HOW A HIGH COURT JUDGE IN NIGERIA BROKE WITCHCRAFT ACTIVITIES PROGRAMMED TO AFFECT HIS JUDGEMENT THROUGH UPRIGHT CHARACTER
YOU CAN CONFRONT CORRUPTION AND EVIL IF YOU ARE NOT ONE YOURSELF
CHARACTER MAKES YOU BOLD AS A LION. WHERE THERE IS NOTHING TO HIDE, THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR
IF YOU WANT THE PRESENCE OF GOD IN LEADERSHIP, YOU MUST PRODUCE CHARACTER
CHARACTER IS WHO A PERSON IS AT THE CENTER OF HIMSELF NOT WHO THEY THINK YOU ARE OR WHO YOU TRY TO BE IN THE FACE OF PEOPLE
CHARACTER ATTRACTS THE COMMAND OF FOLLOWERSHIP AND BREEDS TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN LEADERSHIP
SOME INVESTORS WILL NEVER HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH MANY AFRICAN COUNTRIES BECAUSE OF THE EPIDEMIC OF CORRUPTION IN THOSE NATIONS.
IMPURITIES REDUCE QUALITY. IMPURITIES IN GOLD REDUCE THE QUALITY OF GOLD. IMPURITIES IN CRUDE OIL REDUCE THE QUALITY OF OIL.
CHARACTER WILL DO FOR YOU WHAT CERTIFICATE WILL NOT DO FOR YOU. DOORS OPEN NATURALLY FOR THE PERSON OF CHARACTER.
SOMEBODY WITH A TERRIBLE CHARACTER MAY APPEAR SUCCESSFUL NOW BUT WATCH OUT FOR HIS END
REAL CHARACTER MAKES A PERSON TO TAKE A STAND EVEN IF THEY HAVE TO STAND ALONE.
MANY PEOPLE HAVE NO REFERENCE, SO THEY CAN NEVER BECOME A REFERENCE.
WHOSE STEPS YOU FOLLOW AFFECT THE PERSON YOU WOULD BE.
WHEN SOMEONE IS FULL OF HIMSELF, HE WILL BE EMPTY OF PEOPLE.
YOU DON’T POSSESS THE RIGHT CHARACTER BY CHANCE, IT IS BY CHOICE.
IF YOU DON’T WANT THE WRONG CHARACTER, RUN FROM PEOPLE WITH THE WRONG CHARACTER.
– Dr. Pastor Paul Enenche on “THE POWER OF CHARACTER IN LEADERSHIP” || The National Prayer Breakfast || Tanzania Apostolic Invasion – Day 3 || Dodoma, Tanzania || 24th June, 2023.
1 Timothy 4:12. Our objective is:
1. To understand why character is needed in leadership.
2. To find out winning characters that leaders need
3. To know the way of character
First and foremost, what is character all about? Church Gist. Character is who a person is at the center of himself not who they think you are, not who you try to be in the face of people but who you are. What is the power of quality character?
1. Character attracts the command of followership. People gladly follow someone whose character is stronger than their own. If followership is not to be forced, if followership is to be earned, it is earned by character. Church Gist. Jesus Christ had the multitudes follow him; he didn’t force them to follow him. On the grounds of what they have seen in your life, character attracts the command of followership.
2. Character breeds trust and confidence in leadership. It increases trust and confidence in leadership. People trust the leader who has character. People have confidence in the leader who has character. One day Samuel told the people of Israel, “whose ox have I taken? Whose cow have I taken? From whose hand have I taken bribe to blind my eyes?” Church Gist. They told him, you have done none of those. Jesus Christ said, the prince of this world cometh but he has nothing in me. If people trust you or have confidence in you, they can follow you anywhere, they can do anything you want them to do.
3. Character confers authority, audacity, boldness. Leaders who have character have authority, audacity, boldness. Proverbs 28:1. Character makes you bold as a lion. Church Gist. Where there is nothing to hide, there is nothing to fear. The one who has nothing to hide has nothing to fear. He can confront anything, he can dare anything.
