Lies We Believe VS the Truth

There are lies we believe - things we don't say out loud but hold in our heart as true. We may think we are unloved or that we aren't good enough. Sometimes these lies are buried deep under layers of emotional scars. Today we are going to examine a few of common lies and see how they hold up to the light of the Word of God.

Here is a list of the lies along with the scriptures that speak the truth:

1.    I am Unloved 

John 15:9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.

Ephesians 2:4-5  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 

Ephesians 5:1  Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children

2.    I am Not Good Enough

Hebrews 10:14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

Colossians 2:13-15 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you[d] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.[e]

3.    I am a Failure

2 Corinthians 3:5-6  Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Philippians 4:13  I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

4.    I am Defeated

Romas 8:35-37 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”[j] 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 

5.    I Don’t Have What I Need

Philippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

6.    I am Alone

Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.

Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

“Never will I leave you;
     never will I forsake you.”[a]

Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, 

Transcript

Hello, my name is Tiffany, and welcome to the podcast Working on Amazing. This is the podcast where we talk about the work that it takes to rebuild an amazing life.

Now, this episode, we're going to be talking about very common lies that we believe, and we're going to be taking those lies to scripture, to the Bible, and seeing what the Bible has to say about those things. Okay?

Now, if you're new here, I'm just going to go over, Working on Amazing is designed for women who feel like they're starting over in the middle of their life.

Now, I think starting over can look like several different things, but just as an example, for me, starting over looked like divorce after a 20 year marriage.

On the other hand, for my sister, it looked like the very unexpected death of her spouse, and for you, it could be something completely different.

I feel like what the common denominator is when all your hopes, all your dreams, all your plans for the future have gone up in smoke. When your day to day life looks completely different, it really does. It feels like you're starting over.

And if that's you, I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, truly, I am sorry. I know how overwhelming and itchy that feels, but I'm here to offer hope, I'm here to offer encouragement.

I'm here to tell you that countless women have gone through this and come out on the other side better for it and you can too. You are not alone, you're actually in the right place. So welcome, I am so glad that you're here.

Now as we get down to today's episode, I'm just going to remind you that in the beginning, I said there were five areas that I focused on when I rebuilt my life.

I focused on my spiritual health, I focused on my mental health, my physical health, my financial health and growth and goals. And I said every episode would fall under one of those categories.

Well today, our episode falls under spiritual health and we're going to be talking about these lives that are very, very common. We don't talk about them, but we just hold them in our heart. But they're common lives that we believe about ourselves.

And we're going to go to scripture and see what scripture says. So it's the lies we believe versus the truth of the Bible. Okay?

Now, I am going to say that lies that we believe, that we hold just kind of in our heart and in our mind, they are oftentimes like mold, like fungus, they grow in the dark.

So as long as we just kind of keep them quiet and buried in our heart, we just hold them and believe them. But when you take mold and you put it in sunlight, what happens? Mold doesn't live under bright sunshine, does it?

No. And so we're going to take the sun, so in light, the light of God, the light of the word and shine it on these lives that we believe, okay? Because when we hold it in our heart and we don't say it out loud, somehow it has such a hold over us.

And so many of these lives are so common. I feel like you'll see yourself, or you'll at one point have identified with believing one of these. I believe all of them at one point.

And I can still struggle and I still have to go back and remind myself of the truth. Because this is the real deal here. Feelings aren't facts.

And we can feel these ways, we can feel these things, but that isn't the truth. The word of God is the truth, okay? So let's hold on to the truth instead of the feeling that is a lie.

And that's hard to do because feelings are loud, they demand your attention, they're extremely aggressive and dominant in getting our attention. Feelings demand to be heard. But we have to be in control and put feelings in their place.

They serve a purpose, they're not wrong, but we have to cling to the truth, especially when we're walking through a difficult season of transition and change. All right. So let's get down to it.

The first lie on my list, I have about six. The first lie that I believed and I feel like is a common one that a lot of people believe is I am unloved. When I went through my divorce, I felt so unloved.

If you've gone through the loss of a spouse and a significant relationship, that person that did holidays and birthdays with you, that person that made sure you were all right is no longer there. It's so easy to feel unloved.

I didn't lose my spouse to that. I still felt so unloved. This is a common one.

So, what does the Bible say about love and us feeling unloved? How does that compare to scripture? John 15 verse 9 says, As the father has loved me, so I have loved you.

