Two Truths And A Lie
Have you ever played the Icebreaker Two Truths and a Lie? The object of the game is to come up with one lie that is so believable that the people in the group will never distinguish it from the other two truths. It also helps to come up with some truths that sound too good to be true. When we are dealing with our thought life, it sometimes feels like we are playing Two Truths and a Lie. The enemy is so good at creating his lies and disguising them as our truths. After all, if we think it, if it comes from our mind, how could it possibly be from the enemy? It has to be true. And the truth of God’s word—that we are free, that we can have peace that passes all human understanding, that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us—that all sounds too good to be true. So, we find ourselves struggling to tell the difference between our thoughts, the enemy’s lies, and God’s truth. The reality is that any lie that we believe and accept as truth affects us as if it were true.
In the last post, I challenged you to join me in analyzing our thoughts. This simple exercise is the first step on our road to freedom. It builds on 3 foundational truths:
The war for our destiny takes place in our mind.
The ancestor of every action is a thought, and those thoughts control the trajectory of our lives.
We can choose to think the way God wants us to think—our thoughts create life or death.
If you didn’t get a chance to record your thoughts, I encourage you to make this a priority. If the war for our destiny is playing out in our minds, then we better know the battleground. We cannot change what we do not confront.
Analyzing Your Thinking
If you are not sure what this whole challenge of “analyzing my thoughts” looks like, let me give you a glimpse into what I discovered about myself:
If I have to confront someone or something, my thoughts go south. I hate confrontation!
When I think about social situations (picnics, going out to eat with friends), I begin to worry about what I will say.
When I think about paying bills, financial obligations, or retirement, I get physically sick.
When I start to compare myself to others in the same profession or areas that I’m interested in, I feel inadequate and worthless.
If I think about situations that are out of my control (especially with my family), I feel hopeless. I sometimes feel like I’ve got a million tiny creatures crawling around inside of me, or my nerves are tied up in knots.
When I’m studying the Word of God or working on my blog, I experience this blast of peace, hope and strength that makes me wonder why I ever doubted in the first place!
When I’m worshipping (singing, praying, meditating on scripture), I sense the presence of God so closely that there is no room for anxiety, fear, or doubt.
When I started looking at what runs through my mind, I noticed there were more negative thoughts than positive ones. I also noticed that the thoughts gave way to actions. Some of those actions were anger, lashing out at the people I love, withdrawing inside myself, and shutting down. I also noticed that if I keep giving mental real estate to those negative thoughts jumping up and down for attention in my mind, then my destiny follows a dismal trajectory. That is not acceptable because that is not my future. My future is freedom and living a life that is full of joy, hope, and peace.
There were positive thoughts as well. And those positive thoughts almost always depended on me taking some action to confront my situations. I chose to read the Bible instead of scrolling through social media. I turned on worship music instead of Netflix. Do you see why it is so important to confront those thoughts head on, even if it is uncomfortable and a little overwhelming? We can choose to think the way God wants us to think and that can mean the difference between life and death, blessings and curses.
You Can’t Handle the Truth
If you are a child of the 90’s, you may remember the iconic courtroom scene with Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson in the movie A Few Good Men. The story centers around a conspiracy to conceal the truth behind the death of a marine named Santiago. Private First Class Downey and Lance Corporal Dawson were put on trial for his murder even though they claimed they acted under the direct order of Colonel Jessup who instructed them to give Santiago a “code red” --an unofficial, off the record way of handling discipline issues within his command.
If you don’t remember anything else in the entire movie, I bet you remember the climatic courtroom scene where Lieutenant Kaffee (Tom Cruise) pushes Colonel Jessup (Jack Nicholson) for the truth. After all, this man has manipulated, defended, twisted, and weaponized his version of the truth almost making him untouchable. That is what the enemy tries to do to us. He screams so loudly that it drowns out every other voice but his. He intimidates; he boasts; he dares us to question his authority in our minds. But we have to do exactly what Lieutenant Kaffee did in that memorable scene. We have to demand the truth, and sometimes we have to do it persistently and loudly.
There is a conspiracy in the spiritual realm to conceal the truth. Just like Colonel Jessup, our enemy wants us to think “You can’t handle the truth!” He convinces us that those thoughts are not lies—they are part of your genetic makeup. They are reflections of your personality and DNA. He doesn’t want us to know the truth because he realizes that defining the lies is the beginning of freedom.
Fight For Freedom
Let’s not forget that Jesus has already pardoned us and bought our freedom. But we have an enemy who would like to see us back in chains. However, if we think we have the power to do this on our own, we will end up like a prisoner attempting a prison break—captured, back in chains and behind the bars of our lies. This is not something we can do through positive thinking or willpower. Craig Groeschel says it best: “Christianity has never been about behavior modification; it’s about transformation.”
