Let's Talk About Influence And Godly Leadership!
You know that leadership doesn't really come from having a title, a badge, or a position—it’s all about influence. What kind of Influence today impacts you, and then impacts others through you? Has it been godly or is it from the pit?Think about someone who God used to change your life for the better. Likely, it wasn’t from their badge, position, or title that moved you—it was their attitude, their character, their words, their example that made an impact. Or think of someone whose attitude just poisoned a room the moment they walked into it. That, too, is influence. It's the kind you and I do not want.
So what kind of influence are you having on those around you? In an honest relationship with the Lord, God will use you to positively influence others!
A leader’s most powerful tool is not his strategy, his charisma, or his seminary credentials. It’s a clean life with a Christ-like attitude. Attitude sets the temperature of a home, of a team, of a church.
Allow the Word, the Father, and the Holy Spirit to influence you today! Get out of His way. Ask Him to help you stop impeding Him and His work. Get in the word and let the word get in you.. even in your shoe leather. Allow Christ to work through you.. His way today! He changes each of us from the inside out, and true Christian leadership flows from the inside out. So go out (outside your four walls) and help someone who is in needs the gospel and His kind ministry.
1. Character: Who You Really Are
Leadership begins with the heart. Proverbs reminds us, “Guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” (Prov. 4:23) A leader can’t fake godliness for very long—what’s in the heart will eventually surface. What's deep in the well with come up in the bucket. Are you walking with Jesus in humility and integrity? Great movements begin with great hearts. Before God builds through you, He builds in you.
In His Sermon on the Plain, Jesus asserts what's so about humans: "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45).
Need a spiritual barometer? A heart overflowing with the truth of God's word and goodness will inevitably produce words of kindness, thoughtful deeds of compassion, and a life marked by integrity.
Reflect, learn from your past. This divine principle compels us to a healthy yet profound introspection: what is consistently flowing out of my mouth and life? Are my words building people up or tearing them down? Has God been using my actions to draw others to Christ or have they been pushing them away?
Therefore, we are called to be "fruit inspectors" and not to accuse or condemn, but to exercise spiritual discernment for our own protection and the guidance of those under our watch-care. This isn't about being cynical, but about being wise stewards of our relationships and influences. When we truly grasp that the mouth often speaks from the heart's abundance, we gain invaluable insight about what to lay up in that heart, enabling us to trust discerningly, to influence righteously, and to live authentically, all for the glory of God. What kind of fruit is your life producing today?
2. Relationships: Who You Really Walk With
“Bad company corrupts good morals.” (1 Cor. 15:33) Who you surround yourself with will shape your influence. Who do you choose to hang close with? Jesus had deep relationships with His disciples. Do you have strong, growing, sharpening friendships that stir up love and good works? Influence is always relational—never transactional. People follow leaders they trust and know.
3. Knowledge: What You Know and Really Apply
Biblical leadership isn’t merely about puffed-up knowledge, but it's more about wisdom applied in love.
4. Discernment: What You Really Sense
How well do you read the room with people in it? Leadership requires Spirit-led intuitions so to speak. It’s seeing what others miss—timing, tone, morale. Jesus often withdrew to pray before getting with people and acting. Do you seek the Lord’s guidance daily? Real leaders sense the invisible battle and adjust with godly wisdom. The right action at the wrong time can still be wrong.
5. Experience: Where You’ve Really Been
God doesn’t waste your trials and experiences, so you shouldn't either. What have you learned from them? Pray.. God what do you want me to learn in this trial today? (We're in one, just left one, or we're about to enter another one -- trials are a normal part of this Christian walk). What do you want me to do with this?
6. Proven Fruit: What You’ve Really Done
The blessings of past faithfulness and victories in the Lord build up present trust. Like David with Goliath, we remember he first faced lions and bears and won. God helped him to. The victories no one sees prepare you for the ones everyone will see. Your prayer life in private when all alone will greatly affect your public life when you're far from alone. Want to influence like Christ did and still does? Then serve Him with humility in private and public according to the Bible, not merely for show. God, with His still small voice, will speak to you, and He might speak through you. He delights to bless, reward, and honor consistent, quiet obedience to Authority (flawed delegated authorities or direct).
7. Ability: What You Can Really Do Through Christ
Everything that He calls you to do. Jesus said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) Real ability comes from abiding in Him. Doing my best, I commit the rest.
- New International Version (NIV): "I can do all this through him who gives me strength."
- Amplified Bible (AMP): "I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose—I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.]"
NKJV: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
A title or badge may impress for a moment, but you see many cultists wear badges. "Elder," my foot.. as if!
Let your light shine—it's not to show off, but to show up for God, so that you and others will better glorify your Father in heaven (Matt. 5:16). You are a leader if you're following Christ, obeying what He says and helping others to do the same. Others indeed are watching you!
So, how’s your inner mindset, your human spirit (sweet in a good sort of way from the Holy Spirit, or bitter). How's your attitude?
Are you sharpening others or dulling them?
Are you still craving and seeking after a position, or seeking to rightly serve and help others to serve?
You don’t need a stage to lead right. You just need a fully surrendered heart, a Spirit-controlled)/filled life, and a willingness to keep walkin' in truth, in love, in kindness, and in humility.
