To begin this analogy I want to start with the question: Why did Simba run away after his father’s death? The natural thing to do would’ve been to run back to his family, mourn with them, and be comforted by them. Instead, he runs away because he believes that he is responsible for his father’s death; a lie planted into his mind by his Uncle Scar. Scar is the one who suggests for Simba to run away, and Simba listens to him, exiling himself from his family & Kingdom. Simba carries the lie that he’s responsible for Mufasa’s death with him for years. This heavy burden and lie keeps him from living with his people & fulfilling his calling. We can compare Scar to the Devil. The Devil wants us to believe lies that block us or delay us from fulfilling the calling that God has on our lives. The lie becomes so strong for Simba that he wears it as his new identity, and in the process, he forgets who he truly is. In the fake identity, he was a criminal who needed to run, instead of the rightful King who needed to stay. In my own life, until around the age of 23, I struggled with social anxiety. I was outgoing with people I knew, but the Devil convinced me that I was naturally anxious around some people, especially people I didn’t know. I carried that as my identity, and it prevented me from running after my calling. I acknowledge that a lot of people struggle with anxiety chronically, but even if that’s your case, remember it is still something happening to you. But you must never mistake it for BEING you.

After many years, Nala visits Simba and she says “we thought you were dead.” In a way he was. When we forget who we are, believe in the devil’s lies about who we are, and let that lie lead us, we are, in a way, spiritually dead. Because in doing so, we are not taking action in the race that God calls us to run. Without going in the direction directed to us by God, we live life like it’s meaningless, the same way that Simba did in the jungle. But the bible says that we should not live in a way that we see fit, but instead should seek to align with God’s will for our life. (Romans 12:2) So in this analogy, let’s imagine Nala’s role functioning similar to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit inside of us is crying, reminding us of God’s truth, of who we are. Nala was Simba’s first reminder of who he was.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3:5-6

Simba’s second reminder came from a family friend, a chimpanzee named Rafiki, who Simba calls crazy. This can often be our first reaction to hearing God’s truth. God’s wisdom is foolishness to the world, and some react with unbelief. “I think you’re a little confused,” Simba says to Rafiki, and Rafiki turns the conversation over to Simba. “You don’t even know who you are,” Rafiki says to Simba, and later he says “You’re Mufasa’s boy.” That is the most important part of our identity: we are children of the Lord most High. When Simba finds out that Rafiki knew his father, he runs after Rafiki, as if he was the last remnant/connection that he had to his father. Just because we are spiritually dead doesn’t mean that God our father is, or that he’s given up on us. In similar ways, some people may recognize the truth in you. But we also need to be intentional in presenting the truth to others, faithful to point them to God, Rafiki pointed Simba to his father. Rafiki doesn’t even need to tell Simba to go back to Pride Rock. The conversation with Mufasa naturally led Simba to do that. The only thing Rafiki needed to do was remind him he is Mufasa’s son, and then lead Simba to speak to his father. I pray we too lead our friends to the light of God, so that they may have salvation and relationship and full life with him.                         .                                                        __________

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Simba’s third reminder was his own father. After Rafiki leads him to the spring and Simba looks down, Simba only sees himself at first. But upon a second glance, he sees his father. “He lives in you,” says Rafiki. Similarly, the Holy Spirit lives in us. (1rst Corinthians 6:19) Simba could’ve gone to his father this whole time for guidance, and we too have access to guidance from God our father. He’s left us the Holy Spirit.  In John 15:26-27 Jesus says “I will send you the Helper from the Father. The Helper is the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father. When he comes, he will tell you about me. And you will tell people about me too, because you have been with me from the beginning.” Mufasa immediately addresses the root of Simba’s problem when he says “Simba you have forgotten me. You have forgotten who you are and so you have forgotten me. You are my son, the one true King.” In getting to know God we get to know who we really are. The creation can only understand & know itself so far as it understands and knows its creator. Scar led Simba to believe a lie because he knew that the truth was Simba was the rightful heir to the throne. His lie functioned like a weed that interrupted Simba’s growth into who he was meant to be. Scar’s lie kept Simba from remembering & acting on who he is according to his father, and from rising up with the authority he had to be King. Similarly, the Devil has us believe lies so that we forget who we are in God, and so that we don’t rise up with the authority given to us by Jesus to step into our calling for God’s glory. We have this authority because Jesus restored it for us on the cross. Through Jesus have been made sons and daughters of God our King, and have had our inheritance restored. (John 1:12) But before we bloom, we need, with God’s help, get rid of the weeds that kill our growth.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”- Hebrews 12:1-2

