Who You Gonna Believe?

Before we act in any given situation, the battle is already determined by who we believe about that situation. God says one thing, and the enemy says another.

Sometimes it can be hard to tell who's saying what, especially when our emotions are jacked up and in overload. But it's considerably easier to tell who's saying what if we stop and ask God.

“Lord, where are you in the middle of this mess?!?”

God has something to say about every human situation and circumstance. He talks in at least 3 ways:

(1) His Word. There is something, somewhere, in the Bible about what you're going through. His word contains promises. Finding and believing the right promise in his word, against the lie the enemy tells us in the situation, is often the strategy for victory.

(2) Your Spirit. God talks to us internally, in our thoughts. With practice, you can learn to discern which thoughts are God's, which are yours, and which are the enemy's lies.

(3) Others. God so values partnership with us that he often speaks to us through other people.

God never contradicts his word, so anything in our spirit or from others that does so isn't from God.

Often the battle is really in our hearts and our minds. When we choose to believe God's promises, especially when they seem impossible and the enemy's lies are so overwhelming, we give God permission to release his power into our situation. Not that he needs our permission, but he's a gentleman and he'll wait for it.

Choosing to believe God often doesn't (immediately at least) change the situation, but it often immediately changes our perception of it. Suddenly it doesn't seem so ominous or hopeless. That's how you have peace in the middle of a hurricane, or in the middle of an emotional nuke, that everyone else marvels at.

Jesus is our peace in the middle of our pain, if we choose to believe him instead of the circumstance.