This is the kind of leadership that God likes -- this is the type that lasts. This is the good influence that echoes throughout eternity.
Salt and Light: The Influential Call of Christ to Disciples to Influence.
Get to it.“You are the salt of the earth.. You are the light of the world.” — Matthew 5:13-14
When Jesus declared in the Sermon on the Mount that His followers are the "salt of the earth" and the "light of the world," He was not merely assigning metaphorical roles—He was bestowing upon each of them a sacred calling: to influence by God's grace.. to preserve, to illuminate, and to glorify the Father through their very presence and actions in this world.
Salt: It's the Preservative and Enhancer
You remember how in the arid climate of first-century Palestine, salt served two crucial purposes. It preserved food from decay in the absence of refrigeration and enhanced its flavor, even making people thirsty. Both dimensions offer what type of spiritual parallels?
As preservers, Christians are called to restrain moral and spiritual decay in this corrupt world. The Apostle Paul wrote of humanity apart from God: "There is no one who does good, not even one" (See Psalm 14:3; Romans 3:12).
In a world corroding under sin, Christians are to be a divine preservative, holding back corruption by embodying righteousness.
As flavor enhancers, we are to bring zest and vitality to life. Christ-followers are called to live in such a way that our presence improves the lives of others—seasoning our conversations with grace (Colossians 4:6), bringing joy, peace, and meaning to a world starving for authenticity.
Pastor John Stott once wrote, “The influence of Christians in and on society depends on their being distinct, not identical. Salt is only useful when it is different from the meat it is trying to preserve.”
Yet Jesus warns that if salt loses its distinctiveness—its “saltiness”—it becomes worthless. This can happen subtly, as when believers compromise truth for cultural acceptance or trade Christlike convictions for comfort. As Mark 9:50 exhorts, “Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.” Disunity and moral complacency diminish our preserving power.
Light: The Witness in the Darkness
Christ also called His disciples the “light of the world,” a title He would later claim for Himself (John 8:12). The idea is powerful: just as a lamp dispels darkness, so too should the life of a Christian reveal truth, hope, and holiness.
Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:14–16 continues, “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.. Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Light does not exist for its own sake—it exists to reveal and to glorify. The good deeds of the believer must not point to self but serve to magnify the goodness of God.
This witness becomes all the more essential in an increasingly post-Christian society. According to a recent Barna study, only 21% of U.S. adults now believe the Church has a “positive impact on culture,” and among Gen Z, nearly 1 in 3 say they see little relevance in the Church's role in the world. This is not a call to despair, but to reawaken. The darker the night, the brighter even a single light shines.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it poignantly: “Flight into the invisible is a denial of the call. A community of Jesus which seeks to hide itself has ceased to follow Him.”
What Dims Our Light and Deadens The Saltiness of Our Salt?
The Scriptures are not silent about the dangers that hinder our positive influence. Luke 14:34–35 speaks of salt losing its usefulness through disobedience. The context? Wholehearted discipleship: “Whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
Every compromise, every unconfessed sin of omission or commission, every cowardly silence in the face of evil when you need to speak up, is a step away from our identity as salt and light here. The danger is not in being hated, but in being indistinguishable. As Os Guinness warned, “The greatest enemy of the influence of the Church today is not persecution, but seduction.”
We aren't here to draw attention to ourselves. Christians are not called to blend in, but to stand out in a non-self-focused way—yes, not for ego, but for impact. We are to be a “city on a hill,” meant to shine not with self-promotion but with divine purpose.
Living as Salt and Light
To preserve, to season, to illuminate after we find the Spirit's illumination (in the Bible), to glorify—these are the hallmarks of Christian influence. But how do we sustain such a calling from God? Through God's power.
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Stay and follow near to Christ. He is the true Light (John 1:9). Only by walking with Him can we shine out (reflect His light).
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Embrace daily discipleship from Him first. Will you die to your own apitites and way? Taking up our cross to die is not an option—it is the path to rez-power.
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Cultivate peace, purpose and purity. Be one and of His mind. As Mark 9 teaches, our collective/corporate influence fades without unity and holiness.
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Resist all spiritual compromise. Some compromise in the business arena and that can be smart, but spiritual compromise is never smart. Salt must remain salty; light must remain bright instead of covered over.
Let every word, every act, and every attitude please the Lord. We have an opportunity to reveal the beauty of Christ to a watching world. As that old hymn says:
“Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me,
All His wonderful passion and purity;
Oh, Thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine,
Till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.”
By the power of the Spirit may we be what He declares us to be—salt and light here. And may the world, upon tasting of our lives see Jesus.. see our reflected light, as we glorify our Father in heaven.
1 Corinthians 15:33
Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”
Matthew 5:13-16
You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Proverbs 27:17
Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.
Proverbs 13:20
Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.
1 Peter 3:16
Having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
Galatians 5:7-9
You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
1 Peter 3:15
But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
1 Peter 2:12
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
Proverbs 9:9
Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.
Proverbs 10:17
Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray.
Proverbs 15:1
A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Proverbs 22:24
Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man,
Proverbs 19:6
Many seek the favor of a generous man, and everyone is a friend to a man who gives gifts.
Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
1 Timothy 4:12
Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
Matthew 5:16
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
1 Corinthians 5:6
Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
Hebrews 10:24-25
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
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