Life is full of ups and downs. These four beliefs are toxic to our relationship with God and to our growth.
Sometimes the beliefs we have can hinder our growth and relationship with God. It’s possible to believe something and not even realize that the thought is our own and not true about who God is. I have honestly struggled with these questions. Until I dealt with them, I wasn’t going to be willing to move forward, I wasn’t going to be able to grow and I wasn’t going to be able to trust God.
Could you be believing some of these lies too? Are you willing to face them and view them as the hindrances they are? These seem innocent enough, but they are destroying your spiritual walk, just like they destroyed mine.
1. God wants me to get my life straightened out before I turn to Him.
2. If God loved me then He would give me what I need.3. God already knows everything, so I don’t need to pray.4. There is nothing God cannot do.
God wants me to get my life straightened out before I turn to Him.
I wasted so much time trying to get myself and my life in order before turning my heart back towards God. The truth was that there was nothing I could have possibly done to make myself right. I needed Him to make me right before Him, all I needed to do was show up. It was so freeing when I finally turned to Him with the brokenness of myself and my life. And ya know what? He wasn’t mad at me, He didn’t scold me. He welcomed me, broken pieces and all, and began to put me back together.
If God loved me then He would give me what I need.
There is such a pain that comes with the thought that if God truly loved you then why doesn’t He just provide what it is that you need. We don’t exactly know why God gives us some things and withholds others. We can, however, trust that He has a plan and His direction is to allow that wonderful plan for our lives. Whatever obstacles we face, we can be sure that we are not alone and it is for a purpose.
I have often felt like I have been given a few puzzle pieces, and though I didn’t have the big picture, I knew I wasn’t happy with the pieces I had been given. Some of the puzzle pieces were given to me based on my own decisions and others were given to me based on God’s direction. Oh, how I wish I could just trade a few of those pieces. They’re the pieces I have been given though. I can trust God, who loves me and is all-powerful, or I can choose to be in resistance; but the pieces sometimes remain. Maybe the thing you wish you could change about your life is the same thing that will bring you closer to the God who loves you and desires you.
God already knows everything, so I don’t need to pray. If God is all-knowing then why do we have to pray? He knows what we would say if we were to say it. He knows what we need, what we think, and what we desire. So, do those things really need to be voiced? Relationship requires two participants, and it’s no different in our relationship with God. He desires to be close to you.
God is God and it doesn’t matter what I want.
Discouragement comes quickly when we have prayed so long and so hard for something, and don’t get the thing, or the outcome, we long for. Sometimes it can feel like we are just along for the ride, and we don’t get a say. But don’t lose hope, and don’t turn away from God. Ask Him to help you to trust His plan for your life. He cares for you. He likes you too.
There is nothing God cannot do.
God is sovereign, He is in complete control in all things at all times. God is omniscient, He has total knowledge of the past, present, and future. God is omnipresent, He is everywhere all the time. He is powerful, creating the heavens and earth and all living things was not too hard for Him. He provided manna that fell from the sky to nourish His people when they were wandering for 40 years (Exodus 26). And Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11). Jesus calmed the storm with one command (Matthew 8). These are just a few of the miracles recorded in the Bible. Did you know that there are actually a couple of things He cannot do? He cannot go against His character and He cannot lie. All He does is wholly consistent and true to who He was and will be, and who He says He is.
Could it be that you are believing some of the lies that I believed? I encourage you to think about these and ask God to reveal to you if any of these could be hindering your walk with Him.
