You cannot keep birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.

Martin Luther

The purpose of this website is to share miracles– sights of God in ordinary life. When most of us think of miracles, we think of healings, circumstances outside of our control turning around for the best against impossible odds, etc…so given that, I’m about to share one that may seem out-of-character from the rest, but is no less of a miracle. It starts with a simple question:

What sin are you held captive by?

That’s quite an invasive thing to ask, isn’t it? One that, for many of us, is a fairly uncomfortable thing to think about. I’ll tell you mine– perhaps it will resonate with you, and if not, then maybe it will at least serve to form common ground for you to relate yours to.

My pet sin– the temptation that I am weakest against fighting because part of me doesn’t want to fight it– is worry. Some of you may be thinking– is worry really a sin? I’ve asked the same question; let me explain.

I’ve expressed, in previous blog posts, my struggles as they relate to worry. It has been pretty prominent my whole life, but especially in the last few years or so– and I think somewhere within me I’ve begun to see myself as a victim of it. Like I’m some battered human because of it. And to an extent that may be true; but it’s not because I’m some helpless, innocent casualty– collateral damage in a war of the mind. 

I struggle with worry because I have allowed myself to be taken captive by it. 

It started as a thought– just one single “what if,” implanted in my mind by the destroyer of souls. And instead of immediately recognizing it as a threat and running to God with it, I gave credence to it. “It’s a logical concern,” I reasoned, and I thought about how I could cover my bases to avoid that thing happening. One by one, “what if” by “what if,” I followed the breadcrumbs, never looking back to see that they were leading me away from trust in God. 

The more I perceived myself as successful in preventing bad things from happening, the more I became conditioned to listen to the “what if’s.” If I was ever unsuccessful, I was convinced it was because I didn’t think hard enough beforehand– I must have missed one. So I became frantic in my search for the “what if’s,” always keeping a map of them in my mind so I could tip-toe through life like some unseen minefield. If I could conceive a bad outcome, I would gauge the likelihood of it happening, weigh the risks and benefits, and adjust course accordingly. 

While there can be a great benefit to caution and wisdom in forethought, it is also possible to take it too far and allow a blessing to be turned into a curse. 

And that is precisely what I’ve done. 

Without even realizing it, I made myself the god of my own reality– living in fear of one false step, and having more faith in myself than in God to prevent bad things from happening, becoming anxious at the thought of not being able to control every circumstance. I’ve become so attuned to my surroundings that I’ve turned them into the law of my life instead of the Word of God. I have turned my attention from my Shepherd’s staff to focus on the shadow of death. I have taken the mind that God gave me to be used for His glory and made myself a slave to it instead. 

“Whatever is not of faith is sin.” Romans 14:23.

It’s so clear that worry has become a stumbling block to me, and it’s also in my hands to give it to God, and yet it’s so difficult to give up. Why? Because to a great degree, I love the underlying cause of it. I love having every pitfall marked out in every situation I encounter, and I love the confidence it brings when I’ve weighed all the risks and been able to make informed decisions. The idea of not being that in-control drives terror into my heart and mind and makes me feel like I’m not doing my best with what God has given me.

But this is exactly the problem– it’s all a facade. That feeling of being in complete control of my surroundings is nothing but a contortion of reality, a manipulation of my perceptions by the enemy to get me to place my faith in everything else but God. In reality, it is 100% impossible to know every detail of every risk, and to figure out the perfect action to take in every scenario by myself. I cannot prevent every bad thing from happening, I cannot avoid having my own wellbeing and that of my family threatened, I cannot know the future…and that scares me, until I am reminded that there is One who is able to do all those things. My future is held in the hands of the God who created me, loves me, and sent His Son to die for me. Who better to place my trust in? But no, I’d rather trust myself– and therein lies the issue. The real root of the problem is my pride in my own worldly wisdom.

