If we are called to lead anything – a family, a small group, or even a denomination or movement- if those leaders cannot speak the truth about any issue, they need to ask for help and allow God to hear their fearfulness. Downstream, a leader’s unresolved fear will create fearful followers if the truth is not leading their decisions. We copy what we follow.

The fear of what others think about a leader’s decisions has been the downfall of many good leaders who started out well but finished their leadership in fear and compromise. Not to end well means a leader failed to embrace the kind of truth that those who followed them expected. Followers need to be led faithfully and righteously into the future, even in times of great disagreement over a leader’s decisions and the turmoil those decisions will produce. 

We don’t need managers; we need leaders who are brave enough to help us move past what hinders our Kingdom expansion and cross over the thresholds of breakthrough that only living a life of truth can provide. 

Faithful and righteous leaders will stand in the face of opposition, even from their own constituency, and hold the course. They will be compelled to speak the truth in love, no matter what the cost. That is the measure of a leader who leads with the heart of God.

For those leaders who recognize they have been compromised by fear, the Lord offers a word of hope while they realign the priorities of their lives. When they are about to make a decision that not everyone will appreciate or agree with, the Lord says, “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).