_{Editor’s Note:
Today, we are publishing our first guest post on The Ministry of the Word.
Rev. Tokunbo Adejuwon writes about Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and the danger of insecurity in leadership. This fits the heart of our “Leadership the Bible Way” series. Scripture does not record the lives of leaders to entertain us. It records them for our learning.
Jeroboam received a kingdom by the judgement of God. Yet he tried to secure by sin what God had given by grace.
Read carefully. There is a warning here for every leader.}

Jeroboam received a kingdom by the judgement of God. Yet he tried to secure by compromise what God had given by grace.

Romans 15:4 (KJV)
4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Jeroboam the son of Nebat is quite an interesting person. His insecurity ruined him.

Solomon married 700 wives and had 300 concubines. He multiplied wives to himself which is something an Israelite king wasn’t to do.

Deuteronomy 17:17 (KJV)
17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

But he didn’t just stop there, he married strange women who turned his heart away from God, another thing a Jew wasn’t to do.

1 Kings 11:4 (KJV)
4 For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.

Despite the fact that God appeared to him twice, Solomon due to the influence of these women began to follow idols and as a result, God’s judgement came on him that the kingdom would be taken from his son and split with his servant.

1 Kings 11:11 (KJV)
11 Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.

Why didn’t Solomon repent when he heard this? Instead, he sought to kill Jeroboam who fled for his life.

1 Kings 11:40 (KJV)
40 Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam. And Jeroboam arose, and fled into Egypt, unto Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

10 tribes were later taken from Rehoboam, Solomon’s son and given to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

Isn’t it interesting that Jeroboam too began doing the same thing, idolatry even on a higher level in a bid to keep the people loyal to him and not return to Rehoboam. How foolish!

1 Kings 12:28 (KJV)
28 Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

There was a sin that made Solomon’s son lose the kingdom and gave Jeroboam the opportunity to receive the kingdom. That same sin was the sin that Jeroboam embraced eagerly.

This just makes one to wonder. God gave it to him. Wasn’t it serving that same God and obeying Him that would cause him to keep it?

But Jeroboam’s insecurity drove him to foolishness.

1 Kings 12:26-27 (KJV)
26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David:
27 If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.

Now, it’s easy to condemn Jeroboam’s actions and attitude. But don’t we sometimes do the same thing and fall for the same lie of the devil?

Let’s learn from Jeroboam. It’s God Who maintains our lot.

Psalm 16:5 (KJV)
5 The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.

Our security and sense of worth and importance and value is in Christ. And it’s in serving and obeying God that we find maximum fulfilment and satisfaction.

Jeroboam the son of Nebat later became a reference point for evil in Israel and Judah among the kings that later reigned. How pathetic!

God maintains our lot! And we need to be utterly sold out to obeying Him with our whole heart.

It doesn’t cost to serve God, it pays!

^{About the Author:}

^{Rev. Tokunbo Adejuwon graduated from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. He also graduated from Rhema Bible Training Centre as well as Rhema Correspondence Bible School.
He was ordained by Pastor & Mrs. Kenneth W. Hagin and is credentialed with Rhema Ministerial Association International, USA.
He additionally successfully completed the Senior Management Programme of Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, Nigeria.
He currently serves in Rhema Bible Training Centre, Nigeria as the National Director, with campuses in Abuja (National Headquarters), Port Harcourt, Kaduna (English & Hausa campuses), Nasarawa, Ikeja Lagos, Lagos Island, Enugu, University of Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife and University of Ilorin.
He has been in the ministry for 40 years. He has helped pioneer works, pastored, served in administrative roles and now itinerates both nationally and internationally.
He preaches and teaches God’s Word with passionate fervor especially on the subjects of faith and healing. He’s also very strong on following and flowing with the Holy Spirit.
Brother Toks, as he is fondly called is happily married to Dr. Akunna and they have 3 lovely children. They are based in Abuja, Nigeria.}

This is not empty religious language. It is identity language. It tells you who you are now because of Christ.

Many believers know they are forgiven. Many know they are saved. Many know they have eternal life. But many have not stopped to think carefully about what it means to belong to God as His child, and to stand before Him as His son.

The New Testament does not present salvation merely as the cancellation of guilt. It presents salvation as birth, relationship, and family placement. God did not simply pardon you. He brought you into His family.

That changes how you read the Bible, how you pray, how you approach God, and how you see yourself.

You Became God’s Child by Birth

You did not become God’s child by church attendance. You did not become God’s child by self-improvement. You did not become God’s child by religious effort. You became God’s child by being born of God.

John 1 (KJ2000)
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

That verse settles the matter. This identity does not come from natural descent. It does not come from human decision. It does not come from fleshly effort. It comes from God.

This is why the New Testament speaks so often about being born again, born of the Spirit, and born of God. Christianity begins with birth. Conduct matters, but conduct flows from identity. You do not act like God’s child in order to become one. You act like God’s child because you already are one.

John writes with amazement about this truth.

1 John 3 (KJ2000)
1 Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not.

This is one of the great wonders of redemption. The Father has bestowed love on us in such a way that we are called the sons of God. This is not exaggeration. This is not merely sentiment. This is present reality.

Child Speaks of Life and Relationship

When the New Testament calls you a child of God, it points to life, origin, and relationship.

God is now your Father. You belong to Him. You are in His family. You are not an outsider trying to gain access. You are not a stranger trying to earn acceptance. You are family.

This matters because many believers still approach God as though they were servants on probation. They think of Him as distant. They think prayer is an attempt to persuade a reluctant God. But the language of the New Testament is much warmer and much stronger than that.

Romans 8 (KJ2000)
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

This is family language. This is the language of closeness. The believer does not stand before God in bondage and fear. The believer comes before God as one who knows Him as Father.

This does not make us casual or irreverent. It makes us secure. A believer who knows he is a child of God does not run from God in shame every time he misses it. He runs to God. He repents, yes. He receives correction, yes. But he does so as a child coming to a Father.

Son Speaks of Standing and Inheritance

In the New Testament, the word son often carries the idea of recognised standing, legal placement, and inheritance. When Scripture says you are a son of God, it is speaking about more than affection. It is speaking about your place in the family.

This is important, because sonship in the New Testament is not about gender. It is about status in Christ. Every believer, male or female, has received this standing.

Galatians 3 (KJ2000)
26 For ye are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

That is plain and direct. You are a son of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Then Paul goes further and explains how this happened.

Galatians 4 (KJ2000)
4 But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
6 And because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
7 Therefore thou art no more a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

That is one of the strongest sonship passages in the New Testament.

Notice the flow. Christ came. Christ redeemed. We received the adoption of sons. The Spirit of His Son now lives in our hearts. We are no longer slaves, but sons. And if sons, then heirs.

The gospel does not merely rescue you from something. It brings you into something. It brings you into sonship.

Adoption Means Full Placement

When modern readers hear the word adoption, they sometimes think only in emotional terms. But Paul is speaking about placement with full rights.

God did not bring you halfway into His house. He did not save you and then keep you at a distance. He did not receive you as a tolerated outsider. He gave you full family standing in Christ.

That is why Romans 8 says what it says.

Romans 8 (KJ2000)
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

This passage uses both ideas, children and sons. That is not accidental.

Children speaks of birth and relationship. Sons speaks of standing and inheritance.

And both are true of the believer.

You are born of God, so you are His child. You have received the adoption of sons, so you stand before Him with the rights of sonship.

Sonship Changes How You Live

This truth is not meant to sit in your notebook as doctrine only. It is meant to shape daily Christian living.

A person who knows he is a child of God will pray differently. He will not beg like a stranger. He will approach God with reverence and confidence.

A person who knows he is a son of God will think differently. He will not see himself as abandoned, unwanted, or spiritually homeless. He knows where he belongs.

A person who knows he is a child and son of God will also live differently. He knows he bears the family likeness. He knows the Spirit leads him. He knows holiness is not an attempt to qualify for the family, but the outworking of life in the family.

This is why Romans 8:14 links sonship with being led by the Spirit.

Romans 8 (KJ2000)
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Sons resemble their Father. Sons are responsive to His Spirit. Sons do not define themselves by the flesh, by fear, or by their old life.

Sonship Also Changes How You See Other Believers

If God is your Father, then other believers are not just fellow church attendees. They are your brothers and sisters.

This means pride has no place. Ethnic arrogance has no place. Class superiority has no place. Bitterness and contempt have no place. We have one Father. We came in by one Christ. We were born of one Spirit.

The family of God is not built on natural background, education, ethnicity, class, or social status. It is built on the new birth.

Do Not Think Like a Slave Again

This is one of Paul’s main burdens in Galatians 4. He wants believers to stop thinking like slaves when God has made them sons.

A slave fears dismissal. A son knows he belongs.

A slave serves to gain acceptance. A son serves because he is accepted.

A slave thinks only of labour. A son thinks in terms of relationship, purpose, and inheritance.

This is why the New Testament keeps pressing us to see what Christ has done. The work of Christ did not merely improve your position. It changed your identity.

You are not merely a forgiven sinner trying to stay afloat. You are a child of God. You are a son of God.

Live in the Strength of this Identity

When guilt speaks, answer with sonship.

When fear speaks, answer with sonship.

When inferiority speaks, answer with sonship.

When religion tries to push you back into bondage, answer with sonship.

God is your Father. You are His child. You are His son in Christ. You belong in His presence. You have received His Spirit. You are an heir of God through Christ.

This is not a minor detail of the gospel. This is one of the ways the New Testament teaches you to understand yourself as a new creation.

You are a child and son of God.

And when that truth settles in your heart, you will stop living like a spiritual orphan.

Continue in grace!

Shortly after David’s death, his son Adonijah made what looked like a simple request. He went to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, and asked her to speak to the king on his behalf. His words were polite, even humble: “Speak, I pray thee, unto Solomon the king, (for he will not say thee nay,) that he give me Abishag the Shunammite to wife” (1 Kings 2:17).

At first glance, nothing seems sinister. A man desires a woman in marriage. What could be wrong with that? But Solomon immediately exploded: “Why dost thou ask Abishag for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also!” (1 Kings 2:22). In that moment, Solomon saw what others missed: Adonijah’s request was not about romance—it was about power.

The Hidden Agenda Behind the Request

In the ancient Near East, to take a deceased king’s wives or concubines was a direct claim to the throne. This was common knowledge in Israel’s history:

• When Abner took Saul’s concubine Rizpah, Ish-bosheth accused him of trying to usurp the throne (2 Samuel 3:7).

