[I'm working my way through this slowly. Click here for part 1 and part 2 of this series.]
First, here's The White Horse Parable again (my version):
A man and his son owned a field that they farmed for a living. And one day, they found a white horse in the field.
"Oh, what a blessing," said the farmer. "A free horse."
But then the horse started tearing up their plants.
"Oh, this is terrible. What a curse!" cried the farmer.
But then they caught the horse and tamed it and were able to use it to farm the field.
"Oh, what a blessing," said the farmer.
But then the son was thrown off the horse, broke both arms, and couldn't farm for months, reducing their sales and income.
"Oh, what a curse," said the farmer. "I wish this horse never came to us. Why, God? Why!?!"
But then a war started, and the army issued a draft. But because the son had broken arms, he was excused from the draft and didn't have to fight in the war.
"Oh, what a blessing!" praised the farmer.
As I said in part 2, the whole point of the White Horse Parable is that many "bad" things are just "white horses": Things that seem bad to us but that are actually good, that have some good in it, or that God can use for good. And so we shouldn't be too quick to despair - because we can't see the big picture, how things will work out in the end.
Of course (as I said in part 2), I'm not talking about "bad" things that are clearly, unequivocally, morally bad. Sin is bad, murder is bad, affairs are bad, mistreating people is bad, cheating is bad, etc. Sure, God can bring good out of it somehow, but it doesn't change the fact that it was definitely bad, that we never should've done it in the first place, and that we ourselves are responsible for the consequences. Just because God can forgive us and bring good out of it doesn't mean it was okay to do it. It didn't have to happen, but we brought it about. And so these aren't "white horses" unexpectedly showing up in our field one day and tearing up our crops, but they're more like us driving a bulldozer over our field to destroy our crops ourselves.
Yes, God can still help us rebuild and replant when we repent and turn to Him again (but we still have to face the consequences we created), but we never should've done it in the first place. It could've been avoided if only we'd lived according to God's Word.
1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
2 Chronicles 7:14: “if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
Acts 3:19: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”
Psalm 119:9-11,105: “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to Your word. I seek You with all my heart; do not let me stray from Your commands. I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You... Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”
So I'm not talking about the truly morally-bad things we never should've done (things we know are bad because God said so), the ways we disobeyed God, or the consequences that came from our bad choices, but I'm talking about the situations and circumstances in our lives that we judge as bad but without knowing for sure, and the "bad" things that might actually be good in the overall picture.
We often quickly label anything "bad" if it wasn't what we wanted, didn't meet our expectations, was painful, inconvenient, difficult, etc. But the thing is, it might just be "bad" based on our perspective, feelings, thoughts, preferences, the temporary effects, etc. - such as a loss of a friendship, loss of a job, an unexpected detour in life - but maybe later we find out that it was really for good, that it led to something better in the long run. That's a white horse.
A biblical example would be Joseph being unfairly imprisoned. Surely he viewed it as a bad thing. And it was a bad thing, unfair and unjust (he did nothing to deserve it, to bring that "white horse" into his life). But God knew that this "bad" thing was a stepping-stone to a very good and necessary thing - because it ultimately led to Joseph being given a very powerful position that helped save many lives from starvation, including his family whom he reunited with. Joseph had many "white horses" in his life, even though he always tried to do right (and did do right). And it all worked out for good in the end, even though it was really difficult, painful, and "bad" to go through at the time.
Genesis 50:20: "But Joseph said to [his brothers], 'Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.'"
"But God intended it for good."
White horses.
[I'm not saying (as Calvinists do) that "God intended it for good" means that God deliberately preplanned, orchestrated, caused people to commit sins against Joseph in order to get the ending He wanted. But I believe that God allowed them to freely make the bad decisions they made because He intended to use it for good. *See the long footnote #1 below for more on this.]
As I said, we shouldn't be too quick to despair, because we can't see the big picture... but we can trust that God does.
