Hypochondria – a lesson from the Wilderness | Temptation 3

So, Satan tries again (3rd attempt now). This time he takes Jesus up a high mountain and says he will give Him everything if He just bows down and worships him. Jesus responds again,

“Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ Matt 4:10

This time Jesus responds with the Word of God and tells Satan to get away. Jesus does not accept anything he has to say.
This seems like an easy temptation to walk away from. I mean, what Christian will bow down and worship Satan! But, having an idol in our lives is the exact same thing. Anything we put before God in our lives is an idol.
In your anxiety and hypochondria, what things are you placing before leaning on and trusting in Jesus? What are you putting before God’s truth? Google? Your own ways of handling stress? Making your own decisions before consulting His will? Rationalising? An argument that is not aligned with God’s Word is an idol if you keep clinging to it and holding onto it as if it’s truth. The list is endless.
Keeping check on this is easier than it sounds. At the end of the day jot down how you handled your anxious moments during the day that did not line up with the Word of God. Then, think of how you could have handled it Jesus’ way. Try see how your list decreases every week!

Jesus also told Satan to leave. We are also taught to ‘resist the devil so he will flee’ (James 4:7). I know the thoughts come like crashing waves but we can resist them- with the Word of God. When Jesus left, He gave us His authority to trample over serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19). We have authority and dominion. When an anxious/hypo thought comes you simply declare, “I take authority over this thought that is not aligned with the Word of God in Jesus name! I command you to leave my mind now in the name of Jesus!” Then replace that thought with one of your favourite verses.

If we are resisting our thoughts, we need to resist everything that is not in the will of God too. The enemy loves ensuring there are things placed between you and God. Resist Google and read the Word.  Resist focusing on psychosomatic symptoms. Resist burnout by handling things your way and consult God. Resist unforgiveness and bitterness. Resist believing that it’s just not going to happen for you.
What sort of things do you need to resist?          

I often wondered why Jesus bothered with Satan here in the first place. He could have easily flicked him into oblivion. But, because Jesus came down as a man, He went through this experience to show us how it’s done. He’s letting us know that we need to imitate His every move. And what He showed us during these temptations is that you can be in a desert with no resources whatsoever and that’s okay- because you have the greatest weapon there is- the Sword of the Spirit and the Lord of Hosts to fight this battle for you. You are never empty-handed or alone.
Use Scripture always. Satan returned twice to nag Jesus. Anxiety doesn’t go away overnight, so expect the onslaught to continue a little while. Your mind is trained right now to worry- you need to untrain it. Don’t get despondent if it takes time – the victory will come. But keep knowledgeable about what God says- when we don’t know, we won’t be armed to fight back (Hosea 4:6). Hypochondria and anxiety are often a dark “I don’t know what’s happening” state of being- but like Jesus, shine the light of God’s truth (Word) on it. Ask Him daily to shine His light on the reality of your fears, so that there is less of it and more of Him.

As a last thought to ponder- if you were in a desert right now with no resources at all and you were battling with hypochondria and anxiety, how would you handle it then? You would have no place to turn other than to Jesus, right? (well, I hope so!). That should give you clean perspective of what is in your way of reaching out to Him and Him alone…

Part 2 can be found Temptation 2

Hypochondria – a lesson from the Wilderness | Temptation 2

So we saw previously that Jesus came against Satan with the Word of God and Satan gave up with that one. He must have given up pretty quickly because scripture changes immediately to his next attempt.
He persisted and took Jesus up to the pinnacle of the temple to tempt Jesus to throw Himself off so God would send angels to catch Him.

‘Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:

‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” Matt 4:5-6

Jesus again responded with the Word of God:

“Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.” Matt 4:7.

Note that Satan is making up his own scenario here – a crisis that doesn’t even exist! Look here:
Satan – creates a false scenario to test God that He truly physically protects His children
Jesus – had no need to do what Satan said because He walked in a trusting relationship with God that resulted from obedient service.

If you’re honest, what currently in your life is a made up scenario? Its hypochondria! Deep within we know we don’t have the illnesses we worry about. Actually, any situation that calls for a “what if” question in your mind can be classified as a made up scenario.
So how do we move from freaking out about a scenario that has not happened yet? We call on the name of the Lord. Jesus didn’t have to jump to prove His trust in God; He only had to use the Sword of the Spirit- by declaring and trusting in God’s word.

