Surviving a Spiritual Heart-Attack

11 Wednesday Jul 2012

Posted by eisakouo in Living In Uncertain Times

Tags

2 Chronicles 32:6-8, be strong and courageous, crisis, divide and conquer, Eleanor Roosevelt Quote, False Evidence Appearing Real, fear, forgotten or lost our words and truth, heart problems, King Hezekiah, open the gates, Sennachrib, spiritual attack, swine flu

I have been blogging about what Hezekiah did to prepare his nation for invasion. So far, I have dealt with the physical issues. More important than the physical issues are the spiritual concerns of life. Many have survived a physical attack only to discover subsequently, their spiritual life was in shambles. In wisdom, Hezekiah prepared the people’s hearts for the onslaught of Sennacherib’s verbal assaults about God, the King, and the nation. The King didn’t want his people having a spiritual heart attack in the middle of a crisis.

He appointed military officers over the people and assembled them before him in the square at the city gate and encouraged them with these words: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people gained confidence from what Hezekiah the king of Judah said. 2 Chron. 32:6-8

The number one crippling emotion in crisis is fear. Fear rules the day. Fear is not reality. It is our emotional response to what we think we know… real or imagined. Fear is an acrostic for False Evidence Appearing Real. There are 365 “fear not’s” in the Bible. There is one for each day of the week. Why? Fear is an enormous problem for God’s people. I am sure you have heard all this.

It is interesting. If I hear the Lord tell me, “I love you,” it is a sure guarantee I am going to be attacked in the near future….. to the point I question myself, “Does God really love me?” If I hear the Lord say something like, “Get ready!” rest assured, I am about to navigate some troubling waters, which will make me feel exhausted and not quite up to the challenges. If I hear the Lord reassure me about life, my family, or ministry, it is a sure bet I am going to be assaulted in these same areas. If you pay close attention to the Lord’s words to you, it will tip-you-off to the enemy’s attacks against you. In ignorance, I used to tell the Lord, “Lord, no need in telling me these types of encouraging words… I am good in those areas.” (Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve had a few pride issues.) Now I receive and believe these words from the Lord wholeheartedly. If He is encouraging me in whatever area, I need it or I am going to need it! The order and condition of our hearts is always of importance, but during a crisis, it is of extreme importance. A crisis is a bad time to begin having heart problems.

Hezekiah encourages his people with “be strong and courageous…” The enemy will soon be at the gate with an all-out, frontal assault on their belief system. As a whole, they will stand together or separately be torn apart. The invading army didn’t want to endure a long siege. They wanted this battle to be relatively quick. The easiest way for Sennacherib to conquer God’s people was for them to simply open the gates themselves and let give up without a fuss. Fear causes people to submit to the enemy. Hezekiah’s words bolstered the people’s resolve, quelled their fears, and helped them to stay the course.

A few years ago America almost shut down in places because of the Swine Flu. There wasn’t an epidemic. No, it shut down in certain places because of the perception the flu was going to bad. This message kept going out in the media. Do you remember this? For instance, in some areas like Texas, they cancelled athletics for the remainder of the year. Other schools closed for over a week because they feared their students might contract the disease. The Swine Flu was contagious, but the story was even more contagious.

One pastor told the story of having to go to the emergency room for a real emergency only to find the emergency room filled with over 200 people, all concerned they had contracted the Swine Flu. You might guess how many actually had the flu. Absolutely Nobody. Fear keeps people captive….whether real or imagined. The problem for him was that fear was occupying all the medical resources.

The media played a big part in all this. They are in business to inform the public. They also have another mission…to sell. In order to sell, they must keep their audience interested and ratings up. Fear sells. This is why news organizations thrive in bad circumstances like a flu outbreak or serial killer on the loose.

Sennacherib attempted to do the same thing in Hezekiah’s day. He sent a letter to the people inside the walls of Jerusalem communicating how feeble and weak Judah was compared to his vast army. He reminded them that all the other nations, along with their gods, were unable to stand against him. Sennacherib even had his soldiers yell over the wall in Hebrew to scare the people. His plan, divide and conquer. He used psychological warfare! Fear sells. He did what EVIL did in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. They chopped off the heads of warriors and catapulted them over the wall to create fear.

What wise people do in times of uncertainty is limit the voices of influence. They decide who they will and will not listen to before a crisis. Wise people stick to what they do know, not speculate about what they don’t know.

I am amazed at what people STOP doing in times of difficulty or trials.

Many stop reading God’s word. They stop ingesting the very words of God that brought them to the present. Why? If you needed God’s word last year, then you need it this year. If you needed God’s word last month, you need it this month. Many start listening to foreign voices…even bad voices during difficult circumstances. If a voice was bad for you 3 years ago, then it is bad for you now. In addition, others stop praying and seeking God’s face when problems arise. No encouragement there! If you needed prayer 10 years ago, then you need it all the more now.

