In this live teaching, Shakeela Torres (Shakeeta) explores the concept of ambition from a Christian leadership perspective, distinguishing between God‑given, healthy ambition and selfish ambition that can destroy ministries, families, and faith. She begins by defining ambition and listing synonyms, then shares how the Holy Spirit revealed that Jesus exemplifies healthy ambition. Using passages from John 16‑17 and other Gospels, she illustrates Christ’s patient, relational, and sacrificial approach to leadership. She then moves to James 3:13‑17 to define selfish ambition, citing biblical warnings about jealousy, boasting, and disorder. Drawing on personal experiences—her upbringing in poverty, leading a women’s Bible study, running a nonprofit, and navigating social‑media pressures—she highlights common pitfalls. She presents a concrete list of twelve markers of selfish ambition for Christian leaders (e.g., worth tied to opportunities, fear of failure, believing you’re the only one who can accomplish tasks, using people, taking credit, seeking exposure, difficulty saying no, entitlement to success, prioritizing winning over love, insecurity, proving yourself, etc.). For each marker she offers practical counsel: seek God’s direction, practice humility, prioritize relationships, surrender ambition to Christ, maintain balance with family, and rely on God’s love for identity. The teaching concludes with a prayer for leaders to surrender ambition, seek godly wisdom, and remain centered on Christ, and an invitation to continue the 10‑part series.
Chapters
typically requiring determination and hard work. Ambition is a characteristic given by the Lord and a type of stamina that God has given us to carry out our God-given assignments. Okay, so the Holy Spirit pointed out two kinds of ambition to, um, to me to share today, which is healthy ambition and then selfish ambition. How are you guys? Thank y'all for joining. And so for me, I'm big on research, looking up words, trying to get understanding, whether I'm studying for, you know, in the Bible or studying whatever I'm studying. I try my best to get as much clarity as possible with the time that I do have, okay? And so here are some synonyms of ambition. So as you already know, a synonym is a word having the same or nearly the same meaning as another. So some of the words are appetite, aspiration, desire, energy, enthusiasm, hope, initiative, longing, love, passion, pretension, yearning, zeal, aim, dream, goal, and objective. So all these words have very similar meanings as ambition. Okay, and so whenever God gives me something, I begin to ask him questions like, who is this for? Okay, show me in scripture, you know, how to really make this, you know, this word even more powerful. Help me to be able to teach your people in a way where they can understand it and where they can apply it. And also, God, give me strategy for them. Okay, so today we're gonna do just that. All right, so the first question, um, I asked God, I said, who in the Bible had healthy ambition? And immediately I heard the Lord say, my son Jesus had healthy ambition. And I was like, wow. And then he brought it back to my remembrance a few years ago I was doing, um, I was leading— me and my best friend was leading a women's Bible study. And so every week we would read, um, in the book of John, but we took turns where each of us had to read a chapter and then study it for that week and then bring it back and teach it to each other. All right, that's how we sharpen each other, okay, and learn from each other. And so he brought me back to, um, John chapter 17. And he reminded me of the word or the revelation that he had given me, um, you know, a few years ago about Jesus. And so, as you know, you know, Christ was here on Earth. Christ, you know, he had an assignment to complete. And what the Lord revealed to me was that pretty much no matter how long it took, Christ could not leave this Earth until he completed his assignment. All right, so stay with me, I'm going somewhere. And so oftentimes, you know, we hear about how long Christ was here. We learn about, you know, in the scripture, you know, his life, his ministry, but he really couldn't like surrender his life on the cross until he completed his assignment here on Earth as well. Okay. And so in the book of John chapter 16, we can see how Christ has been trying to help the disciples to understand who he truly was, which was the Messiah. How could they teach and preach the gospel after Christ was resurrected on the, on the third day if they did not believe? So if you go to John chapter 16, verse 17, it says This is funny to me. Okay, so first of all, let's go back a little bit. You know, Christ spoke to us a lot in scripture and parables, using visuals, using real life things that we experienced to help us to understand what he's trying to say. Well, he did that a lot, but the disciples didn't understand, y'all. The disciples, it took them a long time to fully understand some of the things that Christ was saying. And the main thing was that he was the Messiah, he was the chosen one. It was like they knew that in their head knowledge, but like they didn't know it in their heart. They