DO YOU HAVE CLOSETPHOBIA?
Here are 20 Questions To Test Yourself:
1. Does the idea of ‘alone with God’ give you the sweats?
2. Does the idea of ‘not doing something’ haunt you?
3. Does your mind run everywhere but to God when you ATTEMPT to pray?
4. Do you get nervous at the idea of God drawing ‘nigh’ to you?
5. Do you fear that God might actually answer your prayers?
6. Do you wish God would just ‘do it all’ so you don’t have to?
7. Do you worry that if God did show up that He would rebuke YOU?
8. Do you feel that only perfect people should be in ‘that closet’?
9. Do you feel you have to be careful how to word things in front of “God”?
10. Do you fear that God might actually ‘ask you’ to do something?
11. Do you feel your flesh screaming inside at the thought of the closet?
12. Do you worry about ‘spiritual things’ might really be like?
13. Do you fear that to be a closet-dweller will make you a fanatic?
14. Do you feel that only you can ’cause’ things to happen?
15. Do you feel that the closet is a ‘boring’ place to be?
16. Do you hear ‘inner voices’ saying: I don’t want to go there!?
17. Do you like the ‘idea’ of prayer but the ‘doing’ seems hard?
18. Does the word ‘pray’ feel like a bad word to you?
19. Does your circle of friends contain ZERO prayer warriors?
20. Do you KNOW that you are supposed to pray but you keep running away?
IF YOU ANSWERED ‘YES’ TO TOO MANY OF THESE QUESTIONS, THEN YOU ARE SUFFERING FROM CLOSETPHOBIA — THE UNIVERSAL FEAR OF PRAYING EXCEPT IN DESPERATE TIMES WHEN YOUR OTHER FEARS AND PAINS OVERRIDE YOU CURRENT FEARS AND PAINS ON THE SUBJECT OF PRAYER!
BUT DON’T WORRY, THERE IS A CURE. All you have to do is:
GET A BIGGER CLOSET!
That’s right!! Your mind is ‘closing in on you’. You are NOT seeing the closet correctly. You MUST ask God to set you free of Closetphobia! [The only true ‘NARROW-MINDEDNES’ that Christians seem to ever get.] YOU MUST RENEW YOUR MIND (which is a mandate of God). You have been lied to by the EVIL ONE who is ‘SHUTTING UP THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN’ FROM YOU. And you DO NOT want that to happen!!
The CLOSET is your elevator to the Penthouse of God!! PRESS THE BUTTON TO THE TOP FLOOR. Your ‘residency’ is in HEAVENLY PLACES WITH HIM! It is foolish to not go there on a regular basis. The view from the Penthouse Balcony is BREATHTAKING. Shake off your fear, your worry, your pain, your flesh! RIDE THE ELEVATOR. God is waiting for you to arrive!!
Disclaimer: this humorous perspective in no way suggests that there is actually a psychological psychosis entitled CLOSETPHOBIA that has been determined by any psychiatric agencies of any note — HOWEVER, SPIRITUAL PSYCHOSIS IS REAL! Get immediate HELP from God and as many prayer warriors as you can. 🙂
Original Copyright: © Anthony J. Massotti Th.M., Th.M. 11/9/2003