"THE TRUTH THAT SETS US FREE- Powerful truths to counter everyday lies
In this final chapter, we want to highlight twenty-two Truths taht we believe will radically transform your life if you will choose to believe and embrace them. These are key Truths we find ourselves going back to over and over again.
Can you do us a favor? Rather than skimming through this chapter, take the time to focus on these liberating, life-changing Truths.
In the days ahead, anytime you realize you are believing lies, go back and review this list. Let the Truth of God begin to replace the lies and renew your mind and heart. Meditating on the Truth will change the way you think, the way you respond and the way you live!
#1. When you're having a really bad day and are tempted to feel that God is not good- GOD IS GOOD. (Psalm 119:68; 136:1). When everything is going just right, it's not hard to believe that God is good. But when you get into a fight with your best friend or are dumped by your boyfriend, the Enemy will move in and cause you to question God's goodness. The Truth is, regardless of your circumstances, regardless of what you feel, God is good, and everything He does is good.
#2. When you feel far from God and are tempted to feel that He doesn't love you- GOD LOVES ME AND WANTS ME TO HAVE HIS BEST. (Romans 8:32, 38-39). God doesn't love us because we're lovable or worthy, but because He is love. There is absolutely nothing we can do to earn or deserve His love. We cannot fully grasp God's unconditional love because no human being can ever love us perfectly or fill the deepest needs of our heart. If we believe God's love is real and receive is, it will transform our lives.
#3. When you feel ugly or fat- I AM FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE (Psalm 139:14). Through you are bound to have a bad hair day now and then, God still considers you His masterpiece. He crafted you just as you are with precision and purpose.
#4. When you feel rejected- I AM ACCEPTED IN CHRIST (Ephesians 1:4-6). You may have been rejected by a parent, a friend, or a boy you liked. But if you are a follower of Christ, you are accepted by God. We don't have to perform to get Him to accept us. Even though we are sinful, we can stand before God clean and totally unashamed, acceptable to Him. How? Because Jesus- the pure, sinless Son of God- is acceptable to Him, and we stand accepted before God through Jesus!
#5. When you feel you need more 'things' and are consumed by your desires- GOD IS ENOUGH (Psalm 23:1). 'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want' (KJV). You've probably memorized that verse. But have you ever thought about what it means? AS a shepherd cares for his sheep, God has promised to meet all the needs of His sheep. The Truth is, if we have Him, we have everything we need.
#6. When you feel anxious about your circumstances- GOD CAN BE TRUSTED (Isaiah 28:16). God keeps His promises. He has promised never to leave or disown us (Hebrews 13:5). He has promised that those who trust in Him will never be disappointed (Psalm 22:5). When you feel fearful or anxious about circumstances or problems, remind yourself that God has never once let anyone down (Psalm 56:3), and HE is not going to start now!
#7. When you feel like something has happened to you that will ruin your life forever- GOD DOESN'T MAKE ANY MISTAKES (Isaiah 46:10). Sometimes other people make serious mistakes that affect our lives. But if we belong to Christ, He is holding our lives, and nothing can touch us that has not first been 'filtered through His fingers of love.' That doesn't mean we won't have problems- we will! But if we will embrace those challenges as being from His hand, HE will use them to draw us closer to Himself and to make us more like Jesus.
#8. When you feel like you can't handle a problem you're facing- GOD'S GRACE IS ENOUGH FOR ME (2 Corinthians 12:9). As children of God, we will never face a problem that is too big for His grace to handle. Even where sin is seeming to run us over, His grace is greater (Romans 5:20). When we are weak, He is strong. When we are empty, He is full. When we have no resources of our own left, His resources are still, overflowing! No matter what you are going through right now, His grace is enough.
#9. When you feel like your sin is too great for Him to forgive- THE BLOOD OF CHRIST IS SUFFICIENT TO COVER ALL MY SIN (1 John 1:7). There is not a sin you have ever committed or a sin you could ever commit that cannot be forgiven and covered by the all-powerful sacrifice of Jesus's blood. This should not make us take sin more lightly; instead, the understanding that our sin required the blood of the Lord Jesus should give us even greater desire to obey God, by the power of His Holy Spirit who lives in us.
