3 The Purpose - All successful leaders  have  a  strong sense of destiny with a transcendent purpose backed by a calling from God. A sense of destiny is  an inner conviction from God to do something significant or special.  In other words, they believe they have been called and carved out by God to do great things for him. This can be borne out in Scripture. Leaders who have accomplished great things for God have a sense of destiny. Leadership always leads somewhere and not to nowhere.   

In the Old Testament, we are informed that Abraham was called by God to go to a land he had never seen and later, he became the father of a nation. Joseph dreamt  the sun  and moon bowed  down to him foreshadowing his destiny to be the ruler of Egypt. Moses at the burning bush became the deliverer of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. All of them including Joshua, Gideon, Samson David and Solomon “lived and died with a belief that thorough them God was working out a purpose greater than themselves."^[1]   

A true leader is likely to be one who has no desire to lead, but is forced into leadership position by the inward leading of the Holy Spirit. A classic example in Scripture would be the apostle Paul who was drafted by the Holy Spirit  for the task and commissioned  by the Lord to fill a position he had little heart for. ^[2]

At the heart of effective leadership is a sense of destiny. A leader must be convinced God has called him and know God's purpose before he can communicate to the group. "Genuine leaders operate out of a sense of calling, not a sense of drivenness" says Leighton Ford.^[3] Similarly, "real Christian leaders are people who are moved at God's pace and in God's time to God's place, not because they fancy themselves there, but because they are drawn" (George MacDonald).

What does it mean to be a person with a sense of destiny? A person with a sense of destiny is characterised by five things: 

One, A Leader With A Sense Of Destiny Seeks To Serve God's Purpose In His Own Generation.

For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed (Acts 13: 36; NIV).^[4]

The life of King David  is summarised in one sentence - "He  served God's purpose in his own generation". What a powerful statement. He did not serve his own purpose or his own agenda but God's. By serving God he was serving the people. To serve the purpose of God in our own generation means to serve others (cf. Matt 25:45).  This means giving our best to serve others in terms of our abilities in the present and not in the future as well as bring faithful in our walk with God and work for him till the end. Part of serving God means the willingness to repent when we fail or falter since we are all humans. Is it not true that those who have served God in their own generations have wielded great influence in our lives? Their lives should be a great encouragement to us to persevere in the ministry.

When William Booth found out about the social ills taking place in London in 1890 - 2,157 people had been found dead, 2,297 had committed suicide, 30,000 were prostitutes, 160,000 were drunks, and more than 900,000 were classed as paupers, he decided to ask the Church of England to help but they were no interested. He decided to do something about it. He said, “We have no reputation to lose; we are not obliged to stop and consider what anybody will say; everybody has settled it that we are fools. and therefore we can go into a town and do exactly what we think best without taking the least notice of what anybody may say or wish. We have only to please God and get the people saved."Getting the people saved." and then sent them back to the churches but many people were not accepted. Even if they were accepted, they barred the poor totally or tucked them behind screens out of sight and smell.  That was how Salvation Army was born.  In his life, William Booth travelled 5,000,000 miles and preached 60,000 sermons.  Salvation Army was holding an international convention and Booth could not be there because he was now so weak physically. He cabled his convention message to them. It was one word: "OTHERS.” He served God's purpose in his generation. 

In spite of David's past failure, he was credited to have served God. "For when had David served God’s Purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep, he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed" (Acts 13:36). What a marvellous epitaph to have when we pass away that we “served God in our own generation” and then fell asleep!  It is not how a leader start but how he or she ends that counts.