Jeremiah 29:11: “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”
Philippians 4:6-7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
Isaiah 26:3: “You will keep in perfect peace he whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”
Here's a specific example of a "white horse" in my life (a story I've shared before): Years ago, I went through some terrible months of nighttime demonic harassment. (Fair warning: Don't scoff. Well, scoff if you want to, but it's at your own risk.) At the time, it was bad, confusing, terrifying - and I just wanted out of it!
And I felt so incredibly alone because no one else understood or took me seriously, not even Christians who should know better, who should know that demons are real and active in the world and that we're always in the middle of an invisible spiritual battle. [The verse I relied on and had to repeat over and over again during that time was 1 John 4:4: "Greater is he who is in [me] than he who is in the world."]
But it wasn't until years later that I realized something: It ended up being absolutely one of the best things to ever happen to me and my faith - because it eventually helped me get through the darkest years of my life with my faith still intact. [And it ended up being even better that no one believed me or helped me, including my husband, because I learned to fight my battles myself, instead of hiding behind someone else and expecting them to do the fighting for me. I found a strength inside myself and a dependence on the Lord that I wouldn't have found if I had run from the battle and depended on another person. It truly was for the best in the long run because it eventually helped break the hold that the fear had on me.]
If I hadn't gone through that time of demonic harassment years before my darkest years and been absolutely convinced that the supernatural world is real, that angels and demons are real, that Satan and God are real, that the Bible is true, then I very likely would've lost faith during those darkest years when I couldn't seem to find God anymore, when He didn't even feel real to me anymore.
During those darkest years, my world was falling apart and yet God didn't seem to be doing anything about it - and so it confused me and hurt me enormously to have to keep trying to pray to Him, trust Him, rely on Him, and wait for Him when He didn't seem to be listening or caring. I began to wonder if I had just "made up" God in my own mind, if atheism would feel better - because then at least I wouldn't have to be let down by a God I trusted. Maybe relying on myself would be better, less confusing, less hurtful than needing help from a God who didn't seem to be coming through for me. I didn't need that heartache too, along with all the other ones I was experiencing at the time. Life was letting me down badly enough. I couldn't bear to be let down by God, too. Maybe no God would be better. I wanted it to be an option for me to give up my faith. I figured it would hurt less.
During those years, it got so bad that I got to the point where I asked myself if I really was willing to die as a Christian, with the name of Jesus on my lips. When I breathed my last breath, was I willing to die with faith in Jesus, trusting Him to save my soul, closing the door to all other options? Did I have it correct? Did I make the right decision? Had I just been fooling myself this whole time?
But as I reflected on everything I had learned and experienced up to that point in over 30 years of walking with the Lord, I knew that I could never give up faith in Jesus, in God's Word, no matter what I was going through, thinking, or feeling. (See "A Defining Moment".)
And a huge part of that was because of the demonic harassment I went through years before. Because of that (among other factors), I knew - knew beyond a shadow of a doubt - that I could never leave The Faith. I knew that God was real and that I could stand on His Word, His Truth, even when everything else was falling apart around me and I was terribly hurt and confused by His apparent "absence."
John 6:68: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."
Mark 9:24: "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"
The demonic harassment that I viewed as so bad at the time - a very bad white horse! - ended up being the very thing that saved my faith years later when I needed it the most. Demons had tried to terrify me, pull me away from God, and crush my faith, but they actually ended up solidifying it and strengthening it by pushing me completely into His arms, making me more dependent on Him, helping me find comfort and help and wisdom in His Word, and helping me understand the biblical truth about spiritual battles and learn biblical ways to fight the spiritual battles. (I remember during that time half-wanting to yell out into the darkness "Are you happy with yourselves!?! You actually pushed me closer to God through all this!")
God can use even the bad things - the efforts of wicked demons and people - to make good things happen, bringing good out of the bad. [**See the long footnote #2 below.]
Sure, my faith was battered, bruised, shaken, and scarred after those worst years of my life, but it was intact, and even strengthened, matured, and purified in some ways. And to this day, I am so very thankful for that demonic harassment. It was the greatest faith-builder I've ever experienced. And looking back now, I wouldn't trade it for the world. It was a very good white horse!
