When Spiritual Attacks Come In The Form of Vain Imaginations – Sarah Saenz
It may surprise some, but the Bible deals extensively with our imaginations. Not just the adventurous imaginings that lead to fun stories for children or silly situations for our friends to laugh at, but imaginary fears, self-exalting thoughts, improbable scenarios, and nagging doubts, too.
Recently I shared some scriptures and devotionals with a small group of friends. I prayed, prepared my notes, praised God, and asked for His anointing. The meeting went wonderfully, we covered everything that had been on my heart and there were even some sweet moments of burdens bared. I went home feeling grateful. But when alone, my thoughts took a sudden turn. “Was it good enough?” “Did I offend someone when I said this or that?” “Maybe I didn’t speak that correctly?” “What if no one took my meaning?” “Did it matter to anyone?” “Maybe I shouldn’t share, maybe it’s not my place to teach?”
My peaceful morning of fellowship with friends ended with a downward spiral of fear and intense doubt. I tried to shrug off my thoughts, tried to reject the direction my mind was running. But my efforts were pointless.
Days later, the Lord showed me something my feeble understanding had not registered: the Enemy had coordinated an attack on my mind and he had used my own imagination to do it.
How could I not have seen it? The signs were all there… the sudden redirection of my thoughts, the vain fixation on my own performance, the complete lack of acknowledgement that the Lord could use any cracked but willing vessel. How had I so completely discounted His sovereignty? Why had I listened and believed such deception?
I am not the first person to fall into this pit of fearful and self-obsessed imagining. Or the first citizen of God’s kingdom to be targeted by this type of demonic assault. In the garden, Eve was the very first to be tempted and to give in to this type of vain imagination. Can you just hear Satan’s oily manipulation, “… You certainly will not die! For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened [that is, you will have greater awareness], and you will be like God…” Gen 3: 4-5.
Talk about an out-of-control vain imagination! A creature made from a borrowed rib and some dust thought she could be like her Creator just by eating some fruit?! It was never going to happen!
Another time, the whole population of the world was caught up in the lie. “Come, let us build a city for ourselves, a tower whose top will reach into the heavens, and let us make a [famous] name for ourselves, so that we will not be scattered [into separate groups] and be dispersed over the surface of the entire earth [as the Lord instructed.]” Gen 11: 4.
Notice the fixation upon themselves at Babel, all they imagined and desired concerned themselves. There was no place for God in their vision, in fact, their aim was to remove His influence entirely from their lives. They imagined a future that contained no Sovereign God at all. Not possible!
In verse 6, the Lord speaks to this sin and the enviable fallout if they succeeded, “This is only the beginning of what they will do [in rebellion against Me], and now no evil thing they imagine they can do will be impossible for them.”
Our God is smart and He misses nothing, He recognized the role their imaginations had played in this experiment. They wanted to remove Him from His own creation. We all know how that ended.
In perhaps one of the most dramatic examples of a run-away imagination is King Nebuchadnezzar’s story. “The king said thoughtfully, ‘Is not this the great Babylon which I myself have built as the royal residence and seat of government by the might of my power and for the honor and glory of my majesty?’” Daniel 4: 30. The passage goes on the say that while these words were still in his mouth, the Lord spoke and took Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom and sense from him. For seven years, he ate grass like cattle and he was wild in his appearance. At the end of the period, the king said “…I raised my eyes toward heaven, and my understanding and reason returned to me; and I blessed the Most High [God] and I praised and honored and glorified Him who lives forever,” verse 34. It wasn’t until the King dismantled his imagined majesty and self-centered power that God returned his mind back to him and reinstated his kingdom authority.
From these examples we see a pattern. Devastation follows when we give in to demonic suggestions and let our imaginations elevate our own standing. When we imagine that anyone else is more in control of the situation than the Lord, we sin. Think back to a time when your imagination ran wild with pride, fear, panic, or doubts. What was the result? Torment, usually, and lack of peace.
At the heart, these sins of the imagination wound our Father’s heart. They reduce His unending power to a pile of ashes and steamroll over His Almighty sovereignty. They echo the sin and vanity of a certain angel who once imagined he, too, could be like God. Though Lucifer lacked nothing, he imagined a vain future with himself as god. This is why he is still coordinating these attacks today, they echo his own vain and hateful ambitions.