• When Absalom staged his rebellion against David, Ahithophel advised him to sleep with his father’s concubines publicly, and he did so on the palace rooftop (2 Samuel 16:21–22). It was a bold statement: “I am the king now.”

By asking for Abishag, Adonijah was sending the same signal. Everyone in Israel knew she had belonged to the royal household. Whoever married her would be seen as laying claim to the royal line. Solomon was right to say: “Ask for him the kingdom also!”

And we must remember: Adonijah already had a track record. Earlier, while David was still alive, he had tried to crown himself king (1 Kings 1:5–10). He gathered Joab, Abiathar the priest, and a company of supporters, but his coup collapsed when David swiftly anointed Solomon. Solomon had spared his life once. This was not the act of a repentant man. This was his second attempt, wrapped in the disguise of marriage.

Solomon Refused to Appease a Rebel

Some leaders, faced with such a request, would have tried appeasement. They might have said, “Let me give him Abishag so he feels included. It will keep him quiet.” Others might have tried to pacify Adonijah with a new post or a ceremonial title. Many leaders think rebels can be managed with positions, honours, or recognition.

But Solomon knew better. He saw that to give Abishag to Adonijah was not to pacify him, but to empower him. It would have been interpreted across the kingdom as an endorsement of Adonijah’s claim. It would have shaken the confidence of those who had stood by Solomon in his coronation. It would have taught the nation that rebellion, not loyalty, brings reward.

Solomon made a hard decision, but the right one: he ordered Adonijah’s execution. “King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah have not spoken this word against his own life. Now therefore, as the Lord liveth, which hath established me… Adonijah shall be put to death this day” (1 Kings 2:23–24).

The Mistake of Celebrating Rebels

Even today, some leaders fall into the trap Solomon avoided. They celebrate rebels publicly—sending birthday greetings, giving them seats of honour, calling their names from the pulpit—all in the hope that such recognition will win them over. But what does this communicate?

It tells the loyal ones that loyalty is invisible. It tells the faithful that their faithfulness will not be honoured. And worst of all, it trains the rest of the followers that the only way to be noticed is to be rebellious. Leaders who celebrate rebels end up reproducing rebellion.

Solomon took the opposite approach. He rewarded those who had stood with him—Zadok the priest, Benaiah the general, Nathan the prophet. He promoted the loyal, and he removed the rebellious. That is why Scripture says his throne was established (1 Kings 2:45).

Stop Training Your Team to Whine

Imagine you have twins. One is naturally quiet, the other always whining. Very soon, the quiet one learns a terrible lesson: you get what you want by whining. Parents who reward tantrums don’t just reinforce one child’s behaviour—they discipline the other child into resentment and catechise the whole house in manipulation.

Leaders do this too. Publicly pacify the loud rebel, and the loyal learn the code: make noise to be noticed. That’s how churches, teams, and ministries drift from faithfulness → performance → protest culture.

What to do instead:

• Reward quiet faithfulness publicly. Give the microphone to the loyal, not the loud.

• Confront manipulation privately and promptly. Mercy without boundaries is fertiliser for rebellion.

• Tie recognition to fruit, not volume. Celebrate outcomes, character, and service—not theatrics.

• Make your policy visible. “In this house, loyalty is honoured; manipulation is corrected.”

• Close the loop. When you correct a rebel, also affirm the faithful so the signal is clear.

This was Solomon’s wisdom: he refused to appease Adonijah and established his throne (1 Kings 2:22–24,45). What you celebrate, you reproduce. Don’t train your team to whine. Train them to serve, build, and stay loyal.

Leadership Lessons for Today

1. See Through Innocent Requests. Not every request is what it seems. Leaders must discern when a proposal is a veiled power grab. Appeasement is dangerous when it legitimises rebellion.

2. Do Not Reward Rebellion. What you celebrate, you reproduce. Honour loyalty, not disloyalty. If you ignore the faithful and elevate the rebellious, you will soon find yourself surrounded by more rebels than loyalists.

3. Mercy Without Wisdom Is Folly. Solomon had spared Adonijah once, but when he proved unrepentant, Solomon did not repeat the mistake. David often spared Joab and Shimei, but they remained thorns in his side. Leaders must know when mercy preserves peace, and when mercy empowers rebellion.

4. Protect the Throne, Not Just Your Feelings. Leadership is not only about being nice or avoiding conflict. Sometimes the survival of the organisation depends on drawing hard lines. To permit a rebel to retain influence may look kind in the short term, but it is cruelty to everyone else in the long term.

Conclusion

Adonijah’s request for Abishag was not a love story—it was a coup in disguise. Solomon’s refusal to appease him is one of the clearest lessons in leadership from Scripture. Leaders today must learn the same wisdom: do not reward rebellion, do not ignore loyalty, and do not confuse appeasement with peace.

If you want to establish your throne—whether in ministry, business, or any organisation—let your people know that loyalty will always be honoured, and rebellion will never be rewarded. That was Solomon’s wisdom. And it is still true wisdom today.

Continue in grace!

In 1 Kings 3:16–28, two women stood before Solomon. One living child. One dead child. No witnesses. No evidence. Only conflicting claims.

Each woman insisted the living child belonged to her.

Solomon listened. Then he gave a command that shocked everyone. Bring a sword. Divide the living child into two. Give half to each woman.

The room must have gone silent.

Then the true mother spoke. She cried out and said the child should be given to the other woman. She would rather lose her child than see him die.

That response settled the case.

Most people focus on Solomon’s wisdom. They should. But there is also a leadership lesson in the response of the true mother. Her reaction shows what leaders must do when holding on will destroy what they are meant to protect.

Sometimes, a leader must be willing to risk losing their role rather than let the organisation die.

She Chose Life Over Position

The child was her future. Her claim to the child was her position. In one moment, she chose the future over her position.

Many leaders face this same tension.

A founder refuses to step aside, even when the organisation has outgrown him. A pastor holds tightly to control, even when the ministry is weakening. A team leader blocks others from rising, even when the team is suffering.

The instinct is to protect position.

The true mother shows a different instinct. Protect life.

If the child dies, there is nothing left to claim.

If the organisation collapses, the title becomes meaningless.

A leader must learn to ask one question. What must live?

She Understood That Survival Comes First

Dead organisations do not fulfil vision.

Dead teams do not produce results.

Dead relationships do not support purpose.

The true mother saw clearly. A divided child is a dead child. A dead child solves nothing.

Leaders sometimes focus on being right. Others focus on being recognised. Some focus on winning arguments.

Strong leaders focus on survival first.

Keep the mission alive.
Keep the people intact.
Keep the work moving.

You can rebuild structure. You can retrain people. You can adjust strategy.

You cannot revive what you have killed through stubbornness.

She Was Willing to Lose to Preserve What Mattered

Her words carried real cost.

“Give her the living child.”

She was ready to walk away without recognition. Ready to be seen as the one who lost. Ready to carry that pain.

This is where many leaders fail.

They want outcomes without sacrifice.

They want influence without cost.

They want control without responsibility.

The true mother accepted loss to preserve life.

There are moments in leadership where you must:

• Step back so others can step forward.
• Release control so the system can grow.
• Yield your preference so unity can remain.
• Accept being misunderstood for a season.

These moments define your leadership.

Crisis Reveals What You Value

Solomon’s test did not create the truth. It revealed it.

The false mother said, “Let it be neither mine nor yours.” If she could not have the child, no one would.

That is a dangerous mindset in leadership.

If I cannot lead, let it fail.
If I am not in charge, let it collapse.
If things do not go my way, let everything scatter.

This mindset destroys organisations.

Crisis exposes it.

The true mother revealed something else. She valued life more than ownership.

Every leader should watch their response under pressure. Your reaction in crisis reveals what you truly care about.

Letting Go Is Not Weakness

It is easy to misread this story.

Letting go does not mean avoiding responsibility. It does not mean tolerating error. It does not mean stepping aside every time there is tension.

The true mother did not stop caring. She cared deeply.

That is why she was willing to let go.

There is a difference between conviction and ego.

Conviction protects what must live.
Ego protects what is yours.

A leader must learn to tell the difference.

If you are defending truth, stand firm.

If you are defending your position, pause and think again.

God Honours The Right Heart

Solomon saw through the situation immediately.

The woman who was willing to lose was the true mother.

Her surrender proved her claim.

This pattern runs through Scripture.

Abraham was willing to give up Isaac, and God confirmed the promise.
David refused to kill Saul and preserved his integrity as king.
John said, “He must increase, but I must decrease,” and secured his place in history.

Scripture says these things were written for our learning. They are not just stories. They are patterns.

When leaders choose life over position, God honours that choice.

Many Organisations Die Unnecessarily

Organisations do not always die because of external pressure.

Some die because leaders refuse to yield.

A ministry splits because someone will not listen.
A company folds because a founder will not adapt.
A team breaks because a leader will not share authority.

These are avoidable losses.

The child did not need to die.

But if both women had insisted, the sword would have fallen.

Many leaders push situations to that point.

They insist. They argue. They hold on.

Until what they were meant to protect is destroyed.

Practical Steps for Leaders

You do not wait for crisis to learn this lesson.

Build it into your leadership now.

• Train people who can function without you.
• Create systems that do not depend on your presence.
• Invite honest feedback, even when it is uncomfortable.
• Separate your identity from your role.
• Decide in advance that the mission matters more than your title.

These are not abstract ideas. They are daily decisions.

A Question Every Leader Must Answer

If keeping your position will destroy what you lead, what will you choose?

That is the question in 1 Kings 3.

The true mother answered clearly.

Let the child live.

That answer revealed her. It also restored the child to her.

Leadership the Bible Way is not about holding on. It is about knowing when to hold and when to release.

If you hold when you should release, you destroy what you lead.

If you release when it matters, you preserve the future.

The true mother teaches a simple lesson. The child must live.

If your leadership keeps the child alive, you are leading well.

If your leadership puts the child at risk, something must change.

And sometimes, what must change is you.

Continue in grace!

They know their sins are forgiven. They know Jesus died for them. They know they are going to heaven. But when it comes to daily life, they still think of themselves in old categories. They define themselves by their past, their family background, their failures, their weaknesses, or the habits they are still trying to overcome.

The New Testament does not do that.