One day a high court judge in our country met me, he was presiding over a case of homicide – somebody killed somebody and the person committed the crime was guilty and the judge was pursuing the case to release judgement. Church Gist. Suddenly, the people who were guilty became diabolical – they began to do a lot of charm and lot of witchcraft against him. His hand will begin to vibrate when he sits down for the case. He was not feeling himself. So he came to me and said, “Pastor, I need you to pray for me. I am handling a case like this and the people have become so diabolical. I can’t even sit on the judgement now. Pastor I want to say something to you: I have been a judge for 30 years. If I have ever collected one shilling from anyone as bribe to influence any case, then let their witchcraft work against me but if I have not collected a dime from 30 years of sitting in judgement, if nobody has ever bribed me to influence my judgement, then whatever they are trying to do against me will not stand. Just pray for me and the prayer will work.” Church Gist. So I prayed for him with that authority and that witchcraft broke.
When you have nothing to fear, nothing to hide, no devil to fear. You can confront corruption if you are not corrupt yourself. You can confront evil if you are not evil yourself. That is the power of character in leadership. Leaders without character have no boldness. Church Gist. They have no forcefulness because there is something in their own life that is convicting them, telling them you have no right to talk or act like this. Even as a preacher, you can’t preach against what you are guilty of. You can’t freely and forcefully preach it. Character gives you authority.
4. Character attracts the presence and the backing of God: the character of Joseph ensured that he carried the presence of God. Genesis 39:2, 21. Church Gist. The Bible says God is of a purer eye; he cannot behold iniquity. Isaiah 59:1-2.
If you want the presence of God in leadership, if you want the backing of God in leadership, you must produce character.
5. Character brings out the best of man’s potential.
It brings out the best of man’s potential. I am sure you understand that impurity reduces quality. Everywhere you see impurity, quality is reduced. Impurities in gold reduce the quality of gold. Impurities in crude oil reduce the quality of that oil. When you take away impurity, you enhance quality. Yesterday, I gave an illustration that if we ask for what is the king of the birds, the leader in the realm of birds, it is called the eagle. The eagle is that bird that will not taste corruption, it is that bird that will not eat anything that is smelling or rotten. Along with other qualities of the eagle, it gave it leadership in the air. Church Gist. The lion is the king of the jungle. The lion will eat only what is fresh, it will not taste what is smelly. Can you compare the eagle with the vulture? A vulture feasts upon dead things. The more smelly the better. That is why the vulture will never taste anything called leadership. The pigs, the hyenas, they all taste and eat corruption. Character brings out the best of potential. If we must be the best, you must remove the negative character from your life. Negative tendencies.
6. Character brings favour and opportunities.
There are so many people who will not go near many African countries, many investors will not do business with them especially those who know what they are doing with their lives and know the worth of themselves because of the epidemic of corruption. The character of Joseph was what brought him before Pharaoh. Church Gist. The character of Esther, contrary to the character of Queen Vashti, was what brought her before the king. Character brings favour. Psalm 5:12. Character will do for you what certificate will not do for you. The door opens naturally for the person of character.
7. Character affects perception.
People perceive you based on what they know of you. What people think of you, what occurs to people when your name comes up affects everything about your life. 2 Kings 4:9. Matthew 16:13. Jesus asked his disciples what people say about him, so it matters. They said some say you are Elijah, some say you are Jeremiah. He was comfortable with that because what they were saying was close to what He was. He was a prophet and servant of the Lord. Church Gist. If they had said some say you are Gehazi, some say you are Absalom, some say you Saul. He would have had a problem with that. What they said he was, was close to who he was. So it is important what people see, feel and say about you. It affects perception and perception affects reception. How you are perceived, determines how you will be received.
8. Character determines outcome and destiny.
How you end in this life and in the life to come is determined by your character. How you end with your assignment if you look at Queen Vashti, the arrogant Queen of the Persian Empire. A proud, ostentatious woman. That character ended her in disaster. She was alive like a widow. Look at Saul the king of Israel, see how he ended. Saul will never say “I am sorry”. He had an excuse for every wrong thing he did. At the end of the day, Saul consulted a familiar spirit, a witch. He died of suicide in war. Look at Judas Iscariot, loved by the master and entrusted with money but Judas decided to sell the master after continuously stealing. Church Gist. He died a miserable death of suicide. The money he had was used to buy a burial ground. Look at Gehazi, if Elisha got the double portion of Elijah’s anointing, Gehazi was meant to get the minimum of double portion of Elisha’s anointing but because of criminality and fraud, he got generational leprosy. That was how he ended contrary to how he was to end. That is character. It determines a person’s outcome. Somebody with a terrible character may appear successful now but watch for his end in that line. Watch for his end in life to come. We shall end well in Jesus’ name.
