How to Become a Spiritual Leader

Introduction

If there is one thing that we need more of, its spiritual leaders. But not these celebrity spiritual leaders, spiritual leaders in everyday life.

Spiritual leaders at the job site, spiritual leaders in the church, spiritual leaders in the home, and at the ball field.

Well, what exactly does it mean to be a spiritual leader?

Spiritual leadership, as Blackaby defines it, is “moving people onto God’s agenda.”

And we should all want to be on God’s agenda, and not our own.

And when we get on God’s agenda, there are something that take place.

I. The Fullness it Brings

Joshua 5:9 NKJV

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day.

A. The Listening Ear of Prayer

All throughout this narrative, Joshua is in constant connection with God. How is it that Joshua continually hears from the Lord? Well, it’s certainly not because he is spending all of his time visiting the troops. It’s not because he is working on administrative tasks all day. And it’s not because he is spending hours in the field practicing his fighting technique.

There is only one way to be in this type of communication with God, and that is through the listening ear of prayer.

When we think of prayer, we tend to think of prayer as our communication with God…

However, that is how the Lord directs us. That is how He tells is His word.

But what I don’t want you to do is mistake talking to God through prayer with listening to God through prayer.

Our prayer lives and our personal lives would reach absolute fullness if we would learn to sit in the presence of God and listen to what He is saying.

1. “The Lord Said to Joshua”

I want you to notice something about the book of Joshua.

There are at least 15 times in this book where it says, “The Lord said to Joshua.”

Right here, chapter 5:9, is one of them.

If you’re unfamiliar with the story of Joshua, his great feat is that he fought the battle of Jericho.

Jericho was a city that was fortified with two great walls that surrounded the city. It was, by earthly terms, something that could never be defeated…and yet, it was.

Well, we all have Jericho’s in our life. We all have situations and fears, circumstances and hurts, and the world says that those things can never be defeated.

And what we do is whine and complain about those things and talk about how they can never be done.

But, what I want you to notice about this verse is that Joshua found all of his success through listening to God in prayer.

Up to this point in the narrative, God has spoken to Joshua six times.

Turn back to chapter 1 and follow along:

Joshua 1:1 NKJV

After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying:

This is the time when God tells Joshua, I have already commanded you and promised you, believe in me and you will not fail.

Joshua 3:7 NKJV

And the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

This is when Israel is preparing to cross the Jordan river. The river at this time of the year was flooded and to cross it was impossible.

So, when God told Joshua to cross, it by an act of faith that Joshua obeyed.

Joshua 4:1 NKJV

And it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan, that the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying:

Once Joshua obeyed the Lord in accomplishing the impossible, the Lord spoke to him again.

Joshua 4:15 NKJV

Then the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying,

Joshua 5:2 NKJV

At that time the Lord said to Joshua,

Now, we have arrived here at our text…5:9.

So, here’s the point…

All of the strength and success that Joshua had didn’t come from him talking to God, but it came from him listening to God and then obeying what He said.

How many times did Joshua speak to God?

There are only two times that we see Joshua talking to God instead of listening to God.

The first time takes place in Joshua 7 after a defeat. The reason that Israel was defeated was because there was sin in the camp.

But do you want to know the nature of Joshua’s prayer? It wasn’t a prayer of faith, it was a prayer of doubt and of weakness. It was a prayer confused about why God’s faithfulness didn’t come through.

The second time takes place in Joshua 10, and that was the day that God made the sun stand still.

But Joshua 10:14 shows us something that we need to comprehend if we want to have a full prayer life.

Joshua 10:14 NKJV

And there has been no day like that, before it or after it, that the Lord heeded the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel.

We want God to fight for us and listen to us like He listened to Joshua that day.

But church, God doesn’t take orders from us. He is God and we need to take orders from Him.

The reason that we cannot win the victory in our own life is because we are too busy trying to enlist God in our army instead of enlisting in His.

To win the victory, quit talking and start listening.

B. The Lasting Effects of Egypt

Joshua 5:9 NKJV

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day.

I want you to think about the relationship between Egypt and Israel.

When it started, it was pretty good. The man named Joseph worked his way up to be second in command in the nation of Egypt, and his eleven brothers and his father benefited from that because they given land to raise their families on under the care and protection of this powerful nation.

