My father was in the shipping business. He worked for a marketing company that brought goods such as Farley’s Rusks (a nutritional biscuit) and Lion’s curry powder and dried thyme from the United Kingdom to Nigeria. The goods were packed in huge containers that were completely filled and were worth a lot of money. My father considered them to be precious cargo.

The containers had to be transported from Maidstone, England, to the Apapa port in Lagos, Nigeria. That was the mission. When the product arrived as expected, it was wonderful. On the other hand, if any problems arose between those two points—maybe trouble with Customs or some other obstacle—it was cause for great distress because a lot of money was on the line.

In life, we also are on a journey. God has a destination for us—our eternal home in Heaven. However, along the way, we will encounter what we might call “destination breakers.” These are attempts by the enemy of our souls to derail God’s plan. Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Jesus did not hide the fact that we have an adversary who is actively trying to do us spiritual harm. We know there will be battles on our journey to Heaven.

God is the One who set our destination and Jesus gave His life to make our journey possible. Since we know that our adversary will try to interfere, there are steps we can take to guard ourselves. First of all, we must understand the value of the precious cargo that God has given us. Second, we must know what our own vulnerabilities are so we can seek God’s help in those areas. Lastly, we can avoid many problems if we will learn not to neglect the instructions God has given us. With God’s help, every attempted destination breaker will fail and we will make our goal of Heaven.

Understand the value of what you have

Our lives are precious to God. We know that because He gave His Son to redeem us. He values us so much that He paid the ultimate price to save us. Furthermore, our adversary also knows our worth, and that is why we are his targets. He would not try to steal something that was worthless.

The critical piece is for us to understand our own value. If no one told you this before, your life is precious! Indeed, everything God gives has great value—our lives, our families, our time, our abilities. Our salvation is very precious cargo—it is our hope of Heaven. Sanctification is also priceless. It is what sets us apart from the sinful world and keeps us holy, in unity with God and His ways. Our church’s founder, Florence Crawford, called the doctrine of sanctification the “hub” of the Gospel because everything else centers around it. We must guard it. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is precious as well. His indwelling is what empowers us to serve God most effectively. This enables us to stand for God wherever He has stationed us and opens doors for Him to work through us. In addition, throughout our lives God gives us important milestones of answered prayers and lessons learned. All of these are so valuable.

If we do not recognize the value of what God has given us, we are likely to lose it to a destination breaker. Our enemy is looking for an opportunity to steal our precious cargo, and what a tragedy that would be. We must understand the value of everything God gives us so we will guard, protect, and hold on to it.

Know your weaknesses

Our enemy is very cunning. He does not come against us as an obvious opponent. If he did that, we would all run away from him immediately. Instead, he does what he did to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden—he comes subtly and skillfully.

We read in 1 Peter 5:8-9, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.” Our ruthless enemy desires to exploit our vulnerabilities in order to destroy us. Knowing that, we must resist him proactively. We need to become aware of our weaknesses and have a plan to defend against attack.

Often, an area of weakness comes from our own families. There can be sinful behaviors that are learned from generation to generation, and these become a pattern. When parents lack integrity, they often pass that tendency on to their children.

In my family, there was a problem with marriages. My grandfather had seven wives and my father had three wives. Thank God, I was saved at age eighteen before I had the chance to follow in their footsteps and make a mess of my own life. After I was saved, I knew there was potential for me to repeat the pattern and I cried out to God for help. How grateful I am that He delivered me from the sinful cycle that I saw in my family.

A weakness could also be the result of a traumatic experience that leaves us with unhealthy coping mechanisms or habits. I experienced that too when I lost three close family members at a young age. The third death was my mother, who took her own life. Afterward, there were times when I was tempted to do the same. If not for the love and mercy of God, I believe I would have.

Weaknesses can be the result of our own poor choices, or they could come through no fault of our own. Our enemy does not care how those vulnerabilities come; he is ready to attempt a destination breaker to exploit any opportunity he can find. Rather than waste time trying to deny these problems or overcome them on our own, we can turn to Christ, our only place of safety. When we cry out to Him, God will give us power and discernment to resist the enemy.

Do not neglect God’s instructions

When reading the account of Samson in the Book of Judges, I always think of those who are born into the Gospel, because Samson was born into a God-fearing home. Even before his birth, he was set apart for a unique calling. Great deliverance was expected through his life. Along with that calling, there were a few extra requirements placed on Samson—he was not to drink wine, cut his hair, or come near a dead body. When he followed those requirements, the Spirit of God moved on Samson, giving him superhuman strength.

God had a plan and purpose for the strength He gave Samson—it was intended to bring deliverance from Israel’s oppressors. However, Samson allowed destination breakers to rob him. He was trying to serve God on his own terms, giving God some but not all of his life. He constantly neglected his godly upbringing. His compromises may have seemed trivial at first, but they grew. Ultimately, Samson allowed his enemies to learn that the source of his strength was tied to his vow to not cut his hair. After they cut his hair while he was asleep, Samson’s connection with God was broken and he no longer received superhuman strength.

Judges 16:20 is a sorrowful verse. It says, “. . . And he [Samson] awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him.” Whenever I read this, I almost want to cry. Samson was not careful to obey the instructions and value the blessings that God had given him. He didn’t recognize the danger of neglecting what God had said. The next verse says, “But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass.” Once a strong man who was used by God, Samson was beaten, mocked, and made useless.

Like the requirements God gave Samson, God has also given us instructions. Those who are born into the Gospel are taught from an early age to be saved, sanctified, baptized with the Holy Spirit, and to consecrate all of their lives to Jesus. It is simple enough, but we do have an adversary. One of his primary tactics is to persuade us to make small compromises regarding what God has said. The danger is not so much in recognizing right from wrong—that part is usually obvious. The real danger is in failing to recognize right from “almost right”—which is still wrong. This is what we must keep in mind when choosing our friends or our spouse, when deciding how to spend our time, when making financial choices, and other decisions as well. We must be focused because our enemy is focused. He would like to derail us as he derailed Samson. Jesus told us plainly that the devil comes to kill, steal, and destroy. God’s instructions are not to be taken lightly because we are dealing with precious cargo. We must be intentional and get it right.

Thank God, Samson’s story did not end there. I love verse 22: “Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.” Samson did fail and he suffered consequences, but God still extended mercy. By returning to God, he was able to have a part in God’s plan to bring deliverance from the Philistines, and for that he was named among the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11.

Look to Jesus

My father’s job was to make sure the goods entrusted to him arrived safely at the intended destination. Similarly, Jesus is looking after us and He wants us to make Heaven. He knows us and He values us as precious cargo. He also knows our weaknesses and sees attacks coming from the enemy before we do. If we look to Him, Jesus will help us to overcome every attempt to derail us. In Jesus’ Name, every plan of the enemy will fail and we will reach our destination.

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