Living a Life of Impact...a study by Kristi
 
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
The Why Behind the What ... Belt of Truth Study Part II
 
 
Last session we started our study on the weapons of our warfare, weapons we find listed in Ephesians 6. We began with a close look at what we identified as the most vital piece of armor, the belt of truth. We learned that it is the belt that enables all the other pieces of the armor to be used. We concluded that without the belt of truth, God’s Word, being a central part of our lives and the foundation of our thoughts, words, and actions, we have no hope of being able to stand against the enemy and live a victorious life. Why? Because every attack the enemy brings against us is in the form of deception. The attack is always a thought or a situation that comes against us that is contrary to the Word of God. It is contrary to what God says about the kind of life He wants us to live. It is contrary to how He feels about us. It is contrary to who we truly are, as we will learn, the righteousness of God! It is contrary to the power that we really have in Christ and our ability to overcome. Without the truth ingrained in our hearts and minds, we will inaccurately base our decisions, our actions, our reactions, our thoughts, and the words we say to others on a lie, just as Romans 1:15 says. Most of the time, I believe that these attacks are subtle. They come in the form of little ‘suggestions.’ The enemy suggests little thoughts about the way we look, the way people think about us, or about what people say about us. He makes suggestions about a situation we may be facing, something overheard at work, or a suggestion about something we said to someone. Here are a few examples of little whispers that may flash through our minds: “My ministry isn’t big enough.” “I will never amount to anything.” “People don’t enjoy being around me because of my disability.” “I have nothing to say. No one is interested in hearing my opinion so I should stay quiet.” “My life has no purpose. My life doesn’t begin to impact the world like their life does.” “I screwed up again! I can’t do anything right!” “I am so fat!” “I should have NEVER said that to them!” or “I should have said this to her.” “I am never going to be healed. I will feel this way forever!” “I will always be in this position physically, financially, spiritually.” “God could never love me after what I did.” “My parents love the other children more than they love me.” “__________ doesn’t love me anymore.” “My parents are so disappointed in me!” “I am so stupid! I am not as smart as they are!” “Look how beautiful she is. I cannot even compare.” “God could never use me after what happened to me.” “She or he thinks __________ about me.” “My boss thinks I did a poor job.” I am sure if you take a moment and reflect, you can think of a few of these suggestions that you have heard flash through your mind. _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Perhaps these ‘suggestions’ occurred after having a conversation with a friend, perhaps they occurred after reading an email, after observing someone’s interactions with another, or after seeing someone look your way. Time and time again the enemy will send these little ‘suggestions’ into our minds all with the goal of trying to get us to agree with them so that our thought life and actions will be based on a lie rather than the truth. He hopes that we will take the thought, store it away and begin a lifetime of building on a foundation of lies. Satan knows if we build on the truth he won’t be able to touch us! He knows the story in Matthew about the wise and foolish builder and realizes that if our lives are built securely on God’s truth, no matter what he sends our way our lives will not be moved. He knows that we will be so grounded in God’s love and His truth that we will be unstoppable for the kingdom. Because our victory so hangs on the foundation we have in our thought life, I wanted to spend this session examining some of the suggestions we may have bought into hook, line and sinker. Exposing these lies is vital to our being able to stand in the full armor of God and win! Exposing these lies is vital to our being able to fully grasp the concept of putting on our breastplate of righteousness. If we don’t have a firm foundation built on truth, it will be very difficult to walk in the righteousness of Christ and walk in victory. This week God began to unravel years of bondage in my own personal life that has been a result of years of building on a foundational ‘lie.’ For so many years I have struggled with a perfectionism spirit. I have sought to be the best I could be whether that was in athletics, being a mom, a wife, a daughter, a friend, a ministry leader. The problem is that no matter what I did, I always seemed to have a sense of falling short in some area. This week I began to realize where this issue had originated…. it originated from a little suggestion from the enemy in which I grabbed hold of, agreed with mentally and often repeated verbally. As a young water skier, I skied a great many hours on our private lake under the instructions of my mother, father and other coaches my parents would bring into our home. This week God vividly reminded me of a ‘suggestion’ that I had ingrained into my mind and He showed me how that by my agreeing with and believing the ‘suggestion,’ I had built my life on a foundation that had caused me to act, think, react, and