DAY 62 - SELF-LEADERSHIP
MILANNA MARTILLARO, YA CREATIVE & PRODUCTION TEAM LEAD
“‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.’” John 15:5
Everyone wants to be a leader, but being a good leader is something different. The best leaders are those who can lead by example. Successful leadership begins with self-leadership. In order to be a leader worth following you have to lead yourself well. Jesus calls us to be leaders, but as His call to leadership starts with self-leadership.
Self-leadership starts with looking inwards.
1. Self-awareness – knowing your intentions and values, being honest with yourself about who you are.
2. Self-confidence – knowing your strengths and abilities and developing those.
3. Self-belief – knowing that whatever comes your way, you can handle it.
Self-leadership means taking time to reflect as well.
1. Intentions – are they good? Are they spirit-led?
2. Influence – what is influencing you and is it positive? Is it spirit-led?
As Christians, self-leadership is our personal development as a follower of Christ. In many ways, the call to follow Christ is a call to leadership. God has a mission for His church, and we are a part of it. Whether you think you are a good leader or not, it doesn’t matter. Jesus’s disciples were not gifted leaders, but they were able to lead nations to eternity simply by following Christ. For us as Christians, leadership is self-leadership, and self-leadership is following Christ.
The person that God has given you the most authority over is yourself. So, the most important person for you to lead is yourself. Your ability to either nurture or neglect your self-leadership, will affect your growth and also affect your ability to help lead and disciple others well. Proverbs 25:28 tells us, “Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city—struck down without walls.” It is important to take time to look inwards to reflect and self evaluate. Andy Stanley says it like this, “You can’t lead yourself until you are honest with yourself.” Being honest with ourselves about where we are will always point us back to the Lord. The best way to lead yourself is to remain in Him. When we are taking care of our self-leadership we are remaining in Him, through this He is able to bear fruit in us, refine us, and we start to become more and more like Jesus. Our self-leadership can lead us closer to Jesus which can help us lead like Jesus which will carry us beyond any internship, any job, or any trial.
Read John 15 Take time to reflect and pray about what self-leadership looks like for you. What are some small but attainable ways you can lead yourself to Jesus, in order to lead like Jesus?