The Art of Leadership By Dag Heward-Mills
Quietness and silence reveal your wisdom. A silent person is usually seen as wise and respectable. Talking, chatting and relating do not make you look as wise as when you are quiet. A person who keeps quiet seems to have assessed the situation and judged that it is better to be quiet now than to speak.
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; A TIME TO KEEP SILENCE, and a time to speak; Ecclesiastes 3:6-7
- Silence will help you not to sin with your mouth.
Developing the art of being quiet and silent will help you to avoid falling into many sins. It is easy to criticize! It is easy to be treacherous! It is easy to murmur! It is easy to grumble! Sin is present when there is a lot of talking. Developing the art of keeping quiet will increase your level of holiness and ‘sinlessness’.
When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise. Proverbs 10:19 (SB)
- Quietness and silence will help you develop into a prophet.
You will need to learn how to be quiet if you want to be a prophet of God. Apostle Paul was caught up into paradise and saw and heard wonderful things. But he made a remarkable comment about the things he saw and heard. He said it was unlawful for him to say what he heard and saw.
It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth) such one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, WHICH IT IS NOT LAWFUL FOR A MAN TO UTTER. 2 Corinthians 12:1-4
Indeed, if you need quietness and silence to work for important men, you will need quietness and silence to work for God. God can reveal things to you that He has no intention of sharing with the public. God is looking for friends whom He can chat with. Would you like it if everything you said to your friend was broadcast on a radio? If you are going to become a prophet of God, you will have to learn to be quiet.
- Hide and flourish by doing your unseen assignments.
Serpents grow longer, bigger and more powerful as they hide in the undergrowth. By the time you see a snake it may have lived near you for several years. How did it get to that size? In the ministry the unseen work is prayer. There is plenty of unseen work for a priest. Notice the many unseen jobs that Eleazar the priest had to do.
And to the office of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest pertaineth the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the daily meat offering, and the anointing oil, and the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that therein is, in the sanctuary, and in the vessels thereof. Numbers 4:16
A modern pastor must be a master of the unseen and hidden jobs of ministry. The work of prayer! The work of intercession! The work of waiting on the Lord! The work of meeting leaders! The work with small groups! Most of these activities are hidden. But they are the most potent and fruitful activities of a minister. One day someone asked me, ‘Where did you get all these pastors from? When did they join your church?’ He did not know about the many private meetings I have held, talking with young people and encouraging them to work for the Lord. It is this unseen aspect of the ministry that yields great fruit.
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Matthew 6:5-7
Hiding and keeping silence can even help you to deal with your accusers. “Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time” (Amos 5:13).
Jesus could speak for hours when He was in the presence of friends but when He was in the presence of His enemies he was silent. “And the chief priests accused him of many things: but he answered nothing. And Pilate asked him again, saying, ANSWEREST THOU NOTHING? Behold how many things they witness against thee. But Jesus yet answered nothing; so that Pilate marvelled” (Mark 15:3-5). You must learn to hold your peace when you stand in the presence of your accusers. Let them say what they can, but entrust yourself to God. It is a key to hiding and flourishing!
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