Lies We Believe, And The Truth We Need - Part 1

It’s a new year and if we want this year to be any different than last year, it’s time to address those lies we believe and allow to ruminate in our hearts and minds. We may think that we don’t believe and internalize lies, but we do. Here’s is a list of lies we as women believe and the truth we can use to combat them.

THE LIE: I just need to learn to love myself more.
THE TRUTH: I need to learn more about God’s love and the love He has for me.
This first lie is a common phrase we teach people in an effort to help them gain “self-esteem.” I understand the point most people are trying to convey, but the truth is that it’s the love of Christ that we need to embrace in order to become better people and carry ourselves with confidence. We can’t love ourselves if we don’t know the Creator and Author of love. We can’t have more confidence in ourselves if we don’t the One who made us in the image of Himself.

“God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His one and only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”  1 John 9-10

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in our trespasses. You are saved by grace!’” Ephesians 2: 4-5

So what this means is that if you don’t know the One who created love, then where are you getting your source of love from? What does loving yourself truly mean if you don’t know where love originally came from? The ultimate act of love was shown to us when God sent His only Son to die for our sins KNOWING full well that many of us would revel in darkness for a long time before coming to having a relationship with Him. That is unconditional love!

So once we know how much God loves us and we truly understand the Gospel, we can give that same love to ourselves and extend that love to others.

THE LIE: I will never be enough
THE TRUTH: You were enough when God breathed life into you
I’ve struggled with this particular lie for the majority of my life. I’ve never felt good enough in many different ways. Whether it was feeling inadequate with my looks, my body, my intelligence, my personality, my relationship etc, I’ve struggled to feel like I measure up to those around me. It’s only been recent that I’ve felt secure in the person who God made me REGARDLESS of how I measure up to other people. 

The way to conquer this lie is by knowing that God made you enough before you were even born. He made you full and lacking nothing.

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  2 Corinthians 12:9-10

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” - 1 Peter 2:9

Once I realized that being in the Kingdom of God means that I am apart of a chosen people, a royal priesthood and that even in my weaknesses I am still strong in God, my whole view about myself changed. I realized that I relied too much on what people thought of me and that’s why I constantly felt like I wasn’t enough. Let’s be clear, you will NEVER be enough if you keep your eyes on other people. You will never measure up in the eyes of others no matter if they’re your friends, family members, or people online. The only thing that matters is how you’re living your life in God’s eyes. And since we know that God already loves us and believes we are good enough in His eyes, we don’t have to strive and work to be enough. We can rest in who God made us to be and continue growing in that.

THE LIE: If I feel something, it must be true.
THE TRUTH: Feelings are indicators but not dictators
This is definitely a hard truth to face for me! I’m a feeler through and through. Meaning that I often rely on my emotions as a safety net and dictator of what is true and what is not. BUT, I have come to learn that my feelings should not dictate my actions. God gave us emotions as a way to relate to others and they’re a part of what makes us humane. 

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? “- Jeremiah 17:9

We can’t rely on our hearts alone. Our hearts are not always healthy indicators of truth. We must always trust in the Lord through His word and rely on the Holy Spirit that is inside of every believer. Even the verse that says “trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” means that we have to turn our hearts toward God in order to know the truth.

 I pray these 3 truths help you on your journey to combating the lies you believe. Next week we’re coming back with 3 more lies and the truths we should believe!

 I want to hear how this has impacted your life. Shoot me a message or comment on my Instagram page and let’s talk!