How Does God Prepare us for Leadership in the Seven Marketplace Nations?

Leadership – to borrow a definition from John Maxwell – is to know the way, go the way, and then show the way. The seven marketplace nations of calling are Business, Media, Governance, Family, Education, Church (Religion & Ministry) and the Marketplace. When God wants an assignment done, He raises leaders. Leadership can be defined as a calling because there are leaders and followers, and the roles can also be interchangeable depending on the circumstances. God calls us as leaders in the seven marketplace nations to positively influence culture and introduce His way of doing things. Culture is defined as a set way of doing things that incorporates our values, beliefs, actions and thoughts. God’s culture is different from that of the world. Faith-based Kingdom leaders are required to lay a Godly foundation, rebuild, restore and renew God’s righteousness, and introduce His culture in the seven marketplace nations. To do this, they need to be prepared through a process.

The Scripture that will form the basis of this article is Isaiah 45:1-3 which says,

“This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.”

God prepares us in many ways to take our leadership positions in the marketplace. The first way, according to the Scriptures, is to know what He says to us. That we are anointed, and we should put our name in place of Cyrus. There is an assurance that He has extended His hand to hold and empower our right hand to action, and to give us access by going before us, removing obstacles, challenges and issues we may face. It all starts with praying, decreeing and declaring this word.

Prayer and Decreeing God’s Word

Prayer is a powerful tool to prepare our hearts to obey God in the positions He puts us in the marketplace, and to empower us to flow with Him as we engage the marketplace assignments He gives us. There is nothing as powerful as knowing that you are not alone and that God is with you, fighting your battles, removing obstacles out of the way and opening doors for you. This is the place where you can claim that you know God and that He is with you as others claim their physical protectors. You have a God who is making decrees over you as you engage in your marketplace assignment. He calls us to fulfil His will, and we need His help and guidance. By praying, we ask God to intervene in the places He has positioned us to influence. Praying Isaiah 45:1-3 invites God to go ahead of you and prepare the way to the place He is calling you. There are obstacles along the way, and God has to deal with them first. Remember to place your name in the above Scripture, and believe what it says as you decree and declare it as often as you can. This gives you the confidence you need to face the challenges, obstacles and situations arising in the marketplace daily. The assurance is that God has gone before you to remove these obstacles, challenges and situations. Place your full confidence in this as you pray and decree. In addition, you can include your family, ministry, business, and everyone involved in your life and ecosystem as you pray.

Why?

God’s desire is that we will take our leadership positions in the marketplace and make decisions that establish His culture and divine will. He wants the marketplace to be a place He can reign and establish His righteousness. He takes hold of our hand to subdue marketplace nations – geographical and language-based – and strip kings of their armour. There are Kings in your way, and occupying positions meant for Kingdom leaders who have been prepared through a process. One of our greatest failures as faith-based Kingdom leaders is that we have not understood that we cannot give what we don’t have. We must be prepared and be skilled to occupy. We need to put on the full armour of God and then firmly take hold of Gods hand and move in obedience. Ask yourself, am I ready? Am I prepared? What do I need to do as I pray, decree and declare to be ready to take up the marketplace position and represent God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit aptly?

Access

God is taking hold of our right hand, subduing nations and stripping kings of their armour to give us access to open doors before us so that gates do not shut. Isaiah 60:11 says that the gates are open day and night so that the wealth of the nations comes through the gates day and night. The preparation is to give us access to the wealth of the nations, which are the 7 professional marketplace nations, geographical and or language-based nations. God has covered all the bases and all we need to do is to align. We are to use the access to wealth to build, establish and advance God’s Kingdom. He has given us the ability to create wealth to confirm His covenant. He teaches us to create wealth so that we can teach others. Cyrus was able to amass a lot of wealth, and God wants the same for us in the marketplace. We have associated Christianity with poverty, and God wants to teach us lessons on wealth and how to access, create, grow and establish it for generations. The first lesson is that the ability to create wealth is given by God. It has to be His hand in ours and Him leading the way. The problem is when we get ahead of ourselves and ahead of Him.

