Christian Leadership Series: Are You Ambitious? Part 1
Are you a Christian Leader who is Ambitious? I certainly hope so. Ambition is a characteristic given by the Lord to run this race and to complete our God Given assignments. The Lord pointed out two types of ambition that He truly wants us to be aware of. Before I dive into that let’s look at the definition of ambition.
Definition of Ambition: a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work.
Here are some synonyms of Ambition: appetite, aspiration, desire, energy, enthusiasm, hope, initiative, longing, love, passion, pretension, yearning, zeal, aim, dream, goal, and objective.
The two types of ambition the Lord wanted me to address for Christian Leadership to understand, that is Healthy Ambition and Selfish Ambition. I asked the Lord, who in the bible had healthy ambition and he immediately told me Jesus did. These are the words that I felt in my spirit.
My son Jesus. If we look throughout the four gospels when can see how Jesus's ambition totally worked in his favor. He had an assignment, which was to be sacrificed our past sins, present sins, and future sins.
Let's look at Christ's life. Did you know that Jesus could not surrender his life to the Pharisees until his assignment was complete which was:
1. To teach/train/equip the disciples.
2. Give us a blueprint of how we would live our life as Believers and operate in ministry.
3. Died for our past, present, and future sins.
4. Died so we could have Authority through Jesus Christ and access to the Holy Spirit. (These are only 4 areas that stood out to me.)
CHRIST UNDERSTOOD THE ASSIGNMENT
In the Book of John Chapter 16:17, we can see how Jesus has been trying to help the disciples understand who he truly was which was the Messiah. How could they teach and preach the gospel after Jesus was resurrected on the third day if they did not BELIEVE? Let's go to scripture. John 16:17-20 we see the disciples saying how they did not understand what Jesus was saying.
Fast forward to vs. 29-31
29 His disciples said, “Ah, now You are speaking plainly to us and not in figures of speech! 30 Now we know that You know all things and have no need for anyone to question You; because of this we believe [without any doubt] that you came from God.” 31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now [at last] believe?
Then in Chapter 17, Jesus goes into prayer, prays for the disciples, and surrenders his life which led him to sacrifice his life on the cross. Jesus showed Healthy Ambition.
Characteristics of Healthy Ambition as a Christian Leader
1. He was patient with the Disciples those who he was training/equipping up to be leaders so that when he left, they could carry out their assignment, he explained himself repeatedly even when he was frustrated because the disciples they weren't getting. Many times, we lead people who need more training and nurturing than others.
2. He spent time with them and got to know them and they got to know Him, He corrected them in love,
3. He slowed down and spent time with God often to be sure his head was clear and that he was on the right track.
4. He sacrificed His Life for you and me and left a blueprint for us to follow.
5. Even when Thomas doubted Him or was not clear on who he was he still loved them and waited on them, patiently. Even when Judas turned his back on him and Peter denied him, Peter was still considered to be the rock.
So in chapter 18, we see how Jesus surrendered his life for the sake of the Kingdom. Jesus was ambitious, he had a HEALTHY AMBITION for me and for you! JESUS UNDERSTOOD THE ASSIGNMENT. This is the type of ambition that the Lord wants Christian Leaders who are in Leadership to have.
To hear the full message, listen to the podcast below. It’s meaty, be sure to take notes. You get to hear some of my stories as well! Join me in this Christian Leadership Series as I share. The top 10 Stumbling Blocks for Christian Leaders!
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