Are You Stuck? Daily Steps to Break FreeSample

Devotional

Paul instructs Timothy to “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train [him]self to be godly.” (1 Timothy 4:7) As Christians, we may have the ‘head knowledge’ to know that the ways of the world are not supposed to be our ways, but that knowledge does not always translate to our behavior.

Negative thoughts and self-doubt can invade our lives when we buy into the world’s lies. In fact, those thoughts can take us to a very dark place; a place God never intends for us to be.

While the situation you find yourself in right now may be all-to-real, that does not mean you must stay stuck in a cycle of negative thoughts, actions or expectations.

Reflection Questions:

1. Is there a lie that you have been rehearsing over and over in your mind?
2. Pray 2 Corinthians 10:5 over that lie and ask God to replace it with his truth.

Video Transcript

When I was in my mid-thirties, I really wanted to get my master’s degree in counseling. At that time my family and I were living in the small Southeast Asian country of Laos, so it really wasn’t possible to actually “go” to school, but I was determined to figure out a way. I began looking through my options, which weren’t that broad; especially when compared to the post-pandemic age when literally everything is available online.

Anyway, I finally found an extension program that offered the financial/scholarship assistance that I needed. But, it wasn’t until I actually arrived on campus that I found out that I would have to study full-time to get the scholarship that I was banking on.

I made it through the first semester because it consisted of undergraduate pre-requisite classes, but then it was time to start a full load of master’s level classes and it was on the short summer session.

I can still remember sitting down at the computer…opening up the syllabi to see the requirements and the deadlines for the courses I was signed up for….

…and immediately, a wave of terror rushed over me with the question…”how am I going to do this?”...followed a couple of days later with…”There’s no way I can keep up with this.”

I ended up walking over to my husband’s office and pouring it out and hearing him say, “Drop it…God will have something else for you.”

God taught me a valuable lesson about his grace and his expectations of me…he desired to have a relationship with me and that relationship had nothing to do with what I did or what I achieved.

1John 1:6

"If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth."

Now, here John was writing to believers. Becoming a Christian doesn't automatically stop us from sinning or trying to make and follow our own paths, nor does it guarantee that we won’t get thrown off-course when we choose to believe certain lies instead of his truth.

The story I just told you was a huge deal to me at the time, but when rubber hits the road, I was operating under a lie.

Our emotions are byproducts of the lies we tell ourselves. During that season of my life, I was literally frazzled. My emotions were bound up so tightly that I could literally feel them rush over me in waves of anxiety. But I had not entered into this situation blindly, rather I was bolstered by the lie that I could do anything I set my mind to do.

Now, this is a very popular mantra among a lot of people. And maybe, you’ve even said it yourself.

But, the reality was…even though my mind was set on doing it….my circumstances made it literally impossible for me to accomplish.

It’s time to consider what beliefs are behind your current situation. Is there a lie that you’ve bought into? It’s time to uncover it and bring it to Jesus.