Spiritual Warfare: Satan's Schemes #2 (fear, psychics, prayer)
As I pointed out previously, I think fear is one of Satan's most common tactics to use on us, one of his most effective schemes. Whatever our fears are, he will try to use them against us, particularly (for believers) the fear that God isn't listening, can't be trusted, doesn't care, or won't come through for us. Because then we'll try to take control of things and to make decisions in our own power, wisdom, and timing (instead of running to, leaning on, trusting, and following God), using human ways to manage our lives, circumstances, and fears. And this will get us off-track with God and relying on ourselves instead of on Him, which will make us more vulnerable to Satan's tricks and traps.
It's what happened to King Saul. He wanted God's help/guidance (through Samuel) in a war with the Philistines. But when Samuel didn't show up on time, Saul took it upon himself to speed things up, to make things happen, performing the sacrificial offerings himself. Against God's rules.
He acted in haste, in fear that if he waited on God and did things God's way it would backfire, that God would let him down. He thought he knew better, that he could get away with doing things his own way, taking matters into his own hands, especially since what he was doing (sacrifices to God) seemed good and religious anyway. ("Good and religious" can often derail us from "best and godly.")
But when Samuel saw what Saul did, he replied, "What have you done?... You acted foolishly. You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure... because you have not kept the Lord's command." (1 Samuel 13:1-15)
Satan knows fear is an effective tool for messing us up, for getting us to take matters into our own hands. And he'll use it against us whenever he can.
[And he's so good at it that even if we don't have anything real to be afraid of, he'll get us to make something up. Am I right? I mean, isn't that what worry usually is? Finding new, imaginary ways to be afraid because we don't have enough to be afraid of right now. It's almost like there's a part of our brain that sits around and thinks "Hmm, what else can I dwell on to freak myself out?" (Or is it just me?)]
And not only can Satan use our fears to trip us up, but he can use our attempts to manage our fears to trip us up. Of course, some ways we try to manage our fears might be good and healthy (talking with a friend, journaling, simplifying things, taking walks, exercising, cleaning house, listening to praise music, counseling or medication when needed, etc.) ... and some ways might be unhealthy or ungodly (substance abuse, addictions, yoga/Eastern meditation, occultic practices like horoscopes or palm readers or seances, excessive spending, excessive busyness/distraction, isolation, suicidal thoughts, etc.).
[For suggestions, "26 tips for dealing with depression or anxiety" and "Help for anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts". And see this about yoga in churches: An open letter to Christian churches doing yoga.]
But the last thing Satan wants is for us to bring our fears to God or to explore God's Word for God's truths. If Satan can keep us from drawing near to God and from understanding/clinging to/applying biblical truths, then he knows we'll be weaker and more vulnerable to his schemes. So Satan may try to keep us so busy with our own human efforts to manage our fears that we forget to consult God about it all and forget to use the Word against spiritual attacks.
But if our fears have spiritual roots/causes and if we're only using human methods to battle them (no matter how good or healthy our human efforts may be), then it won't work. Not in the long run. Spiritual problems need spiritual solutions. Spiritual battles need spiritual weapons. (And if we're using unhealthy or ungodly methods/weapons, we'll only make the problem worse, adding more problems on top of the problems we already had.)
So along with healthy human methods, make sure you're asking God for His help, opinions, and guidance. Since God knows everything and cares about you so much (enough to die for you), don't you think that He knows what's best for you and that He wants to help guide you down the path that's best for you?
I mean, of course, we know God knows everything. But do we always live like it? When we lose something (say, our car keys) and we're running around frantically searching for them, do we stop to remember that God knows where they are? Do we stop to pray and ask for His help in finding it? (He won't always answer our prayers right away or the way we want, but shouldn't we at least ask? Shouldn't we at least give Him a chance to help us?)
God knows if we should or shouldn't do it... say it... buy it... think it... watch it... listen to it... eat it... consider it... worry about it... go there... Path A or B... now or later or never, etc.
