You Can't Handle the Truth!

I can't tell you how many times this topic comes up in my conversations with others. People are always asking me how to deal with fear and anxiety. I have dealt with my fair share of both of these pesky, little troublemakers in my life and have been blessed to have people in my life who were able to teach me some profound truths that helped me through. As I prayed about how to share this with you, I thought of a few scriptures to help, but I was also reminded of a previous blog that I wrote in 2012. It explains the battle we face with fear so well that I decided to include a link to it below as a part of this blog (Be sure to check it out!).

 

Here is the basic truth that pulverizes fear (and the resulting anxiety): Fear is based on LIES from Satan.

 

Now, as a disclaimer, I am not delving into uncontrollable psychological phobias (ie. fear of spiders) or danger-based fears (i.e. falling from an airplane with no parachute). I am talking about how the enemy of God attacks our character, hope, joy, and peace. He may tell us, "You're stupid. You will never amount to anything. You have no talent. You'll never get anywhere in life. You're not even a good person. You have no worth." The list goes on and on. So how do you combat a lie?

 

Source: Public Domain

 

Truth is what sets you free!

 

I don't know about you, but that makes me want to look Satan in the face and shout, "You can't HANDLE the truth!" with my best Jack Nicholson impression.  

 

As a child of God, you have access to all Truth because the Spirit of Truth lives inside of you! If you are afraid, ask yourself, "What lie did Satan tell me to make me think I needed to be afraid (or anxious)?" When you find the answer to that question, replace that lie with TRUTH from the Word of God! Here is some Truths to get you started: 

 

Hebrews 13:5-6

5 Keep your lives free from the love of money. Be happy with what you have. God has said, “I will never leave you or let you be alone.” 6 So we can say for sure, “The Lord is my Helper. I am not afraid of anything man can do to me.”

Proverbs 14:26

Those who fear the Lord are secure; he will be a refuge for their children.

 

2 Timothy 1:7

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

 

Matthew 10:28

“Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

 

Romans 8:15

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”

 

We don't have to cower to Satan's fear-inducing lies. We can choose Truth and disarm our enemy. It is a war that will forever be waged until Satan is one day put in his place, but this is who we are:

We are warriors equipped to destroy lies with the Truth.

So get ready, Warrior, this is one battle you can win, but the great news is that you'll never have to fight it alone!

Here's the blog entry I mentioned earlier: The Warrior Child. Enjoy!

 

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"I'll Get You, My Pretty...and Your Little Dog, too!"

Have you ever been insulted or betrayed? I'm sure none of us have ever been betrayed as badly as Jesus was betrayed by Judas, but our betrayals hurt none-the-less. The biggest question is this: "As a Christian, how do we handle it when someone wrongs us or 'stabs us in the back?'"

I'm here to tell you that I have not always handled it properly.

But YES, there is a right way to handle it and (you guessed it) I'm here to tell you about it.

I never promise that my blogs will be all about "feel good" topics and this definitely is not one of them. However, it is a truth that can't be ignored if you plan to get through your next "attack" without giving Satan room to build a stronghold in your life.

What's a stronghold? In short, it is when Satan gains ground on your heart and surrounds it with a fortress of lies that effect the way you think (and of course this effects the way you act and treat others). You can probably see that strongholds are Satan's best way of ruining you and your testimony rendering you ineffective for the Kingdom.

Now, back to the original question, "How?" As always, the answer is found in the Word of God. In I Peter 2:23, we find the answer, which says:

"He did not retaliate when he was insulted. When he suffered, he did not threaten to get even. He left his case in the hands of God who always judges fairly."

That last word is what smacked me in the face. Fairly. I have not always handled insults, suffering, and betrayal fairly. I have not always looked at both sides of the situation and asked God for wisdom. I only saw my side and defended it ruthlessly. Until...

Don't you just LOVE that with Jesus there is always and "Until" or "But God?" It's those moments where he steps in and presents a game-changer. My game-changer was a spiritual journey that was started a couple of years ago that has led to freedom in many areas of my life and given me the tools I need to break down any stronghold I come across. It helps me to live according to TRUTH instead of the lies of the enemy. I will never be the same (thankfully!).

