Our Scripture for today is John 8: 31 & 32 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
How easily do you fall for a lie? Do you sniff them out easily, or are you more likely to want to see the good and try to believe what someone is telling you could be true? Of course, there is nothing wrong with wanting to believe people have the best of intentions. It is when that wanting overshadows common sense and our hearts or spirits get damaged by someone’s deceit. When we are lied to enough we are in danger of that lie becoming truth in our lives; we might reason, “He/she keeps saying that…maybe it is true. Maybe I really am (insert lie here).
The flip side of that coin is never believing the truth. Sometimes we have been hurt so badly we are skeptical of everyone and everything. We might think, “Oh heck no, I will never let anyone close to me again! He/she/they taught me that I can’t trust anyone!” We all fall into each category at different times in our lives, it seems.
Jesus is telling us, without question or hesitation, in our verses today that He IS Truth and He WILL set us free from the lies and hurts we gather as we travel through life. We have to commit to spending time in His Word, getting to know Him. The New Testament is filled with stories of Jesus’ love, His perfect and complete Love, which He shares readily with us! The “formula” is so simple: Read the Bible, talk with Jesus in prayer, really get to know His heart and follow Him!
The thing is there is a 3rd party throwing a wrench into the works keeping us out of our Bibles when he can. He is our enemy; he hates us with venom we cannot even begin to comprehend. He is a devil, his name is Satan, and he is real. Satan is so hostile toward us and God that he will do anything to make us believe we are NOT loved by God – he will lie, trick us, break our hearts, steal our joy…anything it takes to get us to believe God’s Love isn’t for us. The devil’s joy comes through our heartache and pain – he is the father of lies (John 8: 44).
However, Satan cannot stand in the presence of God; he will never be welcomed where God is Present. Ask God to be present with you every morning, spend even a few minutes in His Word, and communicate with Him throughout the day - Satan will have no choice but to flee! Below I will add an excerpt from the Daily Prayer by John Eldredge that Pastor has mentioned many times in worship. It is a truly transformational prayer!
Let Jesus love on you today; God delights in His kids (that’s you and me, by the way) and wants our attention, as well as to lavish us with His attention! What better way to say, “I love you, Jesus! You are my Truth, my Light, my Everything!” than to share space in our hearts and minds with Him?
Blessings friends, Jennifer
A Daily Prayer by John Eldredge
My dear Lord Jesus, I come to you now to be restored in you - to renew my place in you, my allegiance to you, and to receive from you all the grace and mercy I so desperately need this day. I honor you as my sovereign Lord, and surrender every aspect of my life totally and completely to you. I give you my body as a living sacrifice; I give you my heart, soul, mind, and strength; and I give you my spirit as well. I cover myself with your blood –my spirit, my soul, and my body. And I ask your Holy Spirit to restore my union with you, seal me in you, and guide me in this time of prayer. In all that I now pray, I include (my spouse, and/or my children, by name). Acting as their head, I bring them under my authority and covering, and I come under your authority and covering. Holy Spirit, apply to them all that I now pray on their behalf.
Dear God, holy and victorious Trinity, you alone are worthy of all my worship, my heart’s devotion, all my praise and all my trust and all the glory of my life. I worship you, bow to you, and give myself over to you in my heart’s search for life. You alone are Life, and you have become my life. I renounce all other gods, all idols, and I give you the place in my heart and in my life that you truly deserve. I confess here and now that it is all about you, God, and not about me. You are the Hero of this story, and I belong to you. Forgive me, God, for my every sin. Search me and know me and reveal to me any aspect of my life that is not pleasing to you, expose any agreements I have made, and grant me the grace of a deep and true repentance.