THE SPIRIT OF LEADERSHIP

Genesis chapter 1




Today we are walking in: The Spirit Of Leadership






Today we look to the word-LEADER- H5057 nagiyd-- leader, ruler, captain, prince; excellent thing, (chief) governor, leader, noble, prince, (chief) ruler.



The Torah Testifies.............................

*****






The prophets proclaim...............



Isaiah 55:4 - Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader H5057 and commander to the people.








The writings bear witness.............



2Chronicles 32:21 - And the LORD sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders H5057 and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword






CHAPTER FOUR
The Spirit of Leadership


True leadership is not a method, a technique, or a science but an attitude.


By now we understand that the leadership spirit refers to the inherent spirit of mankind that possesses the natural qualities and characteristics of the Creator. Every human being possesses this spirit, but very few ever discover this truth and fewer still are aware it can be manifested.


Having the leadership spirit means that you are naturally created to lead. However, the spirit of leadership is essentially different in that it refers to the attitudes, mentality, and mind-set necessary for the leadership spirit to be manifested. Without the spirit of leadership, the leadership spirit will remain dormant.


Having the spirit of leadership means that you understand and demonstrate the mind-set of a leader. Even though you are naturally a leader, there are some things that you need to discover and develop in order to operate as a leader. You have to choose to fulfill your leadership nature. Having the leadership spirit without the spirit of
leadership is like having a powerful automobile without the knowledge or ability to drive it. It is like a seed that never becomes the tree it was destined to be.


Let me emphasize again that no one can “teach” you to be a leader. For example, you can’t train an orange to be an orange. It just naturally is one. Likewise, it is instinctive for a fish to swim. You can’t teach it to move its fins and tail; it just does those things naturally.


YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE TO MANIFEST YOUR LEADERSHIP NATURE.


At some point, a mother bird will nudge her baby birds out of the nest, as if to say, “You need to do what you were naturally born to do,” and they will either start flying or risk falling out of the nest. The same is true for you in the sense that you are naturally a leader. You can “fly” when you tap into what you were born to do. Manifesting the spirit of leadership is a matter of discovering and nurturing your true self so that you naturally evidence your leadership nature.


Sometimes we think, “If someone tells me that I’m a leader, then, okay, I’m a leader.” No, you are a leader. The first issue is whether or not you will discover this truth for yourself. The second issue is whether you will manifest who you really are. The purpose of this book is to give you two things: the information to discover your leadership nature and the revelation of what it means to develop and live out your leadership potential. I desire to help you capture the spirit of leadership in order to ignite the leadership spirit that I know is within you.


The lion who lived on the farm was always a lion, but because he grew up in an environment that was unnatural to him, he thought he was a sheep. Our environment (for example, our education, social training, cultures, nations, or families) has been defining us and giving us the parameters of what we can and can’t be. The only way to counter this unnatural information is to discover our true selves by seeing a picture of our leadership nature so that we can know who we really are. Once the young lion saw the older lion, he knew what he was supposed to become. My goal for this book is to give you a picture of your true self so that you can start on the journey to fulfilling it.


DEFINING THE SPIRIT OF LEADERSHIP


There is nothing on earth as powerful as a thought or an idea. We are what we think, and we become what we continue to think. You cannot rise above the plane of your mental conditioning. To change your life, you must change your mind.


WE ARE WHAT WE THINK, AND WE BECOME WHAT WE CONTINUE TO THINK.


The spirit of leadership is a derivative of the leadership spirit. It is the state of mind or attitude that emanates from the nature of a leader. We’ll discuss why most of us don’t exhibit this state of mind in the next chapter. For now, let’s look at the spirit of leadership from various definitions and perspectives that will help us to grasp this vital concept. The spirit of leadership—


• is a mind-set.
• dictates one’s motivation.
• is revealed in one’s response to one’s environment.
• is a perception of oneself and the world.
• is the convictions that regulate one’s thoughts about oneself and one’s world.
• is one’s personal, private philosophy of life.
• is one’s thoughts about oneself and one’s environment.
• is one’s belief system, which controls one’s behavior.
• is the source of one’s actions, which determines the response of the environment. (In other words, your attitude determines how other people treat you and how the world responds to you.)
• is how you interpret the world.
• is your mental conditioning.


