Kathy,

     It is the mind games which are designed to keep us off
balance spiritually speaking.  "You are god's biggest mistake?"
First, God makes no mistakes so you can't be one.  Second, God
would never say such a thing to you.  Third, you only get one
guess to the true author that perpetrated that lie.  Since it is a
lie, and since the mental and emotional games are created to
maintain spiritual unbalance, they have origins.  That means,
they have roots so you think they have to be there or that there
must be something wrong with you or it is your nature to think
this way.  Untrue.  Lies only have one source.  You have already
spoken one lie you are hearing and lies are like mice; where there
is one, there will be a lot more.  One of our problems as
Christians is that we often cannot see lies for what they truly
are.  Deceitfulness is conniving, underhanded, and can blind side
the best of Christians.  The bases for a SAD or Search And
Destroy method, as I like to call them, is the recognition that
they are indeed lies.  If you don't believe that, you won't be
able to eliminate and totally eradicate the lie itself.
Furthermore, if you are unwilling to go to the original location
of any given lie, you won't be able to find it and you will
continue to believe it because your emotion tell you it feels
true.  We believe what we feel.  Unfortunately, such lie based
Christian thinking is common.  Furthermore, even if you do learn
the methodology of the Enemy and the origin, and the purpose, of
the original lie, he soon becomes cognoscente that your mind is
no longer a direct entry point in order to establish a foothold
of wrong thinking.  You see, once you believe even one lie of the
Enemy, your emotions will respond no matter how much yoga,
transcendental meditation you practice, or marijuana you smoke.
I'm sort of kidding, of course.  Where do such lies have their
origin?  If I told you, you wouldn't believe me so I'll leave that
for another time.  For now, let's just assume you accomplish, by
pure self effort, or Biblical memorization by the truck load, and
good old stick-to-itiveness, taking every thought captive.  Have you
won the battle?  No, because the Enemy will change tactics.  And
what might those be?  Every day life experience.  The car breaks
down.  "thanks a lot God.  Don't you know we don't have the money
to even make our house payment let alone get this dumb car fixed?
Whose side are you on in the first place."  My daughter comes home
drunk, or high, or worse.  What do I have the tendency to think?
"I'm a lousy father.  If I were only more spiritual.  Say, that's
it.  I'll spend more time in prayer.  that's the ticket,  I'll
become the best and the strongest and the wisest Christian on
God's green earth.  Then nothing can stop me!" so I hit my knees
and beg God to have mercy on my daughter.  The devil stands back
and laughs up his sleeve.  You want to find out how spiritual we
really are, Kathy?  Let the finance dry out, or be spread so
thin, that you can't keep up with your bills.  "You'll never make
it now.  If God really thought you were dedicated, He would be
meeting your needs."  Of course, this type of lie based thinking,
or listening, is easily converted into the first person.  If I,"
becomes the beginning of the statement.  If you are unaware of
the nature and origin of this lie, you will be fooled and a
foothold will be established in your thinking.  Eventually, if
allowed to perpetuate, it becomes a stronghold.  What's the Enemy
attempting to do?  He is trying to destabilize your relationship
and distort your closeness with the Lord and he does a mighty good
job of it, too.  How do you combat the devil?  "Oh, sure, I know
that one.  Spiritual warfare.  Sure, that's it.  I can do that.  I
can pray and whip the devil that way.  The bible says so."  No it
doesn't say any such thing.  The bible declares the Enemy has
already lost and been exposed openly and we stand in victory with
Christ as one of his heirs.  the next question becomes, "Well,
then why is all of this happening?"  I'm glad you asked that
question because we are finally back at square one.  It is
happening because of the lie based thinking we have.  "But I'm a
Christian.  I don't believe lies, do I?"  Then why are you
thinking the way you do?  You shouldn't even be a pastor the way
you think.  You ever heard that lie?  I heard that one a lot.  The
next question is, "What do I do?"  You learn how to detect the
lies, how to recognize the voice of the Enemy compared to that of
the voice of the Lord, and when you begin there, you learn how to
stand.  Remember what Ephesians 6 says?  It says at least three
times to stand.  Not to push forward, not to slash and gouge, not
to take real estate, not to conquer, but simply to stand.  A hell
of a way to fight  a battle if you ask me, yet that is what it
says.  "hell?"  Yes, hell.  We are standing with Jesus The Christ
who has already gained victory over hell.  So we are fighting, by
standing, against hell.  "Above all, taking the shield of faith,
where with you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the
Enemy."  All of them?  Why?  Jesus has already won and exposed the
enemy openly, stripped him naked, and that is, who he really is.
You ever tried to fight a naked person?  It is more laughable than
effort.  That's right.  Laugh the devil right into the ground and
do it in the spirit.  No, not like those screw balls in Florida
roaring like lions, barking like dogs, and laughing till they
puke.  I'm talking about the spiritual world.  That's where the
battle is and there's where the battle has been won.  He's a
clown, not a king.  the grand daddy Imposter of all times.  He
cannot win because he does not have the authority to do so.  You
do, though.  I wonder where you got that authority?  If you are a
little shaky on that answer or if your authority isn't working and
some of those fiery darts are getting through, you still believe a
lie somewhere.  Let's find it.

Phil.


He's ready when you are.
www.SafePlaceFellowship.com