Deuteronomy 20:4
"For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”
"For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”
So we looked at what emotions we want to cultivate yesterday, now let’s look at 4 emotions that can take a leader out:
It’s true that this list of four emotions can be either positive motivators or negative paralyzers.
For example, fear can cause you to get out of the way of an oncoming car, but also keep you in Moab.
1) Fear
Fear paralyzes a leader. It can prevent you from, for example, taking a risk, having a tough conversation or even being obedient to a prompt of God.
Don’t let the fear of failure, looking foolish, or disappointing someone cause you to hold back on doing the right thing.
For example, you may be tempted to make a decision aligned with fear rather than faith.
One of the best antidotes to fear is action. Break each fear-producing situation down to bite-sized pieces for action, and tackle it one day at a time.
Remember, God is with you.
2) Anger
Unmanaged anger is a true nemesis to even the best of leaders.
One ill-timed blow up can cost you much.
Depending upon the severity of the circumstance or public nature of an outburst, it can cost you your leadership.
The good news is that for one instance, there is usually enough grace that it’s easily repaired.
But if you struggle with anger or if there is a pattern, I would encourage you to seek out a wise and experienced counselor to get underneath the anger and discover its origin.
You don’t need to remain captive to the force of unresolved issues from your past.
Freedom from anger is within reach, but you can’t beat it by yourself. Talk with a trusted friend or counselor soon.
3) Discouragement
Discouragement is one of the top tactics used by the devil in order to take spiritual leaders out.
Discouragement is not enough to disqualify a leader like anger can, and it doesn’t completely shut down a leader like fear can, but it’s just enough to distract a leader from being at his or her best. And over the long haul, that can have huge effects.
Discouragement often originates from a lie based on skewed perspective.
The enemy wants you to focus on the things that didn’t go right because all the other things will encourage you, and that will motivate you to keep going!
Overcoming discouragement can most often be achieved by spending some time with a few positive natured and trusted leaders who believe in you, see the good that is happening, and are full of hope.
It’s also important that you don’t allow yourself to become or remain isolated from others. That is one of the most common ways to take your perspective off center.
4) Insecurity
Every leader has some insecurity. It can be anything from minimal and essentially negligible to nearly debilitating.
It’s up to each of us how we own, lead, and mature our personal security.
Insecurity, like discouragement, is certainly not the potential grenade that anger, and fear can be. But left unmanaged, insecurity can be slowly unraveling to your leadership.
In fact, insecurity is surprisingly common amongst leaders and the danger is that it can lead to things like jealousy, envy, competition, people pleasing, and more.
One of the best things you can do to overcome insecurity is to own it. Talk about it, and be honest about it.
It’s important to identify what triggers your insecurities. When you’re fully aware of your personal patterns, you can begin to learn to handle them in a more healthy and productive way.
Ultimately, the best approach is to remember your identity in Christ.
Find joy and peace in being yourself. Give yourself permission and freedom to be yourself, that’s how people best connect with you and how you lead at your best.
Share who you are so, you can become who God has called you to be.
ACTION STEP:
Remember, I believe in you and you need to believe in yourself.
It’s true that this list of four emotions can be either positive motivators or negative paralyzers.
For example, fear can cause you to get out of the way of an oncoming car, but also keep you in Moab.
1) Fear
Fear paralyzes a leader. It can prevent you from, for example, taking a risk, having a tough conversation or even being obedient to a prompt of God.
Don’t let the fear of failure, looking foolish, or disappointing someone cause you to hold back on doing the right thing.
For example, you may be tempted to make a decision aligned with fear rather than faith.
One of the best antidotes to fear is action. Break each fear-producing situation down to bite-sized pieces for action, and tackle it one day at a time.
Remember, God is with you.
2) Anger
Unmanaged anger is a true nemesis to even the best of leaders.
One ill-timed blow up can cost you much.
Depending upon the severity of the circumstance or public nature of an outburst, it can cost you your leadership.
The good news is that for one instance, there is usually enough grace that it’s easily repaired.
But if you struggle with anger or if there is a pattern, I would encourage you to seek out a wise and experienced counselor to get underneath the anger and discover its origin.
You don’t need to remain captive to the force of unresolved issues from your past.
Freedom from anger is within reach, but you can’t beat it by yourself. Talk with a trusted friend or counselor soon.
3) Discouragement
Discouragement is one of the top tactics used by the devil in order to take spiritual leaders out.
Discouragement is not enough to disqualify a leader like anger can, and it doesn’t completely shut down a leader like fear can, but it’s just enough to distract a leader from being at his or her best. And over the long haul, that can have huge effects.
Discouragement often originates from a lie based on skewed perspective.
The enemy wants you to focus on the things that didn’t go right because all the other things will encourage you, and that will motivate you to keep going!
Overcoming discouragement can most often be achieved by spending some time with a few positive natured and trusted leaders who believe in you, see the good that is happening, and are full of hope.
It’s also important that you don’t allow yourself to become or remain isolated from others. That is one of the most common ways to take your perspective off center.
4) Insecurity
Every leader has some insecurity. It can be anything from minimal and essentially negligible to nearly debilitating.
It’s up to each of us how we own, lead, and mature our personal security.
Insecurity, like discouragement, is certainly not the potential grenade that anger, and fear can be. But left unmanaged, insecurity can be slowly unraveling to your leadership.
In fact, insecurity is surprisingly common amongst leaders and the danger is that it can lead to things like jealousy, envy, competition, people pleasing, and more.
One of the best things you can do to overcome insecurity is to own it. Talk about it, and be honest about it.
It’s important to identify what triggers your insecurities. When you’re fully aware of your personal patterns, you can begin to learn to handle them in a more healthy and productive way.
Ultimately, the best approach is to remember your identity in Christ.
Find joy and peace in being yourself. Give yourself permission and freedom to be yourself, that’s how people best connect with you and how you lead at your best.
Share who you are so, you can become who God has called you to be.
ACTION STEP:
Remember, I believe in you and you need to believe in yourself.
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