Some of the "bad" things we go through are actually very good white horses.
We just don't know it yet.
Anyway, that was a very specific white horse in my life, but then there are the many general and more painful "white horses": broken dreams, unanswered prayers, unfulfilled expectations, unwanted life-detours, crushed hopes, and failed efforts. (***See the not-so-long footnote #3 below.)
In spite of the fact that I try my best to do the right things in the right way, to live with integrity, to please God, to live according to His Word, to make wise decisions, to pray about things, to do the best for my family, to be the best wife and mother and friend and Christian witness I can be, etc., I feel like it hardly ever works out the way I hoped or expected, like I fail more than I succeed, like things go sideways when I keep trying to go straight, going wrong instead of right, and like the more steps I try to take forward, the farther back I get pushed by life and other people. And it's discouraging. Very discouraging.
[I've come to realize that I can't always do my best for various reasons and restraints - because I'm just one small person spread too thin - but I can always try to do my best to do my best. And sometimes that has to be good enough. God never expected us to be perfect superhumans, just normal humans who depend on Him and live life with Him, according to His Word, as best we can, and who repent when we fall, pick ourselves back up, and seek after Him again. He doesn't need us to be perfect; He just needs us to need Him.
And I really do hope that I really am doing what I do because I believe it's what God wants me to do, that I'm not doing it for unconscious selfish reasons or just because it's what I want to do. Sometimes I wonder, not knowing for sure my own heart and motives.
Psalm 139:23-24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Psalm 26:2-3: “Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind; for your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth.”]
But I do believe that (for the most part, and as far as I can tell) I'm making good and wise decisions that honor God. Of course, I don't do everything right all the time, but my heart is in the right place - desiring to honor and glorify God and trying to be the best Christian I can be, to live according to God's Word as much as I can. [And maybe that's why it hurts and confuses me so much when things go wrong or don't work out as I hoped and expected - because I try so hard to do right, to do what I believe God wants me to do, and to trust that He has my back. (****See footnote #4 below.)]
And so I guess that the only thing left to do is to trust that as long as I'm doing my part as best I can, doing what I believe He wants me to do (I don't know what else to do or any other way to do it), then He'll do His part to turn it into something good, to work things out the way He wants and knows is best (even if it doesn't match my definition of "best").
Romans 8:28 (KJV): “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God...”
Which means that all of those things that feel like disappointments, unwanted detours, "unanswered" prayers, "failures," setbacks, or obstacles are really just white horses: things that will either turn into good, be used for good, or that really are good in God's eyes, even if I can't see it right now and if it doesn't work out the way I expected on earth.
I have to trust that God sees things differently than I do - that He sees good when all I see in bad, that He sees success when all I see is failure, that He sees hope when all I see is hopelessness, that He sees a heart that yearns for Him and trusts Him when all I feel sometimes is a scared, timid, broken, faithless, failing heart, etc.
I have to trust that He will guide my steps as I walk in faith, will handle what I can't handle, pick up the pieces I drop, fix what's broken, sort out what's confusing, and turn the messes into something beautiful.
With His help and His masterful hand, it will all turn out okay in the end.
I have to believe that. It's all I have left.
I'll continue this section - the "but..." of it - in the next post of this series.
But first, the footnotes:
*Long footnote #1: Calvinists would say that "God intended it for good" means that God deliberately preplanned, orchestrated, caused people to commit sins against Joseph - that He wanted it to happen - in order to get the ending He planned, to get His plans accomplished. And when Calvinists say that God "allowed" something bad to happen, they mean that first He predetermined it would happen and then He orchestrated/caused it, allowing what He preplanned to happen.
But this is far different from what I believe, from what allows really means, and from what I believe the Bible says.