However, the Bible says that Joseph and all that generation died, and the new Pharoah didn’t know Joseph or what he did for Egypt in the past.

So, what happens?

The Egyptians enslaved the Israelites. For four hundred years they lived under the tyranny of that nation, until Moses came and delivered them from bondage.

However, just now in Joshua 5:9 is God saying that He has rolled away the reproach of Egypt from them.

Now, that should be interesting when we read that because there has been a forty year time period that has passed from the day they left Egypt, to this day when they are on the other side of the Jordan.

But even though Israel was physically removed from Egypt, even though they no longer held the status of a slave, an entire generation chose to live as if they were still enslaved.

The entire time they had freedom, they were asking Moses if they could return to Egypt!

What this indicates to me is that the generation that died there in the wilderness was never psychologically, spiritually, or emotionally detached from Egypt. Even though they had a new position and a new freedom, they chose to stay in bondage.

Application

Now, it’s easy to pick on Israel, but we do the same thing.

God has said that we are sanctified, and we are washed, but our problem is that we are always trying to return to Egypt.

We don’t like how we look, we don’t like the clothes we have, we don’t like the car we drive, we don’t like the house we live in, we don’t like the spouse we’re married to, we don’t like the friends we have, we don’t like the church we attend…etc. etc.

So, what do we do?

Financial Ruin

Well, maybe we go out and we financially ruin ourselves trying to buy a bunch of things to make us happy, but behind everything we purchase is a mountain of debt that we’re too scared to climb. So then, we can’t even enjoy the nice things that we have because we’re too worried about how we’re going to pay for it.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with having nice stuff, but I’m not about to become a slave to the bank in order to have it.

Emotional and Psychological Ruin

Maybe you’ve suffered so emotional ruin from life’s circumstance and it’s enslaved you.

It’s possible that you grew up in a chaotic environment and you swore to yourself that you would never live in a house like that again.

But what’s taking place? Because you are emotionally trapped by your past you’re trying to control everything and every circumstance, and by doing that you’re creating chaos in everyone else’s life. You might feel better, but the people that you’re trying to control definitely don’t.

You dad was abusive or your family was so angry and confrontational, and so now you’re so afraid of conflict and hurt feelings that you’ve enabled bad behavior inside your own home because you refuse to deal with it.

Your parents neglected you and now you’re so air tight that the rest of your family can’t even breathe.

Some man or some woman hurt you so badly that every criticism that you feel, hear, or see drowns you in emotional turmoil.

Roll Away that Reproach

I’m not sure what you’ve been through, but I want you to know that God stands ready to roll that approach away from your life.

Do you know what that word reproach means?

It means “reviling” It means “shame” It mean “taunt”…it means “disgrace”.

Whatever it is in your life that has caused you hurt and pain…whatever has happened to you that triggers those hard feelings of shame and disgrace, God can roll that reproach away from your life.

C. Remembering God’s Freedom

How did they get the shame to roll away?

In v. 2-8, they remembered the covenant that God made with them, and they cut off the uncleanliness from their body.

This was circumcision…and circumcision represents three things.

It represents a removal from anything that will cause infection and uncleanliness.

It shows us that redemption and holiness will come through blood and suffering.

It shows that obedience to God isn’t always comfortable, but it’s always best.

It might not be comfortable for you to release the guilt of your past decisions, it might not be comfortable for you to forgive the offending party, and it might not be comfortable for you to deal with the discomfort in your own home, but it’s always best.

God has said in His word that He has delivered His people from every earthly power.

So why are you still carrying around so much baggage? Don’t you want to live in God’s fullness? Then live in His freedom by removing the guilt of the past in faith.

Look now in v. 10

Joshua 5:10 NKJV

Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho.

What is the Passover?

The Passover is a time where Israel celebrates God’s angel of death passing over those who have faith in Him.

There they are, and they are celebrating Passover with a renewed passion. The covenant has just been restored…they have crossed the Jordan in faith and are now on the planes of Jericho. They’ve done it, they’ve taken the walk of faith and are now in the Promised land!

Joshua 5:11–12 NKJV

And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain, on the very same day. Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year.

