Day 8~ Choosing Truth Over Lies
Lie: I am not/never will be enough.
Truth: God can use even the hard parts of my story for his purpose.
Scripture 1 Peter 2:9 NIV
“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.”
Today Tammy Smith shares her heart about our thoughts playing into the lies we hold tight:
A few years ago, I pulled into the parking lot of a local shopping center and was equally surprised and amused to notice an overabundance of red cars in the lot. I laughingly dubbed it “Red Car Day,” which brought to mind something I’d been discussing with my children. There’s a phenomenon called “red-car syndrome”, in which a person who buys a red car suddenly only notices red cars on the road. When red cars are on your mind, that’s what you notice. When my kids are thinking about how unfair they feel something might be, they find reasons to be unhappy. When they are excited about an upcoming event, they find evidence to support the excitement of the future. Paul reminds us in Philippians 4:8 about controlling our thoughts. “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
Why does God care about our thoughts? We notice the things that are already on our mind.
So many women in today’s world believe the lie that we are not enough. We doubt our sense of self-worth or become discouraged by our own perceived inadequacies. When this happens, we begin to notice all of the ways in which this might be true. We magnify all of the most awful parts of ourselves. The doubts and fears grow so large that we see only our flaws. We fall prey to “not-enough syndrome”, seeing only the things around us that support the idea that we are not enough. We begin to question whether God can really, truly use us.
Yet 1 Peter 2:9 tells us, “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.”
The shadows of our doubts and the lies about our lack of worth pale in comparison with the light of God’s truth about who we are.
We are chosen.
We are of royal lineage.
We are drawn out of the darkness of our past into the glorious light of God’s future for us.
But so long as we focus on our doubts, we will fail to recognize our true identify in Christ. Instead, we must trade in those lies for the truth that God can use every part of our story, even the less-than-lovely pieces, for HIS glory.
In Christ, we ARE enough!
Further Study/Prayer
Read Philippians 4:8. Write out the things Paul instructs us to think about one by one. Then write something next to each one that you can think on today. Example: True: God loves me.
Lord,
Thank you for your love. Walk with us this week as we continue to search your truth. Help us break free from the lies that occupy our minds and hearts. Forgive us when we let uncertainty and doubt rule. In Jesus name, Amen
