Stand in Truth or Fall Without It
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I just did it again.
My thoughts took off like a runaway train… in a direction I never wanted to travel. But I didn’t give in… I found the brakes. There was some smoke, and a few sparks, as the wheels locked and the train came to a halt, but stop it did, and I went back to where I was suppose to be. What I share in this writing, is so real, you can almost taste it, if you’re hungry enough.
A mental whisper took me from what I was doing and what I wanted to focus on, and in less than a second I was “distracted”. Thinking about something along the crooked fault line of, “you’ll never be able… why keep trying… you can’t…”
Or this slithery message, “you know you’re being used… they’ll only love you if…”
I’ve had so many precious souls weep out the thought of, “I just need to stop trying…give up…sit down…” These thoughts attack everyone from time to time, and yet most often these lying thoughts come hardest against the leaders, the warrior-hearts, the most effective Kingdom workers.
We can get lost when those unearthly suggestions come rolling through us, and our Jesus knows the feeling well. Remember right after He had been baptized, right after the astounding words came out of the Heavenlies, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased,”, immediately the liar began to scheme. The Word tells us that the Spirit led Jesus into the desert, where He fasted for 40 days and nights. Now it’s super important to recognize, that the Spirit spoken of here, is the Holy Spirit. So the Spirit that is a part of who Jesus is, in the Triune GOD, led (or compelled) Jesus to go to a hard place and endure physical need. (Matthew 4:1-11)
At the end of those 40 days of needs-not-met — the enemy showed up. Can’t you just picture him rubbing his hands together in anticipation— for he must have thought he had the advantage. He’d been scheming. The time was ripe. And so he spoke. Was it a real audible conversation? Or was it a mental whispering? I’ve always believed it was an audible conversation Jesus had with satan. But sometimes I wonder… because the runaway thoughts I mentioned above… they don’t come from my Abba, they don’t come from me, and they can’t be audibly heard. They come from a dark place and they were not invited and are not welcomed. Just as satan came in the desert, uninvited and unwanted. We all need to work hard to keep our thoughts under control — but when these defeating words roll through like a wave at high-tide, we need to be ultra focused.
Jesus showed us the way...
A healthy, normal person can have rough days that bring about raw thoughts. But we need to know ourselves well enough to be cognizant of thoughts that are from ourself and thoughts that are not born within us. I’ve known me long enough to know if a thought is something I would generate or if it’s like an intruder trying to invade my mental space; being emotionally hijacked. It can happen anywhere. In the middle of a conversation, while we’re sitting in traffic, in the middle of the night, or when I’m tired after a long giving out. Remember — it came at Jesus when He was at His weakest (if it’s at all possible for Jesus to be weak).
The thoughts I shared in the opening lines of this writing are the syllables strung together by a sly deceiver working to crash into our thoughts, run us down, and destroy whatever he can get his claw into. Notice I didn’t say they “might” be words from the enemy’s scheming table… I said they are. I’m only 6 decades old, but I’ve already lived long enough to hear the same, same words come out of the mouths of people reflecting on the lettered tools used against them. People from different places in the world, different levels of wealth, different stories of success and failure — friend, the same words are used against us all. It is often said, the enemy is not creative (he is NOT the Creator of anything), oh but he is persistent and he knows what destroys. And words typed out in the beginning of this sharing, those words have been the fodder fed to countless souls — working to “steal” their life, “kill” their vision, and “destroy” their hope. They are closely connected to words that roll through weary minds just before they...
end themselves…
run away…
jump…
or swallow for the last time.
Oh how I hope you can feel my passion in these words. Today, many precious souls are struggling. So many are walking wounded, they’re wrestling with self-doubt and self-persecution at levels that would set off alarms on a seismograph. Rarely are they vulnerable enough to show it. Instead it might come out in bursts of anger or periods of isolation. But the struggles are there.
Can you relate? Not that I want you to feel these sort of feels — but mostly I don’t want anyone to feel alone when these death-stench-lies come rolling through their mind.
It’s a part of the battlefield of this life. Last week I wrote about the need for us to stand, like the mighty oak outside my window. We are called to stand. Called by our Father-God to put on the armor and s-t-a-n-d against the schemes of the enemy. Two pieces of armor Paul tells us to “put on” are specifically designed to help us when these covert attacks come slithering into our thoughts. The Belt of Truth and the Helmet of Salvation are the counter, the defense, to these intruding attacks. They are mental attacks with a spiritual assignment attached to them. The enemy knows if he can drag us in a dark canyon with our thoughts, then he can make us begin to doubt anything.
If we are going to stand — we must be ready to resist the words of doubt and defeat that try and invade our mental space. Some are stronger against this than others. Whether it’s hereditary, genetic, or personality based, some are more easily brought down by these lurking, lying thoughts. And yet, all are affected by them. The stronger and the weaker — none are immune. So what is the antidote? How do we resist?
We inject ourselves with truth.
We verbally name what is true and right and noble and excellent. We remind ourselves and say it out loud:
I am the much loved child of the Most High God.
I have been redeemed, what had no worth, has now been made worthy,
I carry the Righteousness of the Holy One inside me,
I am His, I am able,
I can pass through any valley for I am not alone, My Father is with me.
I am defended by the Defender,
I am loved by the Great Judge.
No weapon formed against me shall prosper — not even the weapon of the words being hurled at my mind.
And we keep reminding ourselves of all that is True, and all that is n-o-t. The enemy of God can not remain in the flow of TRUTH. Jesus showed us. He disputed every temptation and lie of the enemy. He used scripture (truth) to deny the liar. It took 3 scrimmages. The devil did not give up easily. But after three rounds of losing, he left.
Dear one, when we “stand”, we must also persevere. Jesus had to in the desert. And when He did, the enemy left him, and angels came and attended to Him.
Truth wins.
Truth is the antidote to lies.
Truth is the vitamin that helps us stand.
Truth is a belt that holds our armor in place and keeps our course straight.
Speak Truth, listen to Truth, sing praises. Persevere in these battle tactics. Our Lord smiles as angels join in and Heaven bursts for joy over the victory — and — the enemy leaves, in Jesus’ Name.
