A pastoral RX from Rick Duncan

Recently I’ve been in conversations with some people at CVC who are experiencing pain, sadness, emptiness, and loneliness. My heart hurts with them.

In my conversations, I tried to give some encouragement and some ideas on how to fight the tendency to be hopeless. One of my friends said, “If God loved me….” I had to stop my friend right at that point. I said, “I’m not going to listen to the rest of what you are going to say because that’s a lie. ‘If God loved me’ is a lie. You have to fight lies with the truth.”

So, here is a prescription I gave to a couple of friends that might help you or that might help you help someone else.

***

1. Believe that you are in a spiritual battle.
“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:11-12, ESV).

2. Believe that the devil seeks to win this battle by lying to you.
“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44, ESV).

3. Believe that the battle is fought in your mind.
“For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (II Corinthians 10:4-5, ESV).

4. When thoughts are flying around in your mind, ask yourself, “Is this a thought from the Holy Spirit or from the father of lies, the devil?”
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you (John 16:13-14, ESV).

5. Replace the lies with the truth – especially the truths about you from the Word of God.
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2, ESV).

6. Read, memorize, and meditate on key sections of scripture like Psalm 23, Romans 8:31-39, Ephesians 1:3-14 and believe them to be true about you.
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8, ESV).

7. Pray fervently for spiritual victory and ask others to pray for you.
“Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16, ESV).

8. Look for others to serve because you have been blessed to be a blessing.
“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace” (I Peter 4:8-10).