Your Truth Life Preserver

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Truth is like a life preserver. The purpose of a life preserver, of course, is to prevent drowning. If you are sent plunging into stormy waters, you will hang onto that life preserver because your life depends on it.

Truth is every bit as essential to your well-being. Without truth at the core of your being and your belief system, you are vulnerable to distortions and deceptions. And when life throws you into an emotional, raging sea, truth will be your life preserver while you are waiting for rescue.

Three truths are fundamental to establish a solid foundation of truth:    

  1. God is the author of truth: Into Your hand, I commit my spirit, O God of Truth (Ps. 31, NIV). 
  2. He wants you to know the truth about His love for you and to know yourself in light of it: He desires truth in the inner parts (Ps. 51:6, NIV).    
  3. Knowing the truth will liberate you from the lies and deceptions which oppress you and hinder you from fulfilling your God-given destiny: The truth will set you free (John 8:32, NIV).

The God of Truth

Scripture says, It is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18, NIV). Every word God speaks is true, so you can trust Him to lead you safely and wisely through life’s twists and turns. Truth is very powerful, whether you believe it or not. Truth believed is life-changing.  A lie, on the other hand, has no power until you believe it, but when you do, it will usually distort your view of yourself, or others, or God. This is why it is imperative to know and trust the God of Truth.

Truth in the Inner Parts

"He loves me and desires to have personal, intimate relationship with me" is the most powerful truth that God wants you to believe. It is God's heart that you would experience His great love as the foundation to all other truth. See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. This is how we know that we belong to the Truth and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence (1 John 3:1, 16, 18, 19, NIV).  It is essential that you daily activate this greatest of all truths, “He loves me,” by inviting this truth into the core of your person.  

Set Free by Truth

The divine purpose of believing truth is to be set free! Remember, thinking or confessing truth is not the same as believing truth at the core of your person. The exchange of faulty believing for truthful believing in the inner parts will help you become healthier mentally and emotionally, make constructive, positive choices, and develop meaningful relationships.

As you believe the truth that matches God’s truth, that truth will change your behavior over time. What you believe is what you will do! The highest purpose to believing truthfully is to bring permanence of change, whether that is to leave behind depression, anxiety, addiction, anger, fear, worry, negativity, or whatever your challenge is. Do not stop; do not give up until you arrive at the door of "set free," which then opens to a door of opportunity for your greater growth.

Beginnings of Everyday Thoughts

As children journey through life, fears and insecurities enter in through hurt and pain. Each of those experiences is linked to an unconscious thought. These thoughts go undetected because children lack the ability to process them cognitively and are more connected to what they feel, thus believing that what they feel must be true. In addition, parents are often more focused on appropriate behaviors versus giving consideration to what their child may believe internally. Therefore, these messages move from childhood to adulthood becoming what I call everyday thoughts. 

These everyday thoughts are also known as your self-talk; and if distorted, they usually take the form of your negative I am’s, I cannot’s, what if’s, and should or shouldn't statements.  Some examples: I am unlovable, I am undeserving, I am unworthy, I can’t succeed at anything, I can never trust again, I cannot forgive, what if I fail?, what if he leaves?, she should not have left me, he should be more helpful, they should have been more responsible.

Often under the influence of fear and insecurity, these everyday thoughts, faulty and negative, are accepted as "truth." From this distortion of truth, you develop a faulty belief system about your personal life and relationships, and adopt faulty premises from which you make life decisions, marring both your present and future. It is important to recognize that if this faulty believing is at the core of your life, it will be reflected in unhealthy, negative, and destructive emotions, behaviors, and choices. Put another way, when you are engaged in destructive or negative behaviors, you can be sure there is faulty self-talk or lies behind them. Therefore, to live lives of healthy well-being, it is crucial to exchange these distortions for truthful believing.

Assess Your Self-Talk

It is important to assess your everyday thoughts about yourself or others in your self-talk. Too often faulty thoughts will enter in, and you find yourself reacting in ways you didn’t intend or are destructive. It is important to train yourself, when your emotions begin to escalate, to stop and ask yourself, “What am I believing or telling myself here?” Ask the Holy Spirit to put His finger on the untruth you are believing. So begin by eavesdropping on yourself!  Is it really true that you are “never going to amount to much?” Is it really true that you are not as good/smart/beautiful/successful as your sister/brother? Is it really true that you are always going to be taken advantage of?  

The vital question you must ask yourself is: do my thoughts match God’s thoughts? As you believe the truth that matches God’s truth, that truth will change your behavior over time. What you believe is what you will do! Truth in your inner parts will set you free in your emotions, behaviors, choices, relationships, and your destiny. It is a worthy endeavor to pursue truth at the core of your being, the most important one being: He loves me, no strings attached, unconditional, and there is nothing required of me but to just believe it and receive it.

Dr. Roselene Coblentz