THE SOURCE OF OUR THOUGHTS


As I stated above, there is nothing as powerful as a thought or idea, but there is nothing more important than the source of our thoughts. Our thoughts are products of what we have heard or learned. What we derive our thoughts from determines the kind of thoughts we conceive and who we eventually become. If “as a person thinks in his heart, so is he,” then the source from which man gets the thoughts that he thinks is most critical.


Therefore, as we approach this delicate subject of the spirit of leadership, which is essentially the thought-life of the individual, we must carefully consider the process by
which thoughts transfer to our lives. The process involves the following:


1. A source transmits its ideas through words or images.
2. Words heard or images seen transmit thoughts and ideas to our minds.
3. Thoughts conceived become ideas.
4. Ideas conceived become ideologies.
5. Ideologies conceived become beliefs.
6. Beliefs conceived become convictions.
7. Convictions conceived become philosophies.
8. Philosophies conceived become lifestyles.
9. Lifestyles determine our destinies.


A careful study of the above process reveals that the most important component is the source of our thoughts. As a result, our mind-sets, attitudes, beliefs, and convictions are generally determined by someone else’s ideas. It is remarkable that you and I can be living what other people think. Therefore, the key to living effectively is receiving your thoughts from the correct source.


When your philosophy, beliefs, thoughts, and convictions are based on the way you were created to think, you will naturally rule over your environment and fulfill your life’s purpose. When they are based on erroneous thinking and attitudes, you will feel frustrated and trapped by your circumstances. This is, unfortunately, the case for many of us. That is why I often say that there is a leader trapped in every follower.


Again, the spirit of leadership refers to the mind-set or attitude of a leader. Most of the approximately seven billion people on Earth will never discover or manifest the leadership spirit hidden within them because they do not possess the correct attitudes and mind-set that they need in order to be set free and soar to their highest potential intended by the Creator. Your mind matters, and it controls how you manage matter. If you truly understand what it means to be made in the likeness of your Creator, then you will have certain attitudes toward yourself that will allow you to fulfill your leadership potential.


YOUR MIND MATTERS, AND IT CONTROLS HOW YOU MANAGE MATTER.


Let’s look at how our thinking influences who we believe we are and what we believe we are able to do. We’re going to build on many of the concepts that we have looked at in previous chapters.


Creation and Self-Concept


The first thing to consider regarding the source of our thoughts is the relationship between creation and self-concept. Your attitudes are largely a result of your self-concept—the picture you have of yourself. What is your idea about who and what you are? Your answer to this question is crucial because your self-perception influences whether or not you will realize your inherent leadership potential.


The Creator designed you in his image, and therefore he wants you to have a concept of yourself that is in line with who he is. That is the picture you are meant to have of
yourself. Families pass down certain genes and traits from one generation to another. Similarly, our Father Yah passed along his nature to us, and that “family resemblance” is meant to be a reminder of where we come from, to whom we belong, and what we are intended to be.


Recall that the first thing the Creator gave his creation was not dominion but his nature. Our self-concept and selfimage are the first reality that must be established in our minds and hearts before we can effectively fulfill our purpose and become the leaders we were created to be. If a person has power but does not possess a sound self-concept or self-image, then he or she will relate to others from that distorted perspective. As we saw in the previous chapter, this insecurity will manifest itself in fear, suspicion, distrust, and hatred of self and others.


A poor self-image or self-concept will always result in a low valuation of humanity, and it becomes the source of abuse, corruption, oppression, and the need to dominate and control others. Again, this is why it is so important to note and understand that the first thing Yah gave humanity in the process of creation was not power, authority, or dominion. The first installation in the creation of the mankind was an image—the image of Yah.


So Yah didn’t give human beings power first. He gave them a self-picture. If you love yourself in the true sense, you’ll always use your power to help other people rather than to harm them. How you see yourself is how you will see everyone else you relate to. You will see all men through your own self-picture. The foundation of leadership is a sound self-image.


Creation and Self-Worth


To a large degree, your thoughts and feelings about yourself are determined by your self-worth. Your self-worth is the value you place on yourself. How much value do you think you have? Again, to find the true answer, you have to go back to the beginning. The Creator made you in his image and likeness, and therefore your value is a reflection of his value. Moreover, leaders value others as they value themselves.


