God's Wisdom In A Nutshell

Hello,

There are many self help books and Youtube videos that talk about goal setting, mind power, and taking massive action to achieve our desires. Essentially it’s the Law of Attraction repackaged. This law states that certain situations come into our lives through the magnetic power of our thoughts. But there is danger when we think we know what is best for our lives to the exclusion of God.

There are Bible verses that appear to be similar to the Law of Attraction-for example:

“Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you.”(Matt 7:7)

However, this verse is telling us to ask God for our request. We are not to put our request “out there” in the universe somewhere and hope it will come to pass.  When we ask the Lord, we are first and foremost acknowledging His ability to guide our lives in the right direction, steering us clear of situations that could cause great pain while we are chasing our dreams.

Let’s look at the definition of Lord:

Someone or something having power, authority or influence; a master or ruler

This definition is revealing that we can have a person or a “thing” as our main influence or master. So we need to ask ourselves, “Do I give God authority over my life?” “Does He influence what I desire?” “Is He my Lord?” If He is not, we are setting ourselves up to be lured by Satan.

Satan temps us constantly with thoughts of greater success, a better body, more money and more “stuff.”We chase after these goals because we think they will provide greater happiness. Although many of us are goal oriented, hard working people who find it fun to set goals and reach them, we need to make sure that our goals are in line with God’s teachings. If our goals aren’t following the teachings in the Bible or we desire them more than we desire a relationship with the Lord, they will end up being a dangerous trap Satan set to destroy us.

Our amunition against the lures of Satan is to know God through Scripture. Satan doesn’t mind if we believe in God. He also doesn’t mind if we do a perfunctory 30 minutes of Bible study occasionally. He starts aiming his arrows at us if we develop a  daily habit of spending time reading the Bible, meditating on Scripture, memorizing verses and listening for the guiding voice of God. If we do develop this personal relationship with the Lord we are out of Satan’s grasp. We know that Scripture is powerful and the Holy Spirit Power within us can  fight off any evil dart aimed at us. Satan is rendered powerless when we declare Scripture to defend against depressing and fearful thoughts. Satan is also rendered powerless when we know, understand and use the name of Jesus.

Lets look at an example of how Satan gets believers off track:

In Genesis, Eve was in the Garden of Eden with Adam. The Serpent said to Eve “Did God say you must not eat any of the fruit from the garden?” “Of course we may eat it, the woman told him. It is only the fruit from the tree at the center of the garden that we aren’t allowed to eat. God says we must not eat it or even touch it or we will die.”(Gen 3:12)

“You won’t die! the serpent hissed. God knows that your eyes will be opened when you eat it. You will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and evil.”(Gen 3:4-5)

Eve knew right from wrong but Satan made her re-think her view. That was mistake number one! Then Satan had Eve focus on the one thing she didn’t have and crave that fruit. Mistake number two!

We could change the word Satan in that sentence to be “magazines, television, secular trends, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram.” These are the vehicles Satan uses today in order to have us focus on anything other than God. God wants us to think about Him and all that He has given us – our families, health, job, friends, home and our purpose in life. Being thankful for what we currently have is powerful and sets our priorities in order.

Satan successfully  tempted Eve to go against God’s Word and sin.  Satan was hoping to destroy Eve. Satan knows that God’s ways lead us away from pain, illness, broken relationships and failure; while moving us towards happiness, peace and the abundant life.

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” (Ex 20:17)

The Law of Attraction-invented by Satan-instructs us to focus on what we don’t have and continually take massive action while working toward our goal. Eventually our efforts will end in some sort of success, and this too is a trap from Satan!

“You may say in your heart, “The power and the strength of my hand has made this wealth for me.” But remember that it is the LORD your God who gives you the power to gain wealth..”.(Deut 8:17-18a)

Following the Lord’s teachings leads to a life filled with joy, contentment, power and happiness. We really don’t want unlimited powerful thinking taught in the Law of Attraction books. We want limited powerful thinking. We want God to limit our desires and be in charge of what we aquire because only He knows what we can handle. And only He knows the future.

We need to be able to say “Lord if it is your will I would like this to happen.”  This is recognizing that our powerful, all-knowing, ever present Father in heaven knows best. By yielding to His judgement, we will not only receive what is best for us, but the timing will be perfect and there will be no pain or regret involved in our blessing.

Throw away those law of attraction books! Satan is toying with your mind and if he gets a hold of it, he will destroy your life.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”(John 10:10NAS)

Food for thought,

Lisa