It is only natural to react to adversity in any form. It is the overreaction that is the telltale sign that something is buried. It could be an emotional pain that we have not addressed. It could be negative or derogatory words spoken to our face. It could also be an after effect reaction. Sometimes we think about what just happened and negatively dialogue about it in our mind. We would not keep rehearsing it, if it had not triggered something. 

The Lord will reveal our buried lies when He knows that we are fortified and prepared through His word. He will not expose it before that. He is very patient. He knows when our heart is ready to be confronted. Mine came to the surface as I was reading through Exodus. I was convicted in my heart through Moses’ backpedaling excuses. Excuses are a skin of reason wrapped around a lie. Then He orchestrated a present circumstance to deeply drive in His truth. He helped me incorporate that truth through my step of obedience.

Yesterday morning I was asking the Lord about this buried lie that He had exposed. My words: help me understand and process this inordinate need. As soon as the word ‘inordinate’ came out of my mouth, I thought back to Colossians 3:5 that I had memorized in the KJV. That is why I looked it up in other translations. It is certainly not a word in my daily vocabulary.

What happened to me is a great example of how the Holy Spirit works in our lives. He is always ready to take us into deeper healing from our past hurts. Though we live with them unconsciously, they still unknowingly affect our thought processes. Proverbs 23:7 says that we become how we think. Buried lies are guarded by pride. It is pride that keeps us from acknowledging them. He helped me understand that it was my pride that was blocking His grace to overcome. Overreactions are pride based. Who is the author of pride? We are not captives. The lies are only in our mind. Our spirit has been set free by Jesus’ shed blood.

Romans 6 is such a great chapter. It is filled with truth that will keep us free. Verse 1 says, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue to sin that grace may abound?” Here is a lie that some in the body of Christ believe. You can do anything because you are under grace. That is a demonic way of bringing you back into bondage and being controlled by the evil one.

Verse 15 says, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Paul emphatically refuted that lie. Verse 14 says, “For sin shall not have dominion over you. For you are not under law but under grace.” The key lies in verse 12. It says, “Therefore do not LET sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.” How do we do that?

Verse 13 gives us God’s way. It says, “And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” 1 Corinthians 6:19 says that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are not our own. Verse 20 says, “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

Our greatest weapon kills our flesh and renders it inoperable. 2 Corinthians 10:4 says, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.” A stronghold is a mindset rooted in a lie. The battlefield is our mind. Our thoughts either keep us in bondage, or they keep us free. When our thoughts come from the rich reservoir of God’s word hidden in our heart, we walk in the victory of our faith.

Colossians 3:5 says, “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” I learned this verse in KJV. For evil desire it uses the word inordinate. The Amplified uses unholy desires. In each version, the word used is in a negative sense.

Our flesh hates to die! Verse 5 in the Amplified starts out like this, “So kill (deaden, deprive of power)…” The most effective way to deprive our flesh of power is to renounce the lie behind its assertiveness. If satan can get us to believe his lies, he will use them to control our lives. 

There is a lie among the body of Christ that the devil has no power over a believer. I was raised to believe that. That is true except when we give him that power by believing his lies. The lies influence our fleshly reactions. We react to a person’s words against us, or others’ negative behavior. Why? There is a lie that we have believed that controls us as revealed through those reactions. 

The Holy Spirit taught me years ago to be sensitive to my reactions. They are divine signals that He uses to expose my hidden. I ask myself this question: Marilyn, what do you believe about yourself right now? I consider what I reacted to. I recognize that it is a trigger. Usually it goes back to something in my past. Remember, an hour ago is now our past. It has the same emotional feeling. Then I ask Him to show me the lie that I am believing. He is so faithful to do that.

2 Corinthians 4:2 says, “But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” Renouncing means to disown. We ‘own’ the lies that we have believed. They have become ours unknowingly. When the Holy Spirit reveals the lie, we need to acknowledge it as such. Then confess it as sin, and renounce it. We then replace that lie with the truth.

David wrote Psalm 51 after his sin with Bathsheba. Verse 4 says, “Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight…” Every lie that we have ever believed is known by the Lord. Nothing is hidden from Him. Hebrews 4:13 Amplified says, “And not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight, but all things are open and exposed, naked and defenseless to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do.”

