The biggest lies are the ones you tell to yourself. Did you ever contemplate that?
You lie to yourself that you’re ugly. You lie to yourself that you can’t succeed. You lie to yourself that no one can love you. You lie to yourself that you are being honest!
Everyone does it. Everyone forgets that it’s the truth that sets us free. Everyone falls from time to time into self-deception.
To thine own self be true.
There are many lies. There are white lies. There are black lies. Large, small. The ones we feed ourselves are the worst because they have the most immediate effect. They are also the most relentless. Often, we tell ourselves the same lie — I’ll never succeed; I’m going to get sick; I can’t do that (or this) — all our lives. Eventually, a lie takes hold; sooner or later — often sooner — it bears fruit (and not good ones). It actualizes. And when it does, it’s “The Big Lie.”
Lies attract evil because the prince of lies is Satan who wants to drag you into discouragement or falsely puff you up — telling you things about yourself that lead you away from God’s Plan. The deceiver comes in proportion to how much darkness we allow to enter. “We convince ourselves that under certain conditions telling a lie isn’t a sin,” says author Deborah Lipsky. “Demons aren’t finicky; they will feed on any deception including white lies. You can see the impact of demonic feeding in people who are habitual liars. After a while these poor souls can’t even distinguish fact from fiction. Anxiety and a sense if desperation cloud their judgment.”
When it comes to puffing us up, the deceiver may whisper: You have to be something more than what you are. You’re losing the game of life. No one likes a loser. You should have been a movie star. You should have made a million. Look at what others have.
These are lies because no one has more than you.
God gives out different gifts but He grants them in some form to us all.
Equally.
For we are equally loved.
We are equally important.
Big shots on earth are not big shots on the “other side.”
Meanwhile, there is no peace when we are a “false self.” There is especially no peace when we are arrogant. You’re too good for that. You don’t have to bother helping. You do too much as it is. You don’t need to pray. Your prayers aren’t working. You’re too smart for all that (superstition). You should be in a better house. You deserve a luxury car. You are too smart for those around you. Lies and more lies. We tell ourselves “little” fibs. I’m going to quit this bad habit, soon. I’ll do that later. I don’t need to go to Confession. Of course, “later” never comes. We tell ourselves that we’re wise, that we’re advanced, that we’re spiritual, but we embark upon gossip. We take comfort in the misfortunes of others.
The lie is very large when we tell ourselves that we can have the best of both worlds (carnal and spiritual).
Be honest with yourself. You cannot be happy if you aspire to be what you are not. Let God define your mission, not the world.
“Let go of self-criticism, judging others, and trying to control everything in your life and the lives of those around you,” advises Deborah (in A Message of Hope). “Becoming frustrated because things aren’t going as you want them to only sets you up for negativity which is a great way that allows for demons to invade your space. You have no control over all the things that happen to you, but you do have total control on how you respond to them. Take all that wasted energy lost on trying to force life to fit into your perception of how it should be, and channel it instead on dealing with what life throws at you.”
Repent. Revoke. Replace.
“First, we must recognize that we have made a negative confession about ourselves and we must repent of it,” wrote Dereck Prince (in Blessing or Curse: You Can Chose!). “Second, we must revoke it — that is to, unsay or cancel it. Third, we must replace our previous wrong confession with the right one.”
Erase the lies you have told yourself. To thine own self be true. Make sure you are not at one extreme deflated by what you have said negatively to yourself nor puffed up by pride.
Ask for the reality of the Spirit of Truth, Who knows who you really are.
And when negative thoughts — or criticality — enter, recite over and again three simple words as a way of dispelling them: “Infant. Purity. Love.”
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