It was one of those days.

Nothing bad had really happened, just some minor growing pains between me and my daughter.

But it wasn’t fun and I hate feeling disconnected from the people I love. Unfortunately, that comes with teen territory—–their transition from childhood to adulthood with parents trying to hang on and let go at the same time.

So I was feeling rejection and loss. Part of my brain knew it would pass, but the other part was wallowing in the dejection of disconnect and the irritation of being wronged. Parenting can leave you a bit off balance.

I tried to pray, but wasn’t getting any relief from the gloom that had settled in. I just wanted God to fix it and help me feel better.

I didn’t want to make the effort to grab hold of what Jesus has done for me. It’s easier to float down the stream than dig in with our paddles and fight our way back upriver.

That stream we float down are the lies we are listening to. It’s much easier to float along the familiar—–you’re worthless, this is too hard, you’ll never change—–than to kick some enemy hinny and start training toward our freedom.

That afternoon, I realized that I was listening to lies—–those subtle thoughts that are so familiar and so from the pit of darkness.

Familiarity makes lies sound like truth.

If I’ve always felt unworthy, and that lie is deeply embedded in my belief system, it’s going to take a lot of effort and work to root it out and replace it with the truth.

But it can be done!

When the enemy throws out his hook and baits us with unworthiness, anger, lust, rejection or any other temptation and we make a choice to agree with those thoughts (which can happen on a nearly unconscious level), we’ve basically set out the welcome mat for the enemy to move in.

And move in he does.

But the Word of God and the blood of Jesus are his eviction notice.

We just have to learn how to apply them and walk in it.

Sometimes we may feel like we are in a battle we can’t win. The thoughts are too strong and too overwhelming to stop. It’s like a dam that has broken and the force behind it continually flattens us. In those cases, the enemy often has a right to us because of generational curses that need to be broken to bring relief to our minds and our emotions.

The enemy is the master of torment. And if we don’t know how to get free, we become like the scapegoat that gets bullied and beaten up every day. And we either become depressed or we shut off our emotions.

There are many tools and ministries out there to help people get free. Several of them have changed my life. It’s not easy, but it is so worth it.

So that afternoon, I prayed and broke those agreements (just a simple prayer:  I repent for allowing rejection to talk to me. I nail rejection to the cross. And I break all agreements I made with rejection.)

Then I asked God to remove rejection from me and share what He wanted to replace it with.

And the easiest way for me to hear Him is to close my eyes and ask Holy Spirit what He wants to give me and then wait for what comes to mind. It could be a picture or a sense of something or just a knowing.

What came to me when I asked was:  An overcoming nature.

Isn’t that beautiful? And isn’t it what we all want?

This is a journey He’s inviting us all on—–to learn to walk in freedom, together.

Prayer

Holy Spirit, please give me an awareness of the thoughts that are not my own. The lies that are speaking to me, inviting me to agree with them. I nail them to the cross and repent for partnering with them. I ask you to remove them from me and close the door to them. Reveal to me what You want to give me in place of these lies I’ve believed and partnered with. Teach me to run to you when I’m overwhelmed and teach me to listen to how You speak to me. Help me to recognize Your voice and separate You from the enemy’s lies that are so familiar that I’ve allowed into my house. Break me free from the generational curses that have been handed down in my family and teach me to walk the path You’ve laid before me. I want to love You as You’ve designed me to love. Thank you! In Jesus’ name, amen!

Balancing on the Brink photo by Paxson Woelber via Flickr – no changes made