The Power of Lies, part I

Lies are powerful whenever they are accepted as truth. They have the power to hinder us from doing God’s will, alter our perceptions of God, others, and who we are in Christ. They have the power to influence our behavior and keep us locked into patterns of sin, negative thoughts, and unmanageable feelings. The evolution of one lie can result in a stronghold even more powerful than someone held captive by a demonic spirit. An evil spirit can be expelled by a simple command given in the Name of Jesus, but a stronghold can take a significant amount of time, even years, to overcome depending on how entrenched it has become.

While submission and captivity to lies gives a potential opportunity for demonic influence, it does not always lead to this. Many individuals seek deliverance or spend a good deal of time addressing the Evil One, yet most often their negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are rooted in a lie or lies that have resulted from unresolved emotional or psychological wounds. If an individual is thoroughly submitted and held captive by a lie, what Satan would seek to accomplish through a demon is already complete. The individual is already captive and will therefore yield little or no fruit in the particular area of bondage as long as the lie remains in effect. Furthermore, there is no need to expend the limited resources of Satan on someone who’s already taken captive. Herein lays the power of lies and their effects…

While we were gathered together in the chapel, I asked the Spirit of God to reveal one single and significant lie that each of us as individuals believed that resulted in something less than the freedom Jesus desires for us.  Because lies are outside the domain of God’s Kingdom and the Spirit’s truth, I also utilized the authority that Jesus has given us to address any hidden form of deception and then commanded the lies to come into the light of God’s truth, in Jesus’ Name…

Following this two-fold address, I asked for a show of hands to indicate those who became aware of a lie they believed that resulted in some form of captivity or hindrance to their freedom. As usual, a good number of those present raised their hands. Together we then verbally admitted our particular lie, renounced (rejected) it, and accepted God’s truth despite any feelings to the contrary.