Now remain in my love. So this is Jesus talking and he's saying, as God has loved me, as the father has loved me, I have loved you. Now remain in my love.

God loves you. Jesus loves you. You are loved.

Yes, Jesus loves me. Okay, let's go. Let's do another one.

Ephesians 2 verses 4 and 5. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved.

All right. So let's go back to the first part of verse 4. Because of his great love for us, and the rest of it that follows is all because of his great love for us.

God loves you. God doesn't just love you, he greatly loves you because of his great love. So when you feel unloved, what does scripture says?

God says, I love you greatly because of my great love for you. Even when you are dead in transgressions, even when you've made mistakes, even when you've messed up, even when you're sitting in mess, your life isn't organized.

Nothing is the way it's supposed to be. Nothing has worked out how it should. You know you should do this and that and the other, or even in the middle of that, whatever it is.

God loves you greatly. That's what the word says. All right, let's do another one.

Ephesians chapter 5 verse 1 says, Follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children. Oh my gosh, I love this one so much. As dearly loved children.

I have this thing, I realize I do repeatedly when I write a note or a card or a text to my children or I am remarried now, so to my spouse, I will say, I love you dearly.

And it's just a modifier to the word love and it is an expression of how much I love them. I love them dearly. I treasure that.

I hold it close in my heart. I love you dearly. Okay.

And I just, it's a thing that now I do all the time. So when I read it in scripture and God says, you are dearly loved children, that just makes me smile. God loves you dearly.

He loves you greatly. You are loved. You are loved as a parent loves a child, a dearly loved child.

Okay. So it's easy to feel unloved. Those feelings are there, they're valid.

I get it. You feel that way, but feelings are not facts. And sometimes we have to remind ourselves of the truth.

And the truth is you are dearly loved. All right. All right.

Let's do another one. Lie number two that a lot of people believe, especially in a season of transition and change that you did not ask for, you didn't want, I'm not good enough. Oh, my word.

I definitely felt like I was not good enough. This one really, I struggled with not feeling good enough so much. What does the Bible say?

If I take this lie that I have buried down deep in my heart and I hold on to, when I put it in the light of scripture, how does it hold up? What does scripture say? Let's read.

Hebrews 10 verse 14 says, for by one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. Say what? That's a good one, right?

Write that one down. Remember that. For by one sacrifice, what's the one sacrifice?

That's Jesus and when he died on the cross, right? So by that sacrifice, by the sacrifice of Jesus in the shedding of his blood, by one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever. Those who are being made holy.

So we're in process as Christians, we are being made holy. We are not holy, right? Like I am in process, but it doesn't matter that I'm in process.

That one sacrifice, what Jesus did, made me perfect. It did make me holy. I'm in process.

I have claimed Jesus. But the way God sees me, when I say I'm not good enough, God says, but through the blood of Jesus, you've been made perfect. How can I look at Jesus and say I'm not good enough with his blood covered my sins and made me right?

It's like I'm devaluing his sacrifice if I say I'm not good enough. What else does the scripture say when we feel like we're not good enough? It's a valid feeling, but feelings are facts.

Let's go to the next scripture. Colossians chapter 2 verses 13 through 15. This is a little bit long, but it's worth it.

When you were dead in your sin and in your uncircumcision of flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins.

Having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us, he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross, and having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them by

the cross. What a powerful set of scriptures. Oh my gosh. It's beautiful.

It's saying even when we weren't perfect, even when we were dead in our transgressions, even when we weren't doing it, it says uncircumcision of your flesh.

So in the Old Testament, God asked the men to circumcise, and so then people maybe quit doing that, but there was a law, there was a standard, God said do this, and then people quit doing that.

So even when you weren't following God, even in the uncircumcision of your flesh, and then that's kind of saying of the flesh. You're saying you haven't circumcised your heart, your emotions, your thoughts, right?

Even when you aren't doing what God says, he still died for you. Even when we were wrong, God still died for you. How can I call myself not good enough when he made away from me?

He covered my sin with his own blood. I can't say that I'm not good enough. That lie, do you values his sacrifice?

I can't do that. When I look at it for what it is, when I look at the scripture, I can no longer tell myself I'm not good enough. Jesus sacrificed, Jesus gave his life, he shed his blood for me.

