"Hear this now, you who are given to pleasures, who dwell securely, who say in your heart, 'I am, and there is no one else besides me; I will not sit as a widow, nor shall I know the loss of children.'" (Isaiah 47:8)
One of the first signs of "self-sufficiency" in a person is when they make this statement about themselves: "I have to take care of myself because I have no one else to take care of me." If you are one to make this kind of statement, let me tell you that you are living with a spirit of self-sufficiency as well as a spirit of fear. How do I know that? I have had a Christian single woman tell me that because I have chosen to be a "homemaker" - staying home to care for my husband and my home instead of being a "career woman", that I really should not be staying at home but I need to be working to save all I can now for the future and for my old age. Do you know what happened when I heard that? It opened the door wide for our enemy (Satan) to flood me with the "spirit of FEAR" that was in her! For the next 2-3 months after hearing that statement, I ended up in the fiercest battle with Satan over the spirit of fear that I have ever had! As Christian women, we should not be speaking "fear" and "self-sufficiency" into someone's life like this woman did to me. Instead, we need to be encouraging women (especially single women) that God will take care of them.
The second sign of "self-sufficiency" is in the above verse where it says, "I am, and there is no one else besides me." Do you realize that by making that statement to yourself and about yourself that you are making yourself equal to God? God's holy Name for Jehovah is "I AM"! If that isn't bad enough, all through the book of Isaiah God is continuously reminding us that "there is no god besides Him"! Yet, in our self-sufficiency and pride, we are doing just that - making ourselves a god! In fact, wasn't that one of the lies of the enemy, Satan, himself in the garden of Eden? In Genesis 3:5 the serpent (Satan) said to Eve, "...you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
An interesting thing about desiring to be a god is that you also need to be "in control" - especially of your life (and maybe even the lives of those around you). So, when we begin to feel that we are not in control any longer - that's when the spirits of fear and anxiety come in and flood our minds. When you get right down to the bottom of this thing of "making ourselves gods" - it becomes the sin of idolatry. Idolatry is the breaking of the 2nd Commandment of God's Ten Commandment moral law.
So, how do you overcome this spirit of self-sufficiency and the spirit of fear? You MUST go to the Word of God, the Bible! A few verses before the above verse, in Isaiah 46:3-4, God spoke this to me: "Listen to Me, Chris! You have been upheld by Me from birth, and have been carried (by Me) in the womb..." "Even to your old age, I am He, and even to your gray hairs I will carry you! I have made you, and I will bear you; Even I will carry you, and deliver you." And then, in Isaiah 46:11 He said to me, "Indeed, I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it!"
What comfort and peace that brought to my heart and soul!
In conclusion, therefore, let me share what God's opinion is of someone who is "self-sufficient": "Your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you; and you have said in your heart, 'I am, and there is no one else besides me.'" In other words, a self-sufficient person, in God's eyes, has a warped mind and a warped heart! If we don't keep ourselves humble and dependent on God, this is what He says will happen:
"Look, all you who kindle a fire, who encircle yourselves with sparks: (Go ahead) walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled - this you shall have from My hand: you shall lie down in torment." (Isaiah 50:11)
Make a decision today to not be "self-sufficient", but to be totally dependent on God. "For in Him we live and move and have our being..." (Acts 17:28)
No comments:
Post a Comment