Pulling Back the Curtain

I remember watching The Wizard of Oz when I was a little girl and loving the moment when Toto pulled back the curtain to reveal the so-called wizard was nothing more than a man hiding behind a bunch of special effects.

Ah. The truth. Don’t you just love it?

While I was praying about some of the devastating, heartbreaking things happening in the world and in my own life and in the lives of those I love, I thought about that curtain and the man hiding behind it.

Only I realized who’s hiding out and wreaking havoc in our lives today is not a man but our enemy. Satan.

The enemy is hiding, not behind some physical curtain, but behind his schemes, trying to make us turn on each other. He’s trying to discourage and distract us from following God’s calling.

Satan is trying to make such a loud racket in order to steal our focus away from Jesus Christ. The enemy is hoping we’ll get sucked into his “special effects” so we’ll cower in fear. Or lower our heads in discouragement.

We lose hope and that’s just what he wants. He’s trying to veer us off course and aim us straight for a cliff.

How?

Anger. The enemy loves to see us get angry and turn on each other. He tries to fill our minds with hateful thoughts, lies, and rumors, egging us on to spread them like some toxic seed. Actually, rumors are the fuses leading to Satan’s lies and when someone gets too close out of curiosity, it explodes and causes massive destruction to more than just that one person.

Don’t fall for it. Seek the truth in all things and hold onto it.

Satan is trying to take us down one by one, family by family, community by community as he hides in the shadows, laughing at how we’re falling for everything he throws our way – like a bunch of fish with our mouths gaping wide open as we clamp onto his wretched bait.

Satan is our enemy, not each other.

Now more than ever, we need to read God’s Word. Now more than ever, we need to pray and ask God for wisdom and discernment.

And now more than ever, we need to LOVE like never before by being the Christians we’re claiming to be and not giving into hate, anger, deceit, and wickedness.

It’s time we pull back the “curtain,” my friends, and see what’s going on. It’s time we stand strong, united, to shine God’s light into the dark crevices of Satan’s lies and watch as those lies shrink and lose their so-called power.

Please, I’m asking as your Sister in Christ, please read and study God’s Word with me and prepare for battle. The war has already begun. We need to be self-controlled and alert. We need to be watchful.

And we need to stand strong together as a united front on this battleground, dressed and ready as we slice through Satan’s lies with the sword God has given us:

The Word of God.

“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:11 ESV.)

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” (Ephesians 6:12-13 NIV.)

“Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” (Ephesians 6:17-18 NIV.)

“It [love] is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” (1 Corinthians 13:5-6 NIV.)

 “Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” (1 Corinthians 13:7 NLT.)

“Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:8a NIV.)

“Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.” (Colossians 3:14 NLT.)

 

(Photo from pexels.com.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trust: After You’ve Been Hurt

If you’ve ever been hurt before, you know how hard it can be to trust again. You wonder if there’s another devastating blow around the corner, another crushing moment if you open yourself up again.

You’ve been burned and you’re not sure how to come back from it, how to recover anything good from the pile of ashes.

My friend, God sees the remnants. He sees what you think is hopeless. He sees the thick layers of anger and regret. He wants to peel those away, stop the bitterness from burrowing deeper into you, and bring something good, something powerful from all of this.

It may not be what you envisioned. It may not be where you imagined He would direct you. All He asks is for you to trust Him and follow His lead.

But that’s the problem, isn’t it? Trusting.

Your heavenly Father understands. The day you were hurt, He was hurt too. When you fell apart, when the careless words pierced you, when everyone else left you to deal with it alone, He was the One who stayed with you. He never left your side.

God wants to lift you up. He wants to heal your brokenness. He wants to bind your wounds and restore your joy. He wants you to laugh until your tears flow and your side aches.

He wants to bring you back. Back to the life He’s always planned for you. Back to the life He created just for you before you took a wrong turn, before you listened to everyone else but Him, and before your spirit was crushed.

God wants to bring you back to the place where you can breathe again, sleep at night, and feel close to Him. He doesn’t want your fear of trusting to affect your relationship with Him. He has never let you down, and He’s not about to start now.

Letting you down or giving up on you is not in His character.

But loving you more deeply than you can understand and never leaving your side…not only is that the very nature of His character, but it’s what He does.

That’s a truth you can trust.

So let go. Let go of the past. Let God peel away those thick layers of anger and regret you’ve been using as a shield to block the world from hurting you again.

And let God in.

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3 NIV.)

“Blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.” (Proverbs 16:20b NIV.)

“Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” Proverbs 29:25 NIV.)

Beware of the Maze

Social media is like a maze. Before you go in, you think about what you’re looking for.  You want to see how your far-away family members are doing, who’s having a birthday today, and what time you’re meeting friends for coffee next week.  If you were a mouse, these things would be your cheese.

But what if while scurrying through the maze in search of your cheese you stumble on something else. You notice a few of your friends battling it out in the corner. So you stop and watch as they verbally bash each other.  While standing there, someone comes up behind you and bumps into you.  Then another.  And another.  Before long you’re all standing there gawking at this explosive disagreement in wonder, whispering opinions.  Maybe you even toss in your own word or two.  Before you know it, you’re in the battle and everyone is staring at you.

Or maybe you don’t see such a thing when you journey through the maze. Maybe you come across pictures on the walls; so many happy pictures of your “friends.” But instead of feeling happy for them, you feel a little sad.  Maybe you’re going through a difficult time in your life and you’re really struggling.  You feel pretty helpless and alone and seeing how everyone else’s lives seem to be on track, worry-free, and overflowing with friends and happy faces makes you sink even lower.  You plop down in the corner and cry, feeling worse than before.

Or maybe, just maybe you went into the maze with the intent to get back at someone who’s hurt you. You go in with the most powerful weapon you can bring into the maze, your words, and you’re ready to open fire.  So at the most opportune moment you plan to let ‘em have it.  Oh there are lots of ways to do it, you reason.  You’ve witnessed many battles like this before when you stood back and watched.  And if others do it, why can’t you?

So you enter the maze and see the one you’re after, the one you want to intentionally hurt.  Maybe you’ll throw some heavy words at him, bricks that will tarnish the wall behind him so everyone can see.  Or maybe you’ll be a little sneaky, really go in for the punch by purposely leaving him out of something.  How can you be sure he’ll find out?  By hanging a picture of course.  That should get everyone talking.  And that’s a more subtle way to hurt him so you’ll look totally innocent in the matter.

Yes. It probably will hurt him.  You’ll be able to snicker to yourself and keep moving on.

But while you’re carrying on, the same thing happens to you. Someone hits you with a heavy brick for all to see and someone else hangs up a picture and you feel deeply wounded that you weren’t included in it.  Now you’re hurt and anger begins to burn you from the inside out.

But even worse than that: When you entered the maze and became so distracted, you missed what you should have been doing with your valuable, limited time.  Perhaps there is someone who needs a physical hug today (not just a wink).  Maybe someone needs to hear your voice on the phone or desperately craves a handwritten card of encouragement from you.  But you never made that call and you never sent the card.  You were stuck in the maze.

And while you were lost wandering around and around looking at walls and trying to find your way out, you also failed to see how dark the maze became. It wasn’t the drama that blocked the light but the one who wants to stand between you and God.

Satan is lurking in the maze and has been whispering lies to distract you ever since you got here. He loves tricking you into staying just long enough that you lose your way and just long enough to do some damage.

That way you’re so busy doing his job that you fail to do the job God created you to do.

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” (1 Peter 5:8-9 NIV.)

When God says “No”

It’s hard when you’re a child and you’re told, “No.” You pout or maybe even throw a fit to get your way.

But what about when God says, “No” and no temper tantrum will change His mind? It can be downright devastating.  Especially when it involves an old dream you’ve been carrying in your heart for so long.

It’s like this dream of yours is so vivid and living in front of you in its own world; no one else can see it but you see it clearly. It’s like looking in at a snow globe and watching this tiny world moving and breathing before you.  It’s so real you know you can just reach out and touch it.

But when you do, you realize this dream isn’t inside a snow globe but a bubble. And as soon as you touch it, it pops.  It’s gone.  This vibrant world, the image of YOU inside this dream living and doing all those things you’ve wanted to do for so long, is gone.

So you learn the painful lesson that dreams are delicate, especially those closest to your heart.

And this one was so close to becoming reality that when you finally reached out with trembling hands…you destroyed it. Now all you have left is the memory of what you did wrong, how you reached out too quickly or too rough, and tears; lots and lots of tears that fall so freely, so violently.  You can’t hold them back and really you don’t want to.  They’re too painful to hold in and the moment so heart wrenching it scares you because you realize something:  You’re angry.