But do we ask Him to guide us and to give us His opinion as much as we should, in as many situations as we should? Or do we take it upon ourselves to figure things out, to make things happen, to forge ahead on our own?
[I remember my mom once questioning me about why I wasn't forcing something to happen that I wanted. Why wasn't I just going out and taking it, making it happen, doing what I wanted, letting nothing stand in my way... like she does?
"When I want something, I make it happen," she said, with pride and boldness in her voice. "Like when I wanted this new house. I went out and found the property when it wasn't even for sale, talked the owners into selling it to me, hired a builder, designed a house, and got my new dream house built. I make what I want happen." And she made it seem like it was a big blessing from God, His favor on her.
But all I could think - but didn't say - was "Yes, and that's exactly why I don't go out and take what I want. I saw how you did it ... and destroyed the family in the end. You just had to have this huge new house, and it didn't matter what anyone else wanted, even your husband. This isn't God's favor on you, God's blessings. It's you doing whatever you want, regardless of what God or other people might want, but then you stamp God's name on it."
And to this day, I have a really hard time wanting things or trying to make what I want happen. My mom was more afraid of missing out on what she wanted, whereas I'm more afraid that my wants will lead me astray or end up in disaster. Like when the Israelites wanted meat and complained for meat, and so God gave them meat ... but meat that came with a plague that killed some of them (Numbers 11:33).
After seeing where "make what you want happen" can lead to, I've probably swung to the other extreme of "don't want anything." I'm not saying it's healthy, but it is what it is. And I guess I'd rather have this extreme than the other. I'd rather almost never fight for what I want - unless it's a critical issue or for the good of others - than to put my wants above everyone else, demanding things go my way, destroying everything in the process. (It's fun being human, isn't it? Trying to navigate extremes and walk tightropes and find our way through life's chaotic mess? That's why faith in God is so important. I can only imagine how much harder things would be if there was no God, if we had to navigate it all on our own.)]
And if we do seek His help, are we willing to wait for His answer? To search His Word for His guidance/guidelines? To hear what He has to say, even if it means He might have to convict us of something before answering our request? To humbly obey whatever He tells us? To do what's best for His glory? To do the right thing even if it's the hard thing? To die to self and take up whatever crosses we might need to carry? To praise Him and trust Him as God no matter what, even if we don't get our way?
If not, then that may be why He's not answering or why He allows things to get tougher first.
1 Peter 5:6: "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time."
God is more than willing to give us His opinion, His help, His guidance - but how little we want it, seek it, wait for it, or follow it. To our detriment.
One particular way I think we make some of our problems worse is that we sometimes forget to "inquire of the Lord."
In Exodus 23:32, God tells Israel to make no covenant with the people in the land of Canaan after they take possession of it. But in Joshua 9, we read about the Gibeonite deception and how they did make a treaty with these people, believing they were from a distant land. Joshua 9:14 says that in this instance, Israel “did not inquire of the Lord.” God’s Will and plan was that they didn’t make a treaty with these people. And I believe God would have warned Israel about the deception ... if they had prayed about it. But they chose not to pray about it, so God’s Will didn’t happen in this case.
And getting back to Saul: We saw earlier that Saul refused to wait on God or to do things in the proper, God-approved ways. He tried to hurry God along, to "help" God out, which is never for the better (just ask Abraham, who tried to help God fulfill His promise to give Abraham a son, Genesis 16). But there is something else very significant that led to his downfall, his punishment.
In the days after Saul drifted from God and after David was picked to replace him, Saul was once again afraid of the Philistine army, and he tried to inquire of the Lord for help. But when God would not answer him through dreams or Urim or prophets (1 Samuel 28:6), he contacted a witch to help him, to bring him God's answer. (But as we all know, witchcraft is strictly forbidden, and so we cannot use witchcraft - occultic methods - to get God's answers/help/guidance. And why? Because witchcraft is tapping into, inquiring of, listening to demons, instead of God.)
