Author: Jessica

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Don’t Engage with the Enemy’s Lies

Wrestling with Doubt and Disbelief

When that guy cat-calls you just to get a reaction, what do you do? You ignore him and keep walking.

When that bully pushes all of your buttons just to make you mad, what do you do? you tune them out and move on.

When somebody tries to convince you of something you know 100% isn’t true, you don’t even give it a second thought before you dismiss the argument.

So why don’t we use this tactic against the father of all lies, a.k.a the enemy that is out to destroy your life? Just don’t engage. As soon as you do, he wins. He is cunning, crafty, and manipulative, and he’s only after your heart. He wants to crush it and mutate it and trample it underfoot until there’s nothing left for God to use.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy…” John 10:10a

I know this isn’t easy. Trust me, I’m a thinker. Overthinking is my second nature, if not my first nature. I have to think through everything, especially when faced with a conflict. If somebody challenges my opinion, my first reaction is to analyze the entire argument…

What are they saying?
Do I agree or disagree? Why?
What do I think?
How does that compare to what they think?
What is true?
What evidence affirms/denies my argument?
Is there any way there is truth in both arguments?
Why do they think what they think?
Why do I think what I think?

And it goes on …

and on …

and on.

I think you get the idea. By the way, all of that overthinking happens in about 2 seconds. It’s an intense self-interrogation until I think my way into a solution that makes sense to me, so I can feel at peace with what I believe and move on.

Sometimes this is a really useful skill, but the enemy knows exactly how to use it for my deepest undoing. The problem with using the “overthinking tactic” against Satan is that he doesn’t care about logic. His goal is not to convince me that his argument makes more sense. In fact, he doesn’t even care about what he says. He doesn’t even believe the lies himself.

“You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that — and shudder.”

James 2:19

Satan knows God. He knows scripture. He knows what the truth is, and his goal is to keep you as far away from it as possible. He knows the power that God’s word can have in your life and that terrifies him. He will say whatever it takes to get you to question God and doubt His goodness, and the moment you try to reason with him, you’ve fallen into his trap.

I say all of this because I fall into the trap far too often. The devil uses people near and dear to me to convince me of his lies because he knows it works with almost 100% accuracy. Because their opinion matters so much to me, I will over-analyze their every word and body language to my own demise. Something they say – or don’t say – pricks one of my insecurities (unbeknownst to that person), and the trap has been set. Suddenly, I’m hit with an avalanche of thoughts like these:

“They just don’t care enough about you to ask about your day.”

“You’re stupid for thinking ______ would happen.”

“You’re too dramatic, emotional, etc.”

“It’s your fault that you can’t handle this feeling.”

The first step is to recognize the lie. Now, to do this, you have to know the Truth. No, that’s not a typo. I meant Truth with a capital “T” because you have to know God’s Word, and His word is Truth. Once you start to bury His word in your heart, and begin to recognize his voice, you can more easily discern truth from lies.

“These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

 Deuteronomy 6:6-7

But it doesn’t stop there! That’s where I made my mistake. I thought, “If I recognize the lie, it will become invalid and it won’t sting anymore.”

False.

Satan is more crafty than that, and he was already one step ahead of me. See, he recognized how I use my interrogation process to reconcile a contradicting thought, so he used it against me. He used it to blur the lines between lie and Truth. So he takes me down this rabbit hole to confuse me and muddle the words of God until I feel so lost, confused, and heartbroken that I can’t even remember what lie got the whole thing started to begin with. He knows how I look for the middle ground to make sense of things, but there is no middle ground between what the devil says and what God says.

So no, it CANNOT end with recognizing the lie. You have to take the next step and make the choice not to engage with the lie. Now, if you’re a thinker like me, this will be hard. Like really, really hard. But you have to choose to look the other way. Change your posture to look toward your loving, protective, jealous, Heavenly Father. Tell the enemy you don’t have time for his games. Don’t try to argue with him and tell him why his lie is a lie and why God’s Truth wins, because he already knows it, and he doesn’t care. He’ll just twist everything around until you find yourself lost in a muddy mess of nothing that makes any sense whatsoever.

