JANUARY 14, 2019
Vision Is A Consequence Of Inspiration
Welcome to another week of the Transformation Leadership Series. We have been discussing the importance of vision to transformation leadership—howbeit from a spiritual perspective. Nothing happens via human beings without inspiration from God and his supernatural realms or from the dragon (who is also called Satan or the Devil) and his lieutenants. Leaders need inspiration to influence and inspire followers and so they draw inspiration themselves from many avenues.
Last week, we looked at a somewhat theoretical and definitional view of inspiration. This week let us consider practical examples from human history and the biblical historical account. But before we proceed please not that leaders are not necessarily all positive or morally good. Some of the most influential persons who have shaped human history were not morally good and yet by the definition of leadership, they are leaders.
Adolf Hitler
An example is Adolf Hitler. In discussing leadership in business schools, the world over his name comes up because he was able to INFLUENCE a whole country to follow his inspiration (or inspirational ideas). Some chalk his success to his oratorical skills. But almost nothing is said in these schools about the root of his influence. It was not merely his ability to string words together or his charisma but the spirit [ (in)spirit-ation or inspiration ] of the words. Words can either be spirit and life or spirit and death (John 6:63). Something inspired Mr. Hitler and he in turn imparted the same spirit to his followers. They were influenced and that qualifies him as someone who led and masses followed his leadership. His leadership altered world history. Without him there might not have been a world war and the world constellation might have been drastically different from what it is today. Adolf was a leader but his leadership brought negative transformation because his inspiration came from, the wrong spiritual source. How can it be said with certainty that it came from the wrong source? Because using John 10:10, his legacy was death and not life.
Moses
Prophet Moses wrote about the period of creation when he was as yet not born. No human was born at the time so how could he write Genesis 1? He was not alive in the days of his forefathers and yet wrote about them. How was this possible? Simple answer is he was inspired. Inspiration occurs when a spirit enters a person or rests upon a person and grants them access to information they could not have acquired by natural means—via visions, dreams, similitudes etc. The spirit of God came upon Moses and gave him insight into what transpired at the beginning of time when man did not exist.
Moses And The 70 Elders
Leadership can be burdensome. Adam was given a helper suitable to him for this reason and Moses also needed helpers to assist him with the leadership burden. God selected 70 people to assist with the work of leadership but
never sent them to university or some leadership academy. If two or more people are to work together in leadership, they must agree in spirit. Agreement is more important than qualification from the best Ivy League schools. So instead of sending them to school, God inspired (in-spir-it-ed) them by the same spirit by which Moses, the leader they would be working under, had been inspired. Put differently, God gave them the same spirit that was on Moses so agreement would be cemented. Said in another way, God took the spirit which was upon the transformational leader, Moses and placed it on the potential leaders so they would be inspired by the leadership insight/vision that Moses had. There was no way Moses would be able to work with the 70 elders if they did not all have the same spirit. The cause is inspiration and the effect is agreement and inspired leadership.
Numbers 11:17 (KJV) "And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone."
Numbers 11:25-26 (KJV)
25 And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.
26 But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp.
Verse 25 says when God placed what was on the Prophet Moses on the 70, the 70 prophesied. How so? Because the spirit that was upon Moses was a spirit of prophecy. He was a prophet with whom God spoke face to face.
Root Of Understanding
Where does understanding come from? How do people understand how to lead, how to innovate, how to create etc.? How did Moses understand the ways of God? How did he know how to lead the nation of Israel? The answer is in the following scripture.
Job 32:7-8 (KJV)
7 I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.
8 But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.
Job 32:8 (AMPC) But there is [a vital force] a spirit [of intelligence] in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives men understanding. [Pro 2:6]
Leaders need clarity of understanding and that comes from the spiritual realm. It is the spirit, breath or inspiration of the Almighty in man that giveth him understanding. Notice that the word breath and inspiration are used interchangeably. In same manner, the breath of the dragon can create evil inspiration.
Beware Of Counterfeit
We all receive inspiration, though not everyone may not be aware of it. When we acted a certain way towards a subordinate or superior or had an idea to do this or that, that was inspiration. When we dressed for that function, it was by inspiration. Inspiration can be counterfeited. This has been alluded to in previous passages. Perhaps the clearest explanation for this is seen in Matthew 16. Jesus asked a question which Peter got right. Jesus’ response to Peter was:
Matthew 16:17 (KJV) And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
In this passage we see that there is information that comes from flesh and blood and then there is that which comes from Jesus’ Father which is in heaven. The latter is inspiration. For God is Spirit and they that worship Him must do so in Spirit and Truth. The problem is when some people hear from God, sometimes they think the inspiration they receive is continually from the same source—The Father. But this is not the case. In the same chapter, just after giving Peter a great commendation, Jesus gave Peter possibly the greatest rebuke of his life because accepted inspiration from Satan. Peter did not know how to differentiate between what was from The Father and other sources.
Matthew 16:22-23 (KJV)
22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
Peter received inspiration from The Father and then from Satan. When Jesus rebuked Peter and said, Get behind me Satan, he was referring to the spirit that was inspiring the words of Peter.
The End Of Inspiration Is Truth
The highest end of Godly inspiration is understanding of The Truth and it’s the Truth that sets free. Truth is not fact. Truth in Greek is alētheia which is defined as reality. God is Reality. Inspiration if godly, will always lead to source of inspiration—The Truth.
This is one of the highest aims of all true transformational leadership:
- to know or understand Truth (the Leader of all Leaders) so that Truth can be represented in that organization
- to become like The Truth,
- to be led by The Truth
- to be inspired by The Truth
If leadership is inspired by The Truth, then one can be sure that the legacy of such leadership will be eternal in scope, that is, sustainable. Leadership devoid of comprehension of The Truth is a wreck waiting to happen.