#10. When you feel like you'll never be able to overcome a sinful habit- THE CROSS OF CHRIST IS SUFFICIENT TO CONQUER MY SINFUL FLESH (Romans 6:6-7). Through the death of Christ and our relationship with Him, we have been set free from the power of sin. When you do sin, it's not because you couldn't help it, but because you chose to yield to your old master. The Truth is, we do not have to sin, and every sinful pattern in our lives can be overcome by the power of Christ living in us (Romans 6:14).
#11. When you feel like your potential is limited by your past- MY PAST DOES NOT HAVE TO CONTROL MY FUTURE (1 Corinthians 6:9-11; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Philippians 3:12-14). Satan tries to convince us that our past experiences and failures make us worthless, or that we will always have to carry that baggage of our past. But if you are a follower of Jesus Christ you have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus and set apart for His holy purposes. The Truth is that our past-the ways we have been wronged, and the ways we have wronged others- do not have to be hindrances. In fact, by God's grace, they can actually become the pathway to greater blessing and spiritual usefulness.
#12. When you feel like you don't know where to turn for help and advice- GOD'S WORD IS SUFFICIENT TO LEAD ME, TEACH ME, AND HEAL ME (Pslams 19:7; 107:20; 119:105). The Word of God is alive and powerful. You can depend on His Word to change your life, deliver you from bondage, and reveal His will for your life. Whatever your need, whatever your circumstances, the Word of God is sufficient to meet that need.
#13. When you feel like God is asking you to do something that's impossible- THROUGH THE POWER OF HIS HOLY SPIRIT, GOD WILL ENABLE ME TO DO ANYTHING HE COMMANDS ME TO DO (1 Thessalonians 5:24; Philippians 2:13). God does not command us to do anything that HE does not give us the grace to do. That means,for example, that
- there is no one you cannot love (Matthew 5:44);
- you can give thanks in all things (1 Thessalonians 5:18);
- there is no one you cannot forgive (Mark 5:44);
- you an be sexually pure (1 Thessalonians 4:3-4);
- you can honor your parents and respond obediently to their authority, even when you disagree with them or they are imperfect (Ephesians 6:1-3).
By depending on God's grace and the power of His Spirit, we can choose to be obedient, no matter how difficult the command!
#14. When you want to blame others for your responses- I AM RESPONSIBLE BEFORE GOD FOR ME BEHAVIOR, RESPONSES, AND CHOICES (Ezekiel 18:19-22). We may not be able to control the things that happen to us, but we can control how we respond to the things God has allowed to come into our lives. When we stop blaming other people and circumstances for sinful behaviors or negative patterns in our lives and begin to assume personal responsibility for our own choices, we will be released from the sense that we are helpless victims. WE will be free to obey God regardless of our circumstances.
#15. When you are tempted to believe that your choices today don't really matter- MY CHOICES TODAY WILL AFFECT MY FUTURE (Galatians 6:7-8). The choices you make today will have consequences in the future, not only in your life, but in the lives for those who will come after you. 'Do not be deceived . . . . Whatever one sows, that will he also reap' (Galatians 6:7). Every selfish, sinful, or indulgent choice we make today will come back as a harvest in our lives. The harvest is often not immediate. But it will come. The good news is that you are young and you can still make good choices that bring about a good harvest.
#16. When you want to resist an authority or feel like submitting will steal your freedom- THE GREATEST FREEDOM I CAN EXPERIENCE IS FOUND BY SUBMITTING TO GOD-ORDAINED AUTHORITY (Ephesians 5:21). When we resist authority, we become more vulnerable to Satan's attacks and to sin. On the other hand, when we willingly take our place under those God has placed in authority over us, we are granted God's protective covering. We also reveal to the world the beauty of God's created order and proclaim His right to rule over the universe. Best of all, Satan is defeated in his attempts to dethrone God, and we cooperate with God in establishing His kingdom.
