Lies are as powerful as a high-security prison cell to those who believe them. The cell bars that seem so real are in reality invisible barriers made up in their minds. Nothing restricts them except for the lie they take as truth.

I’m sure you’ve seen what I’m talking about:

• The beautiful girl who says she is ugly and really means it.

• The intelligent person who continually says they are stupid.

• The capable person who every time a glitch happens in their life they say that they can never do anything right.

• The person with a lovely singing voice who says they can’t carry a tune.

• The capable person who is convinced that they will never amount to anything.

The lies I am talking about are not limited to self-deprecation but also include those who think they are more than they really are. Lies can impact every area of our lives. For example:

• The person who thinks that they are so beautiful that everyone should serve them.

• The person who says people say I sound like Whitney Houston who opens her mouth to sing hideously off-key.

• The person who thinks their position or wealth makes them better than other people.

• The genius who thinks that everyone else has nothing to offer worth listening to.

• The narcissist who believes that everything is about him or herself.

Lies come from many directions, but they all have one source: the devil. When Jesus was confronting the Jews who did not believe in Him, He said:

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44)

Jesus reveals that the devil is the source of lies. He is the father of lies. The reason being is it is his character. The foundational characteristic of the devil is a lie and he has been doing it from the beginning.

What is Truth?

Before we go on talking about what lies you may be believing, it is important to talk about what is truth. There are many in today’s culture that holds to the idea of Relativism. The gist of this philosophy is that truth is relative to the person beholding it. You believe it is true, so to you it is true. I don’t believe it is truth, therefore, it is not true to me.

This type of thinking puts truth in the hands of each individual. There is no outside source of truth. Everyone can believe whatever they want to believe, even if it contradicts someone else’s truth.

This is definitely not the kind of truth I am talking about. I’m talking about truth that has its source in God, who created the Universe. Truth is not based on the thoughts of men, but on the reality of what God has spoken in His word. To put it bluntly, If what you believe contradicts what God has declared to be true, you are believing a lie.

Ultimate truth comes from God. Consider the following things:

• God is the Creator of all things and, therefore, has all authority over all of His creation.

• God knows everything (He is omniscient), therefore He doesn’t have to guess what reality is, He knows it all.

• God is the lawmaker and is the one who determines what is right and wrong, true and false.

• God is the righteous judge and will hold people accountable for their submission or rejection of the truth.

The Lies We Believe

Jesus made it clear that He was the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6).

• Jesus is the way to the Father. All other claims of salvation apart from Him are false.

• Jesus is the truth. The things that He declared and the word of God are the basis of truth. Anything that contradicts the word of God is false.

• Jesus is the life. He has given us His life and teachings to lead us into life as God intends it to be.

If we want to know the truth and walk in the truth, then we must know what Jesus (and the word of God) says and live them out. John 8:31-32 provides this insight:

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him,  “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.

Knowing truth does not come about by knowing something in your mind. You must live it out in order to actually know truth. Truth is not just mental information that you store in your head, but reality that you walk out in this life.

Let me see if I can give you an example to help you understand the difference between saying a truth and knowing a truth. You read the Bible and see a verse that says you are a child of God. You read the verse knowing the word of God is true but feel more like the prodigal son who came home to serve his father as a slave because he felt unworthy.

The son took all of his inheritance and squandered it. He had dishonored his father and now needed to return home because he was starving to death. The only thing in his mind was to go back as a servant. He had forfeited his place in his father’s house by his choices.

You’re a child of God. Yet you can live like a slave. You can choose to look at yourself based on how you feel or the things that you do. You’ll never fully realize that you are a child of God until you begin to walk in the truth of it. You choose to believe God over your feelings.

You will never experience the reality of being a child of God until you believe the word of God and begin to walk according to what the word says. Once you begin walking in the truth of the word, you will begin to experience the reality. It’s responding by faith to what God has spoken that allows you to actually experience what the word says.

Knowing the Truth

God’s the source of ultimate truth. Jesus is the truth. If you want to know the truth, you must go to the source. That is why the second step of the eight steps to experiencing His victory is revelation. You must ask God for revelation about any lie that you’re believing and His truth to replace it.

The first step is to ask God to show you the lie you are believing. The reason is that when you believe a lie you think it is the truth. Therefore you remain ignorant of the truth and cannot walk in it. Lies block the truth and the life of God.

Once God shows you a lie you are believing:

• Repent to God for believing the lie

• Renounce the lie and refuse to have anything more to do with it

• Ask the Lord to restore any area of your life that has been affected by the lie

• Repulse the enemy, commanding him to leave any area of your life he has influenced

The Second step is to ask the Lord what truth He has to replace the lie. It is not enough to expose and get rid of the lie, you must know the truth of God in order to experience His life.

God is gracious and kind. He loves you deeply and wants you to know the truth. That is why He gave the word of God and sent Jesus to be your savior. He wants you to know the truth and will not withhold any good thing from you.

It’s a simple as asking God what truth do you want to show me? Don’t be in a hurry. If you don’t hear something immediately just wait and He will speak. Once He does write down the truth and meditate on it over the next few days to get the truth deep into your heart.

If you have a question about what you believe you received from God, ask a trusted friend who knows the Lord. Or, you could leave a comment below and I will respond back as soon as possible.