12 FOUNDATION STONES—CLASS 11A THREE STEPS TO VICTORY OVERCOMING PROBLEMS, PART 1.2 ------------------------------- Step 1: Diagnose the problem ------------------------------- ------------------------------------- ((a)) Ask the Lord about your problem ------------------------------------- When any of us face any kind of a crisis or dilemma, test or privation—whatever the trouble or problem—what is the thing we should do?—Complain? Get upset and angry that things aren’t going just the way we would like them to?—Of course not! When things go wrong in your life, whatever your emotions at the time, one of the first things you should do is ask the Lord what is wrong, whether you have done something wrong, and what lessons He wants to teach you from it. There can be many reasons why a problem has arisen. Whether you have any fault in the matter or not, it is beneficial to take the time to pray about why things happen.—It’s good to always keep the Lord in mind, asking Him about things. Psalm 143:10—Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness. Matthew 6:10—Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. ---------------------------------------------------------------- ((b)) Look in God’s Word and find the counsel and guidance you need about your problem! Ask the Lord to speak to you through His Word. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 2 Timothy 3:16–17—All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, (17) that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Psalm 119:105—Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. > Look for similar situations or problems in the Word. Draw your encouragement from the Word. You can also find counsel in godly writings like those offered with this course, such as Discovering Truth and books in the Get Activated series. "Obstacles Are for Overcoming" has a wealth of advice. * The riches of the Word Some time ago an elderly man living in New Jersey made an unusual discovery as he leafed through an old family Bible. Many years earlier, his aunt had died and left it to him. Part of her will read: “To my beloved Steven Marsh I bequeath my family Bible and all it contains, along with the residue of my estate after my funeral expenses and just and lawful debts are paid.” When everything had been settled the nephew got a few hundred dollars plus the old volume mentioned in the will. After the money was used up, his only support was a small pension, and for more than 30 years he lived in poverty. Then one day he cleaned out his attic in preparation for a move to his son’s home where he hoped to spend his old age. There in a trunk was the family Bible he had inherited. Opening it, he was amazed to find banknotes scattered throughout its pages. He counted over $5000 in cash. Within his reach were riches he could have been enjoying all along. ------------------------------------- ((c)) Recognize the spiritual warfare ------------------------------------- * Your great, yet defeated Enemy God, Jesus, the good angels and departed saints, are not the only inhabitants of the spiritual world! There is also a dark side, headed up by the Devil, who is our arch-enemy, and is assisted in his evil tasks by his minions, lesser devils and demons. The Devil (Greek: diabolos) is the fallen angelic being who is the supreme enemy of God and man. He is in direct opposition to everything God is or all He wishes to do. Starting in the Garden of Eden, the Devil has attempted to deceive every living soul. Revelation 20:10a—The Devil, who deceived them … He is called also “the accuser of the brethren”: Revelation 12:10—Then I heard a loud voice saying in Heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.” Sometimes the problems we face are not caused by other people or by our own sins, but they are part of the spiritual warfare that is going on unseen by human eyes. Ephesians 6:11–12—Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil. (12) For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly (spiritual) places. That’s why the Lord promises: Isaiah 59:19b—When the Enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. Luke 10:19—Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the Enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. He also cautions us: Ephesians 4:27—Nor give place to the Devil. 1 Peter 5:8–9a—Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the Devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (9a) Resist him, steadfast in the faith. * The temptation of Jesus Jesus was carried out into the desert and tempted by the Devil. Even His physical body was allowed to be put under the power of the Devil for a short time. But under the attack He never yielded but resisted the Enemy with the Word of God, until the Enemy saw Jesus wasn’t going to give up, and then he quit. Matthew 4:1–11—Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the Tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” Then the Devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ “Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” Again, the Devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” Then the Devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. Take note of how Jesus fought back with the Word, “it is written”! > Be aware of the Devil’s devices 2 Corinthians 2:11—We are not ignorant of his devices. God’s Word tells us not to be ignorant of the Devil’s devices, so although we don’t even like to talk about him and we’d rather emphasize the positive, you need to be able to recognize the Enemy and his wiles so you can fight and overcome him. So what are “Devil’s devices”? How does he try to hinder us, stop us, slow us down, etc.? Here are a few of his most common wiles: He tries to play on our weaknesses, frailties, or vices. Perhaps someone has a natural tendency to grumble, which is something we all do on occasion, even though it is more healthy physically and spiritually to have a positive attitude: Nehemiah 8:10b—Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. The Devil may try to tempt the “occasional grumbler” to habitually complain, which results in unhappiness and even depression. The Devil often attacks us first in our thoughts: That’s the door through which he finds entrance. But thank God you can slam that door shut with Scriptures, as Jesus did! The Enemy attempts to separate us from others: This is such a typical device of the Devil.—He accuses God’s people and exaggerates to you what others are doing, and will try to take things that others have said or done and twist them and make things sound a lot worse to you than they really are. He’s an expert at picking on all the little flaws and all the little faults that he can find, and constantly tries to accuse others and get you to blame everything that goes wrong on someone else! Part of what our spiritual adversary says is often true, because he couldn’t get you to believe his lies unless he told you some truth mixed with it, which would deceive you into thinking his lies were true too! So you have to be on guard. James 4:7—Therefore submit to God. