Lifting the Heaviness

August 19, 2008 · Filed Under spiritual hearing · Comment 

This past Saturday was the middle of month, day to pay bills. For some reason, it’s always an emotional time for me—sometimes good emotions, sometimes bad.

When you run your own business, there is considerable ebb and flow in your finances. You must learn to budget wisely and control your spending. It’s not hard, and the benefits are quite freeing. But, it can be a rollercoaster experience.

During the hot, Texas summers when electricity bills are sometimes 3 to 4 times that of normal bills, it can be quite stressful paying bills (those bad emotions). Other times, when the cash flow is good and bills are minimal, I often break out in to praise while paying bills. (It’s odd, I know, but I am always quite thankful to God for his provision in our lives.)

This past Saturday morning, bills were due. As I sat down at my computer, and started organizing the payments, there was considerable amount of “outflow” (bills to be paid). This summer has been wonderfully blessed for us, so it’s not a matter of having enough to pay the bills. But, for some reason, the bills started weighing quite heavily on me. And, the thoughts started to flow:

  • Wow, I’m spending a lot of money.
  • At this rate, we’ll be out of cash in no time.
  • With the economy down, it’ll be hard to find projects.
  • Oh no, then what? How can we afford to spend like this?
  • What are we going to do?

Since we were wonderfully blessed with projects this summer, again, there was no danger of running out of cash. Yet, those thoughts were so strong, so powerful, so influential. But, I’m quite confident that they weren’t my thoughts. Nor, God’s.

Read through that list of thoughts again, and you’ll hear many opportunities to make an agreement. At first, I started thinking, What’s going to happen? This heaviness, this depression started overshadowing my morning. I felt as if I was being smothered under the burden of financial stress, which was an odd feeling since we were doing so well this summer.

As I sat down in my recliner to ponder these thoughts, I immediately thought, These aren’t my thoughts. This heaviness is not the fruit of the Spirit. This is evil.

Immediately, I started to fight this oppressive feeling. I knew it was the voice of the enemy trying to subtly work his way into my mind, to get me to agree with him. And, if I had chosen to believe his lies, then my life would naturally follow. “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).

After just a few moments of prayer and standing on my authority as a Christian believer, the heaviness lifted. Lord, these are not my thoughts. I trust you. In the name of Christ, I break these thoughts. I reject them. I make no agreements in my heart with them. Lord, you are my Provider. The thoughts were gone. Soon, my words were words of praise and thankfulness to God for his provision in our lives.

You have to remember that the enemy is an opportunist. He will look for any and every opportunity to speak lies into your mind to get you to agree with him. And, he’ll do it when you are at your weakest.

Have you ever seen one of those nature shows where a pack of water buffalo are being chased by a few lions. And, there at the back of the pack is a weak, wounded or young buffalo. He’s slower than the rest. He’s obviously not able to keep up. Guess what–he’s the target. And when you are weak, down, depressed, sad or vulnerable, you are the devil’s primary target. He doesn’t care about you. He doesn’t let down. He hates you, and we must constantly be on our guard for such attacks.

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Whispered Agreements

August 17, 2008 · Filed Under faith/believe, spiritual hearing · Comment 

For the next few posts, I want to talk a bit about another voice—the voice of the enemy.

I tend to believe that the enemy has very little power to cause us physical harm. I know there are examples in the Bible where Jesus would rebuke a demon, and then some sort of sickness or condition would leave, like seizures or hemorrhaging.

Maybe I should say it this way—I believe that most of the physical conditions people struggle with today are not a direct result of some physical demonic attack. I do, however, believe that demons are sill very influential in the various sicknesses that come upon us.

Think about this scripture: “Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour” (1 Peter 5:8, NLT).

Notice that the devil is a roaring lion. Why do lions roar? To create a sense of fear and domination, to assert authority. But you see, the devil no longer has authority in a Christian’s life. So, he just roars.

So, how is that related to our physical conditions? I believe the enemy is constantly roaring into our lives. He is constantly speaking negative things. Why? To get us to agree with him.

Listen carefully to this scripture: “The next morning as they passed by the fig tree he had cursed, the disciples noticed it was withered from the roots. Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree on the previous day and exclaimed, ‘Look, Teacher! The fig tree you cursed has withered!’ Then Jesus said to the disciples, ‘Have faith in God. I assure you that you can say to this mountain, “May God lift you up and throw you into the sea,” and your command will be obeyed. All that’s required is that you really believe and do not doubt in your heart. Listen to me! You can pray for anything, and if you believe, you will have it’” (Mark 11:20-24, NLT).

Did you catch that last part? If you believe, you will have it. While it’s often quoted on the positive side of faith, I believe it also applies to the negative side of faith. If you choose to agree with the enemy, then you will have it. Proverbs 23:7 confirms this, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”

The enemy is trying really hard to get you to agree with him, because once you make that agreement with him, the negative side of faith kicks into action. As you think in your heart, so it is.

