Stop Choosing Delusions

Verses in the Bible are timeless allowing God to speak directly to us about life even though the surrounding text doesn’t apply.

Yesterday morning I read Isaiah 66:4:

"So will I choose their delusions,
And bring their fears on them;
Because, when I called, no one answered,
When I spoke they did not hear;
But they did evil before My eyes,
And chose that in which I do not delight."

Thankfully because of Jesus, today God doesn’t choose our delusions. However, we do by thinking more as the world thinks rather than the way the LORD thinks. When we do this we bring fear into our lives and allow it to take control of our thoughts. Our thoughts run amuck and lead from one to another, eventually blowing things out of proportion. Our thoughts are prayers. Fear is a prayer for something we don't want. Trusting God, by casting our cares over to Him to resolve, is also a prayer. Our fears have a way of coming true simply because it is a prayer that we are believing to come true.

Job said in Job 3:25:

For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, And what I dreaded has happened to me.

I wish I had known this years ago. I would have let go of fear, anxiousness, worry, and stress. Not only do these negative behaviors bring about our worse fears but they take a toll on our bodies, our relationships and so many other areas of our life. In the end, it isn’t worth it.

God’s Word speaks to us. God loves us more and knows us better than even our parents, friends, spouses or siblings. His greatest desire is to help us. He actually wants us to have a wonderful life. He created this entire world for us with everything we will ever need.

He gave us His Word which shows us how to simplify life, reduce the problems, handle events out of our control to bring us happiness, contentment, and peace.

He is our Father. Think about what a good Father would do for His children. Then think about the capabilities of God. Unless you know God's Word, you will never know His capabilities. You will be confused as to what God is capable of doing and what He has empowered us to do. Too many people today blame God for things out of His control. Believe it or not, God doesn't have control over everything. He gave us free-will. He can't force us or anyone to do anything. But He will guide us out of a situation or comfort us with the truth in situations He doesn't have authority to handle.

The LORD has called each one of us. Some respond and some just ignore Him and it’s easy to identify who hasn’t answered or when we have ignored Him. We can tell when we haven't been focusing on God and have reverted back to spending too much time on what the world is saying since we become frustrated, worried, fearful or confused.

But they did evil before My eyes, And chose that in which I do not delight."

Evil is simply refusing to follow God’s guidelines and doing things our own way. This doesn’t delight God since He sees the train wreck that we are heading towards.

Jesus tells us in John 14:27

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Paul wisely has instructed us in Philippians 4:6-9:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Everyone desires peace but few are willing to do what it takes to receive it. It’s so easy to have genuine peace. It's just a matter of getting sick and tired and determined to make the necessary changes.

Set aside all negative emotions and you will have peace. Allow God to handle your problems. Why should we handle them when He tells us over and over again in His Word to let Him do it. We were not created to handle them. We were not designed to handle them. That’s why we have fear, bitterness, unhappiness, stress, or worry. That's why our body breaks down. That's why we end up with diseases or illnesses that our body can't fight off.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28-30

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Many years ago I found myself in a situation that I didn’t have the strength to handle. I had just heard several messages about turning things over to God to resolve so I put my trust in God and turned the situation over to Him confessing “LORD, I can’t handle this right now so I’m placing all of my trust in You to take care of it for me.” And He did. I did what I was capable of then allowed Him to take care of the rest. I didn’t worry. I wasn’t afraid. Then I jumped for joy at the result.

Since then I have continued to do it more and more. God has never let me down. Each time I turn something over to Him to resolve He has done it. No exceptions. It's just a matter of waiting patiently to see the results. If we only focus on the way we want God to resolve a problem we might miss the fact that He has resolved it or provided an alternative way for us to make it happen.

Today I even turn over small things to have Him resolve. This is His desire for my life.

Years ago we purchased some large black plastic storage containers to hold items we wanted protected and items we wanted to keep but no longer used such as keepsakes. They were stacked and in the way. We also have a storage closet with a door to hide the contents. I got this brilliant idea to place the storage containers in the closet to put them out of sight. I measured the closet and sure enough there was exactly enough space for them to fit. I easily slid each one inside stacking them one on top of the other. Then it happened. I wanted to retrieve some items that were stored in the bottom container so I easily removed the containers then removed the items and repacked the containers filling in the void where items were removed. When I tried to put them back in the closet they wouldn't fit. I tried every which way but they wouldn't go in. I knew they had to since I did it once. I became so frustrated I just stacked them back in their old place. Each time I saw them I would try again thinking I had a different mind set and now they would fit. I failed each time. BH even tired and told me it was impossible. A year past and they still sat there. One day I got fed up and turned the situation over to God. "God please direct my hands so that I can get them back in." And voila, they slid right back in just as easy as they did the first time. I giggled, laughed and thanked the LORD all day long. Today the situation still brings a smile as to how easily God handled the problem. God's greatest desire is to a part of our everyday life and make things easy for us.

Just like Adam and Eve in the garden, God desires the same for me and you; a worry, stress-free life enjoying walking with Him, talking to Him and discovering daily how great and marvelous He is.