Leadership requires choices to be made, and it is important that we make the right ones.

This means we must also make sure that we choose our mentors well.

1 Kings 12:28 portrays a king who chose the wrong mentors.

Don’t be like king Rehoboam who chose to listen to his foolish friends, who were likeminded instead of the wise elders at his disposal.

He paid the consequences for his sins and his life was cut short, a pattern that is seen with most kings that did not obey God.

Brethren do not let this be you.

Great leaders set up their successors for success.’

As believers we shouldn’t be pursuing to bring others down in order to pull ourselves up.

It’s God’s promise to elevate you, therefore be still and do not cheat your way through the process else God will take you out of it, and if God takes you out of it then you risk missing out on your own blessing.

Use what the Lord has placed inside of you to encourage and edify others so that the baton of ministry and leadership can easily be passed on to generations and the kingdom of The Lord shall continually be established here on earth.

There is no point in being the greatest man or woman of God on earth if there is no one to continue once you are gone, from where you left of and this is evident throughout the bible.

In the bible before there were kings there were judges and before judges there were chiefs.

The most honourable king we are most familiar with is king David.

From the book of Samuel to the book of Chronicles we are presented with a man after God’s own heart.

He was a true worshipper and an example of sincere repentance.

King David represents all children of God, in the sense that we are all not perfect, but it is never to late for us to turn our lives around and run back to the Lord.

Before king David died he had a mandate that he needed to fulfil.

He needed to build a house for the Lord to dwell in, but he could not do so and therefore he ensured that before he died, he passed on this responsibility to his son Solomon.

Now David could’ve said, “if I cannot build a house for The Lord then no one else will, after all I’m anointed, I’m a man after God’s own heart and therefore that legacy must remain on my head and no one else’s”, but he did not.

King David demonstrated his love and dedication to the Lord right up until his death, and he ensured that he gave his son full instruction on what to do when he died.

Brethren, king David left a legacy and king Solomon fulfilled it.

Now let’s reflect and think about all the great men and women of God that we know of that have lived after biblical times, can we confidently say that all have left a legacy for others to continue the work of God?

If the answer is yes then we should be seeing more of the demonstration of God’s power in the modern day.

This is why it is vital that we mentor others, that we lead, empower, and guide others throughout our mandate of leadership on earth.

Now, although passing on the baton of leadership is a great thing it does not mean that the baton may be passed on perfectly all the time.

Some may miss the baton, some may be too quick to even hold on to the baton and some may not be focused enough to hold on to the baton, and eventually drop it.

King David passed on the baton of leadership to king Solomon who started of well and he fulfilled what his father had instructed him to do, but he later turned away from The Lord and that was it the baton of leadership was dropped, and it took many turns and tries to pick that baton right back up again.

Many kings after king Solomon turned away from the Lord, there were very few kings that faithfully served God and even though they faced many consequences for their sins they continued to backslide.

I’ve read the Kings quite a few times and each time I read it I’m like, but why would you do that, why would you to continue to disobey God, don’t you know what the consequences were of the kings that failed God before you, and the rewards of the kings that diligently sought the Lord?

I ask myself why but then I realise that we are no different, the only difference we have now is the divine grace and the great mercy of God.

They were human just like us, but it’s still sad because many leaders in the kingdom of God replicate the attitudes of these kings, and pride has most certainly creeped into the church today.

I want you to know however, that when you faithfully serve the Lord in Spirit and in Truth, then no matter what someone will follow and continue from where you left of, in order to complete the work of God.

It may happen instantly or it make happen over a long period of time, but be rest assured that the work you have carried out for The Lord shall surely not be in vain.

God will use whom ever He pleases to carry out His will, God is not a respecter of persons, of anointing(ask king Saul), or even of age.

God can even use an 8 year old boy to lead a nation and fulfil his will.

In 2 Kings 22 we are introduced to the young king Josiah, who also happened to be a good king in Israel.

He is an example of a young man of God who picked up the baton of leadership from where king David had started.

He did not build the house of The Lord, but he most certainly did restore it.

There were few kings that had faithfully served the Lord before him, but they failed to do one thing and this one thing is what continued to be a hindrance to Israel’s complete surrender to The Lord.

These kings failed to remove all the high places.

Do you know that famous song by Darlene Zschech, Victor’s Crown?

The lyrics says; ‘Every high thing must come down and every strongholds shall be broken!

You wear the victor’s crown.

You have overcome, you have overcome!’

If you catch the revelation of how detrimental it is to allow the high places to remain, then you will understand that high places are the cause of strongholds and curses that remain in the foundations of generations.

If they are not uprooted and dealt with then the generations to follow will suffer the consequences of the actions of bad leaders and forefathers before them, and it’s all because the high places were not removed.

It doesn’t even matter how innocent you think you are are, or how much of a good life you think you are living, it must be dealt with in order for you and your generations after you to move forward and this is what king Josiah realised, this is why he is referred to as the last good king.

He did what many kings could not do before or after him, he restored the heart of worship and he mercilessly removed all that profaned the Name of The Lord.

It’s what brother John the Baptist teaches us in Matthew 11:12 he said that ‘From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.’

The only way to deal with satan is to violently remove all that he has placed to profane the Word of The Lord.

Gideon, the man who saw himself as least amongst his clan also caught this revelation that in order to move forward he first had to remove the idols of his father, and though it was difficult he did it(Judges 6:25), it’s just a shame that he eventually fell into the trap of worshipping the same idols that his father once did.(Judges 8:22-Judges 9:57).

This is why we must set a good foundation for our children.

Due to the many sins of Israel, their continuous disobedience and backsliding, they later ended up in exile in Babylon.

It’s due to their sins that the house of The Lord was destroyed, but in 2 Kings chapter 18-25 king Hezekiah picked up the baton of good leadership again, starting from king David, reaching king Josiah and eventually reaching into the hand of king Hezekiah, the temple of The Lord was rebuilt and restored and again the high places were taken down.

King Hezekiah led the people by example, he interceded and he prayed, which The Lord heard and answered as prophesied by the great prophet Isaiah.

So throughout the generations there have been many batons of leadership that have been passed through many, but there is one baton by king of all leaders, by a king of all Kings that has never failed, and that baton forever remains in the Hand of King Jesus and it is entrusted to and passed into the hands of the sons of God.

Jesus is our greatest example of what a great leader is!

He invested His time, His prayer, His wisdom and His love into His disciples, into us His followers!

Jesus demonstrated power and his followers replicated it also.

I have previous posts on Jesus and the power of His leadership in my previous blog post called DaFruits of The Garments of Ministry.

Remember that we are one body in Christ Jesus, with different members as the bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:12, functioning differently, leading uniquely but connected and led by the One and only, Jesus Christ.

Our leading is not for selfish gain but it’s to glorify the Name of The Lord, to fulfil His perfect will here on earth and to draw many to the Light of His Word.

Brethren, we are in the Christmas season and myself as well as many others I’m sure are guilty of overspending on gifts, but I want us to remember four things;

‘The most valuable gift we as believers can give to others is a good example.’

‘Outward reform begins with inward renewal.’

Good leadership does not exist without humility.

“Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.”

I Thessalonians 5:11♥️🙏