Even when I was in sin and in transgressions and had done all these things, he covered me and by covering me, he makes me whole. How dare I say that I'm not good enough? I struggled with this one hard.

I really did. But the truth of the scripture is clear. When we say we're not good enough, we are devaluing the sacrifice that Christ made on the cross.

I don't want to do that and you don't want to do that. So we've got to look at the reality of what the truth is, not just what we feel, all right? All right.

What's another one that is common and easy to believe? Another lie. I am a failure.

Have you ever felt like a failure? I couldn't make my marriage work. I can feel like a failure around a litany of things, right?

You could just make a list. I'm like, yep, I failed at that. I failed at that.

I can often time struggle with feeling like I'm a failure. And I think this is common. And it's something that we hold once again in our heart.

We don't broadcast that we feel that way. We don't tell the world that this is what we're feeling. We bury it in our heart, but we believe it.

What does the scripture say about that? Let's read 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 5 and 6. It says, Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.

He has made us competent as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the spirit, for the letter kills but the spirit gives life.

When I feel like a failure, when I feel like I've not done the things I'm supposed to do, I haven't hit all the marks, I feel incompetent, right? What does the Bible say?

The Bible says, well, yeah, you're not competent in and of yourself, but our competence comes from God. You don't have to be smart enough. You don't have to be wise enough.

You don't have to do it all. Our competence, our ability comes from God, not from inside us, not from our own self, but from Him. And so this, to me, kind of makes me think of the difference between I've got to drive from point A to point B.

So if I'm the driver, I've got to pay attention to the road. I've got to pull up Google Maps. I've got to know where to turn and get in the right turn lane.

And I've got to pay really, really good attention, right? Because I've got, I'm the one in charge. I'm the one driving.

But when I'm a passenger, I don't worry about all that. Somebody else is driving and they worry about that. And I may pull up Google Maps and help them know when to turn.

But somebody else is competent in driving on my behalf. And, and I just want you to know that you are not a failure. God is competent.

You have the competence of God. What does that look like in reality? That means even though life may not look like you wanted it to look, you had all these great plans.

You were going to graduate school, then you were going to get the job, and you were going to have the kids, and then you were going to do this, and you had it maybe mapped out.

And right now where you're standing, it doesn't look like the way you mapped it out when you were younger. It looks like there are some fires to put out and some messes, and it feels ikky.

But God is competent, and when you trust him to drive, he's going to work out things that don't always follow your plan.

You wanted to go from here to there a very direct way, and even sometimes when I'm in the car with my husband, I'll say, why are you turning here? You know, I'll think to myself like, why are you going this way?

He is getting there a different way than I would get there. He knows the roads way better than I do. I always go a very certain way because that's how I know to get from point A to point B.

I follow the big roads, you know, easy, wide paths. He can take the back roads. He knows how to get where he's going.

And so I've learned to stop saying, why are we turning here? He knows and he may get me there a different way than I would have gotten there, but we get there.

And God has a plan for your life and he loves you and he may get you there a different way. He may take a different turn. He may go by a different way, but I promise his way is best.

He is competent and his competence is your competence, says so in 2 Corinthians. What's one other one? This is a good one.

This one you have heard probably if you've been in church your whole life, athlete, she's this a lot and it's Philippians 4 13 and it says, I can do all things through him who gives me strength. So you don't have to be strong enough.

You don't have to be smart enough. It's God's strength. It's God's smarts.

It's God's competence. It's God's wisdom that is going to get us through. Don't try to do it on your own.

If you feel like a failure, just stop and turn it over to God. God is competent and he gives you his competence. He gives you his strength.

The scripture says it. You are not a failure. God's competence, God's strength is there for you.

You don't have to do it alone. That's what the truth of the scripture says. All right, next slide that we believe.

I am defeated. I don't think we say it in that term, I'm defeated, but let me tell you, I felt so defeated. So when I was married, my first marriage, we had gotten a fairly nice house.

It was pretty big, whatever. I got divorced and I had to move to a much smaller, much older home. It felt like defeat.

Everything felt like defeat, like a downgrade. I felt so defeated. I don't know that I ever said those words out loud, but I felt so defeated.

Have you ever felt defeated when life isn't going your way and it just feels like you're not winning? It just feels like losing, not winning. What does the Bible say about that?

Romans 8 verse 35 to 37 is great. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble our hardship, our persecution, our famine, our nakedness, our danger, our sword?