I believe that God truly allows people to make their own bad, sinful choices - which He didn't preplan, orchestrate, cause, or even want - because He knew He could use it for good, incorporating their self-made choices to reach a good ending. And so in Joseph's case, the people chose to commit the sins and deliberately intended to harm Joseph, but God intended to use their sins for good. This is very different from Calvinism which says that God Himself preplanned the sins the people would do and then caused them to do it. Calvinism turns God into the planner and causer of all sin and evil, whereas I'm just saying that He truly lets us make our free-will choices and then He works them together for good. Big difference!
[Note: Calvinists also wrongly define free-will. To them, free-will does not mean that we make up our own minds about anything or that we decide what we want to do in any given situation, that we truly make our own decision among multiple possible choices that are truly available to us and that we really could've chosen instead.
But Calvinists believe that free-will means that God gives us the nature He predetermined for us (repentant believer or unrepentant sinner) which is filled with the desires to do whatever He has predetermined we'd do (obey or sin, good or evil), and these God-given built-in desires cause us to irresistibly want to "freely choose" to do whatever He predestined us to do, and so we "freely choose" to do them. And we had no ability to want to do or choose to do anything else. This is not "freely choosing" anything with our "free-will," as most of us define "free" and "choice" and "free-will." But it's very deceptive because Calvinists try to make it sound like it's truly free-will when it's really not.
(They do this because they need to make it seem like humans are really responsible for their sins, when it's really Calvinism's god. But the thing is, I don't think Calvinists are necessarily trying to deceive us, but they are trying to deceive themselves, to make their terrible Calvinist theology more palatable and to trick themselves into believing that Calvinism doesn't really make God the cause of all sin and evil when it really does.)]
Also, about the bad things that happen, I'm not saying that God always and necessarily allows or causes bad things for a reason. I'm just saying that He can turn whatever happens into good, even things He didn't plan, want, or cause.
We Christians have grown up with the idea that "everything happens for a reason." (Did you know this is not a Bible verse?) And so some Christians (Calvinists) think that God ultimately preplans, orchestrates, causes everything that happens "for a reason," even all sin, evil, tragedy, suffering, and unbelief. And some Christians (even non-Calvinists) think that God causes some things but that He allows everything else "for a reason."
But - and this will probably sound sacrilegious to many Christians - the older I get and the more I read the Bible, the less I think that "for a reason" is always a part of it.
Sure, I believe there are some things He causes for a reason (but not all - or even most - tragedy and suffering, and never sin, evil, or unbelief; see the side-sidenote below), and there are other things He allows for a reason because He knew how He could work it into His plans for good and for His purposes, such as Joseph in prison.
But in addition to "God causes some things for a reason" and "God allows some things for a reason," I have grown to believe that there's a third category most Christians don't know about: "Many things happen simply because God allows them, period! No 'for a reason' attached."
I think that the reason for many bad things is not because God wanted them to happen "for a reason" (as if He had some previous plan for how He wanted to use the bad things and so He wanted and needed the bad things to happen, such as allowing someone to be abused or attacked for a reason, or allowing someone's spouse to have an affair for a reason, or allowing someone to get in a car crash, get cancer, catch a disease, or lose their job for a reason)...
... but I believe that many bad things happen simply because He gave us free-will, lots of room (within boundaries) to freely make our own decisions, and a big chunk of dominion over the earth and the affairs of the earth. (And because demons are active and can influence things, too.) And we often use our free-will to sin, make mistakes, and do things our way instead of His, which leads to consequences He never wanted and to a general breakdown in the world, nature, our bodies, society, lives, and relationships.
We humans have used our God-given freedom to do all sorts of bad things that God never planned or wanted, and that is why many bad things happen. Sometimes - maybe many or most times - we are simply the reason bad things happen, not God. Not His plans, His desires, or His orchestration of things. But us and our freedom to sin and make bad decisions. No other reason needed.
God doesn't need us to make certain choices, need us to sin, or need certain bad things to happen, as if it's the only way He can work His plans out (this actually limits Him and His abilities). Because He can work anything into His plans. Our obedience or disobedience. The good or the bad. He's got a multitude of paths and routes that He can take to get to the same location.
