True leadership is not born of ambition — it is born from surrender. Only the Holy Spirit can mold our heart and attitude so that we can effectively lead others to Christ.
The enemy understands how pride works, and he uses it effectively: if he can stir up our desire to lead others, he can mix just enough leaven into our attitude to make us offensive and ineffective. When the focus becomes leading people, manipulation and control quietly begins to grow.
However, when our focus shifts from leading people to being led by the Holy Spirit, everything undergoes a transformative change into the likeness of Christ.
When I surrender to the Spirit’s leadership, I no longer strive to lead. Instead, leadership simply becomes the natural outcome of a life surrendered to God — because the Spirit of God Himself becomes the source.
Pride often hides behind our gifting, making it very difficult for us to recognize in ourselves. It begins to operate in our lives the moment we draw our identity from the gift rather than from God Himself.
While pride may be hidden from us, others can usually see it clearly. What we believe is spiritual strength can quickly become unattractive to those around us, because our religious form and posturing begin to reveal the presence of pride masquerading as devotion. What an illustration of how the thief comes in to steal, kill and destroy our influence as sons and daughters in Christ.