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

2 Corinthians 4:18

To sum it up…

  1. Study Truth, that is, the Word of God.
  2. Recognize the lie, which is not the Word of God.
  3. Don’t Engage. Choose to meditate on and dwell in the Word of God.

“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”

Joshua 1:8

This is not something that my genius, overthinking brain came up with one day. This is something that the Holy Spirit whispered to me, and by God’s grace alone, I heard it. I was on the brink of yet another panic attack and fearful of going back down that dark road. I was on the brink of forming another unsuccessful argument for why the lie was a lie and trying to figure out a way to outsmart the devil this time, and the Holy Spirit simply said, “don’t engage with the lie.” Of course I tried to overthink and analyze again, but He didn’t relent. He just kept telling me, “Don’t engage with the lie. It’s not worth it. Just keep looking at Me. Lean on the love of your Father instead of your own knowledge for once.” Hey, that sounds familiar, right?

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight.”

Proverbs 3:5-6

So go ahead. Give the enemy the cold shoulder. Hit him with the silent treatment. Then you will taste freedom. Remember the second half of John 10:10…

“…I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

John 10:10b

Go live in the abundant life Christ bought for you. The enemy’s lies are not worth your time, precious child of God.

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Let’s Pray Differently

7 Heroes of Faith and the Power of Prayer in Their Lives

Lately, I’ve found myself constantly praying for God to change my situations.

As if he doesn’t realize how messed up the world is. How broken we are. How chaotic 2020 has felt. I ask Him to change the circumstances surrounding me as if He’s just sitting up in heaven watching Netflix completely unaware of what’s happening in this world He created. As if He’s forgotten about us down here. But He hasn’t. He knows what’s happening. Nothing that happens in this world happens without his consent. He’s allowing it to continue to happen because He’s not done doing what He’s planning to do with it. Are you following?

Now let’s turn to the Old Testament superstar of struggle… Job. His story is unique in that we get a little glimpse at the dialogue between God and Satan. Satan and his angels come to God and get this… he had to ask God’s permission to mess with Job’s life. God literally gave His consent for the enemy to do whatever he wanted with everything Job had, but with an important condition: “…but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” (Job 1:12b)

For those of you that aren’t familiar with the story, Satan proceeded to take away everything Job had including all of his livestock and fields, his wife and children, and even his health. He left Job broke and alone, but through all of Job’s struggles and heartache, God was never worried because He still held Job’s life. God’s protection was on him the whole time.

So now that we’ve seen God’s side of it, let’s look at Job’s perspective. How did he respond? Well Satan’s plan here was to get Job to curse the name of God, but Job wouldn’t do it. Even after everything was taken from him and his three friends blamed him for his misfortune and gave him a bunch of bad advice, Job still praised God. His faith was not shaken. He prayed things like this:

“But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” – Job 23:10

and this…

“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” – Job 42:2

Even when he had nothing, Job still held on to the faith that God would use all of those awful circumstances to refine him like gold. He still acknowledged God’s power and honored Him. I want to pray like Job.

Instead of praying for God to change my circumstances, I want to pray that God will never stop using my circumstances to change me. I challenge you to do the same. Instead of praying for God to “fix” things so they can go back to our broken version of “normal,” let’s ask Him to keep shaking things up until they’re better, new, and more reflective of His kingdom.

“This, then, is how you should pray:
‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven…'” – Matthew 6:9-10 (emphasis mine)

Let’s ask Him to change our hearts in the face of uncertainty rather than asking Him to make COVID-19 go away. Let’s ask Him to cover our family with peace in the face of loss rather than blaming him for taking our loved one away. Let’s ask Him to change the hearts of those corrupted by power and authority instead of acting in violence in response to offense. Let’s ask for the coming of His glorious kingdom rather than asking for a perfect life in our own little bubble.

Because here’s the thing: circumstances will always change and more often than not, they will be inconvenient, uncomfortable, and difficult. So let’s stop complaining and wishing for an easier life.

