You have run the protocol. You Arrested the thought, stopped the momentum before your anger could spiral. You Audited the impulse, realized your ego was driving the car, not righteousness. You Aligned with Truth, checked Scripture and counsel and conscience, and all three witnesses pointed the same direction. You know exactly what you need to do. You need to walk down the hall to your colleague’s office and apologize for the sarcastic comment you made in the meeting that got a laugh but crushed their spirit.

You absolutely do not want to do it. Every fiber of your flesh is screaming “No.” You feel the resistance. You feel the humiliation. The clarity you had five minutes ago has faded, and now you are staring at a concrete action that feels like death. Your brain is already offering alternatives: “I will just send a text.” “I will do it tomorrow.” “They started it anyway.” But you know the truth. You need to stand up, walk down the hall, knock on the door, and say the words. This is the fourth and final step of the Watchman’s Protocol: ACT.

We often call this feeling “hypocrisy.” We think, “If I do this good thing while feeling this bad way, I am being a fake. I am just acting.” We have it backward. This is not hypocrisy; it is discipline. Hypocrisy is concealing sin to look righteous. Discipline is acting against the impulse of sin to achieve righteousness. Faith is not a feeling you wait for; it is a movement you initiate. You act your way into a new feeling; you rarely feel your way into a new action. And the hardest part of the Act is not the apology itself. It is the first 30 seconds. It is the moment you stand up from your desk, put one foot in front of the other, and walk toward the discomfort.

There is a principle in physics called friction. Static friction is the force that keeps a stationary object from moving. Kinetic friction is the force that resists an object that is already moving. Static friction is always higher than kinetic friction. It takes more force to start pushing a heavy box than it does to keep it moving. The same is true in the Spirit. The hardest part of obedience is not the obedience itself; it is the first step. We often wait for the feeling of faith to hit us before we move. We want the peace to wash over us, the excitement to propel us. But God often works in reverse. He gives the impulse to move, but you must provide the motion.

In Joshua 3:15-16, the priests carried the ark of the covenant to the Jordan River at flood stage. The water did not part when they prayed. It did not part when they Aligned. It parted when their feet touched the water’s edge. God often waits for your foot to hit the water before He moves the river. He is not being cruel; He is teaching you that faith is kinetic, not static. If you wait for dry ground, for feelings of safety or peace or excitement, you will die on the bank. But if you step into the flooding river, you will watch the impossible happen.

This is the gap most leaders never close. They run the first three A’s perfectly. They Arrest the thought, Audit the impulse, Align with Truth. They know what they should do. And then they stop. They wait for the feeling to catch up. They wait to “feel sorry” before they apologize. They wait to “feel confident” before they make the call. They wait to “feel close to God” before they obey. And the feeling never comes, because the feeling of closeness is the reward for obedience, not the fuel for it. You do not obey because you feel close to God. You feel close to God because you obeyed.

So you stand up. You walk down the hall. You knock on the door. You open your mouth and say the words: “Hey, I was out of line in that meeting. I let my ego get the better of me, and I disrespected you. I am sorry. Will you forgive me?” You do not wait to feel the apology. You speak the words because they are true. And usually, about 10 minutes later, your feelings catch up. The tension breaks. The relationship is healed. You feel the relief and the peace of righteousness. But the feelings came after the action, not before it.

ACT is the step where most leaders lose the battle, because it is the step that requires you to move when you do not want to. It is obedience in the dark. It is discipline over desire. It is the moment you prove that you serve the God of the work, not just the high of the work. Doing the right thing when you feel dead inside is not a sign of spiritual coldness. It is a sign of spiritual maturity. It proves you are a son, not a servant. A servant works when the Master is watching. A son works because he owns the outcome.

Tomorrow, we will talk about kinetic faith and why the first 30 seconds are everything. But today, the question is simple: What is the one thing you know you need to do but have been waiting to “feel like” doing? Stop waiting. Stand up. Move your feet. God parts the water when your feet get wet, not when you pray about it from the safety of the shore.

I write about leadership at the intersection of timeless principles and modern workplaces. Follow for weekly insights on building teams that actually work. For more articles like this consider subscribing to my Substack at: https://christianleadership.now