What is your trigger?
This week I fell for one of satan’s tools. Something happened that left me spinning, probably more then it should have. I placed someone who was in biblical authority on a pedestal, and that person fell. Only Christ should be placed on that pedestal and only Christ is faithful in all things. This week the Lord really showed me how I got to that point, because it is sneaky and it reminded me how satan works. Someone else’s sin can lead to sin in your own life, but it manifests in a different way.
Let me review how satan works:
1. He knows his tools. And his biggest tool is a voice in your head, and a sympatic ear. We are all prone to wander. For me personally, I was already going through some spiritual warfare before this week, I felt battle weary. I was beginning to regroup and refresh, feeling that I was fighting the good fight. I felt the sympatic ear of how my weariness was understood, and I should relax a bit.
2. Satan knows our wiring and our tendencies. It was made evident to me that I lost sight of spiritual leaders human tendencies. We are all human, but in my tunnel vision I lost sight of that. So when a leader who I was close to fell, it rocked my world. How could he sin? This person was Godly, he could do no wrong. Here was a tendency/belief Satan was aware of I had, even if I was not aware of it myself. I do now.
Satan’s goal is to create an environment where he can tempt your mind. He wants to fill your head with thoughts that will stir your affections in hopes you will enact the free will given to you, to participate in activities or make it easy to lead you away from Christ.
When you enact in that will, you fall into sin.
James 1:14 states: But each one is tempted when he is carried away (mind) and enticed by his own lust.
Many times Satan wants you to believe this is as good as it gets, you begin to feel defeated, and you wonder what all the fight is for if you will only fail. So he will move you to a place where you should not be or thinking things you should not think.
My temptation this week was to walk away from any ministry I was involved in, no more devotionals, no more Internet Café, no more… for all it leads to is pain and disappointment. If the person I looked up to could fall into sin so greatly, then what hope is there for me to make a difference in the Kingdom of God?
Do you hear the lies that were whispered to this battle weary girl? Satan knew I was already weary; I was already feeling a bit attacked (notice he created the environment), and then suddenly my mentor/spiritual advisor fell and hurt everyone around (and provided me a simple reason to just walk away, to say it is not worth it).
But God carried me, and used this pain to make me aware that I was placing human men (and by men I mean men and women) on a pedestal, that is not fair to them and it can lead me down the wrong path. Only Christ deserves that position.
So now I know a weakness, a temptation that I have. How do I defeat this when it comes up again? And it will, we are all human.
Paul tells Timothy in I Timothy 4:16 “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching..†Basically KNOW YOURSELF, know what tempts you.
I know if I walk into a mall with a pocketbook full of money, this is a serious temptation for me. Because I know this fact about myself, I will not walk into a mall if that money was not supposed to go towards things in a mall. Know what your triggers are, and move away from them.
If when you are alone you have the tendency to think negative thoughts, or to fall into a negative pattern. Be aware of that and move away from that environment, surround yourself with positive words of Christ, surround yourself with a body of believers, do not allow yourself to be alone for an extended period of time. Know what your triggers are. Sometimes it is something very physical like the computer, the type of books you read, the type of magazines you surround yourself with, the type of music you listen to.
For me now, I am aware there are many wise and wonderful men and women here to teach me more about Christ, but they are never to be placed on a pedestal. My trigger in this was placing others on the same spiritual pedestal as I placed Christ. Also I need to be aware when I am weary in battle to surround myself in his word. We are all one in the body, just with different spiritual gifts. And the only person who will not fail us is Christ. I know this seems obivious, but like I said satan is tricky and it can happen without you being aware.
In Matt 26:41 it states “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation.”
All of this cannot be done in our own power, we can only fight temptation with God’s power, we are nothing on our own. On our own we are a squirt gun trying to put out a forest fire, but with Christ we are heavy torrential rain to that forest fire.
Walk worthy, know yourself, and do not allow Satan to place you in the environment that will lead to temptation. Sometimes it can hit you out of the blue like it did me, then pick yourself up, run to Christ and with his power he will teach you, stretch you and put out the fire of temptation with His word of truth.
Heavenly Father, help us examine ourselves, to know what our temptation triggers are, I know they are different for each person. Help us to stand up and be bold and to say, “I can not do that, for it is a trigger for me” and give us the strength to walk away. Through your power, nothing can defeat us. Thank you Father for when we do fall, you are there to teach and instruct us in the way to go, and to help us grow stronger in the knowledge of you so we do not fall for the same lie each time.
Amen.
Always run as fast as you can to God dear Laurel, He will never let you down, but He will always lift you up.
Great post, Laurel, and wonderful lessons.
I went through some of these things several years ago when someone I knew whom I and others had looked up to in college and who became a missionary supported by our church fell in a major way on the mission field. Besides what you mentioned about not putting people on a pedestal and knowing Christ alone will never disappoint, I also learned to “take heed to myself” — to realize that if this person (and King David, a man after God’s own heart) could fall, I could fall just as easily. And I also was reminded, when I do have pastors or others I look up to, to pray for them and not just take for granted that they will always stand strong. We can’t take that for granted about ourselves or anyone.
