Equipping the Warrior - Leadership Devotional for MenSample

The Battle Within...

Long distance runners pay attention to landmarks along the course in order to see how far they’ve run.  It also helps them to know how far they have to go.  While experienced runners pay attention to the landmarks, an inexperienced runner often judges where he is by the other runners in the race and how they are doing.

As men, we often stop to take stock of where we are.  Some of us look at the course landmarks and others look at others in the race.  What do I mean by this?

It was my 35th birthday and I began to look at my life.  I had 3 children, a house, a couple of cars, a decent job, was active in my church and life was OK.  But, I hadn’t done anything worth mentioning…in my mind.  The thoughts came.  

"By this age, Martin Luther King had already begun to change the world…”

“In just a few years older than I am now, JFK would be elected president of the US…”

“Bob Marley, Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X were icons by now…”

I was comparing myself to some of the most recognized people in history.  But the truth is, it didn’t matter who they were.  I was comparing and the rabbit hole was getting deeper.  With each comparison, I was mentally repeating the mantra of being less and not good enough.  As men, we often feel like impostors and frauds…tough on the exterior but insecure and unsure on the inside.  And that is the battle in which the devil wants to continually embroil us.  

However, just as we can think negatively about our accomplishments, we can create positive thoughts about where we are headed.  The internal villain will seek to destroy us.  But, God has already equipped us with His Spirit to help us fight those inside battles.  We must intentionally access this resource daily through prayer and meditating on God’s word.