Relevant Life

Frustration, although quite painful at times, is a very positive and essential part of success.
Bo Bennett

I was an accomplice in my own frustration.
Peter Shaffer

It is hardly possible to build anything if frustration, bitterness and a mood of helplessness prevail.
Lech Walesa

Every leader goes through periods of frustration. Frustration in the ministry. Frustration with the job position. Frustration with how life is presently. It is a common thread which runs among leaders and pastors. Some of those frustrations are warranted and some are self inflicted. Either or can send you and I down a wrong path in regards to poor leadership. 

When you are frustrated there is the tendency to lead by your emotions or become a soulish leader. A soulish leader leads with thick emotion and makes poor decisions for the people of God.   Moses was a leader who became frustrated with the ones he led. Although Moses was a great leader; he allowed his frustration to be channeled into the wrong direction. His mistake costed him the entrance into the holy land. 

Now Moses had the right to be frustrated at the people of Israel. They were self-centered, complaining, back-biting, never maturing believers who simply wondered around in circles for 40 years.  Sounds like some of the people in your congregation huh? Moses allowed the immature beleivers to get to him, and it hinder his relationship with the Father. He should have spoken to the rock instead of hitting it two times. Moses\’ frustration caused him to disobey God\’s command and brought judgement from the Living God himself. 

Frustration can be a catalyst that pushes you to ahead in your leadership development or it could be the very thing which ruins your influence over others. To be frank, no one is worth being a hindrance in your relationship with the Father or hindering your leadership development. You or I cannot grow or build the things of God  if we are shackled to frustration. It is human nature for people to strike out when they feel like they were hurt. We MUST resist the temptation.


Frustration trigger points.
There are trigger points which increase our frustration. We must be careful not to allow these to overwhelm us. Below are some examples.


1. Immature followers who refuse to grow or see the big picture. 
2.  Finances in the church or business not always appearing.
3. Family not living God\’s word or seeing the call as important as you.
4. Other leaders in the church not rising up and maturing like they should.
5. Followers taking but never giving back.
6. Changes in the business procedure or church direction.
7. Ex-followers or external people talking behind your back or gossiping about you.


All of the above are wrong for those committing those acts and God will bring swift judgement to them. However, the actions from others should never give us the excuse of leading through our frustrations and emotions. God\’s people are God\’s people even if they are stubborn and immature at times. We should never,  under any circumstances, return evil for evil. This does not mean that you should not address their lives but do so through the Word of God and with no emotional attachment to their actions.  This is hard to do at times and I can\’t say that I have personally always been faitfhul in it. I will say this, there is a thin line between holy anger and anger in it\’s original form.  Moses was so steemed by the immaturity  of his people that he missed the voice of God.  Loved ones, we must be careful.


Overcoming Frustration:


1. Develop a thick hide.  Don\’t let what others say about you effect you.
2. Stay humble.
3.Allow disappointments to build your faith and develop your leadership. 
4. Learn the difference between holy anger and just plain anger.
5. Pray for those who are trigger points for your frustration. 


Never allow your frustration to get the best of  you.