A leader maintains the morale of his followers

A leader is just like an army general. He leads his people in the way a general leads his troops. Morale is a positive state of mind derived from inspired leadership. One of the marked signs of a good leader is that he maintains the morale of his troops.

'And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: And THEY SPAKE UNTO ALL THE COMPANY OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, SAYING, THE LAND, WHICH WE PASSED THROUGH TO SEARCH IT, IS AN EXCEEDING GOOD LAND. IF THE LORD DELIGHT IN US, THEN HE WILL BRING US INTO THIS LAND, AND GIVE IT TO US; A LAND WHICH FLOWETH WITH MILK AND HONEY.

Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.' (Numbers 14:6-10)

Joshua and Caleb are famous for their speech in which they sought to stabilise the congregation and encourage them to enter the Promised Land. Maintenance of morale is the maintenance of cheerfulness, confidence and zeal especially in the face of battle. The Canadian Armed Forces teach 'principles of command', which include 'know your subordinates and promote their welfare'.

The morale of human beings reduces as time passes and events unfold. That is why the morale of younger people is usually higher than the morale of older people. To maintain morale is to maintain zeal, enthusiasm, interest and confidence in something.

It is easy to lose the morale as you take up the fight to follow the Lord in the ministry. There are three main seasons of your life where you must maintain the zeal:

(1) You must maintain zeal and enthusiasm whilst in school.

(2) You must maintain your zeal as you go on in life. You need to be zealous during all the different boring phases of this life.

(3) You must be able to maintain zeal in times of crises. Crises have the greatest ability to reduce your zeal and confidence. Without a high morale, you are likely to lose your war.

Indeed, many battles are directed at reducing the morale and enthusiasm of the troops. Many events are orchestrated by evil spirits with the intention of discouraging you from serving the Lord. People leave the ministry because of discouragement more than any other single cause.

A good general knows how to raise the morale in the army. You must get the army to think less about themselves and more about what they are involved with. Motivate the troops and maintain their morale by making them think less about themselves and more about their hated enemy.

You can raise the morale of your followers by making them think less about themselves and more about the goal of the battle. You can raise the morale of the troops by talking to them.

Many leaders are famous for their speeches that raised the morale of their people. Leaders like Napoleon, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, Martin Luther King, Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama are famous for their motivational speeches. Leaders who do not speak to their troops fail to raise the morale of their troops. You must rise up and speak to your people.

You must encourage them and tell them that it will be well. The morale of the people who are following you is very important. Your failure to raise their morale is your failure to lead.

Julius Caesar and the 'Maintenance of Morale' Julius Caesar was a famous general who won many battles on behalf of Rome. His most famous wars were fought in Gaul (France) and Britain. The Roman army was originally a part-time army. Many of the soldiers were farmers who would return to their original jobs after fighting in the Roman wars.

Indeed, the armies of Rome had been run as a lay army before the time of Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar changed all that by creating a professional organisation with long terms of service. One of the things that Julius Caesar did was to boost the morale of his troops by promising the soldiers some land on which they could farm when they returned home.

The soldiers were encouraged to fight in the Roman wars, knowing that when they returned home they would have land to farm on. This idea to pay soldiers with land was a clever idea that greatly boosted the morale of Julius Caesar's soldiers. The high morale of Julius Caesar's troops contributed greatly to his success as a general. May you be a leader known for raising the morale of your followers.

By Dag Heward-Mills theaol@ymail.com