Oh, friends, the battle for our minds is fierce!
The enemy slithers up, while you’re lying on a grave with the wind knocked out of you, and he whispers in your ear, “I told you God doesn’t love you.”
Or, perhaps the battle cry that threatens to defeat you sounds more like one of these:
- You’re not enough. • You’re too much. • This pain will never end. • Life will never be good again. • God has rejected you. • You will never be okay. • You don’t deserve to be loved. • Everything is your fault. • Nothing is ever your fault. • The answer can be found in a bottle. • This sin will bring you comfort. • You’ll never have victory. • God will never forgive you. • He isn’t always good. • You’re not going to survive this. • Nothing matters any more. • You are utterly forgotten and completely alone.
Lie upon lie upon crippling lie…
You know it is a lie the instant it enters your brain, yet, in that moment, it takes a full blown wrestling match to pin that thought down and defeat it.
The father of lies knows his game. He’s been whispering since that fateful day in the garden.
He tried it with Jesus, too.
The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. (Notice, not all desert seasons are punishment! Sometimes, obedience leads us into the wilderness. For our good and His glory.) There, Jesus demonstrated for us the way to escape the entrapment of the enemy.
Each time Satan whispered, Jesus responded with Scripture. “It is written …” Our offensive weapon: a living and powerful double-edged sword. And so, we follow suit.
- You say God has rejected me?
It is written: Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. Deuteronomy 7:9 - You say I am alone?
It is written: He Himself has said, I will never leave you or forsake you. Hebrews 13:5 - You say God doesn’t love me?
It is written: For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39
God’s Word is truth. Absolute, infallible, irrefutable truth. And the only way to combat a lie is with truth. God is love. He cannot be untrue to Who He is, therefore He loves me. Nothing can separate me from His love; not even me. He proved His love for me on the cross, when He took my sin and guilt and placed it on His own Son. He loves me so much that He calls me His own, and He will never reject His own. And He is faithful to His promises. Therefore, He will never leave me, forsake me, or stop loving me. This. is. truth. Anything contrary is a lie.
Now, we may need to remind ourselves of all of these things again tomorrow. And that’s okay. As long as we stay in the battle and keep wielding our Weapon.
How about you, friend? What lies do you need to pin down? What does the Word of God say?
Let’s choose to listen to—and believe—the Voice of truth.
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
