Matt.4v19-20: Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men”. They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

Acts 4v13: Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.

You are welcome back to our discussion on developing your leadership ability and I hope you have been blessed with the things I have shared with you so far. You have leadership potential and you need to know how to develop and harness what you have gotten. For most people, their leadership ability is latent or inactive because it has not been put to work. This was what happened to Peter, John, James, and Andrew until they met Jesus; their leadership ability was passive. But glory be to God, their meeting with the leader of leaders, i.e. Jesus Christ, changed their narrative forever. You can take your leadership potential to another level if you take advantage of the things that God has put in place to help you to do this. This will be the focus of today’s discussion, and I believe you are ready for a life-transforming encounter. So, what does it take to really develop your leadership ability?

HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR LEADERSHIP ABILITY?

1. By seizing the opportunities around you. Yes, success comes when opportunity meets with preparation. The opportunities to develop and grow your leadership ability abounds around you, you just need eyes to spot them. Although not everyone easily spots these opportunities, they are there for the taking, and believe me; God has also provided this kind of opportunity for you. That’s why I pray for you that your eyes will be opened to see these wonderful opportunities because eyes that look are common, but eyes that see are rare (Pro.20:12).

Dearly beloved, I want you to realize that these opportunities can come directly or indirectly and formally or informally. You just need to be vigilant and sensitive! However, I have noticed that these opportunities come in certain ways, and I’ll like to share some of these ways with us. These opportunities can be in the form of:

• Opportunities to be taught/trained or mentored. This was the kind of opportunity that the Apostles had with Jesus as recorded in (Matt.4:19-20: Acts4:13). So you need to be sensitive also to the mentoring opportunities around you because it’s an avenue to develop your leadership.
• Opportunities to serve. This was the kind of opportunity that David had too. He served his father, King Saul, and his people, which were instrumental to his development as a leader. My dear reader, are you paying attention to the opportunities to serve around you today? (2ki.3:11).
• Opportunities to be in a place where leadership is taught and valued. This is a golden and rare opportunity to have and believe me, you need to grab this opportunity with the whole of your heart if you are in such a kind of environment (1Sam22:1-2).
• Opportunities based on circumstances and availability. These are opportunities that come to you by chance or the situations of life (Isa.6:5).

My dearly beloved, these are just some of the examples of the opportunities that the almighty will bring your way in order to grow your capacity to lead. You need to seize these golden opportunities henceforth because they are your pathway to greatness. Will you begin to do so from today?

Other Scriptural References: (Lk.9:57-62; 1Sam.3:1-7; 19:3-5; 17:12-18; Lk.16:10-12; Isa.48:17; 1Cor.16:9; Eph.5:16).

Prayer for Today: Heavenly Father, help me spot the golden opportunities you have placed around me for greatness in Jesus name, amen.

CONFESSION: Lord, open my eyes in spotting and maximizing the opportunities for leadership development that you have placed around my life. I will not be lazy or indifferent to these wonderful avenues and platforms you have designed for my lifting. I chose to take advantage of them. I chose to be better. I chose to learn, relearn and unlearn through these avenues, and I am fully persuaded that my story would change for the better in Jesus name, amen.

Pastor Yemi Adeoti

Yemi Adeoti is a pastor, teacher, life coach and mentor & also a prolific writer.