The Art of Leadership

When a leader becomes a defender, he has become a loser! No matter how well a leader defends himself, he is likely to be the loser. If you prepare your defences and invest heavily in defending yourself, you will have to make sure that your enemy does not develop attacking mechanisms that are superior to what you are preparing for.

Now Jericho (a fenced town with high walls) was tightly closed because of the Israelites; no one went out or came in.

Joshua 6:1 (AMP)

No matter how well a leader defends himself, he will eventually be the loser. The attacker is always at a great advantage and will defeat his enemy.

The great city of Jericho was heavily defended against the invading Israelites. The Israelites were on the attack but the people of Jericho were defending. What was the outcome of this epic battle? Disaster for the people of Jericho! You may feel safe within your walled and heavily defended cities, but it is just a matter of time.

In the end, all your preparations and defences may fall apart because the enemy will have enough time to study you. When a church is grown, developed and established it usually sits back and becomes defensive. No matter how the established church defends itself, it ends up reducing and losing the fight against mavericks and breakaway factions. A look at history will reveal how huge church establishments have had their membership and attendance eroded with time. Why is this? It is because the church had stopped attacking and began defending itself. When a church is in the attacking mode, it reaches out, it evangelizes and it plants other churches.

The church in America used to reach out to the world, sending the gospel through missionaries and travelling evangelists. Today, it is basically defending itself against the invasion of the spirit of abortion, homosexuality, gay marriage and other forms of sexual deviations. Because of this, the church in America is on the decline whilst other religions are increasing their membership.

The reality is that, the church is always under attack. It can choose to sit down and defend itself against invading demonic armies. On the other hand, the church can choose to reach out, evangelize more territories and build more churches. If we obey God, we will evangelize and build churches in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and in the uttermost parts of the world. It is time to stop defending ourselves. The outstanding generals in history did not become famous by defending towns and cities.

Defenders of the Atlantic Wall

From 1939, Adolf Hitler spent his time invading one country after another. He had attacked Czechoslovakia, Austria, Poland, France, Holland, Belgium, England and Russia. He had been successful as the attacking force. Now, it was his turn to defend. His forces were thinly spread out and his attacks on Britain and Russia had not been successful.

As the Second World War progressed, Hitler’s ability to attack other nations diminished and he began to think about how to defend himself against an invasion. All the nations he had attacked were pulling themselves together to mount a decisive attack on him.

The Atlantic Wall was the name given to a massive coastal defensive wall that Adolf Hitler built to defend himself against his many enemies. This massive wall stretched all the way from Norway, along the Belgian and French coastline to the Spanish border. The Atlantic Wall covered a distance of 1,670 miles and was built between 1942 and 1944. This project was vast and mostly situated on the French coast, where the British and Americans were expected to land.

This Atlantic wall was built purposely to repulse the British and American forces that were preparing to invade Europe. When the planned invasion of Europe eventually took place in June 1944, the wall was quickly overcome. The wall, which had taken over three years to build, was quickly overpowered within one week of fighting. The invasion started on the 6th of June and by the 11th of June all the major sections of the beach were under the control of the British and American forces. It took just five days to completely overcome this great defensive Atlantic wall. By the 11th of June, 326,000 troops and 100,000 tons of military equipment had crossed over.

This great defensive Atlantic Wall was overcome quickly. That is how defending churches and ministries are overcome. Defensive ministries are overcome quickly and set aside. It is time to rise and stop defending the ministry. You must attack and move forward into new territories.

I can predict the outcome of your war when I know which mode you are in! Which mode are you in? Are you in the attacking mode or the defending mode? Alexander the Great, Hannibal and Napoleon conducted well-known wars and achieved legendary victories by attacking and not defending. Indeed, they became famous by invading and attacking. Do not become just a defender if you are a leader!

By Dag Heward-Mills

theaol@ymail.com