Four Keys to Guarding Our Future

There are four keys that I believe are necessary to guard our future and to keep us moving in right direction. The first is humility, realizing of how much we need God. There can be no real faith with out it. It is the foundation on which faith has it's footing. I believe that God is, and that He helps those who look to Him. That means avoiding the snares of hyper independence. Independence allows us to hide the strongholds and hidden areas of our life. The truth is we don’t want to bring these things to the light; they are many times so familiar that our very identity can be tied up with them. It is the hidden areas that produce shame and undermine our confidence in God. For example: “I have a English temper”, or “I have a short fuse”, become a part of who we are instead of something to repent and let go of.

The first step in breaking through the cycle of thinking that creates strongholds in our lives is the embracing of our need for God. Not only for our perceived needs and wants but also for the total remaking or transformation of our understanding of reality. God alone establishes what is right.
Transformation begins in the inner man. The battleground is in the spirit and mind. We must be renewed and remade in every area of our life. Taking every thought captive. We need to understand our dependence on God, and our need for His people. and leadership. Pride would be the opposite attitude, "I am independent, self-led."Francis Frangipane in The Three Battlegrounds points out that that “pride is the armor of darkness”. Nothing protects the work of bondage in our lives from the grace of God than pride.Strongholds are broken and the enemy’s ability to influence is shattered when we place our lives under the lordship of Christ. Obedience is a key to freedom; the fact is that is the application of our will that defines the outcome. We can’t escape this truth; we are responsible for the state of affairs in our own life. That is why a savior is needed. It is not in our own righteousness or our ability to “tuck it in” but in submission to God, humbly allowing him to redefine us. It is by faith that we embrace God’s work in our lives.The last key is to maintain a posture of accountability. The greatest men I know are the one that maintain a position of accountability, willing to be corrected.