Cover Your Ears

On Labor Day this year, there was an incident regarding broiling some hot dogs and our smoke detector... Everything was fine, but until we could get the smoke detector to realize that there was no fire, it set off this LOUD alarm that cut through every wall and room of the house. It went off for several minutes, with the patterned "BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!" ringing out each time, until it finally realized that all the smoke was gone and there was nothing to alert us of. However, after the last "BEEP!" faded away, I noticed that my left ear was still ringing along with the pattern of the beeps. I could still hear a faint beeping, even though it wasn't going off physically anymore, simply because I had not covered my ears to protect them from the after effects while the noise was occurring. I assumed that, though it was loud, I was far enough away that I wouldn't need to (I had been in a different room). 

When the ringing carried on for the next few days, I began to wish I had covered my ears when I still had the chance to protect them. 

Now, for those of you who are concerned, don't worry. It faded away eventually. But the whole thing made me realize something that hit me pretty hard... It felt as though the Holy Spirit was convicting me that I needed to "cover my ears" because of something other than an alarm...

I realized that, in the same way the loud beeping had left my ears ringing with the rhythm for the next few days, I had lies ringing through my mind simply because I had not been mindful to "cover my ears" to prevent them. I was allowing my mind to dwell on thoughts like "it's hopeless", "you're not good enough", "God doesn't really care about you", "you're never going to be able to be free", "your prayers aren't being heard", "God can't forgive you for that", "God's punishing you", "doing this sin just this once won't hurt anything", "God can't help you out of this one", and so on and so forth. Instead of using the power of the Holy Spirit to "cover my ears" when I heard the first lie, and to tell those lies the truth found in Scripture, I had let these lies take over my mind, and I was finding it hard to focus on anything else. 

I had wasted so much of my time listening to these lies, and believing them to the point of constantly being in a state of hopelessness, and as I said in my last post, feeling abandoned by and distant from God. I never would've realized it without the Holy Spirit, but I truly was ignoring the Truth simply because I had ALLOWED the voices telling me lies to dwell in my mind. Because I didn't just cover my ears, and rebuke those lies in the name of Jesus, the moment I FIRST recognized them, they multiplied and made a home in me that they know full well they should by no means be doing to a child of God. They saw an opportunity and took it, and it led me to over a year's worth of mental battles that could've all been avoided had I simply covered my ears. 

I write this to encourage those of you who are reading to really take seriously the things that are being put into you, and the thoughts that are floating around your mind. Have you been listening to some lies lately? Do you find yourself thinking things that are opposite of the Truth? Do you allow yourself to listen to, read, or watch things that are helping the lies look more and more like truth? 

Though we will never be able to get rid of the noise of the lies entirely in this life, we have the choice whether or not we're going to let them damage us. We have a choice whether or not we're going to listen to them, and let them stay in us. God promises to always provide a way out of temptation, as well as freedom if we resist the devil, and if we seek His face and the way out. 

It's not too late to fight back the lies with Truth. No matter how long they've been ringing through your mind, and no matter how much damage they've caused, there is hope and freedom if you choose to seek it and cling to it. It's a daily choice that we have to make, and it isn't always easy... but it is SO worth it. 

 I want to close today by taking a few moments to speak some truths over you all that some of you may be in need of hearing. I encourage you to speak these over the lies you face in life, and to constantly cling to them even when you don't believe that they are true. 

For those who believe that you are worthless, I tell you the truth that you are valuable and loved (Psalm 139:14, Isaiah 43:4).

For those who believe that you are trapped forever, I tell you the truth that there is freedom still for you (John 8:36, John 10:10).

For those of you who believe that you are unable to do something, or that your illness or anxiety or anything else will always bring you down to the point where you can't accomplish what you're made to, I tell you the truth that you can do ALL things through Christ's strength (Philippians 4:13).

And for those of you who believe that your circumstance is impossible, and that God can't redeem... I tell you the truth that nothing is impossible for God (Matthew 19:26).

There are thousands of other verses that you can find to speak over whatever lies come your way, and I encourage you all to dive in to God's Word and seek out those verses for your specific battle. And remember that sometimes the devil will try to twist Scripture at you, in order to get you to believe his lies. That's why we need to make a habit to get in the Word as often as we can, so that we know other Scriptures that prove that his twisting is a lie in disguise. 

All Scripture is God-breathed, and it is true to the very depth of it. Our feelings will lie to us, society will lie to us, and even sometimes our friends and family will lie to us, because the devil wants to use any chance he can get to get us to listen to him, so he will try his best to make every one of his lies sound as true as possible. But ultimately, what God says is Truth. He will never lie to us. We just have to choose to believe that, even when the noise is ringing loud all around us. 

Will you choose to listen to the voice of Truth today? I promise you, He will never let you down.