It is important to be faithful stewards of the gifts, talents, and callings that God has given each one of us, but we must always remember that it is God who opens doors that no man can shut. Promotion comes from God. Our calling is not a career path; it is a calling from heaven.

I really only have one goal when it comes to my leadership. When I get to the end of my journey I want to be able to declare, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).

Here are four things that matter when we are following God's plan for our lives:

1. Heart attitude matters

“Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23).

More than anything else we must determine to keep our hearts right and to have a constant heart check up. Our heart will ultimately keep us on course or take us off course. Leadership is an issue of the heart.

2. Timing matters

“Let us not grow weary in doing good for in due season we shall reap if we don’t not lose heart” (Galatians 6:9).

We must always remember that even though we need to plan, have goals, objectives, strategies, performance indicators, budgets, and anything else that can help us to get to where we believe God wants to take us, we cannot twist God's arm or make something happen in our own strength. God has His due season and appointed time for a thing. Remember that our due dates are often very different to His appointed times and we allow discouragement settle in. Stay faithful. Leadership involves understanding times and seasons.

3. Character matters

“The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity” (Proverbs 11:3).

It is important to remember that HOW we do what we do matters as much as what we do. The gift that is on your life will destroy you if your character cannot sustain you. It is crucial that we do not allow our gift to take us to a place that our character cannot keep us.

We must ensure that there is not a disparity between our inner or outer world or our world will collapse. In our hyper connected, hyper transparent world there is no longer any such thing as private behavior. Everything that now happens can be forwarded, tweeted, blogged about, or appear on Youtube. People are looking for integrity and authenticity. Leadership requires character.

4. Trusting God matters

“For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the judge, He puts one down, and exalts another” (Psalm 75:6-7).

In the age of celebrity, social media, blogging, and marketing I am stunned at how many people think they can market their way to a position or opportunity in the kingdom.

I have discovered over the course of two decades that it is better to be MARKED by God than to be MARKETED by man.

You do not want to be in a position that God has not meant for you to be in or the weight of it will eventually crush you. We need to ensure that we are not driven by selfish ambition but that we are being led by divine destiny. Do not sacrifice your destiny on the altar of a position you desire by sacrificing the place that God has set you in. God sets every member of the body in place as He sees fit.

Remember when Samuel was going to anoint the new King of Israel? He thought that Eliab was the one, Jesse thought any of his other sons were the ones, but God had MARKED David. When God marks you everyone else can get it wrong but he will exalt you in due season. Leadership is about trusting God.