Jesus People: A 6-Day Devotional by Danny Gokeyنموونە

TRUTH IS: Choose to be transformed by Truth

I heard Your voice

Above all the noise, above all the fear

And thousands of lies were slowly untied

Cause You made it clear that...

Love rescued me

Love set me free

I know what the truth is

On a similar night to the one mentioned in yesterday’s devotional, I was asking God why I always seemed to circle back to anxiety and depression after believing I had dealt with them fully. Each time, I would promise Him and myself that I would never go back;  I would be stronger for my wife and kids, yet the enemy knew exactly which thoughts to plant in my head to spiral me back down yet again.  

That evening in prayer, the Lord spoke something that liberated me in a new way. It was not an audible voice, but in my spirit, I heard, “Truth does not transform until it is Truth received.” I immediately recognized that even though I had been in church my whole life, hearing Truth on a consistent basis, if I had not received Truth then it didn’t have the power to change me.

Sometimes, we think and feel in ways contrary to what we “know” to be true. We say things like, “I know I shouldn’t do that but …” or “I know that’s wrong but …” Paul shared a similar conflict. “I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate" (Romans 7:15 NLT). That’s because while we may know something in our head, we have allowed lies to keep that truth from making its way to our hearts. I realized that the opposite of what the Spirit had spoken is also true. “A lie does not transform until it is a lie received.” Every day the enemy is working to transform us with his lies, as well. We become what we fill our minds with. We must choose what to receive.

In Romans 12:2, Paul tells us, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The type of transformation spoken of here is like the change a caterpillar goes through to become a butterfly. While it used to crawl around on the ground and only see things from a limited viewpoint, it is now able to fly high and see the world from a much broader perspective. Plus, it’s a lot prettier, too! 

The same is true for us. We are to “put off your old self … to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:22-24).

When we surround ourselves with the cocoon of God’s truth, it is allowed to do its transformational, lasting work in our hearts. Then, as we “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles" (Hebrews 12:1), we are elevated to new heights with Him and changed into new beings that are a beautiful reflection of His glory. We don’t have to stay in bondage to sin and depression because, as it says in John 8:32, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”