A leader has unique qualities that enable him or her to equip people with the ability to carry out the vision that the leader has. One quality that is an undeniable quality of a leader is patience.
There is a man in the bible named Joshua that accomplished a great victory and he had the quality of being patient which allowed him to lead his people effectively. Let’s examine this story about the patience that Joshua had and the city that he is going to conquer. In Joshua 6:2-3 is where we start to see patience in Joshua and how he put the vision and the patience that he had into action.
2 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. (Joshua 6:2-3 NIV)
God was telling Joshua to be patient and wait for six days until the time was right. Joshua may have thought “God why can’t I just send in my men now and conquer the city of Jericho?” but Joshua knew at doing that would be an impatient action to take.
After receiving the instructions and vision from the Lord, Joshua goes back and he tells his men what they must do in order to conquer the city.
6 So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.” 7 And he ordered the army, “Advance! March around the city, with an armed guard going ahead of the ark of the Lord.” (Joshua 6:6-7 NIV)
Joshua obeyed God by telling his men the vision that he had received from God. Joshua’s army might have thought the same thing Joshua did, “Why wait six days when we can just conquer the city now.” I believe that when Joshua was telling these men what God told him that he said it in a way that inspired his men and he casted the vision clearly and effectively.
The leader that casts a clear and powerful vision will attract people who will want to execute the vision.
Once Joshua has his men onboard with his God-given vision they were unstoppable. These men were commited to the vsion and were going to do everything they could to see it come to life.
Joshua goes on to lead his men into the city of Jericho and conquer it but he would not have been able to do this without being patient.
The quality being patient of that Joshua had is what enabled him to lead his people into victory through the vision that God had given him
Reflect:
- How can you be a patient leader moving forward?
- How could you better steward the vision that you have?
- What are some ways to bring people onboard your vision?
Bryant Westbrook 