Crowd of people with masks on. COVID-19

Comfort in Uncertain Times

Posted by Pastor Susan Dyer on

Comfort in Uncertain Times

A Positive Response to Covid

Covid has put many into a spin of hopelessness, fear, and despair. As we listen to the news, watch those who are masked, not masked, those who do not stay six feet apart or wash their hands…many thoughts run through our minds. We are trying to protect ourselves from getting sick but if someone does not follow your rule, you form a judgment and unknowingly agree with fear.

It is human nature to avoid emotions that scare or annoy us and then to respond negatively. Who wants to walk directly into what promises to be a harmful experience? But by continually avoiding truth and ignoring the ‘fear’ within, anyone can be held captive that leads to an isolated, judgmental life. Therefore, fearfulness causes us to distrust others or even ourselves to do the right thing. We sacrifice our sense of community and togetherness. We stop listening or only listen to what we want to hear.

Typically, this involves hiding from any potentially stressful situation that might cause upset. This decision leads to isolation. Unfortunately, one is also hiding from potential challenges that can lead to growth and joy. No one can hide forever from fear. It’s going to strike, despite your best efforts to suppress it. And it is likely that it will strike at a time when you most need emotional composure. The good news is that once you understand and face your fear, rather than shove it into a distant compartment of your brain, it begins losing the ability to rule you and dictate your decisions.

Lady praying over Bible

Tips to Work Through Your Fear and Live Your Life

  1. Guard your thoughts. “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life,” Proverbs 4:23. Whatever is focused on, one’s power is given to that thought. When fear is the focus, it will dictate life decisions and well-being. Fear is restricting and projects hopelessness into the future as to what could happen. For example, a son who lives in Texas, due to fear of Covid, does not want his parents from Georgia to visit their child. He had been listening to the news, watching others, forming judgments, and now his thoughts went to fear for the baby. The course of his life, due to fear, is isolation and preventing his parents to celebrate the joy of a new child.
  2. Seek Truth. Fear is a spirit that projects into the future whatever you are meditating on that it will come to pass. Fear has torment and makes you form judgments that lock you into discontentment, anger, and resentment. God’s Word cancels every fear. There is no power over you that God’s Word does not have power over. To break fear, repent, and renounce the agreement with fear and decree, “God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind,” 2 Timothy 1:7.
  3. Maintain your faith. Take time to schedule prayer and bible reading. Ask for wisdom to look at the situations through God’s eyes and to be able to walk with His Heart. A young wife suffered a stroke after going on the wrong pills. The doctor told her she may never fully recover physically and that she would not be able to have children. Through prayer, the Lord told her to “paint a new picture on the canvas of her imagination.” The negative report from the doctor put fear that was binding and restricting her vision for the future. Her prayer was, “Father, I want to see my future through your eyes. You said you would give me the desires of my heart; I choose to erase the negative words spoken over me and to paint a new picture in my heart of the future. I receive your promises of having children and walking in health.” Her mother drew a picture on a canvas, placed at the foot of her hospital bed. When she woke up, she saw her new future. Today she is healed and a mother of three beautiful children.
  4. Use God’s Word as a weapon against the enemy. Every day, our minds are bombarded with thousands of thoughts. Do those thoughts agree with what God says in the Bible? Or are they lies from the enemy? God commands us to take our thoughts captive and He gave us the Bible as our best weapon to defeat the enemy. Fear of Covid does not have to control you when you know you have the right standing with Jesus to overcome any challenge. We are to challenge our thoughts to come into alignment with the truth in God’s Word. If you have a problem, find a promise. God’s promises decreed and proclaimed cancel every lie of the enemy. How does God want us to respond to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic…by the power in His Word, “No weapon formed against me shall prosper,” Isaiah 54:17.

AFRICAN AMERICAN READING BIBLE

WOMAN PRAYING WITH MASK ON

Don’t Let Fear Control You

Posted by Pastor Susan Dyer on

Don’t Let Fear Control You

Let Truth Conquer Fear

We all struggle with our inner thoughts and emotions. Sometimes we can get trapped in them. It can feel like there is a dark cloud hanging over our heads. Fear can be paralyzing and can stop you from becoming the person you were designed to be. Your life is so much more than the fear you are experiencing. To experience freedom in Christ, and to grow in the grace of God, requires repentance, which literally means a change of mind. You can learn how to conquer your fears and be fearless. The following steps are truths that will set you free to live the abundant life Jesus has promised to every believer.

First of all, God creates within us a protective fear that is temporary and circumstantial for the purpose of keeping us safe. But God doesn’t put into us chronic, debilitating fear. That fear comes from the devil and is demonically inspired. The only answer for this type of fear is to take authority over it, bind it, and cast it from our lives as Jesus taught us.

