“And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of this Philistine. Your servant will go and fight him!” (1 Samuel 17:32.)

Initiative: What is initiative? What is responsible for initiative? Why is it important for leaders? One definition that stands out amongst so many definitions of the subject matter about to be discussed in this piece is that it is a plan or program that is intended to solve a problem.  Initiative could also be described as the ability or capacity to arise, to initiate a process or tackle a problem even if others are not willing to do so. It could also be seen as the willingness to step forward if no one is willing to do so.

Initiative in leadership is not about self but about selflessness. It is not about showmanship, it is about a pull towards purpose; a call and a steering by the Spirit to challenge anything that does not give glory to God around a leader and to bring it under subjection in obedience to Christ. At certain time in the history of Israel, Goliath one of the Philistine Giants drew near and presented himself forty days, morning and evening. Israel was dreadfully afraid until a leader like David arose. That is what I call spontaneous leadership, the taunting of the giant negates the existence of David or the reason for his living or preparation. Moses saw an Egyptian maltreating an Israelite and there was a steering within him to do something about it. What enraged Phinehas in Numbers 25:8? What enraged Jesus when He saw that the temple has become a den of thieves? So, the stepping stone to greatness in leadership is premised on you taking the courage to arise in your generation.

 

Seth Godin once said “Initiative is the privilege of picking yourself.” What does it mean? David picked himself, that talks about self-sacrifice or self-denial. If you wish that the cup should pass over you, if you are not willing to drink of the cup, then who would have done it? If David had refused to confront the giant, how will his leadership journey begin? Initiative begin when you pick yourself. This is the posture Esther took when she said if I perish, I perish, in Isaiah 6:8, Prophet Isaiah heard a conversation in the spirit, the Scripture says; ‘who shall I send? Who will go for me?’  The prophet didn’t stop at the level of hearing the desire of God, and step backward. He stepped forward. Your leadership journey begins when you are willing to step forward while others are stepping backward. He said here am I send me. In every generation, God is always seeking for a man who will be willing to step forward and say Lord here am I send me, and only a few have the courage to do so. Initiative is the secret of spontaneous leadership and it is tied to purpose. Whatever does not draw your attention does not attract the application of your anointing, grace and skill. And the more challenges draw your attention the closer you are to your leadership destiny.  

 

Initiative talks about your ability to make quick decisions concerning a problem that requires an urgent solution. Because Saul was not spontaneous in his response to the giant, he lost his advantage. The point I am trying to make is this; initiative is a rare character of leadership that every leader must learn and adopt.  Have you paused lately to ask why you do the things you do? Or why people do the things they do? Obviously it could be for so many reasons. But I have discovered that the best reason you can give for doing what you do is that you are responding to the refusal or the approval of the Holy Spirit concerning every matter. Let me put in another way, it simply means that you are led by the Spirit of God and you are conscious of how He wants you to react to situations per time. So, it is God that is at work in you to proffer solutions, and to becoming a light to a dark world.

 

Initiative can also be described as the willingness of a leader to arise. This point was stressed in Isaiah 60 verse 1, it says; “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.” then it continues, “For behold, darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness is over the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you, and His glory will appear over you.” I have come to realize that the glory of the Lord that rises upon you is what makes you shine, but if people will see because of your brightness, it is because you arise. No man lights a lamp and hides it under s bushel. But no leader is able to arise just by himself, there are certain factors responsible for it. So, what are the things that can control or influence the initiative of a leader. Or could cause a leader to arise when he is needed the most? The first is;

#. Faith: Numbers 13:30, says “And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.” This was a bold statement of faith made in the face of a report stating that the land through which they have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom they saw in it are men of great stature. Meaning that they were giants (the descendants of Anak), in that report they likened themselves as grasshoppers in their own sight, and in the sight of the giants.” How did I know that such statement was a statement of faith? They were not excluded from the list of patriarchs when the writer of Hebrews was making reference in Hebrews chapter 11, saying; through faith they subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises and stopped the mouths of lions. So, without faith it is impossible to take initiative. The reason is because in the absence of faith there is fear and doubts.

 

Do you think David was afraid or doubtful when he opted or stepped forward to challenge Goliath? No he wasn’t! Jesus and His disciples were journeying in a boat and He fell asleep while the storm began to rage, the Scripture says they were in jeopardy and they cried to Jesus for help. But Jesus arose and said where is your faith? This made me to realize that the first factor responsible for a leader to arise and lead spontaneously is to lead by faith. When Jesus arose to the occasion, He didn’t panic, He simply rebuked the wind by faith. So, the shield of faith was what David needed to become a spontaneous leader, not spears, shield, bows and arrows. The second and most fundamental is;

 

#. The Holy Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord that comes upon you is the same Spirit that quickens you or steers you to arise. I am sure you would agree with me that spirits are responsible for actions and behaviors. In Mark 9:22, The Scripture says concerning a little boy that a spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. The mad man of Gatherene was living inside tombs and using stones to cut himself because he was possessed by spirits. Jesus at a point was speaking to his disciples in response to a statement made by the sons of Zebedee, He said you do not know the manner of spirit that you are of. So, our actions and inactions, our responses are determined by spirits, but the focus in this piece would be on the Holy Spirit.  When you encounter a man that is wise, it is because the Spirit of wisdom is operational in him. The Scripture says; there is a spirit in man and the breath of the almighty gives him understanding. The reason for Samson’s strength was not because of his biceps it was because there was a spirit that was in operation in him. The Scripture says God will do exceedingly abundantly far above what we could ever think or imagine according to the power that is at work in us. So, that power at work in us is the Holy Spirit.

