Believing The Truth

Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you.

“What is the matter?” my husband asked on our way home from church. “Why did we have to leave so quickly?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I answered, unsure as to why I felt the way I did, but knowing it had to do with a deep pain that had been festering for a long time.

It wouldn’t be until several years later that I realized this pain came from a deep fear of being associated with failure. It wasn’t so much that I was worried about failing. I was worried that I was a failure at the very core of my being.

And because of this, I would do anything possible just so the people around me wouldn’t think that I was the failure I felt I was deep inside.

When I started meeting with a therapist, it finally became clear that some of my erratic behavior over the years—behavior I often didn’t understand myself—had to do with this core belief. And once I knew what the lie was, I began to combat it with the Word of God. The truth. I would search out Scriptures that told me the truth about who I was and what God thought of me. I would write the verses on note cards and place them around my home so I could see them and be reminded. And slowly, the deceptions began to let go of their hold on my mind and heart. The truth was setting me free.

The Bible says that the enemy of our souls loves to lie to us and that he is the father of lies. And no matter who we are, we’ve all had lies that we’ve believed. That’s why knowing what the Bible says is so important. It can be a process to overcome negative perceptions of ourselves, but thankfully, if we’ll ask God, as the psalmist did, to lead us by his truth and teach us, he will. It’s God who saves. And it’s in him that we find hope.

Kendra

Today’s Act of Gratitude

Think of a lie you’ve been believing about yourself. Search for a Scripture that combats it, then write or print it out and put it in a place you will read it often. Thank God for helping you to see the truth.