The truth will set you free
John chapter 8 verse 32 says “…you will know the truth and the truth will set you free”.
We can go our whole lives believing a lie. But its only when we know the truth that we can recognise the lie.
If we never bring the lies to the surface and examine them we will go on believing lies; about ourselves, about God, about the people around us or the world we live in.
That is a tragedy.
Recognising the lies that hold us back
David Riddell (a Nelson counsellor) is famous for his “truth coaches” and he talks about “trace-face-replace” saying you first must trace the lie that is causing issues, face up to the lie and then replace the lie with the (biblical) truth.
Recently while doing a careforce course through church I was able to recognise a lie in my life; I believed that I wasn’t good enough. Irrationally I felt like something inside me was terribly wrong and that if people knew how terrible I was it would be catastrophic.
Once I realised this, I was able to confront the lie with the truth (that I am fearfully and wonderfully made, that Christ has done the work and I am enough).
Then whenever that lie came up in my mind I was vigilant and spoke out the truth “I am good enough! I am created in the image of God!” or whatever other truth I could think of.
Feelings can be lies
Something I learnt in counselling is that feelings or emotions can, and will lie to us. I personally have a battle with anxiety, and when I feel anxious it is scary.
I feel sure something terrible is going to happen, my adrenaline shoots through the roof and my heart beats like mad.
I know have to try to fix things so the nameless, terrible thing will not occur. This leads to obsessively over planning (to prevent the disaster from occurring).
I need to remind myself that just because I feel the anxiety, doesn’t mean there is a reason for anxiety. I have to recognise that in this case my feelings are lying to me. Nothing terrible is going to happen.
You might have feelings that lie to you, such as anger. You might subconsciously believe if you are angry you have a good reason, subconsciously you might think anger is helping you take back control of a situation.
Whatever feelings are lying to you, recognising them is half the battle.
Finding the truth to be set free
Freedom is only found when we replace the lies with truth.
It is all very well to be able to say that I know my feeling of anxiety is lying to me, but until I confront it with the truth I remain trapped.
The truth is that anxiety does not serve me, it scares me. It limits my life and causes me trouble so I have decided to reject it.
For anxiety the truth I tell myself is that
God is in control and he will look after me
Whatever occurs we will deal with it together as it occurs
If your lying feeling is anger you must first realise the truth that your anger is not serving you and you need to decide to reject it. Then you have to tell yourself the truth that speaks to your situation.
Looking back to the lie that I am not good enough, I am learning to replace it with the truth. When I start to think I am not good enough all I have to do is speak out the truth “I am enough. Jesus has set me free from the power of sin and shame. I am loved and I do not have to earn that love. Nothing I can do will add to that”
The lie fades away as I speak the truth.
When lies are brought to the surface and compared with the truth, the truth wins.
When in doubt pray
John chapter 14 verse 17 says that we know the spirit of truth, he lives with us and in us.
If you ever need help replacing a lie with the truth just pray and ask God to help you to recognise both the lie and the truth.
I wish you every success in recognising lies and replacing them with truth. Because “The truth will set you free!”
KG
PS - Sarah Young wrote this article about reminding her husband of truth (the gospel) when he was starting to believe a lie. Check it out.
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