The majority of the people in the world do not have self-worth but “others-worth.” This is the acceptance of the worth others place on you. You will never become the leader you were created to be until you become free from other people’s valuation of you and perception of your worth.


Yah FIRST GAVE HUMAN BEINGS A SELF-PICTURE, NOT POWER.


The opposite of self is other. Many people spend their lives trying to appease, satisfy, and fulfill other people’s appraisals of them. This is why they never become true leaders.


The essence of leadership is that you give other people value. In other words, you give them something valuable to contribute to and become involved in. True leadership gives people a cause, a reason for living, and a sense of significance that gives meaning to their lives so that they feel necessary and purposeful. It gives them an outlet for expressing their own gifting. You cannot give significance if you don’t already have it. You cannot lead people where you have not gone yourself.


The Impact of Intrapersonal Attitude on Interpersonal Attitude


Often, whatever you believe about yourself, you will believe about other people. In the fifth and last book by Moses, we find these words: “Love the LORD your Yah with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Yahusha Hamachiach, the ultimate leader, repeated this statement when he was asked, in effect, “What is the most important duty of all mankind?” He replied that the command to love Yah is the first and greatest commandment, and that the second is exactly like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”


We’ve missed the fact that this is a leadership statement. If you consider his words carefully, he wasn’t telling us to love our neighbors first. He was saying, in effect, that we have to love ourselves first because we can love our neighbors only to the degree that we love ourselves.


YOU CANNOT GIVE SIGNIFICANCE IF YOU DON’T ALREADY HAVE IT.


Therefore, a healthy intrapersonal relationship is a prerequisite for effective interpersonal relationships. Your attitude toward me is a reflection of your attitude toward yourself. This means that if we don’t get our attitudes toward ourselves right, then we’re going to have the wrong attitudes when interacting with others. It is imperative that leaders possess a healthy, wholesome love for themselves first in order to lead others effectively.


The command to “Love the LORD your Yah with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” has to do with discovering the nature of the Creator. If you
are pursuing Yah with everything you have, then you will discover both him and yourself. As I mentioned earlier, when this happens, you will come to the realization that everyone else on earth is made in Yah’s image, just as you are, and therefore they possess the same value, worth, and estimation. When I love others, I am loving myself and Yah because we all have the same nature.


John, the first-century writer and disciple of Yahusha, wrote these words over two thousand years ago: “If anyone says, ‘I love Yah,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar.” It is impossible to love the Creator and, at the same time, hate those who have been made in his image and likeness. Any negative feeling toward another human is an indication of selfhatred. Leaders must first fall in love with themselves; then they can genuinely care about those they lead. You cannot love beyond your self-love.


Creation and Self-Esteem


While self-worth asks, “How much value do I believe I have?” self-esteem asks, “What does this mean to my environment?” Self-esteem is your estimation of your value to the world. It is how you regard yourself in terms of your contribution and usefulness to others. Self-esteem is therefore your sense of significance to the world and the universe.


Many people suffer from very low self-esteem. I have found that women are more vulnerable to low self-esteem than men are because they are more emotional by design. They have a natural and valuable gift of empathy that can backfire if they don’t know who they were created to be. Many women allow men to control them because they are looking for their esteem from their relationships with males rather than from their relationship with their Creator. This is a serious problem for many women, and it hinders the expression of their leadership nature.


Again, self-esteem is your awareness of your value to your environment. After Yah gave human beings their selfconcept and self-worth, his next instruction was for them to have dominion over the earth because he wanted them to understand how important they were to the entire environment. He esteemed them highly by making them corulers over creation.


SELF-ESTEEM IS YOUR AWARENESS OF YOUR VALUE TO YOUR ENVIRONMENT.


The Creator was showing them that he made them more important than the plants, animals, birds, and fish. A popular belief today is that human beings evolved from the animal kingdom, yet Yah not only distinguished us from animals by giving us his own nature but also by placing us in authority over them. Our self-esteem should be equal to the esteem with which the Creator regards us. He esteemed us so much that he gave us the ability to govern over creation, making us coleaders and corulers with him on Earth.