He doesn't have to orchestrate everything that happens to fit His plans because He can fit His plans to whatever happens, working whatever we decide into His plans, whether we obey or disobey, do good or evil. He lets us make our decisions first - for good or bad, for obedience or disobedience - and then He finds a way to incorporate our decisions into His plans and purposes.
And so our bad decisions don't thwart God's plans or overall goals, but they certainly do affect us, our eternities, and the path we take to get there.
God tells us in His Word how we should live so that we can avoid the bad way and prevent lots of bad things from happening in life. And He's always available for us to call on, to seek His guidance and help, to assist in keeping us on the best path, so that we can have the best life and eternity possible. But He does not force us to follow Him, to obey Him, or to include Him in our decisions. He leaves that up to us, honoring our free-will ability and responsibility to decide for ourselves.
And if we choose to obey, pray, follow Him, and live according to His Word, He works our obedience into His plans. But if we choose to reject His Word, advice, guidance, and commands, then He finds a way to work that into His plans instead (maybe even just by finding someone else who will obey Him and do what He asks).
And so, in the end, it's not ultimately His overall plans for mankind that get hurt when we disobey, but it's our own lives, futures, eternities, and our role in God's plans that get hurt when we disobey.
And this is why prayer, knowing God's Word, and faithful obedience are so important - because it really does have an impact on what happens, on us and our own lives, on whether we get God's guidance or not, whether His Will gets done or not, whether we stay on the best path for us or not, whether we reap reward/blessing or punishment/bad consequences.
Prayer and living according to His Word are what keep us in line with God's Will (as much as we can be) as we invite Him to guide us and to act in our lives and circumstances, and as we live the way He commands us to live in His Word and obey whatever He tells us to do in prayer and in our consciences.
And it really is our decision. It has not been predetermined by God what we will do, whether we obey or disobey, do good or sin, believe or reject Him. It really is our choice (and once we make our decisions, He can use them however He wants and work them into His plans somehow). And so if we choose to include Him and obey Him and do things His way from the beginning and as much as we can, then we can avoid many bad things. But if we choose to wander away, ignore Him, leave Him out of our decisions, and make our own mistakes, then He lets us do it. And He lets us face the consequences that go with it. And then bad things happen - not because He orchestrated it for some reason why He wanted the bad things to happen, but simply because we chose wrong, ignored or resisted Him, and brought the bad things on ourselves.
[If we choose to not seek His help and wisdom in prayer and in His Word then He won't necessarily give us His help or wisdom - because part of humans having free-will is that He leaves it up to us whether to include Him in our lives and decisions or to leave Him out. And furthermore, if we aren't living as He's instructed us to live in His Word, then He might not necessarily give us further guidance in life or protection from evil and bad consequences because we've chosen to step away from Him, to turn our backs on what He's already revealed and commanded, removing ourselves from the protective covering of His Will, Word, presence, and guidance. And further-furthermore, if we repeatedly resist doing what we know He's telling us to do (in His Word, in prayer, in our consciences), then He might stop convicting us altogether and decide to hand us over to the hardness of our heart and our own rebellion, letting us make a royal mess of our lives... until we are so destroyed by ourselves that we are humbled enough to repent, confess our sin, admit we need Him, and turn again to Him, wanting His presence, guidance, and Will more than we want to satisfy our own desires or fulfill our own plans or follow our own "wisdom."]
I believe that God lets us decide how we live, whether we include Him in our decisions or ignore/resist Him, whether we do things His way or our way. And when we disobey Him and do things our way, we create situations and consequences that He never wanted. And so, many bad things happen simply because of us, because God lets us make our own sinful or stupid free-will decisions. Like I said: No other reason needed. This is how I've come to view it over the years.
But no matter what bad things we do or cause, God can still work it into His plans and bring good out of it. If we repent and draw near to Him again and begin living the way He commands us to live, He can help us out of our messes and get us on a new "good path." If we let Him. If we trust Him to. He's a good, wise, gracious, loving, faithful God!
