Who you are today, is more important than who you were two years ago! At any moment people who fail can turn their lives around by simply picking themselves up, dusting themselves off, and venturing out. Leadership, even self-leadership, is not about what you have been experiencing but, rather, what you are moving toward. Many followers of Christ complain about feeling stuck; they sit and wait for breakthroughs that seem to never come. These Christians can learn a powerful self-leadership principle from four leprous men who sat at the gate to the city of Jerusalem during a famine and realized if they stayed there, they would surely die. They had to decide to do something different: "They said to one another, "Why are we sitting here until we die? if we say, 'We will enter the city,' the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall only die." (2 Kings 7:34)

 

These four men boldly decided to take a risk and go to the enemy's camp. When they arrived, they were shocked to find nobody there: "For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses,the noise of a great army. (v. 6). The army thought they were being invaded, ran off, and left all their provisions behind. So, the four men went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried from it silver and gold and clothing and then went into another tent."

 

If what you have been doing isn't working, if it seems you will die in the situation you are in, then try something else. These four men took a calculated risk and chose a path that had the most probability of survival, and they lived. Any faith adventure or journey has an element of risk. We can't control all the details, but that leaves the door open for God to work with us and produce results above what we were thinking!

 

I have seen the Lord work so many times in my life by just trusting him. I will share one time with you when I was twenty-seven years old and living in Raytown, Mo., a suburb of Kansas City. I had quit my job at the Bendix Corporation and was looking for a job. We came back to Parkersburg, WV to visit our family over the 4^th of July. By this time, we had a one-year-old boy and my wife was pregnant with our daughter. On our way back to Raytown, my wife told me that I should go back and put my applications in the plants near Parkersburg. I said that I didn't want to leave the Kansas City area. We really loved living there and had made a lot of friends while I was in college and the nine years we had lived there. Besides, the Kansas City Chiefs were in Kansas City!! lol

 

I told her that I did really want our kids to know their grandparents, so, we would go back to PKB and put in our applications. I really didn't think it would do any good but if it was the Lord's will we would find employment. So, we left the next day to come back to PKB. We arrived here about 2pm and I went down to Dupont and filled out an application. The assistant manager came down and talked with me and said that they had an Electrical Design position opened if I was interested. I told him that I was interested and he asked me to come down the next day and spend the day with them so they could show me around the plant and I could take a physical.

 

I went down the next day and spent it being introduced to many of the personnel. At the end of the day the manager asked me what kind of salary I would require and I told $2.00 more an hour than I was making at Bendix. He said that was no problem and how soon could I come to work. I told him that I would have to go back to Raytown for two weeks and get my house ready to sell. He said no problem and that they would have a moving company come in and pack up our things and move them here and unpack them. I also told him that I would need a week off when my house sold. He said that would be fine.

 

Needless to say, we were jumping up and down praising the Lord for His grace and favor shown to us. This is just one of many times things like this has happened in my life when I moved out in faith trusting the Lord to open doors for me. He is so faithful! What a mighty God we serve!

 

The disciples likewise went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. (Mark 16:19). I love that. The Lord promises to come alongside our activity and work with us!

 

So, don't wait for God to overly confirm a specific direction for you before you make a move. Simply go forth and do something. You might be missing divine direction because Heaven isn't in the habit of directing parked cars. If you are called to go, but don't know where, just start going wherever makes sense. The act itself is an act of faith that can release the Spirit of Jesus and angels into the journey.

 

Being led by the Holy Spirit is not a hard thing to learn once you understand that the thoughts that come into you head can be the voice of the Lord if you will just have the faith to act upon them. Those thoughts my wife and I had driving back to Raytown were obviously inspired by the Holy Spirit and the results of our trusting the Lord and acting on those thoughts, resulted in our lives being changed into a different direction.

 

This is right out of the Bible in Acts 16:78 when the apostle Paul tried to push open two doors that God Himself kept shut. He didn't beat himself up for 'missing' the will of God. He kept taking action until the right direction showed up. If you are not getting any direction during your prayer time as to what action to take, then simply take some action and see where you end up! If it's a closed door, take another action and see if you find an open door somewhere there.

 

There is a war being fought in the unseen realm between forces of good and evil, and the battlefield is your mind.

Demonic activity is increasing at an alarming rate as we draw closer to the last days. Earth is hurtling toward a climax that both confirms and completely upends much of what we were taught about the last days. The battle is played out every day in the headlines but few Christians see what is really unfolding behind the manipulation of media. You will not be able to ignore it and hope to avoid the consequences. Spiritual warfare is not optional. What must you do to prepare and guarantee victory over the enemy?

Ours is a contest with global forces of 'mind control.' God's antidote for you is the renewing of your mind as Paul said in Rom. 12:2. Not only renewing your mind, but by declaring what the word of God says about every situation. When I was twenty-seven, I was still very immature in walking by faith. I had never been taught the deeper things of walking by faith, however, the Lord met me where I was and it was an encouragement to me to continue to trust and have faith in the Lord. The Lord will meet you where you are also. He doesn't expect us to slay Goliath until we learn to slay the lion and the bear.

You must learn that the Lord has a plan for your life and if you will just learn to listen to Him, you will fulfill that plan. No plan of God is not important. Just like no part of your body is unimportant until you have to try to live without it.

Begin today to recognizing that all of those great ideas that you have are not because of your brilliance but the Lord will give you the answer to problems that you have by inspiring you. There are many demands in your thought life to get your attention. The flesh puts a lot of demands on your attention. It needs food, sleep, medicine, pleasure, etc. Not only that but what it sees will clammer for your attention.

If that weren't enough, evil spirits will flood your mind with evil thoughts if you don't keep the door shut. The Apostle Paul said in 2 Cor. 10:4-5,

"The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;" 

This is why it is so important for us to know what the will of God is. What we think is not important! Neither is our opinion! What is important, is, what does God have to say about it? He is the one that we must give an account to in the end.