The insidious nature of lies is that they can so slowly and subtly creep into our mind that we don’t even recognize they are there until we are left confounded and utterly condemned- a prisoner to our own minds. Over and over again I find myself in this position, lost and confused with a distorted perception of who I am and what my purpose is. It’s not until I examine my emotions that I can recognize the thoughts that they came from.
I feel worthless–>thought: “You don’t belong here.”
I feel abandoned–>thought: “They hang out without you because you aren’t good enough for them.”
I feel ashamed–>thought: “Your past mistakes define you and you’ll never be able to outrun them.”
Of course I feel miserable, empty, and afraid. Of course those thoughts will never bring me the life I crave. And somehow, in some twisted up way, they are a protective mechanism. They protect me from truly living into who I was made to be, from the risk and failure and adventure involved with all that I am and all that He is. They keep me hidden and safe in a shell of despair.
But they are not from God, not ever.
He will never tell me I’m stupid. He will never tell me I’m hopeless. He will never tell me I’m forgotten.
Because He is love. He is perfect love and perfect love casts out fear–casts out all the lies, the condemnation I choose to live under for supposed safety. In Him there is no condemnation, but only compassion. And it is up to me whether I am willing to receive that or not, to let Him root out all the lies and replace them with truth. To live into that truth, into who I really am. Into freedom.
Condemnation keeps us low, but with God we rise high. He takes us to heights we could never imagine, places we never thought we could go. He turns us into someone we never thought we could be- because we can’t without Him. But it starts with declaring truth over yourself. It starts with you believing that in Him you are enough- you are good enough, strong enough, talented enough, brave enough for whatever He has for you.
The lies have no power over us and God gives us the authority to cast them out.
“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.'” ~Matthew 28:18
The fact that this theme is so prevalent in my life tells me that it’s important: it’s important to know who we are in Christ and live into that, into our identity, and not into what the enemy wants us to believe about ourselves. It is the foundation from which we can go out into the world in confidence and assurance that we are loved, known, and chosen, and no one can ever take that away from us.
I praise God for once again reminding me who I am and what He has called me, specifically and uniquely, to do to advance His kingdom. Listen for His voice, that still, small, quiet voice of love that’s always there.
Tune in.
“So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:
They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.” ~Romans 8:38-39
rhythms of grace 