Do you struggle with your thoughts sometimes? Do you mentally criticize or ridicule yourself? Me too. The enemy loves placing negative, hurtful words in our minds. Scripture says that Satan is the father of lies and there is no truth in him (John 8:44). Would you like to learn how to defeat the attack on your self-worth and have victory in your thought life? Me too. We need to replace the lies of the devil with the truth of God’s Word by renewing our mind. It takes practice but it can be done. Here are some steps we can take to begin to speaking truth over our lives.
Identify the Lie
God never uses shame as a motivational tool. So if you have a thought that causes you to feel shameful, it’s from the enemy and needs to go. “I’m so stupid/ugly/fat/ no one would want to be around me.” These types of thoughts are so obvious that it’s easy to identify them. But the more subtle ones may be harder to identify – “what I do isn’t important”, “God is too busy to care about me”, “I’ve done too many bad things for God to forgive me”, “I’ll never be able to change”.
Know the Truth
We can’t combat the lies without the weapons of truth that God has given us. This is where the Bible comes in. Everything we need for living a godly life is in His Word (2 Peter 1:3). There are many Bible apps now that you can download if you don’t have a Bible. Here are some options. If you’re feeling helpless, angry, anxious, sad, etc., you can just search that word and you can find resources and verses to lead you to the truth.
Replace the Lie with the Truth
Once you know what God’s Word says, the next time you catch yourself thinking something that is a lie from the enemy, replace it with the truth. Speak the truth out loud, over your life. Memorize verses that address the most common lies you tell yourself. Pretty soon those thoughts will disappear.
Lie: God is too busy to care about me
Truth: Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 NIV
Lie: I’ve done too many bad things for God to forgive me
Truth: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 NIV
Lie: I can’t do anything right. It’s too hard.
Truth: I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13
Lie: What I do isn’t important.
Truth: Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord and not for people, knowing that it is from the Lord that you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. Colossians 3:23-24
Lie: I’m a mess.
Truth: 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
Lie: I can’t help it. This is just the way I am.
Truth: For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Romans 6:6
Lie: God doesn’t care about my pain.
Truth: The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalms 34:18
Lie: God doesn’t hear my prayers.
Truth: I love the Lord, because He hears My voice and my pleas.
Psalms 116:1 NASB2020
Lie: I’m not enough.
Truth: And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11
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 NIV
Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2 NIV
