I believe Pastor X's wife is 100% right when she says the US is under a Satanic lullaby.
Excerpt from the interview:
I (Pastor X) had everything a person could dream of in a western country. A house, a great paying job, cars, money. I had everything but I wasn't happy. I met my wife and brought her from the country she was in to this western country. I gave her the great life, the abundant life and after two months, she comes up to me and says, "I'm depressed." I asked, "How are you depressed? You came from a third world country. We're now in a first world country." She says, "Because the church here is under a satanic lullaby and I'm falling asleep. Every time I try to wake up the lullaby increases. Let's go back to my country."
They left everything and went back to a Middle Eastern country where they could be killed for their faith. The church is exploding there.
After I heard this interview I began to discern this lullaby more clearly than ever. I have called it the "vise of life" because it squeezes the life out of us as we pursue and pursue.
We have no business living in the grips of a lullaby, Satanic or otherwise! We, who have been purchased by Christ's life have no business living enslaved to anything, American Dream or otherwise.
Not all of us are called to leave everything behind and go to another country to risk everything. At least, not yet. So, when the vise of life squeezes stronger, what weapons do we have at our disposal? And by weapons, I don't mean some hazy allusion to the armor of God. I mean the weapons that create the armor and keep it fastened to us.
I've listed several below.
FASTING
This weapon is especially effective when I'm irritable, over-spending, self-satisfied, grasping, fearful, obsessive, spending too much time on social media or watching TV, or when my prayer life becomes anemic or my faith apathetic. Best of all, it crucifies PRIDE.
PRAYER
This weapon is especially effective when life is demanding too much of my time, threatening or squeezing my prayer time. Everything and everyone will just have to WAIT while I get life from my Father.
WORSHIP
This weapon works for everything. Really. This is what the Bible is referring to when it admonishes us to fix our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2-3). We're wired to do this to a sound track that moves our heart. (Maybe because it drowns out that Satanic lullaby?)
SPEAKING IN TONGUES
Jude 20 says to build ourselves up by praying in the Spirit, which works especially well when I'm fearful from reading too much news or about my children, apathetic, depressed, weak-feeling, wrestling with doubts, oppressed, or fighting off spiritual attacks.
READ & MEDITATE
Don't EVER read the Bible just to read it or check off a box. That will feed your flesh. Always read it with the Fear of the Lord and the intention to receive (and obey) what God shows you. We have to feed ourselves—life certainly won't!—which involves chewing (meditating) and swallowing (knowing it so deeply that it changes us).
ACCOUNTABILITY
For me, this involves not only relationships who ask me the tough questions but also freely revealing what God is doing in my life to anyone who is put in my path.
DELIVERANCE
This weapon doesn't ever look the same. Some things I handle by recognizing my responsibility, repenting of the sin involved, renouncing all sin and legal claims it gave the Kingdom of Satan in my life, and removing (send it to the dry places, as Christ did). Other times I bring in the big guns and get a leader to pray for me. The key is staying vigilant because deliverance is not meant to be a one-time-use weapon.
DECLARATIONS
It doesn't help to focus our eyes on Christ if we don't really know our Defender! This weapon is particularly useful if we are feeling doubtful, fearful, guilty, shamed, under attack (by man or demon), or overwhelmed. I start with declarations of who God says He is, who I know Him to be (because He has proved who He is, in particular, in my story, and what He has said via the Bible or to me personally that lines up with scripture.
SERVING
This doesn't have to be a huge impact like a soup kitchen. It could be emptying and organizing that junk drawer, reading books to kids, and loving our families and people in our sphere of influence.
STUDY
Learn doctrine and the deep mysteries that scholars spend lifetimes unravelling so you won't be swayed, but do this only in proportion to the time you spend in prayer or pride of right will overtake you. Better is one hour listing to God's voice and praying His words than many hours of study.
QUESTION
Regularly question what you've learned over the years, holding doctrines, beliefs, and man-made constructs loosely before God, asking Him to sift and prove. Reformation provides the fire to release us from a legalistic or religious spirit. However, if the question denies the deity of Christ, the veracity of the Bible (not necessarily our understanding of it), or the complete work of the Cross (the gospel) then it is not a legitimate question but rather an accusation and should be defeated in much the same way the Accuser himself was defeated.
DANCE
This weapon is particularly effective because it combines not only our hearts (through music), our minds (through the lyrics), our eyes (by focusing on Christ), but also our feet (to move in-line with where we really are positionally in Heaven, worshipping before the throne). But it's probably the least used by most Christians, which is sad.
SURRENDER
This weapon is most effective when employed daily, moment by encountered, difficult moment. At a minimum, nightly! I fall asleep saying "I surrender all that I am (the good, the bad, and the ugly), all that I am not (the good, the bad, and the ugly), all that I ever hope to be, and all that I've been given to you, my Lord, God, and King." (Nothing is faster at getting me to sleep!)
SILENCE
This weapon is very effective against the noise of the world. Drawing away to commune with God silently works wonders to still doubts, confusion, and chaos. I often start my prayer time in 15 minutes of completely still and silent (even in my mind) prayer, holding a single phrase or prayer gently with my mind. It takes practice though and does not come easily to us Americans.
PRAISE
Much has been written about the difference between worship and praise. I tend to think of praise as songs about Him and worship is more to Him. A steady diet of both is necessary.
GRATEFULNESS
Gratefulness naturally leads us into praise and worship while simultaneously leading us out depression, making us eager to crucify selfish ambitions, and keeping us strong in suffering or desert times. We know God will rescue us because He has rescued us before! That makes our heart sing.
NEW SONGS
Gratefulness leads us to make up songs as we're doing dishes or whatever—these spill out of an overflow of the heart and are filled with the vocabulary of what we read and experience for ourselves. Granted, they won't necessarily make the Top 100 chart, but they please God.
CREATION
This refers to getting out in God's creation to experience the Creator as well as creating with our own hands. Both are great weapons in our arsenal to quiet our minds and spirits and rejuvenate hope.
FAITH
We grow in our faith by exercising it: praying for the babies in need, declaring what God says, sharing the Gospel, and believing for the signs and wonders that are promised to follow.
CONFESSION
Confessions IS good for the soul...as long as it is followed by repentance and restitution. This weapon is useful particularly against all forms of pride, which is our greatest enemy.
PRESENCE OF GOD
In the presence of God, all demonic must flee, all bondage is broken—nothing stands against the presence of God. We use this weapon by simply being in His presence. Not on Sunday service but regularly through the day.
We have to get better at using the weapons at our disposal. Putting on the armor in a simple prayer is NOT actually putting on the armor. The helmet of salvation Christ provided isn't useful unless we actually wear it by spending time with the Savior, relinquishing what we've been saved from, and living what we've been TO. The breastplate of Christ's righteousness doesn't come through a simple prayer—it's the daily discipline of taking off the flesh and putting on Christ as our natures are transformed into His likeness. And so on. This is accomplished by the weapons or disciplines above.
In summary, if you're stuck, clean a drawer (serve) and throw on your worship play list and dance or sit down with one scripture verse. Confused? Return to the basics and sing the hymns of your first-love days. Suffering? Read Psalms and feel the pain, then worship the God who suffers with us. Guilty? Repent, walk out deliverance and make recompense (obedience). Ashamed? Worship to focus on God, speak in tongues and declare the promises of God and who HE SAYS you are while you pay attention to your feet.
Grace makes the things of this earth strangely dim.
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