speak in a certain way. He showed me a picture in my mind of my skiing on Lake Kristi and I could see my precious father standing on the shoreline. As a young teen I would train hours on this lake my father and mother had built for me. At the end of the day my dad, who had worked all day so I could have the privilege of being able to train on this lake, would come home often bringing many business associates with him. As I would train, I would sink down into the water and my father would be standing on the shoreline. Daily he would call out to the water the question, “What are you running? How short is the rope?” It was a SIMPLE question from a proud father who just wanted to know how it was going out there on the water. There was no hidden intention or motive behind the question. But let me tell you what Satan can do with a little question. In my young mind here is what I heard, “Dad is on the shore watching you, you better not mess up. He is asking what pass you are running because he wants you to be running really short line. You aren’t skiing well enough. You need to ski better.” Isn’t it amazing how a simple question can be turned into a major dialogue? The sad thing was that it has taken me 25 years to realize that this was a major point in my life because by my AGREEING WITH THE LIE, I exchanged the truth that God loves me, my parents love me, my father is SO proud of me and loves me regardless of how many buoys I run in the slalom course! As I allowed these thoughts to enter my mind and I AGREED with them, I set myself up for a lifetime of never feeling like I measured up. Let me say this clearly…. this was in NO WAY the FAULT of my father. I didn’t realize there was an unseen force at work who was taking this simple question and turning it into a huge lie just hoping that I would buy into it…. as I did. The result was that every time my father would walk up at a tournament, especially after I had skied poorly, and I would see the tears in his eyes I would immediately have the inaccurate thought, “He is so disappointed in me.” Now I realize the TRUTH was that he was disappointed FOR ME, not IN ME! He knew how hard my mother and I had trained, he knew how much better I could have skied, he knew how much it meant to me to win and ski well and he was hurting for ME, not upset with me. What a difference in reality! Oh how I wished I could have understood that much earlier in life. It took me having a young girl from Mexico come and live with us for me to realize this inaccurate perception. Lorenza, who had come to train with us in water skiing, was sitting in the back seat of the car after competing in a water ski tournament. She had skied well but not what she was capable of. She looked so sad and then said, “I am so sorry I let you guys down.” My heart broke for her. I was so proud of her, how could she think she had disappointed us? I realized Satan was at work trying to deceive and discourage her. Immediately the Lord showed me that this deception was the exact deception Satan had used in my life as a young child. I used to be the one in the back seat of the car experiencing the feelings that I had let him my parents down while the whole time they were in the front seat hurting for me. Oh what a mess! So what happened by my agreeing with this suggestion? I built my thought life on an inaccurate perception and the result was that every time my parents or anyone for that matter would have any sort of constructive criticism or a suggestion that would help me, my immediate thought was based on the lie that I wasn’t doing well enough, that I had failed, and that they wanted more. I immediately thought I had to work harder and harder. The problem is often times I pushed myself to the limits of exhaustion never feeling like I had performed well enough. God also revealed another ‘suggestion’ I had built my life upon. He revealed that this same perfectionism spirit was working the flip side as well. Not only did Satan suggest that I wasn’t good enough for my parents, he suggested that I was too perfect for my friends. Unfortunately, I bought into that lie as well. All I ever wanted in my life was to be liked and to please others. With the notoriety of being a world-class competitor at the age of 13 came a lot of attention at school. By grabbing hold of the suggestion that my school friends would not like me because of my ski success and school success, I began to make decisions that would help lower my ability to be seen as ‘perfect.’ (Something mind you that I am FAR from!). I began to join in the crowd rather than make decisions based on God’s desires. I began to speak negative things over my life so people would know that I didn’t think of myself in a high and mighty way. The result was years of telling people and myself that I was stupid, forgetful, ugly, fat, etc… Do you realize that the things in which you speak over your life and allow others to speak over your life will eventually become your belief system and result in behaviors contrary to God’s will for your life? _________________________________________________________________ Think about some of the things you have spoken over your own life for the sake of others? _______________________________________________________________________ Think of some of the things you have heard others speak over your life. Do the words in the schoolyard or the words of siblings and parents from your youth still strike a nerve and come to