Psalm 51:6 says, “Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.” Tomorrow I will dive deeper with this subject, and give you a present example from my own life on how I am uprooting the entanglement.

I brought up Brother Lawrence and Julian Norwich for a specific reason. They were considered mystics. After reading their books, I asked the Lord to make me a mystic. I can laugh about it now, but back then I was really serious. I thought that if I was a mystic, then I could have that kind of a relationship with the Lord.

Intimate communion has nothing to do with what we become, but who we are. At salvation, we were adopted as children of God. That means that we were specifically chosen. John 15:16 says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”

Ephesians 4:17-18 makes it really clear that we would not have chosen God. We were futile in our mind, our understanding was darkened, and we were alienated from the life of God. There was no inkling of a connection whatsoever. Ephesians 2:15 says, “Having abolished in His flesh the enmity…” We were enemies of God. It is so essential to remember that foundation of truth, lest we become sucked back into the world.

1 John 2:16 clearly defined the world system that we came out of through salvation. It is: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Sound familiar? We were stuck in sin, bound in iniquity, and doing satan’s bidding unconsciously. That was who we were.

This is who we are. In John 15:15 Jesus was speaking to His disciples. We can apply this to ourselves because all believers are His disciples. It says, “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from the Father I have made known to you.”

Jesus told His disciples that He was going away, but He would send His Spirit. John 16:13 says, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” John 14:17 says, “The Spirit of truth…dwells with you…”

 
1 John 2:27 says, “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.”

This is who we are at the moment of our salvation. We are chosen and adopted. We are His friends. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, dwells within us. 1 Corinthians 2:10 Amplified says, “Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the (Holy) Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God (the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man’s scrutiny).”

Resiliency is the capability to recover quickly from difficulties. Resiliency brings these words to my mind: flexibility, pliability, plasticity, durability. They all translate to endurance. Hebrews 10:36 says, “For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. The Greek word for endurance is humpomone. 

Here is Strong’s definition: constancy, perseverance, continuance, bearing up, steadfastness, holding out, and patient endurance. From a note in my Bible that I cherish: It describes the capacity to continue to bear up under difficult circumstances, not with a passive complacency, but with a hopeful fortitude that actively resists weariness and defeat.

Years ago I read a book called The Hurricane. It had a scene in it that I have not forgotten. It took place in Hawaii during a hurricane. The natives strapped themselves to a certain tree that could bend and not break. As the winds bent the tree, the folks tied to it bent also. It kept them from being blown away. Evan Roberts was the young man the Lord used to start the revival in Wales. His prayer: Lord bend me.

Are you resilient when broadsided with a hard trial? Are you so tied to the Lord that you can bend and endure? I often flee to Psalm 71:1-3. These eternal words anchor me. It says, “In You, O Lord, I put my trust; let me never be put to shame. Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape; incline Your ear to me, and save me. Be my strong refuge, to which I may resort continually; You have given the commandment to  save me, for You are my rock and my fortress.”

Who or what is your refuge in times of trouble? The Lord says, ‘Come to Me’ when you are burdened and heavy laden with the cares of this life. We often carry a burden that is not ours to carry. We languish under what we perceive to be impossible. I want to take the mystery out of intimate communion with the Lord. 

Years ago I read “The Practice of the Presence of God” by Brother Lawrence. He was a 17th century monk. He would be singing to the Lord as he was washing pots and pans. He would be so filled with joy, that he would stop and dance before the Lord. Julian of Norwich was another that I read. “Revelations of Divine Love.” She was imprisoned in a dark dungeon. The conditions were horrendous. Yet, her relationship with the Lord helped her rise above the filth and vermin to focus on Him alone. He truly was her Sustenance. Both of their relationships with the Lord were far beyond me. I had no grid for them. However, they both started out as we can.