I don’t know if this is resonating with you. I know I’ve heard things like this before and immediately shut it out of my mind with the response: “nope, this is useless, I can’t do anything about my anxiety.” This was partial truth mixed with partial lie. I do believe certain people are naturally predisposed to anxious thoughts and some do need treatment to put them in the best state of mind possible. But the term “anxiety” has wrongly become a blanket-word that encompasses both anxiety and worry. Here’s the thing though–there is a difference between the two. Anxiety is a natural feeling one gets in response to circumstances, worry is an action. Worry is a deliberate dwelling on things outside of our control, which then can perpetuate anxiety, which, if left unchecked, will cause more worry and the cycle repeats itself. When we don’t distinguish the two, we run the risk of blurring the lines between what we can and can’t help, and therefore render ourselves powerless to stay the thoughts we actually can do something about.

Did I lose you there?

Cliff’s Notes Version: all of this goes back to the old adage by Martin Luther– “You cannot keep birds from flying over your head. but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.”

If you’ve made it this far, at this point I just want to encourage you to pray for understanding, dig deep, and be honest with yourself and with God in why you hold onto the thing you say you can’t give up. Because it’s uncomfortable, but it’s necessary– and so, so worth it, my friends.

Recently, I was freed from the captivity of my own mind, which was really the slavery of my unacknowledged sin– and it came through the discovery of my own deeply-seeded pride issue. Because really, isn’t that the root of all sin? Selfishness, longing for our own glory, seeking our own worldly satisfaction and comfort– every transgression of God’s law can be traced back to pride. It was the cause of Lucifer’s fall and it will be the cause of ours, too, if we do not surrender it to Christ and become nothing that He may become all in all. “He must become greater, I must become less.” John 3:30.

Ok. So one root of the “worry” problem is pride. But what about anxiety? What about when we’re assailed by a hailstorm of doubts and thoughts of impending disaster? (After experiencing 2020 and coming up on the one year anniversary of a global pandemic, who isn’t?)

“Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7.

But how does one actually submit to God and resist the devil? We’ve heard about keeping the commandments, we’ve heard about loving God and loving our neighbor, we know not to sin…but how do we resist an enemy we can’t even see? How do we fight thoughts that aren’t even ours? 

In Matthew 4, Jesus shows us the only failsafe way to resist temptation. Every time Satan sent a tempting thought into His mind, He immediately shot it down with a relevant verse from the Scriptures. He didn’t allow Himself any time to even consider it– He recognized it as a threat, as something contrary to the Word of God, and He hurled verses back like anti-ballistic missiles. After a few of these, Satan fled and tempted Him no more.

“For the Lord your God is the One who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you victory.” Deuteronomy 20:4.

So we know we can’t win our battles against the devil ourselves– God fights him for us. And we know that in order for God to fight our battles for us, we need to submit to Him. But how?

“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.” 2 Corinthains 10: 3-5.

Our warfare starts in our thoughts.

It’s a battle of the minds– whose mind do we have?

“Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:5.

The only hope for us to overcome in the battle of the minds is for us to not let our own mind be the one doing the fighting. 

Are we presenting our own arguments instead of the Word of God? Are we exalting our own worldly wisdom against the knowledge of God? If so, we’re shooting spitballs in a gunfight. 

“Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”: and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” Therefore let no one boast in men.” 1 Corinthians 3:18-21a.

“For I am determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” 1 Corinthans 2:2-5.

We can be freed from a life of worry amidst a world of chaos– but only if we give up what we think we know and foster trust in God instead. That’s why He tells us: “For we walk by faith, and not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7) Because sight is scary, especially these days, and He knows that– but we have no need to be afraid if we know the God who holds it all in His hands and isn’t bothered in the least by all we perceive to be out of control.

We can be freed of our pet sins– but only if we honestly ask God to show us the root cause of them and trust Him to lead us to repentance.

He is so far beyond capable of freeing us from our sin and tortured minds for good, we just need to let Him.

The miracle of this story is emancipation from a hidden captor– and it’s a story that can be yours, too. ☸