In the slide above we see the general pattern how lies help produce worry: false thoughts breed evil expressions. If the evil one can implant evil thoughts in our minds, then we will do evil. The next session shows the opposite pattern is true too. True thoughts bear forth pleasant expressions such as the peace of God.
Satan's has two purposes for lies depending on who it is:
- Unbelievers - keep darkened from believing
- Believers - increase darkness to keep ineffective
Remember that Satan uses lies or falsehood to get his way because he has no inherent authority. He steals authority by deceit. He tricks people like you and I. Once you are a believer, he has no real authority over you any more.
Of course, if we give him authority of a certain aspect of our lives, then he can and will take that authority. If you give him your bathroom to stay in, he will stay there. If you give him your bedroom to hang around in, he will. The lies are how he convinces you that you ought to give him more and more room in your lives. How many keys of your life have you given him?
In the diagram below, the top row are lies planted in our minds, the reasonings or speculations. Lies are like seeds. Once planted in our mind, they grow and express itself through evil behavior. From the darkened mind come all sorts of devious words and other evil expressions including all attitudes, words, poems, magazines, movies, behaviors, etc. that are not according to God's truth. These behaviors are indicated below by the bottom line row. These are the 'lofty thing.'
Speculations
Lies seeded in our minds
|
False
thoughts
|
You walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, (Ephesians 4:17-18)
-
in the futility of their mind,
-
being darkened in their understanding,
-
excluded from the life of God,
because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart
|
|
|
|
|
Every lofty thing
Evil words and behavior
|
Evil
expressions
|
And they,
for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. (Ephesians 4:19).
|
The far right column quotes the passage from Ephesians 4:17-19. Here we see one of the many scriptural passages that verify that this is the pattern that the evil one uses. Once the mind is controlled by lies and its associated pride, it produces evil expressions.
The way out of being caught in thinking and doing wrong things is to recognize what 'rooms' or 'keys' we have given him and take them back!
Jeremiah 13:25
|
This is your lot, the portion measured to you From Me," declares the LORD, "Because you have forgotten Me And trusted in falsehood.
|
Ezekiel 13:22
|
Because you disheartened the righteous with falsehood when I did not cause him grief, but have encouraged the wicked not to turn from his wicked way [and] preserve his life
|
1 John 4:6
|
We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
|
The evil one uses truths, but he really is not communicating truths but lies. He did this when tempting Jesus Christ in the wilderness. Jesus answered by the scriptures and exposed the lie for what it was.
At the heart of a lie is rebellion. It is a devious means to counter one who is stronger than himself. The lie gains it power by gaining your allegiance. By proposing a way of doing or thinking of something apart from the instruction of God, you must leave God to listen to the lie.
A lie at its heart is essentially saying there is wisdom or truth (i.e. propaganda) apart from God. Once this is accepted, of course, we would do what that supposed wisdom or thought suggested. Along with these thoughts come attitudes, beliefs and every other thing that stands against the knowledge of God.
The battle then consists of destroying these arguments and abolishing any allegiance to them. The Lord wants to demolish these rebellious strongholds in our lives that have made us ineffective disciples and disobedient children.
Anxious people are easily lured away from God to depend upon false promises. They are looking for solutions but are unable to discern the means of obtaining these solutions. These false promises are lies that terribly deceive us by promising what they can never deliver.
The result of a lie is to always become less convinced of God's almighty holy, faithful and utterly good nature. This is the reason there is nothing more dangerous than an arrogant lie. You potentially can give absolute service to it. And if cleverly presented, you will never question it.
!
If you are interested, do a study on lies, deception, truth, falsehood in the Bible. You will be astonished at what you find!
How do we expose these lies? Let's continue on. Next page
Destroying the Roots of Anxiety