“God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.”- Acts 17:27
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We’ve started to touch on this, but the only thing more dangerous than believing in a lie, and not taking action on your calling, is taking action on the lie. Taking action on a lie paralyzes us, and keeps us from living out God’s promises. Simba takes action on the lie by running away. In doing so, he opens up a gap for Scar to work from, allowing Scar to come to power, and bring on destruction and darkness to the Kingdom. First, we fall by believing in the Devil’s lie, and not taking action on the truth. Then we fall further by taking action on the Devil’s lie, and giving the Devil power and space to work from. See when I believed that I was made to be anxious around people, I was giving the Devil power to use that anxiety oppressively over me. It was only after being set free that I realized social anxiety was something that had been happening to me, but that it wasn’t me, and that through the power and authority of Christ, I could reprimand it, so that it would not rule over me. I don’t mean I never get anxious, but now when I do, I can bring it to God, and be set free from anxiety’s power. The first time I had prayed over social anxiety was at a conference in Danbury, Connecticut. Christ for the Nations was hosting the conference and at the end of the sermon, the preacher announced he was going to be praying against anxiety. He invited people to come up front if they wanted to receive prayer. I went up and felt the Holy Spirit prompt me to pray against my social anxiety. It had never occurred to me before to even pray against anxiety. And even before I prayed I thought I was naturally anxious. But I did have just a little bit of faith, to pray to be set free. So I prayed. And then I felt God powerfully, physically, melt the anxiety off my chest, and I was supernaturally set free. I still have awkward moments, and I can be shy/nervous in certain situations, and from time to time I get anxious over certain things in my life. But I no longer experience the hovering social anxiety that in the past, would at times, paralyze me around people. I am no longer oppressed and controlled by it the way I used to be. It is not my identity, and because of Jesus, it doesn’t have power over me anymore.

“For I assure you: If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”-Matthew 17:20

I had been dealing with anxiety for so long, that I thought that’s just how life was going to be. I’m grateful to the God who delivered me. Even today when I randomly get anxious over something, I have instructions he left for me in his word on how to fight it. By using these tools from scripture I’ve been able to have dominion over it.. God’s word commands us not to live anxiously. In Ecclesiastes 11:10 it says to “banish anxiety from your heart.” Matthew 6 is also a great read on it. But one of my favorite scriptures that has the most practical instructions for combatting anxiety is: Philippians 4:6-7. There it says: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, 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 your minds in Christ Jesus.“ I’ve experienced having an anxious heart, and bringing it to God, and him removing the anxiety in exchange for peace. He’s the only one that can do that for us and he is faithful to rescue us. Because of God’s power alone in Jesus, in the freedom & redemption he won for us on the cross, we can have a relationship with God. And then in relationship with the triune God, we have access to true joy, freedom, and peace.  Right before that prayer at the conference I didn’t wholeheartedly believe I’d be delivered, but I had a little bit of faith and hope that I could. And God honored that little bit of faith. It was enough for me to By his grace, my faith was enough to grasp the deliverance that I received. Just like Simba had a little bit of hope to chase Rafiki, to look into the water twice, and to finally find his father, and speak to him. I grasped at the chance based on God’s truth, that I am a child of God. John 8:36 says says “So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” I experienced the power of Jesus who is truth, setting me free, and he can do the same for you. “I am the truth, the way, and the life, no one comes to the father, except by me.” John 14:6” 

Simba went back to the Kingdom unsure of how they would receive him, and still believing that he had killed his father. But he goes by faith, grasping at the truth of who he is through what his father had said. Believe in what Jesus, the living word, says about you. You have been redeemed by God. Romans 8:1 says “there is now no longer any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” When Simba arrives and faces Scar, he discovers the truth: Scar was the murderer all along. The lie that Simba had carried was unmasked, and Scar’s crime was exposed. Luke 8:17 says “there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.” Now nothing could hold Simba back from defeating Scar and fulfilling his purpose as King. God also is in the business of exposing the works of the Devil, and then the Devil loses the power. We are not alone. Just as the whole Kingdom helped Simba fight against Scar and the hyenas, we have angels, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and unity with other believers to help us in our spiritual fight as well.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”—Ephesians 6:12.

I was amazed that I tangibly felt the anxiety leave my chest, and that I immediately felt the difference. I was filled with courage and confidence to approach new people. I started walking up to many people at the conference whom I didn’t know and have conversations. It felt amazing to be free and I’m forever grateful. And I hadn’t known that that was possible. Then God told me he didn’t make me to be anxious the way thatI was. He made me to be joyful & loving around people. Anxiety didn’t let me be loving because I was too focused on myself. My name, Larissa, actually means “full of joy.” And when I was anxious, it kept me from overflowing with the joy that I have been given from the Lord. “Joyful in the Lord” is my identity. And now that I know that, nothing will hold me back from stewarding my joy, and fulfilling God’s purpose in my life. I pray that people may catch a glimpse of God through my joy, and that people may understand the love of Jesus in the gospel through my joy, because my joy is a testimony and its source is supernatural.