And 1 Chronicles 10:13 gives us this sad account of why Saul had the tragic end he did: "Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance, and did not inquire of the Lord. So the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse."
Instead of humbling himself before God... instead of being willing to wait on God to answer in His time and in His way... instead of using the time to examine his heart/life and to get right with God so that God would be more willing to answer (as Psalm 66:18 wisely warns, "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened")... Saul panicked and acted in haste, choosing to do things his way, to use his own methods to get the answers he thought he needed when he thought he needed them. And he thought it would be okay.
But it destroyed him.
Anytime we try to get around God, to run ahead of His timing, to do things outside of His prescribed ways, we'll make things worse. Anytime we try to get God's answers/help in ways God doesn't approve of or before God is ready to give them to us, it will open the door not to God's help, but to sin, to demons, to evil, to negative consequences, to God's wrath and discipline.
Saul contacted a witch, but many Christians nowadays think nothing of dabbling in tarot cards, horoscopes, psychics, Ouija boards, etc. I've even read about churches using "Christian" tarot cards and about Christians essentially telling people's fortunes (their futures) but calling it "prophecy." As if it's no big deal. As if God will bless it as long as we stamp His name on it. Right?
[In 1 Kings 13, there is a fascinating, and sad, account of what happened when someone stamped God's name on a lie ... and it led to death. In this situation, a godly man was warned by God not to eat or drink anything on his way home. But an old prophet wanted the godly man to visit him, so he lied and told the man that an angel said it would be okay for the man to eat at his house. Instead of remembering and obeying what God first told him, instead of double-checking with God, the godly man believed what the prophet said and went to his house to eat with him ... and it led to his death, divinely killed by a lion. Failure to inquire of God, failure to obey what we know God told us, failure to hold to God's truth in the face of lies, and listening to the advice of others without testing it (against Scripture and in prayer) is a recipe for disaster. God takes disobedience very seriously, no matter how well-meaning or deceived we might have been. And the thing is, we never need to be deceived or to make a decision in ignorance ... because we can inquire of God about everything and anything. We can ask His opinion on anything we need guidance about (and search Scripture), and He will help us. Know God's Word for yourself, and test what others tell you against God's Word, God's truth. Read 1 Kings 13 and learn from the mistakes of one godly man who meant well but who failed to cling to God's Word in the face of man's lies.]
"But," Christians might say, "all this occultic stuff - horoscopes, psychics, tarot cards - is just for fun. It's not really real, and we don't mean anything by it."
But God knows better. God knows it is real, as in it's listening to real demons, opening the door to real demons. And essentially, it's us rebelling against God and choosing to follow Satan instead.
And it's why He takes such a strong stance against it, never being vague or wishy-washy or compromising about it.
"When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and because of these detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God." (Deut. 18:9-13. Sorcery is "detestable" to the Lord, on par with sacrificing children in fire.)
"For rebellion is like the sin of divination..." (1 Sam. 15:23. Divination, sorcery, witchcraft is essentially rebellion against God. And rebellion against God is so serious that it got Satan kicked out of heaven and will land most people in hell.)
"... we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future... Finally, Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, 'In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!'" [Acts 16:16,18. Yes, the girl had powers, supernatural abilities. So do not be delightfully surprised or intrigued if some occultic things actually do "work." Just because it "works" doesn't mean it's good or godly or helpful. The girl was empowered by a demonic spirit, as proven when Paul cast the spirit out. And to join forces with a demon, to dabble with demons, will open doors in your heart, mind, life to demons and will remove you from God's protection. Is the little bit of (demonic) "help" or entertainment you might get by dabbling in witchcraft worth the high price you'll pay in your mind, faith, life, and walk with God? A word of caution about fortune-telling spirits like the one the girl had in Acts: "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world," 1 John 4:1. Side note: My guess is that "future-telling" demons do not actually know/tell the future, because they are not omniscient like God is. But I'm guessing it's more like "self-fulfilling prophecies," where they make what they "predicted" come true because you listened to them (removing yourself from God's protection, giving demons access to your mind and life, allowing them to tinker in your circumstances), you believed their predictions, and you began looking for ways it might come true or began subconsciously finding ways to help it come true (if it's a good prediction). So it's not that they told you the future, but it's that you allowed them to create that future by listening to them and giving them access to you.]
