HEALING OF THE SOUL AND SPIRIT OF MAN SERIES 003 – WRONG THINKING FORMULATED FROM FOUNDATIONAL LIES
“….I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.” John 14:6 “Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.” Psalm 51:6
FOUNDATIONAL LIES
WHAT IS A FOUNDATIONAL LIE ?
Another type of bitter root — a type of personal stronghold (2Cor 10:4); A message we believe about ourselves, others, God or life that does not agree with the truth of God’s Word, His character and His Nature.
About self : “I am stupid”, I don’t belong, I can’t be loved
Case Study : Matthew (not his real name ) was brought up by high performing African parents who had struggled to get an education and achieve middle class status in society through sheer determination. They had worked hard to break out of the poverty of their village by studying tediously and performing well in school. Matthews dad was a prominent city lawyer, while his mum was a senior government official. They had worked hard to provide for Matthew and his siblings a comfortable living in an otherwise difficult environment. They provided for their children the best education and expected them to perform exceptionally well. Matthews siblings met their parents expectations, however Matthew lacked interest in academics and his class performance was below average. He had well-built body and preferred soccer and the arts. His parents being ultra-high academic performers would from time to time lose patience with him and compare him with his siblings and once in a while lose their temper and burst out how slow or stupid he was compared to his siblings. By time Matthew was in high school he had a low self-esteem about himself and believed and felt he was a failure in life.
About others: “People can’t be trusted; Nobody cares; All white people are racists ; All black people are lazy”
Lydia was brought up in the eastern part of her tiny African Nation. She went to a nearby primary school and high school where most of the pupils and teachers were from her tribe. The other tribe in the western part of the country were quite different in their ways and customs from Lydia’s. She grew up hearing many stereotypes about the other tribe. She heard her parents, teachers and other community make negative comments about the other tribe. ‘They can’t be trusted’ ; ‘They are violent’ ; ‘They are lazy’; and Lydia believed what she was hearing. After high school Lydia qualified to join one of the national Teachers Training Colleges. She was excited about this opening , because her lifelong dream was to become a teacher. However there was challenge. The Teachers Training College was in the Western part of the nation. She wondered how she would cope with people of ‘the other’ tribe.’ Her first year in college was a difficult one. She kept mostly to herself or interacted with people from her tribe. She hated everthing about the college and felt home sick. Unfortunately this affected her performance and just barely passed her end year exam to qualify for the following year. This experience made her to make new resolutions for the following year and chose to be more positive about her new environment and to be more friendly and outgoing. That year they began a friendship with Philip who was also a final year student in the college and also from the western tribe. Initially the friendship was rocky and unstable, but they both became committed to the colleges Christian union and began to grow in their Christian faith they became inseparable. Amazingly after three years out of college they become married in a colorful Christian wedding and last year they celebrated their fifteenth wedding anniversary.They are blessed with three lovely children.
About life : “Life is meaningless; life is unfair; life is hard
Timothy’s father died when he was just four after contracting H.I.V Aids. He watched their unemployed mother struggle with them until he was ten, when she began to ail and finally succumbed to the same disease after just eight months due to lack of anti-viral drugs. Timothy and his younger sister were forced to move in with their maternal uncle who had promised to educate them. Unfortunately after just one year in the school, his uncle’s lost his job at the local factory and could no longer afford to have Timothy and his own children in school. Therefore Timothy was forced to remain behind and perform menial work in his uncle’s farm as his cousins went school. Timothy began to feel hopeless in life. He moved out of his uncle’s home at fifteen and survived on low paying jobs to make ends meet. He also became addicted to the local cheap brew. When Timothy came to church and gave his life to Christ he felt a sense of hopelessness. Even after giving his life to Christ he still felt that he would never recover the lost opportunities he once had. After a series of prayer and counseling with his pastor, Timothy began to have a positive outlook in life. He moved from just depending on menial work to earn a living and today he has a thriving cobbler business.
About God : “God is punishing , God is distant”
Shelly was born out of wedlock. Her mom was just in high school when she became pregnant and gave birth at home. Shelly’s strict grandfather was extremely disappointed with her only daughter. He felt that she had brought shame to the family name being a respected church elder. After Shelly’s mom gave birth, her dad quickly arranged for her to quickly move to her aunts home in a far county, while Shelly remained to be nursed with her grandmother. Shelly grew up with a sense of shame and feeling unwanted . Her grandfather was harsh and hardly spoke to her kindly. Later on in life she felt like she was being punished for her mother’s sins.
