Squelching the Lies

 Yesterday I blogged about "zingers," envy, and how to deal with both.  I hinted at the start of the post that it is easier to believe the bad stuff people say about us than it is to believe the good stuff.  The bad stuff seems to ruminate and linger in our minds so much more effectively, as well.   I'm not really sure why that is true, but I am guessing it has something to do with forgetting who we really are.  Perhaps some of us don't even know who we are--and those of us who do easily forget who God created, designed and desires for us to be in Him.

We also don't often tell ourselves simple, positive things about who we are, let alone remind ourselves who we are in Christ. A moment in my mind would go something like this--I begin my day in the bathroom, freshening up and typically putting on my workout clothes to go run the lake, get to the gym, or both.  While doing so I am thinking things like, "Gosh, I'd really like to just go back to bed.  Everything hurts.  Geez, I am such a wimp. Ah, man, is that another new grey hair?  What the heck?!  And why do I feel and look like I ate an entire pizza last night?  Sheesh.  It's official.  I'm a whale.  Just call me, 'Shamu!'  Oh, mercy, another zit, too?  Why do I have acne at 42 years of age?! Nice. So now I'm a pre-menopausal adolescent?  Perfect."  

Sound familiar?  As you see, it doesn't come naturally to think or say positive things about ourselves, let alone going so far as to ponder and quote truths about who we are in Christ to ourselves.  It seems to come more easily and naturally to be harder on ourselves than it is to build ourselves up about who we are really designed to be.  The world has also sold us some nicely packaged lies, and we've bought them--repeatedly.  We line up for them like it's Black Friday and they are the item everyone wants!  But what we need to do is find the receipt and return them.  Lies that tell us that our identity comes from our career and the success we have from it.  Lies that tell us that our identity comes from the amount of money we make.  That our image is based solely on how stylish, attractive, healthy, and fit we are. That our worth is founded on how big our house is, the kind of car we drive, how sound our retirement package is, and how large our financial holdings are. That our worth is only as high as the level of perfection in our marriage, kids, or family. That if we can't get everyone to love and accept us, the problem must reside with us.  All of these things are not truly a part of who God created us to be--they are not who we really are.  Of course, they can be blessings in our life when they are present (and curses when they are not).  But because they aren't assured to us, lasting, or unchanging, they fail to live up to their image hype--sure, if you have all of those things personally, you can feel rather good about yourself and your life, in general.  But take even one of them completely away, and your identity, if founded in any of these lies, can begin to suffer significantly.  

So who are we?  Who are we created and designed to be?  What kinds of things should we be saying to ourselves instead of beating ourselves up in the mirror each morning?  I found the perfect list (thank you, Joyce Meyer Ministries)!   If you're like me, this list is far from the things you typically think about yourself (and far from what you say to yourself).  But trust me, these things are truths from God's Word about who He created, designed, and desires for us to each individually be.  Christ wants us to realize who we are in Him--that is, if we know Him and have asked Him into our hearts and lives (accepting His salvation for us through His death on the cross as payment for our sins).  If we are His child, this is who we now are, period.  You can either believe these unshakable truths or you can believe the shakable lies.  It really boils down to what we want to believe.  We have a daily choice. 

Personally, I know that I'm going to have to keep this list handy.  I am going to have to remind myself of these things regularly--they won't come naturally.  Even reading down the list I found myself checking some of the passages and thinking, "Does it REALLY say that?  Is that REALLY true???"   Yes, I am a, "doubting Thomas," at times.  I know it will take time to deprogram my mind to stop going to the negative, to stop doubting my own identity, and to start going to the truth and fully believing it.  God doesn't care about the new zit on my face this morning--or the grey hairs.  And if I know who I really am in Him, I better not care, either.  Now...where's my Clearasil?!

 KNOWING WHO I AM IN CHRIST
I am complete in Him Who is the Head of all principality and power (Colossians 2:10).
I am alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:5).
I am free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).
I am far from oppression, and fear does not come near me (Isaiah 54:14).
I am born of God, and the evil one does not touch me (1 John 5:18).
I am holy and without blame before Him in love (Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:16).
I have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16; Philippians 2:5).
I have the peace of God that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7).
I have the Greater One living in me; greater is He Who is in me than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).
I have received the gift of righteousness and reign as a king in life by Jesus Christ (Romans 5:17).
I have received the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus, the eyes of my understanding being enlightened (Ephesians 1:17,18).
I have received the power of the Holy Spirit to lay hands on the sick and see them recover, to cast out demons, to speak with new tongues. I have power over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means harm me (Mark 16:17,18; Luke 10:17,19).
I have put off the old man and have put on the new man, which is renewed in the knowledge after the image of Him Who created me (Colossians 3:9,10).
I have given, and it is given to me; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, men give into my bosom (Luke 6:38).
I have no lack for my God supplies all of my need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).
I can quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one with my shield of faith (Ephesians 6:16).
I can do all things through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:13).
I show forth the praises of God Who has called me out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).
I am God’s child⎯for I am born again of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God, which lives and abides forever (1 Peter 1:23).
I am God’s workmanship, created in Christ unto good works (Ephesians 2:10).
I am a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
I am a spirit being⎯alive to God (Romans 6:11;1 Thessalonians 5:23).
I am a believer, and the light of the Gospel shines in my mind (2 Corinthians 4:4).
I am a doer of the Word and blessed in my actions (James 1:22, 25).
I am a joint-heir with Christ (Romans 8:17).
I am more than a conqueror through Him Who loves me (Romans 8:37).
I am an overcomer by the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony (Revelation 12:11).
I am a partaker of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:3,4).
I am an ambassador for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20).
I am part of a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people (1 Peter 2:9).
I am the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).
I am the temple of the Holy Spirit; I am not my own (1 Corinthians 6:19).
I am the head and not the tail; I am above only and not beneath (Deuteronomy 28:13).
I am the light of the world (Matthew 5:14).
I am His elect, full of mercy, kindness, humility, and longsuffering (Romans 8:33; Colossians 3:12).
I am forgiven of all my sins and washed in the Blood (Ephesians 1:7).
I am delivered from the power of darkness and translated into God’s kingdom (Colossians 1:13).
I am redeemed from the curse of sin, sickness, and poverty (Deuteronomy 28:15-68; Galatians 3:13).
I am firmly rooted, built up, established in my faith and overflowing with gratitude (Colossians 2:7).
I am called of God to be the voice of His praise (Psalm 66:8; 2 Timothy 1:9).
I am healed by the stripes of Jesus (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24).
I am raised up with Christ and seated in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 2:12;).
I am greatly loved by God (Romans 1:7; Ephesians 2:4; Colossians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:4).
I am strengthened with all might according to His glorious power (Colossians 1:11).
I am submitted to God, and the devil flees from me because I resist him in the Name of Jesus (James 4:7).
I press on toward the goal to win the prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward (Philippians 3:14).
For God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, love, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).
It is not I who live, but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20).

Copyright © 2008 Joyce Meyer Ministries, Inc.