"Tiny Thoughts"

I suppose if someone asked me who some of the great people of our times are, near the top of my list might be General David Petraeus. 

Gifted, successful, incredibly disciplined, brilliant and effective.  The General graduated from West Point, has a earned doctorate from Princeton University, and proved his ability by turning around the Iraq war at a time America seemed to be flailing. 

If there is any man alive seemed to be destined for the top of whatever he aimed for, it was General Petraeus!  

But now the General joins a long list of other who has crashed his career into a ditch and brought disrepute upon himself, suffering to many around him and a great loss for the nation.  

These types of crashes, succumbing to the temptations of the flesh, do not begin with egregious acts.  They begin with tiny little thoughts--thoughts if we toy with begin to get a hold and control upon us.  The inevitable result is sorrow and shame.  God tells us in Proverbs "There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end is destruction" (16:25).  Those tiny thoughts can lead to great destruction in our lives and others.  By God's power, we need to address those thoughts as early as possible, claim the power and presence of God.  "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."  

Pray for the General. 

Pray for one another.

Pray for nation. 

Pray that God will protect and sustain those who the leaders and models for others.