June Mental Health Tip of the Month
“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can
take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”
-Ephesians 6:11 NIV-
Battle Ready
We all have dreams… whether that’s to get out of debt, be healthier, be cancer free, own our own home, be free from addictions, or the ministry God has placed on our hearts. For our incarcerated brothers and sisters, that dream is to be physically free so that they can live the lives that God intended for them to live. When I made the decision to follow the dream that God had placed on my heart for this ministry, He never told me hw difficult it would be to hold onto that dream.
6 D’s
As I was fighting for and building this ministry, I heard a sermon by Pastor Rick Warren, and it helped me to understand what I was walking through and how to stay focused as I was coming up against a lot of resistance. He said there were 6 stages that we would walk through as we were walking out our dreams. We may go through different dreams in different seasons, but the process is the same.
The Dream is the first part of this process and it’s when God places that dream on your heart and gives you a vision for it. Remembering this vision is what has helped me to hold on in the most difficult stages. The next stage is making the Decision to start walking out that dream with God.
Once you make that decision, then you will start hitting all of the Delays, Difficulties, and Dead Ends. God uses these stages to prune us, build our character, and prepare us for walking out that dream. Just as the Israelites had to walk in the wilderness before coming to the Promised Land, so we must do the same. In Deuteronomy 8:2-5, God explains why this is necessary:
“Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.”
These 3 stages can be very confusing and frustrating and make us question whether or not we’re even on the right track. This is where most people give up and never accomplish their dreams because it can become very difficult, uncomfortable, and at times even painful. That is why we have to hold onto that vision of our dream, so that we will keep fighting for it until we reach the last stage, which is our deliverance or Our ‘Promised Land’. The first time the Israelites came to the Promised Land, what did they do? They said it was too difficult and that the inhabitants were stronger than they were. That is exactly what the enemy wants us to think during these delays, difficulties, and dead ends…that it’s never going to happen, it’s too difficult, we aren’t strong enough, maybe we didn’t really hear from God. We have to keep going until our dreams are fully realized. We have to fight for our dreams, for our Deliverance, for our Promised Land. But how do we do that when most of us don’t even realize what we’re fighting against?
Ephesians 6:10-20
We know how to fight physically but we don’t know how to fight spiritually. In Ephesians 6:10-20, Paul tells us exactly what we’re fighting against and how to fight back:
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 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. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 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 Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.”
4 Battle Positions
As I was walking out this process, I began reading this every morning and God gave me a vision of 4 different battle positions that we fight from and what that can look like.
Fetal Position:
The first position is us lying in the fetal position in the palm of His hand with the Shield of Faith overtop of us catching the fiery darts that are being hurled against us. This is the position that we fight from on those days that we feel depleted, defeated, burned out…the days where everything seems to be coming against us trying to steal our peace and our joy and we feel like we have no energy and can’t move too far or too fast because if we do, we’re going to explode on someone. These days often look like you having to fight with your daughter because she doesn’t want to get up for school, you stub your toe on the corner of the dresser, your spouse biting your head off for no reason, and you spill the cream all over the floor and all before you even have that first sip of coffee. Nothing is happening the way you had expected it to or planned for it to go that day, and it feels as if everything is coming against you.
I call these my ‘harassment’ days…where the enemy is constantly harassing me trying to get me to lose my temper and I can’t even think to pray. On these days, we need to try to keep our mouths shut, rest as much as possible and only do what is absolutely necessary. It’s in this position where Jesus says, ‘Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11:28-30). Be still and know that I am God’ (Psalm 46:10). And this is when we remember that ‘The battle belongs to the Lord’ (2 Chronicles 20:15).
Kneeling Position:
Then there’s the kneeling position. In this position, we are kneeling before God holding the Shield of Faith with its point rested on the ground and the Sword of the Spirit upside down with the point in the ground and we’re holding the handle because they are both still too heavy to hold up. In this position, we are in full surrender and perfect submission to God. Here we recognize that we cannot do it in our own strength. And when we have gotten our rest with the Lord and have a little more strength, then from this position we are able to pray and wait on Him to tell us to move.
Standing Position:
When our strength has returned, then we’re able to stand. And we plant our feet and we stand our ground, we ‘Stand firm and let nothing move us’ (1 Corinthians 15:58). In this position we are to be silent…we stand firm and we do not engage. When those fiery darts are coming at us, we now have the strength to be the ‘peacemaker’ that Romans 12 calls us to be. We recognize that we don’t have to defend ourselves or be right and that God is our Vindicator (Psalm 37:6-7). Jesus gave us the perfect example when he was being mocked, insulted, and spit upon…he remained silent (Mark 15:29-30). He never engaged. He stood firm in love and in the truth of God’s Word. We will always win when we follow Jesus’ example. We ‘overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21)’
Charging Position:
The last battle position is the charging position. It’s in this position that we have the strength and power of God and we are fully able to use our Weapons of Warfare…we fight back with the truth of God’s word. We fight with everything we have in our arsenal…The word of God is our weapon…we fight with fervent/intercessory prayer, we declare His word in our lives, and anytime Satan comes at us with a lie, we rebuke it with the Truth. When Jesus was being tested in the wilderness after his baptism, Satan came at him 3 times trying to destroy him and Jesus always replied, ‘It is written…’. We are to do the same. If Satan tries to steal our dreams in any way by making it look like it won’t happen, we can refute him with Philippians 1:6, ‘It is written…that He who began a good work in me will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.’ The only thing that can cause us to lose our dream is giving up before God gives us our deliverance.
Conclusion
In Galatians 6:9, Paul tells us, ‘not to grow weary in doing good for we will reap the harvest at the proper time if we do not give up.’ Know how to fight and always remember what you’re fighting for. No matter how long it takes, don’t give up on your dreams…keep fighting…and when the fighting gets hard…fight harder! Whatever dream God is placing on your heart…fight until you see it come to fruition!