Laurel, this was very good and very timely for me, as you know. But in the end it is God who is my high tower, not man, and I need to keep that forefront in my mind and run to Him.
I just love your humility in admitting where you fell, learning from it and then sharing it with us.
Laurel, you are right. We are all human and we all have different temptations. But I know that Christ was tempted too. How did He react to those temptations? With the Word of God. He answered Satan’s temptations with Scripture passages. That always gives me hope to know that Christ used God’s Word to hold Satan at bay.
Thank you so much for sharing from your heart today. I pray that you are confident in Him today and always. It is SO WORTH it to stand up against the evil one, even when we feel weary.
Much Love,
<>< Iris
This was such a great post Laurel……it’s something I have struggled with the last little while as well…..I put people in leadership on these pedestals and when they fail me I am so disillusioned…..
Thank you for sharing!
Blessings
Thank you so much for reminding me to not place faith I should have in God, in other humans.
It’s sometimes amazing how we can so easily get off-track. Our previous pastor used to comment that if you are headed north and you veer off just ONE DEGREE, it doesn’t seem like much, but the greater distance you cover, the further away you are from your destination. And of course, Satan knows full well that if he presents sin to us in all its ugly depravity, we’ll ignore it. But if he can package it “just so,” it’ll slip in totally unnoticed. Fortunately, we serve a faithful and holy God who doesn’t leave us without needed resources.
I’m so glad to know that you’ve run back to the arms of Jesus and have recognized this for what it is. Sometimes recognition and acknowledgment are half the battle. Praise God that He is faithful and will never leave you nor forsake you. He will be your strong tower and your refuge.
God bless you! 🙂
Excellent post. I loved that last bit…pick yourself up and run to Christ…often we feel like running the other way…but to Him is the best and first place we ought to be! Thanks for your insights and honesty
Hey Laurel,
Thanks so much, this really spoke to me today. Very often you post something and I’m in the same place. I’m struggling with my blogging at the moment, I really want to but I’m feeling bound and not able to blog what I want to because of one person’s comments! Anyway, thanks for your faithfulness. I thank God for you!
Blessings,
Del xxxx
‘My temptation this week was to walk away from any ministry I was involved in, no more devotionals, no more Internet Café, no more’
I can’t tell you how many times this thought has entered my mind when I am battle worn and weary. “You don’t have to put yourself through this” the enemy says…
And then I think of how by laying aside my ministry I have laid aside my reason for being alive, and things are put into perspective again…I am so glad you have seen this too…We’d be so lonesome without you..:))
I know this week was so hard for you Laurel but I really feel like you’ve helped so many people (myself included) by talking about it and identifying the enemy and making us think about our triggers.
Thanks for sharing~
Hi Laurel,
What a good post.
I was deeply hurt by someone in leadership many years ago. The Lord used it to teach me that only HE is completely trustworthy. Period.
John 2:24 “But Jesus did not trust Himself to them (his disciples) because He knew all men.”
If Jesus is our example, and He did not trust human nature and human hearts (John 2:24), then we would do well to follow suit.
Aren’t you grateful that the Lord uses even difficult times to teach us?
I pray your heart heals quickly.
I love that you are strong enough to find the message that God is teaching you, instead of turning your back and missing the blessing.
I had the same experience as yours..even nows sometimes when some other christian let me down, I also will ask the Lord’ Why??” then I feel so disappointed….but I know that only the lord will never fail us and always lift us up by his love, words…
I wish I can always fix my eyes on HIM…..
Laurel, I always enjoy your post and I’m giving this one the ultimate compliment–I’m forwarding to my adult daughters.
We (my daughters and I) all watched someone in leadership fall from pride–not just fall but twisted Scripture, taught false doctrine and took many with him. We are all still recovering from the pain and disappointment. . Satan does know our wiring. The fall we observed needs to be a lesson to use to be careful.
Hope you don’t mind me asking but I recently moved my blog and lost a lot of comments. Hope you get a chance to browse and comment on a few entries (only if you have time) I’d appreciate it.
Thanks,
Robin
Great Post Laurel
My temptation this week was to walk away from any ministry I was involved in, no more devotionals, no more Internet Café, no more… for all it leads to is pain and disappointment. If the person I looked up to could fall into sin so greatly, then what hope is there for me to make a difference in the Kingdom of God?
Boy I have been there myself at times.
Thank you for sharing you heart may the Lord bless you this week and always. This post was wonderful
Angel ( Angel Mama)
Thank you for sharing your heart here. I have done that too, with placing someone who I thought was so godly on a pedestal, and they too failed. We all fail, and we are all human, and sometimes we look up to people more than we do God. Thank you for sharing.
Blessings ~ Loni