really couldn't fully comprehend the revelation of who Christ really was. Okay, so in John chapter 16, verse 17, disciples said to one another, what does he mean when he tells us a little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me, and because I'm going to my Father? Verse 18. So they were saying, what does he mean when he says all these things? And so Christ knew what they wanted to ask him, but he asked them, are you wondering among yourselves about what I meant when I said, a little while and you will not see me, and again a little while you will see me? I assure you and most solemnly say to you that you will keep and grieve in great mourning, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow would be turned into joy. And so fast forward to verse 29, they finally said, 'Oh, now we get it. You are speaking to us plainly and not in figures of speech. Now we know that you know all things, and you have no need for anyone to question you. Because of this, we believe without any doubt that you came from God.' So Christ answered them, do you now at last, at last believe in me and believe in who I am? So think about it, how could the disciples really lead? How could they really, you know, teach the world and teach, you know, different people with different cultures and different, you know, people from all over the world about who Christ was if they did not have full understanding and knowledge about who Christ was? Think about it. It makes so much sense, right? And so to me, I thought that was just like beautiful. Christ was so patient. He was so patient with them. All right. And so then in chapter 17, I'm not going to read the whole thing. It's a very long chapter, but Christ is going into a prayer. And here's what he says. He said, after he has spoken all these things, Christ raised his eyes to heaven in prayer, and he said this. He said, Father, the hour has come glorify your Son so that your Son may glorify you. Just as you have given him power and authority over all mankind, now glorify him so that he may give eternal life to all whom you have given him to be his— to be his permanently and forever. Now this is the eternal life, that you may know you, the only true God, and Christ— and in Christ whom you have sent. So it's a very long, you know, long chapter, but Christ is pretty much praying for the disciples, praying for the people, like praying to God, okay, God, pretty much I'm ready, I'm ready to go. My assignment here is complete, Father. My assignment here on earth is complete. Okay, and so how did Christ show healthy ambition? Because he was ambitious, okay? If you ever read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you can see just how ambitious Christ was. So here are some things that Christ showed, okay? He was patient with the disciples, those who he was training and equipping them up to be leaders so that when he left, they can carry out their assignments. He explained himself to them over and over again Even though I'm sure he became a little frustrated with them because they were not getting it. So many times as leaders, you know, we get impatient with those who are under us. We get impatient because we want them to get it. But here's the true example, a blueprint of what Christ did to show us how we should respond and continue to, you know, train our people, continue to nurture them. Okay, number 2, Christ spent time with them and he got to know the disciples. He corrected them in love. He was able to determine who he could trust. He was able to determine who was a part of, you know, his assignment. It's like he was able to like discern all these things about those he was called to serve, called to equip, and send out. All right, number 4: he gave his life for you and me and left a blueprint for us to follow. My God, even when Thomas doubted him or was not clear on what he, um, clear on who Christ was, Christ still loved him and waited on him patiently. Even Judas turned his back on Christ. He knew that, but he still did his part to serve. Then Peter denied him 3 different times, but Peter was still considered to be the rock. Okay, so in chapter 18, we can see how Christ surrendered his whole life for the sake of the kingdom. This is what Christian leaders do. We surrender our lives to Christ. We surrender our lives for the sake of building up the kingdom. Christ was ambitious, but he had a healthy ambition for me and for you. In other words, he understood the assignment, but he did not risk falling into selfish ambitions in order to complete the assignment. And this is what God wants us to know today. He wants us to truly look at our hearts to see if we have any selfish ambitions, ambition. And so before I get into this teaching, let's talk about Shakeeta Torres for a moment, okay? So I am very ambitious. I've always had been. Because of my past, because of being raised in poverty, because of not having much as a child growing up, I had to learn how to like fend for myself, okay? And so even when I got married, even whenever I knew who Christ was, that he was a provider, he was Jehovah, um, you know, Jehovah Jireh and all that good stuff, I was still operating like I had to work extremely hard