Freedom from Deception!

Look in the mirror. What do you see? What thoughts are running through your head? Is a swirl of insecurities filling your head? Words that if spoken to your child or best friend, would make you rise up and fight? If you are anything like me and most women that inner monologue is doing you no favors. You are beautiful, valuable and treasured, but your mind is filled with deception. Those words are deceptive and will pull you off track focusing on the wrong things. You may be taking detours to ask if you are good enough, if you are worthy of attention, if you are ugly. That dialogue is what Satan is trying to get you focused on, he wants your head full of worry and self- doubt to keep you out of the game!

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You may feel unworthy and insecure in your identity. Unsure of our worth, getting confused about compliments and comments we hear. Someone could tell you that they love your strong, athletic legs, while the next thing you hear is a comment about how unattractive thick legs are. Understandably, we have a hard time distinguishing what to believe since there is a lot to navigate everyday. There is always a difference between the truth, and lies. We just need to know which words are the truth and which are lies and deception. One filter to try out on your self-talk is to try to remove words that do not fill you with peace, encouragement, hope and love. God’s truth will encourage you and increase in joy, peace, and love all together. As you begin to identify and filter through thoughts you may feel overwhelmed, but thankfully, “we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Those deceptive thoughts can be conquered and aligned with biblical truth. I am not saying that it is easy, but I know it is possible!

As you go through this journey to gain freedom from deceptive thoughts and reclaim your secure identity, it is important to remember that satan is trying to steer you off track because he knows the power you carry when you walk in the fullness of your identity. The devil is after your secure identity in Christ trying to make you question, “Did God really say…” (Genesis 3:1) you are loved, precious, worthy? This is when you need say no or laugh at his schemes and reiterate the truth, and speak God’s word in response. Let’s look at Jesus’ example when His identity was questioned after he was baptized: “And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’ Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God…” (Matthew 3:17-4:3). Jesus rejected satan’s deceptive words and questioning with Biblical truths every time. Jesus never doubted His identity and had God’s Word as ammunition against these attacks. Also, don’t you find it amazing that satan was directly trying to question Jesus’ identity and the words that God had just declared? Satan attempted to make Jesus doubt Himself, but He refused to play this game with satan. This is a good reminder for us that if God declares something, it is true! You need to hold onto those truths because satan will come to attack, especially things regarding your identity. Satan would not be attacking your identity, if it was not against his plans. Satan does not want you to know who you are. Satan does not want you to realize, how strong, beautiful and capable you are. Satan knows how powerful you are. He knows how important your secure identity is trying to break you, before you break him. One more thing I want you to think about is if Satan, who is evil and assumes the worst, sees your amazing potential, shouldn’t you? It is time to capture  those untrue thoughts, and purify your mind with God’s life giving words.

The next time you start hearing those deceptive thoughts, here are some verses to replace it with truth and encouragement:
(The bible is overfilling with verses, and I encourage you to find more! I just shared some to give enough that you could connect with and start your journey to find your true identity right now!)

Psalm 103:1-5   
Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.   

Psalm 139:13-18
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you   when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—  when I awake, I am still with you.

Isaiah 43:4
Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
    and because I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you,
    nations in exchange for your life.

Isaiah 49:15-16
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
    and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
    I will not forget you!
See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
    your walls are ever before me.

Isaiah 61:3     
To bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord
    for the display of his splendor.

Zechariah 2:8 For thus said the Lord of hosts, after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye:

Zephaniah 3:17
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

Matthew 10:29:31    
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.    

Mark 4:21-25
He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”
“Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”

Luke 15:3-7
Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

John 1:12   
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God   

John 15:13   
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.   

John 15:15-17
“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.”

Romans 8:14-17    
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.    

Romans 9:20-21    
But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?    

1 Corinthians 3:19   
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;

1 Peter 2:9
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.

1 Peter 3:3-4    
 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

1 John 4:4   
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 

You can live a life of freedom from deception and live in truth and security. You are His masterpiece overflowing with untapped potential! Next time you hear those thoughts, straighten your crown and declare God’s Word!

<3Jessica