Let me give you an example of an agreement.

Early this year, my teenage son would tell me, “Dad, I can’t hear God. I try and try, but I guess I just can’t hear God.”

Can you hear the agreement in his words?

I sat down with him and showed him scriptures like John 10:3, “The sheep hear his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” And later in John 10:16, “They will listen to my voice.” I explained to him that we can hear God, and that it’s his desire that we hear him. I explained to him that as his father, my desire is to spend quality time with him—talking, sharing, engaging. It’s the same with God.

I asked him if he remembered ever agreeing with a thought that he couldn’t hear God. He said yes. That’s the voice of the enemy. My son made an agreement with this thought, and it wasn’t his thought at all. So, we prayed and broke that agreement. We declared to the enemy that we can hear the voice God, and cancelled all those unholy assignments.

I told him to pray and listen. Then, tell me what he heard. After a moment, he said, “Dad, I heard God. He said: I love you!” It’s always about love.

When it comes to sickness and physical conditions, I think many people have just made agreements and don’t fight the good fight of faith. Do any of these sound familiar:

  • My dad died from cancer. I’ll probably get it too.
  • This depression is so strong. I just can’t fight it.
  • My nose is stopped up. I’m probably coming down with something.
  • I always get the flu this time of year.
  • It has been a hard day. I guess the stress is normal.
  • I can’t hear God.

When we have these thoughts, we think it’s our own. So, we agree. We let down our guard. We stop fighting. We receive it.

Please understand, I’m not condemning you if you’ve made any agreements. I have made my fair share of agreements, even recently. I just want to make you aware that the enemy’s voice is very subtle but incredibly influential. We must monitor our thoughts, and measure them up against God’s word, against the truth. The war we fight is not a physical war, but a mental war engaged in the spiritual realm.

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4, 5).

What agreements have you made in your life? What have you chosen to believe without first challenging that thought in light of God’s word?

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Rain

July 30, 2008 · Filed Under spiritual hearing · Comment 

The most interesting thing happened this morning: rain.

I know, that may not sound so interesting, but let me explain.

These past few days have been very heavy for me. Heavy. I don’t really know how to explain it except that it’s just heavy–heaviness in my soul. Heaviness in my heart. Heaviness, burden, lethargy, sadness, subtle gloominess. It’s almost like a low-grade depression.

I awoke this morning again feeling heavy. Lord, what is this?, I prayed. Then, off I went to make my morning hazelnut latte. As I sat down at the computer to journal, again I prayed, What is this heaviness? I don’t like it.

Quietly and gently, the Lord began to show me some of the internal thoughts I had just a few days ago, thoughts about my weight and my appearance. My wife and I have been training for a marathon, and I’ve enjoyed the morning runs–the increased energy and the weight loss. I started feeling pretty good about myself.

Then, as we got back from our vacation this past weekend, I saw a picture of myself in the river swimming. Up to that point, I thought this initial weight loss would have some outward appearance, but I still looked big, and it was very discouraging. Then, over the past couple of days, my knees have been bothering me, so I decided to slow down and not run as much, which again was a bit discouraging.

Lord, is it something I said or thought?

When you saw the pictures of yourself in the river, you were very discouraged at your weight. Even after running for so long, you are not happy with yourself.

He want on to explain to me that how I view myself is essential to the joy (or lack of joy) that I will experience. Joy is an attitude of the heart that we choose to receive or push away. Joy is not the result of circumstances–good or bad. It’s a choice. And, the moment I saw those pictures, I was hit with discouragement, the enemy of joy. Rather than fight it off, I chose to accept it. Nothing has changed. Here I am running and working hard, and for what? I still look the same.

So, I talked the Lord about it. I told him I was wrong for not fighting off those ungodly thoughts, for not choosing joy. I reminded myself that losing weight, training for a marathon, getting into shape takes time. It took time to get out of shape, and it’ll take time to get into shape.

After spending some wonderful time with my Father, the discouragement lifted. I feel lighter in my soul. Joy is coming back. Discouragement is leaving. It feels good!

So what does rain have to do with it? Here in Texas, it gets really hot in the summer. This week, we’re having 100+ degree days–dry, cloudless, hot, summer days. So, this morning as I’m praying through this issue with discouragement, it starts to rain. I heard trickling water outside but thought, That can’t be rain. The only forecast this week is hot, hot, hot.

Then, boom, the thunder rolls in–all this around the time that God is helping me deal with this heaviness. I peek outside, and sure enough, it’s raining. It’s raining when it shouldn’t be raining. Very odd. Very God.

Immediately, my mind goes to Isaiah 55:10-13,

“The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands! Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow. Where briers grew, myrtles will sprout up. This miracle will bring great honor to the LORD’s name; it will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.”

God is sending his word, his promises. I will live in joy and in peace. What an amazing promise!

Thank you, Lord, for the rain!

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