What prompted Satan to make up a scenario for Jesus anyway? Pride, control, manipulation, deception, not acknowledging God’s authority etc. Think of which issues in your life have prompted the development of hypochondria, this made up scenario. Remember, hypochondria is when the issues we deal with are too stressful that we subconsciously rather think of “the worst possible {made up} scenario”, which is our health. What is pushing you to rather focus on your health?
As we see, Satan waits until you are at your weakest to approach you with all sorts of doubtful questions about yourself, your life and your health. When are your weakest moments? Think of how you have handled anxiety and hypochondria up until now. Line it up with how Jesus handled His weak moments in the Wilderness. How big is the difference and how can you match them up?

Also look how Satan was tempting Jesus to use His own power to sort out His current situation. Turning stones to bread and testing God’s love by throwing Himself off the temple. That’s what he does – he pushes us to do everything in our own power instead of relying on God for the leading and the answers. When we rely on our own strength, we lose.
What are you currently doing in your own power instead of relying on God for? Googling symptoms is obviously one. Think of something personal and stressful you are going through at the moment- how are you taking things into your own hands and where are you leaving God out? Is He leading your day? Are you allowing Him to lead you through the next decision? Or are you making the decisions on your own?

Satan also tries to reinforce our thinking that God is a distant stern old Man very far away who waits in anticipation to strike us down with every mistake we make. He enjoys confusing us about who we are in Christ (‘if You are the Son of God’…) We are sons and daughters of the Living God. We are under a blood covenant so there is no reason to think that His promises and care are for the prettiest or most intelligent. Those promises are for us too! Take hold of them by confessing them into your life daily.
Look up Scripture that declares who you are in Christ and ask the Holy Spirit to make those truths very real to you about who our Daddy really is!

A lesson from David – Part 4

1 Samuel 17

Today concludes the study of the battle between David and Goliath. Part 3 can be found here

Now the battle begins.

“And he drew near the Philistine” (v40): This is what mattered- it would not have helped if David said all these great sounding things but never moved when crunch-time came. David was living James 1:22 by doing the Word and not just hearing it.
What made David have great faith was:
– he spoke truth based on God
– he renounced evil
– he prepared himself for battle (gathered his stones, v40) and importantly
– he did– he physically drew near to Goliath, which is today’s focus

“I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts” (v45). The Hebrew word for hosts is sabaoth, meaning “armies”. God is the Lord over heaven’s armies! David had guts, but he had guts in the Lord, not himself. He knew he had heaven’s army behind him- what a picture! And what a declaration!
He was also careful to acknowledge that the Lord would win, not himself, “the LORD will deliver you into my hand” (v46)
What’s a sure-fire victory? When you genuinely want God to get all the glory! David said, “Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.” (v47)
When little David saw how faithless Israel was, he knew they had to know there was still the God in Israel! He saw that Israel thought God could only save them with earthly weapons, swords and spears, and did not believe that the battle was the Lord’s. This is what David wanted to show them!

So, the battle is God’s, but we’re vessels remember? We have to stand up and fight! Verse 48 says that when Goliath got up and started coming toward David, David “hastened and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine”. David did not sit and think “it’s ok, I can chill because God is going to fight this for me.”
What worries me nowadays is that many Christians say “we’re under grace, we don’t need to do anything, God does it all for us.” God does, and we do it too. We trust God, we rely on Him but then we need to get up and fight back! God would not have given us Jesus’ authority or armour if He did not expect us to actively use it.
I can’t stress enough that you have to be active in fighting off all hypochondriacal and anxious thoughts. Recall my study of Joshua where God instructed him to not only read the word, but speak it (“shall not depart from your mouth”), think about it all the time (“meditate in it day and night”- thinking about God’s word all the time keeps out unwanted thoughts!) as well as DO it (“observe to do according to all that is written”).

