How many lies are YOU believing?

I saw a quote on social media today that said: “Two key things to know in life: God is always good & the devil is always a liar.”

What struck me about this was the word always; not so much in relation to God’s goodness, because we’re incessantly hearing that God is good all the time (and all the time, God is good), and that He can’t be anything but good (even though we may struggle to believe it at times). It was the word always in relation to the devil’s lies that really resonated with me and got me thinking. Hard.

I started thinking about when the devil first speaks in scripture, in the Garden of Eden, before the fall, when he begins to tempt Adam and Eve… how everything that he said was laced with lies; and how when he tempts Jesus in the desert, he even addresses Jesus with lies (do you really think he would have given Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if He bowed to the devil??? LIE. First of all, the devil can’t give all the kingdoms to God. They aren’t his to give. He can’t give what he doesn’t own. The world is God’s to begin with. C’mon! I digress… You get the point.) The real point is that the devil is always a liar. It’s even proven throughout scripture! We can literally read that everything he has to say is a lie. This reality is something that I haven’t really understood, or believed, to the extent that I need to.

I know that the devil lies; you know that the devil lies. He lies a lot. But I didn’t really think about how he lies always; that everything he says is a lie. Everything. The endless reel of statements he throws at me goes something like this: You are not enough. You are not loved. You screwed up. God would love you more if… (this or that…). You can’t heal. You can’t be whole. You have to be perfect. You’ll never be a saint. You can’t find fulfillment. You are not worthy. You are weak. You are broken… this reel goes on and on, and then often just keeps replaying in my head. And the worst part is, is that not only do I believe these things for myself, but I believe that it is how God sees me too. I listen to it, trying to decipher what is true and what isn’t. Because I know that the devil lies and that it’s not all true, but I somehow think that some of it is. Why do I do that? Because some of the experiences in my life seem to validate or back up these statements, and so when I hear them, they sound true. But what I’ve failed to realize is that the devil is always a liar. ALWAYS. None of what he says is ever true. I need to believe NOTHING that he says. Realizing this should take a huge load off of our minds because once we realize this, we no longer have to feel like we have to listen and filter through to figure out what is true and what isn’t! We can know that NONE of it is true, because the devil is always a liar.

What about you? What has the devil been whispering (or more like yelling) in your ear? Have you been struggling with what to believe and what not to believe? Well, you can stop now. You don’t even have to listen, because it is all lies. Always all lies. None of these things the devil tries to tell us about ourselves are true. How do we know? Because they contradict everything God says.

I honestly have not been looking forward to Holy Week this year. I’ve been just craving the Resurrection; craving joy; craving healing. I’ve just wanted to skip to Easter. But this gives me something to reflect on and enter into Holy Week with – and I hope it helps you too. I hope that we can all just block out the devil knowing that he has nothing good or true to say to us, and let that be replaced with the truths that God will show and speak to us in the holy days ahead. These days where He says to us: You are worthy. You are loved. I give everything for YOU. I give my life for you. I love you. I cherish you. I will fulfill you. I can make you whole. I make all things new. You are strong. You are beautiful. You are mine.

Jesus claims us in the mystery of His suffering and His triumph. Let’s bring to Him our sufferings, to let Him triumph over and remove the lies, & let His truth reign in our lives. Be blessed.

Photo Source: https://nakiacarter.wordpress.com/tag/listening-to-god/