Help Others Realize their Potential and Grow [BUILD] to use it for God's glory
1 Thessalonians 5:11 "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."
Today I am going to focus on a key attribute in leadership which is about helping others realize their potential and also grow in whatever God has called them to do for his glory.
I have strongly come to believe that hadn't someone seen potential in me, and hadn't they seen that I had the ability to lead, then they wouldn't have recommended the seminars, conferences, books to read etc. I am where I am today just because someone believed in the God who raised me up, someone believed that I had some worth in me and I want to urge us as leaders that this is something that should never leave us, it plays a part in building an army of leaders when you are gone, It plays a part in raising a generation that will in turn raise generations, that creates a multiplier effect which will never end.
We shouldn't rob the future of many that look at us as leaders, we should help them, we should build them up, we should help them realize that they have so much within them that can change their situation, change the world around them and change the course of their future because they will have tapped into a well of untapped potentials, resources, wisdom etc
Dr Myles Munroe once said “You must decide if you are going to rob the world or bless it with the rich, valuable, potent, untapped resources locked away within you.”
Sometimes as leaders or people of influence we are preoccupied by the making of ourselves and our names (such ambition is detrimental to the church or any other organisation and in the long run it kills). There can never be any joy when some of the testimonies given of leaders is all about what they did and building & nurturing of people to lead is something not mentioned. Such a scene is a bad script for any movie making, Jesus took time to build and harness the potential of the 12 disciples, a point came in the training school when he told Peter that he was the rock he would build the church, remember Peter was the same person who denied him 3 times but Jesus love for him was not reduced either by the denial or whatever else Peter did. As leaders the greatest thing you can ever build is people not structures because people will sustain even the structures that are to be put in place.
I remember vividly that the first person/people who saw potential in me was/were my close friends Malinga Arthur, Daniel Malinga, Isiagi Moses, Kenneth Ayebazibwe, Fabian Odong, Andrew Odoch, Wamono Moses, Eddie Kiyegga, Nancy Amito, Prosper Ahabwe, Peter Kamese, Patricia Achipa and many others. But one of the greatest things I have come to realize in life is that if we all knew the potential that is within us given by God, for others to help us out it would be even much easier.
This is what the bible says in 2 Corinthians 4:7 NLT "We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves." other versions call the Light Shining 'Treasure'. So before others can see potential in you, see the potential first within you.
God uses what he has placed on the inside of us to do way beyond what we are physically limited with. Ephesians 3:20 clearly says "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,"
What kind of leader are you or what kind of leader do you desire to be, I always wanted to make things happen, create new ways of doing certain things, myself and the team in our earlier years of working together told ourselves we have so much potential, we chose to study, work hard and read books, we chose to pray and seek the face of God hoping that in the near future what we envisioned would come to pass, and this was as a result of us realizing what God had placed within us.
I want to tell you as leaders that we did not compete but instead we complemented each other, where one was weak, we stood in strong, where one was strong, we stood in stronger. This is the key lesson i learnt and continue to learn - when you build yourself up, it becomes easier for you to build others, God built us so that we could build others, we were and are still blessed to be a blessing.
I love this quote from Dr Myles Munroe "People generally fall into one of three groups: the few who make things happen, the many who watch things happen, and the overwhelming majority who have no notion of what happens. Every person is either a creator of fact or a creature of circumstance. He either puts color into his environment, or, like a chameleon, takes color from his environment"
Zig Ziglar also says that when "When you catch a glimpse of your potential, that's when passion is born."
John C. Maxwell crowns it for me by saying "A word of encouragement from a teacher to a child can change a life. A word of encouragement from a spouse can save a marriage. A word of encouragement from a leader can inspire a person to reach her potential."
A few things a leader can embody
#A leader should build confidence even in the weakest member of the team - The best advise any other struggling leader can get is a vote of confidence. This is done by reminding them of the vision you all share and what you want to achieve and also reminding them of their roles and how important it is in achieving this, they lose more if they don’t do what they are called to do, so someone else takes the blessing when they don’t do their work because it’s be done by another person. In saying so they need to be encouraged and prayed for and loved since one of the virtues of the one who is strong is to help lift up the one who is weak. it is a privilege to serve and an honor to be chosen by God. 2 Chronicles 9:8
#As a leader it is better to work with a more motivated and encouraged person than one who knows he can do it but is complaining and sulking all through. You also need the strength of the motivated person. However you stand in the place of encouraging and building confidence and in the place of rebuking to correct the wrong ones and lead them in the right way if they are willing to be helped.
#A Leader is as good as he listens - Learn to Listen to those you serve with, they hear what you haven’t heard and they see what you haven’t seen, they have touched what you haven’t touched and smelt what you haven’t smelt, these can help propel the Service to one another and the greater good to greater heights. - James 1:19
God bless you so much
