Voices

I talk to myself all the time—mainly because I’m the only one who listens to me! I’ve been organizing things in my head so long that I’ll catch myself answering my various dilemmas. Stranger still, I sometimes do this in public … out loud! How embarrassing to be caught responding to voices. One time a woman passed me and said, “Bless her heart” under her breath … but not quite under her breath.

There are many voices that constantly speak into our world—a spouse, friends, children, parents, co-workers, boss, etc. But the one voice that can cause us the most pain and confusion is the voice of the enemy. The one that keeps digging up your old dirt and likes to throw certain things in your face. Satan can’t afford for you to actually leave your old self behind and walk into who God says you are.

The other night I had a chance to speak to a room of creatives. We are created beings made in the image of God, so everyone has an element of creativity in them. Drawing, painting, poetry, writing can all be the obvious forms of creativity, but there is creativity and gifting in professions, too.

If you have the gift of hospitality, you create an experience for others to enjoy. If you’re a hard worker, you’re creating strategies, solutions, and various forms of process that overcome problems and keep things moving.

As creatives we all have that voice (or voices) in our heads that tries to snuff out ideas, rob us of vision, and strangle our creativity. In short, there’s a voice that is too often successful at causing us to completely lock up when we have an opportunity or need to respond in a creative way.

Even if we get the creativity flowing, the voice reminds us of all the times we didn’t finish or tries to convince us that what we have done/did do is not any good. It echoes in our heads and pulls us backwards with … well, you fill in the blank.

We swat the thoughts away. Occasionally we get the pleasure of a breakthrough, but, like all self-defeating vocabulary and activity, we can find ourselves right back in the same battle of the mind. Sometimes it feels like the cartoon depiction of the devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other.

God’s Word says that His sheep know His voice. For me, my Father’s voice is kind, gentle, respectful, loving, generous. Quite a contrast to the voice of the enemy, and yet at times I give the enemy way too much authority and input in my head space.

As believers we have accepted the finished work of Christ. Yet how often do we choose to live in condemnation and refuse to live in the freedom Jesus paid for? How often do we not only listen to but agree with the voice of our dead self—the dead person we supposedly left behind when we embraced the love that was purchased with blood.

Every time we listen to the voices that rob us of the life intended for us, we choose a dead (wo)man’s harvest in our life over the harvest produced with God’s living water. We keep God at arm’s length while we’re over in the corner lamenting our freedom from Egypt, begging to return to captivity.

You can’t plant defeat and harvest victory.

We have a Father who is constantly reaching out to us to share His heart, to give us good things, provide solutions, strategies, joy, love, laughter, etc. I especially love that His Kingdom is rooted in delight. But when His efforts are met with us talking about how pathetic we are, untalented, evil, afraid or the various other mindsets of captivity … we tie His hands.

Of course He could overpower us, but He’s gentle and kind and chooses not to do so. What is love if not a choice? No, He waits patiently, even allowing us to make the choice to die without experiencing the extravagant covering of His wings in the here and now.

But if you’re like me, the knowledge that God loves me and covers me with His wings can live simultaneously with my agreeing with the voice of my dead self, picking up condemnation and putting it on like a sweater, berating myself for the slightest misstep.

What will it take for us to solidify in our hearts that Christ has set us free from curses and penalties? There is no judgment for today, but we do have consequences—consequences that have to do with burying our gifts and talents. Consequences when we glorify the liar and not the cross. Consequences when we cower to the voice of our old self instead of the God-given, Jesus-Christ-paid-for, victorious new life.

We can’t seed our lives in condemnation and expect to reap a harvest of freedom. The harvest of condemnation has to be the, if not one of the most empty legacies on display in our lives. If that’s what Christ in us looks like to those around us, who in the world would want to know our God?

Join me in pondering the beauty of God, sitting in His presence and absorbing Him until we realize how utterly secure we are in Him. Get out there and write, paint, host parties, cook, volunteer, love well, work hard, and build.

The next time Satan wants to dig up dirt on you about your old self, I want you to take the dirt and—rather than use it to bury your talents in the earth—shift your perspective and pitch it on top of the dead (wo)man you left behind.

To do anything less would be, at the very least, like having left Christ hanging on the cross and His work unfinished … and, at the very worst, like slapping Him in the face while He’s still hanging there.

NOW LIVE LOVED and THRIVE!

Self-Reflection

These questions are in no way a substitute for healthcare professionals or any level of professional counseling. I’m an advocate for taking care of oneself mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. These questions reflect my heart, NOT my profession.

This questionnaire is an opportunity to journal your thoughts and feelings. It can serve as a launching pad on which to evaluate your heart condition as you understand it. My hope is that you will take the truths you discover about yourself and hold them up to the Light to evaluate them against who God says you are.

• As a believer in Christ, what part of your old/dead self is still hanging around and why?
• Do you feel God is condemning you in some way? If so, do you have a scripture (that aligns with God’s character) to back up your thoughts/feelings?
• What are you naturally creative in/with and how do you bring it into your world?
• Is there something creative you’d like to learn? If so, what and how can you make that happen?
• Name 3 ways God is creative?
• How do you see God’s creative nature in the world around you?

Talk to God about your answers. Give Him praise, ask Him questions and then listen for His gentle response.

Take Action

Use God’s word to take control over the traumas in your life.  Whenever you feel terrorized by your thoughts take them captive by replacing them with the truth of God’s promises in His word.

Here is a scripture for you to print, cut and carry with you and/or post in places where you will see it often. Ground yourself in God’s truths not Satan’s attacks. Encourage your heart and mind every time you are reminded of His great love for YOU!

“In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.”— Job 12:10 NIV

When you read God’s word say to yourself:   God has created all of life on the earth. He knows you intimately because He created you. You are made in His image. You’re like your Daddy God!