Leadership

Nine Things That Every Leader Struggles With…And How To Overcome Them! (Part One)

Aug 15, 2012

I threw out a tweet last week asking leaders what was the top thing that they struggled with…and received lots and lots of answers; however, we took them and basically categorized them into nine things.

Before I list them and how to overcome them let me share a reality that God has been DRIVING into me over the past three months…

GOD’S WORD > HOW I FEEL!

If you are a leader (especially a church leader) then one of the things we are most guilty of is believing God’s Word for other people but not for our own lives.

I can personally relate to EVERY SINGLE ONE of these things listed…and the way I fight/do battle with them is God’s Word!  I believe that by believing God’s Word we can overcome these things…so with that in mind here we go…

#1 - Feeling Adequate - Every single church leader I have ever spoken to wrestles with this, the one thing that I always come back to is II Corinthians 4:1, God’s mercy = my ministry!  I am adequate not because of anything I have done, but rather because God had mercy on me and called me to Himself.  You are adequate because God called you…period!!!

#2 - Pride - Every single leader I know is going to deal with this one at some point, for me anytime I am prideful I find myself being led to I Corinthians 1:26-31 and I Corinthians 6:9-11!  (James 4:6 is a good one too!!!)

#3 - People Pleasing - Galatians 1:10 and Proverbs 29:25, plain and simple!

#4 - Delegation - One of the things that made Paul such a powerful and influential leader is that he delegated not just task…but ministry (see I Corinthians 4:17!)  Jesus did the same thing as well (Luke 10:1-24!)  If I want to be a leader like Jesus I must learn to trust people—period!

#5 - Jealousy Of Other Leaders - We deal with this because so many times we compare what they are doing to what we are doing, which is DANGEROUS because no one EVER wins the comparison game.  The apostle Paul warns in II Corinthians 10:12-13 that we should NOT look at what others are doing but rather whether or not we are being faithful with what God has called us to do!!!

One more thought on this…in the parable of the talents one person received five, another received two and the last guy received one.  If the two talent person had spent time complaining and comparing with the five talent guy then he would have been unable to produce any sort of harvest…but because he took stewardship of what he had been given he stepped into a bigger blessing…because he refused to compare!