Condensed from Rachel Herbeck’s talk at Lift Jesus Higher 2023.
The Lord says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (Jn 14:15). Often, we’re good at knowing and keeping the Ten Commandments, but we struggle to realize what God wants from us. God wants us to go to war with the things in our minds and hearts that don’t align with what He says about us.
We must allow the Lord to point out negative thought patterns to us, and then we need to replace them with his Word. Let me give you an example. The Lord helped me realize that I had been functioning with the lie that I was hard to love, both for people and for the Lord. He wanted me to acknowledge that this was a lie and a wound that I was living out of. He asked me to stop saying, “Thank You for still loving me.” I asked, “What do You mean? It’s true—You do still love me.” And He responded, “No, I don’t still love you. I love you. You’re not hard for me to love. It’s hard for you to receive my love, but it’s not hard for me to love you. You were made to be loved by Me.”
To replace these lies, we must look to Scripture. We need to know what God says about us. If we don’t know the truth it contains, we can’t recognize the lies. Recognize and renounce those lies. Say, “That isn’t true about me.” Then, invite the Lord to say what is true. As we do this, our thoughts will better align with God’s thoughts about us.
The process works like this:
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Recognize lies.
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Renounce the lies.
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Replace the lies with the truth found in Scripture.
“I am alone.” Recognize the lie. Renounce it: “In the name of Jesus, I renounce the lie that I’m alone.” Then, speak the truth from Scripture: “I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20).
If I’m going through the process and I don’t feel anything, it doesn’t matter, because the Word of God is living and active. When it’s spoken, it never returns void. It always achieves the purpose for which it went out (Is 55:11).
For everything that the devil throws at me, Jesus has a direct contradiction regarding what He has done for me and who I am in Christ. The Lord calls us to be equipped to declare this to others. The Lord is calling us into a new season of wielding our swords. “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Rm 12:2). Stand in that truth and declare Jesus’ Word. Recognize lies, renounce them, and replace them with truth.