I've had betrayals that hurt like the dickens (to be quite honest). However, I now have the opportunity to be anything but typical and cling to my scriptural instructions that tell me to leave my case in the hands of God because HE (not me) judges fairly. I don't have to handle it the way I used to handle things.

In the past, I had the power to cut someone to pieces with my hurtful words in retaliation for anything they did to me that I didn't find fair. However, Jesus led by example when "like a sheep led to the slaughter, he remained silent (Isaiah 53:7)." Our words should only bring life. If we are incapable of offering that at the moment, we have the option to remain silent and let God be our defender and judge.

I never told you it would be easy, but it IS freedom. It IS truth. It IS the better way.

 

We shouldn't walk around hurting one another and unleashing our revenge. Our job is to live like Christ and to continually surrender our hearts and minds to him. Believe me, He won't leave you to face your battle, hurt, insult, betrayal, or suffering alone. His strong arms will support you. His heart will love you and his Spirit will never leave you. Rest in him knowing that he will judge fairly and will take care of you!

Breakin' Up Is Hard To Do

Have you ever heard the song, "Breakin' Up is Hard to Do?" It's fun little ditty from the 60's & 70's that is actually really nice to play while you clean the house. It's only fun because of the music and the beat. The words are painfully true. It is hard to break up with someone else and it's even harder to have someone you care about break up with you.

I remember when I was in middle school, couples would break up about as often as mystery meat was on the cafeteria menu. It was hard to keep up with who was "going with" who at any given moment. As we all got a few years older, the break ups became more challenging and painful because we were becoming more serious about our feelings. We wanted a serious relationship where the other person felt the same way we did. If we found that, we felt like we could fly. Once it was over...we'll let's just say it wasn't pretty.

When the high school days are over, we get to a point where we are tired of the whole break up scene and we are ready to find the last one we'll ever fall in love with. We want someone who is serious, who is ready to settle down with one person, and who plans to remain faithful to ONLY us for the rest of our lives.

By this time, we've probably learned the pain caused by somone being UNfaithful and we may find ourselves in a place where it is hard to trust. This is only exacerbated by all the stories we hear of spouses cheating on one another. It is such a painful thing to have a promise of that magnitude broken. I've listened to many women process their thoughts and feelings on this issue and I am very thankful that I have a godly husband who has always been faithful to me. I don't say that to brag, but I am merely counting my blessings. I've been on the other end where I was the girlfriend who was mistreated and that was painful enough.

Sometimes we look at God through the lens of our earthly experience and we have a hard time understanding who He is. We find it hard to trust Him because of the people who broke our trust, but God is different. Today's meditation was on His attribute of faithfulness. God is faithful. He is not one of these guys who promise faithfulness then run off with something better at the first chance He gets. He's not one who tells you that you're the apple of his eye and yet you find Him looking at everything else out of the corner of His eye. God is not a liar. God is not a cheater.

He is faithful. His promises are true and He stands by them. He will never lie to you. He means what He says. He does what He says He will do.

Here is what His word says about Him...

Lamentations 3:23

22 The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning ; Great is Your faithfulness.  

Psalm 33:4-5

4 For the word of the LORD is upright, And all His work is done in faithfulness. 5 Your lovingkindness, O LORD, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.     

Sometimes we pray and don't get exactly what we want from God; therefore, we think God is unfaithful and He doesn't answer prayer. However, the whole time we were praying for the wrong thing, God had something better planned that He couldn't wait to give us. He is trustworththy. He is safe. He is good and faithful! There's another old song that says, "When you can't trust His hand, trust His heart." When you go through times when it doens't look like God is faithful, trust His Heart that is full of love for you!

Pity party of one, your table is ready!

The name of God that I meditated on today was "Jehovah-Jireh," which means "Our Provider." For so long, I have heard this name and I am ashamed to say that I would immediately begin to sin. I would hear someone proudly declare that "God is our provider" and instead of praising God for what He was doing in someone else's life, I would begin to feel jealous and covet the blessings they were receiving. I would compare my blessings to theirs and, of course, I would always feel like I had the short end of the stick.