#17. When you feel like giving up on the church- I NEED THE CHURCH (Ephesians 2:19-22; 5:225; 1 Corinthians 12:12-27; Hebrews 10:25). The church matters to God and it should matter to us. Jesus loves the church and died for it. Every child of God is a part of the church, the body of Christ. Every member of the body needs every other member. We were meant to function as a whole body. You might be the hands, or feet, or eyes. We can't function without you filling your role. God's Word encourages us to not stop coming together as the body of Christ. You will grow best in the church, imperfect as it is. Stick it out. It'll be worth it.
#18. When you feel that a career is more rewarding and valuable than marriage and motherhood- IN THE WILL OF GOD, THERE IS NO HIGHER, HOLIER CALLING THAN TO BE A WIFE AND MOTHER (Titus 2:4-5). God created the woman to be a helper to her husband and a bearer and nurturer of life. Marriage and motherhood are God's norm for most women. Young women should rejoice in this calling and prepare themselves to fulfill it if and when God reveals that to be His will for their lives. For a wife and mother, contrary to what our culture says, no career, no hobby, no relationship, no priority is more important or more fulfilling. To make a home, to be united with man in glorifying God on this earth, to nurture the lives of children and grandchildren, to train and mold the next generation- there is no higher calling and no greater joy.
#19. When you are tempted to sacrifice holiness for immediate fulfillment- PERSONAL HOLINESS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN IMMEDIATE HAPPINESS (Ephesians 5:26-27). God did not save us to make us happy in the immediate sense- He saved us to 'redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good' (Titus 2:14 NIV). The Lord Jesus didn't come down to this earth and die so we could live for ourselves and our own pleasure, but so we could be free to life a life that please Him. Pleasing God will sometimes require sacrifices. But any sacrifice we make is temporary and cannot be compared with the joy and fulfillment we will gain in eternity. only through seeking to be holy can we every experience true happiness.
#20. When you become consumed with wanting God to fix your life- GOD IS MORE CONCERNED ABOUT CHANGING ME AND GLORIFYING HIMSELF THAN ABOUT SOLVING MY PROBLEMS (Romans 8:29). When life gets hard, our natural instinct is to demand solutions- to find a way out of our problems. If this is our view, we will be tempted to become discouraged and angry when God does not 'cooperate' with our agenda. What matters most to God is that we reflect His glory. Some of the problems that frustrate us that most are actually tools He has designed to make us more like Jesus. To demand that He provide a solution of an escape from that impossible situation may cause us to forfeit a higher good that He is seeking to bring about in our lives.
#21. When you don't understand a difficult situation you're facing- IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO BE GODLY WITHOUT SUFFERING (1 Peter 5:10; 2 Corinthians 4:17). Suffering takes on a whole new perspective when we realize that it is an essential tool in the hand of God to conform us to the image of Jesus. The process of spiritual growth take place as we embrace the hard things, rather than running from or resenting them.
#22. When you want things to go your way- IT'S NOT ABOUT ME; IT's ALL ABOUT HIM (Colossians 1:16-18; Revelation 4:11)! The world was not created to revolve around us. The entire universe was created to revolve around Christ. If our goal in life is to be happy or accepted or loved, than anything that threatens our well-being will be an enemy- an obstacle to fulfilling our objective. On the other hand, once we agree with God that we exist for His pleasure and His glory, we can accept whatever comes into our lives as part of His sovereign willand purpose. WE will not resent, resist, or reject the 'hard things,' but embrace them as 'friends', designed by God to make us like Jesus and to bring glory to Himself.
We hope you'll embrace these Truths and hide them in your heart..."
I hope this encouraged you and made you want to read the rest of the book. Honestly this book really helped me and made me really want to just grow in the Lord. It was super encouraging. Off to reading the whole book over again. :)
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