We simply acknowledge the Lord. He is Always Present. Yet when we take the time to be still before Him, we enter into intimate communion. It is Heart embracing heart. Our deepest longings connect to the Lover Of Our Soul. John 15:1-8 is the portion of Scripture about abiding. We commune with the Lord through His word. Verse 5 reminds us that apart from Him we can do nothing. Abiding is the soil that nourishes our spiritual roots. His words flow over us like cleansing water. Every breath we take we are breathing in His Presence. However, in abiding, we are living in that expression of His life-giving words.

John 15:7 Amplified says, “If you live in Me (abide vitally united to Me) and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.” As we cling to Him, our heart begins to beat with His heart. His desire becomes our own. He makes His will and His ways known to us. Psalm 25:14 Amplified says, “The secret (of the sweet, satisfying companionship) of the Lord have they who fear (revere and worship) Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its (deep, inner) meaning.”

When I was young, the word ‘Trigger’ was the name of Roy Rogers’ horse. When I began my emotional healing journey in 1983, I found another meaning of trigger. It is when something from our present reminds us of something unresolved from our past. There is an unconscious emotional trigger. It is as if the whole situation was occurring right then. Every emotion rises and we are broadsided.

Recently I opened a YouTube channel. If you like my video, you can hit a bell. Each time I post something new, you will be notified. Take that into healing for past hurts. When we bury our emotions, we set a bell. Each time it is triggered, our flesh is notified. It comes out of hiding to disturb our emotions. I know that when I overreact to something in my present, God is revealing an unresolved issue in my life.

In my first book, “Freedom! From Past Hurts” I have a chapter about setting anger as a guard to our buried emotions. Anytime someone comes close to us, we use anger to ward them away from our hidden. It is all unconscious. Yesterday I read a definition for self-conscious emotions. It means: Self-conscious emotions are those affected by how we see ourselves and how we think others perceive us. They include emotions like pride, jealousy, and embarrassment. 

Misunderstandings occur in interpersonal relationships when we perceive something that isn’t. Here is a great example. In Numbers 13, Moses had sent out twelve spies. Ten came back with this report. Verse 32-33 says, “…The land…devours its inhabitants, and all the people in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants…and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” Do you see their erroneous perception?

Do you see yourself through God’s eyes, or through your perception of how others might see you? I am presently grappling with this question. Why? Yesterday something in my present triggered something hidden in my past. It is still hidden to me, but the great news is that it is not hidden to the Lord. So I have asked Him to reveal this buried emotional pain. 

I’ve written all the above, because I want to go back to Moses and the children of Israel. There is a pattern that I have picked up on this time as I read through the book of Exodus. Even though they physically left Egypt, they did not emotionally leave. Each time there was a situation of lack, it triggered their emotional attachment to what was. In Exodus 17 there was no water. The first thing they did was complain. They didn’t recall all that the Lord had done for them, they only remembered what they wanted to about Egypt. Their perceived lack was always related to their past fleshly gratification.

I encourage you to go before the Holy Spirit and ask Him to reveal your hidden. Here are some sample questions. What is buried that you overreact to? What hidden are you unconsciously guarding from anyone finding out? Does your perception of yourself agree with God’s? Do you fear what others might think of you? May the Holy Spirit lead us all into emotional freedom, that we might serve the Lord wholeheartedly.

Isaiah 35:1 says, “The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose.” Yesterday I picked a few of my roses for a bouquet. Some of them were in full bloom, but a few were still in bud. If we had eyes to see, we could watch a rose bud unfold, until it was fully opened. Its fullness would be permeate the atmosphere with a sweet fragrance.

Deuteronomy 32:10 is so picturesque of God’s purpose in the wilderness. It is to call us to Himself. It says of Jacob, “He found him in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.” That is what the Lord does with each of us.

Before I fell headfirst into the six foot ravine in 1977, I kept myself very busy serving the Lord. I worked in our church printshop full time, and was very actively serving Him in various other ways. After I fell I was bedridden. The Lord used that wilderness time to woo me to Himself. He instructed my heart. I called it the dark night of my soul. I was like the caterpillar in the cocoon. I melted, and from that liquid the Lord’s butterfly emerged. He taught me how to stretch out my wet wings through intimate communion with Him. 

