Stop Playing Safe: 5 Ways to Embrace Discomfort and Lead

I am continuing to break down the fifty principles that took me fifty years to learn. These aren't theories; these come from the furnace of experience. I have lived these out, I have bled for these, and now I am imparting them to you so you can take the fastest path possible.

God’s plan for you is partnership. He wants you to move forward, demonstrate the Kingdom, advance, and occupy. But God fulfills His promises, not your potential—only you can do that. If you want to access the presence, peace, power, and promotion of the Lord, you must lock in.

Here are the next five principles to accelerate you into your assignment. If you missed the first five, you can read those here.

6. Honor Your Word

Above all, your word is what you have. If you say it, you must do it. This is the fastest path to increasing confidence.

Integrity isn't just a buzzword; it means to stay in alignment. It is the alignment between how you see yourself, what you profess, and what you actually do. That is what gives you your edge when you walk into a room. You must build relational confidence with yourself.

I lived this last year when I took myself from being overweight to rebuilding my body through daily, micro-commitments. When I honored the goals I set, I conquered the inner battles.

If you are not living what you are saying, it is a miserable place to be. We see influencers and leaders exposed constantly because they profess what they do not possess. Do not be that man. If you say it, do it!

7. Pray with Purpose

Prayer is not a duty; it is a system God set up for us to operate within His economy and government. You must know your belief and pray fervently.

James tells us it is the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man that avails much. You accomplish things in the realm of the spirit by praying with expectation. Consider the Lord’s Prayer: "Deliver us from evil." Why doesn't God just automatically deliver us? Because He is training your hands for war. Just as Israel had to dispossess the enemy squatters to possess the Promised Land, you have a spiritual fight to fight.

Don’t just ask once. The command is to ask, seek, and knock habitually. Keep striking until you get the breakthrough. When you lock into this fervent prayer, you enter a state of spiritual flow—a place where the Holy Spirit energizes you, distractions fade, and you become singular in your focus. Prayer is how God gets work done through men on this earth.

8. Embrace Discomfort

The Christian life is a progression. You have been saved, but now you are in the phase of sanctification—working out your salvation with fear and trembling. The reality is, your flesh did not disappear when you got saved.

The "flesh" is the part of you that wants to operate from yourself as the source; it seeks comfort. You cannot rehab the old man; you must crucify him daily. You have a comfort zone where you feel safe, but transformation only happens at the edge. The edge is not safe, but it is where you feel truly alive.

If you play it safe, you are not living with fire. Step into the unknown. Carry your cross. Do the thing you have no natural proclivity to do. Find your edge today and step into the growth zone.

9. Gird Your Mind

I saw a quote recently that captures this perfectly: "You’re born looking like your parents, but you die looking like your decisions."

You are the sum total of your thoughts and decisions. The car you drive, the gym you are in, the life you lead—it is all a result of your past decisions. Own that. But realize that the direction of your thoughts determines your destiny. To win the war, you must meditate.

Biblical meditation is not emptying your mind; it is filling it. Be like a cow chewing the cud—extracting every ounce of nutrition from the grass. Do not just race to read the Bible in a year. Go slow. Go deep. Digest the Word until it gets into your spirit. You become what you behold. What are you gazing at?

10. Demolish Every Lie

If you are emotionally unbalanced, reactive to chaos, or lacking peace, you are likely believing a lie. The enemy sets up strongholds—battle fortresses—in your mind to persuade you into an unbiblical belief system.

Thoughts like "I am not enough" or "God doesn't love me" are lies that disempower you. You must tear down these strongholds immediately. You have two options: view life through a natural, humanistic perspective, or view it through a divine perspective. The divine perspective requires faith. It requires you to look past what is in front of you.

Renew your mind daily. Stop meditating on your stressors and start meditating on who God says you are. The quality of the fruit in your life is a direct result of what you think about the most.

Your Next Move

I know many of you struggle with principle number seven. You sit down to pray and you don't know where to start. You feel ineffective. You can't quiet your mind. You finish your time and wonder if you accomplished anything at all.

I have built a tool to solve this. It is called the Kingdom Driven Man Challenge.

This is a 40-day course where I break down the exact strategies, morning routines, and algorithms to help you overcome your flesh and practice the presence of God. I give you the protocols to ensure you leave your tent of meeting every morning in power and peace.

Stop guessing. Follow the plan. Lead, fight, and win.