Have you ever believed something about yourself that wasn’t true? Something that was a lie? I have. Even recently I believed a lie about myself, about who I am. And I’ll be honest, it’s made things pretty bad for me. I didn’t have clarity of thought. I felt broken down. I was in a mental and emotional fog. It was getting downright ugly in the battleground of my mind. The combat zone felt like it was getting bloodier and bloodier everyday and any victory further and further away. But God. But God finally broke through one day, in the middle of my day, in the midst of my chaos, and He brought peace with Him in the form of truth revealed to my heart.
Sometimes we think of truth as something difficult to face. And sometimes it is. Sometimes truth tells us something that we don’t want to know or see and that makes it harder for us to face it and accept it. Sometimes the truth we need to see is a more pleasant thing to accept. But no matter whether it is a more painful thing or a sweeter thing to encounter, it is always good for us. Truth relieves us of a lie we have believed whatever it might be about, whether it’s about God or ourselves, and it brings with it comfort and peace.
This was the beauty I saw as God broke in to my fogged mind the other day. I saw and felt the transition in my heart and mind as the truth He revealed to me to combat the lie I believed about myself began to to take root, pushing out the darkness of the lie. Things began to clear. My thought process became brighter. Hope appeared on the horizon and along with it peace, comfort, and rest from the battle my mind had been engaged in.
I’ve also recently watched someone I love dearly struggle with a lie she believes about herself. It’s heartbreaking to see her accept this lie, to see her not be able to see how untrue it is. I see how the enemy wants to use this lie to keep her from being who God created her to be, to keep her from doing what He has called her to do. (And in seeing her battle with this, I saw how the enemy had been trying to do the very same thing with me. It was a revealing moment.) I try to speak truth to and over this precious child of God, but I know it’s still a struggle for her. But I also know that there is hope. That God loves her even more than I do. That He wants her to be free even more than I do. And I know how He hasn’t let me go. I know how He has fought for me to believe the truth about myself and I know He won’t give up on her the same way He hasn’t given up on me. I know that He is already at work to bring her to a place where she can see and believe the truth.
Sometimes we’re the ones believing the lies and sometimes we’re the ones watching someone else believe the lies. It’s usually easier for us to see that someone else is believing a lie than it is for us to see that we are believing a lie. No matter what position you are in, the one believing or the one watching someone believe, know that there is hope. I don’t want anyone to think that I am oversimplifying this. I know that, at times, it can be very difficult to overcome lies you’ve believed before. So often, we don’t even realize we’ve believed a lie. I know that it can take time, that it can be a process that has to take place of repeatedly replacing lies with truth, of crying out to God for Him to help you in that moment and then again in the next moment. Our hope rests with God, with His love for us and His desire to see us set free. God has been at work all my life, even when I may not have clearly seen Him at the time, to show me the lies I’ve believed and replace them with truth. And He will continue to be at work, revealing truth to my heart and mind, in His perfect timing and with His perfect omniscience.
Remember that truth brings rest, peace, comfort. It brings clarity, hope, and light while lies bring condemnation, darkness, and fog. If a thought brings darkness and gloom upon you, know that it’s not from God. Even when He brings conviction upon you, He will do it with love and hope.
The enemy wants to keep us from being who God created us to be and he very sneakily tries to slip lies about who we are into our everyday lives to make that happen. But God. But God has a bigger plan that shows His love for us, His power, and His might. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. He fights for us and brings us out of darkness into marvelous light one beautiful step at at time. Rest in that.
Are you believing something about yourself that you need to stop believing, that you need to cry out to God to help you overcome, that you need for Him to bring truth to meet head on? Know that He will do it, that He already has plans at work to bring it about.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. ~1 Peter 2:9-10
God is continually working to call us out of darkness and into His marvelous light. He is faithful and we can trust Him to do it.
Redeemed Hope Dweller 