Fighting Fire

We had a phrase on my crew… “Everybody wants to be a cowboy until it’s time to do cowboy stuff.”

Operating on this kind of courage requires that we trust our Chief and draw on His Strength.  We talked the last couple SOG’s about finding our strength in the Great Chief’s wisdom and in His Word.

Here’s a thought… have you every had someone that you trust… that you know has been there and over come… give you the courage to press on when you wanted to quit or not try?

Maybe you were at the gym and some brick outhouse is like “you got it!  One more!” and then you put it up. Maybe a buddy challenged you to ride a roller-coaster. Maybe you just had to blindly trust someone?

Firefighters train to perform technical rescues from a height. It’s called “High Angle Rescue.”

One particular training that I took part in was out at a 180-foot-tall grain elevator. The business allowed us to practice repelling and picking off victims. 

I harnessed up and went over the edge, rapelled down about 20 feet.  The training Chief said “Stop there and lock out.” So I locked out by carabiner and then he said “Put your feet on the wall and walk up.” Before I knew it, I was hanging upside down.

Then he said “Let go.”

I was hanging upside down with no hands.

The harness held. Now I know that I can trust it.

A key to fighting temptation and deception is mustering the courage to believe that it’s possible.

Let’s start here….

1 Corinthians 10:13 CSB

“No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it.”

The point of the passage is to say “you got this.” The Chief isn’t asking you to do the unimaginable. Beating temptation starts with the confidence and courage to believe that it’s possible. It not only can be done, but this situation is nothing special.

The enemy would love for nothing more for you than to be convinced that your situation is unique and that you have an excuse that no one else does. But you don’t. You’re not that special. The command is to just obey. In doing so, we realize that that thing, the temptation or anxiety that felt so impossible, that situation that was crippling us, is really no beg deal to God. It didn’t catch Him off guard no matter how it rocks our world.

Can I encourage you to “Cowboy Up” and remember that trust the Chief when He says that defeating temptation and deception is possible. You got this.

Debrief:

1. What overwhelming situation are you facing? It could be a temptation towards sinful behavior. It could be a situation that is causing you to fear. It could be some confusion information that you’re weighing through. Name it right now. You can’t fight fire if you’re not being honest about its destructive potential. 

2. Think about how God has preserved and provided in the past. How can that provide confidence about His power to address this situation as well? How does that give you confidence?

Report to the Chief

Ask God for confidence. Beg Him for it. Ask Him to make you fireproof in His strength regarding what you’re facing. 

Feedback

Please use the comments below to give me some feedback. What could have made this post more powerful in your life? Anything not make sense or flow well? Any comments to make it more faithful to Scripture?