It speaks about the believer in bold, present-tense terms. One of the clearest of those terms is this, you are a new creation.

You Are Not an Improved Old Man

2 Corinthians 5 (KJ2000)
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

That verse does not describe a future hope. It describes a present reality. Paul does not say the believer is trying to become new. He says that in Christ, the believer is a new creature.

This is one of the most important identity statements in the New Testament.

Many Christians think of the gospel mainly as pardon. Thank God, the gospel does include pardon. But it is more than pardon. God has not merely forgiven the believer, He has recreated him in Christ. The new birth is not God cleaning up the old man. It is God bringing forth a new man.

That is why identity matters so much.

If you think of yourself mainly as the old person who is trying to do better, you will struggle to live the Christian life with confidence. But if you begin to see yourself the way the New Testament sees you, your conduct starts to flow from a new centre.

The Christian life was never meant to be the old man trying to imitate Christ. It is meant to be the life of the new man expressed through a renewed mind and a yielded body.

The Old Man and the New Man

Paul says this very clearly.

Ephesians 4 (KJ2000)
22 That ye put off concerning the former manner of life the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Notice the language carefully. Paul speaks of the old man and the new man. He is showing a real contrast between what the believer once was in Adam and what the believer now is in Christ.

The old man is corrupt. The new man is created in righteousness and true holiness.

That is not a small statement. Paul is saying that righteousness and holiness are not just demands placed on the believer from outside. They belong to the very nature of the new man God has created in Christ.

This changes the way we think about Christian growth.

Too often, believers are told only to stop doing wrong things. That matters, of course. But the apostolic method goes deeper. The apostles keep reminding believers who they now are. Their conduct must come into line with their identity.

In other words, the answer is not simply, “Try harder.” The answer is, “See clearly who God has made you in Christ.”

Renewing the Mind

That is why the renewing of the mind is so important. Your spirit may already be recreated, but your thinking may still be trapped in old patterns. A believer can be genuinely born again and still think like the old man. He may still speak like the old man. He may still expect defeat like the old man. He may still define himself by old labels.

But the New Testament keeps calling him back to his real identity.

Colossians 3 (KJ2000)
9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10 And have put on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.

Again, Paul speaks in completed terms. Ye have put off the old man. Ye have put on the new man. He is not describing a distant goal. He is describing what has happened to the believer in Christ.

This is where many Christians miss it. They treat these verses as lofty spiritual ideas for especially mature saints. But Paul wrote them to ordinary believers. This is the common identity of every person who is in Christ.

You are not a special case outside the scope of these verses. If you are in Christ, this is who you are.

Old Things Are Passed Away

This truth gives the believer confidence.

Many believers live with a deep sense of inadequacy. They are always looking backwards. They are always measuring themselves by what they used to be. They are always bracing for failure because they still think the old identity is the truest one.

But 2 Corinthians 5:17 does not say old things are slowly fading. It says, old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

That means your past may explain some battles, but it no longer defines your identity.

Some believers still speak as though they are prisoners of their background.

“I will always struggle because of where I came from.”

“That is just how my family is.”

“That is simply my nature.”

The New Testament does not teach denial of natural facts. It teaches the supremacy of spiritual truth. In Christ, the deepest truth about you is not what sin did to you, not what people said about you, and not what your past formed in you. The deepest truth about you is what God has made you in Christ.

Holiness Flows from Identity

This truth also changes the way we understand holiness.

A believer should live holy, not because holiness is an impossible standard hanging over his head, but because holiness belongs to the life he has received in Christ.

Sin is inconsistent with who he now is.

Righteousness fits the new man. Holiness fits the new man. Love fits the new man. Truth fits the new man.

Ephesians 4 (KJ2000)
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

That means the believer is not trying to manufacture righteousness through human effort. He is learning to walk in line with the new life he has already received.

The New Creation Destroys Pride

The message of the new creation leaves no room for boasting.

If you are a new creation, then your standing before God is not the result of human effort, family pedigree, education, discipline, or natural morality. It is the result of what God has done in Christ.

No believer can boast in the flesh.

The new creation leaves room only for gratitude, humility, and confidence in Christ.

Live from Your New Identity

Christian maturity is not becoming somebody else. It is growing in the knowledge of who you already are in Christ. It is learning to walk in the light of what God has already done.

That is why believers must stop speaking of themselves carelessly.

Some say, “I am just a sinner.” But if you are in Christ, that is no longer your identity.

Some say, “This is just how I am.” But if that statement refers to the old life, it cannot be accepted as final.

The New Testament keeps calling the believer to think differently, speak differently, and live differently because he is different.

So, what should you do with this truth?

Believe it.

Say it.

Renew your mind with it.

Read the epistles with fresh eyes and ask, what do these verses say I now am because I am in Christ?

Then refuse every identity that competes with that truth.

Yes, your nationality matters. Your background matters. Your experiences matter. But none of those things sits at the centre of your identity. Christ does.

And in Him, you are a new creation.

Final Thoughts

The believer who understands this truth will pray differently. He will think differently. He will face temptation differently. He will read the Bible differently. He will walk with God differently.

He will no longer spend his life trying to become what God says he already is.

He will begin to live from that reality.

2 Corinthians 5 (KJ2000)
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

That is not merely doctrine.

That is your identity.

Continue in grace!

Acts 7 (KJV)
22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.

There is a painful irony in the story of Moses.

The man God would use to deliver Israel was first rejected by the very people he came to help.

Stephen tells us that Moses “supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not” (Acts 7:25). Moses thought the matter was clear. He assumed that his action against the Egyptian would be recognised for what it was, a sign that God had raised him to challenge oppression.

But Israel did not see a deliverer.

They saw a problem.

They saw a man who did not quite look like them, did not sound like them, and did not seem to come from where they came from. When Moses tried to intervene in a quarrel between two Hebrews, one of them thrust him away and said:

Acts 7
27 Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?

That question still lives with us.

Many people still reject the leaders they need because those leaders feel too different, too unfamiliar, too unusual, or too far removed from their own experience.

Moses Looked Too Egyptian

Moses was a Hebrew by birth, but he was raised in Pharaoh’s house. He had access to education, training, power, and culture that the average Israelite slave did not. Acts 7:22 says he was “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.”

That was an advantage.

But it was also a problem.

To the Israelites, Moses may have looked more Egyptian than Hebrew. He may have spoken differently. He may have carried himself differently. He may have seemed too polished, too exposed, too connected to the palace, too unlike the people in their miserable bondage.

That is often how leadership works.

The very things that prepare a person to lead can also make him look strange to the people he is called to lead.

A man who has seen beyond the limits of the group will often sound different from the group. A leader who has learnt what the people have not learnt will not speak like one who is still trapped by the same assumptions. A person who has access to rooms others have never entered may return with a bearing that feels foreign.

And people are often suspicious of what feels foreign.

Many do not mind oppression as much as they mind unfamiliarity. They can tolerate bondage they understand. They struggle with deliverance when it arrives in a form they do not recognise.

Bondage Damages Discernment

Israel’s problem was not only that they were oppressed by Egypt. Their problem was also that years of oppression had done something to them inside.

Bondage does not only afflict the back. It also affects the mind.

When people have lived too long under pressure, too long under fear, too long under humiliation, their judgement can become warped. They may begin to resent strength. They may distrust boldness. They may be uncomfortable with difference. They may even attack the very person sent to help them, simply because he does not fit the emotional shape of their pain.

This is what makes oppression so destructive. It does not only produce suffering. It also trains people to normalise suffering. It conditions them to distrust disruptive change.

So, when Moses acted, they did not all think, “Here is our deliverer.”

At least one man thought, “Here is a threat.”

That is why leadership is so often resisted, not because it is wrong, but because it disturbs the system people have learnt to survive in.

Leadership is Not Mere Resemblance

One of the great mistakes people make is to think that the best leader is simply the one most like them.

He talks like us.
He thinks like us.
He reacts like us.
He shares all our instincts.
He confirms all our assumptions.
He never makes us uncomfortable.

But if your leader only mirrors you, how will he lead you beyond where you are?

If a people are fearful, they need courage, not a larger version of their fear.
If a people are confused, they need clarity, not a more eloquent form of confusion.
If a people are compromised, they need conviction, not companionship in compromise.

Leadership is not given to a man so he can reflect the weakness of the people. Leadership is given to a man so he can confront it, challenge it, and lead the people out of it.

This is one reason leaders often seem “other”.

Joseph did not think like his brothers.
David did not think like Saul.
Elijah did not think like Ahab’s court.
Paul did not think like the Judaizers.
Jesus did not think like the religious establishment of His day.

Real leaders often carry something the people do not yet value. That is why they are resisted before they are recognised.

But difference alone is not enough

There is another side to this story.

Moses was called, but he moved before the people understood him. Acts 7:25 says, “he supposed his brethren would have understood.” That was his mistake.

He was right about the call, but wrong about their perception.

A leader may know he is sent by God and still misread the readiness of the people. Calling alone does not remove the need for timing. Divine assignment does not cancel process. It is possible to have a right burden and a wrong moment.

This is where many leaders fail.

They are right in principle, but weak in connection.

They have truth, but no trust.
They have authority, but no relationship.
They have vision, but no bridge into the hearts of the people.

That is why this quote is so important: “Rules without a relationship often lead to rebellion.”

People do not gladly submit to correction from someone who feels distant, cold, or inaccessible. They may obey for a while. They may comply outwardly. But resentment grows in the dark.

John Maxwell put it this way: “Leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand.” He called it the Law of Connection.

That does not mean leaders must flatter people. It does not mean they must avoid starting with hard truths. It means leadership is not only about being right. It is also about gaining the moral and relational ground from which your leadership can be received.

Moses had zeal. Later, he would also have weight, process, and proof.

Why People Resent “Otherness” in Leaders Today

This issue shows up everywhere.

A church may reject the pastor who insists on doctrine because people prefer charisma.
An organisation may resist the leader who demands structure because disorder has become normal.
A family may ignore the person telling the truth because he sounds too firm.
A nation may despise the reformer because he threatens networks of convenience.
A ministry may prefer a familiar insider, even when that insider has no capacity to lead it forward.

People often resent being led by someone they see as “other” because “other” feels unsafe.

He did not come up through our route.
She does not talk like us.
He is not part of our clique.
She has seen things we have not seen.
He asks questions we do not like.
She challenges habits we have excused.

But this is exactly the point.

