The Art of Leadership By Dag Heward-Mills
The great wisdom of the serpent is to develop internal power!
The great wisdom of the serpent is to fight with internal powers!
A leader who wants to be wise as a serpent must seriously work on what is within him! A snake has a lot of power – and the power is all internal.
And he said, that which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
FOR FROM WITHIN, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
Mark 7:20-23
Work on your hidden internal thinking processes. Be a master of your inner power! Your negative thoughts reduce the power within you. A minister must work on his thoughts. Jesus said that the things that defile you come from inside.
When you open your inner life to hidden evil thoughts, hidden deceit, hidden thefts and hidden adultery, all your powers go out and you are like a snake without saliva or venom! Most aspects of righteousness are hidden. True righteousness is not easy to see because you cannot see the hearts and minds of people. You cannot be used by God if you are not as wise as a serpent. You have to be strong internally so that God can anoint you!
An evil eye, evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, blasphemy, pride and foolishness deplete spiritual power and also contaminate you.
Internal Powers
The fruit of the Spirit is the product of the inner being. It is what comes from the inside. Whether you believe it or not, the greatest power that can come out of your life are the fruits and products of the Spirit. The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Use every opportunity you have to develop these inner qualities. Which power did Jesus use to influence the whole world? Was it not the power of love, peace and goodness?
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23 (NASB)
Many people mocked at Jesus Christ when He came to this world with the power of love, sacrifice and obedience. Through these inner qualities, Jesus Christ changed the whole world. Two thousand years after his death and resurrection, the world acknowledges the inner qualities of Jesus Christ by celebrating Christmas. When inner power is developed, you have real power! Many people laughed at me when I was developing the power of faithfulness and loyalty within my disciples. But it is only by the power of faithfulness and loyalty that a mega church in different locations can be built.
Serpents are wise because they have developed inner power. The great power of a snake comes from within. The great wisdom of the serpent is to have developed internal power that is called venom. Snakes produce saliva from within their mouths just like we all do. When the snake produces saliva from within itself, this saliva is so potent that a drop of it can send you to your grave. The saliva of a snake is its venom.
The venom a snake produces within itself is so powerful that it can kill a human being, a lion or even an entire village. Imagine your saliva being so powerful that you could kill someone by spitting at the person! The venom of the king cobra is so deadly that one bite can kill twenty people or one elephant. The Australian Brown Snake’s venom is so powerful that only 1/14,000th of an ounce is needed to kill a human being. Australia’s inland taipan snake (Oxyuranus microlepidotus) is said to possess the strongest venom of any land snake. Fortunately, it seeks unpopulated areas and rarely bites people. Taipan snakes have venom 50 times more toxic than a cobra. All this great power comes from within the snake!
In the same way, every man can unleash positive powers or negative powers from within. It is when something comes from deep within a person that it is powerful. Both positive and negative things gain their power when they are from within and from the heart. It is only when preaching and teaching come from the heart that they are powerful! It is only when we do things from the heart that they have power. The real power is from within!
I agree that these inner qualities do not look very powerful. But such is the wisdom of a serpent. A snake may not look very powerful as it lies sleeping in the grass. But it has within its mouth a well-developed and complex power that can kill a truckload of armed soldiers. Dear leader, develop your inner power!
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