The Lord uses the wilderness to expose our hidden flesh. He fingers the enemy strongholds. He begins to bring the hidden to the surface of our conscious mind. Through this process, He reveals Himself to us in ways we have never known Him before. I love the story of Hagaar. Genesis 16:6 says that Sarai had dealt harshly with, and she fled to the wilderness.

The Lord visited her. He asked her where she was going. She told him that she was fleeing her mistress. He told her to return, and gave her His name for her son. Verse 13 says, “Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-The-God-Who-Sees.” No matter where we are, or what circumstances we find ourselves in, the Lord’s eyes are always on us. We are the apple of His eye.

Deuteronomy 33:27 says, “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you, and will say, Destroy!” I love this verse. The Lord flushes out the hidden, like a hunting dog flushes out fowl hiding in the underbrush. Anything that keeps us from an open, fulfilling, intimate communion with Him is our enemy. It could be stronghold-lies that the enemy erected. It might be our negativity, self-hatred, or self-rejection. He goes for the root.

There are skirmishes in the wilderness. We run into obstacles that seem to block our faith. We flounder in deep waters that seek to drown us. It may be seemingly impossible circumstances that halt us in our tracks. It is in the wilderness that the Lord reveals Himself as we need Him to be for us. For Daniel, He demonstrated His power by stopping the mouths of the lions. For Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, He revealed Himself to them IN the fire.

The Lord uses our wilderness times to pin down our opponent! 1 Peter 4:1 says, “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.” Our hidden flesh hates the wilderness because it gets exposed. That is the Lord’s intent. 

Deuteronomy 8:2 says, “And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness…” Did you notice? God purposely led them into the wilderness. Let’s continue the verse for His reason. It says, “…to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.”

How did the Lord do this? He set a table for them in the wilderness. Verse 3 says, “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”

Our flesh is our enemy. Its triggers may be hidden from us, but totally open before the Lord. Let’s go back to a well known verse. Psalm 23:5 says, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies…” How did God’s special provision of manna expose the hidden flesh for the children of Israel? He gave them specific instructions. Did they follow them explicitly? Exodus 16:19-20 says, “And Moses said, Let no one leave any of it till morning. Notwithstanding they did not heed Moses. But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.”

Not only did God reveal the hidden flesh of the children of Israel, but also of their leader Moses. The children of Israel were not the cause of Moses’ anger. His anger was his flesh that came out of hiding. Hidden sin blocks our fellowship with the Lord. Our flesh does not like God’s word to correct it. Our flesh opposes God’s way.

Psalm 103:7 says, “He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.” The Lord told His leader Moses what He was going to do. You can go back to the account of the Red Sea. Moses knew exactly how the Lord was going to accomplish what He said, though the children of Israel did not. They saw His acts. God’s way is revealed through His word.

Luke 4:4 Amplified says, “…Man shall not live and be sustained by (on) bread alone but by every word and expression of God.” When our flesh is active, it opaques our vision and sensitivity to the moving of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 5:8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” I want to know His ways! I want my ways to be conformed to His ways. Psalm 18:32 says, “It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect.”

Our wilderness times are designed to bring up the hidden dross of our flesh. The Lord desires our whole heart. He cleanses our heart by washing it through His word. Picture this: A jar with muddy rocks. As you allow the water to fill the jar, the water gets muddy. However, if you continue to allow the water to run into the jar, the water will clear. As we consistently read His word and apply it to our lives, it becomes His purifying instrument. He deftly penetrates with His scalpel to pierce through our soul and spirit.

The Lord knows our intentions. However He uses our wilderness journey to help us see our intentions behind our thoughts that do not please Him. His word to us tests our heart. If we do not heed it and practice it, He will orchestrates ways to humble us. It is far better to humble ourselves under His mighty hand, than to be humbled.

This is a short audio from my post this morning. My voice was damaged when I fell into the six foot ravine in 1977. I hope that doesn’t detract from the message that I am sharing. May the Lord empower you through these insights.

Exodus 14:3 revealed God’s strategic maneuver to trap the children of Israel’s enemy. It says, “For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.” Pharaoh had no clue that God was about to annihilate the entire Egyptian army. I want to back up to make something really clear. 

