“ Then I heard the voice of Adonai saying : ‘ Whom should I send and who will go for Us ?’ So I said , ‘ Hineni , Send me ,” ( Isaiah 6:8 , TLV )
Thus , we find that although God provides the anointing for the work of the Kingdom , we must equally respond to it with “ Hineni ” in declaring “ yes ” to Adonai through obedience and trust . As a result , God ’ s anointing is bestowed both through sovereign choice as well as by our diligent seeking of the Lord . For example , Samuel was sovereignly born of a barren womb after much seeking by his mother ( I Sam . 1:11 ) who dedicated him to the Lord ( I Sam . 1:24 , 28 ), but he was also a dedicated youth who gave himself devotedly to Adonai . ( I Sam . 2:11 , 18 ; 2:26 ; 3:1 , 3 )
Anointing , aligned to our “ Hineni “ starts as a seed , but it does not grow into a tree without careful and consistent attention . In its secular rendition , called charisma , it can come across as confidence , likeability , and proactivity . As important as these are , they are all human traits that can be cultivated . To those with spiritual eyes , they understand that the anointing is more than a combination of human traits ; it comes from the Ruach HaKodesh . However , it cannot be cultivated apart from God Himself . Anointing can both increase and decrease , as it did with King Saul ( I Sam . 9:2 , cf . 10:1-9 ; 13:13-14 ; 15:26 ; 16:14 ) as especially seen following his debacle with the Amalekites .
Character
While leadership depends on both skills and anointing , there is a third component to it . This third component is often overlooked , but it has the power to overshadow and even override both human skills and charisma or anointing . That third aspect is character . Paul our Shaliach gives two lists of character traits required of leaders in his “ pastoral letters .” The first list is found in 1 Timothy 3:1-13 and it deals with the qualifications for an overseer . Although the items listed in 1 Timothy 3:8-13 dealing with the qualifications for deacons ( or shammashim ) are a subset of the requirements found for overseers as seen in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 . The second list is found in Titus 1:5-11 , and it deals with elders , or congregational leaders . As with the overlap between the two lists in 1 Timothy 3 , there is also substantial overlap between the list in Titus 1 and the two lists provided in 1 Timothy chapter 3 .
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