The devil lies to us in many ways, here are some of the lies I've found stirring around my head lately and then some truth to speak into them.
The Lie: Vulnerability is a weakness. If you let your walls down to someone you will be hurt, look like a fool and they will take advantage of you.
The Truth: Vulnerability is your greatest strength. Letting your walls down exposes you to pain but it releases you from a prison that you've built.
Joe Wishon commented on my last blog saying, "Openness is the key step toward trust. Openness leads to trust." If you open yourself up, you're going to be exposed to someone hurting you. However, if you chose to stay in that prison it's going to be a lonely place. Wounds obviously get in the way here, I realize that, but don't listen to the lie that's telling you to keep your relationships at a surface level. That's not the way to live.
I've found that the shame and timidness I carry while holding the burden of living in my prison is a lie. That once I am vulnerable a revival breaks out around me, seldom in my recent experiences has opening up lead to anything but peace and transformation.
There is a lie rooted deep into trust that needs to be pulled out.
Jesus said he came to set the captives free and then 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
The Lie: I can't be open with everyone, I have to guard my heart.
The Truth: You can be radically open and honest with every single person you encounter.
This is obviously easily an arguable situation as scripture is interpreted differently by many people. I can already sense that I've opened up a wound in one of you reading this right now, one of you might even be screaming on the inside.
There is a security in the Lord, to the point that no matter how exposed you are with a complete stranger or with someone who has broken your trust that you know the Lord is going to take care of you. Your identity shouldn't in what people say but the discernment of the Spirit, what He is saying and what you know He says about you.
Often times we interpret this verse as we must always guard our hearts, put up walls. What if it's talking about guarding not what we expose but how we allow the response to impact our hearts?
Jesus trusted Judas even though He knew Judas would betray Him. (Matthew 26: 21)
Thanks Jill for helping me process some of this.
The Lie: It's easier to run away when a relationship gets hard.
The Truth: "Be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded." (2 Chronicles 15:7)
Relationships and friendships are not something that come for free. My first instinct is to run when a relationship hits a hard point. I've found that when a relationship gets hard, it's because you're about to open up a new level of intimacy within the relationship. If you can push through that temporary hardship, the fruit will be a huge reward. Patience and openness is the key. Seek the long-term rewards over the short-term satisfaction.
The Lie: You've failed someone if you give up on the relationship. You're going to create a wound of abandonment if you distance yourself from someone.
The Truth: There comes a point in fighting for someone that it becomes unhealthy for you to continue the relationship.
First off, I'm not saying to remove yourself from your marriage. Let's clear that up right now.
If you are fighting for someone, they have to join you in the fight. They must believe in the truth you are speaking over them and take everything that's said to the Lord. There comes a point in relationships that they are going to have to fight for themselves and if they begin to rely on you to do all the fighting it is unhealthy.
You aren't abandoning or failing them if you stop fighting for them. You have become an idol in their lives. This doesn't mean that you stop interceding for them, it only means that you remove yourself so that they are dependent on God above all other relationships.
There is also a risk of it becoming an unhealthy relationship for you. Fighting should operate both ways, you should have each other's back.
Discernment of what the Spirit is saying at this point in any relationship is very important.
The Truth: We are no longer captives. We are no longer blind. We are no longer oppressed. The year of the Lord reigns.
Jesus said in Luke 4…
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
We must find the lies we are listening to and then constantly remind ourselves of the truth that the Word of God brings.
We must stop being captives to lies.
