War Rooms, Praying Scripture, and Spiritual Warfare

(reposted from my other blog - My Crazy Faith)

I strongly believe that there are angels and demons.  That prayer matters.  That there is a spiritual battle going on around us all the time ... and that we need to get involved in it, actively and consciously.  (Something I haven't been doing lately.)  

Regardless of if we want it or not, we are constantly facing spiritual battles.  But if we don't acknowledge them - if we stick our head in the sand and refuse to get involved, to put on our spiritual armor, to use the spiritual weapons that are available to us - we open ourselves up to deceptions, to defeat, to being very vulnerable to the strategies and attacks of the evil one.

What I have done here is compile a list of posts on spiritual warfare, on praying Scripture, and on creating a War Room (or War Journal).


Have you ever seen War Room?

You should.  It's a great movie.  And it is so relevant to real life.  To the life that is most real - the spiritual life.

Is the Rapture taught in the Bible?

             I believe there’s going to be rapture of the true believers before the tribulation starts (which I looked at in "The End Times" post, so some of this will be review of that).  

             In this post, I’m going to list which significant passages I think refer to the Rapture and which refer to the Visible Second Coming, which will happen at the 6^th seal, during the tribulation.  This is all just my opinion.  I do not claim to have any special revelation from God.  It’s just the best way I make sense of Scripture.
 

             Before I get into the verses, keep this in mind:
          1.  All “coming of the Lord” passages that include something about Jesus coming in power and great glory and with angels pertain to the visible second coming of Jesus at the 6^th seal during the tribulation.  (However, there are some passages that refer to the visible coming which don’t use those words, but you can tell by the context, by the fact that they were already talking about the big “end of time” visible second coming.  And He also comes again visibly at the end of the trib for the battle of Armageddon, so that coming is referred to at times.  But neither of these "visible comings" are the rapture.)
          2.  None of the passages that pertain to the rapture have the words “in power and great glory and with angels.” 
 

             This helps clear up a lot of confusion about which “coming” the passage is referring to.  

I Will Love You ... Always

            “How long, O Lord?  Will you forget me forever?  How long will you hide your face from me? . . . But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.  I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me.”  (Psalm 13:1, 5-6)

            “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him, . . .”  (Job 13:15)

            “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”  (Job 1:21)

                       

            Years ago, I saw the movie Facing the Giants.  And it was a good movie.  Last night (April 16, 2015, this is obviously a repost), I saw it again . . . and it was a great movie.  It touched my heart in ways it didn’t before.  And I pretty much cried through the whole thing.  (Good thing the lights were off so my family couldn’t tell.) 

I Just Want To Finish Well

Once again, I found myself in an emotional funk (this is a repost from 2014, yet it still seems to be where I’m at in 2017), feeling like I can’t accomplish anything.  Can’t give any one thing the effort and time it needs.  I am so stretched-thin in places.  The housework never gets done.  This house will never be "finished."  My cooking has seen better days.  There’s not enough time to do everything I want when it comes to homeschooling … so, of course, my boys are going to grow up to be great big drains on society. 

I was feeling a little panicked that things were slipping away from me too fast, that I couldn’t get a grip on anything.  And then I picked up a movie from the library that really settled my heart.  Flywheel.  It’s an older one, the first one done by the people who made Courageous and Facing the Giants.  And I have to say that . . . it . . . is . . . good!  It’s really good, even if it’s a little old and primitive.

But the thing that sticks with me the most from it was the line that went like this: “I just want to finish well.” 

Six Dollars and Thirty-Three Cents

            Six dollars and thirty-three cents.

            It’s all the money that my 8-year old and 11-year-old have right now … and they have asked me to donate it to those affected by Harvey.

 

            We were watching some coverage of the aftermath of the storm, and we saw the story of “Mattress Mack,” the man who opened up his high-end furniture store as a shelter.  And my 11-year-old turned to me, almost with tears in his eyes, and said, “It’s so incredible that someone would risk their business like that to help other people.”  He immediately went to his room and scraped up all the coins he could find (getting his 8-year-old brother to do the same) and they gave it to me to give to the Harvey victims.

 

            Six dollars and thirty-three cents. 

 

            “But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. 

            Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.  They gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on.’”  (Mark 12:42-44)         
 

            Six dollars and thirty-three cents.  It might not be much in the world’s eyes, but it’s an incredible sacrifice in God’s eyes.  Because it comes from a heart that wants to love and help … a heart that sees the hurt and needs of other people and refuses to do nothing … a heart that knows it doesn’t have much to give but that gives it anyway.