This is how the Bible described the produce of Cannan.

Numbers 13:23–24 NKJV

Then they came to the Valley of Eshcol, and there cut down a branch with one cluster of grapes; they carried it between two of them on a pole. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs.

I mean, grapes so big, two men had to carry them on their shoulders suspended from a pole!

When they were living in their past sins and captivities, they were restricted to manna. But when they entered into God’s promises, they were eating clusters of grapes so big it took two men to carry them around.

That’s the difference in remaining stagnant in your faith and actively seeking a relationship with God.

The manna is what we eat when we are saved but the reproach of Egypt is in our life. The fruit of God’s promises is what we eat when we obey Him and love in Him by faith.

So, not only is there the fulness that it brings, there is the obedience that it requires.

II. The Obedience it Requires

Joshua 5:13–14 NKJV

And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?” So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?”

The Bible said in v. 10 that all this was taking place on the plains of Jericho.

And now we see Joshua, there he is in the field and he is strategizing how he is going to defeat this enemy. In his mind, God has already given him the promise of victory, and now Joshua just needs to put his experienced military mind to work.

Then, the Bible says that he sees a man with his sword out.

Now, if you’re in battle, and another man you don’t know comes to you with his sword in his hand, either he is there to fight for you or he is there to fight against you.

So, Joshua asks.

Now, this man wasn’t just any man. The that the Bible is describing here is Jesus. His response to Joshua is “No”.

“Are you for us or against us?”

“No”.

That’s a complete sentence right there.

But then Jesus says, “as Commander of the army of the Lord, I have come now.”

What He was saying is, “I am not for you, I am over you.” And as a result of that, Joshua bows down and he begins to worship the Lord.

A. Public Victories are Won in Private Places

There are certain church leaders that I respect deeply. There are some preachers that I want to model my life and ministry after. And when I learn from them, and when I hear them speak, the more I know this principle is true.

I am convinced, even though I am not totally there in my walk with the Lord, that the only way for me to find success in the pulpit and in the office of the pastorate is to have a deep and reverent prayer life. One that involves worship and full surrender to the Lord.

Well, it’s no different in your life. If you want the public victory, if you want to be under the care and the command of the Lord, then it is going to require interaction with him in the private places.

The psalmist calls this the “secret place”.

Psalm 27:5 NKJV

For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.

This is not talking about a physical location. This is talking about abiding in the presence of God through prayer, worship, and obedience.

If you can say, “I just don’t understand the Bible”, then it’s because you have not fully begun to obey the Bible. You have not been long or have not been consistent in that secret place that the psalmist talks about.

How do we enter the secret place?

Well, again, it’s primarily by prayer.

Now, prayer is not about saying the right words, and so, you don’t have to be talking out loud to pray.

Prayer is primarily carried out internally by having a sincere desire to connect with God on a deeper level.

The words that we say when we go to the Lord in prayer shouldn’t be words that come from nothing, but they should be words that reflect our heart felt convictions.

So, mind you, what you spend the majority of your time doing when you’re praying is what you’re primarily focused on. What I am saying is that if you spend all of your time praying for you, then you’re the focus of your life. Instead, prayer is done more effectively if we place the emphasis on the Lord.

Again, when it comes to serving the Lord, public victories are won in the private places.

Think of the Bible and its teachings. How often does the Bible talk about the heart?

A lot. And any time you hear the word righteousness, it’s also dealing with the heart.

Jesus is there, and He is preaching His Sermon on the Mount, and He begins to systematically break down every assumption that the Jews had regarding personal sin.

How did He do that?

He opened their eyes to the reality that sin has corrupted the heart. He said, “If you look on a woman with lust, that is adultery in the heart. If you hare someone, that is murder in the heart.”

He was stressing the reality that the heart is the focus of God, not the action that we perform.

But be careful here…

because if we truly have a heart for God, we will do things the way that He has instructed us to do them.

B. Spiritual Victories are Won in Surrender

Now, that seems backwards. If you want to win you need to surrender.

Well, really, it sounds like the rest of the Gospel.

If you want to be first, be last. If you want to live, then you gotta die.

It’s backwards from the world, but it is in line with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Look again in v. 14

The Bowing Heart of Obedience

Joshua 5:14 NKJV

So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?”

