...and that voice will be silenced

The lies we believe.  A friend I were talking today about how so many of us struggle with kind of emotional bondage that we are blind to because we are believing lies. He whispers to our hearts ugly, damaging, shackling thoughts and we count them as truth.  There is a need to be told the truth sure.  Better yet there is a need to tell yourself the truth and then act on it.  Have you ever thought about sitting down with your Bible and a piece of paper? Ask God to show you what lies you are believing.  Then go to God's word and see what God has to say about those things.  By the way, His word trumps.  The truth always does.  It will set you free after all, right? 

 You can't stop there however. I was talking to a gal recently that was bogged down with some absolute whoppers, "I'm dumb, I can't be in school, I am too stupid to learn, I can't do this."  I was explaining to her that when we listen to those lies we are making a path in our thinking like a rut in the ground.  A rut pulls the wheel into it so that every time you take that path you are stuck in that thought rut.  If you have a lie that you repeatedly listen to you are gonna need to push your wagon out of that rut and make a new path.  That is a conscious choice.  That is "This is a lie.  This is the truth.  I will replace the lie with the truth and move on".  It's a choice and an action. Your mind will learn its new paths and you will be free of the runt!   

"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 

 There is nothing passive about the word "demolish".  

A friend of mine recently shrugged off a complement in denial of her gifting   Our other friend said, "Hey! How dare you say that right to God's face!"  We were shocked and laughing but totally got the point.  God sets your value and to call yourself anything other than valuable, beautiful and loved is to call God a liar.  You really want to do that?  

I am in a training for a program called Born 2 Fly that teaches kids values and anti-trafficking safety skills through an allegory about a little Caterpillar named blossom.  Today we were going over one of the 5 principals which is "You are valuable and worth loving".  My friend Clair used to explain it with a 1000 peso note.  (about 20$)  No matter how much you crumple, step on or mark up that bill it is still worth the same.  You can't say its worth any less because the government assigns the value.  God assigns your value so stop listening to the lies and agree with Him already!

Hence the painting above and the awesome quote.  An artist friend just posted it after making a mistake on an very detailed painting. Now the thought of my all time favorite artist having doubts about his OBVIOUS talents kind of shocked me.  What is courage? It is to walk through that which we fear to what we are meant to do.  I just heard Bear Grillis (the amazing survivalist and former special ops guy) say recently, quoting a training officer he had, 

"The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is just the word extra." 

So what is that extra that you are not doing because a lie is forcing you into its rut? 

"If you hear a voice within you say, "I cannot paint," then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced." -Vincent Van Gogh