just to, you know, make a living. And Yeah, I was out of season. I was out of season. And so one of the things that God had to really deal with me about was my ambition. My ambition— your ambition should not be your driving force. Christ should be your driving force. Many times God would give us assignments to do, right, and to complete. And yes, he wants you to run the race and run the race well. And yes, he wants you to, you know, fulfill the call on your life. But he wants it to be healthy and he wants it to be balanced. The other day, this was last week, and it blessed me so much. And it was just like God was showing me, you're on the right track with this, because Dr. Faith has shared a video on Instagram and she was saying how when she was younger and first got ordained as a pastor or a leader— I'm not sure if she was a pastor then or a leader— she was young, and the first thing her pastor told her was to make sure that you don't use people to build ministry, but you use ministry to build people. And that is so, so, so true. And this is exactly— and so this is exactly what Christ did. He used me, his ministry, to build up the disciples. He didn't use them to build up his ministry. He used his ministry, what God gave him, to build them up. All right. And so here, before I go into it, I do want to share 4 main things. People think that Christ was just here to just die for our sins, and he was. He died for our past, our present, and our future sins. But he also was here on earth to teach and train and equip the disciples. He was here to give us a blueprint of how we should live our life as believers and operate in ministry. And he died so that we can have authority through him and access to the Holy Spirit. These are the 4 areas that stood out to me the most. Okay, let's go into part 2. Let's talk about selfish ambition. And so I'll be coming from James chapter 3, verse 13 through 17. And I hadn't really sat with this for a while because I really wanted God to give me like more revelation on this particular scripture so that way I can fully understand and that also I can share it with, share it with, you know, with you all today. So it says, who is wise and understanding among you? This is James talking to at that time, let's say, the Jewish Christians. By his conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. Meekness means attitude or quality of heart whereby a person is willing to accept and submit without resistance to the will and desire of someone else. In this case, for us, it's God. Okay, our meekness is to serve in humility towards God. Okay, and wisdom means the right use or exercise of knowledge. Okay, and it says, but if you have bitter jealousy— and I wrote here, what stood out to me here was that in scripture this time they put bitter and jealousy side by side. And I looked again, I said, I've never seen those two words together without a comma. So I had to go back and say, okay God, like, wow, like, you really are serious about this thing, right? So He is saying, do not be both— do not boast and be false to the truth. Says, talk or think with excessive pride is boasting, okay? And trying to have self-satisfaction about your own achievements, possessions, or abilities. This superficial wisdom does not come from above but is earthly, unspiritual, and even demonic. For where jealousy and self-ambition exists, there will be disorder in every vow practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And I wrote, these are all characteristics of Christ, my God. And so during my study time, I began to like really look up selfish ambition, and I came across this article by this man of God named Carey, C-A-R-E-Y. His last name, I think it's a, uh, it's an Asian last name. I don't want to pronounce it incorrectly, so I won't pronounce it today. And so I read what he wrote, but I also added some commentary to it and some additional details as to what Holy Spirit was speaking to me about. And so some of these words are his words, some of these words are my words, okay? So I'm gonna read it. So if you're like me and you find selfishness in other people to be a real turn-off, right, it's very easy for us to see how others are being selfish, but do we see it in ourselves? Okay, it is in our carnal nature to be selfish. But if we're honest, very few of us are naturally selfless, okay? Every day you have to fight selfishness as a Christian leader. You do, because we are like sacrifice, especially when you leading people. You're— it's like a sacrifice. So if you're driven even just a little bit, we have to be very, very, very careful because What I've learned is what looks like I'm on fire for God, what looks like, okay, I have to keep pushing no matter what it looks like, can end up turning into selfish ambition. And God doesn't want us to do that, okay? So if left undealt with, selfish ambition can harm your family, okay? Or they being neglected, okay? Selfish ambition takes up a lot of your time. Ambition alone is time-consuming, but when you're completely consumed with your projects or whatever God gives you to do, oh my God, it's time— it's time-consuming. Your faith— you are doing everything in your strength and not