Hope, Healing & Freedom Podcast: Episode 108
TRANSCRIPT
When I was about 7 or 8 years old, we moved to a house that was sort of in the country. It was a subdivision, but each home had a 2-acre plot. Behind us was a farmer’s field so our land felt much bigger than it actually was. Along with the house was a barn and two horses. We had no experience with horses, and they didn’t come with instructions. What happened with that experience is the topic of today’s podcast.
This is Cindi Whitman with Restoring the Foundations. Today’s podcast is titled “Get Back Up”.
Have you ever felt like giving up? Maybe you messed up so badly that you don’t think God will use you? Have you stepped back into sin or just drifted away from your relationship with God? Or maybe a physical issue has sidelined you through surgery or pain? Today we’re talking about what do you do when you fall, or you drift away from your relationship with God.
Learning to ride a horse took some time and effort. The horses that came with the house were either so stubborn or untrained that only my dad could get a bridle and saddle on them. He would have to ride them for 30 minutes before we could even get on. Of course, maybe the horses knew that we didn’t know what we were doing! This of course meant that we could only ride when Dad got home from work. After a long day of work and driving an hour through traffic he wasn’t too happy or interested in saddling two ornery horses, but he did want us to learn to ride so he succumbed to our begging. Dad could get on them and ride with no problem because they knew he was in charge but when we got on them it was a different story. They knew that we didn’t know what we were doing. More than once, I would end up in a pile of manure with a horse standing over me with a smirk on its face. I would cry a bit and get up ready to go into the house but that wasn’t happening. Dad stood there and made me get back on that stubborn horse. I didn’t want to. My pride was hurt even if I wasn’t hurt physically. I didn’t want to give that horse the pleasure of bucking me off again. However, Dad was insistent. You have to get back on the horse. He knew that if I went into the house without getting back on the horse it would be harder to convince myself the next day to get back on. He probably also knew that if the horse got away with it the horse would know to just buck me off tomorrow because it preferred just grazing all day and not having to be ridden by a couple of ignorant kids.
I can laugh today about that incident, but I wasn’t laughing then. When you fall off or in my case get bucked off a horse it takes courage and determination to get back up and get on the same horse. Life is the same. Sometimes life bucks us off and we land in a pile of manure like circumstances. We have to make a choice to get back up! It isn’t often easy.
Often in the church a message is inadvertently conveyed to new believers. That message is “Christians don’t have problems” or “If you fall into sin, you can’t tell anyone.” These are lies that the enemy uses to defeat us. In fact, when we fall, he condemns us or kicks us when we’re down, so it makes it more difficult to get up. If our belief is that it’s not safe to tell anyone about our struggle, then we are kept in further bondage. We suffer alone and feel like we can’t get help because it’s not safe to tell anyone. Isolation is one of the tools the enemy uses to “kill, steal and destroy” (John 10:10)
Think about a predator going after a cow in the wide-open spaces of Montana. There are no humans around to protect it and cows don’t have many self-protective skills, but as long as the cow stays in a herd there is safety. The predator stalks the herd for the weak or young ones because they are easy prey. It’s the same way with us as believers. When we isolate, we become easy prey for the enemy. He loves to pick us off when we are sick or down or depressed. He knows that we are in a weakened state and don’t have our normal fight in us. He has no mercy, and he doesn’t play fair.
A lot of people have been hurt by people in the church. We can let our negative experiences keep us from trusting others. Often when we have been hurt by people in church, we believe something like: “People have let me down and they might do it again. I can’t trust them.” Or “It’s not safe to trust others with my struggles. I have to keep them to myself.” We choose to struggle and suffer in silence. We have all seen the results of believing these lies as the lives of some very prominent Christian leaders have been splashed across our front-page news. There are numerous examples of leaders struggling with sexual sin and yet they hide it for decades. Other Christian leaders are struggling from burnout or weariness and find the day to day demands of ministry zapping them. Why don’t they get help? They often believe that there is no one that is safe for them to share about their struggles. So, they stay the way they are and try going it alone.
So, what do I mean by falling? Well, maybe you went through RTF ministry and at first you were really diligent to keep the doors shut and not step back into old mindsets and behaviors. You meditated daily on your new Godly Beliefs and True Identities, you set aside time to pray and listen to the Lord. You intentionally met with Jesus when you recognized a wounded place and encountered His healing power but then something happened. The “something” might have been a temptation that you gave into. The “something” may have been sickness or a physical ailment that got you out of your regular patterns of life. Maybe it was a combination of things, but you find yourself not in a good place. What do you do?
Recently, I found myself in this place. I didn’t fall into sin but in February I had back surgery. This was not something that was on our agenda for 2024! However, after four trips to the Emergency Room in excruciating pain the doctors did an MRI. Not only was the pain intense but I was losing use of my right foot. It was determined that to mitigate the loss of the use of my foot surgery was needed immediately. I don’t know if you’re ever ready for surgery, but this happened so fast that I didn’t really have time to mentally prepare for it. The pain had been so intense that I was willing to do anything to make it stop. Of course, we prayed and although we didn’t see a miraculous healing, we had peace about pursuing the surgery. I am happy to say that the surgery was successful. The pain is gone, and I have regained the use of my foot. It appears that there is no long-term major nerve damage. I am very thankful.
