Truth Seeking

 

Has it occurred to you that some of the things you believe are simply not true?

It’s easy to listen to others and pick out where they’re wrong. (I’m not talking about opinions.)

Look at a moral topic where you’re hearing opposing views, one (or more) can clearly be wrong.

I’m writing today to ask you to CONSIDER that there are things you believe today that are not true.

We have an enemy, and yes – he lies to us. We believe those lies because we don’t recognize them. As a matter of fact, Jesus calls Satan the father of lies! (John 8:44 NIV)

I know I’ve touched on this topic before, but God is tugging at my heart to write about it again.

It might be something easily dismissed because we think we know better; pride might tell us we would never fall for a lie.

But we all do!

Satan is very convincing. It’s his self-appointed job to tear us down, to plant seeds of doubt in our mind, and to convince us that God is not good. He revels in telling us that we aren’t lovable and watches our eyes fall when we believe it’s true. Then he piles on more self-debasing thoughts.

He’s subtle and sneaks in “little lies” that don’t seem to matter. But they begin to pile up in our mind and before you know it, we’re believing some seriously big lies.

The Bible tells us, “The thief [Satan] comes only to steal and kill and destroy; [but Jesus says] I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” – John 10:10 NIV

We’re warned!

But most of us don’t understand just how sneaky and treacherous he is. He hates you simply because God loves you. And that’s the biggest truth he tries to hide from you - that God truly DOES love you. Satan cannot stand it that God loves you and he fights to keep you from believing it.

He doesn’t want us to believe that God is good. We can come up with too many evil things in the world – and Satan wants us to attribute them to God, not him.

God. Is. Good.

How can we recognize these lies?

The ONLY way is to talk with our heavenly Father and ask Him to show us the lies we’re believing.

He wants to show us. He won’t show you everything at once, that would overwhelm us.

He’ll reveal them to us as He walks us through them, showing us in His Word, HIS truth, the absolute truth. Jesus said, “I AM the Truth.” (John 14:6 NIV)

Romans 12:2 tells us not to conform to this world (don’t believe the lies of this world), but to renew our minds. Our minds NEED renewing!

When we become His child, we turn from the lies of this world and wash our minds with the Word of God.

NOTE: We won’t recognize lies if we don’t know the truth.

Wrestling With Something?

Child of God,

When outsiders (close to you, or strangers) look into your world and see your hurts and your struggles, it may seem a slight thing to them. They may see that your blessings so much outweigh your complaints that they scoff at how ridiculous you sound; especially in light of all they suffer. They don’t see you, they compare your world to theirs, never stopping to consider that what you wrestle with is the very trying of your faith.

(picture from en.wiktionary.org)

As others grapple with their own faith and get frustrated with their own doubt and unbelief, they may hold you in high esteem and wonder how you could even bring up your struggles in light of theirs, whether you know how much they struggle or not.

But, know this, God sees your heart. When no one else seems to understand what you’re going through or how much you hurt, God sees you and understands. He’s not ignoring you or playing on His cell phone there on the sidelines while you’re getting tackled on the field.

(picture from stack.com)

God sees you. He holds your breath in His hands. He’s continuously pouring His life into you, even when it seems you’re at your weakest.

God hears you. He saves your tears as treasures, because He knows how much they cost you. He knows when it’s a battle to even shed those tears, when they won’t quite breech the surface of your eyes.  (Psalm 56:8)

God feels your heart break. He’s forever joined to your spirit, facing your pain and anguish with you.

No matter how you read Isaiah 59:19 – God is there to rescue you.

“When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.”

“When the enemy shall come in, like a flood the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.” 

(videoblocks.com)

Moving the comma only accents where the flood is coming from; do you feel the raging flood of your enemy? Or do you allow the flood of God’s raging rescue?

No matter how small your struggles feel when you compare them to the struggles others face – they are the trying of your faith.

Stop comparing battles, don’t be discouraged if others don’t take you seriously.

God is in this with you all the way. ---All. ---The. ---Way.

(picture from thespiritbusiness.com)

“…He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 1:6 (NIV)

The trying of your faith proves the power that’s within you. God already knows how strong you are; He IS the power that’s within you. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead – LIVES IN YOU!  (Romans 8:11)

He’s merely exposing that power, so that you can see it and use it!

“Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” – Luke 12:32 (KJV)

(picture from mcsinferno.news)

Solid Foundation

Photo courtesy of pwnzone2.blogspot.com

Since God’s love is the bedrock from which we build our foundation, we need to look at what is true about God’s love. We need to stare into the darkness that begins to grow in our hearts and search out what is true versus and what we’ve believed that is not true. It’s one of the hardest things we can do, because seriously, we believe what we believe because we’ve already weighed it and reckoned it as true.

We may add faulty rock to our foundation when we incorrectly weigh the ingredients. Perhaps a lie has been justified because we were wronged and we overcompensated for a thought we wanted to believe, to somehow ease the pain we’ve suffered.

If, for example, in high school, my boyfriend cheated on me, I may overcompensate in the part of my heart that was broken, by assessing the ‘fact’ that all guys cheat and reckoning it to be true, thus easing my own burden of heartache. I might justify his betrayal by asserting that it had nothing to do with me, or our relationship, it’s just something guys do. Or I might hide behind the ‘fact’ that all young women go through this. By doing this, I’m laying foundation in my heart that sets me up for future heartbreak and faulty baselines for relationships that have nothing to do with this guy. 

The truth is, all guys don’t cheat. So, I’ve lowered my expectations and may now settle for the kind of guys that do, because I allowed myself to believe this lie in order to protect my heart.

Does this make sense?

It’s normal to discover a protective mode early in life, and in it we set boundaries that are based on lies. As we continue to experience life in an imperfect world, we add to our foundation based on how we interpret what we’ve experienced, no matter how faulty that interpretation is.

So how do we discover what is true? Some might say that what is true for me is not necessarily true for you. That’s like me insisting that as time goes on, the world becomes blurrier. The world is a place of concise lines and beautiful detail – for everyone that doesn’t need glasses.  Since I wear glasses to see that precision, it’s a fallacy for me to assert that now the world is blurry for everyone. To remedy this situation, I simply put on my glasses.

When it comes to matters of the heart, we see through distortion. The lens we need to see truth is God’s Word. When we read the Bible daily, whether we understand it all or not, our everyday life begins to clarify, just like my world comes into focus when I put on my glasses. Then, and only then, can we build on a secure foundation, a foundation of Truth.

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” ~ John 14:6 (KJV)