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Leaders Find a Way for the Team to Win
2 Chronicles 34:3–35:19
HAVE YOU ever thought about what separates the leaders who achieve victory from those who suffer defeat? What does it take to be a winner? Victorious leaders share an inability to accept defeat. The alternative to winning seems totally unacceptable to them, so they figure out what must be done to achieve victory, and then they go after it with everything at their disposal.
Leaders who practice the Law of Victory believe that anything less than success is unacceptable. And they have no Plan B. That keeps them fighting.
Winning is an inside job. The team that achieves victory is the one that first wins its internal battles. And the first one to face and win these internal battles is the leader.
Achieving a Personal Victory
How does a leader seek victory over self? Consider how Josiah conquered himself:
1. He remained open and teachable. Leaders who remain willing to learn and open to change put themselves in a position to win. Josiah demonstrated that kind of openness and teachability. As a 16-year-old, instead of trying to convince everyone that he knew it all, he humbled himself. He departed from the ways of his arrogant father and sought God.
2. He removed obstacles carried forward from the past. All leaders have to deal with baggage. One way or another, a leader has to win battles involving past problems. For Josiah, a major battle involved idol worship, a problem since the time of King Solomon. He courageously swept the country clean of idols. As you seek victory in your organization, you must face and overcome problems from the past. They may be ineffective traditions, incompetent players who need to be released, errors in judgment, or unrepented-of sins. Whatever they are, you must find the courage to face and resolve them.
3. He realized what he needed to give and gave it. Victory always carries a personal cost. For Josiah, that meant repairing the temple and reinstating the Passover. Out of his own holdings, he gave thirty thousand lambs and young goats and three thousand cattle to be sacrificed (2 Chr. 35:7, 18).
4. He recognized the key to victory. Every leader must find the key to victory. For Josiah, that key was repentance. After the Book of the Law was discovered and read, he genuinely repented of his own sins and of those of his people, then prompted his countrymen to follow his lead. Every leadership situation contains a key to victory. If you are the leader, you must find that key and turn it.
5. He retained a personal commitment to succeed. People never become more committed than their leader. Josiah’s personal commitment inspired the people to be faithful despite their evil desires and history (2 Chr. 34:31). If members of an organization discover they have greater commitment than their leaders, they will find another organization with another leader.
Helping Others Break Through for Victory
If you’re fighting the necessary inside battles, you are putting yourself in the best place to lead your team to victory. But that may not be enough. For your organization to reach the next level, your people need their own breakthroughs. Here’s a good way to help them achieve their own triumphs:
1. Understand breakthrough timing.There are three prime times for leading people to a breakthrough. People are ripe for a change when…
• they hurt enough that they need a breakthrough.
• they learn enough that they want a breakthrough.
• they receive enough that they are able to break through.
Provide your people with learning opportunities, give them resources and encouragement, and pay attention to where they are mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. Then, when they’re ready, give a little nudge to help them over the hump.
2. Pray for a breakthrough.The best thing you can do for your people is to pray for them. The eminent evangelist John Wesley observed, “God does nothing but in answer to prayer.” Ask God for a breakthrough. Then ask God to help you do your part, to reveal to the people their part, and to fulfill His part.
3. Become a breakthrough person. If you show what it means to be a breakthrough person, your people will value breakthroughs. Most breakthrough people exhibit these qualities.
• Vulnerability: They realize they aren’t perfect, they can’t do it all, and they need God to make up the difference.
• Humility: They’re not out to prove anything and they don’t care who gets the credit. They’re glad to share the spotlight with others.
• Transparency : They live their lives as open books. They admit where they’re coming short as well as where God is working in their lives.
4. Find breakthrough leaders. Gathering strong leaders adept at breakthroughs can make a difference in your organization. It’s like having a team of breakthrough catalysts working alongside you.
If you want a winning team, you must have winning players. The best way to do that is to create breakthroughs. If you can become a breakthrough person who leads a team of breakthrough leaders who oversee an organization filled with breakthrough people, then victory becomes almost inevitable.
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