The leader may be “other” because the future is “other”.

If God wants to take a people somewhere new, He may raise a leader who is not fully shaped by the limitations of the old environment.

The question we should ask is not, Is he exactly like us?

The question is, Has God given him what we lack?

A Final Warning

Of course, this truth can be abused. Not every unusual person is a leader. Not every outsider is a deliverer. Difference alone is not qualification.

Moses was not called because he was different. He was rejected in part because he was different. The difference was not the source of his authority. God was.

That matters.

We are not to follow men because they are exotic, educated, impressive, or different. We are to follow men whom God has shaped, sent, and equipped. But when such a man appears, his difference should not automatically count against him.

Sometimes the very quality that makes you suspicious of a leader is the quality that makes him useful.

Moses had seen Egypt from the inside. Israel had only seen it from below. That difference mattered.

The man who had learnt in Pharaoh’s court would one day confront Pharaoh’s throne.

So perhaps we should be slower to ask, “Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?” and quicker to ask whether God is sending help in a form our pride, pain, or prejudice does not easily welcome.

People sometimes reject the leaders they need because those leaders do not feel familiar enough, close enough, or safe enough.

But a leader is not sent to preserve a people in their weakness.

He is sent to lead them out of it.

Continue in grace!

They read it as instructions for the old man. They read it as a guide for self-improvement. They read it as if God is trying to fix Adam.

That approach will frustrate you.

The New Testament is not written to improve the old man. It is written to reveal the new man.

If you miss that, you will misread it. You will turn realities into goals. You will turn identity into effort. You will turn revelation into law.

You must read the New Testament as a new creation.

Start With What God Has Done

The apostles begin with what God has already done in Christ.

2 Corinthians 5 (KJ2000)
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
18 And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

This is your starting point.

You are not becoming new. You are new.

You are not repairing the old life. The old has passed. You now have a different life, from a different source.

Read every passage from that standpoint.

Read Instructions as Expression, Not Effort

Most believers read commands as pressure.

They see “walk in love” and think effort.
They see “forgive” and think struggle.
They see “put away lying” and think discipline.

But the apostles are not trying to create a new nature in you. They are calling you to express the one you already have.

Ephesians 4 (KJ2000)
23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24 And that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

The new man is already created in righteousness.

The instruction is simple. Live in line with who you are.

Do not read commands as a ladder. Read them as alignment.

Understand the New Birth

The new birth is real.

It is not a figure of speech. It is not behaviour change. It is not a fresh start for the old man.

It is a new life.

John 3 (KJ2000)
7 Marvel not that I said unto you, You must be born again.
8 The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound thereof, but can not tell from where it came, and where it goes: so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.

1 Peter 1 (KJ2000)
23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides forever.

You now have God’s incorruptible life.

When you read the New Testament, you are not trying to produce the life of God in you. You are learning how that life works.

Read the Letters as a Son

The epistles are written to believers.

They are written to saints. To brethren. To sons. To the church.

They are not written to outsiders trying to qualify.

Even correction is given from relationship.

Colossians 3 (KJ2000)
10 And have put on the new man, that is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him;
11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

You are being reminded. You are not being recruited.

Read as an insider, as one who belongs.

Let Identity Lead Conduct

The New Testament follows a clear order.

• What God has done in Christ

• Who you are because of it

• How you now live

If you reverse that order, you will struggle.

If you follow it, things will become clear.

You are light, so walk as light.
You are forgiven, so forgive.
You are risen, so seek things above.

Conduct flows from identity.

Renew Your Mind

Your spirit is new. Your thinking may not be.

That is the gap.

You can be a new creation and still think like the old man. That is why the apostles keep pointing you back to what God has done.

Renewal is not pretending. It is agreement.

Read the New Testament to adjust your thinking to your reality.

Ask one question as you read: what does this show me about who I am in Christ?

That question will change how you read everything.

See Christ as Your Life

The centre of the New Testament is not behaviour. It is Christ.

Not Christ outside you. Christ in you.

Colossians 1 (KJ2000)
26 Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

This is the key.

You are not trying to imitate Christ from a distance. You share His life.

So read the New Testament with that in mind.

Not as a sinner trying to qualify.
Not as Adam trying to improve.
Not as a servant trying to earn.

Read as a new creation.

Learn who you are.
Think in line with it.
Live from it.

Continue in grace!

The apostle Paul reminds us:

1 Corinthians 10 (KJ2000)
11 Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come.

In other words, the Bible does not tell us Haman’s story for history’s sake alone. It is written for our learning, that we might guard our own hearts and not repeat his mistakes.

Haman’s Rise to Power

Whatever his background, the defining moment of Haman’s life came when King Ahasuerus promoted him above all the other princes and placed him next to the throne (Esther 3:1). By royal decree, all the king’s servants were commanded to bow and give him honour.

This was no small privilege. Haman enjoyed wealth, honour, and authority on a scale few men ever taste. He had the ear of the king and the fear of the empire. But position and privilege did not bring peace. For all his power, Haman remained restless.

The Mordecai Problem

At the king’s gate sat a man named Mordecai, a Jew. Mordecai refused to bow to Haman. Scripture does not suggest that Mordecai was disrespectful or defiant — he simply could not offer to a man the reverence that belonged to God alone.

That small act was enough to enrage Haman.

Esther 3 (KJ2000)
5 And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor paid him homage, then was Haman full of wrath.

Here we are reminded of Paul’s words again:

Romans 15 (KJ2000)
4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Mordecai’s refusal and Haman’s response are not random details. They are lessons for us. They show how a leader can have everything yet count it all as nothing because of one person’s resistance.

The Danger of Obsession

Haman himself confessed this in tragic words: “Yet all this avails me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate” (Esther 5:13).

Think about that. Haman had honour, riches, power, and the favour of the king. But in his own eyes, it all meant nothing because one man refused to bow.

Share

This is the danger of obsession. Leaders fall into the same trap today. A pastor can have hundreds of members but lose sleep over the one family that leaves. A business owner can have hundreds of satisfied customers, but brood endlessly over the one who complains. A politician can have broad support but fixate on a single critic.

The danger is not the “Mordecai” in your life—it is the Haman-like spirit that cannot let go.

Hatred That Spilled Over

Haman’s anger quickly grew out of proportion. It was not enough for him to punish Mordecai. He determined to destroy all of Mordecai’s people—the Jews. He manipulated the king into decreeing their extermination.

This is what happens when bitterness is left unchecked. It never remains private. It spills into your decisions, infects your leadership, and hurts those who are innocent. What began as one man’s offense became a genocidal policy. That is how far pride and wrath can take a leader who refuses to master his spirit.

God’s Reversal

But God was not absent. Mordecai had earlier uncovered a plot against the king, and though his deed had been recorded, it had not been rewarded. On the very night before Haman intended to request Mordecai’s execution, the king could not sleep. In God’s providence, the chronicles were read, and Mordecai’s loyalty came to light.

Ironically, it was Haman who was commanded to honour Mordecai publicly. The man who came to destroy him was forced to lead him through the city, proclaiming his greatness. What humiliation for Haman! Yet it was also a turning point, showing that God can reverse the schemes of the proud in a moment.

The Gallows He Built

Encouraged by his wife and friends, Haman had built a gallows fifty cubits high on which to hang Mordecai. But in a stunning twist of divine justice, those same gallows became the instrument of Haman’s death. When Queen Esther revealed his wicked plot, the king’s wrath was kindled, and Haman was hanged on the very gallows he had prepared for another (Esther 7:10).

The lesson is sobering: the snares we set for others often become the snares that trap us. Leaders who scheme, manipulate, or dig pits for others eventually fall into them themselves.

Lessons for Leaders

1. Learn Gratitude.
   Haman’s downfall began with discontent. Leaders must learn to count their blessings instead of magnifying their slights.

2. Do Not Let Critics Dominate You.
   Mordecai was not Haman’s real problem—Haman’s ego was. Leaders who let one critic define their vision are already on the path to ruin.

3. Beware of Overreaction.
   One man’s refusal led Haman to plot genocide. Leaders must keep perspective, or else small slights will lead to destructive decisions.

4. Pride Precedes Destruction.
   Haman’s pride made him fragile. Scripture warns us that “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18).

5. God’s Justice Is Sure.
   The gallows testify that wickedness boomerangs. Leaders who walk in integrity will outlast those who thrive on manipulation.

Conclusion: Don’t Be a Haman

Haman’s story shows how quickly a man can have everything yet lose it all because of pride and obsession. He could not enjoy his blessings because he was blinded by one man’s refusal. He allowed hatred to consume him, and it destroyed him.

Leaders today must take heed. Don’t let your “Mordecai” rob you of joy. Don’t allow one critic, one rival, or one disappointment to erase the goodness of God in your life. If you do, you risk ending up like Haman—a man who had everything but lost it all.

Let us instead learn from these things, for as Scripture says, “whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4).

Continue in grace!

But there is a limit to what types can do.

Types point back.
Metaphors define you now.

If you confuse the two, you will admire Christ without understanding yourself.

Types Look Backward

The Bible is clear that types belong to a former era. They are shadows. They are patterns. They are previews.

Romans 5 (KJ2000)
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

Adam is called a figure. A type. He points forward to Christ.

Hebrews 10 (KJ2000)
1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things…

The law was a shadow. Not the real thing.

Colossians 2 (KJ2000)
16 Let no man therefore judge you in food, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

Shadows point to something real. But they are not the substance.

This is the nature of types.
They prepare you.
They announce Christ.
They help you recognise Him when He appears.

But once Christ has come, types have done their job.

Types Reveal Christ, Not You

Types are Christ-centred, but not identity-defining.

You can study Joseph and learn about betrayal, exaltation, and forgiveness. You can see Christ in him. But Joseph is not your identity.

You can study the Passover lamb and understand redemption. But you are not a lamb in that sense.

Types answer this question:
Who is Christ?

They do not fully answer this question:
Who are you in Christ?

That second question requires something else.

Metaphors Speak Present Reality

When the New Testament speaks about the believer, it does not rely on types. It uses metaphors.

These metaphors are not pointing backward. They are describing present truth.

You are not being invited to admire a pattern.
You are being told who you are.

You Are the Body of Christ

1 Corinthians 12 (KJ2000)
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

This is not a type.
This is not a shadow.
This is your present identity.

You are part of His body. You are connected to Him and to other believers. You function. You supply. You are not observing Christ from a distance. You are joined to Him.

