The Tests of a Leader

0:00There's a saying that goes, a leader cannot be trusted until that leader has been tested. And when you study scripture, you begin to see a pattern before God promotes a leader, he first tests that leader. I mean, think about it. You look at somebody like Abraham, he was tested. You look at David, he was tested. You look at Moses, he was tested. So if you're being tested right now, understand that God is testing you, not to forsake you, but to develop you to be the leader that he has called you to be. So today, we are going to talk about five tests that every leader must pass. Well, thank you guys so much for tuning in right here at the Love Always Ministries podcast. My name is Richard. And guys, today's conversation is going to be incredible. It's about five tests that every leader must pass.

1:00And maybe right now you're saying rich. I don't know if I could be watching this video because I'm not a leader. Could I tell you that every single one of us is a leader. If you are influencing people, you are a leader. So today's conversation is going to bless you immensely. And this conversation actually derives from my new book, Spirit Lead Leaders. That is out today. So guys, let's talk about the five tests every leader must pass. The first test that every leader must pass is this. It is the test of obscurity. When God's hand is on your life, you will go through a test called obscurity. And in this season, this is where the season where God starts to separate you. He starts to isolate you. You start to get alienated and out of nowhere, you start to see people get out of your life. And you don't understand why because at one moment

2:01they're on your side, but in the next season in your life, they start to leave your life. Could I tell you, when that is taking place, you were going through the test of obscurity. And the reason why God has to place you in the place called obscurity, it's because if this is the place where God starts to develop you. You see, when you're going through a place of obscurity, this is the season where it's between you and God, where you're all alone with God. And the Bible teaches us that the sheep knows the shepherd's voice. So when you're in the place of obscurity, it's where God is training your ear, why? It's because as leaders, we cannot lead effectively. If we cannot clearly hear from the Lord, and too many times, we can find ourselves not being able to hear the Lord clearly. And it could be that your relationship with God

3:02is not at a deep level. So what is God doing these moments? He starts training your ear. You start talking to him and he starts ministering to you, kind of like the way that Moses did. The Bible says that Moses was out in the wilderness for quite some time. The Bible says that there was a bush that was burning and who was talking to him, it was God. And notice that Moses was all alone. You see, these all alone moments is where God wants to minister to you and he wants to speak to you. So when you're in a place of obscurity, it's because God wants you to hear him clearly. But the reason why God also places us in a place of obscurity, it's because he wants us to see ourselves clearly. Could I tell you some of you here today, you don't see yourself clearly. You don't see yourself the way that God sees you. And too many times we have allowed labels and what people said about us to affect how we see ourselves, kind of reminds me of Gideon.

4:02When God tells Gideon, he goes to him and tells him, you're a mighty man of valor. What does Gideon do? He starts deflecting it. Why does he do that? It's because he doesn't see himself clearly. And when you're in this place of obscurity, God starts to cultivate the way that you see yourself way much better. And you start to understand your identity in Christ, but all this takes place in the place of obscurity. And too many times we don't like this place. You wanna know why? It's because we don't like to be alone. We like to be around people. We want people to always be with us. But can I tell you that being alone is the gift from God? You wanna know why? It's because when you're alone, you start to understand who you are. And when you're alone, you start to understand who your Heavenly Father is a lot more. And when you're alone, that's when God starts to weed out the people in your life who aren't for you. So not only does obscurity help you to hear God clearly

5:04and for you to see yourself clearly, but God also makes sure that the people around you see you clearly. Here's what I mean. I think about somebody like Joseph. God was raising this man Joseph up, right? Gave him a dream and what happens when he gets a dream? His brothers start hating on him and start disrespecting him, start saying, oh, look at that dream are coming. So what happens is this is that God has to separate Joseph from his brothers, why? Because sometimes in life, it is the closest people that kill our dreams. Sometimes it's the people who are around us that actually hinder us the most and too often the people that we're calling friends, God is calling them hindrances because they're not helping you to be the person that God has called you to be. And they're not seeing you the way that God sees you. And anytime you're around people who marginalize you, who minimize you, who disrespect you and who don't see you clearly,

6:05you're going to have a hard time to flourish. So what does God do? He puts you in this place all by yourself where God starts to weed out the wrong people and later on he starts to bring the right people in your life. The second test that we all have to go through is the test of integrity. You know, I once heard a pastor say there are three peas that every leader must deal with. And the three peas are power pennies and panties. Let me say that again, power pennies and panties. When you're a leader, you're going to have to go through this test of integrity. And you know what's interesting as a leader, we will have influence. But could I tell you that just because you have influence, doesn't mean that you have integrity, but you will need integrity to uphold your influence. And when you are going through this test called an integrity,

