"Come on Now!"
So in previous posts we've been doing a lot of talk about addiction, drugs, drugs of abuse, recovery, passion and the misplacement of passion. So how does some of this fit together with you and your relationship with God?
If you have ever been in a black church and heard the preacher get to preaching his/her heart out, toward the conclusion of the message, you will hear someone in the congregation shout “come on now.”
This shout of encouragement signals to the preacher that the person who said it is enlightened and sees where the Preacher is going, as the person is able to grasp the information and put it all together so that he or she knows not only what the preacher is talking about, but simultaneously understands what God is revealing to him/her.
Right now, let’s work toward that “come on now” moment as we expose the intent of the Enemy by exploring the scripture below and in HEAD GAMES (Part 2 of 3) and HEAD GAMES (Part 3 of 3). Our first three points:
1.You are God's crowning achievement in His creation
We are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26) with Psalm 139:14 declaring “that I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” The word wonderful (PALA) conveys the meaning that we are not only wonderfully made but also that we are wonderful and are to be wonderful (i.e., full of God’s beauty and radiance of His light, love, and character [Hebrews 1:3]). We truly are God’s children and we are created to reflect the wonder of our Father (Romans 8:14-16).
2. The Original Lie - The Injection of Doubt, Dishonesty, Deception, Dependence Shifts and Doom from the Devil
Genesis 3:1–7 reveals that within moments of God creating us, the Diabolical One who has and will always seek our demise (John 8:44; Revelation 12:10) was at work trying to destroy us. First, he instilled doubt in God’s promises to us (v. 1 – “Did God really say…”), and from there, he chased that up with dishonesty (v. 4 – “You will not die…”), and in doing so creating in that brief moment the notion (and delusion) that what he had to offer was better than what God freely gives to us.
Third, the Devil conjured up the deception (v. 5 – “You will be like God…”) which taps right to the core of who we are: “That I not only want to be all powerful, but I also need something from outside of my person to attain that level of existence. When I find it and when I ingest it, I will quickly, intensely, and powerfully have it all.” Tell me Satan wasn’t a stone cold addict.
Fourth, the Devil oversaw the dependence shift (v. 6 – “ the fruit of the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eye and desirable for gaining wisdom”) as scripture records on page 3 of the Bible one of the first choices mankind made was to selfishly relate with and possess the created thing versus seeking and enjoying relationship with the Creator.
Finally, after the deed was done, the doom set in (v. 7 ff – “their eyes were open and they realized their nakedness”). It is usually when we come off the euphoric and exciting high from being around and ingesting and intimately knowing (YADA) that created object, that the crash of reality sets in that we have been manipulated, duped, suckered, taken, mistreated, abused, beaten, violated, raped and in most cases, been a victim of attempted murder (certainly soul and spirit murder) as the Devil tried to destroy us. No need to ask who really loves you.
3. Dealing with the Wound(s) from the Enemy
Ephesians 6:16 talks about the “flaming arrows” of the Evil One (and how we can extinguish them through the Shield of Faith). The word for “flaming arrow” is PEPUROMEN, which conveys a dual meaning:
First, as the arrows hit us, they inflict distress (as if we don’t already have enough of it already, we are attacked by the enemy and he messes with our mind and our emotions – imagine that, why on earth would he do such a thing?).
Second, the word means “to inflame our sexual desires.” Now here is a unique way to handle my distressed feelings...engage in some form of sexual activity, that is, doing something outside of myself to affect the inside of myself that will quickly, intensely, euphorically and powerfully boost my hurting emotions and ego [mind]. Is this déjà vu all over again?
I don't mean to make light of the hurt a person is feeling or has experienced. As human beings, when we are hurting we may reach for the first “created” thing or experience that we think will bring immediate relief. For some of us, it has been the intentional reach to drugs to escape our pain. For others, we may have sought comfort in the illusion of what a sexual encounter could bring. Either way, we made unhealthy choices in an effort to eliminate the distress we did not want to feel and we may not have truly known of the scandalous and dangerous snare that the Diabolical One set for us, fully intending for us to experience greater harm in the process. The greater danger is once we cross a line and engage in certain types of behavior, we run the risk of training our bodies and minds to want more.
Next in HEAD GAMES: Come on Now (Part 2 of 3): Pharmacology 101, Spiritual Pharmacology 101 and The Plot Thickens.
Feel free to leave a comment or pass this post to others who you think would like to read it and by all means visit my other page at dr ken mcgill’s blog for more helpful “counseling” information.
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