The Truth About Lies - 'Yeah, nah!'

YOU are the light of the world, the salt of the earth, an ambassador of heaven, an agent of change, a powerhouse of transformation, the beloved of God, the one called and sent into the world to preach the good news, heal the sick, cast out unclean spirits and disciple nations!

YOU!

We have immense power to transform the world and defeat the works of the enemy. In Christ, it is UNLMITED. In Christ, you CAN do all things. Not because of you, but because of the authority you’re given in Jesus’ name and the power you’re given in His Spirit (Eph’ 3:20).

But, do you believe it?

If you don’t believe it, you won’t use what you’ve been given. And that’s when the enemy wins.

That’s why one of the key strategies of the kingdom of darkness is, intimidation:

‘To make timid or fearful; especially, to compel or deter by threats.’

The Devil uses intimidation because he knows it produces fear.

Fear focusses us on the problem, real or perceived, rather than the truth of God’s Word. E.g. In the story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17), Goliath came down to the valley each morning for 40 days to challenge the army of Israel and taunt them. Why 40 days? Because for 40 days, Israel was paralysed by fear. They were intimidated by Goliath’s size and reputation. For 40 days, they were captivated by the image and sound of Goliath. They were focussed on him, not on the truth about God – who is infinitely bigger than the giant! So, no one resisted the enemy, the enemy remained and Israel made no advance.

That’s until the young boy David came along and declared the truth that “the battle is the LORD’S” and that it was God who would give David and the Israelite army the victory. In David’s mind, God’s power and Presence was far greater than Goliath - this giant was merely bird feed when God was involved.

Quite a different perspective compared to the army who had cowered in fear for 40 days! Intimidation is powerful because it first robs you of your focus – you can’t think about solutions; you can’t think about others; you can’t think about the truth in God’s Word. You just focus on the giant problem in front of you…and you don’t get around to removing it.

Intimidation grows into fear and fear, left to its own devices, births doubt. And when we allow doubts to occupy our minds, they become a field of imagination where the Devil plants lies.

We go from believing that God is good – ALL THE TIME, to believing God is good only some of the time, or even only occasionally; or rarely….

We go from believing that God heals, to believing that God only wants to heal occasionally; to believing that God only healed back in Bible times.

We go from believing that: we can we can do all things in Christ; we have the same power that raised Christ from the dead; we are loved unconditionally; and saved only by grace through faith…to believing most things in the scriptures are only for certain deserving people who are loved more than me and have a more special calling than me.

In the deep recesses of our heart, we begin to believe things that are contrary to God’s Word. Sometimes it even feels like humility – thinking less of ourselves. But it’s not. We’re simply thinking less of God.

It means we’re doubting His integrity and His character.

Instead, if God’s Word says it, that’s the truth no matter what the feeling, fear or problem.

When counsellors and therapists work with people struggling with limitations in their life, they will often ask questions to help people remove layers of feelings and thinking until the person discovers something they believe about themselves that just isn’t true. Often, they’ve never thought of it before - consciously, but it’s been a controlling thought or perspective that has ruled part of their life and paralysed them from being free or moving forward or to receiving a grace in their life.

It’s worth taking some time to consider what has been paralysed in your life. What has stopped moving forward? What have you given up on believing for? What have you placed in the ‘too hard basket’ or in the ‘for someone else, but not for me’ basket? Uncover fears, doubts and lies and replace them with the truth of God’s Word. You are precious to God and created with unlimited potential in Jesus Christ. Live every day focussed on what God says, not what the Devil says.

And if you’re facing some giant of a problem, don’t give in to intimidation or fear. Find what God says in His Word about it and declare it, stand on it, walk on it, live by it. Mountains will move, storms will calm and giants will fall, because God does not change and His Word is true.

No matter how many Promises God has made to you in His Word, they are not “yeah, nah”. They are only “Yes”, and “Amen” (1 Cor’ 1:20). Never doubt it.

You are the light of the world.

Shine!