7:06this is the test that we need to pass because this test is the test that sustains the influence that God has given our life. And if there's one person that I know who passed the test of integrity, it would have to be my man, Joseph. Let me read something to you in Genesis 39 11. One day, however, no one else was around when he went in to do his work. She came and grabbed him by his cloak demanding, come on, sleep with me. Joseph tore himself away, but he left his cloak in her hand as he ran from the house. I love this passage because here's Joseph, right? In Potiphar's house, he's a servant, he's there taking care of business and out of nowhere, Potiphar's wife has a thing for Joseph. And what does Potiphar's wife want to do? Clearly, this woman wants to sleep with Joseph, but I love what Joseph did.

8:07Notice that when this woman wanted to sleep with Joseph, notice that this man did not entertain the thought, notice that he didn't have a conversation with her about it. No, instead the scripture said that he fleed from her. We have to understand something when we get influenced as a leader. When we get influenced as a leader, things that were once hard for us won't be as hard for us. Here's what I mean. Look at Joseph. Joseph didn't have to work to get Potiphar's wife. I mean, he didn't have to go and try to hit on her and try to do a million things to get this woman's attention. No, it came freely to him. And as leaders, things will start to come freely to us and there's moments where we're not even want to have to work for it, but it's going to come naturally to us. And this right here is one of the greatest tests you will have to face because when you get a test like this,

9:10it is very easy for you to succumb to temptation. It is very easy for you to succumb to do things that are not in alignment to your faith. And what I love about Joseph was that Joseph protected his integrity at all costs. Instead of entertaining less, he fleed from us. And I want to tell you here today that we cannot battle less. We are not even called to fight against less. The Bible teaches us when it comes to less instead of fighting it, we need a flea from it. And too many times the reason why we are getting defeated by lust is because we are fighting it instead of fleeing from it. And our man, Joseph, is a great example of being a man of integrity. He was a man who was the same in private and in public. He was the man that allowed his yes to be yes and his no to be no. He was a man who honored the people above him, my friend.

10:13The reason why God can favor somebody like Joseph and allow this man to lead multitudes was because God could trust him. My question for you is could God trust you? Could God trust you to be faithful in the private? Could God trust you when you have the opportunity to take advantage with somebody but you don't? Could God trust you? Could God trust you when it comes to money? Could God trust you when it comes to power? Because if we want to see God favor us and if we want to see God elevate our leadership, it all starts if God could trust you. The third test that we're all going to have to pass is the test of insecurity. Could I tell you that you cannot lead insecure? And if you lead insecure, you'll eventually hurt the people that you lead.

11:14Why? Because like the old saying goes hurt people, hurt people. And when God starts to raise you mightily in the kingdom and when God starts to raise you as a leader, there will be times when your insecurities could get the best of you. And there's somebody in my mind that's coming to my head and his name is King Saul. Let me tell you about King Saul. King Saul had one of the greatest leaders under his belt and his name was David. David was this young shepherd's boy, you know who David is. David was the man who slayed Goliath. David was the man the Bible says that whatever he did was successful. David was literally killing it for Saul, killing armies and Saul had this man of God who was under him who was incredible. Until one moment happened in his life, let me read this to you in 1 Samuel 187. It says this was their song. Saul has killed his thousands and David his 10,000s.

12:16What did this do to Saul? This made Saul very angry. What's this he said? They credit David with 10,000s and me with only thousands. Next they'll be making him their king. So from that time on, Saul kept a jealous eye on David. You see, Saul was an insecure leader. He couldn't see other people be raised above him. He couldn't see someone like David be used greater than he was being used. And the scripture said, because he had insecurity, now it formed a jealousy. And now Saul wants to go and kill one of his disciples. How did this all take place? It all happened because the spirit of insecurity. And whenever insecurity comes into your lives, you will start killing people that God actually sent your way. And those people are the people that are going to help you. But when you're insecure,

13:17you start to develop a jealous eye and not a healthy eye towards the people that you are leading. Let me break it down like this. Insecure leaders want power, but secure leaders empower others. Insecure leaders compete with others, but secure leaders celebrate with others. Insecure leaders want to see themselves win, but secure leaders want to see other people win. Saul was an insecure leader. And that insecurity affected his leadership ability. And I want to tell you here today that when God starts to elevate you, he's going to bring great people into your life. And instead of having a jealous eye towards them, we have to literally rebuke and cast that spirit out and get a fresh perspective of who was on your team. But I'm telling you, when God brings these people into your life,