"The acts of the sinful nature are obvious:... idolatry and witchcraft... I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God." (Gal. 5:19-21)
"Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly..." (Acts 19:18-19. Witchcraft, sorcery, psychics, etc., are not benign entertainment or godly in any way. They're evil.)
"You [God] have abandoned your people... they practice divination like the Philistines and clasp hands with pagans." (Isaiah 2:6. If we hold hands with demons, can we also hold hands with God?)
This should scare us from ever trying to mingle any kind of sorcery with Christianity. It's not "just for fun." It's not "harmless entertainment." It's not "no big deal."
It's demonic. It's evil. It's idolatry. It's rolling out a welcome mat to demons, saying "Come on in!" Dabbling in the occult or seeking information in ungodly ways and from ungodly sources is wrong - no matter how we might try to soften it or excuse it. And it will have consequences. Maybe not right away, but it will.
[Incidentally, I never even let my kids read or watch Harry Potter because of how it glorifies and essentially teaches witchcraft. (A Christian leader at our church was very into Harry Potter, yet she casually mentioned once how she "should read the Bible more." That's scary. A Christian youth leader does not have enough time or concern to read the Bible, but she's got more than enough time to dive deep into Harry Potter. Scary. And probably quite common.) Nor did I let my kids play Dungeons and Dragons because of the chance that it could hook them into deeper occultic things. Not to mention that I read that the creators of D&D consulted with real witches (satanists?) to make sure the spells were as accurate as possible. Why take the risk? Even if most Christians think there's nothing wrong with Harry or D&D, I'm not willing to risk it for my kids, not when there are better and less risky things they can be entertained by.]
"Oh," you might say, "but my Christian friend (or a Christian YouTuber/blogger/leader/celebrity or whatever) said that God gives good advice through Christian psychics, that it's true, that it really helped them draw closer to God, that it's okay."
Yeah, well, what does God say? (And once again, learn from 1 Kings 13.) I don't care what a Christian "whatever" says. I care what God says. And God says:
"Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God... I will set my face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute himself by following them, and I will cut him off from his people." (Lev. 19:31,20:6)
“You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons? Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy?...” (1 Cor. 10:21-22)
"... those who practice magic arts ... will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death... Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts..." (Rev 21:8,22:15)
"So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers..." (Mal. 3:5. If we live in God's truth, in humble and reverent fear of Him, He draws near to us to comfort us and guide us and help us. But if we dabble in sorcery and witchcraft and the occult, He will draw near to us in judgment. Does this not scare you?]
God expects us, as believers who know the Word, to be discerning about spiritual things, spiritual messages, about what's godly and what's not, what's truth and what's lies. He expects us to not just accept whatever some other believer (or "believer," in quotes) says as truth, but to examine the Word deeply for ourselves to see what He says about it, what His truth is. We should judge what other people say by God's Word, not judge God's Word by what other people say. And if someone contradicts His Word, then we need to side with Him, even if it's unpopular, uncomfortable, or costly. There are spiritual consequences at stake.
Matthew 7:15: "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves."
2 Cor. 11:13-15: "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve."
2 Peter 2:1-3: "... there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies ... Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up."
2 Timothy 2:15,4:3-5: "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth... For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations ..."
2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
Hebrews 5:14: "But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."
God - since He is God - expects us to go to Him for answers and help. To wait on Him for answers and help. To trust Him in His answers and help (even when His answer is "no").
