Lies surround us every day. Some are in our heads. Some are said or implied by others. Some disguise themselves as truth. And it's so easy to believe them. When I think of the lies that I tend to believe I realize that I once believed them as truth.
In the Garden of Eden, the devil knew what had to happen in order to get Eve to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. What had to happen is the twisting of the truth just enough to make it believable (Genesis 3:1). I find that this is the same tactic the devil uses today. The devil said, "Did God really say not to eat of this tree?" (Genesis 3:1). Eve responded with what God had really said but the devil kept pursuing her and putting doubt in her mind. That's all it took for her to believe a lie. That's all it takes for us to believe a lie.
Why is it so easy to believe a lie and so hard to believe the truth? I often ask myself this question. I know God's promises, yet it's difficult to believe them. The lies are easy to believe because of the devil. The Bible says that the devil is crafty and schemes different things (Genesis 3, Ephesians 6:11). The devil has also been around a long time and knows a whole lot of sin.
The devil is an expert in sin. He's an expert in getting us to commit sin. He does this by telling us lies about ourselves and about God's promises. And we believe these lies. So how do we stop? How do we get our head connected to our heart so we can know when what we are thinking about ourselves: that we are not capable, that we are bound to fail, that we are not loved, is simply not the truth?
While the devil is an expert in sin, God is an expert in forgiveness. He's an expert in love. He's an expert in truth. So what do you do when you can't stop believing the lies? Or when you haven't been able to differentiate between the truth and the lies?First, you go to Truth. Not the truth but Truth. Truth is God. Everything he is and everything he says is the truth. That's why Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6, emphasis mine).
Next, you go to what God says (since you have established he is truth which makes everything he says the truth). Find God's promises and make them mean something to you personally. Don't just say "Wow, cool". Go deeper and realize why the lie that you have believed has kept you from the truth. What was the lie? What made you believe it? How can you personally believe the truth of Gods promise that counterattacks that lie?
Lastly, be honest. Be honest with yourself and God. You won't get anywhere if you aren't willing to admit what's holding you back. What helps me is to map it out. I make a column for the lie, a column for the promise, and a column for what I believe and why I believe it. This helps me to see the lie clearly and also see the truth clearly. Everyone has different tactics that help them so just find what works best for you.
The truth about the lies is that they ARE lies. Learn how to recognize the lies that you're believing and learn how to know the truth (aka God and his promises) and believe in it instead.
James 1:18 says, "He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession."