14:17understand they are not a foe, they are not an enemy. They are a friend. And we are only as good as our team. Do not allow your disciple to become your rival. Instead, do whatever it takes to help them to become the best person that God has called them to be. Pass the test of insecurity. The four tests we're going to have to go through is the test of adversity. I once heard a pastor say the greatest university is the university called adversity. And isn't that true? It's in the place of adversity that God starts to develop us and starts to strengthen us. And all of us are going to go through different adversities. Maybe for some of you, maybe you might have to deal with unforgiveness. Maybe like Joseph, here you are doing the right thing, but then the wrong thing happens to you. Now you're put in the situation. Do I get back at this person?

15:18And do I retaliate? Or do I give this up to God? There's these seasons that adversity comes. And maybe, just maybe, that's not your struggle. Maybe your struggle is, maybe it might be your health. Maybe like Joe, about him nowhere, you start battling with like diseases and your health starts to get into shambles. And now, you know, you're in this moment where you're like, what's happening to me? It is because you're going through this test called adversity and the enemies trying to attack you. And I know this to be true because I've have dealt with that. You know, I never forget in 2014, I was dealing with alopecia. And if you don't know what alopecia is, it's an autoimmune disease where, you know, for me, I would get these ball spots on my head. Well, I never forget this one day it was a Monday and I was coming back from work. I jumped into the shower and I started putting shampoo in my hair. And as I was putting shampoo in my hair, my hair started to fall out all in the bathtub.

16:19And I'm like starting to freak out. So I hurried up and, you know, put the water all over my head, got the shampoo off me and I go and I open the door and I look myself in the mirror and I kid you not. All of my hair in my eyebrows, all left my head in my body and there were all in the bathtub. And guys, I started to freak out. I look at myself and I, oh my goodness, what's happening to me? So I go and I sit down on the floor and I am literally crying in these thoughts just come to me. And I just hear like the enemy telling me, oh, look at you, Richard. You're over here being faithful, serving God faithfully, but God has forsaken you. God has rejected you because, you know, why would this happen to you? You know, here you are doing all these things and now your health is in shambles and guys, all this was happening to you and I was hearing all these voices and I'll never forget it. As those voices were loud, I silenced those voices.

17:19I got up and I looked at the mirror and I said, God, I'm not mad at you. And I said it again, God, I'm not mad at you. Instead, I am madly in love with you and I will do whatever it takes, Lord. I don't care God if I get embarrassed God or there's moments where people make fun of me because I don't have hair. I don't care God, I'm going to serve you faithfully. So I said that, wipe the tears from my eyes and drive myself off and I was totally a new person. The next day I get a text message from the leadership team, they say to Richard, you're on announcements the next day and I'm like, oh my goodness, Wednesday, that was a Wednesday, midweek service to get up on stage in front of everybody. I won't lie to you, I was full of anxiety, I was afraid, but I told myself, you know what? I'm going to do it. I am not going to let my health to determine how I serve God. I'm going to serve faithfully and I'm going to serve him well. So I went that day, I won't lie to you. I was nervous. People are asking me what's wrong with you.

18:19People thought I had cancer. They were asking all these questions and it was tough, but I went up. That Wednesday got on that pulpit and everybody was like, what's wrong with Richard? And I can see it in their eyes because I had hair, you know? And I got up on the microphone and I started doing the announcements and I went up and I just told my God that no matter what happens to my life, Lord, that I'm going to faithfully serve you. And I don't care what adversities or what the enemy tries to throw my way, I am going to remain faithful. And I want to tell you guys that that was one of the hardest seasons in my life. But I wasn't going to allow a hardship to determine my faithfulness to God. And I wasn't going to allow a hardship, determine if I was going to go all in with God. No, instead, I made a decision that day and I said, you know what God, if we're going to do this, let's go all in. And I don't care what the enemy throws my way. I am going to be faithful. And could I tell you here today, guys, that all of us are going to go through the test of adversity.

19:23And let me tell you something that the greatest message you and I will ever preach is not on a pulpit, but it's how we live our life. Anybody can go and preach when the sun is out. Anybody can be faithful when nothing is happening to them. But who are you when adversities hit? Who are you when the enemy starts to throw stuff your way? Who are you when people start to overlook you and people start to do you wrong? Are you going to keep your heart pure? And are you going to lead? Well, are you going to allow that to affect the impurities of your heart if we are going to be leaders who are going to be used mightily for God's kingdom that we need to pass the test of adversity. And I am telling you, when you pass this test, you are going to see God develop you and strengthen you in a whole different way. And I love this test. You want to know where I love this test? Because that test burned off all insecurities in my life. That test burned that performance spirit off of my life.