We’ve already spoken of the listening ear of prayer…well, this would be the bowing heart of obedience.

Joshua wasn’t just physically bowing before the Lord. He was spiritually bowing, emotionally bowing, psychologically bowing…he was in total surrender.

Right here, Joshua was reminded that he was second in command, and that he was in subjection to the will of God.

In our everyday lives, we also need to remember that whoever we are, we are always second in command the Jesus.

John 15:5 NKJV

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

Think about the qualifications of Joshua.

He was a man who was dedicated to prayer, he was an expert in war tactics, he was an excellent spy. He was loyal, trustworthy, smart, and capable, and yet the only way that he could be successful is if he relied on the Lord.

Now, that didn’t absolve Joshua from his responsibility. Joshua would still have to organize and strategize, but those things were not nearly as important as obedience.

If Joshua was going to take the city of Jericho, he was going to have do it by being obedient to God.

Here’s the truth, even if Joshua took Jericho by his own initiative and said that he did it for the Lord, it wouldn’t matter. Jesus deals with this issue as well. He says,

Matthew 7:21–23 NKJV

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

It’s not about the action that we perform, it’s simply about the obedience that we have.

There is the Fullness that it brings, the Obedience that it requires…

III. The Result it Yields

Joshua 5:14–15 NKJV

So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?” Then the Commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.

A. A Personal Encounter

My favorite thing to share with people is that God is a personal God that knows who you are.

Our church was blessed to feed the basketball team before Friday night’s game.

I was able to share with those teenagers that some of my job has to do with taking care of people’s needs but that my primary job is to help others know God on a deeper level.

But I think that sometimes, even as Christian people, we get the impression that God is far and above us in a physical sense, and that we cannot be connected with Him.

But that is so untrue. The Bible calls Jesus Emmanuel. That literally means “God with us.”

And even before there was Emmanuel, there are times like v. 14 when we see that God is present with us and that He constantly affirms His presence in our life.

However, we cannot have this encounter in the busyness of life. We need to get into that secret place. In the recess of our heart is where we have deep and meaningful encounters with the Lord. When we are active in reading and meditating on His word is when we really begin to encounter the Lord.

Hebrews 4:12 NKJV

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

And, I don’t know who said it, but I do know it’s true… “The Bible is the only book that reads you.”

When we read God’s word and we read with an expectation to have that personal encounter with God, it’s His word that washes over us, and pierces even to the division of soul and spirit.

B. A Deeper Relationship

Joshua 5:15 NKJV

Then the Commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.

There was an evangelist who passed during the covid pandemic, and when he would preach, he would always preach without any shoes. He would say, “I am preaching in the presence of God, and I feel personally convicted about wearing shoes in the pulpit.”

What he was expressing by having his shoes off was obedience and reverence for the Lord. It wasn’t about the shoes…it was about the reverence and respect he had for God that set him apart from others.

I alway picture John the Baptist. Why was it necessary for John to wear camels hair and eat locusts while living in the desert?

You can tie every theological picture and illustration into that you want, but the simple fact is he did it because that’s what God wanted him to do. There is no other reason.

Here we have that deep relationship between Joshua and the Lord.

Do you know what intimacy is based on? Intimacy is based on trust.

And when I defined prayer last Sunday morning, this is definition that I gave.

Prayer is the act of communicating with God as an expression of trust in Him.

If you want to have a deeper relationship with the Lord, then you have to trust Him.

I could give a long list of all the ways we need to trust God whether that is in our giving, in our worry, in our feelings of guilt or unworthiness, but I want you to go to God in prayer and ask Him to show you where you don’t fully trust Him.

Conclusion

1. You cannot lead with the reproach of Egypt tied to your waist.

Hebrews 12:1 NKJV

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

It’s a hard task to run a race with extra weight on your back, but it’s even harder to lead the pack when you’re carrying a burden that God has already paid for.

2. You cannot lead unless you are willing to submit.

John 15:5 NKJV

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

To become a spiritual leader, you need to be in submission to God and allow Him to lead your life.

3. You cannot lead unless you are deeply connected with God.

Hebrews 4:12 NKJV

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

You must undergo the spiritual disciplines of Scripture reading and prayer.