 

            ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”  (Matthew 25:40)

How to Understand "God's Will"

            “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.”  (Romans 12:1-2)

           

            We all want to know what God’s Will is, don’t we?  But do we really know what we are asking?  Are we willing to put in the required effort to know it?

            Usually, when we want to know God’s Will, we want to know what our next step is or what plans God has in store for our future.  We think of “His Will” as “His plans for our life.” 

            But is that how the Bible defines “God’s Will”?

 

            Does “God’s Will” mean what He wants for us/asks of us?  Is it His plans for our lives?  Is it just whatever happens … because God always does His Will, right?  Such as “Well, it must have been God’s Will that I got pregnant . . . or lost my job . . . or that our house got destroyed in a tornado, etc. because it’s what happened”? 

            Personally, I think that “His Will” is not necessarily about His future plans for us and it’s not really whatever happens to us.  I think it is most accurately defined as what He desires. 

            It’s what He wants for us (the choices He wants us to make and the path He wants us to take and the blessings He wants us to obtain, etc.), and it’s what He wants from us (living God-glorifying lives and being obedient, etc.).

Prayer, Faith, and God's Will

(repost, summary of “Understanding God’s Will,” Question 9, Q9a-Q9i)

            “‘Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered.  ‘I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.  Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.’” (Mark 11:22-24)      

            I have to be honest.  I struggle with this verse more than any other.  I really do.  I mean, it sounds pretty straightforward to me: believe that you’ll get what you ask for and you’ll get it.  Name it and claim it!  Sounds great! 

            But there’s a problem.

            It doesn’t always happen.  There are things that we pray for and that we are confident are in line with God’s Will, and yet they don’t happen.  The mountains didn’t move. 

            How come some prayers don’t seem to work, even when you believe that it’s God’s Will?  And how long do you keep praying for something (especially when it’s a painful issue) when God seems to not be listening or answering?   

Winning the Battle

I have been in a “funk” lately.  I get in them often, comes with being a child from a broken home.  (This is a repost of something I wrote years ago, but it still strongly applies.)  Prayer has felt futile.  I’ve been wanting to pull back from people.  I am struggling to accept certain “life problems” that I wish I didn’t have.  And I constantly deal with feelings of failure and not mattering.  

I know it’s not proper for a Christian to expose the fact that they are dealing with depression and frustration with God and disappointment with prayer and unhappiness with life.  I know we are supposed to plaster on that “good, happy, Christian smile” and act like we are full of joy and peace and contentment.  (Or are we?)  But this is the truth about how I feel.  And if I can’t be real with God and other Christians (even anonymously on this blog), then who can I be real with? 

[One of my reasons for writing so honestly is because I want my kids to understand that struggling with life and with God is part of the journey.  It does not make you a “bad Christian.”  It’s nothing to be ashamed of, but it is important to face it and work through it honestly. 

I'm weak and I need You!

            What is it that we always say to encourage people going through a hard time?

            “God won’t give you more than you can handle.”

            But guess what?

            It’s not true. 

            “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered . . . We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we even despaired of life.  Indeed, in our hearts, we felt the sentence of death.  But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.”  (2 Corinthians 1:8-9)

Rest!

(I wrote this years ago, but it still applies.)

            “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  (Matthew 11:28-30)

            This verse really speaks to my soul right now.  It is exactly what I need.  Rest.  To put down the burdens I carry around with me.  I’m just not sure how to do it.

            A couple days ago, I asked God one of my “250 Questions to Ask God.”  (I will repost it sometime after this post.)  The questions was “Since You know what’s best for me, what do I need most right now?”  I had been struggling with concerns and frustrations and disappointments.  With God’s silence even.  And I didn’t know what to pray for anymore, but I needed to hear something from God.  So I asked Him this question.  Because I don’t know what I need right now.  I just know I need something.  And for a couple days, He didn’t answer.   

And God Said ...

(reposted from a few years ago)

Not too long ago, I was going through a very discouraging “four-month funk.”  I was so stressed and depressed about life.  I felt like I couldn’t do anything right, and yet I kept trying and trying to accomplish something, anything.  All day, I would ruminate on all the things that were wrong, all the ways I was failing.  And I would plead with God to show me what more I needed to do to succeed.  My shoulders ached from being tense all the time.  My head hurt.  And the tears were always ready to burst forth.  

And one day, as I stood in my kitchen doing dishes, I asked God to help me.  To tell me one thing that He wanted me to do.  Whatever it was, I would do it.  I was failing, failing, failing … and I just wanted His leading in my life because I couldn’t do anything on my own.  What else did He want me to try?  What did I need to give up?  What needed to be pruned from my life?  What did I need to do to make things better?  What more could I do? 