Our disposition toward ourselves and the world comes from our self-estimation. Our self-estimation, in turn, comes from our awareness of our value to our world. This is where we get our sense of significance and contribution in life. Now that I understand that I have been created to be a leader, I esteem myself very necessary to the world. You need to do the same thing because your leadership will come from that awareness. You must come to the point where you are convinced and convicted that you and your gift are necessary. True leaders believe that they are needed by their generation and the world.


Creation and Self-Awareness


The greatest discovery in human experience is selfdiscovery. Your leadership attitude comes alive when you become aware of your true nature. The great Greek philosopher Socrates made “Know thyself” the guiding principle of his life, and this idea was perpetuated by his disciple, Plato. Yet “Know thyself” is an incomplete idea because all they knew was that there was something to learning about yourself. They didn’t fully understand or explain how to do this. The only way to know yourself is to know where you originated because you are just like the Source from which you came. This is why the best way to discover and understand yourself is to discover and study the nature and attributes of Yah.


Needing to know Yah doesn’t have to do with “religion” or some of the things people do in the name of religion. It has to do with being introduced to your true self. Only your Source can give you an understanding of who you are since you have the same nature and essence that he does. Knowing Yah leads to humanity’s greatest knowledge about itself.


When a person gets to know his Creator, and finally comes to know himself, then his leadership is born. When he makes this discovery, his attitudes are adjusted. His beliefs about himself, mankind, and his role in the world are radically transformed.


DISCOVERING THE HEART OF LEADERSHIP


Your entire life is controlled and determined by your heart. Whatever is in your heart dictates your experience in life. When I mention the heart, I assume that most people immediately think of the physical organ that beats in our chests. But this is not what this word means in the context of leadership.


The Bible provides us with many truths about the heart. When it uses this word, it’s usually referring to our subconscious minds and their contents. The historically renowned psychologist, Freud, in his attempt to describe and define this concept of the heart, referred to it as the “psyche.” But what is the heart?


WHEN A PERSON KNOWS HIS CREATOR AND HIMSELF, THEN HIS LEADERSHIP IS BORN.


From early medieval times, the heart has been a metaphor for the center of our being. Dr. David Allen, a leading psychologist, in his book, Contemplation, says it this way: “It is the decision-making center where all of our choices— good and evil—are decided....The heart is both conscious and unconscious....[It] is also a place of understanding and reasoning. According to Pascal, ‘The heart has reasons the mind knows not of.’...The heart is the deepest psychological ground of our personality.”23


The heart is the seat of our reasoning, the storehouse of all our thoughts, the seedbed for our ideas, and the center of our decision making. It is the “hard drive” for our conscious minds. Our hearts or subconscious minds are what motivate us in our attitudes and actions, even though we may not be aware of what is influencing us.
Yahusha, the ultimate leader of leaders, gave much attention to this aspect of the human development and training
process. He emphasized the following statements to his leadership trainees:


For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.


But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man “unclean.” For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man “unclean”; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him “unclean.”


The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.


In these simple statements, the principle of the heart and its power to control all of one’s life is evident. According to Yahusha, all our actions are motivated by the content of our hearts or what is stored in our subconscious minds. Have you noticed that people’s true attitudes and beliefs are often manifested when they are under pressure? They are revealing what is in their hearts.


Here are some examples of the use of the word heart in the Bible and how it corresponds to our subconscious minds. The Hebrew word translated heart is leb, which means “the feelings, the will, and even the intellect” or the “inner man.”24 Just before sending the deluge that destroyed all of humanity except Noah and his family, the Creator said of man that “every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil.”


He was making a statement about what was stored in man’s subconscious mind—there was only evil there.


In the book of Proverbs, we read, “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.” What is this “tablet” of the heart? The word refers to a polished board or plank that could be carved on and then read. What we “write” on our hearts we use as a reference for our attitudes and actions. Again, in Proverbs, we read, “To man belong the plans of the heart.” The heart is where we sift things over and make decisions about what we want to do and be.


ALL OUR ACTIONS ARE MOTIVATED BY THE CONTENT OF OUR HEARTS.


The ancient book of Jeremiah the prophet records, “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.” The Creator examines the seat of our attitudes and sees what is stored there. He does this to reward a person according to what? His conduct or behavior. Attitude and behavior are tied together because your actions come from what you think. The writer of the biblical book to the firstcentury Hebrews said, “The word of Yah is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” We are held accountable not only for our actions but also for our thoughts and attitudes. In the first book of the prophet Samuel, Yah said, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at [studies what is in] the heart.” This is because the subconscious mind reveals what a person really is.


