FAILURE! Fail, fail, FAILURE! That’s what I kept saying to myself as I frantically worked to do way too many things at once, and failing to be very successful at any of them.  Tears were stinging my eyes and rolling down my cheeks. Once again, I was running late with dinner. I hadn’t gotten to the dishes at all during the day and they were piling high. Yet again, I hadn’t gotten through all of the lessons I’d planned for the day, or all of the items on my never ending to-do list. Once again, I’d lost my cool and yelled at the kids. Failure! 

Then God whispered something in my ear. As clear as day I heard in my head, “That is not your name.” Wow! God definitely got my attention there as that sank in. When God is sitting up there in Heaven looking down at me He’s not thinking, “Man, what a failure that Heather is! She can’t seem to get anything right!” Nope, if I hear that, that’s not God speaking. That’s the father of lies. That’s Satan trying to call me out by my imperfections. 

Satan’s Lies

Why is it that when Satan whispers in our ears and reminds us of our struggles, it’s so easy to lean in and listen?  It’s so easy to take to heart those lies he tries to fill us with.  If we learn how to recognize Satan’s lies it’s going to be a lot easier to ignore them.

They Tear You Down

The easiest way to spot Satan’s lies is to know that he will always try to tear you down.  He doesn’t want us to be strong or to feel valued or loved, so he’s going to do everything in his power to make us feel bad.  If a voice is bringing you pain and sorrow, it’s not from God.  The voice that whispers shame and failure isn’t coming from Heaven.

They Call You Names

Satan will call you by every ugly name he can think of.  He’ll call you a failure, and a loser, a bad mother, and unlovable.  He’s going to call you by your struggles and your sins.  He wants to drag you down and the easiest way is to remind you of every wrong thing you’ve ever done.  Satan knows that God has removed those sins from you, and he knows that continually reminding you of those sins will keep you trapped in your past instead of embracing God’s freedom.

They Offer False Worthiness

Satan wants us to believe the lie that our worth is based on what we do.  If we believe that doing enough and being enough will make us worthy, he can guarantee that we will never, ever feel worthy.  If he can just get us to try to live up to the world’s standards he knows we will always fall short and continue to believe his lies.  These lies that tell us that if we don’t meet the world’s definition of success, we are failures, undeserving of love or appreciation.

God’s Truth

While Satan is busy whispering his lies, God is whispering His truth in our ears.  Somehow the truth of His love seems so much harder to hear and to believe, but it IS true.  The first step to being able to hear and believe Him is to learn to recognize His voice and His words.

They Build You Up

If the voice you’re hearing is coming from God, it’s going to be building you up.  God’s voice may offer correction, but only done in love.  The words you hear that are making you feel genuine love, hope, and worthiness are coming from God.  He wants you to know his love and He’s going to do everything in his power to communicate that to you!

They Call You Redeemed

God doesn’t call you a failure.  He calls you redeemed!  Out of curiosity I looked up the meaning of ‘redeemed’ and here are definitions according to wordreference.com, “to make up for; make amends for; offset (some fault, shortcoming, etc.)” and, “to set free or deliver (someone) from captivity…by paying a penalty or ransom”.  Well there you have it, plain and simple.  We all have faults, shortcomings, and imperfections.  Every last one of us falls on our face and messes things up.  God knew that and he CHOSE to redeem us.  He chose to make up for our faults and shortcomings through His grace and power.  

They Offer True Worthiness

Here is the thing, we aren’t enough.  Not on our own.  We can never be ‘good enough’ to earn God’s love, because He is perfect and we are not.  We are humans and we are imperfect.  If He made us perfect, we would have no need for God, or His love, or His redeeming grace.  We would have no need for God’s strength if we were strong enough to do and handle it all on our own.  Instead, God made us imperfect humans, in need of His help and redemption.  BUT, God declares us worthy simply because we are his.  While Satan tells you that you’re worthy *if* you do enough, God tells you that you are worthy simply because he loves you.

You Are NOT a Failure

Do you hear that voice? The one that’s constantly trying to remind you of your every mistake and misstep? The one that loves to rehash your old sins and call you a failure? Turn things around and call him out! Tell Satan to shut his lying mouth, because you are a new creation in Christ! You are not your old, bad choices, nor are you the failings of each day. You’re not the sum total of your mistakes and flops. You are NOT a failure.  God has redeemed you!  If you need a little extra reminding and encouragement, check out the playlist I built on Youtube.  It’s full of songs to help you remember just how much God loves you and how much He wants to be right beside you every day!