How to Protect Your Blindside
“The problem with being deceived is that you are deceived. If you knew you were deceived, you would no longer be deceived!” Leaders get blindsided. They didn’t see something coming then it hits them. A rogue affair with a Facebook friend. A doctrine that gets out of balance. A financial move that was illegal. A child who turns rebellious overnight.
Photo Credit: Christi Childs
When I was a child, I was chasing a ball on a basketball court. I never saw that metal pole coming. With my full running weight, I hit it so hard it knocked me out. Only later did I see what my enemy was.
How do you protect yourself from a blindside hit that can scar you for life?
1. Trust your covering.
Everybody needs a pastor. When your locomotive is steaming full speed ahead on the track of life, you need a person who is standing on the track around the curve waving their arms and saying, “Bridge out ahead.”
Shepherds guard you. Don’t disregard them when they advise you not to marry that person. Don’t reason away their counsel about that person you are about to invest with. Jesus “guarded” his team and if your pastor is worth his salt he will tell you when the bridge is out ahead.
2. Trust your small group.
John Wesley had every Methodist in a small group. Every week, each person told their temptations and the Scripture God used to get them through it. You need that. You need friends who know you, love you, and walk with you through every temptation. Don’t trust yourself to talk yourself out of temptation.
Ed Cole told about a man who fell for a woman on the Internet. His three small group buddies took time off, paid to fly to the city he went to, confronted him, and rescued him. Ed said he was now back with his wife because of his three angels.
3. Open your Bible.
I can’t tell you the times the Holy Spirit has spoken to me through my daily readings. He wrote the Bible. He knows how to highlight a verse that enlightens your mind about a dark trap you are walking into.
We hardly ever hear the actual voice of God. He has already spoken to us in 66 books. Before proceeding into a deal or a relationship or a movement, ask the Spirit to speak to you (not by pointing your finger at a verse!).
“We hardly ever hear the actual voice of God. He has already spoken to us in 66 books. Go read it!”
4. Stay out of dark corners
If you are married, don’t be alone with a person of the opposite sex except your spouse.
If you are single, stay in groups and never go to a house or apartment together. Stay out of the woods and parked cars on lonely roads. Stay in the light.
Get a filter on all Internet access.
You are very valuable. Guard your life like the crown jewels! Any of us can be blindsided, but these four steps will minimize that possibility.
QUESTION: What area of life are you most susceptible to being blindsided?
