Like everyone else I go through seasons where I doubt myself and my effectiveness. When you have a public ministry you constantly have people in your ear saying things like…

I wish you preached more like this…

I wish you counseled like this….

I wish you led like….

I wish you interacted like this…

I wish you spent your time like this…

It’s easy to start to doubt and wonder if you should be more this or that.  Last week I spent some time with some crazy gifted friends and as I watched them do their thing it made me doubt even further.

I spent an evening with my friend, Steven Furtick, at his church in Charlotte. As I watched him masterfully lead worship and then preach his guts out it made me think….I need that kind of charisma. If I had his charisma I could be so much more effective. That was Wednesday night.

Than on Friday I found myself in a round table conversation with my friends Chris Seay and Len Sweet which was being video taped for a future small group curriculum. The whole time we talked I felt like I needed a dictionary. These guys are not only incredible ministers of the Gospel, but they’re unbelievably smart. I couldn’t keep up. I didn’t understand half of what they were talking about. I honestly walked away wondering if I was even smart enough to be in ministry.

I say all of this not to invoke some kind of sympathy. I’m just letting you know what goes on in my head because I bet these things go on in your head as well. I bet these voices get really loud in you from time to time.

While I won’t argue that lack of character has brought down more good leaders than just about anything, I would say insecurity runs a very close second.

Insecurity can torment the most gifted of leaders. It will make you…

doubt instead of trust

criticize instead of praise

assume the worst instead of the best

talk instead of listen

micromanage instead of empower

control instead of release

In the end it will erode your effectiveness and leave you useless and powerless. Your worst nightmare will become a reality as you look around to discover that, no longer, is anyone following you.

Be yourself. Live your giftedness. Listen to the voice of your Creator which is the only voice that really matters and tell those other voices to shut up.

What does your insecurity look like when it raises its ugly head?