Last week I talked about the need to rid ourselves of the ungodly beliefs we are believing about ourselves. (If you missed it, read it HERE) Satan knows our weaknesses and he’s just waiting to take advantage of them but if we truly know who we are in the Lord, his lies won’t ever settle in and become our ungodly beliefs.
The need to rid ourselves of the lies, and arm ourselves with the truth, is becoming more and more evident to me. It’s like I’ve always sort of known that was the case but God suddenly decided to pull the curtain back, off my eyes, so I can see how everything in our lives really boils down to this one thing – our need to know our true identity in Him.
Because Satan is the prince of this world (John 12:31) and the father of lies (John 8:44), he has done a good job meddling with all of us, convincing us of things that aren’t true, convincing us of things that aren’t true about each other, and really distracting us from the one thing we all so desperately need – the truth.
I know I touched on identity in the last post but I wanted to recap some of those verses because every single one of us struggles with insecurity – in one form or another – because we have been lied to about our true identity. The more we read truth, the more real it becomes to us, so I want to remind you of what God has to say about who YOU are –
As you serve Him, be glad and worship Him. Sing your way into His presence with joy! And realize what this really means – we have the privilege of worshiping the Lord, our God. For He is our Creator and now we belong to Him! We are the people of His pleasure. For the Lord is always good and ready to receive you. He’s so loving that it will amaze you – so kind that it will astound you!” Psalm 100:2-3,5 (tPt)
“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27 (NIV)
“We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true. And we are in Him who is true by being in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” 1 John 5:19-20 (NIV)
When we believe ungodly beliefs about ourselves, we are giving our authority in Christ, over to the enemy. We are giving him permission to speak to us about “who we are” but this practice is killing us. We are a broken, lost, wandering people because we have given the enemy full permission and authority to speak lies to us.
Your feelings of oppression don’t come from the Lord, I know it’s easy to blame Him because we feel like if He really was a loving God then He wouldn’t allow us to feel this way, but that’s not truth. Your oppression comes from the enemy because, by believing his lies, you have given him authority in your life.
We have to stop! Now that you know the truth about who you really are, you need to take back the authority that was given to you through Christ! In Romans, Paul tells us we need to use wisdom to know what is good and what is evil. We need to cry out to the Lord to give us wisdom and discernment so we can take back our authority! The good news is that we don’t have to do it on our own because God is with us.
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” Romans 16:19-21 (NIV)
“He is my Champion Defender; there’s not risk of failure with God.” Psalm 62:2 (tPt)
“Through Christ we have been given all authority over the rulers of this earth.” Colossians 2:10 (NIV)
I know it is easy to succumb to the lies of the enemy because he’s very loud and repetitive but if we truly want to find freedom we need to start listening to that “still small voice” in our minds that tells us the truth.
You matter.
You are loved.
You are worthy.
Shame is not yours to carry.
Let me take your burden.
If you are willing to stand up to the enemy and take back the authority that is rightfully yours, through Christ, Psalm 91 tells us we don’t need to fear!
Whether by night or by day, demonic danger will not trouble you, nor will the powers of evil launched against you. For God will keep you safe and secure; they won’t lay a hand on you! When we live our lives within the shadow of the God Most High, our secret Hiding Place, we will always be shielded from harm!” Psalm 91:6, 9 (tPt)
There is a war raging over each one of you. You all matter to the Lord, because you are His beloved children, so the enemy has put a target on each one of you. He knows that the easiest way to hurt the Lord is to hurt His children (as a parent, wouldn’t you agree?), but God is on our side! He’s waiting for you to run to His “secret Hiding Place” so He can “shield you from harm”.
Take back your authority by telling Satan “no”. “No” I will not believe the lies anymore because that is not who I am. “No”, I refuse to believe that about myself. “No”, that is not who I am, and speak scripture back to him to remind him of who you are, just like Jesus did when He met Satan face to face in the dessert (Matthew 4:1-11). Telling the enemy “no” and using scripture to defeat each and every lie Satan threw at Him, is exactly what He did, and exactly what we need to do.
Remind the enemy of the truth – that God has all authority over Heaven and Earth and the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, lives in YOU. You are a forced to be reckoned with, which is why Satan is after you, but you have authority over him, so tell him to get out of your head and go back where he came from.
The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you and just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, He will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.” Romans 8:11 (NLT)
“In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:4-5 (NIV)
AMEN! I have loved every word of this series on Lies. So very powerful. You have spoken such TRUTH to my heart.
Ah, thank you so much Susie, that means a lot to me. 🙂