What Happens When We Believe a Lie?
ByDo you believe a lie?
Of course you do. We all do. We all believe many lies.
And every lie we believe is the source of an issue in our lives.
According to the account in the first book of the Bible, Genesis 3, the whole world is under a curse because our first parents, Adam and Eve, believed a lie. They believed the serpent’s lie that God was holding back from them by not allowing them to eat from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
This worldview says that we were never meant to know evil. We were only meant to enjoy the goodness of all the other trees of the Garden of Eden that God had given them “freely to enjoy.”
When Adam and Eve “fell” because they believed the serpent’s lie, all of creation was affected.
The human race has been living by lies ever since, which is why the world is not perfect. When we believe a lie, we are affected in every area of our being: body, soul, and spirit. Starting with spirit.
God had said, “In the day that you eat of [the forbidden tree], you will die.” Adam and Eve did not die physically that day. They did die spiritually.
What did that look like?
The main area spiritual death occurred was in their relationships.
Their relationship with themselves was affected as fear and shame entered the picture. When they heard God walking in the garden, and God called to Adam, “Where are you?” he answered: “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself.” Before that, “they were both naked, and they were not ashamed.”
Their relationship with each other deteriorated: when God called Adam to account, Adam blamed Eve. Then their relationship with God was severed; they were driven out of the Garden, out of the possibility of ever again “walking with God in the cool of the evening” as they had before. Even their relationship with their bodies and nature would change: childbirth would become painful, and work would become toil.
So it is with us, when we believe a lie. Our relationships with self, others, the natural world, and God are affected. We are cut off from the Source of Life. We feel like we have to “fend for ourselves” (which itself is a lie, since God is available to help us if we ask for it).
When clients come to me about a devastating diagnosis, I tell them to tell themselves the truth about the diagnosis. If they are told they have ALS, for instance, the truth is they have a set of symptoms that doctors have called ALS, with typical outcomes of X,Y, and Z. But doctors don’t really know what ALS is or what causes it, and no person is typical. Yet, if you believe what you are told, all kinds of scientific studies in psychology confirm that it’s much more likely that you will experience the outcome you were told and came to envision yourself.
The worst lies are the ones about our identity. “I’m not good enough.” “I’m an alcoholic.” “I’m a cancer patient.” (Never identify with a disease!) “I’m worthless.”
Be careful of what “I am” statements you believe.
Every so often I find I need to do a “belief clearing” with The Healing Codes and healing prayer. I look at what’s not going well in my life, and ask what wrong beliefs might underlie it.
For instance, I’ve been trying to focus on self-care. I’m finding it very hard to put myself first. (Dr. Jonice Webb says this is very common when you grew up with Childhood Emotional Neglect.) All kinds of lies are coming up to work on. “You’re being selfish. You will be punished. People will think you’re stuck up, you only care about yourself.”
Note: Most unhealthy beliefs were once true. I was punished for having needs in a very traumatic memory. People in my family constantly told me I was selfish if I wanted something or inconvenienced them. That’s what gives the beliefs power. The key is: These beliefs are no longer true now, or no longer have to be true.
I counter these unhealthy beliefs with something I learned from Julie Bjelland: If I try to get too many people onto my own raft, we will all sink. I only have so much capacity to help others. Also, there may be other ways I can help others that won’t deplete me. When I take care of myself, I am able to give my best to others. When I are depleted, everyone loses.
In my healing prayer practices, I ask God to replace the lies with the truth, and to do it at a cellular level. This is necessary because the lies get trapped not only in the mind, but in the body. As you bathe yourself in the truth, it works its way down to the physical. Energy (light, truth) precedes matter, but it does affect matter. Change the energy, you change the matter, too.
May we all tell ourselves–and each other–the truth, because it’s the truth that sets us free.
If you would like more help uncovering the lies you may unconsciously be living by, and getting a custom Healing Code to address it, visit https://healingcodescoaching.com to order a coaching session.
Wow, this is me too – “That something was wrong, and I had to find out what it was, and fix it.” I always thought it was my circumstances. And I love books too, so I surround myself with them. Books don’t hurt me. But recently I have noticed what a distraction they are. Especially in Christian bookstores. Not that Christian books are bad. But if one isn’t careful, they become an addiction. I have gone from one book to the other, and not been in the one book – The Bible – enough. I started last week to read… Read more »