trying to check— and trying to check off the box for everything versus relying on God to give you strength and to give you strategy. All right, selfish ambition can affect your team in your ministry. So whether at work or in ministry, you will burn those out around you because they will be your errand people to push your goals and your agenda. Being exhausted all the time, it is not a flex, okay? Ha! Listen, let's cancel the busy culture, all right? Because If you're so busy, how are we having time to really hear God and hear what it is that he want us to do? Okay. And as you know, with assignments, it's like you have to constantly check in with God to make sure that you're on the right track, right track, because sometimes you might say, okay, go left today, and tomorrow he might say, I need for you to go straight or go right, right? Holy Spirit is flexible. Holy Spirit knows what's ahead. Holy Spirit know exactly what we need to do to finish our assignment, just like Christ did. So here are 12 ways to identify selfish ambition as a Christian leader. Number 1, your personal sense of worth goes up and down with the opportunities ahead of you. Okay, and so It's almost like your value, your worth, it's like you think that the busier you are, the more things that you do in the name of Jesus makes you more valuable to the kingdom. And that is so not true. And again, I'll share about my own self, probably about, I would say it hadn't even been a full year yet. Like 7 o'clock in the morning, my best friend, she calls me, she never called me that early in the morning, okay? So I'm like, hey girl, what's going on? She's like, Shakeeta, God woke me up early this morning and he told me to tell you and to remind you that every opportunity that comes your way, every assignment you get invited to, you need to seek him. You need to seek God and ask him if you should go or not. And I'm like, okay, okay. So I knew that was what God was telling me for my future, for what's ahead, okay? And I get invited— I go through seasons where I get invited to do different things all at once, and then they kind of like slow down, but I don't. I'm fine. I don't— it doesn't, it doesn't dictate how I feel about me and see my importance in the kingdom. The more busy you are in the kingdom does not equal your value. You are already valuable. God loves you just the way that you are. He loves you because you're his son, because you are his daughter, and you cannot earn his love through your works. My God, I've seen this happen a lot through your works, you are not able to earn God's love. He already loves you. So I wrote here, when you motivated by God, your value is solidly found in Christ every day. Your identity is in Christ and in Christ alone, not on whether you fail or succeed. And so this statement here is for those especially in marketplace ministry and business. So that's what I am, a marketplace ministry. And I'm telling you, I have failed a lot. I have succeeded a lot. And failure does not feel good. Failure— oh my God, I don't— failure don't feel good. But in failures, you learn so much, even when you fail. But that does not dictate your value. That does not dictate on how God sees you. He's using that as an opportunity to continue to shape you, to mold you, to go back and learn lessons, OK? Even in ministry, even in the church. If you have a failure, if an assignment fails, if something happens, God is saying he still loves you. That is not the sum total of who you are in him. It's not. Um, and the second one kind of goes hand in hand with, um, number one is failure is terrifying for you. When you motivated by God, failure becomes an opportunity for grace and growth. Right, that is so, so, so true. Um, number 3, you think you're the deal or the only one that can get something accomplished. In other words, you think that amongst your peers you are the special one and you position yourself to appear to be the real deal. Oh God, okay, so I definitely see this a lot on social media. Uh, me and my sister had this long talk last week about— because she's a, she's a, she's a, a really a powerful discerner. And so she told me, on Facebook, Instagram, I see that more and more where people are hiding behind God or using their ministry or using whatever they doing to prove that they are the real deal, okay? And one of the things that God had to deal with me about— oh my God, it's been a few years now— he told me, he said, you don't have to prove yourself to nobody. Okay, you are my daughter. You do what I ask you to do. You ain't gonna prove nothing to nobody. And oftentimes I see people who have been hurt by other ministries, hurt by people, and disappointed. And these people have released word curses against leaders. And so now the leader feel like they have to do all these things to prove that they are the real deal, or to prove that, oh yeah, I got it, I can do it without you, baby. I'm gonna tell you one thing right quick. For me, I started a nonprofit. It's been 2 years now, okay? And we, my team and I, we served diligently for a year, okay? We was heavily involved in the community. We had built all type of like, you know, partnerships with the police department, going