It’s time for a listening pause and then some evaluation and possible adjustments. As the roller coaster of our national life clanks its way to the apex for the sudden wild ride to the bottom, we can see events unfolding now that will prove to be the beginnings of multiple crises. Which wheel falls off first will not be as important as the fact that there will soon be several overlapping issues.
Time To Evaluate and Adjust
Now is not the time to be congratulating ourselves on our level of preparedness, but the time to make sure that we have:
- More mobility, and are able to stay on the move (“orbiting” a small town or key area), able to move on short notice at any time, able to move at night or in inclement weather,
- Lighter weight – we might start out heavy but also able to shed/cache gear and supplies as needed,
- More durable gear that’s rugged. Equipment that can take years of hard use, not just several months,
- Shed dependence on electronic equipment (which might be awesome and needed, at first, but not sustainable long term). Think good binoculars instead of night vision. (Have both, if you can afford it!),
- More focus on stored calories (maybe in distributed caches) and less focus on gardening. (Got caching barrels/containers?),
- More focus on evading and less on confronting/defending,
- More focus on carving out a life in forbidding environments (Cold? Hot? Wet? Mountainous? Wilderness?),
- Longer reach (bikes, motocross, horses, and rugged wheeled carts of all types),
- More making ourselves harder to find by organized hostiles with thermal, drone, and RDF technology (not “just” mutant biker zombie looters), who are making a systematic search specifically for us,
- More boldness in rescuing and sharing with our fellow survivors (and evangelism! Are you ready to share the Good News? Got Bibles?), and
- A deeper trust in God, because our every day will be a miracle and we’re pleasantly surprised that we’re still standing, and it’s clearly God who is protecting us and not our “stuff”.
Essential Intel
Gathering intel and being informed of our local and national conditions are all essential. But, if we’ve been totally focused on watching for indications of trouble, it’s possible that we will wait too long to act. We watch and watch and try to guess when we need to head out (if bugging out is your option). Trying to “figure it out” is mesmerizing, fascinating, a Manly Challenge! – and it takes our focus off of listening/watching for God’s Providential guidance.
The Signal To “Go”
I want to propose that the signal to “Go” might not be something we “figure out,” but something God shows us. What we need is a right relationship with God of listening and studying and worshiping and serving. That’s what will lead us to safety, not merely seeing the approaching danger and having piles of stuff. Timing is everything, and the only person who actually knows the timing is God.
Act In Time
Without this guidance from God we may not act in time. We may be too late. We may be swept up in a sudden turn of events that sucks us into a crisis we could have avoided had we acted just a few hours or days earlier. Learn to hear His still small voice; learn to recognize when He is Providentially arranging your circumstances or supernaturally getting your attention. It’s not something you can learn overnight.
Walk With God Now
Walk with God now– get in the Bible, pray, wait on Him, worship, share, give. Stop yielding to those temptations that are sabotaging your relationship with Him. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” (Prov.3:5-6)
How To Acknowledge Him
How do you “acknowledge Him” in “all your ways”? Frequently, throughout the day, bring your concerns and thoughts to Him, ask Him for guidance and solutions to the daily challenges – include God in your day! (And as a reminder, here’s that classic on the subject: The Practice of the Presence of God) Trust Him with everything in your life, every aspect, every problem, every person, every need, every blessing. And He (the one person in the universe who knows what’s coming next) has promised to guide you! Then, if in some way God says “Go”, you need to go. Right then. No arguing. No whining. Just suck it up and go. And trust Him!
A Coming Struggle
A struggle is coming. Surviving will be a miracle (Mt. 24:22). But I believe in miracles! A “hopeless” scenario might be just the thing to make one hold on tightly to the God of all Hope.
Trust God. Be prepared. We must do both! The Morning is coming, but first comes the Night (Mt.24:29-31).
We are not here to play, to dream, to drift,
We have hard work to do, and loads to lift.
Shun not the struggle; face it. ‘Tis God’s gift.Say not the days are evil, – who’s to blame?
And fold not the hands and acquiesce, – O shame!
Stand up, speak out, and bravely, in God’s name.It matters not how deep entrenched the wrong,
How hard the battle goes, the day, how long.
Faint not, fight on! Tomorrow comes the song.
probably the best advice yet, Jesus first, be in His word daily, throughout the day…..very refreshing….thanks
While I agree with you, I can not forget the old WWII song, Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition or Proverbs 12:11, He who works his land will have abundant food,but he who chases fantasies lacks judgement. It is almost past time to prepare for any coming event, but the Lord seems to help those who try to help themselves the most. While the belief in Lord is a source of great comfort and joy, I also find comfort trying my best to help him in preparing for troublesome times.
