Check Your Armor

I believe our company is at a very critical point. As we grow and prosper, there is an inherent tendency to loose focus on how we got where we are and who brought us here. I have written before about one of my biggest fears…the fear of thinking I can do this on my own and forgetting to give glory to the Lord.

That is a daily check for me. I spend my quiet time with the Him each morning, as a minimum, but also watch other Christ followers and how they act and react to success. It brought me great joy to watch Erica Enders-Stevens give God all the glory for her recent and historic championship win in NHRA Pro Stock. No only did she give Him the credit, so did her team.

As Christ followers it is our responsibility to rely on our Lord and give Him the credit for our success. Yes, we have to do our part. We must get our hands dirty, we must learn new skills, we must keep working and walking forward in faith. Why in faith? Because it’s easy to look back at our path and see His hand at every point guiding us through life.

1 John 2:16 ‘For everything in the world–the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life–comes not from the Father but from the world.’ The pride of life is something we must constantly guard against. No, it’s not wrong to be proud of our accomplishments, however, as Christ followers not acknowledging our Father’s hand in our lives is simply wrong. Remember, we are that example to those around us…give credit where credit is due.

Blessings

Check Your Armor
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2 by Os Hillman

“That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies…. (Joshua 7:12).

Battle commanders want to know the vulnerabilities of their enemies. Companies want to know the vulnerabilities of their competition. We also need to know our spiritual vulnerability.

This is the message God told Joshua when he attempted to go against a small army at Ai, which was the Israelites’ second battle in the Promised Land. Sometimes we try to figure out why we are not successful in an endeavor from the natural only. We look at all aspects of our performance to see what went wrong. Perhaps our strategy was flawed or our timing was off or our pricing was wrong. For the people of Israel, it was not easily seen on the surface. Everything seemed just as it should be from Joshua’s vantage point, so when his army was soundly defeated, he cried out to God, “Ah, Sovereign Lord, why did You ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us?” (Josh. 7:7a).

The people had been defeated because God could not bless them. One person had violated the covenant with God. They were not to take any possessions from the first battle, but one person failed to be obedient and the whole army suffered.

Sin makes our armor vulnerable to attack from Satan, who then gains permission from God to attack us in the area where we have failed to uphold righteousness. If we break down in moral purity, Satan comes in and establishes a stronghold. If we give place to bitterness and unwillingness to forgive, we will break fellowship with God and others. If we become money-focused, we will fall into greed and deception. It is a vicious cycle.

Examine your armor today. Make sure you are not susceptible to attack. Begin from a solid spiritual foundation and your chances of success will be great.