The God-Shaped HeartSample

Beliefs Matter

Our brains are amazing machines built to adapt based on the choices of the mind and the desires of the heart. This is why it is so critical to form healthy belief systems—our beliefs do matter. 

Believing a lie about the self—such as I am ugly, I am gross, I am worthless, I am no good—is devastating. A corruption in our thinking causes negative changes in the brain and body. Unhealthy thought patterns activate the brain’s stress circuits causing inflammatory cascades that, if not resolved, damage insulin receptors and increase the risk for multiple health issues.

In order to have an efficient mental computer, one needs undamaged hardware (brain), uncorrupted software (mind, including a healthy heart, a healthy sense of self operating on healthy principles), and a reliable energy source (blood supply from a healthy body). Possessing only two of the three results in a computer (person) that will not function. All three are required for an operational system. 

Understanding this, we gain some insight into what spiritual warfare is. It is a battle for the core operating system—the heart! If you have a war over arguments, pretentions, knowledge, and thoughts, where is the battle held? In the mind. The battle between Christ and Satan is a war going on in the minds of God’s intelligent creatures for our hearts over whom to trust, whom to give our hearts to. This is why Satan is known as the father of lies, because he works to infect our minds—our software—with ideas that corrupt its functioning and thereby obstruct the healing of our hearts. This is known in computer jargon as a virus! 

What we believe changes us physically, relationally, psychologically, and spiritually. Understanding that Satan is the father of lies and that we are in a war over who we believe God to be, what is the single most destructive lie that has infected Christianity and obstructed our ability to experience God’s love, thereby holding millions in the bondage of fear, violence, and addiction cycles? The answer: how one understands God’s law, which directly impacts how one understands God’s use of power and ultimately the kind of being he is. That’s what we’re going to look at tomorrow.

What are some of the lies from Satan you are tempted to believe? What truths from God could replace those lies in your thoughts?