20:26And sometimes we don't understand what God is doing, but you could trust and believe that God has a purpose behind everything. Because we serve a purposeful God. There is a purpose behind every test. And when you get out of that test, you'll start to understand why God allowed you to go through it. The last and final test is this. It is the test of popularity. The Bible says this in Proverbs 27, 21. Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but a person is tested by being praised. Could I tell you, one of the hardest tests that we will ever face is sometimes it's not the test of obscurity. It's not the test of integrity. It's not the test of insecurities, but it is the test of popularity. Why do I say that? It's because when people start to praise you, when people start to celebrate you,

21:26when you start to get elevated, it is very easy for you to allow pride to get the best of you, where at one moment, we're over here seeking for God's guidance, we're seeking for God's instruction. But now, since you're being elevated, you start to say things like, I no longer need to inquire God. I no longer need to give him the praise. I no longer need to seek him. And sometimes the greatest test will face is this test of popularity when God starts to use you mightily. And too many times this has affected so many people because when God starts to use you and you start to get power, you start to believe that you could be selective in your obedience to God. Kind of reminds me of Saul when God goes and tells Saul, kill all the amalachites and what does Saul do?

22:27Saul is selective on what he wants to kill. I'm the king, God. I mean, yeah, I'll kill the amalachites, but I'm going to save the king, Aegag and I'm going to take all the plunder and what happened. When King Saul did this, the scripture says that Samuel came to him and Samuel said, what are you doing? God told you to kill everybody. Why did you do this? And he's like, oh, he starts to make excuses. Well, you know, I killed the amalachites and he starts to say, he starts to justify all these things instead of being fully obedient to God. And I love what the verse says and says when you were little in your own eyes. In other words, when you were humble, when you were a nobody, that's when you were that obedient person. And could I tell you that obedience is always better than sacrifice? God wants us to be obedient and to remain in a posture of humility. But what affects us when we go through the test of popularity?

23:29It's our pride. Our pride says, I don't need God. Our pride says, I did it myself. Our pride says, I can be selective in what I want to obey. And what do you end up doing? You end up putting your guard down. Now, I want to tell you, leader. I want to tell you, man, a woman of God, never drop your guard, remain in a posture of humility because King Saul did not remain in a posture of humility that kingdom was ripped from him. And too often in this world, so many times we've had seen great leaders fall because they couldn't pass the test of popularity. They allowed fame to get to their head. But I want us to be different leaders. May we be spirit led leaders that honor God always, whether we have a lot or a little, whether our influence is growing, or our influence is small, whether our followers are up,

24:29our followers are down. None of this matters because what matters most is making sure that God gets all the glory. And let's be honest, if it wasn't for God, we would be nobody. If it wasn't for God, you know, anointing us, we wouldn't have influence. If it wasn't for God increasing us and using us, we wouldn't be in the position that we're in. And I want to remind you here today to never allow success to get to your head, never allow popularity to get into your head. Instead, remain in the posture of humility, reminding yourself that all of the glory belongs to God, that if it wasn't for God, I would not be here today. May we forever remain a leader who remains humble because when you're a leader who remains in humility, you will be a leader who lasts.

25:29Well, my friend, I hope this message encourage you, the five tests of a leader. And I pray that you will pass those tests. And I believe that you will, just a friendly reminder, spirit led leader is out today. You can get it on Amazon, our love always ministries.com. Well, before I let you go, I want to pray for you as we close today's video. Father, we come before you in the name of Jesus and God, I thank you for the love always community God. And I pray in the name of Jesus that you would help them pass this these tests God. And I thank you God that you're giving them the strength and the grace to do it. I pray for a fresh anointing God over their lives. And I thank you Jesus as you're raising mighty men of God and mighty men of women for the kingdom God. I pray that you would bless them, favor them, anoint them and that you would give them wisdom God. So God, we just thank you Lord for what you're doing in their lives Lord. And we thank you Lord for what's to come God.

26:30So I pray in the name of Jesus Lord for great leadership Lord. And I pray God that we would forever remain in a posture of humility. God, we thank you for all that you're doing and then some in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen and amen. Well, thank you guys once again for tuning in. I hope this video or if you're listening on podcasts, I hope this audio blessed you. Once again, you guys, let's pass these tests and let's be a spirit led leader.