Self-defeating Introspection

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." - II Timothy 1:7

 One of the enemy's favorite and most subtle tactics is to cause us to become absorbed in ourselves, stoking the fires of our anxieties and insecurities until we become rigid spiritually, like a deer caught in headlights; afraid to move, neither trusting God nor reaching out to anyone else. In this way, he cuts us off from trusting the Lord and from blessing one another. This is particularly true in our prayer life. We can become so anxious that we pray almost exclusively for ourselves.

The next time you find yourself agonizing in prayer for yourself to the point where you have lost sight of most everything else, break the cycle: actively tell the Lord that you are giving that area of worry or weakness over to Him, trusting that if you place yourself in the hands of a loving Father, you will never be abandoned. Thank Him for taking care of you. Then turn the fervor within you into prayer for others as though you were physically shielding them from harm with your body, the way a soldier in the field might protect a wounded friend. In this way, you will strengthen your trust in God and learn to minister to others from your heart.

Don't let Satan keep you like a tool in a toolbox, full of potential but forever unused. The Lord chooses no disciple that He does not intend to use to the utmost for His glory. If you are His, He will use you - if you let Him. This is what the enemy is determined to prevent by keeping you forever bound with chains of anxiety, shame, depression and feelings of futility. He realizes what you can be in the Lord's hands, and he fears this deeply. Nothing is more dangerous to him than a life yielded and liberated through trust in Christ, for there is nothing that God cannot do with such a person.