The Apostle Paul gives us amazing insight into how we fight this war for our mind. In 2 Corinthians he explains:
“For although we live in the natural realm, we don’t wage a military campaign employing human weapons, using manipulation to achieve our aims. Instead, our spiritual weapons are energized with divine power to effectively dismantle the defenses behind which people hide. We can demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and break through every arrogant attitude that is raised up in defiance of the true knowledge of God. We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One. Since we are armed with such dynamic weaponry, we stand ready to punish any trace of rebellion, as soon as you choose complete obedience” (2 Corinthians 2: 3-6 TPT).
The NIV version says it in another way—our weapons have “divine power to demolish strongholds.” When Paul is talking about strongholds, he is referring to those lies that we believe as true. In the Greek, the word “stronghold” means to fortify.
When I think of a stronghold or a fortress, I think of Lord of the Rings. There were some good fortresses like Rivendell or Helms Deep that provided refuge and a haven for those weary warriors who needed a place of respite and safety (Psalms 46, 71, 91). But there were also some desolate, dangerous, and deceptive fortresses like Minas Morgul or Isengard. Those fortresses also had some deep roots and massive walls that were almost impossible to climb over or break through. And they were also part of the surroundings—chosen for their natural propensity to blend in and hide what or who sought refuge.
This is exactly how Paul describes those strongholds or lies that we allow reign in our minds. They become a natural part of our mental landscape, and they are almost impossible to breach. They are sometimes imperceptible, and they can even give us a false sense of safety. For example, one of the things I struggle with is social interactions. Whenever I know I have to be at a social gathering, my thoughts run wild. The lie is that I cannot relate to people like a normal human. I can’t carry on conversations, and people will not like me. That lie has been a part of my landscape for as long as I can remember. It is so much a part of who I am that I’ve convinced myself that it is a flaw in my personality and there is nothing I can do about it.
To take it a step further, that lie creates a false sense of safety in me. I can’t tell you the number of invitations I’ve turned down, gatherings I’ve missed, friendships I’ve discarded all in the name of being an introvert. If I stay inside this fortress of fear of man, I won’t have to worry about rejection. They can’t hurt me if they can’t reach me. They won’t hate me if they never know me. The Passion Translation describes these strongholds as “defenses behind which people hide.” We are going to tear down these walls.
Demolition Time
After we confront and define the lies that are building strongholds in our lives, how do we deal with them? 2 Corinthians reminds us that even though we live in the natural realm, we don’t do battle like the culture. Our spiritual weapons provide us with all the power we need to demolish strongholds. The original meaning of the word “demolish” is “destruction requiring massive power or to lower with violence.” In other words, we have to annihilate the lie in order to find freedom. We can’t let it take up real estate in our mind, and we can’t try to “fix” the problems associated with the lie with our own ideas.
A couple of years ago, I decided I was going to overcome this fear of talking with people. I googled “conversation starters” and made a list of the ones I thought I could get some good use out of. A few of my favorites: “If you could live in any fictional world, what would it be?” or “Do you believe in aliens?” or I really like this one, “Walk me through your ideal funeral.” I’ll put your mind to rest when I tell you that I never used the funeral one, but it was included in the google search!
Do you see my issue? I was never going to be able to change the problem by focusing on the symptom. I had to get to the root and demolish the fortress. The story of Cain and Abel in the book of Genesis shows us what happens when we don’t confront and annihilate the lies fortifying themselves in our minds. Cain allowed pride and jealousy to take over his thoughts. He didn’t understand why his brother Abel’s offering was accepted by God and his offering wasn’t. He believed the lie that God was treating him unfairly. That he could choose what to give and what to keep—after all, it belonged to him anyway.
Genesis 4:6 demonstrates the love of God. He isn’t angry with Cain. He simply points out a truth that is essential to freedom. “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” Cain didn’t deal with those thoughts, and they led to some life-altering actions for Cain. He murdered his brother and became a wanderer.
How do we rule over our thoughts? We confront them; we define the lies; and we replace them with truth. Craig Groeschel calls this the Replacement Principle. Paul calls it “taking every thought captive.”
If we don’t take the step to totally abolish the stronghold, we make the same mistake that Isildur made in Lord of the Rings. When he had the chance to destroy evil for good by throwing the One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom, he couldn’t do it. Just like God warned Cain, sin is crouching at the door. If we don’t master it, it will destroy us. We may be able to alleviate the symptoms for a little while, but just like Sauron in Lord of the Rings, if you don’t destroy the source, the enemy will regroup and the next attack will be stronger and more targeted.
But the good news is we have an unlimited, supernatural power supply—the same power that raised Christ from the grave lives and moves in us! Are you ready for Challenge 2?
Challenge 2
You’ve analyzed your thoughts. Now it is time to define the lies that you have believed. This week, go back and review your list. Ask the Holy Spirit to dig past the surface and get to the root of the problem. I told you one of my lies: I cannot function in social situations. I am not able to enjoy being with people like other humans. That lie screams that I am not good enough. I’m defective. Faulty. And my identity is wrapped up in how other people perceive me, and I will never be able to measure up to their expectations.
Next week we will start replacing those lies with God’s truths! Allow the Holy Spirit to point out those things in your heart and mind that need confronted so you can be free! Until next time...Dive Deep and Drown Willingly!