[Side-sidenote: I believe there are two different categories of tragedy, suffering, "evil" things, and it's critical to distinguish which God can cause and which He can't. There are natural "evils" like illnesses and storms, and there are moral "evils" like rape, murder, adultery, etc.
God has made commands against moral evils, but not against natural "evils." And so He can cause natural "evils/tragedies" if He wants to, without destroying His character or being guilty of sin, because He has no commands against these things. They are morally-neutral, even if they hurt us. (But even if God can cause them - as He's done in the Bible - I believe that most of these kinds of things happen simply because of natural processes, a breakdown in nature/bodies, or even because of demons.)
But to cause people to commit moral evils would destroy His character because He has made commands against these things. And so if (as Calvinists think) He actually does preplan, orchestrate, cause us to commit moral sins but then He punishes us for it, He would be duplicitous, self-contradictory, unjust, unrighteous, untrustworthy, and guilty of sin.
Some things are "bad" just because they cause us temporary suffering (storms and illness) and some things are "bad" because they are morally-wrong and against God's commands. And we need to keep these two categories separated when talking about God causing "bad" things - because God can cause natural "evils" and still be a good God, but He cannot cause moral evils and still be a good God.
But Calvinists fail to keep these separated. They lump moral evils in with natural evils, claiming that since the Bible shows God causing a particular natural "evil" then it must mean He also causes all natural evils and all moral evils too. But these are errors in Calvinist logic. Unbiblical, detrimental errors that lead to a terrible theology which essentially destroys God's character.
But they won't recognize or admit the destruction it does. Instead, they just sweep it under the rug, claiming "Oh, but it's a 'mystery' how God can 'ordain' moral evil but not be guilty for it, how He can hold us responsible for the sins He predestined and orchestrates. God can decree that we break His decrees, but He's still trustworthy and isn't guilty of sin, but we are. Who are we to talk back to Him anyway? His thoughts and ways are higher than ours, and we just need to trust Him and live with the tension. It'll all be clear in eternity. Blah, blah, blah."
You know how cults operate, right? Ugh. (Oh, don't get me started on the destructive errors of Calvinism and its cult-like methods!)]
**Long footnote #2: As a bonus, the whole demonic-harassment experience that I went through eventually helped me encourage someone else who was going through something very similar but who had no one to confide in, no one else who understood or believed her. But I understood and believed her because I had been through it myself. I had learned how real and scary demons are... but I had also learned how much more powerful God, His Word, and Jesus's name are! And so I was able to help her through it, whereas other Christians would've just scoffed.
It's amazing how even Christians can act like demons are mythical creatures or like they're "out there" somewhere in outer space, totally separate from this world and inactive in it. I mean, I understand non-Christians thinking this way. But Christians? Christians who've read all about demons in the Bible, all the warnings about being prepared for their attacks?
But I can't really shame these other Christians too much - the ones who raised their eyebrows at me and said nothing when I reluctantly told them about the demonic harassment as I asked for prayer, or who were well-meaning but patronizing when they said things like "Yeah, I know others who think they were harassed by demons too, like when the cap on their carton of milk popped off unexpectedly."😖😒
I can't shame them too much because I didn't take it seriously either when someone else told me long ago of similar things they went through. I used to be one of those who snickered and scoffed when others shared their stories of demonic harassment, convinced that they were exaggerating or letting their imaginations run away with them. "Oh, those silly Christians!"
I scoffed and didn't believe them... until I went through it myself. Which is why I now warn: "Don't scoff." Don't think "It'll never happen to me because demons aren't really real or active anyway."
Don't be naive. Because Satan works best in secret - when we don't think he exists, don't think he's active in the world or in our lives, or don't take him seriously enough. So take it seriously and be prepared.
(But don't indiscriminately believe everyone who says that demons or Satan are attacking them. Be discerning about who's telling you it, what they are telling you, and if it lines up with the Bible and reality. Some people are... let's just say... not seeing things correctly. And some people see demons behind every problem, claiming demonic harassment when it's really just bad circumstances, other people's bad choices, or their own bad choices, messes they've created but don't want to take responsibility for. So be discerning. Always be discerning about everything, testing it against God's Word.)
