When leaders stop learning their leadership becomes less effective. Read Zechariah 1:2-6.

Like Haggai, his older contemporary, Zechariah was a post exilic prophet who led the people from 520-480 B.C. Zechariah gave the people many visions but he had only one priority and that was for the people to finish the temple. Concerned about the exiles’ apathetic response to finishing the temple, Zechariah shared his visions to encourage the people in their rebuilding project and give them hope in a future King and His eternal kingdom.

Being an effective leader requires careful thought that leads to wisdom. Read Haggai 2:10-19.

The Hebrews that returned from exile in Babylon with the mission to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem were struggling in their day-to-day life to have success with their crops. Three times in today’s Scripture Haggai recommends the leaders give careful thought to their situation. When they stopped construction on the temple and focused on their own needs they were lacking in both food and wine. When they stopped giving careful thought to God’s priorities they forfeited the wisdom they needed to find God’s blessing.

Each generation of leaders must help the next generation understand that no matter how much power they accumulate they are still accountable to the One True God. Read Nahum 1:1-10.

Just a little more than a century before Nahum’s prophecies, Jonah had taken God’s demand for repentance to the Assyrian capitol of Nineveh. The king and all the leaders had responded immediately by humbling themselves before God and God spared them from destruction. That generation failed to leave any legacy of humility or repentance and the nation returned to the wicked treatment of people that first brought God’s wrath. Unfortunately, children and grandchildren cannot inherit spiritual life so the attitude of repentance was not automatically passed on to the next generation of leaders.

Effective leaders interpret the times, see the future and determine the action steps needed to get there. Read Joel 3:1-21.

The nations around Judah and Jerusalem insulted God by the way they treated His people. The last chapter of Joel pronounces judgment on these nations. While the nations around Judah will be judged, God gives hope to the Jewish people by telling them He plans to use them in the process if they take a few steps to right their relationship with Him as they move into the future.

Effective leaders have an intelligent awareness of current events and their relationship to the future. Read Joel 1-3.

Very little is known about the prophet Joel. It is believed he wrote the book of Joel approximately 835 BC. Joel’s message is directed at the people of Judah, the Southern Kingdom. From his writing Joel appears to have been educated, well-read and familiar with the teachings of Micah, Jeremiah, and Isaiah. Joel effectively used a massive locust infestation that occurred during his lifetime as a word picture; utilizing a natural disaster to underscore the message of repentance to avoid a similar surprising and terrifying judgment by God. God’s assignment to Joel was to awaken the people of Judah from their spiritual apathy and provoke them to repentance and a return to Him.