mind? ___________________________________________________________________ Can you see how by agreeing with a ‘suggestion,’ you can begin thought processes that lead to reactions to people that are inappropriate? Do you see how you can begin behaviors that are destructive and that lead you away from God’s perfect plan, the abundant life He has planned for you? Just this week, God revealed to me another example of how these ‘suggestions’ can take root and lead to life changing decisions. A close friend of mine came down for the weekend and we were talking about his decision to leave a ministry. He shared with me how he had received an email that had taken some of his responsibilities and given them to another coworker. Immediately the ‘suggestion’ in his mind was that he hadn’t done a good enough job, that he had failed the ministry and the ministry leader. Unfortunately, rather than sharing what he was feeling or thinking, and giving the sender of the email an opportunity to explain the decisions, he allowed that lie to take root and it began to grow into the fruits of strife, jealousy, and bitterness in his heart. He didn’t realize the truth was that responsibilities were shared among the ministry team so that he could be protected in his work, as his workload was physically, spiritually and emotionally draining. He didn’t realize the truth was that the ministry was trying to ensure his longevity serving the Lord. After 6 months of allowing this lie to be the basis of his thought life, he eventually made the decision to leave the ministry. What an unfortunate result but this example reminded me of how rampant the enemy’s lies are and how devastating they can become when we believe them. Isn’t it sad that most misunderstandings could be avoided through simple, honest conversation which exposes the lies and bring forth the truth? The Word of God says the truth will set you free, John 8:32. By speaking in love and being truthful about what we may be feeling or thinking, by going to the Word of God and finding out what the Bible says about a situation, God’s truth would be able to bring forth light and the lie would be robbed of the opportunity of taking root and growing into a lifetime of unhealthy and ungodly patterns. Being honest and confessing to one another will also bring healing (James 5:16). Believe me, Satan begins early in life as he knows if he can get you to grab a hold of a lie at an early age, he will have more of a chance in decreasing your chance of victory as you age. Believe it or not, my Granddaddy Charlie has never sung a note in church. You want to know why? Because when he was a child, the enemy suggested to him that people were laughing at his voice as he sang in church. The result of allowing the enemy’s lie to take root was his never singing. Can you imagine how excited the enemy was when one less voice was lifting up praises to God? My oldest son and I had a great discussion this week as God revealed a ‘suggestion’ he had already agreed with and was basing his thought process on. As most of you know, we adopted our two youngest children from Russia two and a half years ago. This transition was very difficult at first for our oldest son, Ty. Until recently, he has been very emotional and has at times acted out verbally and physically towards the younger children. This week my son and I talked about some of the ‘suggestions’ that perhaps have entered into his mind and caused some of this agitation. One of the greatest and most devastating “suggestion” that he had agreed with was that Tim and I, and other family members love the other children more. There was so much excitement regarding our adoption. We had waited so long with much anticipation. Everywhere we went people would talk about the ‘new’ children and would want to hear how they were doing, if they were speaking English, etc.. Although Tim and I were extra careful to continue our same routine with Ty at home, and continually explain to him and show him how much we loved him, we had competition as the enemy was flooding his seven-year-old mind with thoughts to the contrary. Unfortunately, he exchanged the truth for the lie and planted that ‘suggestion’ deep into his mind. He simply didn’t know any better…. like most of us at some point in our life! How freeing it was this week for Ty to admit those thoughts, to give them to the Lord, to tell the Lord he doesn’t agree with the lie and replace it with the truth that he is loved by God and his parents and that this love runs deep! Can you imagine if he had continued building his life on this lie? He would have always felt second best. Every action that Tim and I ever took towards the younger children would have had the undertone that we love them more! Can you imagine the root of jealousy that would have taken place and allowed to build over the years? I believe God has freed Ty from this bondage this week and by exposing the lie, the enemy’s power was taken away. My youngest son, Dalton struggles with dyslexia. As you can imagine, ‘suggestions’ have come at him through his mind that he isn’t smart. During school in kindergarten, my five-year-old child would hear in his mind, “You aren’t as smart as these children because you cannot recognize these letters.” Even after much time of working together to overcome his dyslexia, I still hear my son pray to God, “Lord, please let me be smart like the other kids.” This thought process has made him physically sick as he dreaded going to school for fear