“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? John 14:1-2 

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? –Matthew 6:25 & 27  

“When I am afraid, I  will put my trust in You. In God, whose word I praise, Inn God, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me?” -Psalm 56:3-4. 

This Battle Belongs to the Lord

At times when I feel used up and empty,
And when I don’t know what to believe,
I remember God’s promise that sustains me,
That in His love, I am complete.
Sometimes I’m afraid to draw near to Him.
I feel so defiled by the enemy.
Until I remember His promise
That He, too, will draw near to me.

Whenever I doubt my place in the world,
Or I feel I’m alone in this life, 
I remember His words that promise me
That I’m a joint heir with Christ.
Anytime I feel weak and afraid
Or whenever my faith starts to falter,
I simply open the Bible to find
The promises of my heavenly Father.

He gave us His promises to sustain us
Along with His Spirit that guides us to truth.
There is power and strength in those promises
That the father of lies can’t dispute.
 So, if you think you can’t beat the enemy
Because you fear you’re just not that strong.
God’s promises are there to remind you
That it is to the Lord this battle belongs.
Linda Troxell © 1/18/2020

Living a Both And Life, In an Either-Or World

Is there a particular feeling that escalates quickly and quickly paralyzes you? For me, it’s fear. Usually, it begins with worrying. Then, as I ruminate on what I’m worried about, it progresses to full-on panic. When I can catch the worry soon enough, I can pray for God’s help, and He will give me the grace to stop worrying, at least for a while. But too often, before I even think to pray, the enemy has taken advantage of my unprotected state. That is how worrying becomes fear, and fear is a short step to terror in the enemy’s hands. Fear and terror are not conducive to prayer. Asking God into the scenario is the best solution, probably the only solution. Nonetheless, the odds, of effectively praying while in this state are not in our favor. When mired in fear, it’s difficult to access the frontal lobe of our brain, which is responsible for clear thinking, judgment, and planning. Any such state of heightened emotion can block access to that part of our brain. 

The Bible does not directly say that worrying is a sin. However, it clarifies that if we trust God, there is no reason to worry. There are numerous scriptural references to this. “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? –John 14:1-2  And there are many direct commands not to worry. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” Matthew 6:25 & 27   

I understand that worry and anxiety are effectively a failure to trust God and His promises. But most of the time, I trust God and believe His promises. But too often, my worry leads to fear, terror, and paralysis. This makes prayer nearly impossible and locks me out of God’s protection. So that at the very time, I need God’s protection the most, I am paralyzed and unable to ask for it through prayer. Knowing all of this, then, why do I continue to worry? This is not a rhetorical question. I found the answer in a fascinating Bible story in 2 Kings chapter 6 titled Horses and Chariots of Fire.

In this story, the prophet Elisha was protecting the king of Isreal by telling him where the king of Syria planned to travel. Elisha regularly reported divinely acquired information concerning where the king of Syria and his troops planned to make camp. This allowed the king of Isreal to avoid those places, thus preventing an ambush by the Syrian army. The Syrian king, who was mystified by how the king of Isreal was so adept at avoiding the Syrian military, asked among his troops about a traitor in their ranks. The troops assured him it was not a traitor but the prophet Elisha reporting the Syrian plans to the king of Isreal. The king of Syria then deployed troops to Isreal to capture Elisha. 

The morning after the soldiers were dispatched, Elisha’s servant Gahazi was the first to see that the entire Syrian army, with horses and Chariots, surrounded the city. Understandably, Gahazi was terrified. He and Elisha were surrounded by an army of hundreds, maybe thousands, and they had no defense. When he asked Elisha how they could escape, Elisha replied by telling Gahazi not to be afraid because they had more support than the other side. When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my Lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked. “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” -2 Kings 6:15-17.

This is akin to me asking a friend what we should do when our car stalls on a train track and a train is barreling toward us, and she answers, “Oh, don’t worry, someone will save us.” I would wonder about her sanity and why in the world, she thinks there is time for someone to save us. Gahzi was probably similarly wondering about Elisha’s sanity and why he was not afraid when a contingent of armed troops surrounded them. The answer to both questions is the same; we need not worry or be afraid when we trust God and believe His promises.

The problem for both Gahazi and myself is that we are looking only at the world’s reality. What we see is true and legitimately terrifying, but it is incomplete. We are not seeing the whole truth. And the part we are not seeing will neutralize our terror; it is God’s part. When Elisha prayed for the Lord to open Gahazi’s spiritual eyes so he could see the whole truth, he saw God’s plan: the mountains around the city were covered by horses and chariots belonging to an army that easily exceeded the power of any earthly army, it is the army of the Lord. God’s part relieved Gahazi’s fear, for he knew they were safe. And it is the whole truth that melts my terror as well.

