The Criteria for Governance (Part 2)
A Sermon Excerpt from
Dr Martins Atanda
Those that God will establish as leaders have to be faithful, George Bush had been faithful, he was faithful as a Governor he became a President. Bill Clinton has been faithful, he was faithful as a Governor he became a President. Obasanjo had been faithful, he was faithful the first time when he was the Head of State, he handed over - how many of you know he would have retained power that time and refuse to hand over, he was faithful.
Faithfulness is a trade mark of those God would point and establish as a leader, faithfulness. Cyrus was faithful, God told him “Deliver my people Israel, when you deliver them from the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, hand over all the gold to them” how many of you know he did it, he was faithful.
Faithfulness, let me establish that a little bit, let me establish it from the scriptures
Numbers 20:22
22 The whole Israelite community set out from kadesh, and came to mount Hor.
23 At Mount Hor, near the border of Edom, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
24 Aaron will be gathered to his people. He will not enter into the land I give to the Israelites, because both of you rebelled against my command at the water of Meribah.
Why did God shut them down? Because they were not faithful, God gave them an instruction and they did another thing. Are you faithful? What are the things God has spoken to you about? Are you doing it? If you read the chapter 25 of Numbers, I will just give you three examples quickly, verse 10
10 The Lord said to Moses
11 Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites; for he was as zealous as I am for my honor among them, so that in my zeal I did not put an end to them
12 Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him
13 He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.
See that, faithful, faithful in his service, you see, “an everlasting”, for himself and his descendants, “everlasting” God chose the family of Levite and then when he came to Phinehas, God streamline it into Phinehas just like it is the family of David that is ruling as king in Jerusalem, so also it is the family of Phinehas that is the priest in Jerusalem because of faithfulness, that’s the trade mark. Chapter 27, I read that story earlier on: the story of Moses in verse 14
14 For when the community rebelled at the water in the Desert of Zin, both of you disobeyed my command to honor me has holy before their eyes
I Samuel 12, let me show you another example, I Samuel 13:13
13 You acted foolishly, Samuel said. You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.
14 But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.
The man would have been established as a king but he lost it.
Why do people become unfaithful?
Performance: When they begin to perform, and they begin to win, and begin to succeed, they want to become wiser than the God who put them there. When God tell them do it this way, they say no, you see God you are not correct, let’s do it this way. If God was correct to put you on that seat, then he will be correct to tell you what to do when you get there.
I Corinthians 1:26
26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by the human standards
Isn’t that so? So if God chose you, and put you on that seat, as you begin to perform on that seat, take instructions from him, once you begin to deviate like Saul who was a Nobody when God called him, God called him and put him on the seat, God gave him an instruction - he did his own. One of the things that make people unfaithful, performance, when you see a man when he starts performing, he starts trusting in himself, and God knocks them off.
Lack of Prayers: in I Timothy 2, he says let us pray for kings and those in authority. When you don’t have a prayer covering over your life in leadership, you have given room for satanic interference and once Satan has interfered in your leadership, that’s the end. Jesus told Peter “Satan has desired to sift you like a wheat, but I have prayed for you and when you are restored...”, you see, that’s what prayer does, prayer restores you back to God, and every time Paul will say “Pray for us, please pray for us, I’m praying for you too, pray for me”, a prayer covering.
When God takes you there, don’t go there alone, look at David, as he was growing in leadership, he had a priest by his side, he had a prophet by his side, he had men to give him counsel. Let your life be guided by the hand of prayer, let your leadership be run by the spirit of prayer. In your present position right now, you are a leader; connect to men of God to be praying for you. In your present position right now, be faithful to God and see where God will take you to.
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