…unresolved pain or victory in Christ
Satan seduces us to run from our pain, anger and confusion using distractions disguised as pleasure, but God calls us to run to him with this unresolved pain and trouble. I often write about our need to embrace our pain and bring it to God, but today I wanted to talk abut Satan’s distractions that keep us from getting that pain resolved. Please join me as I uncover Satan’s seductions so we can find true healing.
Many people try to escape their pain with distractions. Even if they move to a new country, they take themselves with them, so that they will find the same problems again. Satan tells us we can blame our circumstances for our problems. He tells us other people or our limited resources caused our pain, so if we get new people or different resources, our lives will improve. People break off relationships and start new ones, but then fall into the same relational problems. Poor people might gain greater riches but still lead troubled lives.
Satan lies so subtly, we don’t realize he is the one telling us lies. We think we need a break and thus we think we need to stress-eat or scroll far too long on the computer, or call a friend to chat instead of telling God about the trouble first. Eating, using our computers and calling friends are good things to do, but not when we haven’t asked God for help. Otherwise, we may try to eat, watch videos or chat at the expense of resolving our pain.
Facing fears and pain head on sounds scary, like a fire fighter running to the fire that others run away from. But when we seek pleasure in our escape from the pain, we don’t find true peace. I know I don’t. If I give in to stress-eating, I realize I don’t enjoy the food I eat. I also don’t feel any peace.
The actions we use to escape our pain work like the substances addicts use to numb their pain. Our need for more distractions only grows. Like the addict, we need more and more distractions to numb the pain. We believe the lie that says “If I get or do this, then I’ll have peace.” We must recognize this as a lie, so we can renounce it, because it comes from the devil.
We might run from the pain if we believe the health, wealth and prosperity pseudo-Gospel that says we should never suffer. Always go back to Jesus. How did he live? While he was intensely joyful, he suffered throughout his life. He was born into poverty, so he went hungry and suffered from the cold. He had to do hard labor in the heat as a carpenter. The religious leaders mocked and opposed him, even tried to kill him (before finally succeeding). His own siblings rejected his divinity and thought he was crazy (Mark3:21.) Since Jesus could find joy in his pain, let’s discover how he did it so we can find that same joy.
Jesus did not try to the escape through the pleasures of the natural world (Phils.2:6-7 “Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.”) Furthermore, he rejected the myrrh that could have numbed his pain at the cross (Mark15:23); he fasted 40 days, and he had no home once he began his 3 year earthly ministry (Matt.8:20). Instead of indulging himself in earthly escapes, he actively pursued the supernatural, finding quiet places to pray (Luke5:16) Jesus was tuned in to the Father by praying continuously.
Jesus knew the reason why he suffered (Luke 24:26, “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”) thus we can recognize the reason why we suffer. Because God wants us to grow through our suffering, there are lessons our suffering can teach us (Romans 5:3-4, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.”) We are unique, so our suffering and God’s lessons through the suffering will be unique to us. With our free will, we decide to accept or reject Satan’s lies and then accept or reject Jesus’ truths. Even when our feelings don’t match the good news Jesus speaks, we must claim his hope and not the despair Satan wants us to claim (1 John3:19-20 “Our actions show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.”) At times we must act positively, even when our hearts accuse us—in another translation, 1John3:20 says, “If our hearts accuse us, God is greater than our hearts and knows all things.” Satan accuses us and tells us to accuse others too. Jesus wants us to offer grace and mercy to ourselves and to others.
Satan never wants us to know God is sovereign and loves us. Satan turns God’s love and joy for us into an accusation that God is angry with our surrendered hearts. God only has anger for those who reject him and flagrantly live in their sin (John6:36b, Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.”) We cling to our faith by telling Jesus we believe in him above all else. We exercise our will by believing in God’s supernatural power (Ephs.6:12 , “We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”) Our lives are a beautiful garden, but an ugly enemy is shooting at us among the flowers. We must wake up and believe we are in a battle and be encouraged to not believe Satan’s lies. We should enjoy the beauty God gives but remain wide awake to Satan’s bullets flying at us.
We have all authority in Jesus name, and we can claim the authority of Jesus’ truths. We have God’s armor. We can reject Satan’s discouragement and depression and defeat. We must take hold of Jesus’ sword and, figuratively, walk on water with him daily. We can choose our thoughts rightly and dwell in God’s truth, light, and truth.
We can declare war against defeat. Greater is he in us than he in the world (1John4:4). We take on Jesus’ peace and joy (John15:11, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”) Remember, nothing in creation can separate us from God’s love (Romans8:39) Join me in this pray over yourself, “I speak power and light and life and truth to my soul. I release the Spirit of revelation, wisdom and power that raised Jesus from the dead (Romans8:11.) I repent of defeat and I release myself to trust Jesus and open my heart to trust in God’s love” (Luke 23:46, “Then Jesus shouted, ‘Father into your hands I commit my spirit.”) It is dangerous to close our hearts to God, lest we seal ourselves off from God’s salvation. We can let go of fear, grief, bitterness, doubt and accusations and any lies of our past, even if we have to do it over and over again as we uncover new lies we believed. This healing does take time.
We don’t need to seal our fate in death and isolation. We find our courage in Christ, regardless of our circumstances. God is faithful when we are faithless. God wants to harden us (our will for him, not our hearts against him) as his warriors. We cannot let ourselves go soft, complaining about our circumstances (Phils.2:14b, “Do everything without complaining and arguing.”) God can help us deny our lazy, carnal cravings for cheap pleasure at the expense of the hard work of facing our pain. We can ask God to help us accept his will and find our place in him. God can help us run to our pain and work through it to his healing.
I pray I have blessed you as I challenge you to recognize Satan’s lies and seduction to distract you from facing your pain. God has such a better plan for our lives. May the Lord bless you this week as you stand firmly in this joy in the midst of pain.