God is the One who leads us into the wilderness. Exodus 13:17-18 said that God did not lead them by the closest way. It says, “…Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt. So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea…” Since we know the rest of the story, we see how purposefully God orchestrated their journey.

When you were first saved, what happened? It was like a honeymoon period. You were so in love with the Lord, and speechless at His deliverance for you through the cross. As time went on, the Lord allowed little skirmishes to take place. He was training you for warfare. Nothing is in vain. Everything that God does in your life is strategically and magnificently orchestrated.

The day I received the Lord as my Savior, it was a glorious time. I was eleven, but He placed a hunger in my heart for His word. My little six year old friend was with me. We got permission to stay up. I read the gospel of John out loud until we fell asleep. I had a new understanding that I belonged to the Lord, and I would never be separated from Him. My Sunday School memorized verses became alive within me. This Friday I will celebrate sixty-three years of walking with Him.

The Lord uses our wilderness times to reveal Himself to us in ways that we had not experienced before. The children of Israel had escaped Egypt. I can imagine their hearts soaring with their freedom. Then, an uncrossable obstacle stood in their way. As they faced the Red Sea, they saw the Egyptians coming towards them. In their minds they were trapped. What did they do? Complained.

Exodus 14:11 says, “…Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?…” Verse 12 says, “…For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.” What did Moses say? Verse 13 says, “…Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord…” Verse 14 says, “The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

Nothing is impossible for the Lord! Verse 24 -25 says, “…He troubled the army of the Egyptians. And He took off their chariot wheels…” Verse 27 says, “…So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the Sea.” The obstacle in the wilderness became God’s instrument to overthrow their enemy. Now let’s apply this to our own wilderness journey. How is the Lord seeking to annihilate our enemy’s designs against us? 

Years ago, I was at a conference in a huge church. During a break I was looking at books in their bookstore. I picked up one and was stopped in my tracks. The title was something like this: Living Your Full Potential: how to die without regrets. It so stunned me I burst into tears. Why? I lived in regrets. I didn’t begin my heart-healing journey until 1983. I’m still in this journey, because it is part of my progressive sanctification to be more like Jesus.

What are regrets? Here are two truths to keep in mind. 1. They are in your past. 2. You can’t change your past. However, you can change your attitude towards the root of the regret. Regret has to do with shame and disgrace. Jesus bore the shame and disgrace of all our sins. Here is a question to ask: do I regret the consequences, or the reproach my action or inaction brought on the Lord?

We repurpose our regret by changing the way we view it, and how it affects us. The past is passed. There is no ‘redo’ button. There is no pass or fail in God’s economy. Use your regret as a reminder of God’s resurrection power that is within you. Walk forward in His grace through confession of your hidden sin. We are fully known in God’s sight. All pretense is stripped away. David knew this truth. He wrote Psalm 69. Verse 19 says, “You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor; my adversaries are all before You.”

As I read this last night, my mind inserted ‘adversaries’ as David’s reproach, shame, and dishonor. Verse 20 says, “Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.” Remaining in regret is a means of self-protection. We put up emotional walls. We run behind them as our default comfort zone.

Regret is also self-punishment. Emotionally castigating yourself, over and over until you are grooved in it, is another trap of the enemy. Castigate means to reprimand someone severely. Have you ever called yourself derogatory names? The enemy of our soul wants to keep us in oppressive bondage. God’s eternal truth says that we are free. However, it is up to us to maintain heart freedom, and not allow the enemy to bind us with his controlling lies!

Regret plays back into reluctance. Holding onto regret enforces the feelings of unworthiness. Therefore we hesitate when the Lord calls us out of our comfort zone. Doubt and fear swoop in to deter us. When Isaiah realized that his iniquity was taken away and his sin purged, there was no hesitation. He joyfully seized the opportunity the Lord had set before him.

Could it be that Moses lived in regret of killing the Egyptian and hiding him? Just a thought. 2 Corinthians 4:2 says, “But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” Renounce means to disown. If you are still carrying the emotional burden of regret, confess it, renounce it, and release it to the Lord. Walk away and remember that regret is satan’s weapon to hold us back from God’s purposes for our lives.