Humility is one of the Bible’s most often mentioned traits of a God-honoring leader. Read Luke 3:15-17.

John the Baptist was a powerful leader and public speaker. Luke 3:3-9 says John had crowds of people coming out of the cities of Judah to listen to him speak. Because of his straight talk, many who listened to John responded to his message of repentance and were baptized. Many people followed John and actually became his disciples. John was so popular that many in the crowds actually thought he may be the promised Messiah. When asked if he were the Messiah, John demonstrated tremendous humility when he said he was not worthy to untie the sandals of the true Messiah. What an awesome combination of traits John possessed as a leader – burning passion and absolute humility.

Christian leaders must balance their identity as a child of God with their self-confidence. Read Psalm 8.

How self-assured should a leader be? When does a leader’s confidence become arrogance? God has stated that He hates arrogance and loves humility but leadership by its very nature requires a large dose of self-confidence and that kind of self-confidence can be dangerously close to arrogance. Additionally, leaders can display a healthy, godly self-confidence for years and then after a few successes begin believing their own press clippings and actually morph a healthy self-confidence into arrogance. This can be a very tricky area for Christian leaders.

Every leader needs to “self-evaluate” leadership strengths and weaknesses on a regular basis. A single unguarded weakness can destroy everything that a leader has built. Read Judges 13:3-5, 14:2, 14:6 & 19, and chapter 16.

Samson was special. Before he was even conceived, an angel of the Lord set the stage for his life. Samson was a Nazirite, one set apart for God. God had selected Samson to lead Israel against the Philistines, and his valiant, single-handed battles with Philistine troops attested to his personal bravery and the presence of God’s blessing on his life.