However, the journey to regain my health has not been an easy one. In the first few weeks I found myself in a position that I couldn’t read my Bible and I couldn’t pray more than a sentence or two. All of my energy was being spent in the healing process. I was in a place of isolation. I was weak and physically unable to be a part of the “herd”. I couldn’t go to church, and I just didn’t feel like doing much other than what I absolutely had to do. I began to realize how important my herd, the body of Christ, was for my health physically and spiritually. Others were praying for me when I could not. It was literally the prayers of those saints that sustained me during that time. I came to realize how meaningful and important notes, texts and calls of encouragement meant. It seems that when I was struggling the most, I would get a card in the mail or a text, email or phone message from someone letting me know that they were praying for me.
Today our scriptures are: Heb 10:25 (CEB)
“Don’t stop meeting together with other believers, which some people have gotten into the habit of doing. Instead, encourage each other, especially as you see the day drawing near.”
And James 5:16 “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
When you’re in a weakened state through sickness, or struggling with temptations to sin, or you have fallen into sin it’s time to reach out for help and get back up! We all experience tough times in life, and we need one another. These two scriptures give us some great direction.
First of all, we need to be in a gathering of believers on a regular basis. This might be a Cell Group, Life Group, Home Group or attending a local church. Whatever kind of gathering it is there needs to be people that we are able to be real with and accountable to. One of the things that so often happens to leaders is that they fall for the lie that “There is no one I can trust.” Experience may have led them to that belief, but it opens them up to be like the stray cow, away from the herd and unprotected. The enemy loves to get us isolated. We are easy prey when we are isolated. He whispers in our ears lies and condemnations. We begin agreeing with his lies and give him a landing strip in our lives. The enemy condemns us. Condemnation isn’t from God. God will convict us of our sin, but he won’t condemn us for it. Conviction says, what you did was bad. Condemnation says, you are bad. When we believe the lies like “I’ve messed up so bad that God can’t use me” or “I can’t tell anyone because no one is trustworthy” then we have just given the enemy a 4-lane highway. So, if we do what the above scriptures say, by gathering with other believers and repenting of our sin one to another, we are warring against the enemy. We are telling Satan, by our actions and words, that even though we may have sinned or drifted away from God for one reason or another we’re not going to try to “go it alone.”
The bottom line is that as Christians, we need each other. We need to have people in our lives that are willing to “snatch us up”, as a friend of mine would say when we’re off base. We also need those that we can share our deepest struggles and temptations knowing that they will love us, pray for us and hold us accountable. I would encourage you today that if you do not have those kinds of people in your life then you are in a vulnerable, unprotected situation. As they say in the south, “you’re ripe for the picking.” I would encourage you to find at least a couple of people that are trustworthy that you can confide in. You may have to change churches if you’re not finding it where you are. If you’re not in church or some kind of home group, then I would encourage you to pray that the Holy Spirit would lead you to a new place to find those friendships. You may have to get out of your comfort zone and be the one to invite others to coffee or lunch to begin the relationship. When you ask, God will show you who you can trust. It’ll take time to develop the friendship, but it will be worth it!
So, if you’ve drifted away in your relationship with God don’t beat yourself up just Get Back Up. Brush off the manure of life’s circumstances and Get Back Up! He is waiting for you with open arms. If you’ve fallen into sin, repent to God and confess your sin to Him and to a trusted friend and Get Back Up. Start again. Brush off the “manure of life’s circumstances” and begin again. You have to get back onto the horse or you’ll begin agreeing with the lies that you’ve just fallen too far. You’ll begin believing the lies and covering your sin. God will continue to convict you but often somewhere down the road it just gets harder to confess and easier to hide your sin. Don’t allow the enemy the opportunity to steal your destiny.
Let’s go back to the word of God. I love how God didn’t sanitize the Bible. There are all kinds of people who “fell” in one way or another. It’s always fascinating to see how God responds. One of my favorite people in the Bible, besides Jesus, is David. `David made a lot of mistakes and yet God calls him “a man after his own heart”. If you don’t know about David’s challenges, I’d encourage you to study his life. He makes lots of mistakes, but God always listens and takes him back.
Will you pray with me?
Father God, thank you that you love each of us the way we are, but too much to leave us the way we are. Lord, forgive us for drifting away from you and allowing the circumstances of life to affect our relationship with you. Lord, forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteous living. Show us the way back to you and put people in our lives that will love us, encourage us, and confront us when needed. Thank you for always loving and forgiving us. Amen!
Thank you for listening today. If you are struggling with sin or an issue that is affecting your relationship with God, or with others, I want to encourage you to reach out for help. Don’t settle. Go to our website: restoringthefoundations.org. At the top you’ll find a tab for Ministry. Find a ministry team and reach out! You’ll be glad you did.
Also, our Hope Healing and Freedom seminar is ½ off for a limited time. Find out about the Integrated Approach of the RTF ministry. There is teaching and also group ministry as a part of the seminar. It’s a great taste of more freedom!
