5.18 Dig the Well Before You Need the Water

The key to a good defensive strategy is to prayerfully dig the well before you need the water. In other words, don’t wait until the moment of temptation to decide how you will handle it. That’s much too late. In the moment, you are weak and believing all the lies that the Enemy is selling.

You need a plan to help you maintain your sexual purity. The plan should include answers to the following:

PREVENTION: How will I avoid sexual temptation?

You may have heard about Billy Graham’s provisions for sexual purity. He always travels with at least one other man. He never counsels with a woman alone, and he won’t even get on an elevator with women if he is the only man present. You may call it excessive; I call it smart.

INTERVENTION: What will I do if I am tempted?

I have an agreement with my accountability partner that I will call him if I’m tempted. I also encourage you to memorize Scripture (some recommended Scriptures are in the Appendix) so that you can defend yourself as Jesus did when He was tempted in the desert.

REPERCUSSION: What are the consequences if I fall?

Consequences seem to shrink in the moment of temptation, so make them significant enough to make you think twice. To whom will you have to confess? What penalties will you incur? If you’ve had consequences in the past but sinned anyway, you need stronger consequences.

I want to be clear about these self-imposed consequences. Nothing is required other than repentance to restore your relationship with God. These consequences are simply to help those of us who tragically find it too easy to take advantage of God’s grace, knowing that He will forgive us. Because they are tangible, they seem more real to us when we are hovering on the brink.

5.17 Minutemen

Then I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us!”

So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out. At that time I also said to the people, “Have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night, so they can serve us as guards by night and workmen by day.” Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even when he went for water. (Nehemiah 4:19-23)

Nehemiah recognized that he had too few guards stationed around the wall. This created weak areas defensively, but he had a simple solution. He had a man accompany him everywhere he went. The man carried a ram’s horn. If there was danger anywhere around the wall, Nehemiah would have him blow on the ram’s horn. Every man was to then report to the place where the horn sounded and be ready to fight. The men stayed battle ready at all times, even wearing their sweat-stained clothes around the clock. With this defensive posture, they were ready for attack at any time.

It reminds me of the famous Minutemen during the American Revolution. They were men chosen for their enthusiastic patriotism to defend against the British attacks in the New England area. Their name came from their ability to be ready for battle at a minute’s notice.

They were out-manned and out-armed by the British, but they were better organized and underestimated. When General Gage led his redcoats in a march on Concord, MA, in April, 1775, he had in mind to take possession of reported arms stockpiles held by the colonists. He was surprised when the Minutemen overwhelmed his trained soldiers and chased them back to Boston. General George Washington’s subsequent arrival on the scene convinced Gage to give up Boston altogether.

What if we had the same level of readiness as Nehemiah and the Minutemen? We would be ready for an attack at any moment. Temptations wouldn’t catch us ill-equipped and unprepared.

Satan studies you so that he can find ways to bring you down. He may know you better than you know you. That should scare you a bit. If you’re going to be effective at spiritual warfare, you need to make regular inspections of your walls. If/when you are attacked in your weak spots, bring all your energy and resources to bear on resolving the issues before Satan makes it through your defenses.