into the court system. And my board, their term was up, okay? Their term was up. Okay, it was time for them to transition. And so I didn't have people already lined up, but the Lord told me to take a break, and the Lord told me to wait and let him prepare the people and send them. Baby, I sat my butt down because I was not about to sit here and try to carry all that weight by myself to prove a point. Because in the midst of all that, I definitely had people that were speaking against me, speaking against the nonprofit. I know that. I felt it in the spirit. In the spirit. I heard it in the spirit. So I had to pray, but I could not allow that to make me, number one, bitter, or make me feel like I had to prove a point by continuing to do all this work and burn myself out completely. I was already tired. I was already tired. So trying to do all that work on my own to prove a point— that God don't want that. God is saying You're already enough. He loves you. He loves you, and he will direct you. He will order your steps. Number 4: You use people to get where you want to go. This can be a little fox that you may try to hide, or a little fox that you might not even be fully aware of. And so I shared earlier about the whole situation with Dr. Faith and her ministry. This is so, so, so, so, so true. One of the things that I had to really, um, cultivate, and I'm still learning to be honest, is that when you're a leader over people— and I know God is going to send more people to help with the visions he has given me— I have to be mindful of their needs. Not saying that I'm their therapist or their life coach, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that they are not robots. They are people who has families, who has lives, who has callings and anointings too. And so I have to be mindful to balance and not always just provide them with a checklist. Like, I had my recent secretary I had before for a year under my therapy practice, and oh my God, like, every time I talked to her, it was a half an hour conversation because she needed to, you know, kind of like vent a little bit about her family, what's going on with her. And I just listened. I just listened and gave her that space. Did I always want to do that? No, I didn't. I had stuff to do, right? But as a leader, we have to take out time to listen and cultivate a relationship with those who we are leading. And that's what Christ did to the disciples. He took out time to cultivate a relationship with them, to teach them and train them and give them the space to grow and the grace to make mistakes. Because the disciples, we already know they had issues. Okay. All right, number 5 is you take the credit. So when you start using, um, statements like I this and I that and I'm this and I'm that, right, that is a clear sign that you are operating in your own strength to get something done. And this can turn into what? Selfish ambition. So when you motivated by God, you realize how much God and the people around you deserve the credit. Okay, number 6, you strive for exposure. Your goal is to always be in the limelight, to always be seen, etc., etc. When you're motivated by God, you focus on— and you focus deep, deeply into your walk, and you let God determine the exposure that he wants to give you. All right, so as many of you guys already know Promotion comes from God. We don't have to promote ourselves. Yes, do your thing. Seek him for strategy. Seek him for what you should be doing, whether it's on social media or wherever he's called you to be at, right? And ask him for strategy and stick to that. Like, I had got to a place, y'all, with Instagram, social media, I was like done. I was so tired of it. I told my husband, I said, I am so tired of social media. I just want to like live my life. And just like go home. Many people think that— they look at my outside and they think that I want to be on this platform, I want to be the limelight, and I didn't— I never asked God for that. I never asked God. I asked God for his will, and a part of his will was for me to have a platform. And so because of that, I had to ask God to like prepare my heart and to give me strength and to give me strategy. Have I been perfect? Perfect? Absolutely not. None of us are perfect, okay? Once again, look at the Christ and the disciples. They were not perfect, okay? The 9th thing is it's hard to say no to any opportunity, so you need to ask God on what you should do. So the, um, so I told you earlier, a long time ago, the guy told me Pray, you need to pray. Think me about what you should do because I'm gonna give you an example. Okay, so I remember, so like back in 2015, um, our pastor at the time, it was like 4 of us who were leaders. It was me and my husband, and it was 2, uh, a husband and wife on the, on the team, right? And so the other couple, um, his dad was also a pastor as well, and so he used to serve under his father. His dad always told him if he get invited to go somewhere, he should just go, right? And I was trying to tell him, I'm like, listen, like, don't do that. So you need to pray, you need to ask God where you should go because you don't want to go into a territory or go into a place where you can't