What happens to a tea cup when it is hit with a hammer? It shatters! What happens to a fragile little child hit with crisis, trauma, tragedy, abandonment, abuse, divorce, death and rejection? They shatter! The lives of most children are poorly equipped or protected against the lies of the Evil One. Their parents are often more part of the problem than the God given solution. Children are no match for the schemes of the serpent. They play innocently like little babies at the mouth of the lion’s den.
“Jesus called the children to Himself and said, “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God.” (Lu. 18:16)
“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him that a millstone were hung around his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come; but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!” (Matt. 18:6-8)
PSYCHOLOGICAL REORDERING OF THE MIND
Much of the psychological reconditioning of the human mind is done during childhood. We are like wet cement. The Enemy seeks to mar and alter us through the lies and lacks many of us suffer as children. Hardship and abuse set us up to experience our own vulnerability. The Enemy comes to reinterpret the circumstances of our childhood through the eyes of fear and pain. Children are powerless, often isolated and abandoned.
Many are locked in abusive situations that reinforce that sense of helplessness. Without conscious awareness, they begin to embrace the false comfort and protection offered by the Enemy as imaginary friends, fantasy characters, and virtual reality heroes. Role-playing, video games, spirit guides and protector demons who masquerade as benefactors lead them into greater darkness and deception.
Witchcraft as experienced through drugs and the occult, is one of the most popular sources of personal empowerment. It gives the disenfranchised youth another chance to control and command their world. Repackaged to look like harmless fun, it appeals to our natural curiosity. The Enemy sets his deceptive lure in colorful, child-friendly entertainment and alternative activities, all in an effort to camouflage his destructive intentions.
IDENTIFY FEELINGS OF POWERLESSNESS YOU EXPERIENCED AS A CHILD
Many of us feel numb and out of touch with our feelings. If that is the case, it may be that they are blocked out for a reason. Fear of shame and the reoccurrence of pain, etc. persuade us we do not want to know what happened. We believe “feeling our feelings” will bring more hurt. “I don’t care” or “I don’t want to know” influence us to accept forgetfulness or apathy as protectors and viable solutions to shame and pain. Hardening our hearts and shutting down emotions hinders our ability to experience God’s love and compassion. They isolate us from the revelation of His love and goodness, both essential to true healing.
FIND THE LIE – FEEL THE FEELING
Satan uses lies to bind us. To find those lies, the Lord must take us back to the place where the lie was first told; to the place where we first believed the lie. Writing down our feelings in response to that memory helps us find the lies imbedded in that memory. Jesus shows us how those perceptions give place to the prisons of fear that hold us in sinful behavior patterns. To truly repent and experience true freedom from the sin we must first identify the lies that hold that sinful behavior in place. If we do not identify the lie, our repentance will only and always be shallow and short lived.
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,” (II Cor. 10:4-5)