While doing devotions over the past week, I saw something rather interesting that has been in my spirit. I’ve been reading from 1st Samuel…

1 Samuel 11:7-8

“When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he burned with anger. He took a pair of oxen, cut them into pieces, and sent the pieces by messengers throughout Israel, proclaiming, "This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not follow Saul and Samuel." Then the terror of the LORD fell on the people, and they turned out as one man.”

Interesting huh? Yea…that is what I thought. I don’t know about you but when I think of leading people I don’t think about cutting up animals into pieces and then saying to everyone around that if you don’t follow me, all of your animals will end up “dead meat”.

What a huge contrast between Saul and David in leadership. I don’t ever recall a time in David’s life where threats to people’s property were ever made in an effort to establish loyalty. Maybe it’s in this first act of leadership that we prophetically see what type of leadership style Saul had. Another thing I noticed was that he wasn’t the type of man to face battles without the help of numbers. Think about Jonathon and his armor bearer facing a whole army of Philistines and being victorious. Jonathon didn’t call for any cavalry. He believed God for a great work. The same can be said for David many times over.

Here is what I gather from this passage and thought on the subject…

Great leaders are established in great faith. Great leaders rely more on what God can do and less on how much people can do. Great leaders experience fear just like everyone else, when faced with overwhelming odds, but persevere by having an intimate relationship with God. Great leaders don’t establish rule with fear. They embrace and serve those that they are given to lead with a fierce passion. Great leaders know that God is in control and their hope, trust, and faith reside in Him and Him alone. They know that one man filled with the Spirit of the Living God is more powerful than an entire army.

What leadership style are you?