If you believe this, it could change your life

I can’t think of a time I’ve felt compelled to drop everything and write. Immediately. Right now. Because it is that important.

I’m also aware that I broke numerous grammar rules, which I always find funny about how I write considering I’m a rule follower. I digress.

When God shows me something, I feel this urgency to share it with the world. It’s why I write so transparently. I’m not a private person by nature, but I also feel that God’s goodness and what He speaks needs to be as generously given as anything else we might share.

I wrote illuminate for a couple of reasons. First, the Spirit of God moved with power in me to write. Not writing wasn’t an option. Second, I’m convinced that many people don’t experience breakthrough because they have believed lies about God. Believers have believed lies about God. Often we don’t even recognize the lies we harbor in our hearts. They are whispered to us from the pit of hell, yet they are spoken from one clothed as an angel of light. (2 Cor 11:14)

Unlike anything else I’ve ever written, I can boldly and confidently say I believe illuminate can change your life. Not because of the words I’ve shared, but because it will draw you into His Word where the truth will be revealed to you. It will expose areas where you’ve believed the lies against God’s character.

The first lie ever told was about who God was. When sin entered the world through the serpent, it came as a lie. “Did God really say….” (Gen 3:1)

That lie was intended to make us believe God isn’t good, that He is withholding from us, that He doesn’t have our best interest in mind. And if those things are true then that means God doesn’t really love us. Not like He says He does anyway.

It’s time to pierce the darkness. It’s time as believers we rise up and with our entire being push back the darkness. It’s time we stop reading the news in fear and wringing our hands desperate for what laws we can enact that will change the world.

You see the world won’t change when we allow darkness to prevail. We’ve been given the authority to stomp out dark.

He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a lightning flash.  Look, I have given you the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy; nothing will ever harm you.  However, don’t rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Luke 10:18-20

Our first step in lighting up the dark is to take control over our minds and what we’ve believed. This is why I’ve written illuminate. The world tries to define God. We create our own ideas based on our experiences. When we accumulate enough of these ideas, we find we move through life with a distorted version of God. What isn’t Truth is a lie.

Since I’ve written illuminate, God has been shining His light on the lies I’m harboring. I didn’t even know they existed. They’ve been buried deep. But the dark can’t shy away from the light. As I’ve prayed each day I’ve studied through illuminate, I’ve asked God to illuminate. I’ve asked Him to show me who He is in light of His Word. I don’t want to see the world’s version of Him. I don’t want to see what someone else believes about Him. I don’t want to have to rely on others to explain Him to me.

He has given us a Helper, the Holy Spirit. By the power of the Holy Spirit, may we boldly come before Him and ask Him to reveal truth to us.

A friend sent me a teaching last night. I began to listen as I drifted off to sleep. I awoke this morning praying for breakthroughs. I sat with the Lord during my quiet time (the time before anyone else wakes- God, me, and coffee). I sensed Him showing me something.

I went into the next phase of my day and remembered the video my friend sent. I started listening and all I could think was – YES, YES, YES.

The speaker is using the science of the brain to show us how what we believe, particularly the lies we believe, change our lives. He shows how our health is impacted. Depression, obesity, type 2 diabetes, etc. He shows us how fears take root in our lives when we open up a room for lies.

But if we don’t know the truth, we can’t identify a lie.

I had lunch with a friend this week. She shared with me an example many of us may have heard before, but it’s worth me sharing again. When agents that track down money counterfeiters study money, they don’t study the fake versions. They study and study and study the authentic version. They study so closely the real money that when they spot a fake, they can immediately call the lie. There are too many fake versions to waste time on studying the look-a likes.

This world is full of lies. In order to identify the lies, we have to study the real thing. We have to immerse ourselves in God.

The fastest way to learn a foreign language is to immerse ourselves in it. I believe the same is true with our belief of God. Full immersion is the fastest way toward true change. What is full immersion? It’s surrounding ourselves with His Word. It’s what we read and listen to. We post scripture everywhere. It become the language we speak.

God is nothing like the picture the world paints. That is the counterfeit version. We have to study who He really is, in light of His Word, to know what is true and what is false.

I’m sharing this video because it really revealed to me the power of what we believe. I encourage you to take the time to watch this. In particular I urge anyone who suffers from any type of ailment to watch this. The power of our minds is greater than we realize. I think it’s another lie we’ve believed, that our minds don’t control what happens in our bodies.

 

 

My prayer for this generation and the ones to come is that we would know the Truth because the Truth sets us free. John 8:32

I have created a tool to help our souls forget not all His benefits. Illuminate – Seeing God by the Light of His Word releases soon. You can find more information here including a video trailer. Illuminate is for us all. Women, men, and parents who desire to remember who the Lord is. It’s to encourage us to create the discipline of keeping our eyes fixed on who God is. Practicing the art of remembrance.

In our home, we’ve used this as a time of family devotion. Gathering in the family room and listening together. Continuing the conversation throughout the week.

It’s 14 days that I believe will change your life. It’s changed mine because it’s gotten me into His Word to seek out His character as revealed by Him.