2 Corthinations 10: 4-5 says, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
Dear friend, we have weapons that are mighty, that pull down and smash these high, vain places in our minds. We have the Holy Spirit, the living Word, the Body of Christ, a battle language, hymns of praise. And we have a Defender who will take off running at our foe. Through our imaginations, Satan may seek to destroy our faith. He may exalt himself, call himself a giant, taunt us, wound us, make us fear, doubt, boast, or question ourselves. Like the Israelites, we might feel like all we can do is hide in our tents and cover our ears. But if we would just call for our Champion, the Lord would send Himself. He would avenge us, He would topple the high places our minds. He would deliver us. As many times as it takes, He will always deliver us. Let us seek Him in the grips of these attacks, repent, and give Him total sovereignty – even over our own imaginations.
Selected for Suffering – Sarah Saenz
About a year ago, I was singing in our church choir one Sunday morning. It was a beautiful morning and I was so satisfied to be in the house of the Lord proclaiming God’s praises with God’s people. Pastor Lee came to the podium and made an announcement. A much-loved gentleman in our church had just been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. The pastor made his solemn announcement and asked us all to lay hands on the gentlemen and his wife for prayer. The news came as a shock to me and I struggled to control my emotions. This gentleman wasn’t just another member, he was my friend and special to me. He and his son had taught us how to faithfully share the Gospel in love and in truth in a wonderful teaching series. He showed us what it meant to evangelize by love and gentleness. Many a time had he edified me in my own walk with Christ. To hear of his diagnosis was heart-wrenching. I cried out to the Lord in my spirit, “No, Lord! Why him? I don’t want him to be sick! Please, Lord, no!”
The tears began to flow in earnest. I mopped at them, embarrassed. I lifted my hands heavenward and received an unexpected response. “I chose him for this. He has been selected to suffer in this way. He’s anointed for it.”
“Lord? What? How?” I was shocked at this response. I didn’t understand, how can anyone be chosen to suffer chronically like this? But the word was unmistakable, I knew what the Lord had said. Later, I prayed over my friend and shared with him what the Lord had told me. I cried telling him. I knew he was sick, I mourned the diagnosis, but I had witnessed for myself God’s sovereignty and I wasn’t about to underestimate Him. Jesus had given me a special gift that morning: the hope of understanding. If my friend was selected to suffer for Christ in this way, then the Lord was near to him. Somehow, this would be a victory….
In the coming months, my friend would go on to share the Gospel and living hope of Christ in Parkinson’s support groups, nursing homes, with strangers and family members alike. That same diagnosis that I had so resented had become a springboard for him to share the great hope he has in Jesus with the hopeless and depleted in spirit.
It was as God had spoken to me, he HAD been chosen to suffer for the advancement of the Kingdom and he was anointed to do it. Even in facing sickness himself.
It seems so contrary to our human way of thinking, to imagine that someone who loves us would allow us to suffer a chronic or terminal disease. But we so easily forget — Christ is unlike anyone else. Not only is He fully acquainted with our suffering (Isaiah 53), He also has the sufficiently to sustain us every moment of it.
But what is the purpose in the suffering?
We have only to look at another man’s story, Job’s, to see a fully rendered picture of human suffering. Job, who was a prosperous man, with thousands of animals, a large household staff, ten children, who enjoyed great respect in his community. But what we remember best about his story is Satan’s petitions and schemes for his destruction. We hold to that remembrance with such ferocity that we forget chapter one, verses 7-8,
““The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Then Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming around on the earth and from walking around on it. The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered and reflected on My servant Job? For there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God [with reverence] and abstains from and turns away from evil [because he honors God].””
Did you catch that? It was the Lord who first mentioned Job, “have you considered … My servant Job?” Satan had not first suggested Job, the idea originally came from the Lord! Take notice of how the Lord regards Job, “My servant Job,” “one who fears God,” “there is none like him.” The Lord was not angry or displeased with him. Rather, He spoke of him with fatherly pride and affection. He loved Job, and so He suggested him for suffering.
Because the Lord is all-knowing, I think it is safe to infer that God knew what Satan’s rapturous plans of destruction would be. God’s obvious affection had insured that response. It must have been an irresistible challenge to Satan, to break Job’s faith and cause God to suffer over His loss.
