A parent or teacher can do tremendous damage simply by saying to a child, “You’re stupid and will never amount to anything!” or “Getting a B on your report card is just not good enough!” Even though that child can grow up and graduate from Harvard, they may never feel good enough because of that lie their heart was made to believe. They may even become prideful over their degree and put others down in order to feel good. That’s because in their heart, they are insecure and feel like they don’t amount to much. Sadly, they will live their life trying to overcome this feeling of inadequacy.
Some of the lies that I run across in ministry might look like this:
“I’m just not good enough”
“I’m stupid”
“I’m just white trash”
“I’m worthless”
“God doesn’t care about me”
“God wasn’t there when I needed Him”
“My heart isn’t good enough for God”
“I’m not worthy to be healed”
“God doesn’t love me or He would have…”
“I’m unlovable”
These types of heart-beliefs will cause tremendous pain. They usually are believed at the scene of the accident, so to speak, when somebody first does the damage to us. Parents are often the ones to cause the damage, because children tend to look to their parents to form our sense of identity. If they say we’re stupid, we must be stupid, or so our emotions (heart-beliefs) tells us. That’s why somebody can be very intelligent and yet still struggle with insecurity and feel like they are never good enough. Has your mother, father, teacher, or somebody else you looked up to as a child, said something to you that has impacted how you see yourself today?
These lies that our heart believes aren’t just things we are told, they can be born out of things that are done to us (abuse, trauma, abandonment, rejection, etc) or events that happen in our life (car accident, loss of a loved one, etc.). For example, rape and sexual violations have a way of shaping a person for life, but it isn’t because of what happened, it’s because of what we believed about what happened that keeps us in pain. Many times in ministry, it turns out that a woman who has been raped will believe things such as, “It was really my fault” and “I’ll never be clean again.”
There are often more than one lie that hide behind each emotion. For example, if you were molested, you likely believe more than one lie which is causing the pain that you suffer from today. You might believe that it was your fault, thereby producing feelings of guilt and condemnation. You might also believe that you will never be the same, that this has changed who you are and that you’re a prostitute at heart because you allowed it to happen. In a ministry session, we might deal with the part about it being your fault, and get a measurable amount of freedom and healing in that area, but still feel dirty and shameful. That means there’s simply more lies to uncover and get truth on. I like to test the true measure of freedom or healing they have received by asking something like, “On a scale of 1-10, what level would you say you still feel dirty?” This will reveal the healing that they have received, but also give you an idea that there’s more to be done. They might say that they now feel complete peace there. A person who was in a car accident might suffer with panic attacks, but believe it or not, it might not just be from the car accident. They may have felt like they’ve done something unforgivable, and are afraid to die, and the car accident just triggered that belief, and from that point on they suffer from panic attacks. In a ministry session, they may feel the panic, although they are completely safe and what was once a threat is no longer any concern. But for some reason they still get triggered and feel panic and extreme feelings of fear, all while in their mind they know they are safe and have nothing to worry about. This is another classic example of our logical beliefs not being the same as our heart’s experiential beliefs. The lies that a person’s heart may believe might include things like “I am going to die” or “I am going to hell when I die.”
Satan is said to be the father of lies, and when we’re wounded, one of his demons are right there to inject a painful lie into our heart, which will keep us locked down to that pain for the rest of our lives (or so he hopes!). A lie believed in the heart will hold a person in life-altering bondage.Jesus made it clear that the truth is what sets us free from the bondage of a lie, and in saying this, He made it clear that a lie can bring much bondage into our lives.
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
John 8:32, KJV
Do you want to know the truth that will set you free from the tremendous bondage and pain that a lie will put you in? Uprooting those lies is something that the Holy Spirit is very eager to do for YOU (the person reading this article, in case I wasn’t clear)! Jesus said that the comforter (or counselor) would come and one of His jobs was to lead us into all truth (see John 16:13). The Bible is also clear that God withholds no good thing from His children (see Psalm 84:11), so we can be absolutely certain that the Holy Spirit’s desire is to lead us into the truth that will set us free. Why would God want His child to live in bondage to a lie?Then why would the Holy Spirit withhold truth from us that Jesus said to clearly He would give us?
“…when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth…”
John 16:13, KJV
We may ask God for a brand new BMW and get turned down, but when it comes to asking Him for truth on what our heart believes, this is an area we can be absolutely sure He desires to speak to us. If we aren’t hearing, then there’s a reason and we need to get to the bottom of it. But don’t think for a minute that somehow God doesn’t want to speak to you, His precious child, about something like this!
