What we CAn learn about leadership
from the Christ wilderness experience
“Fire tries iron, and temptation tries a just man.”
the Wilderness
Recently, I sensed God asking me to step away from a church I loved and hand over leadership of the worship team I had shepherded for years. There was no conflict or tragedy—just a quiet invitation to enter a new season of refinement.
The wilderness is not always punishment. Sometimes it is a calling.
Early church father, St. Anthony, saw the desert not as escape but as encounter—a place to detach from distractions and draw closer to God. He famously said, “The person who abides in solitude and quiet is delivered from fighting three battles: hearing, speech, and sight. Then there remains one battle to fight-the battle of the heart.” (1)
The wilderness exposes what we cling to, strips away illusions, and forces us into deeper dependence upon God. Motivated by the Lord's invitation to "sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven…", St. Anthony, earlier in life, passed the first test the rich young ruler had not (Matthew 19:21). He followed Christ into the badlands. There he discovered what our hearts long to be true—that endurance, triumph, and victory bloom in the most desolate of places.
For all of its barren landscape and unexceptional findings, the beauty of the wilderness is in confronting the rich young ruler of our hearts and discovering detachment from "the one thing that we lack" (Mark 10:21).
We enter the wilderness to experience a wildfire.
“Christ, because He was the only Man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only Man who knows to the full what temptation means.” - C.S. Lewis
Christ in the Wilderness
Before beginning his ministry, Jesus endured forty days of fasting and temptation. He faced the enemy not at his strongest but at his weakest.
And yet, it was there—in hunger and vulnerability—that he triumphed. His strength came not from power plays but from reliance on God’s Word.
As worship leaders, this story is deeply instructive. Ministry brings temptation, and the enemy’s strategies are the same as before. In Matthew 4, we see three temptations that mirror what worship leaders face today:
Proving yourself to yourself (Inward Temptation)
Proving yourself to others (Immediate Temptation)
Proving yourself to the world (Outward Temptation)
Temptation #1
Prove to Yourself
“If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” (Matt. 4:3)
The first temptation Christ faced in the desert was the inward temptation. In Matthew 4:3, Satan attacks Jesus' identity by tempting him to use His ability as proof. Prove it by producing! If you really are the miracle worker, then meet your needs right now! If you are the Son of God, then provide food like Yahweh did in the time of Moses. Notice that the serpent tempted him with what was fresh on his human self - food.
The inward temptation will always provoke our ego in hopes of finding satisfaction and confirmation through our abilities.
This first layer of testing comes to you in your area of strength, not inadequacy. If you're reading this, chances are you have a good deal of competency as a worship leader (charisma, awareness, musicality, cultural relevance, songwriting chops, leadership skills, etc.). This temptation comes to entice you to prove to yourself through production.
But the wilderness tests your heart. Will you be a person who is gifted and constantly dependent upon "every word that comes from the mouth of God"?
The inward temptation is the first temptation you will wrestle with because the self is always trying to prove its worth through production and ability.
Jesus fought the inward temptation by declaring the Word of God against the lie of Satan. We fight rightly, in the wilderness, by doing the same: "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:10).
Your identity is not personally validated and built on being a gifted and productive worship leader. It should rest securely in being the beloved of God, and in response to being God's artwork, we thus lead.
Temptation #2
Prove to Others
“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down… for it is written…” (Matt. 4:6)
This second temptation Christ faced was the immediate temptation, that is, proving through your own timing, not Gods. It's not by accident that scripture records the devil transporting him to the highest point of the temple to further test Him. This temptation is often viewed primarily as Satan’s attempt to twist scripture and goad Jesus into an angelic power move. But there is another, deeper, less-understood meaning. Some bible commentators have pointed out that if Jesus were to throw himself down from the highest point of the temple, it would be viewed by others as a fulfillment of the OT prophecy in Malachi. "...Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,' says the Lord Almighty" (Malachi 3:1). What a sight and proof it would have been to the Jews of that day if Jesus had jumped and been carried down by angels in front of the temple. Surely the people would hail him as Messiah and King. And wouldn't that be the best route to take? Wouldn't the ends justify the means?
The simple answer is no.
For if Christ took matters into his own timing, then he would have never been known as the suffering servant or the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world (see Isaiah 53 and Revelation 13:8). There would be no need to go to the cross. Perniciously, this immediate temptation will look spiritually expedient but bypass the proper plan and timing of God. Remember this: suffering → perseverance → character → hope as Paul teaches (Romans 5:3-4).
Like the inward temptation, the immediate temptation is one of control.
As worship leaders who pass the inward temptation, we are not immune to the immediate temptation, that is, neglecting the Kairos (God appointed time) in favor of an opportune Chronos (ordinary time).
How many times have we been tempted to take steps in our own timing because we were frustrated with how things have been? We must be ok with God's timing and plan. We overcome this temptation of proving to others by anchoring ourselves in Psalm 27:13-14: "I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."
Dear worship leader, rest in His timing. Slay this temptation by living from a place of Kairos and being confident that the Lord is always at work in your life.
Temptation #3
Prove to the World
“All this I will give you… if you will bow down and worship me.” (Matt. 4:9)
The final temptation in the wilderness was an absolute 'Hail-Mary' by Satan. Unlike the first two, this temptation candidly exclaims that in exchange for total allegiance, Jesus could immediately receive the world's power and glory.
This temptation is what I term the outward temptation because it is the full expression of compromise to gain and keep power.
It's transactional in nature. If Jesus would surrender that which is most precious (worship to the Father), then he could gain that which was most beneficial in the present (power and glory). And this is how the world operates. But God's Kingdom is upside down from this. If we would surrender that which is most precious to us (power and glory), we would gain that which is most beneficial (worship to the Father). Jesus later said, "Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it" (2)
To worship leaders, you only come to the outward temptation after you've accumulated some amount of ‘success’ in ministry.
It is a greater temptation because it exposes our desire to remain visible and relevant. But the wilderness has a way of revealing our hearts to how far we've strayed, and can redirect us back to the beauty of obscurity and hiddenness in Christ.
True power is found in weakness and vulnerability, not achievements. The pressure to be relevant and successful, whether put on by ourselves or others, was never God's ideal. Our 'success' comes not from being known and remembered as great, but as being obedient to the Father. To fight this temptation rightly, again we come to God's Word and remind ourselves of the greatest commandment: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:37-40). Our entire ministry hinges on loving God rightly and loving others as ourselves.
We don't need to prove our relevance in power to the world. We need to continue living in the revelation of God’s love.
Identity Before Temptation
Notice what happened before the wilderness: at his baptism, Jesus heard the Father declare, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).
That identity was established before the trials began. The wilderness didn’t give Jesus his sonship—it tested it. The same is true for us.
Testing doesn’t create our identity; it reveals whether we believe it.
If we forget who we are, we’ll fight from insecurity. But if we anchor ourselves in God’s love, we can face any wilderness with confidence.
Final Encouragement
Every worship leader will face wilderness seasons. They aren’t detours but invitations—opportunities to release self-reliance, embrace God’s timing, and reject the world’s measures of success.
You don’t need to prove yourself to yourself, to others, or to the world. You are already the beloved of God.
Lead from that identity, not toward it. And like Jesus, you’ll walk out of the wilderness tested, refined, and ready to lead God’s people with humility and authority.