Wealth is in all areas, spirit, soul, body, social, economic, professional, as a leader and in varied places. With great wealth comes great responsibility hence the preparation process. Start where you are, and with what you have according to the instructions He is giving you. Identify where you are in the training process. Ask yourself, what are the principles surrounding wealth that will allow God to bring you into the wealth covenant? What will make God go before you to level the mountains, raise the valleys, make the crooked places straight to subdue kings before you so that you can experience open doors and gain the access that you need to be a leader in the marketplace? Wealth is to be shared to benefit others, can He trust you to be a channel and a distributor of wealth, opportunities and empower others? Leaders know the way, go the way and show the way. How will you empower others to gain wealth in and through God and establish His presence in the marketplace with excellence and also point them to the Kingdom of God? The Kingdom wealth serves as a witness that we are with God and that His covenant is with us. Wealth in all 8 aspects that make up humanity confirms the covenant and also draws people to God. A light on a hill cannot be hidden, it draws people. The wealth that God is preparing you to create in the marketplace should draw humanity to Him.

Positioning for Leadership in the Marketplace

God’s word states in Ephesians 1:19-20 that the power of God raised Jesus Christ from the dead and positioned Him in heavenly places. God’s power positions us. As we are prepared for leadership in the marketplace, we are accurately, precisely positioned. We are expected to lead without a title because we are positioned for Him. We have a marketplace assignment in our job description, and we also have a spiritual assignment to access hidden wealth and empower everyone in our place of assignment.
Wherever we are positioned we must display the excellence of the Kingdom of God like Daniel. He was an excellent administrator and a godly man who prayed all the time. He influenced, mentored, coached and modelled accurate Kingdom leadership to his proteges and those he was leading. In your position in the preparation process please identify those you can mentor, coach, model to and influence directly or indirectly. Always remember you are God’s light and beacon continuously pointing people to Jesus Christ and His Kingdom; you are His witness. You are positioned to witness and become all that God has given access for you to be.

Stripping starts with me

As God strips kings of their armour, it is paramount that we check ours and especially what is underneath it. Are we hiding things with our armour? Are we who we say we are and present to the world as we are? What defensive habits have we engaged in before we put on the armour? God’s armour is the helmet of salvation – are our thoughts aligned to His? The breastplate of righteousness – is our heart right with God and others? The belt of truth – are we truthful with God, others and ourselves? What are the lies we have told ourselves that we need to correct, repent and ask for forgiveness? We cannot give what we don’t have. As God is stripping others on our behalf, He is also stripping us. I always sense it is better to start addressing what needs to be stripped before God does. And as you do, He will come alongside you, and you can make the corrections, adjustments and alignments together. How is that for a win-win situation? The sword of the Spirit is His Word – are you reading, meditating, decreeing and declaring it often? The shield of faith – how is your faith? Are you faith-fit for the assignment ahead? Are your feet fitted and ready to move to spread the gospel of the Kingdom of God? Be authentic and vulnerable with God as you engage in this process, it will help you in becoming a better leader. You will be prepared for the fight and the assignment in your marketplace and geographical nation of positioning.

God has gone before you

As you are prepared on this journey remember that God and His Kingdom army have gone before you to remove obstacles, level the playing field, and remove every gate that tries to stop you from accessing hidden wealth that has been stored up for generations. God is fighting for you, pushing back the darkness to bring you into His light and promises. The conversation is about access for generations, present and future. God knows your name, how cool is that? He knows your name and is summoning you to this call and assignment.
If this message has spoken to you please find and read a good Bible commentary on Isaiah 45:1-3 and gain prayer points, strategy and instructions on how to move on this leadership preparation journey. God is preparing you as a leader in the seven marketplace nations and you need to be in alignment with His strategy.