Therefore, if fear is a God-given natural response when our physical or psychological safety is threatened. Courage is not the absence of fear, but it is living by faith and doing what is right in the face of illegitimate fear objects. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and the only fear that can overcome all other fears. Irrational fears compel us to live irresponsible lives or prevent us from doing that which is responsible and from being good witnesses. Behind every irrational fear is a lie that must be identified. Our purpose is to identify when fear entered and to break the stronghold. This prayer will allow the Lord to identify any controlling fear and to root out the mind-binding lies:

Dear Heavenly Father, I confess that I have allowed fear to control me and that lack of faith is sin. I confess I’ve agreed with fear, and ask that you forgive me. Thank you for Your forgiveness. I recognize that You have not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love and discipline. I renounce any spirit of fear operating in my life and ask You to reveal any and all-controlling fears in my life and the lies behind them. I desire to live by faith in You and in the power of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ Name, I pray. Amen.

Renewing your mind is a process, but the process begins with acknowledging strongholds of fear that have legal rights. Identify any deceptions you were knowingly or unknowingly believing and agreeing with; such as fear of death, of never loving or being loved, fear of Satan, fear of embarrassment, rejection by other people, failure, victimized, becoming/being homosexual, controlling marriage, going crazy, financial problems, pain/illness, the future, never being married, confrontation, being hopeless, specific individuals, losing salvation, not loved by God, having committed the unpardonable sin. Other_____

Analyze Your Fear:

YOUNG MAN PRAYING*

When did you first experience the fear, and what events preceded the first experience? What lies have you been believing that are the basis for the fear? How has the fear kept you from living a responsible life or compromised your witness? Confess any active or passive way that you have allowed fear to control you. Work out a plan of responsible behavior and be determined in advance what your response will be to any fear or object.*

Father, in Jesus’ Name, I renounce the fear of (name the fear and associated lies) because God has not given me a spirit of fear. I choose to live by faith in You and I acknowledge You as the only legitimate fear object in my life. I receive the promise in Isaiah 41:10, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Thank you, Father, I receive and thank you for Your love, power, and a sound mind,” in Jesus’ Name, I pray. Amen.

WOMAN RAISING ARMS ON MONTAIN

*The Steps to Freedom in Christ by Neil T. Anderson
*Pictures by Unsplash

Overcoming Strongholds

Posted by Pastor Susan Dyer on

Overcoming Strongholds

Fear, Stress and Anxiety

Have you ever had someone you trusted, who should have played a friendship role in your life, deeply betrayed your trust, and hurt you? As a result, the enemy lied to you that no one could be trusted and you are on your own. You in turn then become fiercely independent, so much so that you have trust issues, which has then resulted in you struggling to trust God’s promises in your life!

Any wound we experience, hurt or disappointment makes our heart fertile ground for seeds of lies to be planted. On this foundation, the enemy then begins to build brick by brick, a wall of lies, inaccurate ideas about the person of God, erroneous interpretations of Scripture, prideful thoughts, and distorted perceptions of how God sees us and feels about us when we sin. Sometimes the enemy is so subtle in your thoughts, you have a tough time figuring out which is which. You just have to be careful to guard your thought life. Whatever you agree with, you give your power to that thought and it forms a stronghold.

What exactly is a stronghold?

Man stressed

A stronghold is an incorrect thinking pattern that has molded itself into our way of thinking. These strongholds have the capability to affect our feelings, how we respond to various situations in life, and they play a large role in our spiritual freedom.

Strongholds are built upon deception and error. These errors and deceptions which form strongholds can come from a wide variety of sources, including our environment, those around us, our parents, or even demon spirits. A person who has a demon behind their stronghold(s) may find it nearly impossible to tear them down and keep them down. This is because the demon will be working hard at rebuilding and holding those strongholds in place. They will be countering that person’s efforts to tear them down. It will seem as if they are hitting a brick wall, and even if they seem to make progress, it seems like their efforts are in vain because it keeps coming back.

How do you tear down strongholds?

We know that strongholds and imaginations must be cast down, but how? By being transformed through the renewing of our minds: Romans 12:2, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

As our minds are renewed, we may prove (discern) what is good, acceptable, and perfect, and the will of God. These things are some of the very things that strongholds rise themselves against! Many people who are caught up in shame-based thinking do not realize that it’s God’s will and it is good for them to disassociate themselves from their past. Their minds need to be renewed, and as those strongholds come down, they will be able to see God’s will and respond.

Our minds are renewed and cleansed through the Word of God. Spending time and meditating on the Word of God washes our minds and corrects our false thinking patterns (strongholds). Ephesians 5:26-27, “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”

As we meditate and wash our minds with God’s Word, we will be transformed by the renewing of our minds, and we will come to know the will of God and discern what is right, perfect, and good. Our strongholds, which are based upon error and deception will not stand a chance as the light of God’s Word (truth) is shed upon those areas of our minds.

PRAYING HANDS ON BIBLE

Prayer to break strongholds:

Father, I ask in Jesus’ Name that you forgive me for agreeing with any strongholds of fear, stress, and anxiety. I renounce the agreement and break the lies that formed a stronghold. I agree with the Word of God, “If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed,” John 8:36. I receive freedom and forgiveness from all strongholds. I bless myself with the mind of Christ and decree, “I have defeated strongholds by the blood of the Lamb and by my testimony,”  Revelation 12:11. Thank you, Father, for hearing and answering my prayer. Amen.