Great courage comes from great conviction in the leader’s relationship with God. Read Isaiah 63:11-14.

Moses led Israel during one of Israel’s most difficult times. What was Moses’ key to success? Isaiah recalls that Moses received his courage from his convictions. Moses’ relationship with God came first. That relationship established a foundation for his convictions and finally from his convictions came his courage to lead others without compromise.

When godly leaders have one set of core values they live by it serves to eliminate competing realities in the workplace. Read Isaiah 58:1-4.

Israel’s leaders thought their actions should please God. They were fasting and seeking God for decisions and direction but they had their life segmented into the spiritual and secular and did not allow the values from their spiritual life to spill over into the secular. They were seeking God one moment and exploiting their workers and striking each other with their fists at other moments. They had one set of values when dealing with God and another set of values when dealing with their job. How many leaders today are suffering from the same way of thinking?

A leader’s stress is directly related to the choices they make. Read Isaiah 57:1-21.

The people of Israel made some choices that brought unbelievable stress into their lives. In Chapter 56 of Isaiah we learn that the spiritual leaders of Israel, called watchmen, had stopped leading. They chose to stop leading. From history we know that Manasseh was the king and because of the lack of spiritual leadership, Manasseh turned the nation so far away from God’s standards that he even sacrificed his own son in a fire to worship a false god. The people chose to leave the worship of the one true God and worship gods made by human hands from wood, metal and stone. We see the evidence of the depth of their choices in verse 5 when it says, “You burn with lust among the oaks and under every spreading tree; you sacrifice your children in the ravines and under the overhanging crags.”

When a leader is communicating effectively their words will bear fruit. The purpose of communication for the effective leader is not just to speak, or write, or demonstrate through example or visual aid but to be heard and understood. Read Isaiah 55:1-13.

Isaiah 55 offers the words of God, the great communicator. Even though God’s ways and thoughts are higher then any humans, no matter how brilliant, He gives thoughts in simple enough language so that anyone that reads them, regardless of IQ or education level, can be supernaturally changed by His truths. God invites the hearer to participate in His truths even if they have no personal resources and assures them that He alone can fulfill their desires and permanently meet their needs. He urges leaders to seek Him while He may be found.

Servant leaders understand their team’s needs, define what is required to meet those needs and give of themselves to meet those needs. Read Isaiah 52:13-53:12.

In ancient religions it was commonplace for people to offer sacrifices to the gods, but the notion that a god would make a sacrifice for humanity was beyond imagination. Even God’s chosen people the Jews had no concept of such a Savior even though their scriptures predicted it. The Jews were looking for a powerful Messiah who would deliver them from the bondage of Rome. They were so focused on the stereotypical powerful leader that they totally overlooked Isaiah’s prophecy about the Messiah in chapter 53.