When the Truth Does NOT Feel True.

Not Realizing what you already possess

Below you will discover a short list of what every believer is given in Christ. The actual listing would be much longer since we have been blessed with every heavenly blessing (Eph. 1:3) and have been given the fullness of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23). If these realities are not becoming evident within the believer’s life, there is a problem. The problem isn’t that the believer doesn’t possess them, but rather, there is something hindering him from believing and acting on what God has provided. This is not a problem of not knowing the truth with our intellect, but rather not believing the reality of the truth with the heart. When the truth does not feel true then we have a belief problem.

This problem cannot be solved by trying harder to believe the truth. If these truths do not feel true to us, then the problem is we believe something contrary to them. We very well may believe them intellectually, but yet they may not feel true. Since emotion is produced by heart belief, our feelings will be an accurate indication of what we believe.

We each believe a number of different lies within our hearts, but we cannot believe both the truth and the lies simultaneously in our heart. For example, we cannot believe that God loves us and also believe that He hates us. Nor can we believe that He accepts us and rejects us. We cannot believe that He is with us and has also abandoned us.  We will believe only one or the other within our hearts but never both. We may believe many lies, such as we are hated, rejected, unprotected, abandoned, and unimportant to God—all at the same time. However, the moment that we believe an opposing truth to any of these lies, the lie will disappear.

We continually witness this reality in a TPM session. The person might believe he is all alone and abandoned by God. Then the Spirit reveals how He is with the person and he was never alone. The moment the person believes the truth, the lie has to leave. Lies and truth cannot occupy the same space, just as light and darkness cannot abide together (Jo. 1:5). However, light and darkness can dwell in close proximity, as long as they are not in the same room. We can believe the truth intellectually while holding an opposing lie in our hearts. This is common for most of us. When this is the case, we are double minded: holding two or more opposing beliefs at the same time. This is why I may be able to quote a Bible verse and yet feel the opposite of what it says.

The verses listed below declare the truth with unquestionable certainty. It is very possible that you will believe all of these truths with your intellect and affirm them completely. You may even be willing to die for each and every one. However, if they do not feel true then something is amiss. If the verse does not feel true, then there is something contrary that you believe which opposes this truth. This opposing belief will feel true, even though you may intellectually know it is not. Whatever feels true is what we believe in our hearts.

Someone may feel a need to defend his position and say something like, “Emotion is our enemy, keeping us from the truth. We must deny our emotions and choose to believe what our head says is true.” Not so. We do not believe the truth simply because we choose to believe it. We are only able to believe with our hearts when the Spirit persuades us of the truth. The Greek root word translated “faith” in the New Testament is the word “peitho,” which means to persuade or to be persuaded. Faith and/or belief is the outcome of being persuaded of God that the truth is the truth. Faith and/or belief (peitho) is a gift from God.

Emotion is not our enemy but our friend. Our emotions were created by God with an important purpose. Emotions are accurate indicators of what we believe. We always feel what we believe. Furthermore, what we believe will feel true—even when it is not. If the truths listed below do not feel true, then something else does. We can actually embrace our feelings as a benefit and not as a hindrance because we can then use them to help us identify the lies that occupy places in our heart where truth should reside.

If we misunderstand the problem and assume the solution is denying what we feel, suppressing our emotions, trying harder to believe, overcoming something, etc., we will likely fail to find freedom. However, when we believe the truth with the heart, things start to make sense and fall into place. Heart belief is a gift from God, not an intellectual accomplishment. When I know the truth in my heart, transformation always follows!  We don’t need to try harder, we need to be transformed.

Read each of the following truths and feel what you read. Does each one feel true?

• I am complete in Christ (Col. 2:10).
• I am alive with Christ (Eph. 2:5).
• I am free from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2).
• I am born of God, and the evil one does not touch me (1 Jo. 5:18).
• I am holy and without blame (Eph. 1:4; 1 Pet. 1:16).
• I am equipped with the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16; Phil. 2:5).
• I am God’s child (1 Pet. 1:23).
• I am God’s workmanship. (Eph. 2:10).
• I am a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).
• I am a spirit being alive to God (Rom. 6:11; 1 Thess. 5:23).
• I am a joint heir with Christ (Rom. 8:17).
• I am more than a conqueror through Him (Rom. 8:37, Rev. 12:11).
• I am a partaker of His divine nature (2 Pet. 1:3-4).
• I am a part of a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation (1 Pet. 2:9).
• I am the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:21).
• I am the temple of the Holy Spirit; I am not my own (1 Cor. 6:19).
• I am forgiven of all my sins and washed in the Blood (Eph. 1:7).
• I am delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into God’s kingdom (Col. 1:13).
• I am raised up with Christ and seated in heavenly places (Eph. 2:6; Col 2:12).
• I am greatly loved by God (Rom. 1:7; Eph. 2:4; Col. 3:12; 1 Thess. 1:4).
• I am in Christ and Christ lives in me (Gal. 2:20).

As you read these truths, did they FEEL true to you? If we KNOW the truth in our hearts, it will feel true. If any of these truths did not feel true, it’s because we believe something else.  Someone will probably say, “We just need to deny what we feel and choose to believe!” We can do this with our minds intellectually, but it will not make the truth feel true. We will still feel whatever we believe.  If the truth does not feel true then we do not believe it in our hearts. The right question to ask, “Why not?”

Trying harder to believe will probably not make these truths feel any more true than they currently do. We must identify the beliefs contrary to the truth and ask the Lord to grant us “a spirit of wisdom and knowledge” and to “open the eyes of our heart” so we can see with our heart the truth He has for us. Unless the Spirit persuades us of the truth within our hearts, we cannot believe. TPM is a tool that can help you do this.

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