Years ago I had a personal spiritual crisis. I’d languished through my teens, twenties, and into my thirties with no confidence, believing myself to be worthless, unlovable, and a complete failure at everything I tried. My kids were in school all day and my best friend had just started homeschooling, so with time on my hands, I decided to do my first Beth Moore Bible study. It happened to be Breaking Free.
I’ll never forget the life-changing session where she basically said it you aren’t finding freedom in some areas, you need to make sure you aren’t choosing to believe your lie over God’s truth. In other words, if you believe God and you believe the Bible is His word, then you have to choose His truth over your feelings. That whole idea sent me to my knees, wrestling with the Lord. I came out choosing to believe truth and to reject lies. It sparked what has been a true love affair with the Lord through His word, a deepening of roots and true growth that has produced fruit.
Of course I still find there are areas of my life where I haven’t chosen to believe truth over my feelings. The Holy Spirit recently illuminated another area as I read Psalm 84.
For the Lord God is a sun and a shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
–Psalm 84:11
I believe my walk is blameless because of the blood of Jesus, the Holy Spirit who convicts of sin, and repentance. (Yes, this was part of that original choosing of truth all those years ago!) So why is it so hard to believe that “no good thing will He withhold”? Yes, His definition of “good thing” and mine tend to differ (far too frequently, I might add!), but the TRUTH is that He will not withhold any good thing from me. Not any. If it’s good for me, He’ll do it or give it. Period.
Wow. How would choosing to believe that change my life? It would eliminate stress and striving. It would give peace in trial. It would allow me to put others ahead of myself. And the list goes on. I think I need to return to the time I wrote out scripture truths to help me combat the lies in my mind, for now I have a whole new set of lies exposed and in need of elimination. And why wouldn’t I? Being purged of lies and bathed in truth is a good thing. And He will not withhold any good thing from those whose walk is blameless.
What about you? What lies have you believed? What truth do you need to choose? Have you used scripture cards to help you “take every thought captive”?
Been wrestling with this big time lately. Loved Breaking Free and so many of Beth’s studies.
Thanks for this today!
~ Wendy
Why is it we find this so hard to believe, Wendy? I really struggle sometimes, as if God is holding on to what’s good for me and I have to wrestle to get it rather than the truth–He wants to give me good gifts, just as I want to do for my children.
It’s hard to imagine that some of the inconveniences of life are good for us. As we begin testing for learning disabilities on my youngest I need to remember to thank God for His gifts…for all His gifts are good.
Thank you, Anne!
Inconveniences. Ah. Isn’t just those things we think block us getting what is good? And yet sometimes they just delay good things until we are mature enough to appreciate them. At least that’s what’s been running through my mind lately. 🙂
Praying for you with the testing!
Beautiful post, Anne. I did this same Beth study, too, about 6 years ago and it still stays with me. Just this week I was upended by a situation and found myself falling for the lie over the truth. I had to mentally back up and ask, “What is TRUE in this situation.” Reading your post here is a blessed reminder that I need to do more of this on a daily basis, not in a crisis. So thankful for you!
I loved what our pastor said a couple of weeks ago, Laura. He said, “we constantly need apply God’s truth to the lies of our life.” So true, as you said, that we need to do that daily, not just in a crisis! I’m guilty of that as well! Thanks for your friendship and encouragement!