Mark, the first-century writer and disciple of Yahusha, recorded Yahusha’s words as he addressed the principle of focus: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Here is the principle: Whatever you value will preoccupy your mind, thoughts, and conscience. For instance, if you value earthly wealth more than the higher ideals of spiritual purity, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, and other noble attributes, then this will be your source of motivation.


Yahusha also told a parable about forgiveness, concluding with the thought that “you [should] forgive your brother from your heart.” Think about what this means when you consider that “heart” refers to the subconscious mind. You can tell someone that you forgive him, but in your mind, you can walk off and say, “I don’t forgive you.” Yahusha is saying, in effect, “When you’ve freed the person in your subconscious mind, then you’ve truly forgiven him.” You’re not just giving lip service to it, but you’ve forgiven him in the depths of your being.


Again, quoting the words of Moses, Yahusha said, “Love the Lord your Yah with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Both the heart and the mind are mentioned here. We are meant to love Yah with all our conscious and subconscious thoughts and attitudes. In essence, we are to have our conscious and subconscious minds filled with the thoughts, words, nature, attributes, and characteristics of Yah. The Creator should be the “default mode” on our mental hard drives.


Emphasizing the power of belief, Yahusha told his disciples, “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.” You can mentally acknowledge something, but not doubting in your subconscious mind is a hard thing. That’s why mountains don’t move in our lives. Mentally or consciously, we say, “Go.” However, the matter isn’t truly settled within us. Our belief has to go deeper.


YOU DON’T REALLY BELIEVE SOMETHING UNTIL IT GETS INTO YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND.


The beliefs and convictions of a leader regulate the nature of his leadership. You don’t really believe something until it gets into your subconscious mind. Most of us can’t break certain habits because we don’t have the right thoughts and attitudes that will enable us to change. Your convictions determine what is stored in your heart, and your heart is the container of your attitudes. It’s the bank you draw from that determines the way you live your life.


IDENTIFYING THE HEART


Your heart is the chamber that holds your convictions about all aspects of life. Your convictions are your beliefs, and your beliefs generally originate from what you keep hearing and believe to be truth. The heart is where all of what you have learned and repeatedly heard during your life is stored. It is also where all of your culture is assimilated into your psyche. It’s the vantage point from which you view the world. Your heart is the seat of your beliefs. It is the center of your philosophy, the container of the ideas that you have accepted as truth.


Because, for the most part, the heart stores what you truly believe, and your attitudes and actions are based on those beliefs, the heart or the subconscious mind is the most dangerous component in your relationship to life. This is the reason why what you believe is essential—vital, critical—to your life. Your beliefs better be right because you live out of your heart; you see through your heart; you interpret through your heart; you judge through your heart. Developing the spirit of leadership means correcting what you have heard because much of what you have previously heard and accepted as truth has negatively influenced your image of yourself, your beliefs about your worth, and how you have lived your life.


YOUR HEART IS THE CHAMBER THAT HOLDS YOUR CONVICTIONS ABOUT ALL ASPECTS OF LIFE.


Why do you believe what you believe about yourself? As I mentioned earlier, the heart or subconscious mind is like a computer hard drive. It is the drive on which you have downloaded the software of your experiences and the information that you have received and accepted, as well as your evaluation of them. It stores all your ideas, beliefs, convictions, philosophy, experiences, memories, regrets, hurts, and secret thoughts. Whatever you put on your hard drive is what comes out when you press the right buttons.


To put it another way, you take out what you put in. If you want a chicken dinner, you can’t put a snake into the pot and expect to get poultry. You have to put in the right ingredient. If we want to exhibit the spirit of leadership, therefore, it’s important for us to receive the right information about what it means to be a leader. When we discover the truth, and that truth is established in our subconscious minds, transformation will occur. This principle is the reason people are able to have what is called a “change of heart.” They change their attitudes and beliefs, and this alters their actions and reactions.


That’s why it’s important for you to get the right information. If you discover the truth, then the truth will make you free. If you do not erase, delete, or replace the information on the hard drive of your heart, then your leadership will be ruled, distorted, and influenced by whatever is in your default system. True leadership demands a constant monitoring of what goes into the heart.