As it is written, for your sake we face death all day long, and we are considered a sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Okay, I love this one.

Okay, let's break this down just a little bit. It's saying what's gonna separate us from the love that is in Christ? And it starts giving a list of the different hardships that they faced in that season.

Now, in our current timeline, what would we say? Should death of a loved one? Should divorce?

Should financial hardships? What's gonna separate us? Living in a smaller house, driving a beater car, is this gonna separate us from the love of God?

And it even says, we faced death all day long, we are like sheep to be slaughtered. Like, that sounds like defeat, does it not? But it says no, literally in the scripture, in, oh, no, in all these things.

So in all those negative things that it just listed out, in persecution, in hardship, in all those things, no, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

So it's not just God loves you, you are a conqueror, that's true.

But in all these things, in the loss, in the financial hard times, in the emotional breaking, in all these things, in the mess of life, in the hurt, in the pain, in it all falling apart, in nothing looking right, in the middle of that, in all these

things, we are more than conquerors. Not just conquerors, more than conquerors. When you feel defeated, please go and read this, please. It's easy to feel defeated.

But it's saying that even in these things that are making you feel defeated, in those things, you are more than a conqueror. And that is hard for us to wrap our head around, when we have bills to pay and very little money in our checking account.

It's hard for us to really believe that, when our spouse cheated on us and left us to raise kids by ourselves. It's hard to believe that even in the midst of this mess, this is the thing, in these things, we are more than conquerors.

How am I more than a conqueror financially? The kingdom of God is just different than the kingdom of man.

And if God says in scripture, you are more than a conqueror, even in the things that make you feel like you are losing, that's the exact place where God says, no, you are going to conquer this, you are going to win this.

And I can tell you, I am on the other side of a really difficult season. And I look back and yes, I am more than a conqueror because I walked with God through that season and I look back and yes, I'm a conqueror.

But I promise you, in the middle of it, I did not feel like a conqueror, not even a little bit. You are more than a conqueror. Feelings aren't facts.

And I know what it's like to feel defeated. Please hold on to this truth. Please hold on to even in the thing that has you so torn up, you are more than a conqueror, even in these things, even in these things, we are more than conquerors.

All right. All right. Number five lie that we believe.

Oh, this one's, I felt this one. I don't have what I need. So as a freshly minted single mom, I had bills to pay and my kids were high school and my youngest was in middle school.

And it felt like every week they came home with something that costs money. It was a school project. It was an extracurricular activity.

It was a field trip. It was something. It was never ending.

Right. And you, if you've had children, know what I'm talking about. And I had no help, no support.

It just felt overwhelming. I didn't feel like I had what I needed. When the car would break down or the HVAC would go out and it was in summer and the AC stopped, I didn't feel like I had what I needed.

Have you ever been there? Have you felt like I have needs greater than what I have? I don't have what I need.

What does scripture say about that? Philippians 4 19. And my God will meet all your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus.

God is going to meet all your needs. And if you do have children and you've ever been a parent, you know that kids want all kinds of things.

And sometimes they want ice cream, but you, as a parent, know they really need to eat their dinner first, right, before dessert. What if God is like the parent, he's the father, and sometimes we want these things, but God knows what we need.

Can we trust him? And it says, and I need you to stir up your faith and believe this, he will provide all your needs. So all means all.

That means your emotional needs. So are you feeling lonely and depressed? The financial needs, all the needs.

I want you to stir up your faith and believe that God can mean all these things for you. He can, he will, he did it for me, he'll do it for you. It doesn't always happen in a flash like you hear other people talk about.

I heard people say, well, I prayed and I opened the mailbox and there was a check for $2,000. Okay, well, that happened for them and that's great. Sometimes it doesn't happen that way.

But I look back and I was always able to buy groceries. We were always able to eat. I was always able to pay my bills.

All of my needs were provided. God is going to provide all of your needs. Hold on, have faith, trust and believe he's going to do what he said he would do.

All right, now the very last one, the lie that says I'm all alone. It's so easy to feel all alone when we're going through a difficult season.

I think part of it is because we don't want to talk about it and share what we're going through because that feels weird. Part of it's because so much of it is internal and we process it on our own.

I think in today's society with technology the way it is, it's really easy to feel lonely and alone because everybody's got these devices and they connect us more but they disconnect us from personal relationships at the same time.