Fear can only reach us when we have forgotten or lost our truths and words from the Lord. There will always be Sennacheribs who yell and scream the polar opposite of God’s word. If you don’t know your sources and voices, you will be prompted to follow the wrong influences. If your heart is not in order, then you will probably be one of those people who actually vote to open the gates, let the enemy into your kingdom, and hope against hope he will treat you fairly. When the Northern Kingdom was taken away into bondage, the Persians put grappling hooks in some of them and carried them away into exile. The threat was real….but so were the Words from the Lord. We all have a choice today. We can order our hearts and listen to the Lord or we can continue to allow the disinformation to create dysfunction in our hearts and guarantee a spiritual heart attack.

Blessings,

Pastor

Living In Uncertain Times

07 Saturday Jul 2012

Posted by eisakouo in Living In Uncertain Times

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bad news, God will always do His part, II Chronicles 32, King Hezekiah, Life is uncertain but God is not, Lincoln quote, rains on the just and unjust, real believers are planters, responsibility, safe and secure, Sennachrib, spirituality, trusting God in difficult circumstances, uncertain times, wading through quicksand

We do live in uncertain times. I don’t think you need me to tell you this fact. I am sure you have been watching the news or catching blimps here and there. It seems here lately there has only been BAD NEWS. I want you to ask and answer yourself this question.

Do you feel safe and secure?
Do you feel like the Hand of God is upon this nation?
Do you feel like the grace and blessing of God is continuing to protect us, even from ourselves? Or have you noticed lately, no matter how hard we try every effort is like wadding through quicksand…. everything turns into an effort of futility.

Now, if you believe we are living in uncertain times, be of good courage. A lot of people lived in uncertain times and learned to trust God through difficult circumstances. And now we live in uncertain times too and this means the Bible should be more relevant today than any other time in our life. We should be looking to it for answers to the difficulties we face. II Chronicles 32 speaks to this very issue and I am going to spend four or five blogs talking about what King Hezekiah did to face the same uncertainties we face.

Take moment and find a sheet of paper or pull up the notepad on your computer or phone. Write down or type in the thing or things you are most worried about in your life right now. Set it aside, because we will come back it later.

There is a core principle which must be established in our lives before any of us can even attempt to trust and know God more intimately in difficult circumstances. It goes like this… Life Is Uncertain, but God Is Not. Life will throw a lot of uncertain people, things and events at you. But, it must be settled in your heart and spirit… life is totally uncertain, but God is not. No matter what happens you will always be the apple of God’s eye and kept in the center of His hand. God loves you. He is not trying to make life more difficult for you. He seeks only the very best for you. As Christians, knowing God is in control, should dictate how we respond to crisis.

Now listen to what I am about to say… Most Christians are not going to fare well in these future difficult times. Why? The truth is not in them and the difficult times will bear that reality. Just because some believers will be exposed shouldn’t dissuade you from pursuing the Lord with all your heart. Real believers are planters. They plant truth in their lives in good times and bad. Bad circumstances only causes them to plant more vigorously.

This is why Hezekiah is a good example for us today. When he became king, corruption abounded. Yet, he pursued the Lord with all his heart. After 11 years of reform, you would have thought he would have blessed with peace and tranquility, but no.

After these acts of faithfulness Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and besieged the fortified cities, and thought to break into them for himself. 2 Chronicles 32:1

Does anyone have a problem with this? For 11 years, Hezekiah has done everything right, but trouble still came his way. Now most people would say something like this “God, I don’t understand…I was doing everything right, why did You let this happen? God I thought if I followed You, I wouldn’t have these types of problems!” Have you ever question God like this?

Here’s what Hezekiah knows: Life is uncertain, but God is not. This young king is more familiar with God than the difficult circumstances he faces. So rather than shaking his fist at God and blaming Him or pouting, because God is not fair. He simply concludes, “that’s life. It rains on the just and unjust“. Hezekiah didn’t turn to Prosaic to fight off depression. He moved forward by taking steps to ensure he had done all he is supposed to do. In times of uncertainty, we still have responsibility.

This is important. Let me explain. Suppose you knew a farmer and visited his farm one day. There you saw him sitting on his tractor, pouting. You ask, “what’s wrong?” The farmer quickly retorts, “Well I’m mad with God, because the harvest isn’t what I thought it would be.” You look out at the fields and sure enough there is nothing growing. Out of curiosity, you start to ask questions, “What’s wrong? Did it not rain enough?” He confesses, “It rained plenty.” You further inquire, “Is the soil not fertile?” He says, “No, it’s great. That’s why I am so mad. I’ve got good soil, I’ve had good rains. It should have been a good harvest.” So you inquire, “Well what kind of seed did you plant?” “Well I didn’t plant any,” he asserts.

What are you going to concude from a situation like this? If you don’t sow the seed, how can you expect a harvest? Yet, this is precisely what people do in difficult circumstances. They stop praying. They stop giving. They stop putting the word of God inside their heart. They stop fighting for right and wrong. Even in difficult and uncertain times we must be planters, knowing we cannot harvest if there is NO SEED in the ground.

When uncertainty comes and it always does… There are some things we are responsible to do. God will always do His part. We have God’s promise in His word. This is what Hezekiah knew…Life is uncertain but God is not. Hezekiah knew he could count on God, but he also knew his responsibility.

Stay with me… next we will see what Hezekiah did next to assure Sennachrib didn’t defeat him.

Blessings,

Pastor