Sharon Lackey
“Disobedience in mind to the heavenly vision will make you a slave to points of view that are alien to Jesus Christ.”—Oswald Chambers
Lies create a new way of thinking and therefore a new way of living when embraced. Satan uses these lies to distract us from obedience to the Mind of Christ within, our New Way of thinking, while leading us into captivity to accomplish his (Satan’s) will (2 Timothy 2:26). Satan’s lies exploit us into participating in our own destruction, which he accomplishes through repetition.
“If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it to be truth.” –Joseph Goebbels (Hitler’s master of propaganda)
Repetition is the key to victory where both Truth and lie are concerned, whether it be the victory of Christ Jesus in us or the victory of Satan over us. Truth leads to Life and victory in Christ Jesus and lies are what Satan uses to take hold of us leading us to captivity and death. Therefore, to escape from conformity to this world and its lies, it is crucial to renew our minds after Truth. For a transformed mind proves the perfect and acceptable will of God (Romans 12:1-2). But just as a renewed mind proves the perfect and acceptable will of God, a mind conformed to lies of the enemy, and this world, prove the will of Satan confessing that Christ is the liar rather than Satan.
“This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him, there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” (I John 1:5-9)
As indwelt believers, who have the power of Jesus Christ living within us to set us free from all lies, why are we so easily tempted and drawn away by what the enemy and others say is true about us versus what Christ says is true about us?
First and foremost, if we do not have the Life of Christ within us, then we belong to the father of lies, Satan, and we possess and function from his identity. Secondly, we may not have a firm understanding of our Identity in Christ and all that we’ve inherited as His children. This is crucial, because if we do not grasp who we are in Christ then we will continue to function from our old, programmed identity, that of Satan’s identity. But once we know who we are in Christ, why do we still embrace lies over Truth?
Second Corinthians 5:7 tells us, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” Sadly, we often tend to walk by sight or feelings or experience rather than faith. When we place our faith in what we see or feel or experience or in what someone says about us rather than in Christ Jesus, we set out proving the will of Satan over the will of Christ within. Let me give you an example. If someone tells you that you are stupid and you don’t take that lie captive but repeat it in your mind, then that lie will take you captive and become your truth by proving itself the very next time you DO something stupid. Once it proves itself in your experience you confirm that it’s true by saying, “you see, I AM stupid.” Therefore, you cement the lie as truth. The truth is, we are not what we do. That is a lie from the pit of hell.
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Confusion and chaos often ensue when our truth (lie) bumps into THE Truth (Jesus Christ). Oftentimes confusion is a confession that we are believing and living a lie. Then when confronted with Truth, we may become hostile toward the One confronting us. The Lord in His grace will use confusion and chaos to create a crisis of belief where we must now pursue Truth to sort it out. If we chose to ignore the Truth and continue to live the lie, we become hardened and blind to Truth.
“This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:17-24 NJKV)
Doubt lives between the lie and the Truth and is what James refers to as “a double-minded man” (James 1:6-8). The term double-minded comes from the Greek word dipsuchos, meaning “person with two minds or souls.” James writes that a doubting person is “Like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” Jesus spoke of such a person in Matthew 6:24. “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.”
“And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which were not proper.” (Romans 1:28)
Retaining God (Truth) in our knowledge is key to overpowering the lies of the world, the flesh, and the devil while entering into His Rest. We have the Power to daily make a deliberate choice to either approve of the Living Word or disapprove of the Living Word. Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will lead us into all Truth (John 16:13). He also tells us that we are to live by every Word of God (Matthew 4:4). And that if we continue in His word, we are truly his disciples, and we shall know the truth and the truth shall make us free (John 8:31-32). But just as the Spirit leads us into all Truth and sets us free, we have an adversary who works tirelessly, seeking whom he may devour with his lies (I Peter 5:8). Therefore, we must be diligent to enter into the promised Rest that is ours in Christ Jesus. The very Rest that the children of Israel failed to enter because of their unbelief. In fact, we are warned to “be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.”
“Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.” “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.” (Hebrews 4:1-2; 11)
“Faith is a choice based on God’s Truth, internally and externally, even though it may not seem to be true so that what is true about me already, may become true in my daily experience. Faith is the process of bringing what is in the unseen (Spirit within), into the seeing world, through Christ as Life Living.”—Dr. Stephen Phinney
Faith activates the indwelling Power and Life of Christ and proves His perfect will by advancing His Life within. “Without faith, it is impossible to please God.” Without faith, we please ourselves and ultimately advance the life of Satan.
“But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” (John 3:21)
As a child of God, we have an inheritance in Him to condemn every tongue that rises up and accuses us in judgment (Isaiah 54:14). And who is the accuser of the brethren that we can condemn in Christ Jesus? Satan! May we be diligent in taking every lie captive that rises up against the knowledge of God unto the obedience of Christ Jesus so that they do not take us captive to accomplish the will of the enemy—our destruction. And may we be diligent to enter the Rest that is ours in Christ Jesus by always retaining God in our knowledge.