YOU TAKE OUT WHAT YOU PUT IN.


The ancient Hebrew text of the Bible records wise King Solomon speaking of the power and function of the heart in his book of Proverbs: “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” Again, he is not speaking about the physical organ of the chest but rather the seat of all subconscious storage. Solomon’s statement is an ancient saying, but the gravity of its meaning and implications makes it very difficult to comprehend. This statement teaches the reality that all our experiences and interpretations of life are not caused by external stimuli but rather by our internal state of being and beliefs. King Solomon also said concerning the power of the heart or subconscious mind, “As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.” The heart is the seat of life and determines the quality of our experience in life. Leaders lead out of their hearts.


In order to become the leader that you were created to be, you must pay attention to your heart, study what’s in it, and consider the source(s) from which you received its content. You might be suffering from “hardening of the heart.” Don’t have a heart attack, but I challenge you to “attack” your heart and change its content to line up with the truth about you from the only sure Source—the Creator himself. Let his Word be the source of your words, then discover and believe the truth about yourself.


ATTITUDE AND ALTITUDE OF THE HEART


Ultimately, your subconscious attitude affects your altitude: The height to which your heart aspires depends on the information that is in it. You will know when you have captured the spirit of leadership because you will begin to see everything differently, and your new perspective will become the basis of your belief system. Rather than the environment influencing you, you will begin to influence your environment, starting with your mind-set.


Earlier, I quoted King Solomon, who said that “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Again, the word “heart” refers to the person’s seat of reasoning, his subconscious mind, the center of his storage of learning. Solomon was saying that whatever you store in your heart determines how high or low you think about yourself and what you believe you can be and accomplish.


THE SOURCE OF THE SPIRIT OF LEADERSHIP


As we have seen, since our thoughts and beliefs generally come from what we internalize from our environments, we will become what we learn, listen to, and take in. We were originally designed to live in an environment conducive to the nature of Yah, which is the leadership nature, so that the source of our attitudes would be in-line with our purpose.


LEADERS LEAD OUT OF THEIR HEARTS.


You are what you believe. Your thoughts create your beliefs. Your beliefs create your convictions, your convictions create your attitude, your attitude controls your perception, and your perception dictates your behavior. What you truly believe about yourself creates your world. Remember that no one can live beyond the limits of his or her beliefs. In other words, your life is what you think it should be.


THE VITAL NEED FOR THE TRUTH AND FREEDOM


What all this comes down to is that the most important pursuit in life is the pursuit of truth. The ultimate leader of leaders, Yahusha Hamachiach, said that the truth will make us free. Free from what? Obviously, if I tell you the truth, you are free from an error or false information. He was therefore implying that whatever we learned before we received his information must be viewed with suspicion and, if necessary, deleted from our belief systems.


I mentioned earlier that, often, a person can have a title but not exhibit effective and true leadership. This is not because there is a problem with his title or because he isn’t making enough money but because he doesn’t know the truth about himself as a leader. A person can learn the methods and techniques of management and go through many leadership courses, but if he doesn’t get this discovery of the truth, then his attitude will be defective. If his attitude is defective, his concept of himself will also be defective.


The first-century writer Paul, in his letter to the church at Rome, said that human beings did not retain the knowledge of Yah in their minds, and that is why they were corrupt. Somewhere along the line, the original software program files of humanity became corrupted, and now the program won’t run correctly; it continues to spit out the corrupted information it took in. To use another analogy, if a pond’s source of fresh water is cut off, it will soon become stagnant.


IF THE SOURCE OF YOUR THOUGHTS IS NOT CORRECT, YOUR THOUGHTS ARE INCORRECT.


If the source of your thoughts is not correct, then your thoughts are incorrect and your conclusions and beliefs are defective and contaminated—or will be soon. The result is a life lived in error and insecurity.


Therefore, discovering the truth is our most important pursuit, and the truth about us is found only in the Manufacturer. The famous question of history has always been “What is truth?” The most practical definition of truth I have discovered is “original information.” A careful consideration of this definition reveals that the only one who knows the truth about anything is the one who created it, for only the originator would have original information about his product.