handle it because spiritual warfare is real. You need to stay in your sphere of influence, okay? But you know what, he didn't want to listen to us. He didn't want to listen to me, okay? He went anyway. And so this one particular Sunday, he came to church and he was so like spiritually congested. Like, he had got attacked spiritually and he had a hard time shaking that thing off. And so my husband and our pastor at the time had to go and pray for him because he was like— it was, it was, it was, it was very, very intense, put it that way. And so at that time, he said, Shakeeta, I'm so sorry. He was like, you are so right. He's like, I'm not gonna do that ever again. And I don't think he did. If he did, I don't know. I don't know. So you need to ask God. Like, me, once again, my own life example. This maybe just a month ago, 2 months ago, you know, I, um, have been reaching out to different universities about speaking. And even with that, I'm like, God, I'm gonna reach out, but if it isn't your will for me to speak here, just let me know, you know. And so one of the schools reached out and was like, hey, we'd love to have you come speak to, um the, uh, the board about, you know, your program that you have for aspiring to distance Christian therapists. And I was like, I looked at it and I prayed, and God said, no, don't go. And I'm like, why not, God? I've been sitting in this email and reached back. And he said, because they're gonna try to mock you. And I was like, oh, because this university wasn't necessarily a Christian university. And so he was telling me that the people there were trying to, like, mock me. So I'm like, okay, God, anybody got time for that? So I had to decline, and I feel good. I feel at peace about it. Okay, um, number 10: you feel entitled to any success that comes your way when success comes from God. And yes, I understand that we are the one working, putting our hands to the plow, and God will honor you. People who are serving under you if they will honor you, they will love you, they will appreciate you. But you should never take credit for that. Like, always give God back his glory because he's the one that created you, gave you strategy, gave you energy, gave you wisdom, gave you insight and all that good stuff. Okay, number 11: the need to win is greater than the need to love. So when you motivated By God, the need to love is greater than the need to win. Let that sink in. Let that sink in. And so when I think about winning, I think about the race, right? God has given each and every one of us, especially Christian leaders, a specific and unique race, right? And in that race, you will have failures, you will have setbacks, you will have all those different things. People will lie on you, people will throw all kind of stones at you, but the love is what's going to carry you through that. Love, loving God, loving God's people, taking out time to heal if you need to, and getting back on the— getting back on the battlefield. All right, and number 12, you struggle with insecurities, and which we all do. We all have insecurities somewhere, somehow, But those are the things that God loves, because in that, my God, his grace is sufficient. His grace is sufficient. Before I allow God to like really deal with me about being like, you know, on social media and doing lives and doing everything you guys may see me do, I really had to deal with a lot of different things about insecurities. And we all do, we all do. But God doesn't want you to, to operate in that and to let that be your driving force. He wants you to look to him for motivation, look to him to secure you too, because man can't secure you. People can't secure you. Social media can't secure you. Only God can secure you, okay? Security comes from his steadfast love, all right? And again, security and identity, it goes hand in hand. Your foundation has got to be solid. Your foundation has got to be planted and rooted in the word of God, okay? Because the word of God is your sword. And then 13, I added this myself too. You feel like you have to prove yourself to others that you were anointed, valuable, and successful. And the Lord said, stop it. That is too much pressure. That is too much pressure to feel as though you have to be on 24/7. And so for me, when I see Christian leaders take a break, I get excited. I'm like, Lord, I thank you, I thank you, God, because they need a break. They need a break. I love to see whether they're on a large platform or a small platform, because in that break, Christian leaders are able to rehabilitate. God is, is— God is waiting to pull up the tares so they won't destroy the, um, the wheat, the healthy crop, right? Because we all go through life issues, we all go through things that disappoint us, that hurt us, that cause us to like take a step back. Like, God, like, what's going on? And so when you're so busy and so bogged down with so many different things, you do not have clear vision. You cannot see clearly. You cannot truly hear what God is saying to you, right? And so, oh Jesus, like, one of the things that God is saying for me to remind Christian leaders is to be sure that you're seeking godly wisdom. Okay, so this is what