Sooner or later, you’ll have to respond, and it’s how we respond that matters. It’s how God is using it to make us look more like Him that matters. It’s how it fits in to the bigger picture of the redemption of God’s creation that matters.

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” – Thessalonians 5:16-18

So, let’s not get swept up in trying to pray away our problems. Let’s take up a different stance, and pray through them, because that allows God to change us, grow us, and mold us to better reflect His glory.

Remember, nothing in this world happens without God’s consent. Your bad day didn’t sneak past His radar while He was enjoying His morning coffee. He allows our circumstances to be difficult because He wants us to be a little uncomfortable, because that’s when we turn to Him and lean on Him so He can remind us of His power and glory. So let’s embrace whatever circumstance we find ourselves in and commit to seeking out the Lord and His goodness. Because no matter how broken we are, He is always good.

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Serenity is a Grace Gift

“This life is not a canvas of serenity dotted with seasons of trial and tribulation, but a canvas of struggle dotted seasons of serenity.” – She Reads Truth

Why do I get this so backwards all the time?

I walk through life seeking peace, happiness, calmness… perfection. Then I get all twisted up in self-righteousness and frustration when it gets hard, because “it’s not supposed to be this way.” Says who? The Bible straight up tells us that this life will not be easy. It tells us to expect the trials, the struggle, the mockery, and then get this… it tells us to rejoice about it.

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven…” Matthew 5:11-12

I don’t know about you, but I’m not very good at rejoicing in the struggle when I’m in the middle of an anxiety attack or feel like a lost and lonely soul with no community. Instead, it usually goes something like this:

God, You are so good and I will praise you no matter how hard it gets!

*it gets hard*

Oh Father, this is terrible! Why have you done this to me and why won’t you make it stop!?

I find myself in a place where I think I deserve a perfect life and it’s God’s fault for not giving it to me. Something gets twisted in my prideful, self-righteous mind that tells me everything should have gone my way and I should be perfectly happy and peaceful, and God took that away from me. Except that’s the furthest thing from the truth.

We are broken people who live in a broken world. It is cruel, unjust, depraved, and bent out of its intended shape. That means our time here is bound to reflect the brokenness. We’ve been given a canvas that is already ripped and spattered with dirt, blood, and tears. So why do we question when things get messy? It’s bound to happen. Jesus promised it would happen.

“Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.” – John 16:22 (emphasis mine)

When I step down from my pride-pedestal and humbly lay it at the Father’s feet, I see a new perspective. I see that I never deserved any kind of peace or happiness, because from the moment I was born, I had a sinful nature. As soon as I could speak, I slandered the name of my God. As soon and I could walk, I learned to wander from His Presence. I’ve faltered and stumbled and rebelled so many times, I never deserved to have any of the good things Jesus promises me.

To combine my canvas of a broken and messy life with my track record of sin, I can clearly see that the only thing I deserve in this life is struggle, trial, and temptation. Half of it is the result of my own sin, and the other half is simply the effects of a broken world.

And yet…

that’s not the end of the story.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33 (emphasis mine)

Now, I can receive the season of serenity as the most beautiful gift of grace. This grace that I could never deserve, given to me just when it feels like the trials will finally take me down. Jesus offers peace. He offers joy. He offers the victory that He has already won for us.

“You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head.” – Psalm 139:5

Hallelujah! What a sweet Savior I follow.

He’s preparing the way before me, guarding my back behind me, and walking beside me with His hand of blessing on my head.

So how do we make the leap from seeing seasons of serenity as a gift to rejoicing when we’re back in the midst of the struggle? To be honest, I’m not entirely sure. It’s probably more like a series of stumbled baby steps.

But the one thing I know is this: It will end.

This ripped and messy canvas we live in will be restored to its original glory – and then some! Jesus promised to return and redeem us. To defeat the darkness once and for all so that His children may never again be burdened by loneliness, depression, anxiety, poverty, or any other struggle of this world. This is the hope that can carry us through the struggles. This is the reason I can rejoice when life is messy (which let’s be honest, is most of the time). Because I know it WILL GET BETTER.

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed… that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.”
– Romans 8:18-20

 

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