I spent six of my formative years at a boarding school. With mean seniors (upperclassmen) and strict Reverend sisters to boot. There were all manner of survival tricks to keep sanity in that kind of environment hence all manner of escapades among students were endlesss. One of them is what we called false alarms. Back then, false alarms usually happened at dusk, when there's a large group of people together. It usually entailed someone spotting a "ghost" or "something" and raising an alarm that included yelling and running for dear life in all manner of directions. Can you imagine a large group of scared girls screaming on top of their lungs and running away from a "ghost"? At the end of the day, school staff assigned to comb out for the "ghost" or "alien" would find nothing. Then we'll all breathe a sign of relief and head back to our dorms sheepishly. The other day, I was reflecting when the word false alarms came back to me. Have you ever been in a season where you feel like everyone and everything is going wrong and there seems to be an alarming pressure that everything is going to fall apart? Most often, these are the enemy's tactics to get us discouraged and loose focus. When we start running unnecessarily the enemy keeps chasing and having a field day. False alarms have a way of raising tension, blood pressure, and emanating all manners of negative energy that sets us off and everyone else around us. It definitely keeps our mind reeling with negative thoughts and feelings of defeat.
How then do we check false alarms? In the context of everyday life, false alarms are usually raised in our minds due to a caricature - "something" that sets us off and makes us think that everything is going wrong. It could be as trivial as a heated argument with the significant or as significant as an health issue. Whatever it is, there is One who sees the whole picture and can pull apart for us what is important and unimportant. What to do;
1. Stand still: this could mean a series of things hence you have to identify ways you might be running and throwing your hands up or jumping to unnecessary conclusions.
2. Invite the Holy Spirit to help you through the situation
3. Investigate or reflect on the situation - pray, write, talk to a godly mature counsel
4. Speak the Word of God to counter all negative thoughts, emotions, and or actions.
5. Take charge of your God given environment and territories.
What have you done to confront false alarms in your life?
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