“No one knows how bad my marriage is.” “No one knows the sadness
I feel.” “No one knows my daily struggle with pain.”
“Nobody understands my grief.” “Nobody knows how depressed I
am.” “Nobody knows how hard my life is.”
Sisters, too many of us are failing when it comes
to believing and trusting God. Somehow, our enemy has succeeded in fooling us
into thinking that no one knows our troubles and nobody cares. He has isolated
us, and taken our hearts captive. Instead of the joy of the Lord, we are filled
with sadness and fear.
Have you ever tried to make someone understand your
problems, but it seems they just don’t get it? I know I have many times. And
the more I tried, the less they seemed to care or just weren’t capable. And the
truth of the matter was probably a little of both.
When life is hard, we look for compassion and sympathy from
others. We can often use a shoulder to cry on or the soft touch of another.
Maybe we get it or maybe we don’t. And thus begins our real troubles.
I mentioned earlier how our enemy fools us. And it is so true—he is the master of deceit. Jesus
himself called him, “The father of all lies!” No one is greater at trickery
then he is. And that is okay, because “Greater is He that lives in us, then is
in the world.” In other words, “God has made provision—Christ Jesus!”
But we can’t lay all the blame on *satan. No. There are
times we must take ownership for our wrong thinking and the isolation we feel—we
are the culprits.
Sisters, no one lives this life without troubles, trials and
tribulations. In fact our Savior told us we will see such things. But! He also
told us to be of a good cheer for He has overcome the world. In other words, “He
has taken care of it.” This is what He did on the Cross for us. But, unless we
take the time to dig in and really know what He is talking about, we will
continue to be swept away by the problems of this life.
Let’s take a moment to explore how our enemy works. I
personally believe that Eve had more than one encounter with the devil. And I say
this because as a woman, I know we like and need to be wooed. I think it took a
few encounters and conversations for him to plant the seeds in her mind and
heart. I find it hard to believe that he was able to convince her in one chance
meeting that God was holding something back from her. No, that took time and
becoming familiar.
This is where the old adage, “Silver tongued devil,” comes
from. And he uses the same MO (motive of operation) on us today and it still
works like a charm. He slow walks and talks us into believing that no one cares
and nobody understands. And especially God!
But here’s the difference between us and Eve. She didn’t
have the written Word. She didn’t have the finished work of the Cross.
Take a moment to look
at her encounter with satan (Genesis
3:1-4) verses, Jesus’ encounter with him. (Matthew
4:1-11) Again, satan didn’t change his MO, he was trying to
work the same thing on Jesus. But unlike Eve who tried to reason with the
devil, Jesus told him exactly what the Word of God had to say. Not a half truth
such as satan tried to use on him—but the unadulterated truth of God! Think about it, the Word, was telling him the Word! We can really spend sometime meditating on that one.
And like Eve, we get into trouble when we try to reason with
the enemy, versus jack him up with the truth! And that’s because we don’t
really know the God of the truth.
Every blog I wrote last year, I pretty much encouraged you
to read your Bibles and spend time with God, and I’m going to keep on doing it!
Why? Because too many of us are still lacking in our relationship
with God and knowledge of Kingdom living.
We say we are Christians (followers of Christ), yet, we know
very little of the One we say we follow. We are living lives that are not a
reflection of God’s love and greatness. And we are poor witness to His goodness
and mercy.
Why should anyone want your God, when they see you and your
life are a mess? But, they will want your God when your life is a mess—but you
are not. That’s what intrigues people. They want to know how is it you can go
through what you are experiencing and have joy and peace.
Whenever we find ourselves living a joyless existence, we
must question what is going on. We must stop and check ourselves against what
the Word says. Our enemy is labeled as a thief looking to kill, steal and
destroy us! And if he can steal our joy and hope, and kill our dreams—then he
can destroy our testimony. And he is more than happy to do that!
And let me warn you sisters…we are never too old to fall
into the trap. For the past few months, I was allowing my life circumstances to
steal my joy. I was having a temporary bout of insanity, because I was
forgetting who I was and all that was within me. And I wasn’t reading the Word
as much as I usually do. I let the cares of this world be a distraction to me,
so know that I am not just making up stuff—the battle is real. That’s the bad
news, but the good news is…we already have the victory! Amen!
Sisters, read your Bibles! It is impossible to trust a God
you don’t know. It is impossible to stand on promises you don’t know. And it’s
impossible to rely on a Comforter you hardly know and acknowledge. Read your
bibles and you will find that not only does God know all about your troubles,
but He cares and has made provision.
Next week is part 3 and end of the series, “Walk
Don’t Run”
*I never capitalize the “s” in satan’s name unless it is the
first word of the sentence. I don’t feel he deserves it…just a Ponnie thing.
~Smile~
Until next week...
No comments:
Post a Comment