As we all know that Leadership is all about many things. And among other things, leadership is about the people, about change, the future and it is about influence. Every form of leadership is about these four things: people, change, future and influence. For a leadership to be a true leadership, there must be influence, change, future and the people. So without any of these, there cannot be an effective leadership. If you examine these things that are mentioned, especially change, you will understand that change is not easy, it doesn't come on the platter of gold. Change could be both demanding and painful. Because of the peculiarity of change, and because of the fact that people don't naturally get excited with change, it therefore becomes important that anyone who is in leadership or anyone who has a leadership responsibility has a lot of strength, a lot of energy and courage to move a people beyond where they are to where they ought to be or should be.
When we are talking about change, we are talking about transitioning from an old to a new. and for that to ever take place, there must be a man or a woman who leads the people into that change. And usually, because the change is about a new thing to be, it is about the future. So, when you are talking about change, you are talking about something that would be seen in a future time. And because it is about the future, because it could involve a tough and a painful process, people are not naturally stirred up to it. And for a people to move towards that future, for the people to accept that change, the people must be influenced. It is not by coercion or manipulation, the people must be influenced. This is why an effective leadership has a need for influence or a component of influence. You cannot take a people from a norm or an existing ideal into a new ideal and possibility without you having a capacity to influence them.
By the way, usually leadership is not all about having a right or a positional right over the people. You could have a responsibility to inspire a people that you share opportunities with and so many things, people that are perhaps in your level and you are still expected to give direction to them. Now what do you have over them, if not influence, you have no position or legal backing over them, no constitution gives you power over them and yet you want to take them from where they are into where they ought to be. At that moment, you require influence. So, a leader cannot be effective without influence and every leadership is about change, about the future and the people. So, if all you have is yourself and nobody, then you cannot think or say you are in leadership.
Now understanding this, we want to examine how audacity is birthed in leadership. Because we know that for you to come out and embrace leadership position, you must be courageous enough to do it. Leadership is a matter of courage and boldness, confidence and audacity. The question then is: "Where do you get this audacity for you to be effective in leading a people through influence unto a change and into the future?" How do you get this audacity and when does it begin in a leader? We will quickly examine an experience in the Bible and from there we would gain some understanding on how audacity is birthed from the Bible.
Jeremiah 1:1-19
The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, 2 to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
4 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” 6 Then said I: “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.” 7 But the Lord said to me: “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ For you shall go to all to whom I send you, And whatever I command you, you shall speak. 8 Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you,” says the Lord. 9 Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lordsaid to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. 10 See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, To root out and to pull down, To destroy and to throw down, To build and to plant.”
11 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.” 12 Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My word.” 13 And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, and it is facing away from the north.” 14 Then the Lord said to me: “Out of the north calamity shall break forth On all the inhabitants of the land.
15 For behold, I am calling All the families of the kingdoms of the north,” says the Lord; “They shall come and each one set his throne At the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem,
Against all its walls all around, And against all the cities of Judah. 16 I will utter My judgments Against them concerning all their wickedness, Because they have forsaken Me, Burned incense to other gods, And worshiped the works of their own hands. 17 “Therefore prepare yourself and arise, And speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed before their faces, Lest I dismay you before them. 18 For behold, I have made you this day A fortified city and an iron pillar, And bronze walls against the whole land— Against the kings of Judah, Against its princes, Against its priests, And against the people of the land. 19 They will fight against you, But they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you,” says the Lord, “to deliver you.”
Now if you look at what we just read, from verse four to that verse nineteen, you will notice a transition, a journey and a movement – from ignorance to knowledge, a movement from fear to confidence and boldness, a movement from the time when a man was alone to the time when he was with the people. Now leadership is beyond you. Your leadership is not all about you, it is beyond you. But for you to ever be audacious in the pursuit of your God-given assignment, the first thing you must settle is that you must have a good understanding of who you are.
See what verse five begins with, it says before I formed you, I knew you. The one who was speaking was God. God told Jeremiah that before he was ever formed, He knew him. It is therefore important for a man who has been formed by God, by the knowledge of God to transit to that same place of knowledge. The point is this: God knows you, and He knows you to be somebody, it is one thing for God to know you to be somebody, it is another thing for you to know yourself to be what God knows you to be. For you to ever emerge as a leader in your generation, you need to see the way God sees you. In the case of Jeremiah, there was a clarity in the mind of God about a man called Jeremiah. If he Jeremiah would ever emerge, then he must first and foremost know what God knows about him.
Do you know what God knows about you today? Do you see yourself the way God sees you? Do you have a clear perspective, the kind of perspective that God has about you? For you to emerge the man or woman who could run the race without fear or favour, you must be able to know yourself and distinguish yourself from the crowd of your generation.
The next thing God said is this: "Before you were born, I have sanctified and ordained you a prophet for the nation." The word sanctification and consecration usually goes hand in hand. When you sanctify a vessel for example, it means you have set it apart for a particular use. Among other things, to sanctify means to set apart. Before Jeremiah was ever brought forth from his mother's womb, God has already sanctified Jeremiah and set him apart for an assignment. So who you are and who you are meant to be is not a matter giving to chance, it is a matter that has been preordained and predetermined before the foundations of the world by God. And so, it is important for a man who intends to be bold in the assignment and exercise of his God-given assignment to be set apart for God's use.
Now you cannot be for all use! If you ever desire to be bold and a leader of courage, you cannot be a leader of all use. There is a distinct responsibility and assignment for your life. There is something God has set your life apart for and God has made you effective for it. You are only suited for something. Don't forget what the Lord said concerning Adam, He said he would make an help-meet or suited for him. We know there could be billions of women in the world; however, there is just only one woman who is suited for a man. In that same manner, there is one thing that a man is suited to do. And if a man can find that thing early in life, such a man would not struggle to be bold and to be audacious.
The reason why we entertain fear among other things is because we have been incompetent in many things and have been fairly okay in many things. We call ourselves master of all trades and we have been able to master nothing. And if a man is able to find out that thing that God has set him apart for, he will be able to find something that he can be master in or at. For your audacity to become conspicuous, it must spring forth from your being set aside. You must be a man that has been set aside and who is also aware of what he has been set aside for. So you are not struggling or trying to become many things, you are only walking with God to become that which God has set you aside or apart for. Jeremiah for instance would not be expecting God to make him a great farmer or a great soldier. He was raised up and set aside as a prophet unto nations.
