There is a cost not only to lie, but also to believing lies. They can damage us and our relationships, sometimes irreparably. Buying into lies continuously will take you down a destructive path and move you further away from God. One of the reasons we know this to be true is because the Bible tells us so. The first sin was a lie told by the devil to Eve. One of the Ten Commandments given to Moses says, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” The devil facilitates many of these lies in hopes of destroying your relationship with God. Here are six lies satan wants you to believe about God.
"You aren’t significant to God."
While God wants you to live a life filled with purpose, the devil wants the opposite for you. He doesn’t want you to think or care about your thoughts, attitude, words or actions and will trick you into believing you aren’t significant. If he gets you to believe your life is without purpose, then you will live a life of sin, out of tune with God. But your life is so significant. God knew you before you were even born. Remember, He knows the plans He has for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).
"Church isn't important to God."
Many people who don’t attend church regularly or at all wonder what the point of going to church is if they have a personal relationship with God. While not attending church will not send you to hell or make God love you any less, it is not what God hoped for His people and can hinder spiritual growth.
The devil wants you to believe that you don’t have to go to church because it isn’t important, at least when it comes to your individual relationship with God. What does church really have to do with your personal relationship with Him? But the church isn’t just a structure – it is a physical representation of Christ in the world. Members of this body not only share a common bond as Christians, but are also joined in Christ in Salvation. The church is the body of Christ and each of us serves a unique, but significant role in it (1 Corinthians 4:12).
"God’s Word isn’t real."
The devil wants to trick you into believing the Bible is a collection of myths, in hopes that you will doubt God’s Word and even His existence. He also wants you to believe that the Bible, written nearly 3500 years ago is no longer relevant in our modern world because it was written so long ago. But God’s Word is real and has real significance. Not only was it written by more than 40 different writers over a 2000-year span with remarkable consistency, it explains life and the human experience in a way no other book has or ever will.
"Happiness is unattainable."
The devil wants you to stress about things outside of your control so that you don’t rely on Christ, the One who strengthens, but that you will rely on the Enemy, the one who will do everything in his power to make you doubt all forms of joy and happiness. He wants you confused, anxious, even angry about your life circumstances so that you will and eventually become distant from God, and rely on your own understanding.
The Bible says, “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). Our happiness is so important to God that when we achieve it in Him, we draw closer to His heart and His Kingdom. If we understand that our happiness matters to God, the next question becomes how to pursue it in a way that pleases Him.
"God doesn’t care about the words you use."
The devil loves to stir up trouble. He wants you to spread gossip and bad news so that you will focus on the negative and not believe in God’s goodness or His blessings. He will even whisper small lies and half-truths related to members of your church congregation and the next thing you know these rumors are spreading like wildfire within the church body. If he tricks you into thinking gossip does no harm, you will then believe there’s nothing wrong in spreading harmful or malicious words which can hurt the people you love, and allow you to develop a negative occurring of the world around you, which has an impact on all that you do.
"The physical world outweighs the spiritual world."
If the devil can get you to believe the physical world is more real than the spiritual world, he can trick you into pursuing things like money, power and fame and have you believing that materialistic things are more important than being in a relationship with God. If you think this, then you won’t seek first the kingdom of God. But there is far more greatness in God’s Heavenly Kingdom than any material possession we acquire while in physical form on Earth.
In 1 Timothy 1:9-11, lying is listed as something that is practiced by the lawless. Just as there are people around you who will lie to avoid confronting the truth, there are people who will buy into lies in order to avoid God’s truth. While the devil lies constantly, God never does. In fact, He is the source of truth. Hebrews 6:18 tells us, “It is impossible for God to lie.” Jesus tells us He is the way, the truth and the life. As followers of Jesus, we are called to be people of truth. Believing these lies keeps us from fully living this.
