In my opening paragraph this week, I noted that it is during times of stress that we believe a distorted view of God. We seem to have two sets of beliefs: our heart beliefs and our head beliefs. This means that when things are “easy” and going well, we trust in the beliefs that we learned from our reading, sermons, or other means in which we have learned about the character of God. However, when things get tough, if we have not renewed our mind enough in the Truth through meditation and prayer, it can easily be overridden by our deep heart beliefs that evolved from the wounds, pains and lies of our past.
For example, in my head, I know that God takes care of my every need and that I do not need to “worry” that I will go into financial crisis. However, for years, anytime our income dropped below the cost of our bills, I panicked. I cried out to God begging Him to provide and protect us, but in my soul I was living in fear. Not surprisingly, when I was young, we were always in financial difficulties due to the endless medical bills that we had from all the surgeries I needed for my cleft palate. Thus, I took on the belief that a shortage of money results in crisis! When I realized this and began to pray for healing of this past event and to DAILY (for months) renew my mind through meditating on passages like Matthew 6:26-33, I began to see change and was able to trust in the faithfulness of God.
My challenge to you and myself is that we ask the Lord to show us if there are places deep in our heart where we believe lies about the character of God or doubt His abounding love, faithfulness, patience, and forgiveness. As the Holy Spirit reveals these doubts and lies (remember they are most easily seen during stressful times), find Scriptures that will show the Truth and write them down. Place them in a place on your phone, refrigerator, or somewhere that you frequently look every day. Take a few minutes each day for at least a month to meditate on this Truth. Soon, the Spirit will drive this Truth from your head to your heart and you will be transformed and set free in this area.
Freedom, joy, peace, and love result the more we trust in what God says about Himself.
After all, He is the best One to tell us who He really is!