"When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?" (Isaiah 8:20)
"But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth." (John 16:13. God should be our guide for truth, not psychics and demons.)
God expects us to seek His help, His guidance, His Will for us, in prayer and through His Word, His truth. And then He expects us to trust that He will answer in His time and in His way, even if it means waiting for awhile. And then He expects us to obey whatever He asks us to do.
[If He doesn't seem to be answering your prayers, it may be because the answer isn't ready yet or because you're not ready yet.
If you're doing your part (praying, seeking God's Will, searching His Word, maintaining close fellowship with Him, confessing known sins, obeying His leading, etc.) but the answer/timing isn't ready yet, then just keep doing what you're doing, staying close to Him, trusting that He's working on it behind the scenes and will work it out in the right time and right way. Keep drawing near to Him in prayer and His Word, keep praising Him, keep doing whatever you're supposed to do each day (whatever task God puts in your path), keep your eyes open for when He does answer or show you "the next step," and find ways to use the "wait time" for good, maybe by memorizing Scripture, helping others, cleaning up your house, or something productive like that. (Ask God His advice on what you should do while you wait, and see where He leads you.) It's better than sitting around twiddling your thumbs and wringing your hands, getting overly anxious waiting for the answer you want.
But it may be that God is ready and willing to answer your prayer but that you are not ready yet. Maybe He knows that you've got some maturing to do first. Or that there's some sin you need to confess (Ask Him!)... or a heart idol you need to toss out (Ask Him!)... or a bad heart attitude that needs to be corrected, such as pride, self-sufficiency, greed, jealousy, bitterness, lust, selfishness, etc. (Ask Him!)... or a spiritual lesson you need to learn that can only be learned during the waiting period (Ask Him!)... or a closed door in your heart/past that you need to open fully to Him so that He can fully heal/restore you (Ask Him!)... or a misconception of Him or of yourself that needs to be corrected (Ask Him!)... or a thought/feeling towards Him or yourself that needs to be dealt with, such as anger, mistrust, fear, bitterness, doubt, unforgiveness, shame, etc. (Ask Him!)... or that there's someone you need to forgive or someone you need to seek forgiveness from (Ask Him!)... etc. etc. etc.
If this is the case - if you are what's blocking your answer - then ask God to reveal it to you, to guide you in getting back on the right track with Him and in life. Ask Him to show you His Truth in His Word, to help you replace the lies you've been believing or living. This is a prayer He wants to answer. This is a prayer He will answer. If you're willing to ask for it, receive it, obey it.
Psalm 139:23-24: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
Psalm 51:10: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”]
Contrary to what many Christians think, prayer is not just a formality. Prayer matters. Prayer makes a difference in our lives. Prayer invites God to carry out His plans, to get involved in our lives, to guide us, to mold our thoughts, etc. And He won't always do it unless and until we pray. Job 42:8-10 shows that God's Will and plan was to forgive Job's friends, but He waited on Job to pray for it before He did.
Prayer invites God to do what He planned, what He's willing to do for us ... but He won't always do it unless and until we pray. He often waits to be invited into our lives, our thoughts, our circumstances. He wants to know that we want Him, which is why He gave us free-will, the option/ability to decide between choosing Him or rejecting Him, between seeking Him or ignoring Him, between wanting His way or wanting our way, etc. He gave us the responsibility to invite Him in, to pray, to decide that we want His help and His Will. As James 4:2 says, we don't have certain things because we don't pray for them. There are things God is willing to give us and do for us, but we do not get them unless and until we pray.
Pastor Dr. Tony Evans (whom I think is one of the most biblically-accurate pastors out there) puts it this way: God has an unconditional Will for some things and a conditional Will for other things. (See the first ten minutes of this sermon: How to get your prayers answered.)