Please, God, just tell me! 

And do you know what He said?  The big advice that He gave me in such a quiet whisper to my heart? 

“Turn up the music and dance!”

Turn up the music and dance!  As soon as I heard it, I knew that this is what I really needed to hear, what I really needed at that moment.  I didn’t need to keep trying so hard to accomplish something, to reach for something just beyond my grasp.  I didn’t need to try to make things better, to do more than what I was doing. 

I just needed to relax, to breathe, to celebrate the moment that He gave me as a gift. 

And so I did.  As the kids played outside, I turned up the music in my kitchen and just danced.  I shook out all of the stress and the ache, and I let the music fill me with delight and joy.  For a short time, I let go of my fears that I would fail and I grabbed onto the blessings of the moment instead.   

It filled me with joy to know that God knew what I really needed, that He cared enough about me to remind me to slow down and relax and enjoy the journey.  To breathe.  To smell the roses.  Pick a daisy.  Laugh with my kids.  Talk a walk. 

Sometimes, I make it harder than it needs to be.  I overwhelm myself with the idea that everything God asks us to do is going to be stressful and hard work and sacrifice and dying to self. 

But sometimes …

He just wants us to dance.     

Fighting Back A Panic Attack

(reposted from https://heathersgardenandhome.blogspot.com)

As I’ve already written about, I had a panic attack last summer for the first time.  As anyone who’s had a panic attack knows, they are horrible.  They wreck you inside and out, and then leave you feeling fragile for a very long time after.  I would dare say they change you permanently.  I’m still feeling the effects of this “fragileness” and I’ve noticed that I don’t eat like I used to before the attack.

Anyway, as I reflect back on that attack and the unsteadiness I’ve felt since then, I realized that there are several factors that contributed to it.  And I’m going to summarize these factors (some are variations of others) and give possible ways to deal with them.  Maybe someone else can find a little help in these and ward off a panic attack, stopping it before it overtakes them.

Praying Scripture: For Forgiveness and Healing

(Newly added April 2022) 

Prayer for Forgiveness and Healing:

John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

Psalm 32:5: “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.  I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’ – and you forgave the guilt of my sin.”

Acts 3:19: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”

Psalm 103:11-12: “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

Romans 3:22-24: “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.  There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ.”

2 Corinthians 5:17: “… if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.”

Romans 8:1: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…”

Matthew 6:14-15: “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Luke 6:27: “… Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”

 

          Lord, I know that sin affects my eternity and my relationship with You, with myself, and with others.  And in order to have the best life possible, in eternity and on earth, I need Your forgiveness for my sins and I need to forgive others for their sins against me, as You have forgiven me. 

          Lord, I thank You that Jesus died for my sins on the cross so that I could be saved from hell and go to heaven.  I thank You for Your promise to forgive my sins if I confess them to You.  I want to be forgiven.  I want to be cleansed from my sins and to experience the healing and times of refreshing that You promise.  And so right now, I confess my sins to You.  (Specifically confess any known sins to God right now.)  Reveal to me any sins that I am hiding or that I have forgotten but that I need to confess to You.  (Take some time to listen for His answer throughout the week.  When He reveals any, confess them.)  I thank You, Lord, that You paid for all these sins on the cross.  They are already forgiven.  And we don’t have to earn or work for Your forgiveness.  In fact, no one can earn Your forgiveness.  All we have to do, all we can do, is reach out and accept it as the free gift it is.  If I have made You my Lord and Savior, I don’t have to pay for my sins eternally or be beaten down by them on earth anymore. 

          [If you haven’t yet accepted Jesus as Lord as Savior, do so now with a prayer that’s as simple as “Lord, I admit that I am a sinner and I can’t save myself.  I need You.  Thank You for dying for my sins so that I could go to heaven and for rising again to prove You are God.  I accept Your sacrifice for my sins right now.  Forgive me and cleanse me.  I am putting my faith in You right now and choosing You as my Lord and Savior.  And I want to live the rest of my life for You.  Help me do that.  Make me who You want me to be.  Thank You for Your amazing grace, mercy, and love.  In Jesus’s name, Amen.”] 

          Lord, I thank You that You have made me a new creation, that You have taken the old away, removing my sins as far as the east is from the west.  I thank You that even though I may still have to face the consequences of my sins on earth, You are with me and will help me face it.  I thank You that I am not condemned for my sins anymore in Your eyes because of what You did for me on the cross.  Because of Jesus’s death, You now see me as righteous.  He took my sins away.  Help me to live in gratitude for that precious truth, for Jesus’s amazing sacrifice. 