But God knew His servant Job. God knew that, when pressed, what would come out of Job: new wine. (Matt 9:17) Job’s trials were never a punishment from God because of Job’s sins, but something God had chosen him to endure.
Towards the end of the book, after Job has suffered loss upon pain, poured out all of his grief, and thoroughly expressed his suffering, something incredible happened: the Lord Himself spoke to Job (Chapters 38 – 42). And in that moment we see what the purpose of suffering really is. He speaks to Job of the mysteries and glories of Creation, of who He has been since before time, and of how He patterned all of Creation. Though Job’s sufferings had been great, this had been its purpose: to know God to a greater depth. The suffering had just been the vehicle that had brought Job to the place of hearing.
Job’s humbled response,
““Therefore [I now see] I have [rashly] uttered that which I did not understand,
Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
‘Hear, please, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct [and answer] me.’
I had heard of You [only] by the hearing of the ear,
But now my [spiritual] eye sees You.””
Job 42:4-5 AMP
Job had loved and followed the Lord in prosperity and health, but now he loved Him in grief and sickness. Now Job had tasted AND seen the goodness of God, he had learned that in his suffering.
If you feel like this yourself, if you feel like you are in a season of suffering and you don’t understand why this is happening, consider my friend and consider Job. And count it all joy. You have been selected to know the Lord in a deeper and more intimate way. You are not forsaken but are more loved now than before. Look for His purpose in your suffering, trust that His will is good. Remember Job’s words to his wife, covered in sores, mourning his children, having lost all his wealth,
“Shall we indeed accept [only] good from God and not [also] accept adversity and disaster?”
Job 2:10 AMP
The Night Redemption Came – Sarah Saenz
The night was very still. The fog hung low to the ground, the trees were giant silhouettes. I heard the birds singing before I got in my car. I cautiously backed out of my driveway and prepared to embark on my errand. I drove down my familiar street , overwhelmed by the changes I saw. I beheld how very dark and complete the night was, I couldn’t help but wonder how the birds could sing at such a time? Why not sing when the sun was up and the world a prettier place? The sights I knew so well were obscured and distorted . It was 4 am and I looked at a world I did not know. A creeping hopeless seized my thoughts and I felt nonsensically afraid.
These were my musings early one morning as I left my house for an unusual errand. Life presents struggles for every person and I had been quietly walking through a struggle of my own: the miscarriage of our third child. The Lord had comforted and sustained me immediately after our loss. But two months later, solemn grief and hopelessness had settled in and made its home inside my mind and heart. I had cried my tears to the Lord and prayed for His understanding. I didn’t realize He would choose that morning to answer me, but He did.
Watching the sky that morning I saw something remarkable. Slowly but faithfully, the sky turned to gray. It became lighter and lighter until the sun burst forth in full strength, bathing the world in beauty and destroying the hopelessness of the night. I stared in amazement. As utterly terrifying and powerful as the night had seemed, the sun had chased away every shadow. I cried watching it happen.
Lord, have You come in and redeemed the night? Do You do this every morning?
It may sound silly, I had seen sunrises before. But that particular morning the Lord used something familiar to perfectly speak to my struggle. I realized that He was THE Redeemer, He had been redeeming the night since Creation began. This work has never stopped. Every morning He banishes the darkness, the hopelessness, the power, and the completeness of the shadows. Redeemer isn’t just His name, His name is a verb – it is what He does!
How could I imagine He wouldn’t also redeem me?
I thought about the birdsong I heard and realized how they could sing their songs before the light was even come: they knew. They trusted what would surely happen. It didn’t matter how dark or foggy it was. They didn’t sing because of what was happening around them, they sang because of what was coming. They are confident in His faithful work, they sing about it before they even see it. Couldn’t we?
Luke chapter 21, verse 28 says, “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” Jesus was telling His disciples about His return and the signs they should expect to see in this verse. If we were to say it another way, I think we could confidently say, look toward the future and be encouraged, because the Redeemer is coming!
I imagine Israel felt much like I did in the days before Jesus was born. Overcome by the oppression and occupation of the Roman Empire, their rich culture and traditions subject to Gentile judgment and punishment. The night must have felt overwhelmingly complete and hopeless. But then a Redeemer stepped into the earth and banished the power of the night. Just like He had been doing every morning since the beginning. He came as a tiny baby but His power was not small. This time He redeemed all His sons and daughters – banishing the power of darkness forever. Now when my sorrows and grief stifle my hope, I can call on a Savior to redeem my mind, my heart, my life, my womb. He is just as faithful to redeem me as He is to redeem the night each morning.