You Are a New Creation

2 Corinthians 5 (KJ2000)
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

This is not symbolic of something else.
This is a statement of reality.

You are not a repaired version of the old man.
You are something entirely new.

You Are the Temple of God

1 Corinthians 3 (KJ2000)
16 Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

In the Old Testament, the temple was a type. A structure. A location.

Now the language shifts.

You are the temple.

The reality has moved from building to person.

You Are Light

Ephesians 5 (KJ2000)
8 For you were sometimes darkness, but now are you light in the Lord: walk as children of light.

Notice the language carefully.

You are not just in the light.
You are light.

This is identity language. Present tense. Direct.

You Are God’s Righteousness

2 Corinthians 5 (KJ2000)
21 For he has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

This is not a shadow.
This is not a picture.

This is who you are in Christ.

The Danger of Living in Types

Many believers stay in the Old Testament framework. They think in shadows.

They say:

I am trying to be like Joseph.
I am trying to be like David.
I am trying to be like Daniel.

There is value in learning from these men. But that is not the primary New Testament approach.

The New Testament does not say:
Become like them.

It says:
Understand who you are in Christ.

If you stay in types, you will live by imitation.
If you understand metaphors, you will live by identity.

Metaphors Are Not Decorations

Some treat metaphors as poetic language. As if they are optional or decorative.

That is a mistake.

When Scripture says you are a branch, it is telling you how you live.

John 15 (KJ2000)
5 I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.

This is not just imagery.
It is instruction.

Branches do not struggle to produce fruit.
They remain connected.

That metaphor defines your daily life.

Metaphors Shape Behaviour

When you understand that you are a member of a body, you stop competing with other believers.

When you understand that you are a temple, you become conscious of God’s presence within you.

When you understand that you are light, you stop negotiating with darkness.

When you understand that you are a branch, you prioritise abiding.

Metaphors are not abstract.
They produce specific behaviour.

From Observation to Participation

Types keep you observing.

You watch Joseph suffer.
You watch Moses lead.
You watch David fight.

Metaphors pull you into participation.

You are in Christ.
Christ is in you.
You are part of His body.
You are His temple.

This is not a story you watch.
This is a life you live.

Christ in You

Colossians 1 (KJ2000)
26 Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

The “mystery” is no longer hidden.

It is revealed.

And how is it explained?

Not through types.
Through direct language and metaphor.

Christ in you.

That is not a shadow.
That is substance.

The Shift You Must Make

If you want to understand the New Testament properly, you must make a shift.

Do not abandon types.
But do not live in them.

Use types to understand Christ.
Use metaphors to understand yourself.

Read the Old Testament to see what was coming.
Read the New Testament to see what has come.

A Simple Test

When you read Scripture, ask:

Is this pointing to Christ?
Or is this defining me in Christ?

If it is a type, receive the revelation of Christ.

If it is a metaphor, receive the revelation of your identity.

Final Thought

You can spend your whole life studying shadows and never step into reality.

Or you can recognise that the reality has already come.

Christ has come.
The mystery has been revealed.
You are in Him.
He is in you.

Types helped you recognise Him.

Metaphors now tell you who you are.

And until you see yourself the way the New Testament describes you, you will keep looking backward when you should be living forward.

Continue in grace!

2 Corinthians 11 (KJV)
22 Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. 
23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.
24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 
25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 
27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. 

Paul gives us a long catalogue of his sufferings: lashes, beatings, imprisonments, dangers from rivers and robbers, hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness. It is a staggering list that would have broken most men. Yet after listing all these external hardships, he concludes with something far less visible but far more constant:

2 Corinthians 11
28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

Paul considered the daily burden of caring for God’s people the heaviest load he carried. The outward trials were real, but the inward responsibility was weightier still. What sustained him through shipwrecks and prisons was not stubbornness of will but the inner fire of responsibility for the churches. This is the invisible burden of leadership.

The Burden that Gives Meaning to Suffering

Here lies a paradox: what made it possible for Paul to endure the external hardships of persecution was the internal burden of the care of the churches.

Without that inward responsibility, his stripes and beatings would have been meaningless pain. But with it, every trial became purposeful — a price worth paying for the growth and preservation of God’s people. That is why he could say in :24:

Colossians 1 (KJV)
24 I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church.

The inner burden gave meaning to the outer burdens. Vision turned pain into purpose.

The Fellowship Few Seek

Paul’s secret was not merely endurance, but identification with Christ.

Philippians 3 (KJV)
10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.”

Many today seek to demonstrate the power of His resurrection. Few seek to partake of the fellowship of His sufferings. Yet Paul embraced both.

• Shipwrecks did not break him, because he knew churches would be planted.

• Prisons did not silence him, because he could still write letters that strengthened the saints.

• Lashes did not discourage him, because he counted it joy to suffer for the body of Christ.

Resurrection power flows most deeply through those who first share the sufferings of Christ.

Biblical Examples of the Inward Burden

Paul was not the only one. Scripture records other leaders who bore this invisible weight.

Moses cried out, “I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me” (Numbers 11:14). Pharaoh’s threats did not crush him, but the daily complaints of the people almost did.

Samuel grieved when Israel demanded a king. God told him, “They have not rejected you, but me” (1 Samuel 8:7). His heart was broken not by Philistine armies, but by the people’s rejection of God’s leadership.

Nehemiah, though safe in the Persian palace, wept when he heard of Jerusalem’s broken walls (Nehemiah 1:4). Comfort did not relieve him of the burden; God’s people’s condition weighed heavier than royal privilege.

Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet. He prayed, “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people” (Jeremiah 9:1). His tears for their sin and judgment were a heavier chain than the prisons he endured.

And Jesus Himself was moved with compassion when He saw the multitudes, fainting and scattered as sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36). The daily weight of the crowd was not irritation but compassion. The burden of souls defined His ministry.

The Contrast with Today

Sadly, many ministers today have abandoned this burden. They are diligent about programs, budgets, buildings, and assets, but careless with people. To them, people are expendable items, just like chairs, microphones, or cars. If one breaks, another can be acquired.

This is a tragic distortion of ministry. The true treasure of the ministry is not equipment, but people. Souls are not assets to be consumed; they are sheep to be cared for. When ministers treat people as disposable, they betray the very heart of Christ, who left the ninety-nine to go after the one lost sheep.

Programs may impress crowds, and buildings may draw attention, but only love for people reflects the heart of the Good Shepherd. Paul did not list “the care of all the churches” as an achievement to boast about; he named it as the daily burden that defined his ministry.

What True Leadership Requires

The invisible burden of leadership is not glamorous. It is not the stage lights, the microphones, or the accolades. It is the weight of souls pressing on your heart daily:

• Praying for their stability.

• Watching against wolves that would scatter them.

• Weeping over their sins.

• Rejoicing in their growth.

• Bearing with their weaknesses.

This is what separated Paul from mere preachers. He did not see people as numbers, or partners, or donors. He saw them as the church of God, purchased with the blood of Christ, entrusted to his care.

Leadership Today

Leadership is not proven by how well you handle storms outside, but by how faithfully you carry the weight inside. Anyone can endure a crisis for a season, but only true leaders carry the unseen, constant burden of God’s people.

Moses sighed under it.
Samuel wept over it.
Nehemiah prayed about it.
Jeremiah cried through it.
Jesus was moved with compassion by it.
Paul bore it daily — and through that burden, resurrection power flowed.

The measure of ministry is not the size of your building, the reach of your program, or the applause of men. It is whether you truly care for God’s people every single day.

Conclusion

The greatest danger in ministry today is not persecution from the world but hardness of heart within the church. A minister can build an empire, run successful programs, and manage large budgets — yet still treat people as disposable. That is not the heart of Christ.

The heart of true leadership is this: “That which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.” Until we embrace that burden, we cannot know the fellowship of His sufferings, nor can we truly demonstrate the power of His resurrection.

Continue in grace!

We become so interested in types and allegories that we miss something even more central to how the New Testament speaks. The New Testament is full of metaphors. If you do not understand that, you will misread some of its most important themes.

This is especially true when we talk about the new creation.

The writers of the New Testament were not careless with language. They used words with precision. They described spiritual realities using familiar human experience. They spoke about birth, growth, building, clothing, warfare, adoption, walking, light, food, seed, harvest, citizenship, slavery, marriage, and the body. These are not decorations. They are the structure of revelation.

The Meaning of “Mystery”

Paul repeatedly speaks of the gospel as a mystery.

In Scripture, a mystery is not something confusing. It is a secret that was hidden and is now revealed.

Ephesians 3 (KJ2000)
3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote before in few words,
4 By which, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;

Colossians 1 (KJ2000)
26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

The mystery is revealed. But notice how it is explained.

It is explained through metaphors.

Christ in you speaks of union and indwelling.
The body of Christ explains unity and function.
The new man speaks of identity and nature.
The household of God speaks of belonging.
The bride of Christ speaks of covenant and love.

So, the mystery is revealed, but it is revealed in pictures.

Why Metaphors Matter

Metaphors shape understanding. They show how something works and how to respond.

Take the phrase born again.

John 3 (KJ2000)
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

Nicodemus thought literally and missed the point. Jesus used birth to describe a new kind of life. Birth speaks of origin, nature, and growth.

Other examples follow the same pattern.

1 Peter 2 (KJ2000)
2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

1 Corinthians 12 (KJ2000)
27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

Ephesians 6 (KJ2000)
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Hebrews 12 (KJ2000)
1 Therefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Each one teaches doctrine through imagery.

How the Mystery Is Explained

Many believers focus more on Old Testament types than New Testament metaphors. But the metaphors are where the explanation happens.

Romans 13 (KJ2000)
14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.

Christ is not clothing. But the metaphor shows identity and deliberate action.

Galatians 5 (KJ2000)
16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Walking shows movement and daily conduct.

Ephesians 1 (KJ2000)
22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23 Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.

The body explains unity and interdependence.

This is how the mystery is made known.

The New Creation in Metaphors

The new creation is revealed through multiple metaphors.

2 Corinthians 5 (KJ2000)
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Ephesians 4 (KJ2000)
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

John 1 (KJ2000)
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

1 Corinthians 3 (KJ2000)
16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

Each metaphor highlights something specific.

• New birth shows origin

• New man shows identity

• Creation shows God’s work

• Sonship shows relationship

• Temple shows indwelling

• Fruit shows results

Together, they explain the mystery.

