Personal Warning Signs

 

When you think about it, it can be really hard to understand why people fail. In my own life, I have seen countless people who I looked up to or who were in authority over me and watched as they failed to finish well. I have also been privileged to know a few people, who had tremendous achievement, finish the course of their life well. When I see people like that, it makes me wonder what they did and didn’t do to be successful. Throughout this course and also from my interactions, I believe there are five warning signs and five things that we can do to correct our mistakes and improve our chances not to fail.

The first and most important thing is our walk with God. If this relationship is not regularly maintained, we will be opened up to a host of problems. We can do a few things on a regular basis to keep this relationship fresh. A couple examples include reading our Bible daily and spending time in prayer. This should be a basic step for every Christian. It is also important to be connected with a local church. Having people around who will encourage and challenge us will greatly benefit our walk with the Lord. We should also have some accountability partners who will check in with us frequently and point out errors or warnings thy see in our lives. Building a strong community around us will reduce the chances of becoming a lone ranger, which almost always means instant failure. Building a good relationship with the Lord is always the first step toward true success.

A big warning sign that many people miss is pride. It can be extremely difficult to deal with pride because we generally will be able to see it in others but totally miss it in ourselves. Weeding out pride in our lives is a continual process that I believe will last until we die. The fact that pride has figured into almost every leaders downfall should put up a huge red flag. This is an issue that needs to be addressed and dealt with often.

The third warning sign is our ability to listen. If we stop hearing the advice and counsel of others, we are definitely headed for failure. Listening ties right back to the first two warnings really well. When we stop listening to God and those around us we should be looking at the cause. In my experience, it generally can be traced back to pride.

A fourth warning sign is when we start trusting ourselves. Our dependence should be rested solely on the Lord. Through Him alone can we find strength and hope. As leaders, we should be the first to realize our limited abilities and our need for help. This is a problem that I had for a long time and just recently have seemed to conquer. Being self-dependent can come in two different forms. First, it can show up as being over-confident. We begin to think we are able to handle anything that comes our way. When this happens, it will be easy for us to take on too many responsibilities, not ask for help or advice, or even procrastinate. The other way this could appear is in how we interact with others. It becomes obvious when we begin to close up and not be vulnerable. When we trust ourselves, we will try to fight temptations and solve problems alone. This is a huge red flag that needs to be dealt with immediately.

The final warning sign is when our values begin to change. This comes in a variety of forms and each of them are potential hazards. Unfortunately, the most common form seen today is when we lower our standards. This could and will lead to a host of issues including addictions, unfaithfulness if we are married, bitterness, unforgiveness, believing in extra-Biblical things, having doubts, lusts, bad habits, and the list goes on. All of these things will open the door to even more attacks from the devil and greatly increase our chances of failure. But the saddest thing aside from all these possible dangers, is the fact that few leaders are able to make it through life without having to deal with at least one of them. Once again, we come back to the importance of having a solid relationship with the Lord and surrounding ourselves with Godly people. As I mentioned before, this is the key to success. Keeping our priorities and values in line with God and His Word is a constant battle that can be won with His help.

In conclusion, we have looked at how critical having a vibrant friendship with God is, the necessity of developing humility, truly listening to others, being fully dependent on the Lord, and making sure we always have high standards in our life. Going forward, there are a couple steps I will be taking in my own life. First, I am going to work to build a strong accountability board around me. People who will challenge and encourage me and also coach me when I need it. Second, I am going to set some standards that I will be held to by my board of directors. This will help to keep me from lowering my ethics and values. As I have seen in my own life already, when I begin to lack in one of these areas all the others will be affected. The importance of this issue cannot be over stated. Putting these precautionary steps in place and digging in deeper with the Lord are the first two steps toward being a successful leader.