There are things God's planned and decided to do regardless of us, unconditionally, such as create the world, send Jesus to die for our sins, offer salvation to sinners, renew creation in the end, etc. He does these things regardless of what we do or don't do. But then there are things He's planned to do on the condition that we do our part, and this is where we get the "if you ... then ..." verses from. "If you obey, then I will bless you. If you disobey, then you'll face bad consequences. If you believe in Jesus, then I will give you eternal life. Etc."
God's conditional Will (what He desires for us) doesn’t just happen because He is all-powerful and can make it happen. (Just because He can doesn't mean He does.) We have to pray for it, to seek it. And to obey! God leaves the responsibility with mankind to put His conditional Will into motion with our prayers and obedience. It's part of giving us free-will.
I think part of our problem is that we grew up with a misunderstanding of how God works (and Calvinism has helped to spread this misunderstanding). We have a "He always causes whatever He wants" misunderstanding. We think that since He is all-powerful and in control, He'll always make something happen if He wants it to happen, and that whatever happens is because He wanted it to happen, and that everything happens for a reason, and that our prayers are really just formalities and don't really affect anything, and that if He has a message He wants to give us then He'll get it through to us somehow ... even if we don't pray. And so we often don't think to ask for His help or opinions on many things, because we don't think it matters or makes a difference.
But it does. God has decided to let us choose if we want His help/input/guidance or not, and He often waits on us to ask before giving it. He doesn't force Himself on us, but He waits to be invited in, to be included.
However, to be clear, I do think that if we are living a lifestyle of seeking Him, following Him, listening for His, obeying Him, immersing ourselves in His Word, and staying connected to Him in prayer, then we won't have to struggle as hard to figure out His Will for us, what He wants from us and wants us to do in any given situation. Operating according to His wisdom and truth will become second-nature more and more, the longer we walk with Him and the more conscientiously and humbly we follow Him and His Word. If our heart's desire is to glorify Him and follow Him, then He will graciously, mercifully, and gently help us do it, even though we may stumble along the way.
But for those who are lazy in their relationship with Him, who compromise His truth, who neglect His Word, who merely float through life as the wind blows, or who have unbiblical views of Him/faith, they will have a harder time. It will take more time and thought and effort to make a course-correction and to know what God wants from you, to sense how God is leading you, to know the right thing to do, to discern between truth and lies and between godly and ungodly. And the consequences will be more severe, especially the longer you drift from God and His truth. Don't want until you are in a painful trial or an emergency situation to learn to hear God's leading, to learn His truth, guidelines, rules in His Word. Learn it now, so that you are ready when the trials come.
But that being said, if we want to make decisions in our own wisdom instead of inquiring of Him, He'll let us. If we want to follow our methods instead of His, He'll let us. If we want to force our own timing instead of waiting on Him, He'll let us. If we want to do what we want to do even if He's not behind it or if it violates His Word, He'll let us. If we want to worry ourselves into a panic attack instead of resting in faith in Him, He'll let us.
And He'll let us face the consequences of our choices ... until we learn our lesson.
[Sometimes when I worry too much, I think of what happened two years ago. At the time, I had some very real things to worry about, but apparently that wasn't enough. And so I began worrying about how we were going to scar our kids for life if we didn't get them the dog they'd been desperately wanting for years. And so we got the dog.
But apparently what wasn't enough. And so when we got the dog (a corgi we named Ted Theodore Logan), I began worrying about having a dog: about all the responsibilities, all the life changes, all the things Ted might destroy in the house, about how he might hurt someone, how he might bring fleas or disease into the house, how bad the kids would feel if something happened to him, how bad I'll feel when he grows old and dies, about what if the dog came with rabies and we didn't know it, etc. (Yeah, I was in fine form. I could win Olympic medals in the worry competition. And if I didn't, then I'd probably worry about why I didn't.)
And three days after we got the dog, I was sitting outside with him at six in the morning - talking myself into a very nice anxiety attack - when I picked him up to go inside, stepped over the small dog fence ... and fell and broke my ankle.
