Ever wake up and stay up for hours in the middle of the night, mentally scanning all your environments and/or relationships for any potential threats?
The imagination gladly steps right up to the plate, and takes the spotlight, center stage. And then like a skilled screen-writer, gladly begins serving up a myriad of potential scenarios and hypothetical situations of anything and everything that could possibly go wrong or that could very well be going wrong in that present moment – and you just didn’t know it.
What will you do if “this” happens? How will you respond if they do “that”? What if “it” has been going on this entire time and you had no idea? What do you need to put in motion right now to self-protect or to try and prevent “this” from going wrong? What should you go look into or investigate to prove to yourself that you are right or wrong? How will you catch it?
Before we can even notice it happening, our heart is racing, our temperature has spiked, the surging wave of cortisol has long since breached the walls of our inner peace and we now we lay there, rendered immovable, until our brain and emotions are so exhausted we drift back off to sleep for a few short minutes until it’s time to get up and get on with our day. Totally refreshed and sharp-minded. Right? Not.
Anyone else?
How do I know this cycle so vividly well? For most of my life I lived this way. Hyper-vigilance or hyper-responsibility as it’s often called, is one of the primary coping mechanisms for survivors of trauma. And I was trained in its ways from a very, very young age.
Even though I have long since forsaken it, in much the same way as David faced the Philistine army multiple times even after cutting off Goliath’s head, there are times when the curse of hyper-vigilance or hyper-responsibility still tries to threaten the citadel of my soul.
If you struggle with this, I want to share with you some things that have helped me:
1.) Recognize that our greatest fears expose areas where we are trusting God the least.
So if you’re genuinely afraid of something, you can flip the script and view it as an invitation to trust God more deeply. This is the biggest over-arching truth that serves as my true north.
2.) Recognize that hyper-vigilance is made up of the same substance that the enemy used to tempt Adam and Eve with in the garden.
Think about it. What is actually going on while the mind and imagination are having their little play date like I described earlier? It’s a search for….knowledge – whether it be good or evil.
At the core of it is that feeling of “I want to know all things.” Why? So I can control the outcome, take care of myself, self-protect, make sure it doesn’t happen. We don’t say it this way, but it’s basically so we can “be like God” and fill the space that only He was intended to fill.
And when we partake of that fruit, “our eyes are opened” and we begin to see things that are shaped, colored, formed and animated by fear. Fear literally begins to shape our vision and torment is the result.
So when this temptation comes knocking, I have come to recognize it as an invitation that I can absolutely say no to. There is nothing new under the sun and the enemy is just playing the same game he has played since the genesis of time.
I will not eat of its fruit but instead I will lift up my eyes and look for the tree of life and the table that God has set for me in the presence of my enemy.
3.) I refuse to be clothed in garments made with threads of foreboding thoughts.
Foreboding defined: feelings of impending doom or dread; a feeling that something bad is going to happen.
Remember, Adam and Eve were naked when the enemy found them. In the same way, the enemy studies us to identify places of vulnerability and then quickly tries to offer us a counterfeit covering to “comfort” us.
He terrifies us with all these vain imaginations that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God and His nature and then says, “Aren’t you scared of ___________? Here, let me cover you.”
So when hyper-vigilance comes knocking, I now recognize that a place of vulnerability has been identified by the enemy of my soul and he’s trying to exploit it for his own use and dominion.
Not going to happen.
Instead of dressing that vulnerability in fig leaves, I’m going to present myself and confess that vulnerability to God and let Him pull out the proper covering He has for me in that moment. I will not settle for a counterfeit comfort.
4.) I will not let my past experiences inform, shape, or prophesy to my current situation or my future.
Fear is a spirit that operates in counterfeit prophecy.
Especially for those who are prophetically gifted, we must realize the enemy would absolutely love to hijack the gift and distort it to be used to “prophesy” doom, dread, or curses into motion.
So I now recognize hyper-vigilance as an attempt to rob and misuse the gift of prophesy on my life.
When a thief attempts to steal a car, it doesn’t really matter where he plans on going – what matters is he’s trying to steal the vehicle by which we will travel.
Understanding this takes the focus off all the imaginations he tries to distract me with and reminds me to stand firm. Keys in my hand, that Jesus has given to me.
Stand firm friends. The same things the enemy comes at us with now is the same thing he’s always tried. And he has been conquered, in all his ways.
Linda G Riddle 