The Danger of Ignoring Metaphors

Error begins when metaphors are mishandled.

John 10 (KJ2000)
9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

John 15 (KJ2000)
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

These communicate access and dependence.

A metaphor must be read in context.

Learning to Read the New Testament Properly

The apostles gave us living language.

Ask:

• Why this image?

• What does it highlight?

• What response does it call for?

If the church is a body, how should members relate?
If believers are children, how do they grow?
If the word is seed, how does it produce fruit?
If life is a race, what must be laid aside?

These are practical questions.

A Call to Recover This Understanding

This series will explore the major metaphors of the New Testament and show how they explain the believer’s life in Christ.

The New Testament is doctrinal through metaphor.

God revealed the mystery using language we can understand.

So yes, types and allegories matter. But if you want to understand the New Testament, you must learn to read its metaphors carefully.

That is how the mystery is revealed.

And that is how we must read it.

Continue in grace!

You may begin by helping sincerely. You may step in where you are needed. You may add real value. You may become so useful that people can hardly imagine the work being done without you. But if you are not careful, usefulness can become a snare. You can begin to think that because God uses you, you are therefore equal in assignment to the one you were called to support.

That seems to have happened with Aaron.

When God called Moses to confront Pharaoh and lead Israel out of Egypt, Moses objected. He did not feel adequate for the task.

Exodus 4 (KJ2000)
10 And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before, nor since you have spoken unto your servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.

That complaint was not small. Moses was being sent to stand before Pharaoh, address the elders of Israel, and function publicly in a role of enormous weight. From Moses’ point of view, his speech problem was a real handicap. Yet God did not act as though Moses had discovered a flaw in the divine plan.

Exodus 4 (KJ2000)
11 And the LORD said unto him, Who has made man’s mouth? or who makes the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?

God was making something clear. Moses’ limitation had not escaped His notice. He already knew. He was still sending him.

Exodus 4 (KJ2000)
12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall say.

That should have settled the matter, but Moses still resisted. He asked God to send someone else. It was at that point that Aaron entered the picture.

Exodus 4 (KJ2000)
14 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he comes forth to meet you: and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

Where Moses was not eloquent, slow of speech and of a slow tongue, Aaron could speak well. When God Himself concedes a man can speak well, then that man must really be able to speak well!

Then in verses 15 and 16, God explained the arrangement. Moses would receive the words from God. Aaron would speak them to the people. Aaron would function as spokesman. Moses would still be the one carrying the divine commission.

This is a powerful picture of supportive ministry.

God could have healed Moses instantly. He could have removed the impediment in one moment. He could have made Moses eloquent overnight. But He chose instead to use Aaron in a way that made Moses’ weakness irrelevant.

That is an important leadership lesson.

Sometimes God does not remove a leader’s weakness. Sometimes He surrounds that leader with the right people. Sometimes the answer to a limitation is not a miracle in the leader, but a helper beside the leader. Sometimes the grace of God comes in the form of support from other people.

That means the supportive minister has a very noble role. His job is not to compete with the leader, but to complete him. His place is not to resent the gap he is filling, but to fill it faithfully. He is there to make obedience easier, execution smoother, and the assignment stronger.

Aaron’s ministry in support of Moses mattered. Without it, at least at that point, Moses’ reluctance over his speech might have remained a major issue. Aaron helped make Moses functional in the eyes of the people. He helped make a weakness less important than it seemed.

That is no small thing.

There are ministers whose greatest usefulness lies in making another man’s weakness irrelevant. They steady what could wobble. They voice what could be muffled. They organise what could be chaotic. They strengthen what could fail under pressure. Such people are gifts from God.

But supportive ministry can become dangerous when support begins to think of itself as headship.

Later, in Numbers 12, we see a sad turn. Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses.

Numbers 12 (KJ2000)
2 And they said, Has the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? has he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it.

The statement sounds reasonable on the surface. After all, God had indeed spoken by them as well. Aaron was the High Priest. Miriam was a prophetess. They were not empty people. They had genuine callings and real usefulness.

But truth can be used in the service of pride.

Yes, God had spoken by them. No, that did not make them Moses.

That was the issue.

They took the fact that God used them and stretched it into the idea that their assignment was equal to Moses’ assignment. They confused relevance with rank. They confused contribution with leadership.

God rebuked them sharply.

Numbers 12 (KJ2000)
6 And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.
7 My servant Moses is not thus, who is faithful in all my house.
8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even clearly, and not in dark sayings; and the form of the LORD shall he behold: why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

God was not denying that He spoke through others. He was insisting that Moses occupied a unique place.

That is where many supportive ministers go wrong. They are so close to leadership that they begin to forget leadership is still leadership. They become so involved in the work that they begin to assume it belongs to them in the same way. They hear what the leader hears, carry what the leader carries, and stand where the leader stands, at least from the outside. Over time, familiarity breeds comparison, and comparison breeds rebellion.

Aaron should have remembered why he had been brought into the picture in the first place. He was there because Moses had a difficulty, and God chose to answer that difficulty through him. Aaron was an answer, but his was not the principal assignment. He was a support, not a substitute.

There is great safety in remembering why God placed you where He did.

If you are the one supporting a leader, remember this. Your value is not reduced because your role is supportive. Aaron was important. His ministry mattered. His presence made a difference. But his importance did not erase Moses’ uniqueness. The fact that God uses you does not mean you are called to the same seat.

The man who supports well is a blessing. The man who competes from a support role becomes a burden.

Many church problems come from this failure to discern rank and role. A deputy begins to think he is a rival. A faithful assistant starts measuring himself against the one he serves. A gifted subordinate becomes impatient with order. Soon, what began as support turns into silent contention. The work suffers because someone who was meant to strengthen leadership has started resisting it.

Aaron teaches us both what to do and what to avoid.

At his best, he made Moses stronger.
At his worst, he questioned why Moses should stand apart.
At his best, he rendered service that made a major assignment possible.
At his worst, he used his own spiritual relevance as an argument against divine order.

May God give us the wisdom to know the difference.

If He has called you to support, support with gladness. If He has called you to strengthen another man’s hand, do it with humility. If He has made you a voice around a leader, do not mistake that for being the leader himself. Sometimes your greatest contribution is not to take over the assignment, but to make the assignment easier to fulfil.

God gave Moses an Aaron. Aaron was at his best when he remembered that.

Continue in grace!

“I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel…” (1 Samuel 15:30).

It is a statement that reveals the root of Saul’s leadership failure. He feared losing face before men more than losing fellowship with God. He was more concerned about how he appeared in the sight of the people than how he stood in the sight of the Lord.

Saul’s Partial Obedience

The command was clear. God instructed Saul through Samuel to utterly destroy Amalek. Nothing was to be spared. But Saul spared Agag the king and the best of the animals. When confronted, he first justified his actions as zeal: “The people spared the best to sacrifice unto the Lord…” (v. 15). Then he shifted the blame: “I feared the people and obeyed their voice” (v. 24).

This reveals a leader who was enslaved by the opinions of others. The very position God gave him as king over Israel became enslaved to the voices he was supposed to lead.

The Desperate Plea

Even after Samuel’s verdict — that the kingdom was torn from him — Saul’s main concern was public humiliation. He pleaded not for forgiveness, not for restoration with God, but for Samuel’s presence beside him: “Honour me now before the people.”

This is image-driven leadership. Saul wanted Samuel’s endorsement, not God’s approval. He valued appearances above obedience.

Subscribe now

The Danger of Image-Driven Leadership

There are leaders today who follow the same path. They build ministries, organisations, and reputations around the need to look good from the people’s perspective. Their sermons, decisions, and even their confessions of sin are carefully managed for optics. They may admit fault privately, but their priority in public is damage control.

When the fear of man governs us, we lose the fear of God. A leader who trembles at the thought of being shamed in front of men but feels no grief over grieving the Spirit of God has already fallen, whether the fall is visible yet or not.

1. Fear of Man

Saul confessed: “I feared the people.” This is the snare of many leaders. They cannot make hard decisions because they dread losing followers. They compromise God’s word to maintain the crowd.

2. Saving Face

Saul begged Samuel to “honour” him before the elders. Some leaders today will do anything for public recognition. They measure success not by God’s commendation but by social media applause, numbers in the pews, or the praise of peers.

3. Shallow Repentance

Saul’s confession of sin was shallow. His first concern was his reputation, not his relationship. Contrast this with David, who was guilty of adultery and murder, but cried: “Against You, You only, have I sinned” (Psalm 51:4). David’s brokenness was before God, not before men.

The Contrast with David

Both Saul and David sinned grievously. But one was rejected while the other was restored. Why? Because Saul repented for the sake of appearances, but David repented for the sake of God’s presence. Saul wanted to be honoured before men. David only wanted to be right in the sight of God.

When Nathan confronted David, his cry was not “please honour me before the people.” It was “cast me not away from Your presence” (Psalm 51:11). That is the cry of a leader after God’s heart.

Modern Lessons

1. Your reputation before men is fragile, but your standing before God is eternal.
   One day, every leader will stand alone before the Lord, stripped of titles and crowds. Only obedience will matter then.

2. Beware of public endorsement when God has withdrawn private approval.
   Saul had Samuel’s robe beside him that day, but not God’s favour. Many leaders still have the external trappings of success long after God’s endorsement has departed.

3. True repentance is Godward, not manward.
   A tearful apology before people is not repentance if there is no brokenness before God.

4. Fear God more than you fear losing people.
   Leaders who compromise to keep followers will eventually lose both. But those who stand with God will find that He preserves their legacy.

Share

A Word to Leaders Today

Ministers, pastors, CEOs, team leaders — beware of Saul’s plea echoing in your own heart: “Honour me now before the people.” It is the cry of insecurity, the voice of pride, the last gasp of a leader who has already lost God’s presence but still craves man’s applause.

The true mark of greatness is not in how men honour you, but in how God esteems you. Jesus warned in John 5:44: “How can you believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that comes from God only?”

A leader’s greatest ambition must be this: not to be honoured before men, but to be found faithful before God.

Leave a comment

Conclusion

The tragedy of Saul is not just that he lost the kingdom, but that he never grasped why. His heart was never God-centered. He lived and died chasing honour before men.

The triumph of David, in contrast, was not in flawless conduct but in a heart that was broken and contrite before the Lord.