Consequently, any other statement about the product must be seen as only commentary or opinion. To rediscover the leadership spirit, we must go back to the Originator. To recapture the spirit of leadership, we must rediscover the truth—the original information—about ourselves from the Manufacturer.


In effect, the leadership spirit is the hardware and the spirit of leadership is the software. Developing the spirit of leadership means getting the original information for which our hardware was intended to work and operate. Again, the only one who has the original information of the product is the One who made it.


THE LEADERSHIP SPIRIT IS THE HARDWARE AND THE SPIRIT OF LEADERSHIP IS THE SOFTWARE.


It is interesting to note that the Hebrew concept of knowledge is “light,” which implies that ignorance is “darkness.” Revelation is therefore considered the light of the knowledge that Yah the Manufacturer possesses. As a matter of fact, Yah the Creator himself is described in the Bible as “light...[in whom] there is no darkness.” The adversary of Yah and man is commonly referred to as the “Prince of Darkness.” His power to control or rule a human spirit is generated by our ignorance. Man without the original knowledge of himself from the Manufacturer is like a lamp or a candle without a flame.


The book of Proverbs tells us that “the spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the inner depths of his heart.” What happens when the light of that candle goes out? It needs to be relit. It needs original knowledge. Until Yah gives a human being the original knowledge of who he is, then he is a candle without a flame. He exists, but he has no real life. He doesn’t have illumination about the way he has been designed.


It says in the Psalms, “For You will light my lamp; the LORD my Yah will enlighten my darkness.” In other words, Yah will give the original knowledge, the information, that we need, enlightening us and removing our ignorance. Yahusha said, “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light.” First the Creator enlightens us, and then we are to go out and influence others with the light that he has given us. True leadership is manifested when one individual uses his or her flame to light the lives of many and help them discover the reservoir of hidden oil in their own lamps.



PRINCIPLES


1. True leadership is not a method, a technique, or a science but an attitude.


2. Having the spirit of leadership means that you understand and demonstrate the mind-set of a leader.


3. You have to choose to fulfill your leadership nature.


4. Manifesting the spirit of leadership is a matter of discovering and nurturing your true self so that you naturally evidence your leadership nature.


5. You cannot rise above the plane of your mental conditioning. To change your life, you must change your mind.


6. There is nothing more important than the source of our thoughts.


7. When your philosophy, beliefs, thoughts, and convictions are based on the way you were created to think, you will naturally rule over your environment and fulfill your life’s purpose.


8. Our attitude toward life is largely a result of our selfconcept or the picture we have of ourselves.


9. We are meant to see ourselves as being made in the image and likeness of our Creator and as having his nature.


10. Our thoughts and feelings about ourselves are determined by our self-worth. Since the Creator made us in his image and likeness, our value is a reflection of his value.


11. We can’t lead if we depend on others to give us value, but only if we recognize our own inherent worth and what we have been given to offer others.


12. True leadership gives people a cause, a reason for living, and a sense of significance that gives meaning to their lives so that they feel necessary and purposeful. It gives them an outlet for expressing their own gifting.


13. In order to manifest the spirit of leadership, we have to acknowledge how our attitudes toward ourselves impact our relationships with others.


14. Self-esteem is your estimation of your value to the world. It is how you regard yourself in terms of your contribution and usefulness to others.


15. True leaders believe that they are needed by their generation and the world.


16. The greatest discovery in human experience is selfdiscovery.


17. Your leadership attitude—or spirit of leadership—will come alive when you discover and start living according to your true nature.


18. The best way to discover yourself is to discover Yah. When a person gets to know his Creator, and finally comes to know himself, then his leadership is born.


19. You don’t really believe something until it gets into your heart or subconscious mind.


20. The most important pursuit in life is the pursuit of truth.


21. What you believe is essential to your life because you live out of your heart; you see through your heart; you interpret through your heart; you judge through your heart.


22. Developing the spirit of leadership means correcting what you have heard because much of what you have previously heard and accepted as truth has negatively influenced your image of yourself, your beliefs about your worth, and how you have lived your life.


23. Your subconscious attitude affects your altitude: The height to which your heart aspires depends on the information that is in it.


24. No one can live beyond the limits of his beliefs. Your life is what you think it should be.


25. The beliefs and convictions of a leader regulate the nature of his leadership.