Breathe AgainSample

Digging Out the Lies

Take a moment to do this exercise.

First, name something you believe about your season right now. Then ask yourself why you believe it. Why does it frighten or worry you? Why do you churn it over in your mind or scream it to God in anger? 

Then ask why again, and again. As you ask why, you’ll find the self- trash or God-trash you unknowingly believe that needs to be pulled out like a weed.

Let me show you what it looked like for me when I did this exercise. 

My first belief or cry out to God was, I can’t believe God would let this happen to me and my family. 

So I asked, Why? 

Because I’ve done so much for him, loved him, followed him—heck, even moved across the world for him— done my best at every turn. 

Why? 

Because I thought he loved me. 

Why? 

Because that’s what the Bible tells me and I’ve seen his love for other people. 

So . . . 

He obviously doesn’t love me like he loves them. 

Why? 

Because I’m not good enough. 

Ouch. There it is. The core belief. I’m not good enough for God to love me. 

I had to dig deeper to find the lie behind it. So . . . 

God’s grace is there for everyone else, but it doesn’t apply to me. I’m the exception. I have to earn his love. 

Boom. Found it: I’m the exception and I have to earn God’s love. The root holding on in the soil of my life and faith was the idea that I have to earn God’s love.

Despite years of hearing about God’s grace and the freedom of not needing to earn his love or salvation, I still believed that I was the exception and had to measure up to be loved (and therefore healed) by God. In my head I knew it was utter nonsense, but it’s no wonder I spiral down and away from him when things get tough. No wonder I couldn’t grasp all he had for me. 

As we repeat this exercise over and over, we identify more and more lies. The more lies we see, the more we’ll be able to remove, and the more we remove, the fuller the life we can live. 

What lie did you identify when you did this exercise?