"God is angry at you"
"You'll always be alone"
"You are worthless"
"No one wants to hear what you have to say"
"You're fat & ugly"
"You failed once, You'll fail again"
"They're all laughing at you"
"God is disappointed in you"
"Nothing will ever change for you"
"No one loves you"
"No one cares"
"God won't help you"
How many times have you believed any of the above about yourself? That last one always gets to me because I can be very impatient. When I have to wait for a long period of time, such as selling my house or the adoption process, it is easy for me to believe that.
Why is it so easy to believe those lies?
Well we learn to lie pretty quickly in life. We do it to get out of trouble from the first moment we get into trouble. We can graduate to lying about ourselves to get ahead or get something. We lie to ourselves repeatedly. Whether it is something directly relating to us or about someone else. We lie sometimes because we feel it's better than facing the truth.
We look around and see others lying to us. Our friends, celebrities, commercials, and politicians. We live in a society where lies are cultivated and where real truth can be obscured. Not just outright lying, but omissions of truth, or stretching of it are used. Our society doesn't demand truth. Even when the truth is told, there can be backlash or harsh skepticism to it. We want to believe our own truth even in the face of facts.
So, if we believe everyone around us will lie to us at some point or another, it's not hard to see believing that God would lie to us. We take the personality of the world and apply it to God. It's not true, but when you see it everywhere else, I can see how we can make that jump.
The enemy frolics in this type of playground. He uses it as opportunities to create divisions in our friendships, relationships, and with God. And he uses lies that are easily believable like the ones I stated at the beginning. The devil will not say something obvious like "the sky is purple" (If your sky is purple, stop reading and seek shelter immediately). No, he is more subtle than that. He will whisper the lies which are believable - the ones we may have experienced in the past. If something didn't work the first time for you, its easy for the enemy to whisper "why try? it didn't work the last time. you'll fail again".
"You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies" John 8:14
There it states that the devil is incapable of telling us the truth. The devil will not speak anything that is helpful. He is good at twisting the truth (there are many references to that), but he will never be truthful.
Luckily for us, God provides the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. If there are thoughts we are hearing, we can bring them before Him to determine if they are true. You will always hear the truth from Him! Granted, we may not like the truth or the answers we get at times, but the words will always be true.
Throughout the book of John, Jesus tells us all about truth. In John 8:31-32 he says "If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" He later adds in John 16, "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth". Jesus tells us the ways we can determine what is true versus what is a lie.
We are still going to struggle with this. Even after all the blessings God has provided me, there are still times I believe He won't help me. It's a terrible thing to feel which weighs us down preventing us from being free.
But, it says hold on to Jesus' teachings and we will know the truth and be set free. We can turn and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in truth. Pray and ask "Is what I am hearing true?" You will get a truth. Plus, isn't it freer to live in the truth? When you live in lies, it becomes more difficult to keep it all together just waiting for the house of cards to tumble. That's what living in lies is like. A house of cards - unstable and just waiting to fall down. That life is what we are not called to.
So, the next time you hear those lies whispered in your ears remember to what Jesus has said. He said "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me" in John 14:6. They are all connected. Jesus, the truth, and therefore life. My prayer is that we would all lean into Jesus during our struggles and believe Him more than we would any lie.
"You'll always be alone"
"You are worthless"
"No one wants to hear what you have to say"
"You're fat & ugly"
"You failed once, You'll fail again"
"They're all laughing at you"
"God is disappointed in you"
"Nothing will ever change for you"
"No one loves you"
"No one cares"
"God won't help you"
How many times have you believed any of the above about yourself? That last one always gets to me because I can be very impatient. When I have to wait for a long period of time, such as selling my house or the adoption process, it is easy for me to believe that.
Why is it so easy to believe those lies?
Well we learn to lie pretty quickly in life. We do it to get out of trouble from the first moment we get into trouble. We can graduate to lying about ourselves to get ahead or get something. We lie to ourselves repeatedly. Whether it is something directly relating to us or about someone else. We lie sometimes because we feel it's better than facing the truth.
We look around and see others lying to us. Our friends, celebrities, commercials, and politicians. We live in a society where lies are cultivated and where real truth can be obscured. Not just outright lying, but omissions of truth, or stretching of it are used. Our society doesn't demand truth. Even when the truth is told, there can be backlash or harsh skepticism to it. We want to believe our own truth even in the face of facts.
So, if we believe everyone around us will lie to us at some point or another, it's not hard to see believing that God would lie to us. We take the personality of the world and apply it to God. It's not true, but when you see it everywhere else, I can see how we can make that jump.
The enemy frolics in this type of playground. He uses it as opportunities to create divisions in our friendships, relationships, and with God. And he uses lies that are easily believable like the ones I stated at the beginning. The devil will not say something obvious like "the sky is purple" (If your sky is purple, stop reading and seek shelter immediately). No, he is more subtle than that. He will whisper the lies which are believable - the ones we may have experienced in the past. If something didn't work the first time for you, its easy for the enemy to whisper "why try? it didn't work the last time. you'll fail again".
"You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies" John 8:14
There it states that the devil is incapable of telling us the truth. The devil will not speak anything that is helpful. He is good at twisting the truth (there are many references to that), but he will never be truthful.
Luckily for us, God provides the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. If there are thoughts we are hearing, we can bring them before Him to determine if they are true. You will always hear the truth from Him! Granted, we may not like the truth or the answers we get at times, but the words will always be true.
Throughout the book of John, Jesus tells us all about truth. In John 8:31-32 he says "If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" He later adds in John 16, "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth". Jesus tells us the ways we can determine what is true versus what is a lie.
We are still going to struggle with this. Even after all the blessings God has provided me, there are still times I believe He won't help me. It's a terrible thing to feel which weighs us down preventing us from being free.
But, it says hold on to Jesus' teachings and we will know the truth and be set free. We can turn and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in truth. Pray and ask "Is what I am hearing true?" You will get a truth. Plus, isn't it freer to live in the truth? When you live in lies, it becomes more difficult to keep it all together just waiting for the house of cards to tumble. That's what living in lies is like. A house of cards - unstable and just waiting to fall down. That life is what we are not called to.
So, the next time you hear those lies whispered in your ears remember to what Jesus has said. He said "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me" in John 14:6. They are all connected. Jesus, the truth, and therefore life. My prayer is that we would all lean into Jesus during our struggles and believe Him more than we would any lie.
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