of his inability to read being exposed. The thought process also made him begin to clown around in school as he thought that if he played around, no one would notice his inability to do the work. Tim and I have heard Dalton tell people that he is being home schooled because he isn’t smart. You can believe I spend much time exposing this lie by consistently and constantly reminding him of his strengths and his smart mind. I praise him for a job well done and have him repeat verbally that he did awesome! I have him talk about how like David he is going to overcome this giant in his life for he can do ALL things through Christ who gives him strength. Just this week Dalton recognized three new letters and he strutted around the room saying, “I am smart! God helped me and I did it! I can do ALL things!” How freeing it is for Dalton to realize that he is smart and that God doesn’t make anything stupid! Can you imagine a lifetime built on the false premise that “I am not smart?” Let me share a statistic with you. I have heard that 85% of juvenile delinquents are dyslexic. How is that for proof of where the false premise “I am not smart” will get you in life? How sad that no one ever exposed the lie in these children’s lives and shared with them God’s amazing truth that they are special, that they are his unique creation with an incredible purpose. How sad no one ever revealed the truth that God has a plan for their lives and that although difficult, dyslexia is something that makes them special, that allows their minds to think in special and creative ways and can be something to celebrate. Too bad no one ever told them the smartest people on earth have often been dyslexic…ever heard of Einstein? THE WHY BEHIND THE WHAT… I am a firm believer that in life, there is always a why behind the what. There is a reason that people act and speak the way they do. There is a reason people react to situations in a certain way. There is a reason people run from situations and go into a protective mode with words and actions. There is a reason people try to control other people and situations. This week I challenge you to go deep in your private time with the Lord and find out ‘the why behind your what.’ I urge you from the bottom of my heart to get in a quiet place, to be still before the Lord and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you any foundations that you have built your life upon that originated on inaccurate ‘suggestions’ from the enemy or from people, the enemy’s pawns. Ask yourself some of the following simple questions and start doing a ‘self check’ throughout the week. Check your reactions to certain situations. Check your responses to certain comments. Check your prejudices against certain people. Ask yourself: When do I feel anxious? When do I feel pressured? What comments make me feel insecure? What situations make me feel insecure or out of control? When do I feel ‘safe’? What am I spending the majority of my time thinking about? Is it what others have said or what I think they have said or meant? Do certain people just rub me the wrong way? Do I wish I were someone else or in another situation? Are there situations where I react inappropriately or over-react? Have people spoken cruel things to me or about me? Perhaps a parent verbally or physically harmed you and never affirmed your value as an individual. If you notice a pattern of behavior or thought processes, start asking the Lord, “Why?” “God, why do I feel this way when I am around this person or in this situation?” For me I knew that for some reason I always felt like I had always failed and I felt anxious internally. As I prayed, God revealed that the premise of my thoughts was that I was a failure. As He did for me, I guarantee you that God will begin to reveal to you some ‘suggestions’ the enemy sent your way via thoughts or via verbal comments from other hurting people. He will be sure to show you “the why behind your what” and as you replace that lie with His truth, He will begin to bring healing into your life and your situation! You will begin to walk in freedom…freedom of condemning thoughts and freedom from the worry of what others think. We cannot completely prevent these ‘suggestions’ from entering our minds. The lie is the only weapon the enemy truly has. However, we can change the way we process these ‘suggestions.” Rather than accepting every comment or every thought as truth, rather than reading between the lines, we can go to God’s Word and find out what He says about our situation or about us. We can go to the source of the comment and find out their true intention. We can stop right dead in our thought process track and ask ourselves…. is this truth? If it is a lie, we can refuse to accept it. When people speak negatively over our life, we can refuse to receive their words and verbally speak His truth over our lives and situations instead. I am a firm believer of verbally speaking truth over your situation. Our words go on FOREVER, our words bring life into a situation, our words bless. Bless yourself today by speaking forth His truth into your life! Your ability to walk in victory as a believer and in confidence as a child of God, depends on your deliberate choice to replace the ‘suggestion’ or lie with truth so that your foundation can be securely built on God’s truth and His love for you! Don’t let the enemy rob you of one more day of freedom! Response: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________