May every leader learn this lesson: It is better to be dishonoured before men and accepted by God than to be honoured before men and rejected by Him.

Continue in grace!

1. Informing

2. Explaining

3. Instructing

4. Encouraging/Exhorting/Comforting

5. Rebuking

6. Warning

7. Reminding

In this post, we will consider the concept of Encouraging/Exhorting/Comforting as an aspect of the ministry of the Word.

Romans 15
4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

For other aspects of the ministry of the Word, it's easy enough to pick one word to describe them. For the one we're considering in this post, I am of the opinion that all three words (encouragement, exhortation and comfort) contribute indispensably to our understanding of the aspect.

The root meaning of the word “exhort", is "to call near". The picture here is that of a parent who wants to speak words of encouragement, reassurance, comfort, etc. and thus calls their child near. This is the mental picture a preacher should have every time he or she exhorts, encourages or comforts people from the pulpit.

1 Thessalonians 2
9 For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.
10 Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe:
11 As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children,
12 That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.

Notice Paul says he and his companions preached the gospel to the Thessalonians, because “we would not be chargeable unto any of you". We do people a disservice when we have the opportunity to share the gospel with them, but do not take it. We owe them a debt we may never be able to repay.

Also notice that Paul and his companions exhorted and comforted the Thessalonians while charging them. Encouragement, exhortation and comfort as an aspect of the Ministry of the Word is most effective when we mix it up with the others and use it to make them more endurable.

This aspect of the Word provides the warmth, affirmation and emotional well-being every believer needs to feel loved of God. Without it, the ministry of the word of God leaves the hearers feeling like they are listening to lectures from a schoolmaster, or proclamations of the law from a judge, or marching orders from a superior military officer, rather than expressions of love and affection from our Father.

Many times, the most important thing Paul would ask his companions whom he sent on apostolic journeys to do would be to comfort the saints.

Ephesians 6
21 But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things:
22 Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts.

Colossians 4
7 All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellowservant in the Lord:
8 Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts;

1 Thessalonians 3
1 Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone;
2 And sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellowlabourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith:

These verses do not mean that the only thing Tychicus and Timothy would do in their errands would be to encourage or exhort or comfort the saints. It does mean that the aspect of the Ministry of the Word would be the most obvious in their ministration.

1 Corinthians 14
3 But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

The whole point of the gift of prophecy is to edify us, to exhort us, and to comfort us.

Hebrews 13
22 And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation: for I have written a letter unto you in few words.

The thirteen chapters of the Letter to the Hebrews are described simply as a “word of exhortation". All of the writer's efforts are assessed and the value of the words he wrote by inspiration of the Spirit of God is declared as

Too Little Emphasis on Encouraging/Exhorting/Comforting?
Sometimes some preachers look down on messages which encourage the saints. Sometimes, they believe that churches which feature these types of messages end up with believers who lead loose, lax and lascivious lives instead of walking in holiness.

The opposite is true.

When a church has little or no emphasis on encouraging the saints, it ends up with saints who are discouraged. They become frustrated with the challenges of living as believers and become unhooked from the anchor that God's Word represents. Many times, they live as hypocrites.

Encouragement strengthens weary hands. Exhortation sharpens dull resolve. Comfort restores shaken faith.

All are part of the ministry of the Word.

If a minister only informs and explains, he may produce knowledgeable hearers. If he only instructs, he may produce disciplined followers. But if he also encourages, exhorts and comforts, he will help produce enduring saints.

The ministry of the Word is not merely about clarity of thought. It is about strength of heart.

And sometimes, the most powerful sermon is not the one that dazzles the mind, but the one that quietly gives a believer courage to continue.

Continue in grace!

Israel had entered the Promised Land. The long years in the wilderness were over. The land was being divided among the tribes. This was the moment many would slow down and settle. Caleb stepped forward instead.

At eighty-five years old, he made a request that still speaks to leaders today.

“Now therefore give me this mountain” (Joshua 14:12).

That request shows how biblical leadership works. It is anchored in God’s word, strengthened by obedience, and expressed through faith.

He led by trusting God’s word

Caleb’s request did not begin in Joshua 14. It began forty-five years earlier. He was one of the twelve men sent to spy out the land of Canaan (Numbers 13:1–2). Ten returned with fear. Two returned with faith. Caleb was one of them.

The report of the ten focused on giants and fortified cities (Numbers 13:28). Caleb responded differently. He said, “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it” (Numbers 13:30).

Caleb did not deny the facts. He interpreted the facts in the light of God’s promise.

Leadership is not pretending challenges do not exist. Leadership is refusing to allow challenges to outweigh God’s word.

Leadership is not about avoiding challenges. Leadership is about taking responsibility for addressing challenges.

Because of that response, God made a promise.

Numbers 14 (KJV)
24  But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it. 

Caleb held on to that word for decades.

He outlived the generation that doubted God. He remained faithful under Moses and later under Joshua. Time did not weaken his confidence in what God had said.

Leaders must learn this lesson early. Vision that is not rooted in God’s word will not survive pressure or delay.

Subscribe now

He waited without losing strength

One of the most striking parts of Caleb’s story is how long he waited. He was forty years old when he spied the land (Joshua 14:7). He was eighty-five when he asked for the mountain (Joshua 14:10).

That is a forty-five-year gap.

Many leaders struggle with waiting. Delay often produces frustration, bitterness, or compromise. Caleb shows another way.

He said, “As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me” (Joshua 14:11). This was not arrogance. It was the fruit of consistency.

Caleb stayed spiritually engaged while others complained. He stayed obedient while others rebelled. He stayed focused while others lost direction.

Leadership stamina is not built in moments of excitement. It is built on seasons of routine faithfulness.

You may be waiting for a promise to be fulfilled. You may be serving faithfully while others receive recognition. Caleb’s life reminds you that God does not forget obedience.

Waiting does not weaken leaders who keep trusting in God.

He asked for responsibility, not comfort

When the land was being divided, Caleb could have chosen a quiet territory. He could have appealed to age. He could have argued that he deserved rest. He could have leveraged his close relationship and long association with Joshua to ask for an area that would be easy to take and hold. He knew that there were giants in the land, and it would be more difficult to take a mountain from them.

Instead, he asked for Hebron.

Hebron was not empty land. It was occupied by the Anakim. These were the same giants that once terrified Israel (Joshua 14:12). Their cities were still fortified. The danger was real.

Caleb knew this and still said, “If so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out” (Joshua 14:12).

This is a defining mark of leadership. He moved towards difficulty, not away from it.

Leaders who make a difference do not search for the safest assignments. They take responsibility for the hardest work when God has spoken.

You should ask yourself what kind of leadership choices you are making. Are you choosing paths that protect you, or paths that require faith?

Caleb did not ask for the mountain to prove a point. He asked because he believed God was still faithful.

Share

He depended on God, not past success

Caleb had a strong record. He had been faithful. He had spoken boldly. He had survived the wilderness. Yet he did not rely on his experience.

He said, “If the Lord will be with me.”

That statement reveals humility. Experience matters, but it does not replace dependence on God.

Many leaders fail when past success becomes present confidence. Caleb avoided that trap. He knew victory depended on God’s presence, not his reputation.

This posture keeps leaders grounded. It keeps them prayerful. It keeps them aligned with God’s will.

Caleb received what he asked for. He drove out the giants (Joshua 15:14). The land rested from war. His obedience secured an inheritance, not just for himself, but for future generations.

His life proves that bold faith is not reckless. It is responsible leadership under God.

Caleb’s story leaves you with a question.

What mountain has God assigned to you?

It may be a difficult responsibility. It may be a long-delayed call to serve Him. It may be an assignment you postponed because it looks demanding.

Do not ask for ease. Ask for grace to be faithful. Do not aim for comfort. Aim to trust God fully.

God still honours leaders who believe Him and act on His word.

Continue in grace!

“Oh, that someone would give me a drink of the water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” (2 Samuel 23:15)

It was not a command. It was not even a request. It was a longing — a wistful desire uttered aloud. But his mighty men heard him. And for them, the unspoken desire of their leader was enough to act upon. They broke through the Philistine garrison, risked their very lives, drew water from the well, and brought it back to David.

When David received it, he was overwhelmed. He could not drink it. Instead, he poured it out to the Lord, saying, “Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this! Is this not the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?” (v.17).

What a scene! And what a lesson for us who lead.

Leadership Is Influence

At its core, leadership is not about titles, offices, or positions. It is about influence. If your words, your sighs, your body language, your facial expressions, and even your unspoken longings move people to action, then you are a leader. And if people consistently ignore those signals, then, quite frankly, you are not.

David never said, “Go and fetch me some water.” Yet his men treated his longing as a royal command. Why? Because they loved him. They believed in him. They had pledged their loyalty to him. His wish was their mission.

Leaders must never forget: people act on what you say — and sometimes on what you only hint at. That is why Scripture warns, “Be not rash with thy mouth…” (Ecclesiastes 5:2). Influence multiplies the weight of every utterance, and even unspoken desires.

Subscribe now

The Danger of Careless Wishes

David’s sigh was innocent. But his men nearly died because of it. This shows us that leadership magnifies not only our decisions but also our desires. Careless wishes can send followers down dangerous paths.

A pastor sighs about wanting a bigger church, and suddenly the team begins to compromise integrity to boost numbers. A CEO jokingly mentions admiration for a competitor’s aggressive tactics, and before long his staff start cutting corners to match that aggression. A father, weary after a long day, laments about wishing for “some peace and quiet,” and a child interprets it as rejection.

What you communicate, even casually, can become someone else’s mission, someone else’s obsession. Be careful what you wish for!

Share

Communication Beyond Words

Notice that influence is not limited to words. A raised eyebrow, a heavy sigh, a look of disappointment, or a gesture of approval can steer people more than a hundred speeches. Leaders communicate with their presence as much as with their pronouncements.

David’s longing was expressed in words, but how many times do our followers “read” our eyes, our posture, or our silence? A true leader cannot afford the luxury of thoughtless communication. Every signal matters.

Paul, writing to Timothy, urged him to “set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12). Leadership requires watchfulness over all forms of expression, because someone is always watching.

Followers Prove Leadership

There is a sobering truth embedded here: if your followers do not act on what you say (and sometimes what you don’t say), then you are not their real leader. Leadership is validated in the response it provokes.

