Tag Archives: truth

Truth: Day 6—I Am A Witness

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Acts 1:8

I have a testimony. A story to tell.

The story of my rescue, of the way He reached into the darkness and pulled a wretch into the light. It remains a spectacular mystery to me.

The many ways He saved me, mostly from my own self-destructive ways, but from cards dealt from a stacked deck too.

The grace that never got winded from chasing me down.

The love that healed a heart that was in pieces.

The mercy that brought my rebellion to its knees in surrender because He didn’t deal with me as my sins deserved.

I could tell of how nothing made sense until He let my blind eyes see Him. Then it all made sense and nothing would ever be the same.

His Word set me free. His love healed me. His grace let me stand. His mercy brought me low.

His death gave me life that will never end.

In a thousand ways He changed everything and became everything and now everything I am is His.

But I forget the story. Forget to tell it. To let it fall on someone else and give them hope.

So I declare truth because I want to live the truth.

He has given me a story to tell about Him.

Where ever I am, I am His witness.

Truth: Day 5—I Am A Servant

 “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them. It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

Matthew 20:25-28

It’s part of who I am now. Servant. Like Jesus.

Even when. No, especially when, it rubs my flesh the wrong way.

When it feels like all I do is serve.

When noone seems to notice.

When it goes unappreciated.

When I’m tired and when I’m ready for someone else to do the serving.

Even when serving others isn’t serving me. (sit with that one for a minute. it will start to sting.)

I am a servant of Christ and that just rolls off my tongue easy like, until I’m treated like a servant. I don’t mind the title of servant, I just don’t want the duty of a servant. The title lets me keep my pride but the duty forces me to lay it down.

But the truth is the truth and there isn’t some secret meaning to the word servant. It is what it sounds like it is, and Jesus declared it over Himself.

So I declare the truth to help me live the truth.

I am here to lay down my life for others. And when I live this way, I am most like the One who layed down His life for me.

I am a servant.

Truth: Day 3—Alone Is Not Good

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.“

Genesis 2:18

Two were created because man alone was the very first thing God declared to be not good. So He made a woman.

{And a woman alone is also not good. That’s implied, don’t you think?}

Humans were not created for isolation or aloneness. We were made for togetherness.

It is a truth to declare because otherwise we will fall for the lie that we are better off on our own.

That being an introvert means my desire to be alone is God given.

When what is actually God given the most is a need for others.

I don’t think He meant that times of being alone are not good. Those, I think we can all agree, are absolutely necessary for our mental health. And the health of the others. At least my others.

He meant a life alone. An existence spent isolated. Separated.

Not just a life without people around, but a life disconnected.

We can be in a room full of others but still have a heart that keeps itself alone.

That is part of the not good.

We can be surrounded, but still insist on doing it ourself. Not asking for help. Needing no one. Being the strong one so that we don’t look like the weak one. Or the one who imposes on others. Bothersome. Needy.

And I am prone to the not good. I am drawn to that which is not good because I prefer alone, where the expectations are really quite low. Alone feels safe to me.

But I was not made to be that kind of safe. I was designed for the risk. Literally designed to make what was not good, good. To end the aloneness of someone else, and keep me from what is not good for me.

So I must declare truth because it reminds me to live truth. To let others in. To press past what feels safe, and into the risk. To move toward when I want to step away. To open my heart even when it wishes to be left alone.

To embrace the truth that it is not good be alone.

Truth: Day 2—New Life

I have a new life

We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Romans 6:4

So I don’t have to live the old life.

I don’t have to do things just because that’s the way we’ve always done them.

I don’t have to live according to what anyone spoke over me when I was young.

I don’t have to live according to what the world’s culture says about me.

I don’t have to live holding onto old wounds.

I don’t have to live with generational issues and sins.

I don’t have to continue going the way I’ve always gone, thinking the way I’ve always thought, believing what I’ve always believed.

Because Jesus died and rose from the grave and I now get to live new life. His way, not mine, not theirs. His.

