Life is war.

Anyone who has seriously put themselves to the task of following Jesus can testify to it. You can feel like your soul is being torn into two pieces – what you want to do and what you know you should do; what the Spirit is working in you and what your flesh is still clinging to; what your senses tell you and what you believe by faith. It’s war, and Paul knew it:

“For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want” (Gal. 5:17).

In this war that wages in our souls, we are not meant to be passive spectators but active, and armed combatants. We take our stand, by faith, and battle against our fleshly desires in order to fully give ourselves to the work of the Spirit to make us more and more like Jesus. But if there is a battle, then there are weapons. Implements that can help us in the fight. Tools at our disposal we can wield for the sake of our souls.

Of course, Paul has the definitive list of spiritual armor recorded for us in Ephesians 6. If it’s been a while since you took stock of God’s armory, then stop reading this post and head there now. Take in the words. Feel the belt of truth go around your waist and the security of righteousness on your chest. Lace up and sandals of the gospel of peace and renew your grip on the shield of faith and the sword of the spirit.

After posting a blog called “Four Warning Signs You Are Approaching Burnout,” I heard from several friends and leaders who were struggling with burnout or felt they were headed in that direction. They wisely recognized warning signs in their lives and were committed to making adjustments. Self-leadership is critical. We must lead ourselves well, and this includes leading ourselves away from burnout. If you cannot lead yourself, you will struggle to lead others. If a leader is unhealthy, all those around the leader are impacted.

While leading yourself is vitally important, it is also extremely challenging. The famous pastor D.L. Moody quipped, “I have had more trouble with myself than with any other man I have ever met.” We struggle with ourselves. As you wrestle with the challenge of leading and caring for yourself, here are some practical ways to avoid burnout:

When you feel continually fatigued, listen to your body and get some rest. When stress begins to manifest itself physically, in eye twitches and random pains, listen to your body and make adjustments to your schedule.

Exercise helps reduce stress by producing endorphins that act as, to quote the Mayo Clinic, “medication in motion.” Exercise also helps you sleep better, which, of course, helps you avoid burnout.

When Roland Warren and his wife, Yvette, were students at Princeton University, the dating couple faced a dilemma: Yvette became pregnant. A health counselor suggested she have an abortion, saying she would never graduate with a child in tow. The counselor was wrong: Roland and Yvette (who later became a doctor) married, and she graduated as the mom of two children. Warren brings his experience to his work as CEO of Care Net, a 40-year-old national network of crisis pregnancy centers.

CT senior editor for global journalism Timothy C. Morgan spoke to Warren about the recent LifeWay Research survey, sponsored by Care Net.

What’s the most surprising or thought-provoking finding here?

The father of the child is so significant in this decision. When women were asked who they were likely to talk to about their decision, 61 percent said the father—more than medical professionals, abortion providers, mothers, girlfriends, friends—was the one they were most likely to talk to.

When a woman tells a guy that she’s pregnant, I believe that somewhere deep inside of her, she hopes he’ll respond the same way Joseph responded to Mary: I’ll be a husband to you, and a father to the child growing inside of you.

Also, the finding that many women were attending church at the time they had their abortion. We talk about defunding Planned Parenthood. We can defund Planned Parenthood if Christians stop having abortions themselves. There are about 1 million abortions a year [in the United States]. Roughly 650,000 are women who profess to be Christians in some way, shape, or form.

I recently had someone on my team introduce me to his family as his boss. I quickly redirected the term boss to “we partner together in our work.” Something about the word boss bothered me. If not boss, then what?

Boss is the term most often used in our culture to represent the authority or leader over you. Boss means a person who exercises control or authority, directing and supervising work. Sometimes, your team does need a boss. The responsibility of leadership will require your direct authority. But, more often, your team needs a shepherd leader.

Shepherd is most often used in reference to someone who herds, tends, and guards sheep. (No puns here on your team being like sheep!) Your team could use your shepherd leadership, and here are three reasons why.

1. Protection

Your team is counting on you to lead them well and to be on the watch for anything that would harm them or the work of the team. This could be an idea that would deviate from the mission or a critic attacking your team. It could mean a new competitor or market disruptor. A shepherd leader is proactive in protecting the team from anything that harms or causes the team to wander off course. Your team needs you to provide clarity with fences or guardrails to protect them even from the good things that can deviate from your strategic focus.

One of the most frustrating things about being a pastor is the number of people who are negative about everything. Thankfully, I deal with this less often the longer I am with the church. In the established church, most of our negativity comes from a few people. When I was in church planting it came from outside our church. Either way, dealing with negative people has been a huge part of my work. I talk with pastors every week who tell me they have large groups of people who are always negative about something they are doing.

I have learned – when a church reaches genuinely hurting people, when people in the church lead messy lives, when the church actually begins to reach such people, or simply when change comes to reach people — the complainers will rise — often among the most religious of people.

And when these type people talk their negative energy spreads fast.

As Jesus taught His disciples how to build the church, a chief command was to love people no one else loved. Since they were to love even their enemies, this included loving people when they were not very lovely. Even people who are always negative. (That’s a hard command sometimes, isn’t it?)

I have tried to lead a church with this philosophy. Along the way I have discovered what Jesus experienced in working with religious leaders in His day.