Tuesday, July 10, 2012

the fiery darts of the evil one: fear



Sometimes when we walk with Jesus and desire desperately to follow His will, God will give us specific instructions to follow.

God sometimes leads us to walk down a certain path and we don't even know why we are walking it because we cannot see the future {nor does He want us to!}.

But when you are seeking God and actively trying to follow His will, the evil one, Satan, will almost certainly come against you. Satan is God's enemy- a living fallen angel who seeks to destroy those who belong to God:

1 Peter 5:8
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

The devil is a very real enemy of the Christian, and in my life he comes against me the hardest when I am trying to follow God's will. It says that the devil throws fiery darts at the Christian, and in my experience that is a very good description of what he has thrown against me.

When I was seeking to follow a specific direction of the Lord after much prayer, Satan came against me with the first of many fiery darts:

Fear.

I felt God had given me a specific path in the way that He always does, and after I acted on it, I was hit with fear. It was this deep fear that I was not following what God wanted me to do- that somehow I had made a mistake and that I was wrong about the whole thing. I slowly went from peace and excitement to see what God was going to do, to this unreasonable worry that I had made the wrong decision.

This was a paralyzing fear that made me want to turn and run from the path before me. It started small and grew and grew, and it drove me to the floor praying even harder that God would show me the answer- that He would do whatever He wanted with me. I cried, and cried, and prayed for direction, and He gave me an answer:

This fear was not from Him.

He showed me that fear is a mighty tool of Satan. The devil wants Christians who are trying to seek God to fear that they are doing something wrong. 

Keeping Christians in their comfort zone is a very good thing, and fear of doing something wrong paralyzes so much that it drives many right back home to where they started. {Especially people like me who like having rules and directions to follow so they can do a good job...}

That was where I wanted to go when I felt this fear- back to what I knew.

But God was gracious and brought comfort and peace to my heart as He showed me that Satan wants me to fear to keep me from doing what I was supposed to do, and:

if God didn't want me to do this, Satan would be leaving me alone and even encouraging me to walk in disobedience, not trying to keep me from doing it.

Satan was trying to keep me from doing what I needed to do with fear. God promised that fear was not from Him:

1 Timothy 1:7:
for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

And God was so good to remind me of this:

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 
13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 
16In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.

I was wrestling against the enemy- and he was sending me some flaming fiery darts. I needed a shield of faith for the battle- and God was so good to show it to me and give me faith to keep going, and he armed me with the truth of His word so that I could keep going forward.

Fear was not from Him- because:

1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

Prayer is the most amazing thing- God comforts me when I seek Him in the most amazing way. He is so good to me, to love me so much to show me the way to go- and to guide me when I feel lost and alone and afraid.

Seeking Him casts out the fear- because we know that God is love, and we trust that He will show us the right path to follow.

He is the God of the universe, and He cares so deeply for His own. It's incredible how much He loves His children. He doesn't want us to be confused or lost- He is our Rock, and a light to our path.

Faith in Him extinguishes fear. Fear cannot be from Him. He is our Father, to whom we can cry out as His children:

Romans 8:14-15
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sonse of God. 15For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!

If you have fear today, run to Him. Pray, and tell Him your deepest fears- He knows them all. He won't turn you aside when you seek Him with all your heart. If you don't get an answer, keep seeking, keep crying out to Him- He will answer you in His time.

Email me, I would love to pray for you as well! We are not alone in this battle! Oh, praise God for His goodness! :D He is so merciful to us- to deliver us from fear. He promises us, sweet friends!

Psalm 34:4
4I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.


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