I tried, really tried not to get nauseous at Angie’s story.

“I was taught that you eat anything you kill,” she said.

Angie is one of hubby’s family members whom we recently visited. They live in a double-wide trailer surrounded by vegetable gardens, horses, and gorgeous trees at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Each family member is refreshingly warm, down-to-earth, simple, transparent and genuinely kind—traits seldom seen these days.

I relished in their ways of life and in their unique stories like the one Angie related about the day she killed a crow.

“I brought it home,” she said matter-of-factly. “Prepared it, carved out a piece of the breast, breaded it, added salt and pepper and fried it.”

I gave a fake smile to hide my disbelief but had to ask, “How did it taste?”

“Awful. I spit it out.”

In these times of turmoil, we also need to spit out the distasteful and destructive lies from the enemy of our soul. His craftiness is peppered with deceit and destruction. Caution: he works best to destroy us by first bringing in doubt, then aims to rob our security hoping we bite into these lies:

• Seek first to solve your problem
• Change will come if you try harder
• Another person will ease your loneliness
• Your provision comes from your paycheck

Angie spit out the disgusting crow’s meat and we should also do the same with those lies. On the other hand, victory comes when we delight our soul with the delicious truth in God’s Word:

1. God’s ready to give us what we need. Are you busy seeking answers, solutions, changes or breakthroughs on your own? If so, you might be stuck in the mud of discouragement, exhausted by the seeking frenzy. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33). While you choose to seek God first, expect and count on the promises that will come in ways you may not expect and in the timing that might surprise you.
2. Resist the lie that says you prayed incorrectly, your prayers are too brief, too long, with the wrong words. God has the prayer pattern defined in Matthew 6:9-15 and He adds, “And most of all, …when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:7). Before you ask Him? That’s deliciously wonderful! No wonder confidence increases in knowing He’s aware of your needs, desires and longings.
3. Another lie we need to spit out is the one that sparks these questions: Am I worthy? Do I deserve what God offers? Am I clean enough to receive? Am I too weak to pray boldly? His reassurance comes when you whisper to Him: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24).

Through Jesus, our heart can be clean and, more open to hearing His voice, knowing His lead and savoring His promises.

Let’s Pray: Father, in these times of difficult challenges and pending requests, I vow to discard the lies from the enemy of my soul. I will instead taste the goodness You offer, the path You show me and the peace You infuse in me. In Jesus’ name.

What lies are creating a bitter taste in your heart?

Janet P. Eckles
Igniting Your Passion to Overcome