What is the Winning Character of Leadership?
1. The character of humility and servanthood.
Where you can find a leader with palpable humility and spirit of servanthood, not the one that is trying to be the boss of everybody.
2. Moral and financial integrity.
One that can be trusted on the grounds of morality and can be trusted with finances.
3. Sincerity and honesty.
A leader that is not lying to the people. His yes is yes, his no is no.
4. Faithfulness.
Whenever you expect him to be there he is there. Reliable and dependable.
5. Excellence
Giving the best to what is at hand, the discharge of excellence. This character makes the leader to win. When someone is full of himself he will be empty of people, people leave you to yourself when you are full. Church Gist. That character of humility and servanthood, moral and financial integrity, sincerity and honesty, faithfulness, reliability.
What is the secret of character?
1. The Word of God Psalms 119:9-11
It was Abraham Lincoln who said that, ‘Nobody can lead well without a copy of the Bible’!
2. The right thinking
If thinking is right, action will be right. If thinking is right, action cannot be wrong. The thought is a seed. Nobody steals by accident, he thought of it first. And it is from thought to the act. Thought that persists leads to action. Action repeated brings about habit. Habit that is established forms character. Church Gist. Persistent thought will bring about action. Action repeated brings about habit. Habit that is established forms a person’s character. This is very very important! So the character started with a thought! The right thinking!
3. The right association
Evil communication corrupts good manners – The right association. You cannot be the friend of a thief and not become a thief ultimately. You cannot become the friend of a drunkard and not be introduced there ultimately. Church Gist. Association brings assimilation, your company affects your mindset, it affects your choices. Your company affects your action steps and lifestyle. So if you don’t want the wrong character, run from people with the wrong character.
4. The vision and purpose of heart
You don’t possess the right character by chance, it is by choice. The Bible says, ‘Daniel purposed in his heart’! The question is: ‘What kind of person do you want to be? Church Gist. What kind of person do you see yourself? What do you want people to know you for? What do you want people to remember you for? It determines how you live! Vision and purpose.
5. Consistency in the right behaviour
Character requires consistency. You don’t do the wrong thing today and do the right thing tomorrow and have character. Consistency in the right behaviour. There is something I call the character account and this is the way I see it; if you tell the truth today, you’re making a deposit in your truth account. If you tell the truth tomorrow, you’re making more deposits. Church Gist. If you continue to tell the truth on every issue consistently, a time would come where your account is full and it would be confirmed that you’re a man or woman of truth. But if you tell a lie today, if you had truth before, you’re making withdrawals. You tell a lie tomorrow, you’re making more withdrawals, if you continue to tell a lie, the time would come where your account is empty, at that time, you’re character and truth bankrupt and it is confirmed that you’re a man of no truth. Church Gist. So, if you want to be a person of character in any particular area, do the right thing there on a consistent basis. Some people say that if you do the correct thing for 21-30 days, continuously and consistently, that the character and habit is formed. Consistency in the right action.
6. Courage in the right action
It is true that character requires courage. I’m talking about doing the right thing even if the whole world is trying to do the wrong thing. Church Gist. I am saying, you’re saying ‘no’ when what should be said is ‘no’, even when the whole world is saying ‘yes’. You refuse to be the victim of the bandwagon. You refuse to be under the control of the crowd because that is the challenge of our generation today. Everybody is following everybody to do what is wrong and people are afraid to be the odd one out. They look at you as the odd one out. Church Gist. Real character makes a person to take a stand even if they have to stand alone. You took a stand even if you have to stand alone.
7. A positive character role model
When you can see someone in front of you, a physical person, that is the place of mentoring. Judges 7:17. Acts 4:13. Church Gist. Many people have no reference, so they can never become a reference. You know, in the university, you make references to those ahead of you to become a reference. We have a mentorless generation, among the priesthood, among the political leadership. Church Gist. Question is: Whose life are you modelling yourself after? Paul the Apostle said, “Follow me as I follow Christ”. Whose steps are you taking? Whose character excites you? It affects the kind of person you would be.
– I believe it’s a new day for us.
——PRAYERS—-
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