David’s men risked their lives for a wish. That was proof of his leadership. But imagine if David had sighed and everyone had ignored him. That would have been proof of something else: that his voice carried no weight with them.

This challenges us to examine our leadership. Do people respond to our words? Do they align themselves with our vision? If not, perhaps we are mistaking positional authority for real influence.

Leave a comment

The Weight of Responsibility

When David saw the water his men brought, he trembled. He recognised the sacred responsibility of leadership: men had put their lives on the line because of him. He could not, in good conscience, drink it. Instead, he poured it out as an offering to the Lord.

That act was more than gratitude. It was a confession. It was David saying, “Lord, this is too holy for me. Only You deserve such devotion.”

Every leader must feel that same weight. People sacrifice time, energy, and sometimes their very lives because of our words and our vision. We must never take that lightly. We must never consume such sacrifices selfishly. Instead, we must constantly pour it back to the Lord in humility, acknowledging that all glory belongs to Him.

Guarding Our Influence

So how do we apply this lesson? Here are some practical takeaways for every leader:

1. Be intentional with words. Never assume people will take your statements lightly. Speak thoughtfully, especially when expressing desires or frustrations.

2. Watch your signals. Be aware of your non-verbal communication. Followers often act on your tone, gestures, or silence as much as your words.

3. Clarify your intent. If you express a longing or frustration, be quick to clarify whether it is a directive or merely a passing thought. Prevent misinterpretation.

4. Honour followers’ sacrifice. When people act on your words, receive their sacrifice with gratitude and humility. Never exploit their loyalty for selfish ends.

5. Point back to God. Like David, always pour out the devotion of your followers to the Lord. Remember, ultimate allegiance belongs to Him.

A Final Word

Leadership is a sacred trust. The deeper your influence, the more careful you must be. What you say — and even what you merely hint at — can move others to costly action. David’s sigh teaches us that leaders must be careful what they wish for.

Our followers will take cues from our words, our looks, and our longings. If they do not, we are not their true leaders. But if they do, we bear the holy responsibility of stewarding that influence wisely, always pointing their loyalty back to the Lord who alone is worthy.

So, let us weigh our words. Let us watch our signals. Let us handle our influence with trembling. And let us always remember: leadership is not for self, but for service — and for the glory of God.

Continue in grace!

It starts with a simple principle.

God teaches us in various ways, but one important method is through examples.

Scripture is very clear about this.

1 Corinthians 10 (KJV)
11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Romans 15 (KJV)
4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. 

God did not give us leadership lessons as lists or bullet points.

He gave us lives.

Decisions were made in private or in public.

Results followed.

God preserved the record so that you could learn from past mistakes without repeating them.

This method of learning is intentional.

Paul explains it using his own life.

1 Timothy 1 (KJV)
16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

1 Timothy 1 (KJ2000)
16 But for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for an example to them who should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

Subscribe now

Then he demands we take his life as an example.

1 Corinthians 11 (KJV)
1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

That request only works because examples matter.

You can follow what you can see.

You can learn from what is lived out.

God teaches us by patterns and examples.

Christ is the standard.

Human leaders are mirrors, sometimes clear, sometimes cracked.

That is why this series focuses on events, not personalities.

Some moments reveal leadership better than biographies.

A prophet assumes instead of waiting for God’s instruction.

A king spares offenders who should have been punished.

A leader speaks from desire, and others risk their lives to fulfil it.

Share

Some moments end well. Some end badly. All of them instruct.

Leadership is tested and proven in pressure.

In timing. In restraint. In obedience.

The Bible records those tests without editing.

This series is written for leaders who want to learn God’s way.

Pastors. Founders. Executives.

Anyone entrusted with people, resources, or direction.

Each post will do three things.

1. Present a clear biblical event

2. Expose the leadership lesson in that moment

3. Apply it directly to how you lead today

No slogans. No borrowed systems. No theories detached from Scripture.

God has already shown you what leadership looks like when it follows Christ, and when it drifts.

He wrote it down so you could learn.

If you want to learn about leadership from the Bible, you are welcome to read this series.

Continue in grace!

Remember we shared about the need to receive the Word with meekness, with readiness of mind and with fear and trembling. It also important that the minister teaches with meekness, teaches with a bias for those who have a ready mind, and teaches with fear and trembling.

I have noticed that congregations tend to reflect the attitude of their leadership towards the Word of God.

James 1
21 Therefore ... receive with meekness the engrafted word...

2 Timothy 2
24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
25 In meekness instructing those that oppose them; if God perhaps will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;

Where the teaching in a local assembly is not presented in meekness, church members will gradually adopt an attitude of arrogance. To borrow an expression from Paul, knowledge will puff them up. They will associate a lack of meekness in the preacher with his great knowledge, and the more they know, the more they will become proud, too.

Acts 17
11 ...they received the word with all readiness of mind...

2 Timothy 4
1 I charge you therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2 Preach the word; be diligent in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they draw to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto myths.

Some church leaders tend to adapt themselves to the congregation in the area of preaching. When they notice that men and women are not receiving the Word with readiness of mind, they compromise and present them with other content designed to appeal to our human nature. Some even preach false doctrine because they know that’s what people want to hear!

2 Corinthians 7
15 ...with fear and trembling you received him.

1 Corinthians 2
2 For I determined not to know anything among you, except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.

Where the preacher himself has a casual, cavalier, careless, comatose, cold attitude to the Word, those who listen will notice, and become like that too. If those who hear the word preached are to be in fear and trembling, the one who preaches must be in fear and trembling too. I have never understood how a man could believe himself to be speaking on God’s behalf and not project a sense that he knows he is undertaking a supernatural, spiritual and sacred business. 

James 1
22 But be you doers of the word…

1 Thessalonians 1
5 For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance; as you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
6 And you became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit:

Finally, the minister must himself be a doer of the Word. He must take the lead in being an example – it must be easy for us who listen to the preacher to agree that he is merely asking us to live our lives the way he does. Where this isn’t the case, the preacher may do a fine job of preaching, but people will not respond as they should.

I am persuaded better things of you! I believe God will use us all mightily, and His Body will be blessed through our ministries.

Continue in grace!

What a privilege it was for Mary to have been the mother of Jesus! History records accounts of women like Delilah and Jezebel who were wicked, but Mary was chosen to be the mother of our Lord! Speaking by the Spirit of God, her older cousin Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, calls her “blessed”.

Luke 1
41 And it came to pass, that, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit:
42 And she spoke out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

“A certain woman of the crowd”, who may or may not have known Mary, also calls her blessed. Jesus did not deny this, but made a very interesting statement – if you’re a hearer and a doer of the Word of God, you’re blessed over and beyond His mother, Mary.

James 1
21 Therefore put away all filthiness and extreme wickedness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be you doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror:
24 For he beholds himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what manner of man he was.
25 But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

Many receive the Word with meekness, readiness of mind, fear, and trembling (as they rightly should), but the blessedness is in being a doer of the Word! The one who receives the Word but does not do it is referred to as one who “deceives his own self”. The whole essence of receiving the Word is to obey the Word. The man who hears the Word, rejoices at it but does not obey it, is just as much in rebellion to the Word as the man who gathered a hostile crowd and chased the preacher out of town!

Think about it. If the government were to announce a new tax, there would be people who would commend them and those who would criticize them. Some may have a public demonstration supporting the idea, others may have one opposing it. Some would even take them to court challenging the legality of the tax. But at the end of the day, when it’s time to arrest those who have not paid the tax, they would not consider whether you were one of those who supported it or not. It wouldn’t matter if you’re one of those challenging the idea of the tax in court. The question at the end of the day is: “Have you paid the tax?” 

There is no other blessing available in our Christian experience which can substitute for obeying the Word. There is no blessedness from prayer and fasting, from having hands laid on you, from deep and intense worship, from preaching to other people, from being faithful in church attendance, from confessing the Word, from receiving a personal prophecy, etc. which can act as a substitute for the blessedness that comes from being obedient to the Word of God. The man or woman who enjoys the richest of spiritually sublime experiences of these other things, but is not a doer of the Word, is described as “deceiving his own self”.

If we are not careful, knowledge of the Word becomes an end in itself. We may end up becoming men and women who talk about the Word, argue about the Word, sing and dance about the Word, listen to the Word, and encourage others to listen to the Word, but in the end, are not obedient to the Word.

The devil has given some in our day an awkward substitute for being doers of the Word. He doesn’t call it disobedience, he calls it “using wisdom”. 

John 13
17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

Continue in grace!

I once saw a play which tried to depict what life was like in a small town in the area that is now South-West Nigeria, back when the Oyo Empire was at its peak. The leader of this small town was a vassal of the Alaafin, the absolute monarch who ruled the Empire. In the course of the play, a messenger shows up in the court of this leader and announces he has a message from the Alaafin. Even though this messenger was a slave of low social status, everyone at the court stood up to receive the message. They stood in fear and trembling at the word of the Alaafin.

The Old Testament records many instances of men and women responding in fear and trembling at God’s Word.

1 Samuel 16
4 And Samuel did that which the LORD spoke, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Come you peaceably?

In the Old Testament, they stood in fear and trembling of the Word because they knew that the Word could be spoken in instant judgment against them. Some in the New Testament believe those days are over, although Ananias and Sapphira would probably disagree.

In any case, our primary reason for receiving the Word of God with fear and trembling is not a foreboding of instant judgment, even though that is a possibility. Our primary concern is that we will receive the Word in vain and that the Word will stand in judgment against us.

Acts 24
24 And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.
25 And as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go your way for this time; when I have a convenient time, I will call for you.

Hebrews 4
1 Let us therefore fear, lest, although a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

There is a danger we all face when we become too used to listening to preachers – the danger of no longer trembling at the Word of God. Do you remember when you just got saved, and sat in awe when you listened to men and women teach the Word? In our day, this danger seems to be amplified by an information overload. We get so much religious content on our phones and tablets via social media that we seem to have become numb – somewhat insensate – to God speaking to us simply.

Many times, the Lord seeks to chasten and correct us through His Word; with poor results, because we no longer tremble at the Word. A lot of gimmickry and show business that have preoccupied some pulpits today is the result of preachers trying to catch the attention of believers who are no longer moved by the simple preaching of God’s Word.

Hebrews 2
1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
2 For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward;
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

Hebrews 12
6 For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.
8 But if you be without chastisement, of which all are partakers, then are you illegitimate children, and not sons.
9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh who corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

Continue in grace!