They have departed from here, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.
Joseph was diligent in obeying his father’s instructions. He could have come back home saying “I didn’t see them where you said they were”.
When David faced Goliath and said the Lord delivered him from the lion and the bear, what we don’t see is that diligence and fearlessness were involved in going after a lion to deliver a sheep. Going home to tell daddy would have been quite good, given the lion could kill him as well. David went beyond what was required of him. He now could use these experiences as a basis for his expectations from God.

1 Samuel 17:17-18 (NKJV)
17 Then Jesse said to his son David, “Take now for your brothers an ephah of this dried grain and these ten loaves, and run to your brothers at the camp. 18 And carry these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and see how your brothers fare, and bring back news of them.”

1 Samuel 17:32-37 (NKJV)
32 Then David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
33 And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”
34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, 35 I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 Moreover David said, “The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
And Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you!”

Joseph maintained a relationship of honour and obedience to his father, same with David, son of Jesse. See what level of sacrifices they were willing to make to fulfil God’s will in their lives. David knew he could be killed, Joseph’s sacrifices were observable when we see how he related to his new slave master, without losing his sense of identity, values and personal dignity.

Relationships are involved in the process, the tests and the outcomes of destinies. The first relationship should be with God himself. People God puts around us can be beneficiaries of what potential we carry.

Joseph’s life is and example.
Joseph related to the father, his brothers, then through being sold as slave his master, other slaves and his master’s wife.

Genesis 39:2-6 (NKJV)
2 The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. 3 And his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made all he did to prosper in his hand. 4 So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority. 5 So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the LORD was on all that he had in the house and in the field. 6 Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate.
Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.

Genesis 39:7-12 (NKJV)
7 And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.”
8 But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. 9 There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”
10 So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her.
11 But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, 12 that she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside.

1 Samuel 17:26-27 (NKJV)
26 Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
27 And the people answered him in this manner, saying, “So shall it be done for the man who kills him.”

Personal development is the goal involved in Process.

Process is what you go through when you come to terms with your values, the deposits made in you and what needs to confronted, uprooted as well crucified. Then what needs to be built into you for strength and focus to fulfil destiny. Through study you gain knowledge. Through applications you gain experience. Combining both you gain personal growth or development.
Leadership development, personal development of your personal life habits leading you to live an excellent life based of quality values based on God’s kingdom. Values of integrity, transparency, accountability, the habits of effective use of time, quality engagement of the mind for intelligent reasoning. Topics like goal setting, time management and cultivating a progressive mindset. How to plan your life around the work you need to do, then training yourself in the area of your gifts is vital to your fulfilling destiny. Talking , coaching, mentoring, training others for their potential to be developed are all part of the process you go through to fulfil destiny.

Luke 2:51-52 (NKJV)
Jesus Advances in Wisdom and Favor
51 Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

Joseph must have developed his leadership potential when he served as a slave, prisoner and by the time he was under Pharaoh his leadership skills had been developed.