Month: September 2016

Keep me free from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge. Psalm 31:4

Last night was one of those nights when God was speaking loudly in my ear. A very powerful dream, the kind that I get once a year, visited me. The message was, in one way, for me. Yet, to the extent that I can write about it, it may also be for you.

We often find ourselves hemmed in. We didn’t see it coming. We traveled along, thought things were fine as we acted upon the advice of well meaning people, but ended up at this dead end nonetheless. Perhaps the brick wall also puts us in peril. We try to re-trace our steps to find someone to blame but we discover that our way was shaped by well-meaning companions who were also doing the best they could to dispense advice. They’re just not God. And so we stand in a place where it’s impossible to go forward and equally impossible to go back. It’s as if we ascended a mountain through switchback turns, barely survived, and the only way is forward.

While we rail and fret, God is listening. Our anxiety doesn’t bring Him to the scene to start problem solving. He knew way back that we’d be here and put everything in place long ago to make a way of escape. His sovereignty allowed the trap and His sovereignty has devised a glorious solution for our salvation and His glory. What’s difficult to see is that the trap is really our friend. The proposition seems preposterous. How can it be that the very thing that threatens my life is my doorway to glory! Yet, it is. It always is because from God’s vantage point, the steps of a righteous man are ordered by Him.

Traps are illusions. Traps take us to hidden doors that only God can see. Traps lead us to God’s arms. Traps show us that God is the hero of our story. Traps reveal the brokenness and limitations of the people around us but then reveal the power and glory of our Father. Traps end one way of life and introduce us to a better way. Traps offer us the chance to embrace new spiritual paradigms.

Perhaps what I’m cursing under my breath is really something for which I should give thanks. I also need to stop looking for what I think salvation will look like and ask God to give me supernatural vision for the door that leads to spacious places. This wall is God’s window to my future.

I will stop crying and dare to believe. Amen

Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Psalm 4:4

This verse sounds familiar. Paul told believers in Ephesus to be angry but not to sin. To whom is David talking? Is he addressing friends of God? Not at all. He’s addressing his enemies and telling them to check their anger. Are they angry for themselves or for sins done against God? He gives them good advice. Get alone. Lie flat on your bed and ponder what you’re doing.

I’ve heard this great advice and probably you have as well. “When you’re angry, leave the scene until you calm down.” But calming down in order to evaluate the long-term fruits of my anger is new food for thought. Since acting on my anger conceives many trails of regret, pondering would be wise. What is at stake and what would contemplating uncover?

• I can rehearse why I’m angry and what words I will use to strike back. In my anger, I want to do the most damage.
• I can become further enraged and decide never to forgive what was done to me. That vow feels good and feels justified.
• I can conceive a plot to get revenge. When I get up from my bed, I will feel better. Satan will give me a physical and emotional ‘high’.
• I can decide to withdraw emotionally from the relationship and freeze the other person out. I dream of how hurt they will be.
• I can weigh the spiritual damage of staying angry. I consider what it will be like to have my fellowship with God broken.
• I can weigh the emotional damage. I think of some angry people that I know. I consider how difficult it is to be around them. I remember their faces and how toxic is their company.
• I can weigh the physical damage. I remember that long-term anger hurts my body. Joy promotes well-being. Stress is the #1 killer.
• Finally, I review God’s forgiveness of my own sin. Even when I wasn’t sorry enough (and none of us really sees our sin as God sees it), He heard my repentance and forgave me where I was.

I’m not naïve. If the offense is deep, I will not forgive them after 30 minutes of pondering. Forgiveness is a process and may take another year to complete. But I can arise prayerful, asking God to carry me through my hurt towards a readiness to forgive. That kind of humility annihilates revenge, emotional withdrawal, and physical damage. At the heart of all anger is a willingness or unwillingness to trust God to rule righteously. Do I really trust him with those who have wronged me? Or am I prideful enough to believe that they are better off in my hands. Forgiveness is not letting people off the hook. It’s taking them off my hook and putting them on God’s hook.

