Hey There, Stupid Liar.

Hey there, stupid liar. Yes…I’m talking to you. Yes you, Mr. Devil. You have no place here. I have let you come too close to me and it’s time for you to leave. 

This month one of my squad coaches, Karen, posed this question– 

“Where in your life might the enemy be distracting you with a negative narrative? What scriptures could you use to combat these lies?”

And then it hit me….before I even entered Costa Rica I had the idea that I’d be living next to the beach and doing surf ministry. I had the idea that I would be evangelizing and making an impact on so many people here. 

Boy did the Lord throw me for a loop here. Imagine my surprise when I found out we would be working on a farm in the mountains no where near a beach. The Lord gave my team a curveball of a ministry that has been hard for me to see my purpose here. Understanding my team and I’s place here became muddled when I let Satan, that stupid liar, whisper in my ear. 

Our first full day with our ministry here our host fell down and broke her arm. The next few days quickly became a waiting game when she had to fly out to have surgery to repair the injury.

My team sat idly by and waited. We prayed and we waited. There was a lot of uncertainty during the first week as we continued waiting to see what our ministry would look like. This month our team was supposed to spend our time working on a farm and taking time off on the weekend to disciple to teens and children of risk. After the our host’s fall-our team was stuck at a church that was not prepared to host missionaries and didn’t have much work for us to do.

Our team was slowly given side tasks. There was a lot of back and forth and confusion our first week as we continued waiting to see if our host was okay. In the waiting I began hearing things like , “you’re not being made best use of”, and “what are you doing here sitting around? You’re in Costa Rica missing out on the beauty of this land”. I tried answering back and telling the voice that everything was happening in His timing. But as the lies continued coming in, the more I began to feel weary about where the Lord had placed me. 

When Karen asked this question during our weekly bible study, I was able to call out and put a name to these lies. I realized that I had been allowing Satan to preach a false truth to me. I quickly opened up the word and began searching for my God’s truth to cling to each time he tried to creep back again. 

Here are the verses I am clinging on to that are helping me combat the lies that I am wasting my time and that I am not being valued. 

“LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure” Psalm 16:5

My ability to love and serve where I am placed does not have to be weighed by the impact I am making there. The Lord alone is where I find my worth, not by the amount of work or amount of people I get to witness to.

Jonah 4

I was missing the compassion and grace I was being met with by my Heavenly Father because of my frustration of not doing enough. This book in the Bible calls out Jonah’s pride when he believes others don’t deserve the compassion he received from the Lord. In the same way– I believed that the few people I was surrounded by weren’t worthy enough for what I had to offer from the Lord. I believed that my time and talents could be better used elsewhere making a bigger impact among a larger crowd. The Lord has shown me time and time again that it’s not about the thousands, it’s about the one. 

So I ask you to journal, pray about, and reflect— Where in your life might the enemy be distracting you with a negative narrative? What scriptures could you use to combat these lies?