Welcome back Be the One family!
Pastor Steven here, I am so excited to go into the next part of our series on leadership, "Dealing with Discouragement"
Growing in leadership means there will always be new responsibilities, team members, and goals. It’s so easy to be excited about all that God is doing as you are growing. Growth means greater victories but also some defeats. Setbacks are a very real part of leadership. There is no getting around battling thoughts of discouragement. Moving forward means defeating discouragement and not allowing it to hinder God’s assignment on your life.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (ESV)
"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are temporary but the things that are unseen are eternal."
No matter what level of leadership you step into, there will be moments that you will have to battle discouragement. I would go so far to say if a leader tells you that they don’t battle with discouragement, they are either not leading or they’re lying.
We battle discouragement when:
Expectations don’t match reality.
Assumptions hurt the assignment.
Criticism comes from our key people on the team.
People's excitement stops and they start to disengage.
Offenses hurt relationships.
When we carry the weight of our decisions.
Everyone battles discouragement. We are believing God will send us leaders who are able to deal with and defeat discouragement in order to stay engaged and build the Kingdom. As you step into more, it's imperative that you know there is no real influence without a cost and there is no leadership without weight. The very idea of leadership is the action of leading a group of people or an organization. Leadership is about dealing with people. That means when you say yes to leadership you're saying yes to help walk with the brokenness in people. Leaders are on the frontlines of dealing with personalities, personal problems, and past experiences. Be the One family, I want to reflect on this: - What makes you feel discouraged? - What are your current ways that you are dealing with discouragement? Join us next week as we talk about what causes discouragement and how to deal with discouragement! Love ya, Pastor Steven Sexton
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