“Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour.”-1 Peter 5:8 (AMP)
When you know the truth, you can see deception for what it is. – from a quiet moment with the Lord
When my oldest son Austin was a pre-schooler, I remember taking him to see the movie Mulan. In it a small dragon looking more like a lizard, was given instructions to look over the head strong, free-spirited Mulan. He knew she may have a hard time believing something so small could protect her so he made a fire and used his shadow on a wall to make him appear much bigger than he was. She fell for it, until he was exposed for what he really was…..a small, weak, little creature.
Our Enemy, Satan has spent thousands of years making himself look bigger than he is too. He’s used his cunning ways and his opportunist mentality to appear strong and quite in control. In reality he lives on borrowed time and borrowed power. Satan has made a career on making false evidence appear real in your mind and in your situations. From fear of sudden disaster, to misinterpreting someone’s behavior, to believing God doesn’t really care, your Enemy is an expert at making a lie look like the truth.
“He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” -John 8:44
In Genesis 3:1, my version of the bible says the serpent was “subtle” and “crafty”. Think about that for a minute. Chances are he will not tempt you to do something really outlandish to start with. Though, I don’t trust him any further than I can throw him. More often it’ll be subtle and it may go down something like this.
You and your husband have been growing distant. You long for him to care about you and have an interest in your life, but he seems wrapped up in his own world too much to notice yours. At work, there is a guy who sits two desks over. He is so funny and he always compliments you on your work or on your appearance. Nothing provocative, its subtle. He always seems to know just what to say when you are having a rough day. He knows exactly what to say to lift your spirits. You start to laugh again. You find yourself picking out your clothes in the morning wondering what he may think looks good on you. On the way to work you find yourself thinking about him and looking forward to seeing him. He never seems to pull away from talk about emotions and everyday stuff the way your husband does. Pretty soon, you’re having coffee together before work and then you begin to have lunch together. Before you know it, you are falling in love with a man that is not your husband. You begin to ask yourself, “Don’t I have a right to be happy?”, “Don’t I have a right to be loved and validated?” You tell yourself, you can stop it if it gets too serious, but you can’t and you won’t. This is just one example of how Satan uses subtlety and craftiness to rip families and lives apart. If you think the Adversary, your Enemy, the Father of all lies Himself isn’t behind temptations like the one in the example above, you’re fooling yourself. Please read 2 Corinthians 11:3 to understand my concern.
Satan lives to destroy you. He lives to lead you astray. If you belong to Christ he cannot possess you but he can oppress you. He cannot change the fact that his days are numbered and he will spend an eternity in torment. But if he can wound and destroy his enemy’s most treasured possession he will. Satan’s enemy is God and that treasured possession, is you. All to often however we aid and abet this criminal in our own lives. Please read Romans 1:25 to see how.
When we choose to lay down and accept whatever lies the Enemy feeds us, we are an accomplice in his mass charade and in his plan to destroy God’s beloved. We do this in many ways, not the least of which is, trading the truth that will set us free for the lie of our God’s Enemy. When we choose to believe no one can love us, that we are inferior to others, that we are alone, that we aren’t worth fighting for, that our lives are a mess that can’t be cleaned up, that we are ugly, stupid and unworthy we are trading God’s truth which denounces all of this for a destructive lie. When we believe the lie that our children are only safe if we are within 5 feet of them, that our marriage isn’t salvageable, that cutting ourselves releases the pain, that offering our bodies brings us love, that starving ourselves makes us more beautiful, that being beaten or raped is our fault, that God can’t forgive our worst sins or that doing everything perfectly brings us peace we are choosing a lie over God’s truth.
The best way to learn how to outwit the Enemy is to learn God’s Word. In God’s Word you will learn who your Enemy is, how he operates and what his motive is. You will learn hundreds of ways to overcome him and outsmart him. I cannot express the importance of this enough. If you don’t value yourself and your family enough to dig into God’s Word so that you can be better equipped for the battle, then you are a sitting duck for Satan. Jesus Christ died so that you wouldn’t have to live a life wracked with fear. Please friend, don’t waste His sacrifice, don’t waste His provision for you found in His Word.
“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.”- 2 Timothy 1:7.
The kind of fear that Satan tries to infiltrate our mind with is spiritual in nature. This is a supernatural battle occurring in 2 Timothy 1:7. Let’s look a little further into the phrase “spirit of fear”. In the original language it states that God has not given us or bestowed upon us or brought forth in us a spirit of fear. The Hebrew for spirit as found in this verse means, “(human) the rational soul, vital principle, mental disposition”. God does not use fear to influence us or put us in a particular frame of mind or mental disposition. When we experience fear it dominates our state of mind. Thus, it is safe to say there is only one who would benefit and gain glory from that kind of manipulation and I assure you it is not our Lord.
Trading the lie of Satan for the truth of God’s Word is hard! Our natural default is to freak out, to run around anxious, trying to analyze and figure it all out on our own. The original Greek word for sound mind is translated self-control or discipline. It takes a lot of self-control to deliberately choose to be disciplined enough not to allow thoughts of fear into our minds, when our circumstances give us reason to believe otherwise. A few years back when researching 2 Timothy 1:7, I read a commentary which said another slant on the meaning of the word sober or sound mind was “teach to be sober”. We must use the power God has bestowed upon us to teach our minds to be sober. We teach our mind what to meditate on, not the other way around. (Phil 4:8)
Stop now. Pray and ask God to reveal His truth to you regarding the things that cause you fear. Pray for a sober, sound and self-controlled mind. Remember, God is not the author of fear or confusion. He has not given you a spirit of fear, it doesn’t originate with Him. In exchange for fear He has given you a spirit of miraculous power, a spirit of unconditional love and a spirit of sobriety and self-control for your mind. Whenever you feel fear, tell yourself, “Who gets glory from me responding in fear? Satan.” If you need power, ask Him for it. If you need love, ask Him for it. If you need sanity, ask Him for that too, and ask Him to give me a little more too while you’re at it!
© 2010 Amy Brady Ministries. All Rights Reserved
This is an excerpt from “The Shame Game” Bible study workbook, (Week Two, Day Two). If you would like to order this DVD study or its companion workbook and/or CD for you or your church, you can contact us at info@amybrady.com.