          But Lord, even though I know this is the truth, I still sometimes feel ashamed and guilty.  And I know this is from the enemy, the one who wants to hurt me, to make me ashamed, and to ruin my relationship with You and my future.  In the name of Jesus, I resist the devil and his attempts to hurt me, to make me feel ashamed, unforgiven, hopeless, helpless, or unloved.  (“Submit yourself, then, to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Come near to God and He will come near to you.” James 4:7-8) 

          I am a child of Yours, Lord.  You love me.  You are my hope and my help.  You forgave my sins.  I matter to You just because I am Yours.  And since I am Your child, the devil doesn’t have any power over me anymore, other than the power I let him have when I give in to him, his lies, and to sin.  But right now, I am confessing my sins to You and drawing near to You.  I am resisting the devil’s lies, in Jesus’s name.  And according to Your Word, the devil has to flee.  Greater is the Holy Spirit who is in me than the devil who is in the world (1 John 4:4).  Thank You, Lord, for Your presence, power, and help.  Thank You for Your victory over evil.  Help me to understand what it truly means to be a child of God, how I should live in this world and do battle in the spiritual world. 

          Lord, I will trust You when You say that You forgave my sins, that You love me, that You made me a new creation, that You do not condemn me anymore, and that I am righteous in Your eyes because of what Jesus did for me.  Please, Lord, surround me with Your heavenly angels to keep the enemy away.  Surround me with Your truth and Your healing love, to help me to feel the forgiveness and love and grace and mercy that You pour out on me. 

          Lord, I know that part of living as Your child is forgiving other people for what they did to me.  If we want Your forgiveness, we have to forgive others.  This is going to be hard for me, Lord, so please help me do it.  You don’t say that we have to feel like forgiving them or that we have to want to forgive them; You just say that we have to do it.  And so even if I don’t feel like forgiving them, I’m going to do it anyway.  Just because You said I have to.  After all, if You died on the cross to forgive me for what I did wrong, then surely I can forgive others for what they did wrong. 

          And so right now, I am going to forgive other people for what they did to me.  (Name each person you’re forgiving and what you’re forgiving them for.  Tell the Lord that you forgive that person and won’t hold their offenses against them anymore.  Ask Him to give you a tender heart for them, to help you see them and love them as He does, even if you never see them anymore or have to stay away from them.  It’s okay if you have to love someone from a distance.)

          Lord, I put these people and the hurts they caused me in Your hands right now.  Forgive me for the bitterness I’ve had towards them, for the anger that kept me prisoner, and for the things I’ve done in revenge for what they did.  I give up my “right” to hold their sins against them anymore.  I give up the bitterness I feel and the desire for revenge.  I trust You to deal justly with their sins, in Your time and in Your way.  But, please, heal the hurt they caused me and the heart-wounds they’ve given me.  Turn it into something good, for Your glory and Your purposes and my future. 

          In fact, You even say that we should pray for those who mistreat us.  And so right now I pray for the people who hurt me.  I pray that You would guide them to You, meet their needs, and help them find healing too.  (Pray for each individual person by name, if you can.) 

          And help me, Lord, to live in forgiveness from here on out, in the forgiveness I gave others and in the forgiveness You gave me.  Help me to see those other people the way You see them and to see myself the way You see me.  Help me to feel for them what You feel for them.  Help me to understand how You feel about me.  Help me to remember that I am Your child, that I am forgiven, that I am loved, and that You have a future full of hope and purpose planned for me.  And even if it’s not the future I thought it would be, You can still make it into something good and useful for Your kingdom.  Help me learn to follow as You lead me. 

          Lord, I know I will continue to stumble, and so I ask You to help keep my heart sensitive to anything I need to confess to You in the future, to anyone I need to seek forgiveness from, or to anyone else I need to forgive.  Thank You that You always forgive us when we confess our sins to You and that You will always comfort us and restore our souls when we cry out to You, no matter what we do.  Fill me with the hope and peace and healing that is found in You alone.  Thank You for Your amazing grace.  Because of what You have done for me, I can be whole and healed and live a meaningful life for You.  Help me to do that.  Make me the person You want me to be.  And help me to share Your grace, love, and truth with others who need it too. 

          In Jesus’s name, Amen

Afraid to Pray?

Have you ever been afraid to pray? 

I’m in this place a bit right now.  Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that prayer matters.  That it’s crucial.  I do pray about things.  Prayers of thanksgiving.  Prayers about immediate concerns.  Prayers of “I’m sorry.” 

