Would you like to be a leader one day?

Whether it’s part of our job, pastoring a church, mentoring someone younger or less experienced, or taking the lead in a group project, at some point we might feel God calling us to step up to leadership. Today, let’s think about some of the qualities that make a good leader so we can pray and build on them for the future.

Moses is a biblical example of a good leader.

1) He understood the importance of planning. He spent forty days praying and fasting on a mountain, refusing to leave until he understood what God wanted him to do. Then he came back and shared it with the people so they could get a glimpse of the vision.

2) He was patient. The Israelites spent a lot of their time in the desert complaining and grumbling about their situation, the food, and Moses himself. But instead of getting angry with them, Moses was patient with them, and talked to God about their complaints. (He wasn’t perfect though – after they complained about a lack of water, in frustration he called them ‘rebels’ and disobeyed God’s command to speak to the rock (see Numbers 20:2-12))

3) He turned to God for wisdom. There are many times in the Old Testament that tell of Moses taking a concern or a problem to God and turning to Him when help was needed. And God shared His wisdom with Moses and gave him solutions.

4) He was humble. We know this from Numbers 12:3: ‘Moses was very humble – more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth’ (NLT). He knew his own strength alone wasn’t enough for the calling God had for him, so he leaned on God’s strength and stayed close to Him.

What Now?

Do some research into some of the leaders in the Bible. What attributes and qualities did they have that you would also like to develop? Did any of them have characteristics that you know you need to avoid or work on overcoming?