Think Again!

52 • Think Again: Transformation That Yields a Return on God’s Investment

lies, God gets the blame and you feel like a failure. The truth is that many problems have nothing to do with your actions, but are a result of the fall, the sins of others, or Satan’s lies. If you experience trauma, the adversary will often suggest that you blame yourself. For example, he may say, “This was your fault. You’re ugly, gross, nasty, dirty, disgusting and unlovable.” He delights when you suffer the pain of abuse, but he also wants a second victory by having you blame the abuse on yourself. Such ridiculous notions must be recognized for what they are: a lie from the pit of hell. At the other extreme, the adversary can use the phrase “you deserve it” to bait you to do harmful things to yourself. He will whisper to you, “You’ve had such a hard day, you deserve a break. Go ahead and (smoke, drink, overeat, steal, look at pornography).” In the movie The Matrix , the villains tempted Cypher to betray his comrades by telling Cypher he deserved a better life. Slowly gaining Cypher’s confidence, the opposition appealed to the hardship he was facing by staying loyal to his compatriots. After giving into temptation, the enemy killed Cypher. He ended up with nothing. Cypher is a picture of a scheme that starts small and gradually grows, according to James 1.14-15: “Each one is tempted when by his own evil desire he is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin and sin when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” For Cypher, distraction started with a simple thought (“I deserve this”), then it was conceived into a thought pattern. After conception, it gave birth to a stronghold that took root deeply enough to lead even to death.

For us, this can be death of relationships, death of integrity, death of a testimony, even physical death. Whenever you hear