For years, much of my ministry has focused on helping individuals understand who they are in Christ and experience the freedom that comes from living out that identity. That foundation has not changed, but my focus has become more specific.
Today, I am increasingly passionate about helping leaders become free to lead.
Free to Lead brings together biblical theology, a leader’s identity in Christ, and the real-world challenges of leadership. It begins with the conviction that healthy leadership flows from a secure identity. When leaders understand who they are in Christ, they are better equipped to lead without fear, approval, comparison, performance, or others’ expectations controlling them.
But our identity in Christ is not simply something we believe; it shapes how we lead. It affects how we make decisions, handle conflict, respond to criticism, and navigate change.
Free to Lead helps leaders connect the truth of who they are in Christ with how they actually lead, so they can lead with greater freedom, clarity, health, and purpose.
If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself (Matthew 16:24, Luke 9:23, and Mark 8:34)
A primary reason why we struggle to fulfil Christ’s Great Commission is because we are guilty of a great omission: We fail to deny ourselves.
Denying yourself is not the same as self-denial. Students, athletes and cult members practice self-denial, restricting themselves from substances and activities that keep them from reaching their goals. But the ultimate purpose of self-denial is self-glorification. The ultimate purpose of denying self is to glorify God.
Jesus was talking about denying yourself in the essential battle of life: the scramble for the throne, the struggle over who is going to be God. Jesus doesn’t enter into that battle; He’s already won it. He occupies the throne and graciously offers to share it with us. But we want to be king in our lives by ourselves. Until we deny ourselves that which was never meant to be ours – the role of being God in our lives – we will never be at peace with God, or ourselves and we will never be free.
You were not designed to function independently of God, nor was your soul designed to function as master. You will either serve God and His kingdom or Satan and his kingdom. Self-seeking, self-serving, self-justifying, self-glorifying, self-centred, and self-confident living is, in actuality, living and serving the world, the flesh, and the devil. On the other hand, denying yourself is not self-mortification. God is not trying to annihilate you; He is trying to restore you.
When you deny yourself, you invite God to take the throne of your life, to occupy what is rightfully His, so that you may function as a person who is spiritually alive in Christ. Denying yourself is essential to experiencing freedom in Christ.
PRAYER: Lord, too many times I have tried to live independently of You. I deny myself today and yield the throne of my life to You.
“No Christian is immune to the devastations of sin, and attempting to reconcile those sins, whether committed against us or by us, with our standing as God’s beloved children, is incredibly difficult work. Often, the shame brought on by my past caused me to hide from God and to run from the security and belonging he was offering me. God has given us the truth from scripture as our most powerful tool when facing shame, and FIC helped me learn to remember, to rest, and to walk in the promises and truths of God, a loving Father who will never abandon or hurt us and who does not call us to live in shame”
Whether you are just learning about Jesus or have been a Christian for years, Neil T. Anderson awakens you to your true identity, showing you how to step free from you past and walk into life restored – the way God intended.
This book starts at the beginning with Creation, the Fall, the Gospel and moves into how to have a deep abiding relationship with Jesus Christ.
Restored is available here as a free PDF in English, Spanish, German, and Simplified Chinese.
Daily In Christ – Focus on the Significant – with Dr. Neil T. Anderson & Trenidy Davis
Summary:
To be significant many people jump on the performance track setup by the world system. However, true significance comes from investing out time in a few faithful friends. Join Trenidy Davis as he reflects on being significant right where we are. For more read Dr. Anderson’s “Daily In Christ” devotional.
FOCUS ON THE SIGNIFICANT
If any man’s work remains, he shall receive a reward (1 Corinthians 3:14)
Significance is a time issue. What is forgotten in time is of little significance. What is remembered for eternity is of great significance. Paul wrote to Timothy: “discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:7,8). If you want to increase your significance, focus your energies on significant activities. Those that will remain for eternity.
Brian was a pastor of a small church who attended one of my classes at the seminary. He was in his mid-thirties and married when he found out he had cancer. The doctors gave him less than two years to live.
One day Brian came to talk to me. “Ten years ago somebody gave a prophecy about me in church,” he began. “They said I was going to do a great work for God. I’ve led a few hundred people to Christ, but I haven’t had a great work for God yet. Do you think God is going to heal me so the prophecy can be fulfilled?”
My mouth dropped open in shock. “You’ve led a few hundred people to Christ and don’t think you have accomplished a great work for God? Brian, I know some big-name pastors in large churches who can’t make that claim. I know some great theologians who have probably never led anyone to Christ. If a few hundred people are believers today because of you, and they have influenced who knows how many other people for Christ, I’d call that a great work for God.” (Brian is now with the Lord, having completed his significant ministry of reaching hundreds for Christ.)
As children of God, we are in the significant business of collecting treasures for eternity. What we do and say for Christ, no matter how insignificant it seems in this world, will last forever. There are no insignificant children of God, because our life is eternal.
Lord, I desire to use wisely the time You have allotted to me. May my life count for gold, silver and precious jewels, not wood, hay and stubble.
