Download PDF:  Defeating Confusion.08.03.16

Released August 3, 2016

From time to time in my adult life, I have had the opportunity to sit down with God’s leaders who are in the midst of confusion.  They find themselves in a maze, attempting to find a way out of  conflicting ideas, equally balanced yet divergent points of view that may include Biblical principles, but without success.  Their confusion brings different levels of distress, hopelessness, despair, anger and in some cases sleeplessness.  What I have observed is that they often ponder their situation in a circular pattern of thinking, unable to find a place to land.

I understand their dilemma only too well and in all likelihood, so do you.  All of us wrestle with conflicting ideas; we find many forks in life’s road and as a result find ourselves needing to make decisions but are unable to.  In many cases we do not have complete information about the paths before us.  We feel the weight of responsibility in making the correct, or what we believe must be the right decision.

For the Christian leader the responsibility can become even weightier because the will of the Lord is what they live for.  The follower of Christ has laid down his/her life and submitted their will to Him.  What is normally forgotten in these times is that He has created us in such a way as to be able to make decisions, which is in fact a glorious blessing.  The Lord created us and gave us the ability to choose.  What is also astounding and amazing to contemplate is that He responds to our decisions.

His provision for us in times like these is His wisdom and revelation.  He sent His Holy Spirit to comfort and to guide us, which is to say, He sent Himself to comfort and guide us; the Spirit of truth proceeds from the Father (Jn 15:26).  He was unwilling, given the decision Jesus made in accordance with the Father’s will, to die on the Cross, and our decision to say, “Yes!” to Christ, to allow us to walk alone.  Jesus paid the price for us never to be alone in our decisions.  Scripture is clear, “if any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him (James 1:5 AMP).”  In short, He doesn’t make fun of us or scold us when we don’t know what to do.  He created us to be dependent upon Him.  Wisdom will be given!

One very helpful way I have found to bring relief to a person bound in confusion, is to encourage them to write all the thoughts, concerns and fears that are troubling their mind and heart regarding the issue(s) at hand.  We can view this simply as good stewardship.  We must be diligent with what we have and get what we “see” out of our head, heart and spirit, so we can make room for what He wants to reveal and the wisdom He wants to provide.  If we are wondering around in circles with endless thoughts in our head, the best thing we can do is surrender.  In surrendering I do not mean that we should give up, but that we should give our concerns to Him, casting all of our cares upon Him because He cares for us (I Pet 5:7).  Writing the concerns down is a tangible, organized approach to defeating the spirit of confusion; in other words, we need to “download” our mind to gain perspective, so we can receive His perspective.  When we have taken this step, then we are demonstrating our trust and taking His invitation to, “Come now, and let us reason together (Is 1:8 NASB).”

We can take great comfort in that the Lord does not make His invitations lightly.  Our lists of concerns, the issues that we face, whatever they are, become a prayer list that we can submit to the Lord.  We should also be open in sharing the list with other Christians with whom the Lord has placed around us.  When we share our list, as well as confess to one we trust that we do not have the wisdom or insight we so desperately need, we can rely on the Holy Spirit to bring grace.  He is an ever present help in time of trouble; in times of trouble we need the Spirit of Christ, for He is our Wisdom.

When we prayerfully surrender our confusing thoughts to the Lord with another believer, or a group of believers, the Spirit is present.  We should also open ourselves to operation of the gifts that He has released to the Church.  More often than not, wisdom from the Lord will flow through the members of His body in the form of a word of wisdom, word of knowledge or prophecy.  We must not neglect the step of testing that which either we or others receive to determine if any insight is from above or earthly and demonic.  Unfortunately, many Christian’s deny the gifts of power and in so doing so they cut themselves off from the blessing of receiving an answer to their prayers.  My counsel in this regard is to let the Spirit in and let Him do what only He can do.  It is a grievous error to cut the Lord’s people off from His Spirit and the manifestations of His power.

May He guide all of us in paths of peace, in the decisions He calls us to make, in the comfort of His Holy Spirit as He crushes confusion beneath our feet.

Mark Biteler