Be very careful of having a passive mind and being idle. It’s hypochondria’s friend! If you are at a point right now where you are not working full-time, a student, stay at home mom etc. keep busy with the things of God. If you don’t, all you will do is sit at your pc and Google symptoms. Your health is all you will think about and you will never progress.
This doesn’t mean you have to sit with a Bible in your face 24 hours a day. But in the morning before you start your day, read a short devotional and think how you can apply it to your life. Any worries you have dedicate them to God and ask Him to smooth them out for you for the day. Maybe at lunch time learn a new Scripture that you like; maybe keep a diary and record how God has helped you so far. Get a good Christian book to read if you enjoy reading. Take a short walk and silently talk to God about what fears you have. Maybe pick a cause you care about and actively spend a few minutes a day praying for that cause – ISIS as an example can keep you very busy in that area right now! Praying for others is sowing seeds and you will reap your own reward for it; it also gets your mind off your own issues for a while.
***

• Look at the 4 points that qualified David as having great faith in the beginning of today’s study. Think of an issue you have and how you are handling it- see where/if you match up to those points in the way you are dealing with it.
• David knew that earthly weapons would not win the battle. What earthly weapons are you relying on to get through your trials?
• In what way do you think you could bring God glory through all the anxiety?
• Think about your anxious thoughts and worries individually. Identify areas where you are hastening and running toward your Goliath with God behind you, as well as areas where you may be opting to sit and worry while your Goliath threatens to tear you apart.
  Chop off the head of your enemy (v51) so that it no longer shouts deceptions into your ear!
• If you have any areas where you are predominantly idle, in what godly ways can you keep yourself occupied?

A lesson from David | Part 3

This is Part 3 in a lesson from David as it pertains to anxiety. Part 2 is here

1 Samuel 17

We saw how David stepped up to the plate and brought a godly perspective to the battle. You may wonder, “Well this was David – God had His eye on Him to be the greatest King of Israel! So he already had favour anyway. David did not have my problems. I’m no David!”

Well, David often faced his own trials that prepared him for this very victory. Life wasn’t always sweet and chilled in those rolling green hills. He was the youngest of his brothers which made him almost ‘insignificant’. In verse 33 Saul tells David he’s too young to face and fight such a battle, and David explains that while tending sheep he had to fight off and kill bears and lions to protect the sheep and lambs. David was approximately 15 years old when he fought Goliath, so God had been preparing him all his little life to fight this battle! This is how God usually works. He wants us to be faithful at the point where we are- be faithful just a little, and He will use it to accomplish greater things for you. If David hid away in fear from the lion and bear, he would never have been ready to fight Goliath. God was with him against the bear and lion, and with him against Goliath. Just like He will be with you through all your trials and worries of the day – if you trust in Him to handle them for you.
Saul then relents and gives David his armour to wear, but it was so heavy and big that he couldn’t walk with them, “David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them.” (v39)
This I find very important, especially when it comes to my story. I placed my experience of healing from hypochondria on my blog in the hopes that it will help others and to bring God glory. I truly believe God drew you to my story because He wanted to put us in touch and that He wants to help you and set you free.
At the same time, God does not want us to wear other peoples’ armour. Saul’s armour did not fit David, spiritually or physically, so he took it off. Try not to fight this battle using other armour. To think about how God helped me is great, because when you draw from others’ experiences you tap into the anointing yourself! As we are one body in Christ, then my story is actually your story too! God sees it as one!

But make your experience your own. I can’t tell you why I was healed in only 4 days by only declaring that God will fight the battle for me- God works differently with different people. By you believing that God will fight this battle for you is scriptural, but is it fitting you? Is doing it my way necessarily your good fit? Sometimes God fights the battle we are in, and sometimes He directs us what to do to see victory. My decision after reading about Jehoshaphat’s battle felt like the Holy Spirit placed it on my lap saying “here’s your answer”. I had supernatural faith that this was how I had to pray, I knew deep within me. This is what you need to find for yourself as well!

When David got rid of Saul’s armour it was a spiritual principle because David was then relying on God’s armour alone. He knew that God would win that battle. With anxiety we always play it safe by wearing different kinds of armour (we pray as well as listen to doctors’ reassurances, own human reasoning etc.) but God wants us to trust in Him alone. Never forget my story because it will bring hope. But be watchful that you don’t start relying on Caddie’s “method” only instead of purely relying on God and what He has for you! He wants to show you how.

