“The Making of a Spiritual Leader”
In the Richard Pryor movie called “Brewster’s Millions,” the plot was that Pryor’s character, Brewster, was down on his luck when he found out his great uncle died and left him 300 million dollars. The catch was that he had to spend $30 million in 30 days and have no assets to show for it or he got nothing. His uncle was testing him to make sure he didn’t waste the full $300 million when he inherited it.
When Joseph was a young man, he had a dream that his brothers would bow down to him. They hated him when he told them the dream. He then had another dream showing not only his brothers bowing to him, but also his father and mother. His brothers were so angry they wanted to kill him. Instead, they threw him into a pit and sold him as a slave. He was then falsely accused of raping his master’s wife, and thrown into prison. It was nearly 14 years between his dream and the time he left prison to become second in command of Egypt.
When David was a teenager, he was anointed as the next king of Israel. It was then that he faced Goliath, was banished by Saul, hid in the desert, lived on the run, forced out of the nation, and fought many battles. It was nearly 15 years between the time that he was anointed king and actually became king. He was tested, just like Joseph, so that God could convert him from a shepherd into a king.
For the Apostle Paul, it was 10 years from his Damascus Road encounter to being asked by Barnabas to come and teach at Antioch.
This pattern is found all throughout the Bible. And, I believe God still does it today.
Psalm 105:19 says, “Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the Lord tested Joseph’s character” (NLT).
When God puts a dream in our hearts, we undergo testing. The greater the dream, the greater the test. God uses those tests to prove our character to make sure we don’t waste the dream. He knows we aren’t ready to handle the fulfillment. So, He tests us to help us become the person who will steward the dream well.
If God has given you a dream, be prepared to be tested and to wait for the fulfillment of it. There is a leadership calling inside of you waiting to come out, but it will take much perseverance to make that happen.
Because you have been anointed to lead, doesn’t mean you are ready. If you have been called, anointed and positioned, but not adequately prepared in every area of leadership responsibility, you will fail at some point.