The transitional leader – harnessing your weaknesses into strength
But he said to me, “My grace is all you need. My power is strongest when you are weak.” So I am very happy to brag about how weak I am. Then Christ’s power can rest on me.
2Corinthians 12:9Last week we discussed about times of transition and how to handle such times. This week we will be discussing an uncomfortable aspect of leadership which is about handling perceived inadequacies as a leader in rapidly changing times.
We have often been told that to be a leader you have to be strong, bold and courageous and as the British would say, “maintain a stiff upper lip”. We hear many people boast of their great accomplishments as leaders and we are subtly encouraged to speak about how strong, rich and powerful we are, how fast we have built up a business or may be church building; how we have so many followers within a short time. While tenacity and courage are good qualities in a leader, we must not let it become and excuse for boasting or relying on human principles. on the other hand, we may find ourselves feeling low when it seems as though others that we began with are doing better than we are and could be tempted to want to measure up by may be “faking it until we make it”. We see people showing up things on social media that are not their true self only to make people believe they are also doing well. Also sometimes, we are the one that set such high standards for ourselves in leadership that we crumble under the weight of our standards.
Many years ago as a teenager, God told me many great things he purposed for me but then after awhile, I felt very downcast in me because I felt I was not fulfilling a lot of these visions. I had such high standards and thought these things were not happening because of my inabilities. This was made worse when I read a Christian book stressing about taking up your cross to follow Christ. I slept off almost in depression feeling I was not doing enough. Space would fail me on the details but then that morning, in what appeared like a dream I was woken up with the voice of God through the Holy Spirit actually explaining to me that carrying the cross is not meant to be a daunting task, it means staying on the path God called you to be and not trying to compare your progress with someone else. I felt strength and joy in my heart that morning. I was touched that God, whom I thought I was failing could come that far to encourage me. In another of such experience, I was going to do this article but time was running out and I felt I couldn’t cope with doing it because of the many pressures around me at the time. I actually texted someone else to do the discussion post but then at about 3am that morning, the Holy Spirit came upon me to pray and while I was praying, He began opening my eyes on this subject and I quickly recalled the text and did the post.
God always calls us to do what our strength alone cannot accomplish and often this can be daunting for us, thinking of how humanly difficult or impossible the task is, because we love to have everything under our control. We find ourselves doubting, arguing or even giving excuses for why that is not possible and easily accept explanations for not doing them. God does this so no man can boast and all glory will go to Him alone. The beauty of walking with God is that He has already made provision for every mission He sends us to accomplish. Also his standards are better than ours because he knows exactly what we are capable of and will not put more on us than we can bear. His yoke is easy and His burden is not grievous. So we have nothing to fear when He sends us. One of the ways you know that God is involved in a matter is that it looks impossible initially but then it always gets done in ways people cannot explain. When we trust in our own abilities alone we begin to struggle. We become afraid of people seeing us the way we truly are, so we become protective of ourselves. we boast in other to hide our weaknesses. We keep shaking like Samson even when the power is gone, having a form of religion/tradition but no power attached. This is when we become afraid of criticism or correction. Like Saul we easily become rebellious and stubborn because our show is threatened. But when we trust Him, he helps our weaknesses.
In our opening scripture, Paul narrates his humbling yet powerful experience. I find this to be the secret to true power. He learnt to rather boast in his inadequacies instead of the mighty revelations he had, because he learnt that therein lies the power of God in His life. Have there been times in your life when you thought you couldn’t go through an experience but you held onto God and went through it successfully before you realized it. Have there been difficult tasks in your place of work/school/family/ministry which no one could do but then the wisdom of God expressed itself through you and you did them? Have there been times when God gave you excellent counsel that made you outdo your colleagues at work or school or made others marvel at how you could know or accomplish these things? Can you remember where you were yesterday and how difficult or impossible you thought it would be to be where you are now, but here you are now in that impossible place. I can go on and on, but the common theme is that like Paul, God showed up in your moment of weakness. This is our advantage as believers. We have the Holy Spirit as our standby to help when we are in need. When we learn to recall these experiences, we will not arm ourselves with fleshly weapons. Just like David, when Saul wanted to arm him with a different apparel than what he was used to, he got rid of them and remembered how God helped him to kill a lion and a bear without human Armory. He beat Goliath with just a catapult and a stone. Jesus prayed earnestly in Gethsemane until He prevailed over his weak body.
Its our season to step into leadership positions not based on our strengths but on the calling of God upon our lives because he is faithful and will be right by us. God is not looking for the perfect or the qualified people. Don’t be afraid to step out. Don’t give excuses, you never know how much is invested in you until you step out. Remember that a setback is not a failure until you give excuses for them (this quote changed my life). Step up and step out! start where you are, when in doubt go to God in prayer, talk to likeminded believers, encourage yourself in the Lord, do not look down on yourself, embrace your weakness with grace without excuses and yield to God sincerely as He transforms that weakness into your greatest strength. Then your boast can be only in the Lord.
1. Can you think of examples of people in the bible who accomplished humanly impossible things?
2. Can you share about something God did for/with you that was humanly difficult or impossible to achieve or go through?
I would like to hear your thoughts. So please keep it coming.
- 4 Replies
@michael This week’s discussion excerpt is succinct. I completely resonate with what you are saying. I am also encouraged to know that I am not alone in this as a leader. There are multiple times I have felt abandoned, rejected and as though I am a failure.
And like you, God has spoken so many great things to me while growing up but then there are times I felt like I failed. When I read the story of Paul, I realized that we are all dealing with a God who is bigger in His ways and thoughts that ours. So, I am encouraged to trust Him because that is the only way to make it to the finish line.
Thanks for sharing🔥This is a wonderful exhortation @michael ! Thank you for sharing and persevering to get this post to us. I can totally relate to feeling inadequate in leadership/calling or getting caught up in perceived failure. I think it’s common for a “mature” Christian to be so motivated to do awesome things for God, but we easily forget it’s God working in us to accomplish those things! I’m reminded so often of the prayer Paul prays for the church of Ephesus at the end of Eph. 3 and he closes with “Now unto Him who is able to do infinitely more than we could ask or imagine according to His power at work within us…”
I agree with @phil4krist that Paul was a great example in the Bible of a leader who accomplished so much as a result of His commitment to obeying God and being led by the Spirit in all decisions. I think of Paul as the kind of guy who had incredible mastery over his mind. He knew he needed to be focused and even when he was tempted to doubt himself (I think of Romans 7), he didn’t let it defeat him… he always came back to the truth of what God says and continued on the path God had for him.
Thanks Nia. It becomes easier when we acknowledge that we are not alone in our Christian walk with God. Jesus Christ told us that lo, He’ll be with us even to the end of the age. That way we can be encouraged that He’ll strengthen us in times of need.
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