Is it more important to be Spirit-led, or, to be a strong leader? The obvious answer: "Well, of coarse, it's more important to be Spirit-led." So then, why are so many "spiritual leaders" evidently more focused on being strong leaders rather than seeking God's leading and being Spirit-led?
Good question. For one, becoming a strong leader is something that we can do ourselves. We can work harder at delegation or developing our plans or holding more meetings are more aggressively hiring the best talent available. And of course, people naturally like thing they can control (why else would Adam and Eve be dissatisfied in a perfect Garden of Eden? Or Judas be discontent being one of only 12 disciples of the Son of God?
Being filled by the Spirit, on the other hand, is something that God does to us. It is at His prerogative. We can only surrender ourselves to it. Most leaders prefer activity over relationship. They would rather get on with the work than take time to get to know someone, even if that Person is Christ. Becoming a stronger leader appeals to our pride. Submitting to Christ calls for humility. Strong leadership gets things done now. Waiting on the Lord calls for patience as we wait on His perfect timing. Those are just a few reasons why Christian leaders every year spend far more on secular books written by coaches and business leaders rather than on books that will help them draw closer to their Lord so they can hear His voice and obey His will.
I think many leaders follow other leaders, and there are not a lot of great examples of “spirit led” leaders out there. Further, it is not clearly presented in many churches how to be led by the Spirit or filled by the Spirit. We talk about it in passing, but don’t explain how to get to that point in our life and stay there.
Tozer on Christian Leadership –
“Spiritual Warfare and Sin: My Kingdom Go”
“Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” — Matthew 6:10
It may surprise you that Aldous Huxley, often a critic of orthodox and evangelical Christianity, has been quoted as saying: “My kingdom go is the necessary correlary to Thy kingdom come.”…
Certainly His kingdom can never be realized in my life until my own selfish kingdom is deposed. It is when I resign, when I am no longer king of my domain that Jesus Christ will become king of my life.
Now, brethren, in confession, may I assure you that a Christian clergyman cannot follow any other route to spiritual victory and daily blessing than that which is prescribed so plainly in the Word of God. It is one thing for a minister to choose a powerful text, expound it and preach from it-it is quite something else for the minister to honestly and genuinely live forth the meaning of the Word from day to day. A clergyman is a man-and often he has a proud little kingdom of his own, a kingdom of position and often of pride and sometimes with power. Clergymen must wrestle with the spiritual implications of the crucified life just like everyone else, and to be thoroughgoing men of God and spiritual examples to the flock of God, they must die daily to the allurements of their own little kingdoms of position and prestige. Who Put Jesus on the Cross?, 173-174.