Fractured Lives Part 2

How do we fight off fear, worry, depression, and feelings of loss?

            These feelings are mind traps. They become so ingrained in the way we think that we begin to own them. What we don’t understand is that these four robbers steal our joy, happiness, confidence, and more important our faith and trust in God. We spend so much time looking around us for answers that we forget to look up for THE answer.

When we worry, when we’re afraid, when we feel lost, or when we are fearful, we take our eyes off Jesus and elevate these emotions to godhood. We give them our time, our energy, and our devotion. It’s all we can think about. Our lives become entangled in a negative mesh that begins to steal who Christ says we are for what other people think and our culture erratically proclaims we should be.

Often these conflicting views leave us feeling like failures and losers, and the aftermath escalates our insecurity. Words piled upon words, burying us deeper and deeper into the mire.

We’ve all felt these avenging words slip into our consciousness: round upon rounds of onslaught that eventually wear us down.

How do we break this damaging thinking?

            Let’s go back to the image of being in a mire, a cesspool of filth.

            Both feet are stuck tight.

            As you struggle to lift one foot out, you hear a loud “suction”sound released, and your foot is free. One foot freed lightens your load. You can breathe easier. It gives hope, increases resolve and determination to continue.

            You extend that freed foot forward, and it lands in the mire again. This time there is little to no sound. The foot is accepted as the mire rolls up, around, and over the foot.

            This process is repeated over and over again.

            It is tiring, totally exhausting, but it is also purposeful and intentional.

Did you notice something in this process?

            Lifting the foot out of the mire is followed by a loud suction release sound. When you place your foot back in the mire it is readily accepted. It is definitely harder to get out of a mess than remain in it. Can I get an amen?

            Satan wants you to stay in the mire, keeping your eyes downcast as you struggle to free yourself.

            This is a true phenomenon . . . keeping your eyes down increases the struggle. It adds to the weight of what you are doing. BUT if you raise your head and keep your eyes forward or up, then your whole body is elevated, feeling lighter and stronger.

            It takes effort and determination to be free of sin’s mire, but the effort is worth it. Each step is closer to solid ground where we will immediately feel the full expression of freedom by the Deliverer.

Psalm 18:28-29 “Lord, You light my lamp; my God can attack a barrier, and with my God I can leap over a wall.”

            This is one of my favorite verses, but please open your Bible and read all of Psalm 18, Praise for Deliverance. Read it over and over again until you believe these words:

            “I love you, Lord, my strength. You are my Rock, my Fortress, and my Deliverer, my God, my Mountain where I seek refuge, my Shield and the Horn of my salvation, my Stronghold.”

There is power in the name of Jesus . . . break every chain, break every chain, break every chain!

Stay tuned for the rest of the story on fractured lives. Oh . . . you thought I was finished. Nope. Let’s go back to those scenarios and take a closer look.

God bless you always!