[Spirit of Leadership] PracticeSample

Leading Your Family and Leaving a Legacy

At the end of Joshua’s life, he declared, “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” When you become a leader, your family will be very important to you. It is your first place of servanthood and leadership. Your family is not designed to serve you; you are designed to serve your family. God’s Word is really clear: If you can’t serve your family, you can’t lead God’s people. Some people claim great leadership with one family mess after another behind them. They have a lineage of bitterness, yet they’re saying that they are a prophet or prophetess trying to serve God. If you are going to serve God, if you are going to do Kingdom work, serve your family, love them, and help them serve Jesus Christ.

Joshua ended his leadership journey by leading the people into making a covenant with God. Joshua set up a “stone of witness” as a sure sign, a rock, an anchor that for generations to come would remind the people they had committed to serve the Lord their God. Joshua's testimony endured. Thousands of years later, we know about his commitment to his family, his humility, and his leadership. Will your testimony endure? Will it last? Have you put your trust in the Rock? 

The decisions you are making are establishing a testimony for the rest of your life. When you are old, you will look back on the past, either with regret or with joy. You want to be able to sit with your children and grandchildren and say, “I put my trust in the Rock.” Leave a testimony that will go beyond your lifetime, that will make a difference for the Kingdom of God forever and ever. None of us are guaranteed a long life, even if you feel invincible, immortal. Your life matters. Make something out of it, for the glory of God, and let the Spirit of leadership fill you for His Kingdom’s sake. 

Lord, please help us to love our families well. When it is all said and done, when it is over and we are in your presence forever, enjoying each other, enjoying eternity, let us leave a testimony, like Joshua, that makes a difference for generations to come. 

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