And on the flipside, be matter-of-fact about it. Be biblical about it. Don't give Satan or demons more attention than you should or more power than they have. Because Satan also enjoys and works well when we are overly interested in him, overly afraid of him, or overly reliant on our own human ideas of how to fight him.
As C.S. Lewis says in The Screwtape Letters: “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”
So don't ignore them or underestimate what they can do, but also don't look for demons behind every rock or blame every problem on them. Don't sensationalize or overexaggerate what they can do. And don't follow man-made ways of fighting them, but learn what the Bible says about spiritual warfare.
Think about it: If we're not using God-approved weapons and methods to fight demons in the spiritual battle (if we're using man-made weapons and methods instead of the ones God gives us), then we're actually using God-unapproved weapons and methods, which means that we're essentially using Satan-approved weapons and methods in our fight against Satan... and then we wonder why it's not working. Ha! And all along, Satan has a great laugh at our expense, watching us struggle and waste our time trying to battle against him with weapons and methods that he knows can't hurt him. Satan knows that if he can keep us busy with and focused on his weapons and methods, then he can keep us from finding and using the God-approved ones that can defeat him.
So don't fall for man-made methods, earthly weapons, or unbiblical "wisdom" to help with your spiritual battles, but learn from the Bible - from God Himself - who demons are, what their goals are, what they can and cannot do, who God is and what He can do, and how He equips us to fight our spiritual battles.
For the record and from what I can tell, God-approved weapons and methods for true believers are calling on Jesus's name (Proverbs 18:10), speaking Scripture out loud or turning it into prayer (Eph. 6:17), commanding demons to leave in Jesus's name (Luke 10:17), praising (1 Samuel 16:23), praying and fasting (Mark 9:29, KJV), repenting/confession of sin (Psalm 66:18, Prov. 28:13, Rom. 6:23, Is. 59:2), and faithfully obeying God and living according to His Word and resisting evil (Matthew 7:24-25, James 4:7-8, 1 Peter 5:8-9). And getting rid of - possibly burning - any occultic or false-religion items you have (Acts 19:19). And according to Eph. 6:10-18, here is our spiritual armor: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, a readiness to share the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit - which is the [spoken] Word of God - and prayer.
And that's it. No waving crucifixes, no burning special herbs, no dunking in water, no special chants or specific procedures, no conversing with the demons, no theatrics, etc. Do you really think human earthly tools can hurt spiritual beings anyway?
And you don't need a special, high-level "professional" to do this for you. Any and every true Christian who has faith in Jesus has the ability - and the Holy Spirit's help - to oppose demons in the spiritual battle, to command them to leave. As Luke 10:17 says "The seventy-two returned with joy and said, ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.’" It's not about our power, but about Jesus's power working through us. And every true believer has the power of Jesus available to them through the Holy Spirit.
(Humans have messed up church, faith, and biblical knowledge/wisdom so much over the centuries, following human ideas and creating human hierarchies that really aren't biblical. My goodness, how different today's church looks from how God intended it to be! But, that being said, it doesn't hurt and can only help to have the support of other Christians who can pray for you and with you while you're going through it.)
Keep a biblical level-head in all this. Don't let an unhealthy fear of Satan eclipse your healthy fear of God. Refuse to let Satan's attacks steal your focus from God's presence, power, and ability to help you through your trials, problems, and spiritual battles. Keep close to God and His truth, and keep your guard up and your spiritual armor on. Fair warning. (And if you are scoffing right now, that's okay. Just at least remember this: "In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to leave." You might need to say it someday.)
***Not-so-long footnote #3: "White horses" can encompass a wide range of things, from the minor to the major. And one person's minor thing might be someone else's major thing, or their many minor things might be comparable to someone else's one major thing, or their many short-term things might be comparable to someone else's one long-term thing, and vice versa.