happens, right? Okay, so in our flesh, we want to be right. Okay, so whenever we encounter situations where we're disappointed or we hurt, it's easy to look at the other person and not look at ourselves, right? So typically in our flesh, we want to call the person who's going to agree with us. We want to call the person who's going to like give us the answer that we might think they will give you that makes your flesh feels good. But even in that, you pray and like, God, I want to hear your wisdom, godly wisdom, not fleshly wisdom, not the hurt wisdom, but godly wisdom. And so always pray, God, send me godly counsel for those who are going to hold me accountable, okay? It's so, so important. And so this is all I have for, um, today. My prayer is that for those who will come back and hear the replay, that you're able to pull some nuggets from this, okay? Because ambition can be the death of your ministry. Selfish ambition— take that, change that word— selfish ambition can be the death of your family. Selfish ambition can be the death of your faith, the death of your journey. And God does not desire that for you. And so for me, because I am naturally ambitious, I have to always pray and say, God, I surrender my, my ambition to you, because I know that's the area that I have to constantly keep my eyes on because I am ambitious. And me and my husband had this talk several times, like, I'm like, hey babe, I'm checking in, like, you know, am I good? Am I like, you know, too, too busy? Like, what's going on? He said, no, you good. I'll let you know, I'll pull your coat tail a little bit if you get too busy. And the Lord has warned me time and time again, you know, for what's ahead. Like, don't be so ambitious that you don't have balance. Balance with your family, balance in your marriage, balance in ministry. And sometimes it can be a challenge trying to juggle those things, right? But God is saying surrender your ambition to him. Okay, so here are some instructions that Holy Spirit gave me to give to, um, to Christian leaders. Um, for one, I just said surrender your ambition to God, okay? Um, always go back to God for more instructions. Go back and look at each assignment that you are currently in. Ask God if the mission is accomplished, okay? Baby trying to go there. Ask him if the mission is accomplished, okay? Did you do what you were supposed to do? If not, ask God why. Ask God what's standing in the way. Ask God if this assignment is still relevant. Do this assignment, it is still in line, in alignment with what you want to do on the earth through me. And then finally, study the word of God. Look at Christ's life. Study Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And if you go back and watch the replay, in the beginning I shared about Christ and how He had so much love and he had so much grace and patience for the disciples. So whenever you're in leadership over people, make sure that you like keep that at the forefront because these are people, they're not robots, okay? And they should be able to have balance too, okay? And so I'm gonna say a quick prayer before I get off. And so Father, I just thank you right now, God, for every single listener, God, for those who are aspiring Christian leaders, for those who are existing Christian leaders, God. I pray, God, for their strength, God. I thank you, God, their sacrifice. I thank you, Lord God, for how you have created them to be fearfully and wonderfully made. I thank you, God, that they are a part of the body, and we all have a unique assignment that is to build up your kingdom. So Father, I pray, God, for a refreshing to hit their household, to hit their homes, to hit their bodies, their minds, and their spirit, Lord God. Father, revive them, Lord God, by your Spirit, Jesus. I thank you, Lord God, for how you just love us so very much, God. God, may we always keep you at the center May we always go to you to do a heart check to make sure that we are not operating in selfish ambition, Lord. Lord, help us, Lord God, to surrender our ambitions to you. Help us to see clearly, Lord God, the areas in our hearts that needs to be fine-tuned, God, because you desire to use every part of us, Lord. Everything, God, everything that we have, Father, we give it to you. Father, I thank you, Lord God, for every prayer warrior, for every, for every intercessor, Lord God, for the body of Christ, Lord God. God, I thank you for what you're doing in this hour and for where you're taking us, Lord. I thank you, Lord God, for our divine assignments. God, I thank you, God, for, um, just allowing us just to, just to be here, just to be able to be here, God, and just be a light unto your people. And so, Lord, we give you the honor, the glory, and the praise. In Christ's name I pray, amen and amen. But that's all I have, um, for you guys. I will see you next week on next Thursday for the next Um, series again. It is a 10-part series. God gave me 10 different topics to teach on. I will upload this live also on my podcast, uh, that will go out on Sunday. Um, and I will see you guys next week. So I'm gonna go ahead and get off of Facebook because you guys can't— I can't see your comments anyway. Let me stop.
