If we’re honest, we can all say that we’ve believed a lie about ourselves at some point in our lives.
Recently, my squad had a girls night. We sat around eating junk food and doing homemade facials- typical girly stuffs. The conversation quickly turned to body image, something I’m sure every girl and woman has struggled with at times. We shared our struggles with each other. Got vulnerable. Encouraged one another.
During the time when everyone was sharing, I was filled with righteous anger. I was angry at the enemy for lying to me and my sisters. I was angry at people for being judgmental and full of hate for each other. I was just angry.
The Lord brought Genesis 3 to my mind. The famous “Fall” chapter. Adam and Eve sin and then they do what? They hide from God. God asks them why they’re hiding and they tell Him they’re hiding because they were naked and afraid. And the question He asks them next is one that has changed my life.
“Who told you you were naked?”
What I really believe The Lord was asking them that day is,
“Who told you that your bodies were something to be ashamed of? Who have you been listening to, my children?”
Here’s what’s real. If God doesn’t say it about you, then it’s not truth.
The voices we listen to and believe will determine what we believe about ourselves. And if we’re listening to anyone but The Lord, then we are listening to and believing lies.
Sometimes it’s easier to believe the lies the enemy screams at us than it is to listen to that small whisper the Lord is speaking to us. Our culture is telling us one thing and God is telling us something different. What we see and hear every day is not representative of the truth of God’s word.
Today, I believe that The Lord is asking you, “Who told you that?”
Who told you that you’re not beautiful?
Who told you that you aren’t enough?
Who told you that you aren’t worthy?
Who told you that?
I’ve been able to combat the lies that I’ve believed about myself by rooting myself in the word and abiding in the presence of The Lord. John 15 says to abide in Him. Abide, by definition, means to stay or live somewhere. God wants us to LIVE in His word. Woah.
Adam and Eve strayed away from the vine. They didn’t listen to The Lord when He told them to abide in Him. They chose to listen to the lie instead of standing on the truth.
We have a choice in all this. We can choose to take the easy road. If we’re honest, listening to the lies is so much easier. It’s so much easier to listen to what the world says. To what we see and hear from our culture every day. It’s not always easy to listen to the truth that God has for us. Because it’s buried in His word. We’ve got to continually press into Him. Study His word. Write the truth that He says on our hearts.
Man oh man do I fail at this all the time. I get lazy. I put off my time in the word for days at a time sometimes. And every time I do it, I start to believe the lies again. And I hide from the Lord because I’m feeling insecure and naked and ashamed of myself.
And then He comes walking in and pulls back the leaf I’m hiding behind and I tell Him all the things I’ve been believing about myself and all He says is, “Who told you that? I never said that.”
What have you been believing about yourself? Ask yourself that question. And be honest.
Who told you that thing about yourself that you’ve been believing? Was it a friend? A significant other? A parent? A magazine or TV show? Or was it God?
If it wasn’t God, then it isn’t true and you have been deceived by the enemy.
“Abide in me.” Seems like a simple command, right? Something that sounds so simple can be so hard sometimes.
I don’t have all the answers. I can’t tell you how to combat every lie and heal from every wound. I can only point you to the word and pray that The Lord would reveal the truth about yourself to you.
Let’s be people who listen to the whispers instead of the screams. Let’s be people who abide instead of people who stray and hide. Let’s stand on the truth of God’s word instead of letting lies crush us.
I’m praying that if you’re reading this, that God would use this blog to spark a desire for His word in your heart and for you to start believing the truth about what God says about you.
Grace and peace from Thailand, friends.