This Christmas you may be dealing with struggles of your own. Don’t forget to look up. There is a King who loves you, He will answer your heart’s cry. No matter what the news is reporting, the politicians are saying, the doctors are diagnosing, the direction the prodigals are running, there is a Redeemer who still redeems. He is coming to redeem the night forever. Await His return with singing, like the birds, and be encouraged.
O Holy night! The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
‘Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn
Fall on your knees; O hear the Angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born
O night, O Holy night, O night divine!
The Uncovering – Sarah Saenz
I heard a friend at church share once about how God sometimes very gently uncovers us and shows us what we’re really like. He does it delicately, not with harsh words or contentious rants. There is no condemnation or blame, just tenderness. What we often see in ourselves during this “uncovering” can be mortifying. We don’t like it, it’s not how we imagine ourselves. But these uncomfortable moments of exposure bring something unexpected: revelation that leads to repentance. A closer dependency on the Father. In short, they produce fruit.
Our first reaction may often be to recoil or ignore this type of chastisement (mine always is). But truthfully, how can we expect to change or resemble Christ at all, if we don’t ask Him to show us where we need correction? If we don’t welcome it? If our own arrogance forbids us from seeing our faults, how could we ever think we could be like Him on our own? We need His instruction and His say in our lives every day.
Jeremiah 2:30 talks about how the Lord’s correction is meant to bring insight and a desire to change. “In vain I have punished your people [with the consequences of their disobedience]; They received no insight from correction [and refused to change].” AMP
And in Hebrews 12: 5-6 it says, “….do not lose heart when He rebukes you. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.”
As a mother, I am used to being the one who corrects. My children do not always like it (ever), but I know it needs to be done. For their good, understanding, maturity, and growth it must be done. I love them. It is not always easy, I know it often causes a momentary hurt or offense. But if I don’t correct them, who will?
I believe this is God’s heart for us, as well. He corrects us by systematically uncovering our pride, selfishness, and sin because He loves us. He knows of the momentary discomfort it will cause, but He weighs the cost and knows the fruit will be much greater and the repentance more sweet. He knows what He is creating in us.
I pray that the Holy Spirit would “uncover” you in His gentle way. I pray that you would welcome correction and allow God to use it to produce fruit in your life. I pray that you would recognize His tenderness and concern for you as His loving heart and not the enemy’s accusations and lies. I pray that when He exposes you to yourself, you would go your Redeemer as Ruth did to her Boaz. That you would prostrate yourself at His feet and let Him cover you, as she did.
The Plumb line – Sarah Saenz
So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who relies on it
will never be stricken with panic.
I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the plumb line;
hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie,
and water will overflow your hiding place.”
Isaiah 28: 16 – 17
Last year, my husband and I built a house. It was no small feat and we give all glory to Jesus for its completion and for the grace to enjoy it. With much prayer and deliberation, we chose for our contractor a well-respected builder and family friend. A year after moving in, we are still delighted with the craftsmanship and integrity of our home. We love to point out to visitors the straight base boards, trim, tile work, and windows. We know that these things display a spirit of excellence and great attention to detail. The carpenter’s term for this is “plumb”, or the “plumb line.”
The plumb line is a straight and level line off which a project is based. It is the deciding factor, the reference point, and the authority for many things. It is what everything else is compared to. It is what determines what is right and what is wrong in a project.
The workers trust the plumb line. They reference it over and over, from start to finish. They know without the plumb line, they could mess up and the entire project would become skewed. Without it, all they can do is guess where things are supposed to be. 🤷♀️
The Lord God tells Israel that “justice is the measuring line and righteousness is the plumb line.” Our God is the builder of this universe, and He has set the plumb line. It is His righteous revealed to us in His Word. He is the craftsman and we are His work. We must compare our actions and thoughts to the plumb line God has set for us. Without it, we have no point of reference and we are just guessing what is right.
God the Father, the Master Builder, sent His own Son into this world for our salvation. What work was He trained to do while He was here? He was a carpenter, a craftsman, and the son of a carpenter. He set the plumb line and He WAS the plumb line. Let’s look to Him as the author and finisher of our faith, without Him, we’ll never be “plumb.”