Fight for It: A 21-Day DevotionalSample

Today’s Devotional:

Pastor Julie recently shared a message on “Peace Over Problems.” She shared a story about a trip that they went on to South Africa. She was on a safari where there were beautiful rhinoceroses, giraffes, and elephants. But unfortunately, she wasn’t able to appreciate the beauty on the outside because there was a rat on the inside of her truck. This rat on the inside caused a distraction from seeing all of the beauty on the outside. How many times have we let words that others may have spoken over us affect how we view ourselves on the inside that it has kept us from experiencing all that God has for us on the outside? I know I have!

When I was younger, I moved schools five different times in seven years. So each time I moved, I heard the same things, “Why did you move so many times…you have a funny name…we’ve all been friends since kindergarten…my mom doesn’t let me hang out with people she doesn’t know.” When you see these words, you might think they seem harmless enough, they were just kids. But now that I am an adult, I take words that I have heard multiple times in my past and turn them into lies in my present. So now, these are the words I hear in my head often when I go out or attempt to do anything new. “You don’t belong here, you will never fit in, you are always the oddball out, and you will never be enough.”

For some of us, these lies may creep in periodically during certain situations, but for many of us, these are lies that consistently fill our thoughts day in and day out. God’s Word says that we don’t have to live with those lies. 2 Corinthians 10:5 encourages us to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. When those thoughts come into my mind, I need to ask myself, “Was that really what they said, or is that a lie that I am currently believing?”

In John 8:32, Jesus tells us that we will know the truth, and the truth will set us free. So what is the truth? Well, I know that the truth is actually a person and that person is Jesus. So what does Jesus say about me? In God’s Word, He tells me that I am chosen (Ephesians 1:4), I am valuable (Job 33:4), I have a purpose (Jeremiah. 29:11), and I am enough (Ephesians 2:10). This truth doesn’t always come easy to me, sometimes I would rather focus on the lie. That is why I need to continually be in God’s Word so that His Word gets into me.

I encourage you to spend some time with God today and really seek out what lies you have been believing about yourself. Then I encourage you to replace those lies with His truth. I keep a list with Scripture on it taped to my bedroom mirror, or maybe you need to write down some daily declarations that Pastor Julie suggested. Just like Pastor Julie says, we need to “Write it, say it, and then repeat it until we believe it!”

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Today’s devotional was written by Pastor Janna Johns

Question:

• What lies do you need to replace with truth today?

A Prayer to ‘Look Out’: Jesus, thank you that you are the Truth and that you want to set me free. Help me today to get out of my own thoughts and get more into your Word so that I can impact others. I pray today that my mind will be renewed with thoughts of who you say I am. In your name, Amen.