V – Do

Biblical Lessons to Learn De-Escalating Skills

You’ll always prevail against a threat if you’re able to avoid the threat. Proper execution of situational awareness positions you to be aware of warning signs in advance of perilous occurrences, which in turn allows you to maintain enough physical distance as much as possible to stay in control of the outcomes. In his ancient book, The Art of War, late 6th century BC Chinese general, military strategist, writer, and philosopher Sun Tzu wrote, “The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.”

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of being Aware ]

Practicing situational awareness applies to the verbal confrontations you might face as much as to the physical surroundings you encounter every day. The oral skill-set required to keep a heated argument from becoming a deadly altercation is known as de-escalation. It involves knowing what to say and not say, when to say it, and how to say it. That means the coordinated use of our brains and tongues can be just as important in our self-defense strategy as performing defensive shooting drills at the range. An excellent article on the subject is “The Truth About De-Escalation” by John Bostain, president of Command Presence Training, published in Michigan Police Chiefs.

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of spiritual fitness ]

The world’s most influential book, the Bible, has plenty to say about the words that come out of our mouths. Consider the following Scripture verses as a framework to help you in building your de-escalation mindset.

  ▶  Death and life are in the power of the tongue…. Proverbs 18:21

  ▶  Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. James 1:19

  ▶  Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him. Proverbs 29:20

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Gentle Response De-Escalation Training for Church Security Teams ]

  ▶  Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Proverbs 17:27

  ▶  Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin. Proverbs 13:3

[ Read the SemperVerus article, on Concealed Carry Daily Prayer ]

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Stay On Mission

Stay on mission compass illustrationStaying on mission means you remain committed to your objective—no matter what temptation, disruption, or distraction you encounter—until you accomplish what you set out to do.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Secure Your Base (Your Soul) ]

For the SemperVerus Brotherhood, staying on mission means keeping your soul strong by adhering to the 5 core components of Prepare, Aware, Be, Know, Do, resulting in the strategic element of solidifying your Self-Defense.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, SemperVerus™ Brotherhood/Sisterhood Launches to Help People ‘Stay True’ ]

Staying true to your spiritual, mental, and physical purpose is the way to disallow mission drift and mission creep. It all comes down to intentional decision-making to stay true at every step of your life journey, every moment of every day. If you don’t, you’ll veer off course before you’re even aware of it. It happens one little decision at a time, where you go astray bit-by-bit. You need to build in measures to help you avoid suffering this outcome.

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3 Ways to Get More Done

In his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the late Stephen Covey said, to be productive, we need to schedule our priorities.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, The 7 Habits: Put First Things First ]

Podcast host Pat Flynn, in a Fast Company article, suggests 3 ways to to keep yourself on track to accomplish that:

  • Manage distractions by setting 5-6 alarms on your phone to sound at random during your workday. When they go off, ask yourself if what you’re doing at that moment is productive or unimportant.
  • Perform “just-in-time learning” where you only consume educational content that has to do with your current priority (not a future idea). It should be relevant (related to the next most important milestone along your prioritized project’s path) and actionable (can be put into action in the next week or two). Otherwise, set the information aside to read at a later time.
  • Delegate 10% to 20% of your time per week to “scratch the itch” you have that’s a dream idea or brainstorm, but not yet a priority. That 20% is your reward for being focused and productive the rest of the week.

Read this article in full…

Invite SemperVerus to present its 5 life-changing success-generating components—prepare, aware, be, know, do—to your organization to inspire and motivate your members.

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Concealed Carry Daily Prayer

More than two-thirds of Americans pray and a majority pray every day. According to a 2014 Pew Research Center survey, 55% of Americans say they pray every day, 16% say they pray weekly, and 6% pray monthly: add them together for a total of 77% of USA citizens say they talk to God in prayer.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Spiritual Fitness in the USA Military ]

And according to a LifeWay Research survey, most Americans who pray (83%) think at least some of their prayers are answered. Their topic of prayer focuses mainly on their family and friends (82%) or their own problems (74%).

Chart: What People Pray For

Depending on God for guidance and protection are common themes of everyday prayer. And since carrying a firearm for self-defense is such a high responsibility, it makes sense to turn to the highest power to request divine care in properly meeting that commitment.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Jeff Cooper’s Principles of Personal Defense ]

Here’s a prayer by SemperVerus® you may want to say when you arise every morning:

Concealed Carry Daily Prayer

My Father in Heaven, your will be done.
 
I pray today that I will love you with all my passion, character, intellect, and muscle and that I will humbly love the people with whom I come in contact.
 
Help me to be a disciplined peacemaker—a wise discerner of good from evil—proactively alert and aware of my spiritual and physical surroundings.
 
I pray I will never be forced to use my weapon. But if I must as only the last resort in self-defense, make me courageously fast and accurate to stop the attack.
 
Amen.

(Concepts for this prayer are taken from Matt. 6:9-14, Mark 12:30-31; Heb. 12:14; Phil. 1:9-11; 1 Pet. 5:8-9; and 1 Cor. 16:13-14)

[ Read the SemperVerus article, A Prayer for Church Security Team Members ]

Invite SemperVerus® to present its 5 main strategic principles—prepare, aware, be, know, do—to your organization to inspire and motivate your members.

Join the SemperVerus Brotherhood™!