Turn on the news. Look around. Read your social media feed. We all know the country is increasingly divided. People are fighting. Marriages are ending. Suicide attempts have increased substantially.
Too many have lost hope and are giving up.
Why is this happening and what can we do about it?
You could say it's the pandemic, quarantine, social unrest, uncertainty, unemployment, etc. But the root cause goes much deeper than that.
It's happening because, as I wrote in my new book, The Garden, evil exists and it is an enemy that uses the 5 D's to defeat us. Once you understand the 5 D's you'll see how they are playing out in our lives and country right now.
1. Doubt - Instead of trust we have a lot of doubt and fear. We see the world through the media headlines instead of through the lens of faith, hope and love. Ultimately the enemy's goal is to plant seeds of doubt that God can't be trusted. The enemy knows if you don't trust God you will believe his lies and if you believe his lies you won't trust God. It's a game of deception.
2. Distort - Evil creates doubt by distorting truth with lies. These lies come to you in the form of thoughts that your future is hopeless, that our country will never recover from this, that you don't have what it takes to succeed, that it's going to be like this forever, that the worst is yet to come. When negative thoughts like these come into your mind, you need to know that they aren't coming from you. After all, who would ever choose to have a negative thought? When you are sleeping and dreaming or having a nightmare are you choosing your thoughts? When a thought pops into your head are you choosing it? Thoughts are spiritual. Your negative thoughts are lies and fear is a liar.
3. Discourage - Evil creates doubt and distorts truth with lies in order to discourage you. The enemy knows it can't beat you on its own. So it tries to discourage you so you beat yourself and give up. We don't give up because it's hard. We give up because we get discouraged. To many are believing the lies, getting discouraged and giving up.
4. Distract - You know the saying, "If the devil won't make you bad, he'll make you busy." He'll get you to focus on all the things that don't matter so you don't invest in what does matter. He tries to distract you from your core purpose and mission. Right now, social media and the 24/7 news is distracting a lot of people and causing them to be their worst, not their best. Too many are taking the bait of hate and being distracted.
5. Divide - The word "anxious" literally means divided. There is so much anxiety because we feel divided from God, from each other and from ourselves. Evil's ultimate goal is to divide us from God and from each other. Right now evil is doing a great job of dividing this country politically, racially and physically. "Social distancing" "Quarantine" "Isolation" "Pick a side". When we are divided, we lose the battle.
It's a spiritual battle and many are losing the battle because they have no idea they are in a battle. If your enemy knows you are in a battle and you don't, you surely will lose. Once you know you are in a battle and see how the 5 D’s is the enemy's only game plan then you can counter it and win it.
I know this isn't politically correctly to share. It's easier and safer to ignore this topic. But most have no idea they are in a battle because too many are afraid to share what's going on. But I can't let people continue to lose the battle when I know how they can win it. If I didn't share this with you then I would be keeping the winning plan from you.
So here goes! This is how you Win:
1. Trust instead of doubt. Don't let the seeds of doubt take root. Instead plant seeds of hope and faith and trust. Trust in God. Have faith even when the circumstances aren't positive.
2. Don't believe the lies. Instead speak truth to the lies. The truth is you are here for a reason. There is a plan for your life. Your vision and purpose is greater than your circumstances. No matter what happens you have the power to overcome your situation. You have greatness inside of you and you are here to do great things. No matter what happened in your past you are capable of creating a great future right now. The truth is we will overcome this challenging time and we will be better and stronger for it.
3. Instead of feeling discouraged make time to encourage yourself and others each day. Your team needs encouragement. Your family needs encouragement. The more you trust and speak words of encouragement to yourself and others you will overcome the discouragement that defeats you.
4. Instead of letting distractions get in the way focus on what matters most. Stop watching the news and invest in your relationships. Stop buying the doom and gloom and focus on building your business. Stop arguing on social media and start loving people.
5. Instead of division focus on uniting. Unite with your team. Connect and unite with your friends. Find ways to bring people together instead of creating separation. Unite with God spiritually. Make time for prayer, meditation and gratitude. You were meant to be one with God, not divided. When you experience this oneness you feel more love, peace and joy. When we are united with ourselves, with God and with each other we will win the battle.
There's a reason why Star Wars, Harry Potter, Superman, Black Panther, Wonder Woman, etc. are about the battle of good and evil. It's because it's the major narrative of our existence and one that exists deep within our soul. It resonates with us because this is the battle we all face and one that we are facing together right now.
If you have been thinking to yourself, "this sure is a strange time and something weird is going on" now you know what's behind the challenges we are facing.
