No one wants to believe a lie – unfortunately, most of us do at one time or another. The most dangerous lies are religious ones. I am not talking about false doctrine – although the Bible warns of lying spirits and doctrines of demons. The most damaging lies are the ones we let govern our personal thoughts and actions.
Our brains are supercomputers – and like regular computers – they are programmable. The programming comes in the form of the belief systems we accept as real and valid as we go through our lives. Some people have heard the words, “You are good for nothing and will never amount to anything,” their whole lives. It is now a base operating program in their belief system. Every opportunity, every possibility is filtered through this false belief. Since they believe they would never be successful they fail to try – or worse – sabotage their own opportunities so they don’t have to go through the expected pain of failure. The end game is the same, their false belief system keeps them from being more than they are right now.
Others have the old-style reel-to-reel recording playing constantly in their minds, “I’m ugly.” Or “I’m a failure.” Still, others succumb to more spiritual lies such as: “God couldn’t possibly love you.” or “I’ll never be good enough for God to use me.”
These thought programs, and dozens more like them, plague a significant amount of people. But they are LIES! Just because a lie seems to be true, doesn’t make it so.
Consider this powerful scripture carefully:
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed
by the RENEWING of your mind….” Romans 12:2
Conformation and transformation are contrasted. Conformation is outward; it is pressure applied externally to get you to look or act a certain way. Much like modeling clay, conformation changes the outward appearance, but not the substance. It is peer pressure – even religious peer pressure -- to make you look like something you are not. Many people go to church and are conformed, but never transformed. Have you ever felt pressured to act or talk a certain way in the church to avoid criticism or judgment? You did it just to fit in, when you needed to, but you were not changed by it.
On the other hand, is transformation. The nature of a thing is changed during transformation. It is for this reason Jesus’ first miracle was significant. Have you ever stopped to wonder why God chose the wedding at Canaan and turning water to wine as the first recorded miracle? Precisely because God wanted to demonstrate that He wanted to transform lives.
Paul tells us in this passage in Romans that we are transformed by renewing our minds – or, in other words, learning to think differently. Why is this? Because your belief system is your basic operating system for your life. When your thinking starts to line up with God and His word your life is changed by it.
A person can desperately want to change, but if they do not think differently about the issues bothering them, they will return to the old habits and patterns. I ministered to a man that was an alcoholic. He told me beer was his friend because it kept him alive. If he didn’t drink he would kill himself. That man never overcame alcohol, because he could change his mind about alcohol being his friend. Another dear friend of mine (and a member of my church) loved God, but could never totally overcome alcohol. He even preached a little, sharing his testimony of how God saved him when he was sitting on the edge of a bed with a gun in his hand getting ready to commit suicide. It was at that moment a preacher knocked on his door and led him to the Lord. All of his life his father had told him, “You’re a no-good son of a bitch and you will always be a no-good son of a bitch.” He started drinking in his early teens. All he ever wanted was a nice word from his father. That tape played in his head constantly and he never could totally overcome it. He died sitting in his truck in front of a liquor store from a ruptured appendix. The lies we believe must be replaced if we are to experience transformation.
Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31
How can we determine what belief systems we operate with are lies? There is only ONE way. Anything that contradicts the TRUTH is a lie. So how do we determine TRUTH? You can’t operate on emotions here – after all, the lies you believe seem so real. We simply need to accept some source of truth. Is there one? Of course, there is – first there is Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the way, THE TRUTH, and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me.” (John14:6) Then there is the Word of God – the Bible. Jesus was, “the Word made flesh.” (John 1:14) When tempted by the devil, just before starting His public ministry, Jesus rebuked the old serpent with a quote from the Old Testament, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” (Deut. 8:2)
We have a promise that “The truth will set us free.” However, it is not just hearing the truth, or even acknowledging the truth – it is believing the truth, and replacing the lies we have accepted with the truth of God’s Word. Let’s look at this in real life. For one reason or another, a person accepts the religious lie that God doesn’t (or couldn't) love them.
All of our lives we are programmed to believe that our personal value is based on performance. It starts early. “Be good and Santa Claus will bring you presents,” is the earliest reinforcement of this false principle. “Eat your spinach and you can have some ice cream,” we heard growing up. If you don’t obey you have to stand in the corner or go to bed. In Sunday school and kindergarten, we learned that we got stars on our chart for good behavior or performance, such as memorizing scripture or learning your ABC’s. Good performance landed you on the basketball team or the cheerleading squad. A’s and B’s on report cards garnered smiles and approval. Poor performance got you laughed at, disciplined, or disapproved of. Slowly, through our whole childhood, we are programmed to believe our personal worth and value are based on how well we perform. That we have to earn what we get through good performance.
Then that person goes to church and hears the Good News that God loves them. That sounds good -- too good to be true. The thought surfaces on cue, “Yes God does love people, but He couldn’t possibly love ME because I have terrible performance. I have nothing to offer Him. I have done too many bad things. I am a loser, why would He love me?” Do you see the effect of the programmed lie? God tells us our personal worth and value is not based on our performance. The TRUTH is found in Romans 5:8 “But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us.” (Amplified Bible) The lie that person has believed for years is now confronted. They have to decide which programming they are going to allow to operate in their life. For some reason, the lies that have been pounded into our lives hold tremendous emotional and even spiritual power over us. The fresh Truth contained in the Bible doesn’t seem to be as real as the established lie.
It is right here that a decision has to be made. A trade has to take place. The lie has to be replaced with the truth. We must choose what we believe. This is the essence of faith. You may not feel like the scripture is true, because of the longstanding power of the lie, but faith is not based on emotion. Faith is based on the Word of God. You must choose to replace every lie with the truth revealed in God’s Word. At first, a conscious effort has to be made. You choose to believe the scripture. You then must make the effort to start replacing the lie with the truth. This can be done through confessing scripture. Let’s use our example. The lie is, “God couldn’t possibly love me.” The truth is, “God loved you while you were still sinning.” Every time that old recording starts to play, you must choose to replace the recording with a new one – a scriptural one.
Do you have areas of your life that just are not changing? Nothing seems to work long term. You should consider the possibility that life or satan has implanted a lie into your belief system and you're operating on that. I have seen people get set free instantly by replacing a lie with the truth from God’s word. Truth is powerful.
