How God chooses leaders
In the Bible, there are many times when God chose someone for a leadership position.
He told the prophet Samuel to anoint Saul as King of Israel. Later, God told him to anoint David as King. God chose Zacharias and Elisabeth to be the parents of John the Baptist. And of course, He chose Mary to be the mother of Jesus.
What’s the most important thing to God in a leader?
In this episode I talk about the single most important thing to God when choosing someone for an important role. It didn’t matter how tall or good looking they were, how much money they had or how smart they were. It was about who they were on the inside.
With elections coming up in the United States, there is a lot of discussion and disagreement as to who will make the best leaders and who will be able to solve the problems we face as a nation.
Will you listen to what people are saying, or will you listen to what God is saying? Will you follow your own preconceptions based on what your political party promotes or will you not be impressed by the outward appearance of things, and humbly follow God’s direction?
After God’s own heart
God chooses someone for a position who is close to Him in spirit and whose heart is in line with His heart.
Will you follow the hearts of men or the heart of God?
If you have any comments of questions, please let me know. I’d love to hear from you.
ANNOUNCEMENT
The one year anniversary of The Bible Speaks to You Podcast is coming up in a few weeks. To celebrate, please let me know something from the podcast that has been helpful to you and how it has made a difference in your life. Go to thebiblespeakstoyou.com/contact. I will share these in a future episode. Thanks so much!
Have a great week.
Blessings,
James
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Bible references in this episode:
1 Samuel 10:1 ESV
1 Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the LORD anointed you to be prince over his people Israel?…”
1 Samuel 13:14 ESV
14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”
1 Samuel 15
Saul disobeys God’s command and loses God’s blessing as king. Even though Saul repents, it is not enough to make things right. There is something in his heart that is not right with God.
1 Samuel 16:1, 6-13 ESV
1 The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”
6 he [Samuel] looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before him.”
7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”
8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the LORD chosen this one.”
9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the LORD chosen this one.”
10 And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen these.”
11 Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.”
12 And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the LORD said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.”
13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward.
Luke 1:5, 6 ESV
5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, [or Zacharias] of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.
6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.
Luke 1:26-28 KJV
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.
28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you! [some manuscripts add ‘Blessed are you among women.’]”
John 6:70, 71 ESV
70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.”
71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
John 5:19 ESV
19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father[fn] does, that the Son does likewise.
Matthew 16:16, 17, 19 ESV
16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,…”
Acts 1:23-26 ESV
23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias.
24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen
25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”
26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
I Samuel 15:24 ESV
24 Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
