Testimony of a Trying Soul
The old battle between Good and Evil is something with which we’re all familiar. I used to think of this struggle in a general, broader sense, in which God and The Devil struggled for control over the minds of mortals in the physical realm. It wasn’t ever specific to my life. I didn’t always recognize evil when it stared me in the face. On a small scale level, evil tempts us every day. The mortal mind is easily spellbound and manipulated by the force of evil. The devil attempts to pervert our thoughts, take over our minds, and control us through what we think and feel. When an individual is unaware of this, he or she is easily lured into a mindset that is not based on the principles of Divinity. To prevent this from happening, we must be vigilant and watchful in our thoughts. Mary Baker Eddy reminds us in The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, that Jesus alerted us to this fact. She wrote:
”Our Lord and Master left to us the following sayings as living lights in our darkness: ‘What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch’ (Mark 13:37); and, ‘If the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.’ (Luke 12:39)” (p. 232).
We must learn from the teachings of Jesus how to be the masters of our minds, how to exert self-control, and how to interact with others. When others laughed him to scorn, Jesus remained composed and steadfast. When the devil tempted Jesus, he didn’t give in to temptation and put Satan in his place. When confronted with demon-possessed individuals, Jesus cast the demons out of the person. He remained in control of himself perfectly as he demonstrated the Divine nature of Man.
My Testimony
Recently, I was confronted at work with a situation that presented a temptation. The details of the incident are beyond the scope of this article and I am not at liberty to disclose them, but I’ll boil the situation down into simple terms. There were these two individuals who were tempted by evil into getting angry with me over something insignificant. When they confronted me about it, I was tempted to get angry at them. I did not lose my composure but instead, I deployed a set of spiritual skills from my spiritual toolkit following the incident.
Mortal mind presented a scenario where I was right and they were wrong. It suggested that I should be angry with them over what had transpired. It attempted to reinforce these ideas through the cognitive cycle, but I quickly recognized this and decided to focus on God. Interrupting my thoughts with a brief, yet effective prayer, served to redirect me to Divine Thought. I simply gave thanks to God for the things I had in my life and the opportunity to serve and then I asked Him to remove the evil around me. Immediately after, I received a particular part of the Lord’s Prayer in my thoughts. Here’s the Lord’s Prayer:
“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.”
This Prayer is a very powerful prayer. It affirms God’s identity and His relationship with us, as the Divine Comforter and sole source of everything we need. It instructs us to forgive others and reminds us that we exist within His protection. The last part of the prayer is what entered my thoughts, along with the previous week’s Bible lesson about the Doctrine of Atonement. “Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.” In the moment that I was confronted with temptation, I did not waiver. I did not succumb to the thoughts present to me by my mortal mind. Instead, I said “NO!” I later realized that it was then that I was being delivered from evil.
As the day wore on, the line from the Lord’s Prayer continued to enter my mind. Over and over and over again. This was accompanied by bits and pieces from the lesson I mentioned in the previous paragraph. This lesson was presented by the small church I attend in a neighboring town. Recognizing that readers may belong to different churches and denominations of Christianity from around the world, I am not inclined to reproduce the entire lesson here. Instead, I encourage you all to consult your own places of worship, ministers, and religious leaders to help you understand the process of atonement. If you’d like, reference the following in this order: Luke 15:4-6. 8-10, Zephaniah 3:17, then Micah 7:7,19, Luke 4:14, Luke 7:36, 37-47,50. Those are some tidbits from the lesson presented by the church I attend.
I believe that the lesson about the Doctrine of Atonement appeared to me because I had been thinking about my own atonement that same morning as I was preparing to report for work. The lesson told me that atonement with God means seeking forgiveness directly from Him, which requires me to look inward from an objective point of view. I must recognize my sins and mistakes and implement change from within. It is the only sincere recognition that I have done wrong and is the highest form of seeking forgiveness. I cannot atone simply by apologizing and then continuing to sin.
Remember the story about Jesus and the adulterous woman? John 8:1-11 What was the last thing Jesus said to the woman? He said, “Go and Sin no more.” Did the woman realize how close she was to being stoned to death? Was she grateful that her life was spared? Jesus demonstrated, again, in this story his authority over the mortal mind, casting the evil aside, lest it claim the woman’s life. In the context of my situation, I realized that I could not seek forgiveness while simultaneously committing an act of sin. I could not allow myself to fall under the influence of mortal mind.
The mortal minds of the other two individuals were spellbound by evil. Scripture tells us that the devil is a liar and there are many synonyms for the devil. Each manifestation is a lie. The only power a lie has over someone is whatever power is given. Once a lie is recognized for what it is, against the backdrop of Truth, it falls apart and is destroyed. The Truth of the matter is that even those two people are God’s children. They too were created in the image and likeness of God, as described in Genesis 1:26-27. Therefore, I am compelled to let go and forgive them. They should be allowed the opportunity to work out their salvation, seek atonement, and receive judgment in their own ways. It does not do any good to hold a grudge, act vindictively, or to hold onto any animosity over what transpired.
Forgiveness isn’t always easy to do for some people but it is one of the principles taught by Christ Jesus. As we seek forgiveness for ourselves we must also forgive others. It is destructive to ourselves to not do so. The destructive end is rooted in evil. Recognize this, as I have, and change your heart. The change has to come from within the heart. Otherwise, it isn’t sincere and it will not be recognized by God upon His judgment. It takes work. Effort must be put in by each of us individually or else we are Christians In Name Only and nothing more. Christianity is more than just believing that Christ Jesus died for our sins. If one truly has the strength of this conviction, this belief, then one is compelled to demonstrate it through action. Taking up the cross means making the sacrifice, putting into practice what has been learned from Jesus’s teachings, and actually living his example. Have you ever heard the phrase, “actions speak louder than words?”
I can only speculate, but I think the world would be a much better, happier place if everyone acted as Jesus did. Disputes could be settled without violence. People would trade and transact with one another and prosperity would return to everyone. Generally, people would get along better. Individually we could all be working to destroy evil once and for all. We could simply pray each day, maybe once or more, that the evil be removed from our lives. This could have a collective impact. Will you pray with me each day the following:
Father In Heaven,
You are the One True Living God, perfect in every way. Your Eternal presence comforts me and I thank you for the life and bountiful blessings you have given me. I ask you to remove all evil from my life and the lives of all others. Bless us all with harmony and happiness. Thank you. In the name of Christ Jesus we pray.
Omni
The prefix omni means all. In amateur radio, an omnidirectional antenna radiates in all directions. A quality of God is that he is Omnipresent. His presence radiates in all directions from the Divine Realm. He transcends the physical universe with His presence and we can tune into the Divine frequency with our thoughts at a rate that is faster than light speed. Another quality of God is that He is omnipotent. His unlimited power also radiates out in all directions. Consider these ideas as you take up thy cross in your daily demonstrations of Divine Authority over the mortal mind and cast out the devil from existence.
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