As I was praying for this edition of Real Women, I felt the Lord urging me to include a section that would help in leadership growth.  Each of us are leaders.  God has called us to lead at home, at church, in our workplace others toward the Kingdom.  We are called to be examples of the believer in all we say and do.  This is a privilege as well as a responsibility.  God’s desire is to mold us into His image.  He uses many different tools to form and shape us.  
   
We have many excellent books on leadership in our home library.  However, I asked the Lord to lead me specifically to a passage in His word that He would have us consider. I believe He led me to 2 Peter 1: 5-9.
   
As we acknowledge the call of God on our lives to be influencers in this world, we need to continue to grow in the knowledge of Him and His Word.  We also need to encourage those around us to grow by digging their roots deep into His word and His way.

2 Peter 1:5-9   For this very reason, adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence), And in [exercising] knowledge [develop] self-control, and in [exercising] self-control [develop] steadfastness (patience, endurance), and in [exercising] steadfastness [develop] godliness (piety), And in [exercising] godliness [develop] brotherly affection, and in [exercising] brotherly affection [develop] Christian love. For as these qualities are yours and increasingly abound in you, they will keep [you] from being idle or unfruitful unto the [full personal] knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).For whoever lacks these qualities is blind, [spiritually] shortsighted, seeing only what is near to him, and has become oblivious [to the fact] that he was cleansed from his old sins.

Peter begins to list 7 characteristics that are needed if we desire to be kept from being idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We must first and foremost remind those we are instructing, that we start with saving faith.  The faith that Peter mentions in the verses 1-5 is saving faith.  That part that each believer receives by the grace of God.  When we begin to exercise that faith we begin to develop these other characteristics.  They build upon one another.  The word “add” really means, “to supply generously”.  We are to take the faith God has given us and supply a generous dose of virtue.  Virtue is a word not commonly used today.  It basically means “excellence.”  To the Greek philosophers, it meant “the fulfillment of a thing.”  When anything in nature fulfills its purpose, that is “virtue—moral excellence”. The land that produces crops is “excellent’ because it is fulfilling its purpose.  We are supposed to glorify God because we have his nature, and when we do this, we are showing “excellence” and thus fulfilling our purpose in life.  We only do this by the grace of God working in us that makes us more like Jesus.

As we exercise virtue we begin to develop knowledge.  This knowledge is spiritual knowledge.  Knowledge that is practical and discerning.    Knowledge that will help us come to a greater understanding of who God is as revealed by the Holy Spirit.  This knowledge causes us to become more useful to God and His Kingdom.   

The exercise of knowledge leads us to develop self-control.  This self control causes us to rule our own spirit, we do not lose our temper or become easily angered because we have our passions under control.  It helps us deal with the pleasures of life.

The exercise of self-control leads us to the development of steadfastness or patience.  This is the ability to endure when circumstances are difficult.  The Greek word for perseverance means to “stay under” adversity without giving in or giving out.  As the hardness of our days increase, I believe we need to grow in this grace if we are going to stand.  Steadfastness, patience, and perseverance all names for the same grace, help us to stand during pressures and problems.  We must, by faith let our trials work for us and not against us.

The exercise of steadfastness leads to the development of godliness.  Godliness means “Godlikeness.”  In the original Greek, this word meant, “to worship well”.  It refers to a man who was right in his relationship with God and his fellowman.  This is developed as we grow in our awareness of His presence in and around our lives.  

Godliness develops into brotherly kindness.  This virtue concerns the fervent practical caring for others.  As we grow in our Christ likeness we begin to appreciate others as God’s creation and treat them as we would be treated as well.  We begin to practice “unfeigned love of the brethren”, we let “brotherly love continue”.  Through this love others begin to notice that we are Christians and are drawn to Christ.

The final virtue is love.  This is the kind of love that causes us to lay down our life for others, the kind of love Jesus demonstrated when he died on the cross.  We began with faith and we end with love.  This is the charity that I Corinthians 13 declares never fails.  

Dear sisters, let us seek to grow in each of these characteristics.  Would you take a moment to seek Him and ask which area He would have you focus your attentions to grow at this season in your life?  He longs for us to move to another level so He can use us for His kingdoms sake.  May His will be done.
 
Written by:  Martha Rodman
 
Some thoughts were gleaned from: Wiersbe, W. W. 1996, c1989. The Bible exposition commentary. "An exposition of the New Testament comprising the entire 'BE' series"--Jkt. (2 Pe 1:1-5). Victor Books: Wheaton, Ill.