¹⁰ In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [draw your strength from Him and be empowered through your union with Him] and in the power of His [boundless] might. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God [for His precepts are like the splendid armor of a heavily-armed soldier], so that you may be able to [successfully] stand up against all the schemes and the strategies and the deceits of the devil. Ephesians 6:10-11 Amp

I spent a good part of my life believing that my past, my failures and what people said or thought about me dictated who I was. I’ve even spent time defending my character to those who have or are trying to hold the past over my head. But something that was said in Sunday’s morning service shifted something in my thinking… My husband said to all the women in church, ‘You have power’… He has said this before, but that day, in that moment, I had to deliberately face those words. I had a choice to make: Believe what was true about me according to what GOD said or slide backwards and believe what the enemy tried to continuously plant in my mind for so many years.

See, the struggle has always been real for me…  Self esteem issues most of my life and it’s taken me all these years to realize that even the enemy believes in the principle of sowing and reaping; he starts early in the life of those who are hearing the word and can possibly choose a life serving God. He drops seeds of deception in the form of doubt, guilt, shame, self hate and whatever else he use against us to keep us from believing the truth of God’s word about us. Then when we are deceived, he escorts us further away from the plans God has for our life.

When you continually hear something about yourself, you believe it right? But what happens when you start to hear something that contradicts everything else you ever heard? What happens when the one who created the devil, the one who created you makes sure you hear another story? The manufacturer is the best source of information about something he created. Only the maker has naming rights; It’s time to reject every label that doesn’t agree with what God called you! The best way to do this is to focus on those things that mirror the truth of God’s word. It’s not only our daily instructions for living, but it helps our minds regenerate so we can have the mind of Christ, so we no longer buy into the lies the enemy continues to throw our way.

We live in a time when deceit is at an all time high. I was so caught up in the lies of the enemy, it caused me to lie about some details of my life because of my own insecurities. It made my trust in God waver, and almost cost me my life, my marriage and so many other things. BUT GOD!!

As I reflect on the reminder in Ephesians 6, I arm myself daily to combat the lies of the enemy. If you take nothing else away, remember this:

• The TRUTH of God’s word stops the lies of the enemy in his tracks. Jesus shut the enemy down in Matthew 4 with the Word.
• Speaking the Truth aligns you with what God has said. Checking what you hear against His Word also ensures that you have the right information. A counterfeit can always be tested against what’s real and true.
• Having faith and trusting in what God has said about us and about his promises for us is a weapon against the lies of the enemy.

Your failure did not negate the purpose God has for your life.

Being deceived and falling into sin did not make you ineligible to be used by God

Your wavering faith does not intimidate God! He is waiting for you to believe he Loves you, to submit to him, to submit to the process, and receive all that he has for you.

Maybe this isn’t your struggle; maybe you’ve never lied or fallen for a lie. But I encourage you to get into the Word of God; speak it over your life, speak it over your family and everything pertaining to you. When you change what you hear, you change what you believe!

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John 8:31-32