Isn't is funny how God's timing is perfect. Tonight I'm talking about a tactical retreat or withdrawl and I realized that it's almost Easter, keep reading and I think you'll understand what I mean.
I heard a story on the radio driving to work one day and it dealt with hearing what God was trying to tell you. It had a man on the roof of his house during a flood, the radio and TV had told him to get out, a boater had driven by and asked if he needed a hand out of there and then finally a helicopter flew overhead telling him to get on because it was time to give it up. Each time the man's answer was, "no, I have faith and God will save me". The man wound up losing his life to the water and wound up at the feet of the Lord. He asked Him why He let him die and didn't save him, after all he had faith. The Lord's response was simple, "I tried, who do you think sent the radio and TV reports, who do you think sent the boater and the helicopter, each time you refused my help because you failed to listen to me". You know, if I had a dollar for everytime I didn't listen to what He was trying to tell me I'd be a rich man and my kids would never need to work...ever.
See, sometimes a tactical withdrawl is necessary but often times I let my ego and shortsightedness get in the way. I can think I am leading the charge to victory when really the only one charging forward is me. I have a huge issue with this, I will fight for every single victory like it's the one that will win the war and wind up losing the battle with all my assets committed and fail miserably. But, its typically because I failed to make my plan and allow for interuptions and those who will get in the way of what I have set out to accomplish. Usually this is because its my plan and not God's and its His way of telling me that I'm not walking the path he wants me to. Jesus didn't have this issue. His plan was so well-thought out and his plans were so perfectly laid that he had even calculated his strategic withdrawls. Look at when he was healing so many and the crowds began to grow to the point where he was on the verge of having His plan fail because everyone else was not ready to execute it. He told his disciples to get a boat ready and meet him somewhere so he could make His fall back. I'm sure this had people asking questions about what He was really up to, I know I would be. But Jesus knew that both his disciples and the people were not ready to see his whole plan laid out before them. I'm sure this was not an easy thing to do, well, it wouldn't be easy for me anyway. I know that there have been times when I have needed to abandon my plan because it was doomed to fail and I have had a hard time of letting it go and living to fight another day. But, again, its because I failed to have a plan and a strategy that allowed for battles to be lost. This is something I need to do better; understand that my plan will not always be what God had intended me to do and that he will use opposition to make me aware that I'm not doing it His way. At these times I need to excercise some tactical patience (take a timeout) and ask the simple question, "why". Why am I being opposed and then figure out how to get out of the position I'm in.
But this needs to be a part of my plan in the first place, I need to do a better job of establishing decision points along the way to help me make choices when I see certain things happening or not happening; knowing when I should press on or fall back to a spot that will allow me to step off in a different direction that will help me accomplish the mission.
The next part of this is keeping those around me (inner-core) informed as to what those decision points are. If I just call for a retreat and haven't told them why, pretty soon they will stop following me and question every choice I make. I need to understand that not everyone will know why I am taking a time-out, that's ok. Not everyone needs to know, but those closest to me, those with a vested interest in what I'm doing, do. I just need to be comfortable with taking my knocks when the strategy I've laid out doesn't work and take full responsibility for it.
By the way, the time-out I'm referring to is prayer. If I am to accomplish the plan that God has laid out for me, I need to talk to Him to make sure that He and I have an open line of communication and understanding. This is the only way I will be able to move in the direction He needs me move. Without this, I will easily loose sight of the objective and won't have a chance at completing my mission.
This entry was posted
on 07 April 2009
at 01:15
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