Trading lies for Truth

How can a young man keep His way pure?

By living according to Your word.

I seek you with all my heart;

do not let me stray from Your commands.

I have hidden Your word in my heart

that I might not sin against You.

Praise be to You, O LORD:

teach me Your decrees.

With my lips I recount

All the laws that come from Your mouth.
I rejoice in following Your statutes

as one rejoices in great riches.

I meditate on Your precepts

and consider Your ways.

I delight in Your decrees;

I will not neglect Your word.

-Psalm 119:9-16

I'm convinced that many of us are trapped in the lies of Satan because we don't really know the truth and the freedom that comes from knowing it.  Many of us have heard the truth, but because we ourselves don't know it, because it hasn't penetrated our heart (not just our mind), we are stuck believing the lies of Satan.

Do we know that...

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."  -Galatians 5:1


"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come."  -2 Corinthians 5:17


"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Jesus Christ the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death."  -Romans 8:1-2


"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast."  -Ephesians 2:8-9

"And we know that in all these things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."  -Romans 8:28


"What, then, shall we say in response to this?  If God is for us, who can be against us?"  -Romans 8:31


"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  -Romans 8:38-39


"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."  -Ephesians 2:10

I have the finger pointing right back at myself on this one.  I'm inundated every single day with the lies Satan throws my way: I'm not good enough.  I have to earn God's grace, love, & forgiveness.  God can't use someone as messed up as me.  I'm not free from my past.  God is unconcerned with me.  God's out to get me.  God's not listening to me anymore.  God can't hear me.  I'll never be who God has called me to be.  Lies, lies, lies.

There are all kinds of lies out there.  And if you listen to a lie long enough, it begins to sound a lot like the truth.  So I know this: "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will KNOW THE TRUTH, and THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE." (John 8:31-32)

If I want to get rid of the lies in my life, I've got to know God's truth.  And not just read it and say "yeah, I believe that".  I've got to KNOW it!


"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly..."  -Colossians 3:16

I want to be free from the lies I've been believing.  I want to recognize them for what they are and live freely in God's grace, love, & forgiveness.  I want to know God's truth so that when fear, doubt, & lies set in, I have something to stand on.

God's Word says, "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, YOU MAY BE ABLE TO STAND YOUR GROUND." -Ephesians 6:11-13

Part of that armor is "...the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God..." -Eph. 6:17

We can't get there are our own.  We can't walk around in this life living free as we're called to live without God's truth living in us.  I can't beat Satan's lies if I don't KNOW God's truth.

God, help me to know Your truth, so that Your truth can set me free!