Most humans are conditioned to think only in either or terms. It is raining or not; you are for or against me; trust God or worry. We were never taught both-and reality. But Kingdom reality operates in both-and. It is raining in San Francisco and sunny in Los Angeles. I am for your sanctification, and I am against your sin. You are frightened, and you’re safe. We need help understanding that two opposing realities can exist simultaneously. Before Gahazi saw the whole truth, it was accurate that he was in mortal danger. And once his spiritual eyes were opened, he understood he was completely safe. When I am paralyzed with terror, my fear is real. But when I remember I haven’t considered God’s part of the truth, I can let go of that fear and trust God. Christians must understand that we have two, sometimes opposing, realities. There is worldly reality, and there is Kingdom reality. We cannot and should not deny the world’s facts, but Kingdom reality overrules them. Because we are not supposed to live by the world’s standards or wisdom. We are only visitors here and are expected to stay true to the standards and wisdom of our home culture, the Kingdom culture.

I am not afraid to admit to you, or God, that I struggle with this because I have difficulty remembering to look at Kingdom reality instead of the world’s reality. When I am paralyzed by fear and cannot pray effectively, I need some strategy, cheat sheet, or rescue plan to help me find my way back to the Kingdom reality and God’s promises. Fortunately, I have a rescue plan that I’m going to share with you. You are welcome to use it as is or for inspiration or guidance to make it more specific to your situation. Or, of course, you can ignore it. In the spirit of honesty, these ideas are not my original ideas. While I don’t specifically remember being taught any of them, they are all so much a part of the Christian culture and the social domain it would be disingenuous for me to claim them as my original ideas. But isn’t that part of being our brother’s keepers? We freely share with one another what makes it possible to be in the world while at the same time striving to live by Kingdom standards.

There are three parts to my rescue plan. They are all simple, not necessarily easy. It begins with preparation. Preparation is essential to surviving a crisis. And it must start long before we are actually in the situation we are preparing for. A crisis rarely comes with a warning or the chance to formulate a plan. Just as we are urged to have a plan to physically survive an earthquake, tornado, or other severe weather conditions, we also need help to survive spiritual warfare. How do we prepare for a spiritual crisis? There are many ways, but for this plan, we need the discipline to follow through on preparations, to practice often, and to understand that a short and succinct prayer is just as effective as a long prayer. 

The first step, then, is understanding and sincerely believing that prayers containing only a few words are just as viable as lengthy prayers. I think we, as Christians, myself very much included, waste too much time and energy worrying about how to say what we want to say to God in prayer. And we need to stop believing we are prayer impaired while thinking everyone but us knows how to pray “right.” Once again, we can go to God’s word to learn the truth. “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”- Romans 8:26-27. So if we need do nothing more than to groan to God for the Holy Spirit to search our hearts and bring our prayer to God according to His will, might it be even more potent if, in addition to a desperate groan, we can utter a few desperate words such as, “God, help me!”?

Once you know and believe in the power of a simple one or two-word prayer, you need to choose one and practice using it. What you say is not necessarily crucial to God, but it is crucial that you feel comfortable saying the prayer. Some might feel comfortable simply saying, “Help!” Others might prefer to say a little more, such as, “Do you hear me, Lord?” As I said, the exact words are not important. Still, it is essential that you feel comfortable with the words you choose, that the prayer is sincere, and that you practice using it repeatedly before any crisis presents itself. Practice the prayer until the words spill from your mouth practically unheeded. Like the thing, you always blurt out when you stub your toe, or like some of us automatically say “God bless you.” when we hear a  sneeze. But at the same time, the prayer must be sincere. Become best friends with your personal rescue prayer. That way, in a spiritual crisis, when your frontal lobe is being held hostage by fear, anger, or anxiety, you will still be able to pray for God’s help and protection.  

Once you have chosen and become comfortable with your rescue prayer, you need to turn to God’s word to search out rescue scripture. For illustration purposes, I will use fear as the paralyzing feeling in these instructions. But remember your crisis might involve any feeling, anger, resentment, or any other feeling. Since fear is my issue, I would study God’s word for useful scripture that tells me that I don’t have to entertain fear because God is for me. One of my favorites is two verses from Psalm 56. “When I am afraid, I  will put my trust in You. In God, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me?” -Psalm 56:3-4. Due to time and space I will present only one helpful scripture about fear, but if you want to check out more, the following are great verses. 1 John 4:18; Isaiah 41:10; 2 Timothy 1:7; Joshua 1:9; Proverbs 29:25; the 23rd Psalm; Psalm 34:4.

You need to take this step for whatever your nemesis is. The concordance of your Bible will point you to the verses you are interested in. So will Google. When you find a verse that speaks to you, mark it or copy it because you will be writing, or typing, a list of verses that address your paralyzing emotions or thoughts, and that you find comforting. Then, when in crisis, you won’t need the presence of mind to search for those verses in your Bible. Put your finished list, or lists, in page protectors and, using key rings you can buy on Amazon, hang them together someplace conspicuous. Somewhere that in the middle of a crisis, you won’t need the presence of mind to remember where they are. I don’t recommend using your phone for this purpose because our phones easily distract us. And the enemy is at his best when we are distracted, it makes it easier for him to get a foothold in our minds. 

You will need to keep your verses handy because you will read some or all of them, depending on how many you’ve collected, daily. You want to become familiar with these verses because even though you will have your collection to read from in the crisis, your frontal lobe, necessary for understanding what you read, might be impaired enough that prior understanding of the verses will be invaluable. Another way of becoming intimately familiar with your verses is to record them and listen to them when you’re driving or doing chores.