But more and more, I find that the words don’t come easily.  I guess I am afraid because it seems that every time I pray for something, the thing I pray about gets attacked. 

When You Don't Care Anymore

When you’re broken down to the point of not caring anymore, you’ve got two options to get through it …

 

#1 … uhhh, never mind, whatever.

 

 

 

26 Tips For Dealing with Depression/Anxiety (Long Version)

            This is a revision of a section I had in the “How I Broke” post.  (It's a LONG post, just to warn you.  For the shorter version - half as long - click here.)  It’s about the things I have found helpful when dealing with anxiety and/or depression as a Christian.  It’s been a long year or so of dealing with it pretty regularly and intensely, and I have tried many things to get through it all, some really helpful and some just temporarily helpful.  But if anything I have learned can help someone else … well, that’s why I keep writing about it.  So in no particular order (well, kind of), here are some of the things I have tried and learned (there will be some overlap but that’s okay, I need to be reminded of this stuff as much as possible anyway):

1.  Clearly identify what you are feeling and why, if you can.  And pray about it all honestly.  Get real with yourself and with the Lord.  And let your pain draw you closer to the Lord, purify your trust in Him, and mature your faith.

            Doubts and fear and pain don’t have to destroy our faith in God.  They can actually make it stronger and more real.  But only if we are willing to be honest about it all with Him (and with ourselves).  Too many times, we Christians try to please God with nice, pleasing-sounding, polished-up prayers, while we hide the real, hurting, ugly parts of ourselves.  Afraid He might be displeased with us if we reveal them.  But this fakeness causes a breech in our relationship with Him.  I believe honesty is better.

            Write out exactly what's bugging you as thoroughly as possible.  And then bring it all to Him – all the ugly, displeasing thoughts, all the doubts and fears, the brokenness and weakness and failures.  Cry out to Him.  Tell Him that you need help, that you can’t do it anymore.  Be honest with Him about everything inside of you.  He knows it all already. 

          You don’t have to fix it all.  You don’t have to know what to do.  You don’t have to do it all on your own.  You are not alone in your trials and your pain.  He is always waiting for us to cry out to Him, to include Him in our trials, in our need, in our pain, to let Him into the broken parts of our heart so that He can heal them.  But you have to be honest.  To open up the doors that you have closed off in your heart.   

26 Tips for Dealing with Depression/Anxiety (Short Version)

In no particular order (well, kind of), here are some of the things I've tried and learned when dealing with depression and/or anxiety as a Christian:

1. Clearly identify what you feel and why (if you can).  And pray about it all honestly.  Get real with yourself and with the Lord.  And let your pain draw you closer to Him, purify your trust in Him, and mature your faith.

        You don’t have to fix it all.  You don’t have to know what to do.  You don’t have to do it all on your own.  You are not alone in your trials and your pain.  He is always waiting for us to cry out to Him, to include Him in our trials, in our need, in our pain, to let Him into the broken parts of our heart so that He can heal them.  But you have to be honest, to open up the doors that you have closed off in your heart.  (And remember that we're all human, and humans hurt.  And that's normal.  You are normal.  It's okay to not be okay.  You're going to be okay.)   

        Be real.  Be raw.  Be honest.  That’s a major part of humility.

When You Feel Invisible and Like You Don't Matter

            I woke up this morning feeling pretty good.  I noticed that I didn’t feel any of the anxiety that hits me in the morning.  I felt a sense of peace and calmness.

            And then before I even had my coffee … a little bird crashed into the window and died.  I have a special spot for birds in my heart - because in times of extreme loneliness and “depression” over the past few years, I found comfort in the birds in my backyard, in the life and joy they added.  I would stand at the backdoor and watch them flitting to and fro among the sunflowers and roses and cosmos, and I would smile. 

            So it made me sad to see this little bird lying there with a broken neck, blood coming out of its mouth.  It was so tiny.  So fragile.  So helpless.  So much like me. 

The Greatest Risk of Living Transparently

The greatest risk of living transparently isn't "What if I open up my heart and then people judge me" ...

It's "What if I open up my heart ... and no one cares".


The only real way to get past this fear is to live transparently not for what we can get out if it ... but for what we can give to others through it.

Our humble honest heart is sometimes the greatest gift and help we can offer other people.  No strings attached.

Put That Burden Down

            “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  (Matthew 11:28-30)

            What kinds of burdens weigh you down?  How can these verses be applied to your life?

 

            There are many different kinds of burdens we carry around that we were never meant to carry.  And we need to put those burdens down and take Jesus’ yoke upon us instead.