Dear Friend,
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10 ESV)
The devil wants to steal, kill, and destroy our relationship with God and others. He wants to steal our joy, our assurance of salvation, and alter our perception of our right standing with God through Jesus.
The devil wants to create a wedge between us and God. Yet, the devil knows that after we receive Jesus as our Savior, God will never leave us, forsake us, or turn away from us. But to all who did receive (Jesus), who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12 ESV) You see, the devil cannot create a wedge on God’s side of the relationship (from Father to children), so he tries to form a wedge on our side.
The devil tries to ensure that there is something amiss between God and us in our thinking. He wants us to misperceive God as someone who doesn’t really like us, love us, or someone who gets as annoyed with us, as we get with ourselves. He tries to paint the picture that God is a disappointed Father, an unapproachable, cold, and distant being.
How does he do this? He lies to us and hopes we take the bait.
Several years ago, I had this weird feeling that there was a barrier between Jesus and me. I felt comfortable with God the Father, but was sure there was something hindering my relationship with Jesus. I didn’t like or understand it. It frustrated me and produced an inner turmoil. After prayer and asking God, “What is the barrier between me and Jesus? Why don’t I feel close to Him?” God showed me a mental picture of a big wall of smoke. Jesus was on one side of the smoke wall, and I was on the other. But then God blew the smoke away and explained that there was no barrier! Jesus and I were on the same side. It was just a deception—a smokescreen. He explained that the devil deceived me into thinking that there was a barrier. There was absolutely nothing wrong with my relationship with Jesus. It was the “impression” of my relationship that was being deceived. Sneaky isn’t it?
But that odd feeling of separation caused me to feel awkward in talking to my Savior. My own Savior!! When you feel awkward talking with someone, it causes you to avoid that person. The devil tries to plant lies like these in our minds to cause a separation or a wedge. He knows what beauty there is when we are unified with God—so he tries to disturb and disrupt that harmony.
When lies try to creep in, we can:
- Reject the Lie (Cast it down and Replace it with a Truth)
Or
- Agree with the Lie
If we agree with the lie, then it quickly becomes a foundation for the enemy to add more lies, which build up a stronghold of lies.
For example, if you believe the lie that God is too busy for you, then the next building block would be, “So why bother?” Why pray to God? Why ask God? Do you see how dangerous this can be? Lies like these try to sever our relationship with God. The devil tries to make us run away from God in moments of pain or fear, when we should actually be running to God. He does this because he knows the result of the power of alignment between Father God and his children. So, he tries to prevent that alignment.
As children of God, and carriers of His favor and blessing, it is time we recognize the lies in our lives and turn our eyes to the truth.
We do this by:
- Reading the Bible
- Taking lies captive and replacing them with truths
- Speaking scripture over our lives and situations
- Bringing every worry and concern to God in prayer, and
- Stretching our faith.
All of these actions will produce good fruit in our lives. We will be diving deeper into these areas in the next few weeks!
Prayer: Lord, I believe that I walk in the righteousness that you paid for me to have. Would you open my spiritual eyes and ears to hear and see your truth? I bring all thoughts captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ. Any thought that is not from God; I submit it to the obedience of Jesus Christ right now. Lord, speak to my heart. Would you show me something that I have believed that is not true? (Pause for several minutes in quiet. He may bring a memory to your mind, or a thought, or picture *)
(When you feel like He has revealed something to you that is a lie you have believed, then you can pray the following prayer.)
Lord, I repent for believing the lie that ______(fill in the lie; example: there is a separation between me and Jesus)____. I want your truth to cover me and my thoughts. God, what is the truth? (Listen again and wait quietly.)
If you hear something, thank Him for your new starting point.
If you do not hear anything, do not be discouraged, but keep your heart available to Him throughout the week, with an expectation that He will speak to you in your everyday life. I believe He will.
Blessings!
*When hearing God, it is important to test what you hear. You know the Father loves you immensely, so if you hear things like shame, guilt, or condemnation, that is not your Father’s voice. Dismiss it and move on.