In addition to your rescue verses, you might want a list of God’s promises to have handy in a spiritual crisis. According to Herbert Lockyer, who wrote All the Promises of the Bible, one gentleman in Canada, Everett R. Storms, set out to count the number of promises in the Bible. After 27 readings of scripture, over about 18 months, he concluded that the Bible contains 8,810 promises, of which 7,487 are promises to mankind. Of course, you won’t have room for all of them, but a quick search on Google will give you a more manageable list.

The exact number of God’s promises is not as important as their validity and what King Solomon said about the validity of God’s promises in his temple dedication prayer cannot be disouted “Praise the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the wonderful promises he gave through his servant Moses. 1 Kings 8:56.   Though I don’t recommend using God’s promises to replace your rescue scripture, we are all different. So whatever works for you to accomplish the task is how you should do it. 

Finally, the rescue plan’s last part uses a staple of the counseling and self-help world. It is a technique for changing one’s feelings by changing one’s thoughts. Many people don’t realize that our feelings, anger, joy, pride, etc., come from our thinking. It can be confusing the first time you hear this idea. But there is a classic story that demonstrates this clearly: 

Imagine you’re at a diner eating lunch with your friends. You are laughing as you reminisce about your adventures together. As you leave the restaurant, you feel terrific, even joyful. Suddenly you see your car has a significant dent in the driver’s side door. Your joy is gone, immediately replaced by anger, frustration, rage, hopelessness, or something that looks nothing like joy. 

Many of us think the change in feelings is caused by the car being hit. But that cannot be true. If it were, your mood would have changed long before you saw the car; it would have changed when the vehicle was hit. Someone might be thinking, “But that is what anyone would feel.” Not so. One might think, “This is so unfair; why do bad things always happen to me?” “Now, I will have to get it fixed and I am already in debt.” “What am I going to do?” Those thoughts will cause that person to feel self-pity, anger, and hopelessness. Chances are that person will leave the lunch ruminating about the damage and ratcheting up their rage for at least the rest of the day; those feelings could color their mood for the foreseeable future.

But another person might be less affected because they think, “Oh no, who hit my car? “That sucks, oh well, that’s what insurance is for”. “I’ll take it in tomorrow to have it fixed.” That person was shocked and felt some anger but then decided it was only a slight annoyance. They probably left the parking lot and resumed their joy from the lunch without another thought about the car until they took it to the shop in the morning. The feeling that each person ultimately had about their car being damaged, was a direct result of what they thought about the damage. Understanding this story is critical to the success of the next part of this plan.

This part may be challenging to implement. It is simple but takes discipline and practice. I’ve taught it to many different kinds of people; even children can learn to do it. It is called thought-stopping. A technique in which we become aware of our negative thoughts, stop them, and then replace them with an opposite, positive, and more adaptive thought. Children pick this up more easily when I help them to make a game of it. I tell them to keep score of how many thoughts they stop in a day, then try to beat that score the next day. I sometimes give them an incentive by rewarding the increases in their score with a piece of candy.

However, most adults I’ve taught this technique to, first thought it was the stupidest thing I’d ever suggested. But the ones who tried it and stuck with it by practicing daily made great strides in decreasing their depression. Games are not just for kids. Think about how you might reward yourself as you become more adept at catching and replacing your negative thoughts.¡

I was surprised when I discovered this technique is supported by the Bible. Paul says this in 2 Corinthians: “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.  Although Paul’s directions are more concise, our goals are the same. To take our thoughts captive and bring them in line with Kingdom reality, which changes everything. It shouldn’t have surprised me that God established this powerful tool before psychology even existed. 

Well, that’s it; that’s my three-part strategy to fight spiritual attacks with the truth of Kingdom reality. As I said, it is simple, but it can be challenging. Nonetheless, by following through with these ideas, keeping your cheat sheets handy at all times, practicing your rescue prayer, reading your rescue verses daily, and keeping God’s promises in mind, you will find that you become adept in the technique and that the battles become fewer and fewer as the enemy realizes attacking you is futile. 

Let’s Pray:

Father in heaven, thank you for your unconditional love and the endless grace you give your children. May we show you our gratitude daily! Abba, it is so difficult for those of us raised in western culture to grasp the concept of both-and-reality; the truth that there is always more than one reality operating. We have been trained that logically there can only be one reality at a time. Please, Lord, help us to let go of that worldly teaching. For you tell us, there is more than one reality, the worldly reality and the Kingdom reality, operating simultaneously. You instruct us to give our allegiance to the Kingdom. Gahazi could not see the whole truth until you opened his spiritual eyes. Lord, we ask for your help in keeping our spiritual eyes open, that we may always consider the entire picture. As we strive to understand that we are not to live by the standards or wisdom of the world but to give our allegiance to Kingdom, Lord, help us to remember that through prayer we always have access to your will and protection. Help us to trust that you will provide the understanding and ability to live by the standards and wisdom of the Kingdom. We pray this, Abba, in the name of your Son, Christ Jesus. Amen!