Take Ground – Advance, Don't Wait
The Christian life isn't a defensive crouch; it's a relentless advance.
Too often, we hear of "holding the fort," "maintaining the line," or "defending the faith."
While vigilance is vital, a strategy focused solely on holding ground eventually loses it.
The Great Commission, Christ's final and most explicit command, was not a call to stand still. It was a clear, unambiguous marching order: "Go and make disciples of all nations." This isn't spiritual theory; it's the operational directive for every believer.
Your enlistment in the Kingdom of God wasn't for standby duty. The day you accepted grace, you were conscripted into the King's active mission. To ignore this, to merely "hold ground," is to consciously neglect yourself, your family, your community, and the very Kingdom you claim to serve.
Stagnation in the faith isn't faithfulness; it’s forfeiture. Remember the parable of the talents: the servant who merely buried what he was given was not praised; he was cut from the ranks. He forfeited his opportunity and his master's trust. We are called to be faithful stewards, and true stewardship demands advancement.
Why It Matters: The Mission Moves With You
In the Kingdom of God, every single step counts. There's no compartmentalization of your spiritual life from your daily existence.
Your life at work, at home, at church, and in every interaction you have – that is your mission field.
The commandment "as you go, make disciples" emphasizes an active, integrated faith. It’s about living out your convictions, sharing truth, and influencing your surroundings as you navigate your everyday life.
This advancement isn't about being pushy, reckless, or loud. It’s about cultivating wisdom, humility, and unwavering faith. It’s about being a faithful steward of the gifts, resources, and influence you've been given, trading them for Kingdom gain.
It means living with unwavering integrity, leading with genuine humility, and maintaining a posture of readiness – ready to pray, ready to speak, ready to act – when the Holy Spirit opens a door for divine intervention. Advancement is a daily discipline, a continuous progression, not an occasional burst of activity. It is the steady, strategic execution of your purpose.
The Internal Enemy: Where Advancement Fails
The greatest obstacles to taking new spiritual ground are rarely external. The most formidable enemy is often found inside:
Lack of Self-Awareness: Not truly understanding your strengths, weaknesses, and biases can lead to missed opportunities or missteps.
Missing God-Given Openings: God is always at work around us, but if we're not discerning or attuned to His leading, we can overlook the very opportunities He presents for Kingdom advancement.
Pride: The dangerous illusion that you've "got it all figured out" shuts down learning, discernment, and reliance on God. Pride leads to a closed mind and a limited perspective.
Snap Judgments: Reacting too quickly without seeking wisdom or understanding slows genuine progress.
Failure to Listen and Discern: True discernment isn’t about quick rationalizing or immediate solutions. It’s a deliberate, Spirit-led observation, a patient waiting on God's timing and wisdom.
When pride is your guide, you deceive yourself into thinking you’ve summited Everest after climbing a "bunny slope."
You gain a false sense of achievement only for your limitations to be exposed when a real mountain (a true spiritual challenge) appears.
True ground is gained through deep humility, honest self-assessment, and a willingness to confront internal limitations, not through hype, noise, or wishful thinking. This inward battle must be won before significant outward ground can be taken.
Field Story: It Wasn't the Lights—It Was the Capacitor
As a combat veteran, I often share a lesson from my second deployment in Iraq. My convoys were equipped with new, high-definition lights for enhanced vigilance, but a persistent and debilitating static plagued my radios. Some suggested going "lights out" to reduce interference, but a dark convoy is a vulnerable target – an easy mark for the enemy. Instead of surrendering to the immediate problem, I leaned into observation and teamwork.
My team stepped back, looked at the big picture of our operational environment. Through a combination of technical grit, relentless troubleshooting, and integrated knowledge, we uncovered the culprit: a small, overlooked capacitor on the circuit board. This tiny, seemingly insignificant component was causing the massive communication breakdown. We quickly soldered the fix, restoring both lights and critical communications.
The lesson from the field is clear: Real advancement isn't about grand gestures or superficial fixes. It comes from meticulously seeing patterns, integrating diverse knowledge from the team, leading with genuine humility (acknowledging the problem and seeking solutions), and executing with courage in the face of adversity. Sometimes, it’s the smallest, seemingly overlooked component, whether in a circuit board or in our spiritual walk, that uncovers the truth that Something Bigger Is Going On and unlocks the next critical victory. This illustrates the power of diligent, disciplined, and discerning action.
Biblical Foundation: Advance with Discernment
The principles of taking ground are deeply rooted in Scripture, offering timeless wisdom for our mission:
"Be quick to listen, slow to speak." (James 1:19): This is the ultimate guide for reconnaissance before action. Hasty words or actions often preclude true understanding and effective advancement. Discernment thrives in attentive silence.
"Pride comes before the fall." (Proverbs 16:18): This Proverb is a battle-hardened warning. To kill pride is to gain true perspective, allowing us to see the landscape as it truly is, not as our ego wishes it to be. Humility is the foundation for sustainable advances.
"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6): Advancement in God's Kingdom is facilitated by His grace. To receive this grace, we must adapt our posture – be tough on the problem, uncompromising in seeking truth, but gentle and patient with people.
"Faith comes by hearing." (Romans 10:17): Spirit-led action isn't a guess or a shot in the dark. It is guided by a continuous, active listening to God’s voice and His Word. True faith empowers actions that are divinely sanctioned and therefore destined for victory. We listen, then we act.
Practical Drills: Take New Ground This Week
This isn't theory; it's a call to immediate action. We implement these practical drills to begin taking new ground in your life and ministry this week:
Dig for Root Causes: Don’t stop at diagnosing the symptom; get under the surface of the problem. Ask, "What’s the real obstacle here? What's the overlooked capacitor?" Identify the core issue before you attempt to attack or solve it.
Check Your Assumptions: Challenge your first thoughts and impulses. Pause, pray, and ask: "Where am I missing truths? Am I operating on old maps?" Seek Spirit confirmation, not ego affirmation. Humility demands an open mind.
Offer Solutions, Not Complaints: Step forward with viable answers and proactive contributions – at work, at home, in your community, and in your church. Shift your mindset from identifying problems to actively forging solutions. Every decisive action and every solution offered can claim new territory for the King. Be a solution-maker.
Embrace SBIGO: Something Bigger Is Going On: When problems seem insurmountable or solutions elusive, step back. There's always a deeper spiritual or strategic layer at play. Don't be confined to just solving the immediate crisis; look for the overarching patterns, the spiritual warfare, or the divine orchestrations. Understanding that Something Bigger Is Going On shifts your perspective from reaction to revelation, empowering you to discern God's true hand in the situation and unlock solutions beyond mere human effort.
This week, commit to advancing with both timing and precision. Move at "walking speed"—not rushing ahead recklessly, but never stalling in inertia. Before acting, learn to seek the Spirit’s specific cadence. Be wise as serpents (shrewd, discerning, understanding of threat), yet innocent as doves (pure in motive, undefiled by worldly cynicism). Choose one person or situation where you’re tempted to force progress, or where you've been stuck. Instead, deliberately slow down, listen intently, then act with humility. Report back what you learned about God's timing, the true nature of the battle, or the heart of the one you engaged. The Kingdom awaits your advance.
Rally Cry: Keep the End State in Mind
Don’t get tangled in the weeds of secondary issues. Fix your gaze on the ultimate objective: God's Kingdom advanced, His will done.
Scriptural Anchor:
"If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit." — Galatians 5:25