I also agree the first and foremost is our personal relationship with a Holy God, and Savior, Jesus Christ. I would be considered a “NOOB” in prepping, but a long life has taught me many things. The wonderful thing about this site is so many different viewpoints and angles. I am “handicapped” in the area of support, as my family thinks I am crazy. I have no where to bug-out to, so I will have to stay here. I am in no position to worry about drones or thermals. I am most worried about looters and roving gangs that will come down the road from bigger cities nearby. Any thoughts of fighting military (as some like to think they will)would be extremely short lived. I have put my Faith and Trust in Jesus and His shed blood, but will do what is possible to protect the ones I love. Faith, Family, Firearms……..
Yes, our single biggest prep; to be ready to see Jesus, one way or another.
I wonder . . . To place entirely ones’ faith in Christ, and then buy rifles and ammunition seems a contradiction. Presumably, one has laid up stores of food and equipment to enable survival, but did not Christ point to the Sparrow of the field and say that the bird stores nothing, yet his needs are provided for by God.
But then there’s the passages about the “Strong man armed” and ‘go buy swords’.
And those where He tells the Soldiers “You’re OK,
be satisfied with your pay and don’t hassle the folks for no good reason’
So, although there seems to be contradiction, I think I get it. Nothing wrong with weapons for defense; nothing wrong with being on guard, and
nothing wrong with being a Soldier.
Since Christ Himself took up the lash against the
Money lenders in the Temple yard; I wonder if He’d do us the favor again, if we asked very
nicely, and frequently. Continuously???
“To place entirely ones’ faith in Christ, and then buy rifles and ammunition seems a contradiction.”
not to mention “But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 If anyone wants to sue you and take your [am]shirt, let him have your [an]coat also. 41 Whoever [ao]forces you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.”
Prep & Pray. God will help after we have done our best. We must learn to talk to Him and even more important, learn how to listen to His answers.
This article is one of the most insightful ever published here.
“learn how to listen to His answers.”
my experience has been that if you start listening for voices, you start hearing them.
I agree with elgin.
I also believe this post and comments are powerful words sent to us by Jesus Christ.
Trust and believe.
A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, But the simple pass on and are punished. (Prov 22:3) This passage teaches that a prudent man foresees evil and takes action. As the Word of God is the lamp which lights out path (Ps. 119:105), then it is by Scripture that we learn to see what is actually in front of us. So a prudent man —- by God’s Word enlightening His mind through the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit —- can see evil when others that walk in darkness cannot.
More so, the same word also gives great insight into what we should do when we perceive evil. This applies to the whole of man for the whole of life.
Example, the Word of God clearly teaches that the debt-based economic system of today is an abomination. More so, history has proven without exception that every such system has crashed,leaving the common man robbed of his hard earned savings and such.
A prudent man, understanding biblical economics which includes identifying counterfeits and schemes of robbery, would get his money out of this system and into biblically defined assets such as land, a means of production, gold, silver, and other tangible assets. On the other hand, the simple man, one who trusts the system believing that those that run it have their best interests at heart in the long run, will go on in blindness.
I have been preaching on biblical economics for over 25 years and have had my share of naysayers (2 Pet. 3:4) who claim that the coming collapse has yet to materialize. These simple people have been looking for the Hollywood model of a dramatic one day collapse, failing to realize that our economic system has been collapsing for several years now. This willful blindness is called normalcy bias, and we all suffer from it. Yes, it will eventually implode into a cataclysmic disaster, but the signs of our current collapse have been obvious for many years, not to mention that such systems by nature are cursed of God and He will, in due season, bring it down.
No one knows the specific day and hour of these types of yogurt-hits-the-fan events, and trying to figure that out is an exercise in futility, but we sure have plenty of warning by which we can take action in biblical prudence and hide, that is, get out of the direct path of the approaching evil. This does not guarantee, however, that we will ride through it with ease, as all who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But it is far better that we suffer for righteousness sake than to suffer judgement for walking in the darkness as a willful simpleton, especially when God has given His people His glorious Word as a lamp by which we can see ahead and take prudent action. After all, He is a loving Father, and not a Hollywood disaster film director.
Yes, we are to walk by the Spirit’s leading wherein He is most merciful to get our attention in directing our paths and warning us of immediate harm, but that includes the vital fact that He uses the Word to light our way and point out evil ahead of time.
Good article. I pray daily for God to allow me and my family to recognize evil and to know how to best avoid and deal with it. God does use situations created by those with evil intentions to His advantage if we are willing to listen when he speaks.
The story of Joseph being sold by his brothers shows one example of how evil intentions were used to God’s glory. Joseph put God first and listened. It is also a pretty good example that we are to store up during the good years in preparation for the bad ones.
Excellent article ShepherdFarmerGeek!
To the naysayers, it is not at all a contradiction to both pray and take action. It is the daily Christian life.
Nehemiah 4:9 “But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night.”
Proverbs 16:3 “Commit your works to the Lord
And your plans will be established.”
Assume RDF is Radio Direction Finding?