Our mind might know a truth while our heart believes the opposite. That is because, although thoughts are expressed by the mind, they begin in the heart. (watch out for our study of heart and mind)
“…..Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.” Matthew 15:19, NAS
We may be tempted to act out a lie, in spite of what our minds tell us we should do.
If my heart believes the lie that nobody cares, that lie will tempt me not to share my heart even with persons my mind knows can be trusted.
It is not enough to just quote Bible verses or consciously decide to believe the truth. We need to repent of believing the lies, and put them to death on the cross in prayer.
Satan is the “father of lies”, John 8:44. Therefore, lies can be empowered by demons. Therefore Deliverance is sometimes needed. (watch out for our series on “Deliverance and Inner healing).
……LIES ABOUT SELF ARE SOME OF THE HARDEST TO GIVE UP.
FOUNDATIONAL LIES THAT SILENCE OUR SONG
“For you created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mothers womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalms 139:13 – 16 NIV
“The Lord Your God is with You, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17 NIV.
God created each one of us with our own “song”.
Our parents did not create our identity; we came with one: Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6 NIV. The Hebrew says, literally, “ in his way” , meaning the natural bent of the child. Parents are to affirm and strengthen this.
Our parents did not create our destiny. God has preordained plan for us.
“For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10 NIV
Parents are to be God’s primary instruments to sing to us, through….
Blessing – calling forth identity, and confirming these truths over and over again, by singing our song
Making it easy to hear these truths, by providing laughter, light-hearted playfulness, affirmations, prayer, etc
As we hear our song sung over and over again, we begin to :
Choose to receive the truth of who we are
This enables us to walk in the works created beforehand (Ephesians 2:10).
We walk in personal authority, confident of our gifts and talents, ruling and reigning as Sons or Daughters of the King.
Know Him and allow ourselves to be known
If we given too few confirmations of God’s truth we may:
Be tempted to believe lies that deny our original design.
Take on a false identity. Temptation comes in the form of ;
Spoken lies about who we are “ Death and Life are in the power of the tongue”. Proverbs 18:21a NAS ; “You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed; all my enemies are before you. Scorn has broken my heart and has left me helpless. Psalm 69:19- 20
Lack of Love – physical care, unconditional acceptance, “I love You”, praise and validation (not just for what we do, but for who we are), play, loving touch, protection.
Abandonment and rejection –
Not wanted from birth – abortion, abandonment,
Lack or loss of bonding (parents away from home;death;divorce)
Abuse
Emotional abuse: unfair punishment, painful silences, shaming for mistakes
Sexual abuse
Teasing and ridicule by peers
Bad things that happen to us
Not being allowed to express our true temperament
Lies taught or modeled from generation to generation
Cultural influences (Rom 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world…
Lies the enemy tells us
Lies we tell ourselves – lies about self; others; life; or God
They gain power and become experiential when we :
Stay bitter towards parnts, God and /or self
Continue to respond this way to similar experiences throughout life
The deciding factor….. Even powerful lies can lose effect and begin to crumble when:
The home is filled with laughter, light-heartedness, playfulness and prayer
Affirmation is spoken; the child’s song is sung.
And….only if our hearts chooses to receive the affirmation and truth
When we are faced with the lack of these blessings, we can still receive them directly from God (Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me” Psalms 27:10) though it can be very tempting to believe He is not there.
If we choose to believe a lie and stay bitter toward those who wounded us, the lie can become ingrained and woven into the very fabrics of our lives.
The lie becomes a three fold cord of agreement:
The person who tempted us to believe the lie
The enemy (a liar and the father of lies- John 8:44)
Us
HOW TO RECEIVE INNER HEALING FROM FOUNDATIONAL LIES
RECOGNIZE :- The lie you have believed about yourself, others, life or God.
REPENT :- Ask the Lord to forgive you for ways you have judged those who told the lies, yourself, for agreeing to believe the lie, break agreement with the father of lies
RELEASE forgiveness and blessing – to those who tempted you to believe the lie.
RECKON AS DEAD :- Pray to bring lies to death and revoke their power in your life. – the words spoken , the negative patterns and habits resulting from the lies.
RESURRECT :- reverse the lie according to the Word of God.
RECONCILE :- Change your attitude towards parents or others, self or life.