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The Bible says that ‘hope deferred makes the heart sick’ (Prov 13:12). All throughout the Old Testament God would always remind Israel what He had done for them in the past and it hit home. And we saw David recall how God helped him in the past. There is something that stirs the spirit when we recall what God has done for us.
Recall and write down all the good things God has done for you the past few months, as small as it may be. You will begin to tap into the strength and life of what He did for you in the past.

How can you be faithful by giving God all your concerns for the day?

What armour are you wearing? One I can think of is Googling symptoms! Think of any armour you may be using that is not God Himself. (Basically anything you are relying on to bring you temporary peace). How can you take off that armour and wear Jesus instead?

Are there times when you use David’s words about God’s armour “I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them”?
Think of times you may think that relying on God is “wishy-washy”. Dig deep and think of why you may think He’s not powerful enough to help you alone.

Verses:
But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever. I will praise You forever, because You have done it; and in the presence of Your saints I will wait on Your name, for it is good. Psalm 52:8-9

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9

Hypochondria – a lesson from the Garden

“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’ ” Gen 2:16-17

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die…” Gen 3:1-5
Firstly, Satan decides to tempt the woman probably because she was more vulnerable to attack. Then Satan made sure to talk with her when she was ALONE! Do you not tend to get the worst of your thoughts from hypochondria when you are alone? When we are alone we sometimes feel more vulnerable with no one there to help us or lift us up. But God is there! Right with you. Just pick up your sword (Word of God) and fight right back!

Hypochondria is a big fat lie. We all know that but we struggle to accept it in our hearts. The enemy takes advantage of this. He will push and push you with tormenting thoughts about your health which are not true. Look at how he played Eve:
He tried making her doubt exactly what God said by making her question herself. He says to her, “HAS God INDEED said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” (as in, are you sure sure? Do you believe that? Did you actually hear correctly?) Translated for us, it would be “are you SURE you don’t have that disease? Did you believe the Doctor when he told you you’re ok? Hmm…shouldn’t you just check one more time?”

Satan then questions the validity of God’s command “You will not SURELY die?” (as in, “like come on, that’s not true?”). See how he tried posing the questions to her to appear as if they were all innocent! Our questions to ourselves (or from the enemy) about our health sound valid and legit but they are rooted in lies and deceit to keep you from obtaining your victory! Translated for us, it would sound something like, “You’ve got the symptom, something must be wrong! Surely this symptom means I have xyz? Surely they would have picked it up by now? Surely I wouldn’t be experiencing this pain if I never had [xyz]?” And as you know the list goes on and on! That’s a serpent’s whispers. God’s whispers are “My Son died on the cross for you My child, you are healthy and made whole! I have a future planned for you filled with hope. Victory is yours in My Son Jesus! Stand up!”
Satan needed to get Eve to doubt even a little because then his battle was almost won! Accepting that doubt and lie from the enemy helps him win just a little more day by day. You’re already on the winning side, you just have to be disciplined in applying that victory!

Also notice how Eve put words in God’s mouth. Her words, “you shall not eat it” and “lest you die” were true, but she added to the command and said, “nor shall you touch it.” God never said anything about not touching it! I read once that some Jewish writers said that as soon as Eve said this, the serpent pushed her against the tree and said, ‘See, you have touched it, and are still alive; you may therefore safely eat of the fruit, for surely you shall not die.’” He knows how to get us at every turn.
How often do we get reassurance from doctors and Google (cyberchondria), friends, family, anyone we can, that we are in perfect health? But we add to what the Doctors have said positively about our health and state, “but what about…but what if…”

The moment Mr. Cunning asked Eve the first question, she should not have carried on having the discussion with him- she should’ve walked away. We can see some of Eve in us can’t we? Do we not constantly discuss and argue with ourselves and Doctors if we have a disease or not? Do we not argue back to the enemy with the lies and deceit he places into our heads? Arguing with the enemy means he wins. We are never allowed to discuss anything with the enemy, only to command things in the name of Jesus, e.g. rebuking the thoughts out loud in Jesus name!

“Get thee behind me Satan!” (Matt 16:23)