Well you KNOW where that ends...."Pity party of one, your table is ready!"

This was one of the meditation topics that caused me to spent most of my day confessing my sin to God and feeling pretty stupid for my attitudes in the past. I must have sounded like and ungrateful little snot! To complain because I am not getting enough or I am not getting the "right type" of blessing is preposterous! Our pastor even preached about that at church yesterday so I guess God knew I'd need a couple of days to process this one. After all, I am pretty thick-headed, if you remember.

So I looked up this verse that describes Jehovah-Jireh:

Genesis 22:9-14

9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. 12 "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." 13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."  

Here's the deal about Abraham. He and his wife were barren for a long time. They finally get pregnant when it's just about time to sign up for bed in the local nursing home. After waiting so long, they finally have their son and then Abraham is asked to go up on a mountain and sacrifice his son to the Lord. This is where every parent typically has bulging eyes and a dangling jaw as they sit in shock. They can't believe that Abraham was actually going to go through with it...but he was. Abraham was faithful and was entirely ready to trust God and obey him even when it didn't make sense...even when it hurt. (Conviction #1! This was like a big "WHAM!" right between the eyes as I asked myself how much I trusted God and how far I was willing to go to honor Him with my obedience. I'll let you chew on that one for a while. That alone will wreck you!)

But then, just as Abraham was about to sacrifice his only son, God PROVIDED a ram for him to use instead because he saw that Abraham truly was willing and obedient. He didn't actually have to kill his own son, but God looked at his heart and saw that it was full of love for Him. It was like God was saying, "Wait, Abraham! I see that your heart is pure and full of love for me. Hug your son tightly and you both can go home. I'll sacrifice my son for YOU instead."

("WHAM!" #2)

God is our provider. He may not give us the car we want, the amount of money we want, the job we want, or perfect circumstances; but He provided a substitute for our death. Instead of us having to die for our sins, he provided another option that would bring us together in Heaven. It's so easy to misunderstand things when we look at life through our "earthly glasses." It's like wearing glasses covered in mud. You can't see clearly. I don't want to see things that way anymore.

I've asked God to help me see everything clearly with truth, not selfish pity. It's time to clear the table. The pity party is over.  

God, Just Who Do You Think You Are?!

It's a valid question. Who IS God? Some wonder, many think they have Him all figured out, and others couldn't care less who He is. In our world, there are many perspectives on the whole "God thing." I find myself being a hybrid. I know God. I have a relationship with Him that was made possible because of Jesus' death on the cross for me. However, even though I know him (in part), I still have so many questions and have a deep hunger to learn more. Not to sound sacreligious, but it's kind of like that Lay's potato chip commercial says, "Betcha can't eat just one." I dare anyone to truly give God the chance He deserves and see if you can walk away. He is compelling. Once you experience Him, you instinctively want more.

In light of that instinct, I am about to embark on a journey and I'm inviting you all to join me. I have recently been inspired by a fellow blogger and woman of God at my church. She set out to listen intently for God and radically obey Him regardless of what He asked her to do for 30 days. I took the challenge with her and was rocked by what I experienced and what God asked of me.

This journey is a part of that. On this journey, I am going to focus on a name and/or attribute of God for the next 30 days. It may mean that I am a sharing from my own studies or personal experience. However, it may also mean that you might get a front row seat to watch me wrestle with some things. Regardless, I am making a promise to be real, honest, and vulnerable. No one can ever fully comprehend the vastness of who God is, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try.

Join me on my journey! I'd love to hear about your stories of discovering or experiencing God along the way. Feel free to post your comments below or email me, if you like. Let's dare to learn the truth of who God is for ourselves, never taking someone else's word for it.

Holy Father,

In the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, I ask that you would remove anything that blinds me from seeing you. Show me more of you. Illuminate the truth and open my eyes, mind, ears, heart, and soul to experience you over these next 30 days.

All I want is you.

In Jesus Name, Amen