I tell ya, it was almost as if God said "You want something to worry about? Then no more of these fake worries; I'll let you have something real to worry about instead."
Yes, it hurt. Yes, being on crutches and in a boot for two months caused lots of inconveniences. But oddly enough, it ended up being a blessing in disguise because it saved me from another panic attack - because now that I had to focus on a real, immediate problem, I didn't have the time or mental space to focus on fake or future ones. (If you've ever had a panic attack, you'd know why breaking a bone is more preferable. Presuming of course, that it's just a simple broken bone, with no surgery or pins or bones through the skin or excessive damage or anything like that.)
And to this day, from time to time, when I find myself spiraling into the "what if" worries, I imagine God saying "You want the other one broken too? Stop worrying."]
[Do I talk too much? I think I talk too much. Do you know what's funny? When I first began writing the posts for this series, the plan was to write short, concise posts, just a couple simple paragraphs each, right to the point. Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men...!]
Summing things up now:
Our first impulse should always be to ask Him (with thanksgiving), to share our concerns and needs and fears with Him, inviting Him to help us and guide us:
Psalm 5:3: “In the morning, O Lord, You hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation.”
Eph. 6:18: "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests..."
Phil. 4:6-7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
Our second impulse should be to wait for His answer (and to search His Word for truth while waiting, to humbly draw near to Him, to learn whatever spiritual lessons we can, and to listen for whatever He might be telling us to do in the wait, whether it's helping someone else, confessing a sin, correcting a negative attitude/behavior, or just faithfully doing the next task He puts in our path, etc.):
1 Peter 5:6: "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time."
Psalm 27:14: "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."
James 4:8: "Come near to God and He will come near to you."
Psalm 119:105: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”
And our third impulse should be to obey whatever He says:
1 John 5:3: "This is love for God: to obey his commands."
James 4:7-8: "Submit yourself, then, to God."
... and if the answer to our prayer is "no," then our impulse should be to trust Him and praise Him regardless. Yes, cry out to Him if it hurts. Share your pain with Him. But in the end, trust Him and praise Him. Because He is God. He is a wise and good and loving and faithful God whom we can trust, even when we hurt and don't understand. (Personally, I don't think praise is just for God, but I think it's also for our own spiritual good/protection.):
Matt. 26:39: “…Yet not as I will, but as You will.”
1 Tim. 6:6 (emphasis added): "But godliness with contentment is great gain."
1 Thess. 5:16-18: "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances [even "no" answers], for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
Phil. 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (We don't have to rejoice in the pain, but we can rejoice in knowing that God is with us in the pain and can/will use our pain for good.)
Psalm 46:10: "Be still and know that I am God."
Isaiah 26:3: “You will keep in perfect peace he whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”
(Did you skim those? Go back and read them again.)
We should go to God first about our concerns, problems, and fears, before trying other methods, our own methods. Ask Him if you're handling things in any wrong ways and what He wants you to do instead. Ask Him if your problems or fear stem from any sin, or if you're using any sinful ways to manage them (confess any sins He reveals). Ask Him if there are any lies you're believing and ask for the godly truths that should replace those lies. Ask if there's anything in your heart, mind, or past that's contributing to the problem, any foothold Satan may have gotten in your life. (Confess it.) Ask Him to give you comfort and wisdom and guidance. And lean heavily on God's Word and Truth: praying it, memorizing it, speaking it out loud, copying it by hand, using it as the weapon against evil that it is.
You can't fight spiritual battles with earthly weapons. If you try to, you'll just be prolonging or exacerbating the problem, the struggle, the pain. Go to God first. Lean on God most. Learn and follow His Word, His truth.
Satan isn't afraid of little ol' us. But when God backs us up ... well, that's a horse of a different color.
Some other relevant sermons from Tony Evans:
Trusting The God You Believe In