I can live in new freedom. New ways of thinking and believing and seeing.

I can live a new life.

Thank You, Jesus.

Living His Truth: Crucified

When a woman sat in front of me last year wrestling with her life, she said that someone kept telling her that she needed to live her own truth. Man, that just got my hackles up and they still haven’t gone down. Angry, is what it made me, because that “live your own truth” thing is a lie from hell sent to mess God’s people UP. So I’m going to address it the only way I know. A screen and my keyboard and the Word of God opened up in front of me. This series will be called Living His Truth.

And He said to all, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. – Luke 9:23

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. – Galatians 5:24

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. – Galatians 2:20

In all honesty, if I live my truth, I’m going to avoid any hint of denying myself or being crucified. My truth tells me to avoid pain, to avoid discomfort, to avoid not getting my own way. My truth is to live in whatever way feels good to me, whatever agrees with my flesh, my feelings, my emotions, my whatever. Because the heart wants what it wants. The problem is that our hearts are wicked and deceitful above all things. (Jeremiah 17:9)

Living my own truth is why I needed to be saved.

Let’s visit the garden, just for a moment.

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. {Genesis 3:4-6}

See what he did there? He convinced her that God’s truth wasn’t her truth. And he’s still doing it today because why fix what works?

I don’t get to live however I want to live, if I call Jesus Lord. Following Christ means I follow Him to the cross and I crucify whatever my own will calls truth, and I choose to live according to His truth.

Let’s recap.

My truth will lead me to live my way, not His. Therefore, I can conclude that my truth is not actually true, because if I am walking in the truth, I will walk in the ways of God, who is Truth.

If my truth is not actually true, then I do not have my own truth, I have my own lie.

Moral of the story? If someone is telling you to live your own truth, they are telling you to live a lie. Don’t do that. Deny “your own truth”, pick up your cross every day, and follow Jesus.

We are His people and part of that privilege is that we choose to be crucified with Him so that we no longer live, but He lives in us.

And Jesus will never live our truth.

Declaration & Praise: Day 12

“Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before Him.” – Ephesians 1:3-4

“We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!” – Ephesians 2:3-5

Today I declare that He is the One who blesses me. He is the One who chose me. He is the One who makes me holy and blameless.

I will not look to myself or to others for what can only come from God.

I was dead and now I live. I was under wrath, now I am under grace – because there is a great love that exists in God for me.

In the same way, my brothers and sisters in Christ were dead, and now they live. They were under wrath, but are now under grace. There is a great love that exists in God for them.

Today, I will remember that I am not alone in the grace in which I stand. I am not alone in being chosen, holy, blameless, and loved by God.

I will choose to see myself and others in the Body of Christ from the perspective of truth.

Declaration & Praise: Day 5

“God is not man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfill it?” – Numbers 23:19
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” – Lamentations 3:22-23

Lord, You are not like me. You are other than, beyond me, and yet, with me. There is no darkness within You that would provoke You to lie, deceive, trick me. You say what You mean and You mean what You say, and what You say is what You will always do. Because You are faithful.

You are faithful to love me to the end, no matter what. Faithful to extend mercy, not once, not twice, but every single day. Every day I wake up to Your mercy. Every day I live and breathe and love because You have mercy on me. Because You are merciful, I have been born again. In Your mercy, You stay near and not far off.

Your faithfulness to me is not in response to my faithfulness to You, it is who You are. If I turn out to be faithless, You will remain faithful. You will not turn from me, write me off, or un-choose me. You are not fickle toward me, but utterly faithful to Your commitment to be for me and not against me.

Every word, every plan, every promise will be fulfilled, because You are faithful.

Today, I will refuse to believe that You are like us. I will not wonder if You will say one thing but do another. I will not allow an expectation to grow in me that You will turn against me, forget me, or leave me hanging. I will choose today, to believe You, to take You at Your word that great is Your faithfulness. Today, I will remember that You are faithful, loving, merciful and true. To me.