Allow God to Wash Away Lies

The struggle is real. There is a struggle within each of us to know that we “matter”…that we are loved and that we fit in…somewhere…with someone. To know that we are making a difference in someone’s life. To know that it is ok to just be ME. No mask…Nothing more and nothing less…just ME.

I just spent 8 days at the beach with two of my best friends. (thus the reason I haven’t posted in a while) It was a wonderful time! We were each able to be completely vulnerable and real with one another because it was a safe place. We knew that we could be ourselves…no mask, no pretense, nothing…just ourselves and it would be ok because there would be no judgments.

We spent a good bit of time discussing “the lies” that the enemy (the father of lies) tries to get us each to believe. How he will tell us lies to cause us to feel insecure, uneducated, ugly, less spiritual, less important or not important at all, unloved, and so much more. He is persistent.

When he gets us to believe a lie, we begin to see one another as competition rather than brothers and sisters in the Lord. We begin to compare ourselves to others. “I don’t pray like she does”, “I can’t speak as well as he can”, “I can’t write like her”, etc. Now we began to feel worse about ourselves because we have swallowed his lies. Then we put on a mask and try to be like others, rather than being comfortable and confident in who we were created to be. This is like a revolving door until we recognize the lies, tear them down and begin to speak the truth of God’s word over and into our lives.

The opposite is true as well. We can begin to think more highly of ourselves. If you don’t struggle with insecurities, low self-esteem, or identity issues then the enemy is not going to speak to you in that way. He knows better. Instead, He will have you compare yourself to others to show you how much better you are. “I am more spiritual. I read my Bible every day”, “I am prettier than her”, “I have more friends”, “The boss really likes my ideas”, “People are drawn to me”, etc. and you will begin to think you are something special. (He knows what he’s doing)

The Lord has been speaking to me on this for about six weeks now, but I could never seem to get it written. I guess He needed me to take this beach trip first so I could see that this struggle is real no matter who you are or where you are in your Christian walk. The enemy likes to make us compare ourselves to others. I saw during this week that we all shared struggles along the same line. Although we are each so different, we shared similar struggles. (Does this sound like a plan from the enemy to you?)

Comparison is not from God. It is from the enemy. He will put these thoughts in our heads and we will just take them as our own and they will either make us prideful (without knowing it) or they will cause us to feel negative about ourselves. Either way…this is not the mind of Christ. His thoughts are always good towards us.

There are all kinds of ways that this happens every day (we are mostly unaware), but it still has an effect on us.

A brief testimony: One day I was reading an IG post from my dear friend, Jill Hayes. (Follow her on Instagram…You will be blessed by her transparency) In this particular post she shared how her daughter had started a ladies group and how it had just exploded and she, Jill, had to go to God to check her heart. She had to make sure she wasn’t jealous of this “success”. (That word, “success” makes me cringe. It’s funny how we in the body of Christ have been deceived to view success by the world’s standards. We are successful when we are who God created us to be! That is it! Just being Me is being successful…whatever that may look like. “Success” to each person will look different, but if we want to be successful, we just need to be who God created us to be.)

(Back to Jill’s post) These are the times when the enemy will begin to speak his lies. “People are drawn to my husband and my daughter, but no one is drawn to me” or “I have nothing to offer…God can’t do anything with me”. (You see, he puts thoughts that are in “first-person”…that’s why it’s harder to recognize them.) After reading her post I was so touched by her transparency that I asked her if I could share it on my blog when I posted about Comparison.

Then a little later in the day, I received a WordPress note from her. She had removed her post from Instagram and just sent it to those who follow her on WordPress. But, this time she had a title: God Said I want a Book…not a Blog. I have always told Jill she should write a book. I think I actually gave her a word from the Lord years ago that she would write a book, but on this day, when I saw the title…immediately I felt some insecurity in me rise up and the enemy whispered or maybe he YELLED, “She can’t write a book. I’m writing a book and our books would be about the same thing. Struggles, Identity, The Faithfulness of God, etc. She is a much better writer than me. Blah, Blah, Blah.” Thank God I recognized who was speaking pretty quickly and I began to laugh…literally…out loud.

THIS IS NOT A COMPETITION!!!! We are one body! We have one God! We serve one Lord! Our goal is the same…to lead people to The Lord! We want to see people free, living in their identity, boldly declaring the word of the Lord and God being glorified. We are here to encourage and help one another…not compete with one another. We each have a specific plan and purpose for our life. 

      A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms  Unknown       

The Lord showed me His body as a puzzle and how we are each one a piece of His beautiful masterpiece. We each have a specific place in His puzzle. No one piece is more important than another. We are each one equally important. His puzzle needs every piece in its right place for it to be complete. If one piece tries to go where it doesn’t fit (trying to be another piece) the puzzle will not work. Each piece needs to go exactly where it was created to go so that the puzzle can be complete! (1 Cor 12 shows us this picture as the Body of Christ…go read this chapter)

Once we are each in our rightful place, confident that we are exactly where God created us to be, doing exactly what He created us to do, (or at least headed in that direction) then and only then can we cheer one another on. We must understand that we are NOT in a competition. We are each one fearfully and wonderfully made. (Ps 139:14) All of our days were written in His book before even one of them came to pass. (Ps 139:16) He knows us better than we know ourselves…He knows who we really are because He created us. Allow Him to show you who you truly are and be comfortable being who He created you to be. Let’s do our part to help create His beautiful masterpiece. Let’s encourage, edify, love and pray for one another!

I believe that we will all be so much more beautiful once we realize where our piece of the puzzle goes and we help other pieces find where they go. When we help one another, embrace one another, encourage one another, uplift one another and love one another we will see this beautiful puzzle come together and glorify our Awesome God!

YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL! YOU ARE UNIQUE! YOU ARE LOVED! YOU ARE CREATED WITH A PURPOSE! YOU ARE PRECIOUS! YOU ARE IMPORTANT! YOU ARE FORGIVEN! YOU ARE CHOSEN! YOU ARE FAMILY! AND I WANT TO HELP YOU BE YOU!!! I LOVE YOU!!