Father, Satan feeds my anger and wants me to fail. I will have to fight for my joy and restored peace with the sword of Your Word and the help of Your Spirit. Please help me to the other side. In Jesus’ name, Amen

I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word. Psalm 119:101

The stories in the Bible span chapters. When reading, I’ll go from one to the next and never realize that there might be a lengthy ‘in-between’ before one ends and the next begins. When I read the story of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt for instance, the time frame is 400 years yet only a few chapters cover it. Between Malachi and Matthew is another 400 years. I often wonder what the spiritual life of God’s people was really like during His vocal absence. What percentage kept the faith?

Because I fail to realize that two decades or more transpired in the middle of a biblical narrative, the main characters appeared to be much more unstable than they really were. It seems that one minute they worshipped God and in the next scene, they built a golden calf. What gives? Between the two events were a myriad of small decisions. They strayed in small steps that spanned a significant chunk of time until they found themselves far from home.

It’s the in-between I also have to consider. Like my spiritual ancestors, I make daily choices. A year can seem like an eternity and much can change in so short a time. I have warm times with the Lord and also dry seasons. I take some detours along way – sometimes out of anger or disappointment. I also sin and can be lazy with my confessions. I’m reminded that when unrighteous choices accumulate over time, I can easily build my own version of the golden calf.

How can our life’s narrative not turn tragic? By staying astute during my ‘in-betweens’. Sin starts with a thought. It begins to blossom if I lack self-awareness. If I continue to feed the soul, it takes me somewhere I don’t want to go. But feed my spirit and my ‘in-betweens’ are fueled to stay on the paths of the righteous.

I don’t always recognize evil. I don’t see as many traps as You do. How I need Your Spirit to guard me on my journey. Amen

Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy… My soul waits for the Lord. Psalm 130:1

If you live near, or with, anyone struggling with issues related to mental illness, you know how painful it is for them and for their caregivers. It is difficult to know how to pray for them. We can often just assume the condition is permanent and is as immovable as a chronic illness. We believe we must just accept ‘what is’ and ask God to give grace for the challenges of daily life.

Since God worked in me to build the model that is called Personalized Prayer Mapping, I am continuing to understand the parameters around life issues; issues which include mental illness.

Since the Fall in the Garden of Eden, the enemy has been on the prowl as he looks for places of devastation where he can inflict total destruction.

Any crack in this cursed world provides him entrance and opportunity. I must be astute to realize that he will prey on any kind of weakness. Diseases, disabilities, disappointments, broken dreams, losses, relationship dysfunctions, and mental illness; these are all invitations for him to exacerbate what already exists and maximize pain. He taps into an active breeding ground with a design to grow the dysfunction. Oftentimes, to debilitating levels.

How does that relate to mental illness? Mental illness IS one of the breeding grounds. It is impossible to tell how much of what we experience in others is mental illness or the enemy’s swirling activity because of the platform mental illness provided. Is it 50/50? 80/20? I contend that we won’t know until we engage in spiritual warfare on their behalf. The real percentages won’t be manifested until the enemy is crippled and we can see what is left. The sobering reality is that the one suffering from mental limitations (whether chemical or situational) won’t experience the fullest of better times if the enemy is not dealt with in spiritual realms. It is a daily battle and the warfare must also be daily to give the person we love the best possible outcome.

While I have referenced ‘others’ in talking about mental illness, I am not excluding the times I was fragile and needed help. I remember what it felt like. Given enough time in the fire, we will all visit dark times and wonder whether we will pull out of it. Prayer and support is critical. So, what does a prayer like this sound like? While Prayer Mapping encourages language that is far more customized than what follows, this is a way to begin.

Father, you made this person. You see the mind, body, and soul. You know to what extent Satan is tampering with this person’s wellbeing. Because you have given me authority to pray for their soul and apply the victory of Calvary to their specific battle today, I hold them up in prayer. Because of Your shed blood, I ask you to cripple the enemy today – both inside and outside of my loved one. Bind spiritual enemies from acting out, from speaking, and from stirring up issues. Remove their influence from the mind of my loved one so that he/she is not spiritually impaired from hearing you and making sound decisions to think wholesome and true thoughts. Give them clarity today and make them of sound mind because of Your great love and faithfulness. Because of Jesus and in His name I pray, Amen