You’re angry at yourself for getting your hopes up. You’re angry for daydreaming about something that perhaps wasn’t even meant to be.  And then this anger creeps in deeper, burrowing into your heart and burning everything it touches, leaving black holes in your spirit, and you find yourself staring at the face of God in your anger.

This moment scares you the most. You don’t want to be mad at God, and you tell Him that.  But the anger lingers and you don’t know what to do with it. It’s too heavy, wearing you down, pulling you down, and you want to let go of it.  But something tickles your ear and reminds you of your pain and your mourning over something you never even had.

So your dream is gone, but all the daydreaming and possibilities remain to torture you. You try to look away, but you keep looking back.  You over analyze all you did, what you could have done better, what you shouldn’t have done at all.  There is even an inward crumbling and you wonder if you’ll ever recover.

It’s in that moment of internal collapse you realize how important this dream is to you. Maybe too important.  You start to ask yourself if you were putting it above God.  Your heart hurts all over again because you’re not sure if you can honestly answer “no” to that question.

But God answered, “No” to your dream. Or perhaps He whispered, “Not yet.”

You don’t know which one but you realize something even more crushing than not getting your way: You’re not the only one hurting in this.  You hurt God.

Were you looking at that snow globe of a dream and seeing His reflection as He stood over your shoulder? Or were you so focused in on seeing yourself inside that you forgot Him?

He was watching that dream even more closely than you. He’s the One who crafted every part of it to perfection because He loves you, not because He wants you to run away from Him to chase that world.  And when you eventually go into that world, in His timing and with His blessing, He wants you to take Him with you.

So where do you go from here?

Tell God you’re sorry you hurt Him, and ask Him to forgive you. And don’t be angry with Him.  He was simply protecting your relationship with Him.  No dream can ever compare to all you have with Him.

Ask Him to help you with those black spots in your spirit. Never hold on to anger or it will burn clear through you.

Ask God to help you see this dream clearly for what it is: A gift from Him to shine as the child He created you to be and to bring Him honor and glory.  (It only turned black and ugly and blew up in your face when it became an idol to you.)

And don’t ever gaze into that world again and forget to look for His reflection. If you do, you may find out it’s no world worth having at all but merely a bubble on the verge of popping.

“You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods.”  (Exodus 20:4- 5a NLT.)

Who’s Pushing Your Buttons?

Is someone pushing your buttons today?

You know, a certain person comes around and “pushes your buttons” and makes you lose control. You think it’s that person’s fault, right?  Or maybe you blame yourself for the whole mess, that you’ve allowed them to get under your skin.

But what if there’s more going on behind the scenes?  What if someone has been studying you; watching and listening to what drives you crazy, what gets on your nerves, what pushes you to the edge of yourself so you jump right over the line and stop being “you?”

It’s not just about the buttons that set you off, my friend, but the one pushing them.  And I’m not talking about the person you might be thinking about who can sometimes be difficult…we all can be a little rough around the edges at times.

Satan, however, loves to be sneaky. If he can hide behind a big keyboard full of keys and buttons, knowing which one will set you off at precisely the right moment, he will.  You see, when he does that he stops you from noticing whatever God had for you in that very moment or from being a part of God’s plan to bless someone else.  Either way, Satan just destroyed the moment.

I imagine him leaning over a keyboard, rubbing his hands together, watching you as you’re running late to a doctor’s appointment or work. Satan waits, deciding which button to push.  And when someone pulls out in front of you, drives dangerously slow, and then pulls off without a turn signal, he knows exactly which button to push:  Anger.  Oh he leans on it hard until it becomes this irritating, aggravating pitch in your head that lingers with you for the rest of the day.  See there, he has stolen your joy too.  Remember, Satan is also a thief.

Or maybe you’re struggling with money and after you pick up just a few essentials at the grocery store, your car won’t start. You didn’t even have enough money to buy a full gallon of milk and now this?  Discouragement.  That’s the label above the key Satan just pushed.  You see, if he can get you thinking thoughts like, “I will never get ahead” or “This is impossible” then Satan wins.  You break down worse than your car.  He just killed your hope and you become someone manipulated by your emotions instead of being led by God.  (Remember, God has a great plan for YOU and Satan does not want you to get anywhere near it.)

What do we do then? We go to God every time and ask Him to help us see behind the scenes; discernment.  We shine the light of God’s truth on Satan like Jesus did in the desert and watch as the enemy slinks out of the dark corner and away from that keyboard he’s been hiding behind.  And we refuse to be played by a liar, thief, and murderer.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  (John 10:10 NIV.)