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you. > Greater is He that is in you! 1 John 4:4—You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. Jesus is our Defense Attorney before God, our Judge, defending us from all the fiery darts of the Evil one, that prosecuting attorney, the accuser of the saints, Satan himself! Through the name of Jesus you have power over the Devil, and you can command him to leave! (James 4:7) The Lord and His angels and you are far more powerful than the Devil and his demons! Satan has to obey your commands in the name of Jesus. He might fight against you for a while, but sooner or later he’s going to have to knuckle under and admit defeat. Philippians 2:10—At the name of Jesus every knee should bow. Warning: The Scripture says we’re not to be unaware of the Devil’s devices. In other words, we are to beware of his devices. But we’re not to get so fascinated by studying how he works that it becomes a fascination for evil! * For more on this subject, see the chapter in Obstacles Are for Overcoming, “Spiritual Warfare” (pages 39–43). Don’t let the Devil trick you! Needy miners and settlers in British Columbia, Canada, engaged in stripping abandoned Fort Alcan of lumber, electrical appliances, and plumbing, made an amazing discovery. While dismantling the jail they found that the mighty locks were attached to the heavy doors, and two-inch steel bars covered the windows, but the walls of the prison were only wallboard made of clay and paper, painted to resemble iron. A good old heave against the walls by a man not as strong as a football tackle would have burst the wall out. Nobody ever tried it because nobody thought it possible. Many Christians are prisoners of fears that are nothing when pushed against. Satan cannot do anything against a child of God, but he loves to put barriers of papier-mâché in the path of a believer to make him think that there is no progress in the direction of the will of the Lord. When by faith we push against it, we will be free. ------------------------------------- ((d)) Accept your responsibility ------------------------------------- Some people tend to blame everybody else for all of their troubles.—“Why me, Lord? I didn’t do it, they did it to me! It wasn’t my fault, it’s his fault, her fault! They’re the ones to blame! They’re the ones who made me do it!” How can you ever grow spiritually or learn any lessons from the Lord when you’re self-righteously blaming other people for everything bad that happens to you and if you won’t accept the responsibility for your own problems? Even if you were not directly to blame for something, you still need to take responsibility for your situation and work toward a solution. No matter who caused the problem, blaming others will not resolve it. Concentrate not on placing blame but on finding solutions. > Don’t be too quick to judge and blame others! Matthew 7:3–5—And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? (4) Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? (5) Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye. > It’s human nature to look around for somebody else to blame our problems on. “Passing the buck” started in the Garden of Eden. It’s sinful man’s first line of defense when he’s in trouble—to blame others. Just look what happened in the Garden of Eden: When they got caught in their sin, the first thing Adam said to God was, “It was my wife, she did it!” Then Eve said, “It was the Serpent’s fault, he did it!” And the serpent as good as said, “It was God, it’s all His fault!” Genesis 3:12–13—Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” To “pass the buck” and try to blame things on others is an almost automatic reaction and self-defense mechanism with most people. > Acknowledging your own blame is essential if you want to make progress. Nobody who continues to blame other people for their problems is going to be able to progress and grow spiritually! You’ve got to take the responsibility yourself. You’ve got to confess your part in the wrongdoing (all have sinned—including you!) so that the Lord can forgive you, because it says “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9). But if we don’t confess our sins, if we don’t even think it’s our fault, then how can the Lord forgive us? Even if you feel you have not been in the wrong, progress is not going to be made until you forgive the other person and make steps toward reconciliation. * Be honest with yourself! We must not only glory in our successes, but also be willing to confess our mistakes and attempt to rectify them.—But, as they say, the hardest words in any language are: “I was wrong.”—And the hardest one to confess your faults to is yourself! We hate even to admit to ourselves our own mistakes, sins, and shortcomings, as it is sometimes so discouraging, humbling, and humiliating.—But you’ll never get the victory until you face the facts honestly and confess. “He that confesses his sins,” the Word says, “shall be forgiven. But he that covers his sin shall never prosper!” (Proverbs 28:13). Another reason why we need to confess our sins is because it really helps keep us humble! It helps you to be honest with yourself and with others and with the Lord. This takes humility of the kind only God can give.—Because it’s just the inborn, sinful nature of man to not want to take the blame and so be unable to confess. So may God help us all to be honest with ourselves, others and God! As Shakespeare said, “If thou canst to thine own self be true, thou canst not be false to any man!”—Be honest now! ------------------------------------- ((e)) Seek godly counsel. Ask others to pray with you. ------------------------------------- People often have the attitude, “I wanted to get my problem all straightened out and worked out, and get the victory by myself.” But sometimes it can be difficult to resolve some issues on your own.—The more you worry about them and think about them, the more confused you’re likely to become. Whereas if you do what the Scriptures say and let someone help you bear those burdens, you may be able to get help and resolve the problem much sooner. Proverbs 11:14—Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety. Proverbs 19:20—Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter days. Proverbs 20:5—Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out. Proverbs 27:9b—The sweetness of a man’s friend gives delight by hearty counsel. One word of caution: If you are seeking counsel from another, make sure you ask for help from somebody spiritually strong, who will not be hurt by your problem. Romans 15:1a—We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak. --------------------------------------------------- Quick summary of Step 1: Identify the problem --------------------------------------------------- We’ve gone through the first step. Let’s quickly review how we can diagnose our problems and find out what is actually wrong. (a) Ask the Lord about your problem. Ask Him to tell you whether you have done something wrong that is causing this problem. Or does He have another reason or lesson behind it? (b) Read the Word. Look for similar situations or problems in the Word and see how the solution was brought about. Let the Word guide you; also let it encourage you and cleanse you. (c) Recognize the spiritual warfare. Be aware of the Devil’s devices. He often tries to play on our weaknesses, frailties or besetting sins. Remember always that the Lord’s power is much greater than the Enemy’s.—Resist the Devil and he will flee. Don’t become fascinated with his evil handiwork. (d) Accepting the responsibility for your own actions is essential if you want to make progress! Don’t blame others. Concentrate not on placing blame but on finding solutions. (e) Seek godly counsel. Ask others to pray with you. Be sure when asking for counsel that you go to someone spiritually strong who will not be adversely affected by the problem you will describe. (continued in part 3)