Foiling Fantasies

‘Alas,’ said Aslan, shaking his head, ‘Things always work according to their nature. She has won her heart’s desire; she has unwearying strength and endless days . . . But length of days with an evil heart is only length of misery and already she begins to know it. All get what they want; they do not always like it.’ [4]

Stillness and silence are so conducive to receiving the Lord’s insights that it should come as no surprise to find that the devil objects to them – big time! They also require great firmness as well as sensitivity, to cut short unprofitable monologues in our head.

Beware fantasies that project us centre-stage – they nurture insatiable longings, and reveal our hidden idolatries in ways that no day-to-day ‘reality’ can ever hope to match.

Sooner or later, these hidden imbalances risk escaping beyond the confines of our subconscious, and defining the day-to-day make up our character.[5]

Amongst the greater danger associated with silence, the devil, who is both crafty and religious, uses extreme isolation as a breeding ground for unchecked delusions. Beware any vision that overfeeds the ego, or that will not allow anyone to question its validity!

Beware what you set your heart on, too, “for it will be yours”, as the saintly Amy Carmichael warned. Once people become caught up in unhealthy fixations, they end up attempting to justify the unjustifiable – and resorting to that most effective conversation-stopping excuse: ‘The Lord told me to do it!’ All the more reason to take another of Amy’s prayers to heart: ‘Holy Spirit, think through me till Your ideas are my ideas.’

References

References
4 C.S. Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew (Harper Collins) p.162
5 Paul’s teaching in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 is highly relevant in terms of winning this battle in the mind.