 

Ezekiel 22:30, “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.”

That verse ‘but I found none’ is my area of focus and emphasis. This means that no one was willing to step forward, no one was willing to take initiate. It is often said that for every move you see or hear, there is a mover behind the move. Nothing on the earth begins to happen on its own until there are those who are willing to arise and make it happen. The objective of this piece is particularly drawing our attention to the Holy Spirit who could steer a leader to act on His behave. This is the reason why the Holy Spirit lives on the inside of us. The Bible says it is God that is at work in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. It is the working or steering of God in a man that produces the outcome or the good of a man. This is also the same reason why David said ‘renew the right spirit within me’, because the spirit that is at work in you steers you to which ever direction it pleases but only if that Spirit is good, then it will steer you to produce good works.

 

The book of Ezra 1:1, the Scripture says; “In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing.” I want us to note that word, the Lord moved the heart. In other words, the Lord starred the heart. So, in leadership, initiative and spontaneity is powered by the Spirit of the Lord. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will. (Proverbs 21:1) The second factor is;

#. The Word of God. Prophet Jeremiah said your word is like fire shut up in my bones I can’t keep it to myself. (Jeremiah 20:9). So, when you see Jeremiah becoming restless towards a cause would you say it was because of self? It is simply because there was a law at work within his members, and that law is the law of the Spirit, not the law of fleshly commandments. This is what Apostle Paul called the Power of an endless life, that was the power at work in Jeremiah. He couldn’t keep still, because resisting that steering within is a denial of the calling with which he was called. The secret to leading spontaneously is proper alignment with the Holy Spirit, saying yes when the Holy Spirit is saying yes and saying no when the Holy Spirit is saying no irrespective of what people are saying.

 

The Bible says; the word of God is quick and powerful, a leader may lack initiative, a leader could be sitting still until the word comes. The moment it comes it puts a pressure on his soul to release whatever God has deposited. That was why prophet Habakkuk said I set myself on the rampant to hear what He will say to me. That talks about the word, the leader maybe clueless until the word comes. This is the reason a leader could arise not minding the consequence because the word has been declared unto him. If you see a leader who is not willing to arise and speak for God in any generation, it is because the word has not appeared to him. The moment it does he will know what to do. The third factor is;

#. Purpose; This talks the awareness, knowledge and consciousness of purpose; not ignorance.  This talks about the reason for being born and the reason for living. The reason why most leaders find it difficult to step forward is because they are ignorant of the reason why they are living. When God appeared to Moses, and was communicating his intention to Moses, he quickly gave excuses, and wished somebody else go for it. And was referring God to Aaron, as if God didn’t see Aaron before coming to him. Gideon was a mighty man of valor, a born deliverer, but because he was ignorant of who he is, he was hiding in fear of the Medianites, the same people God has put under his feet.

 

Jesus said for this purpose the son of man was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Do you think that whenever Jesus see the broken hearted He would not heal? Do you think that whenever He sees the captives He will not proclaim liberty? He will because He has recognized them as the works of the devil and His primary purpose for living was to make sure that they are utterly destroyed. The reason why most leaders don’t agitate towards certain works of the devil is because they obviously don’t believe that was the reason why Jesus has apprehended them.

Jesus said I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” Here Jesus is simply saying the reason why I do what I do is because I have been sent. And I am doing the work with every sense of urgency being conscious of the night hour. That is living with purpose consciousness. That was why James 4:17 says; whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. If you are ignorant of your purpose it is time to discover it, so that you won’t have to tolerate what you are supposed to resist vehemently.

 

Initiative begins from the realm of knowledge. The question is; knowledge of what? The knowledge of your purpose, what you ought to do at a given time. A classic example was a statement Apostle Paul made in Acts 22:10; he said; ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.” It means prior to that point Apostle Paul was ignorant of his purpose until Jesus gave him a directive as to what he should be doing. Jesus must also tell you the things you must begin to do.  

So, being filled with the Holy Spirit, being filled with the knowledge of the word and of His will, haven began to walk in the consciousness of purpose. You become a spontaneous leader, a leader who is willing to rise up to responsibility at any time the occasion demands, you become a leader that steps forward not minding what it will cost him, as long as it’s for the glory of God.

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Apeh Francis Abah!

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