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Flirting with Disaster - Guardrail series part 1

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Flirting With Disaster - Guardrail Series Part 1

“For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—COMES not from the Father but FROM THE WORLD.”

1 John 2 : 16

“When we come to the Lord there is a HUGE CHANGE and SHIFT in what we VALUE…”

Amy Buehrer

Natural guardrails on the roadside are saftey barriers that are there to shield a motorist who has left the roadway. Spiritual guardrails are your moral standards/biblical standards that you put up in your life as a believer. When a beliver establishes guardrails in their life, the world will constantly lure and bait you to go to the edge of disaster and eventually get you to step over your guardrails. The enemy of your soul will fight for you to return to your old wordly values. That is why there is a need for personal guardrails in your life, so that you can maintain and keep your new biblical values. Your spiritual convictions are what establish your spiritual guardrails. Your number one guardrail is scripture.

God talks about us being on a path. He warns us not to leave that path and also shows us how to stay on that path.

Proverbs 4 : 18 – 27

18 The PATH of the RIGHTEOUS is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.

19 But the WAY of the WICKED is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.

20 My son, PAY ATTENTION to WHAT I SAY; TURN your ear to MY WORDS.

21 DO NOT LET them OUT OF YOUR SIGHT, KEEP them WITHIN YOUR HEART;

22 for they are LIFE to those who find them and HEALTH to one’s whole body.

23 Above all else, GUARD your heart, for everything you do FLOWS FROM IT.

24 KEEP your mouth free of perversity (lying, gossip, swearing, deceit, inappropriate talk); KEEP corrupt talk far from your lips.

25 LET (focus, purpose, keep, make) your eyes look straight ahead; FIX (be intentional about, keep) your gaze DIRECTLY before you.

26 Give CAREFUL THOUGHT to the PATHS for your feet and be STEADFAST in all your ways.

27 DO NOT TURN to the right or the left; KEEP your foot from evil.

From this, we can conclude that guardrails keep you safe from the edge of disasterous cliffs. Guardrails are everywhere but they don't get much attention until someone hits one of them. We know that they are there, but we don't think about them much until they are impacted. As long as we keep our 'vehicle' between the 'lines' on the road... as long as we keep our lives betweens the lines on our spiritual road we never have to even worry about getting close to the guardrails. The lines represent our convictions, which keep us on the narrow path and give us just a little more space to pull over or mess up a little and fix our projectory before bumping in to any guardrails. We have to be cautious of lines that have been painted on the road by us - me - myself, instead of God. There is only one painter we should hire to paint the lines on our road - our spiritual journey - and that is the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes we flirt with the things of the world. We dabble in sin. Because life is short we are moving fast towards our judgement day and we don't have time to even be close to the guardrails of our lives. Just fliriting with sin can cause us to become stuck or hung up in that sin for a long time. One wrong move plowing into your guardrails could fall into a disastrous season of your life.

That is why your number 2 guardrail should be accountability. Who in your life is going to help you follow through with your convictions? The number one reason why so many Christian leaders have falling into sin is because they had removed the guardrail of accountability in their lives. Very few people finish strong without accountability.

Guardrails are things that you put into place in your life to keep you from backsliding, comprimising the truth, and excusing and justifying sin. If you go at sin hard enough no gaurdrail is 100% safe. Pay attention to your convictions and respond to them. If not, you will find yourself flying off the narrow road and falling fast into deep, dangerous, territory that you may never return from. Don't follow your own road to your own destination, but put up guardrails in your life right now that will keep you safe along GOD's road to HIS destination for your life. Our biggest fear should be losing God's favor. Remember, God is your guardrail. He guides us, and guards us.

He’s our ‘ROCK’ – ‘SHIELD’ – ‘PROTECTOR’ – ‘FORTRESS’ – ‘REFUGE’ – ‘STRONG TOWER’

Psalms 121 (MSG)

1-2 I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from mountains? No, MY STRENGTH COMES FROM GOD, who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.

3-4 He won’t let you stumble, your GUARDIAN GOD won’t fall asleep. Not on your life! Israel’s GUARDIAN will never doze or sleep.

5-6 GOD’S YOUR GUARDIAN, right at your side to protect you—Shielding you from sunstroke, sheltering you from moonstroke.

7-8 GOD GUARDS YOU from every evil, HE GUARDS YOUR VERY LIFE. HE GUARDS YOU when you leave and when you return, HE GUARDS YOU NOW, HE GUARDS YOU ALWAYS.

“…HE SHIELDS ALL WHO TAKE REFUGE IN HIM.”

Psalms 18 : 30

“For YOU ARE MY HIDING PLACE; YOU PROTECT ME FROM TROUBLE. YOU SURROUND ME WITH SONGS OF VICTORY.”

Psalms 32 : 7