And so while we all should definitely keep things in perspective by realizing that we could have it so much worse and that others have gone through much worse than many of us have, we all also need to figure out how to best deal with the "white horses" in our own lives, without comparing ours to other people's or comparing the way we handle ours to the way they handle theirs or the way they handle theirs to the way we handle ours.
I hate one-upmanship, such as when Person A vulnerably admits how legitimately stressed they are (or exhausted, hurt, sad, disappointed, whatever; provided that they aren't simply whining, complaining, or overexaggerating things), but then Person B goes "Yeah, well, you're not as stressed as me because fill in the blank with their trial or problem that B thinks is so much worse." Some people are always trying to "one up" someone else, to beat down the feelings or experiences of others so that they can be at the top of the emotional garbage heap.
Maybe B thinks they're helping A have perspective or feel better about their situation, but all they're really doing is dismissing or minimizing it, shutting down A by making them feel like they have no right to be stressed, tired, sad, whatever, simply because A is not B, as if all that matters or counts is B's experience. This makes A feel like they're being irrational, whiny, or burdensome to share their feelings, their pain, and it will make A never want to be honest with B again because they can't trust B to care, to listen, to respect them, or to encourage them. Person A opened their heart and their pain, and B squashed them. I hate one-upmanship.
(This can also happen when Person A shares their joys or accomplishments but then Person B tops it with theirs, stealing the spotlight, dismissing or minimizing A's good things, too.)
Just because we might feel like our problems are "worse" than someone else's gives us no right to dismiss theirs or to make them feel bad about feeling bad. They can't feel our level of pain or exhaustion or stress or whatever; they can only feel their own. So don't dismiss theirs simply because it's not yours.
(And I am not talking about the times when we might really need to confront someone about their constant complaining or bad perspective on things, but I am talking about the times we shut people down because we don't think their experience or pain counts simply because it's not ours. In these cases, it's our perspectives and attitudes that are bad, not theirs.)
Anyway, my point is this: Have compassion and grace for yourself, have compassion and grace for others, and bring your own white horses to the Lord to ask His help in how to deal with them, while encouraging and respecting others as they're dealing with their own white horses, too.
**** Footnote #4, about this that I said earlier: "Maybe that's why it hurts and confuses me so much when things go wrong or don't work out as I hoped and expected - because I tried so hard to do right, to do what I believe God wanted me to do, trusting that He had my back, hoping that it meant things would work out as I expected."
But maybe that's also why the attacks keep coming. Because the closer we walk with God, the more of a threat we are to demons, and the more they want to stop us, making us more of a target for their attacks. It's a catch-22, isn't it? You ruin your own life if you don't walk closely with the Lord, but when you do walk closely with the Lord then demons try to ruin your life.
But I guess I'd rather know that I'm suffering for living the way God wants me to live (or maybe it's just "suffering and living the way God wants me to live") than suffering for my own stupid mistakes, self-centeredness, temporary goals/pleasure, or rebellion.
1 Peter 3:14,17;4:15-16: “But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed... It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil... If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name."
Matthew 5:10-12: "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven..."
Romans 5:3-5: “… we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.”
2 Cor. 4:8-9,16-18: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed… Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
2 Cor. 1:3-4: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles...”
And so I guess the questions are:
Does the way you live make you a target of demons, or do they ignore you because you're no threat? Who's behind the problems in your life? Is it you? Are you doing demons' work for them, ruining your own life, sabotaging yourself and your eternity? Why?
Where are your rewards, your joys? Are they earthly and temporary, or are they heavenly and eternal? What have you fixed your eyes on?
If you're a Christian who's not experiencing spiritual attacks, why is that? Maybe there's a disturbing reason for it. But if you're a Christian who is experiencing attacks, where does your help and comfort come from?
Do you trust God that as long as you're living the way He wants you to live then He'll watch over you, comfort and guide you during the hard times, help you grow in spiritual maturity through the painful and difficult times, work bad things into good, and will reward your faithfulness in the end, if not on earth then at least in eternity (and are you okay with that)?