Loneliness is a big thing right now. When I feel all alone and I have struggled with this, what does the scripture say? Well, I have a few for this one because I feel like it's one that a lot of people deal with.

And what I think is really cool is I have two scriptures. One is in the Old Testament. So we're going to Deuteronomy chapter 31 verse 8.

And it says be strong and courageous. You've heard this one, right? Do not be afraid or terrified because of them.

For the Lord your God goes with you. He will never leave you or forsake you. Okay, so God's not gonna leave you or forsake you.

What's really cool is then we flip over to the New Testament. That was in the Old Testament, Deuteronomy, that's the Old Testament. Now let's go to the New Testament, into Hebrews, and what do you know?

The same thing. Because God has said, I will never leave you, I will never forsake you. It was so important, God wanted you to know this.

He put it in both the Old and the New Testament. That's kind of like underlining or highlighting something, right? Like it's so important for you to know this.

You are not alone. I'm not going to leave you. I'll never forsake you.

God is with you. You are not alone, and it feels that way sometimes. I do know that.

But the truth is, God has said it twice, like he underlined it in the Bible, both the Old Testament and the New Testament. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you.

You are not alone. What's another one? One of the most amazing scriptures.

There are so many good ones, but this is Romans 8, 38, and 39. When you feel alone, I want you to read this one.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future nor any powers, neither heights nor depth nor anything in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ

Jesus our Lord. Do you see the list there of all the different things? I am convinced.

It lists supernatural things, it lists past and present things, things in the future, it lists natural disasters, height, depth, nothing in all of creation, nothing can separate you from God's love. Nothing. He loves you and you are not alone.

He's with you. Nothing can separate you. Nothing can make you be alone from him.

We can feel that way. I have felt that way. But that feeling is not a fact.

The fact is nothing can separate you from God's love. God is with you. You are not alone.

That's the truth. That's all I'm here today. It's just to remind you of the truth.

I think you know all these truths. You've heard them. You're aware of them.

I'm just here to encourage you. I'm just here to remind you. I know our feelings are so loud.

It's so easy to feel like a failure. I'm all alone or I'm not good enough. All these things, they buzz around in our mind.

They rile us up. I know. I know.

But I'm here to remind you of the truth. I'm going to put these scriptures and these things, everything in the show notes. Please, the one that resonates with you the most, print it out.

Put it on your bathroom mirror. Put it on your desk at work. Put it in your car.

Remind yourself. One day, today, maybe you've heard this and you're like, you're right. That's true.

But tomorrow, you might forget. When you're walking through a dark season with a lot of emotion, we have to keep reminding ourselves of the truth again, and again, and again, and again, over and over and over. Keep reminding yourself of the truth.

Repetition. Keep it in front of you. Feelings are not facts.

Feelings are big and feelings are loud. I'm not saying ignore your feelings. They are valid and there is a right way to deal with them and handle them.

But when we come to scripture, we realize some of these feelings are lies from the enemy. And that's not said to bring condemnation. There is no condemnation.

I'm just pointing out what the truth is and what the lie is. Okay? I walked through this.

I believed these things. I felt these things. I had to remind myself of the truth over and over and over again.

And some days I would remind myself of a truth, and by lunchtime I would have forgotten it. And I have to remind myself again. So put the truth in front of you.

Remind yourself constantly and consistently, repeatedly. They shall know the truth, and the truth shall set them free.

And as you're working on building an amazing life, as you're working on rebuilding a life that fell apart, and you're rebuilding a life, and you're going to make it amazing, you've got to keep your eye on the truth.

If you believe the lie, it will undermine everything you're doing to rebuild your life. It will be on an unstable foundation. Remind yourself of the truth.

Keep the truth in front of you. It's imperative. I would love to hear from you.

I would love to know the lie that you've identified, that you felt like you believed for so long, and what scripture counters that lie. I would love to know. I'm sure there's so many more that I did not list.

Those were just six. I would love to know what you think about this, what things you've believed, and the truth you've come to realize. So you can find me on the internet.

I'm on www.workingonamazing.com. You can find me there. You can also find me on social media.

I'm on most of the social media platforms, but I do hang out on Facebook the most. So you can send me a message on Messenger. You can write on the wall, whatever.

I would love to hear from you. I truly would. So reach out and thank you for joining me today.

I look forward to talking to you next time. Bye.