Same event, different memory

DeAnna Willman Photo Debby Hudson@unsplash

So Yeshua (Jesus) said to those who had believed him, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

John 8:31-32

Have you ever wondered how it is that two people who experience the very same event can walk away with two very different perceptions of what happened? Or how two people in the same family could have two very different perceptions of how life in the family really was? One of my much earlier posts dealt with perspective and perceptions. One’s CHOSEN worldview (perspective) will determine how that person perceives everything and everyone around them. The lenses in their glasses will determine how they see (perceive) every experience and all that is around them.

One of my very dear friends has three sisters. My friend is the youngest of the four girls. I was blessed on several occasions to be with all four sisters and their dad. Those are some special memories. But I noticed that when they started talking about an event that happened in their past, three of them would laugh and speak about good memories concerning that event. One of the older sisters would every time have something negative to say about the event. She didn’t share the same joy and laughter over the event that my friend and the other two sisters had. Yet, she was at the same place experiencing the same event. Even their dad would chime in with these memories and he viewed them with joy, as well. He even spoke highly and lovingly of each of the girls and their part in the event. So, why were her memories completely opposite of what those around her who had experienced the very same thing?

You have learned by now that our brain takes in information from the spirit world, from our five senses, and from our own non-conscious. It is as if the brain is being given building supplies and the conscious mind must determine what blue print it will use and what will be the use of those supplies. My friend and her family had been given the very same building supplies (incoming external information) in those events in their lives. The majority of the family built good memories out of those events. The other sister built negative memories from those same building supplies, the same information and experience.

This sister’s world view (perspective) was one of very low self-esteem and self-rejection. It seems the lenses in her glasses were colored with feelings of rejection, not belonging, not measuring up, and even not being loved as much as the other girls (envy). Somewhere in her life she chose to believe those lies spoken to her; that she was not wanted, didn’t belong, didn’t measure up, and was not loved as much as her sisters were. Those lies became her world view. They became her perspective through which she viewed (perceived) the world and everything around her. She had chosen to believe and dwell upon those lies, making them real neurons within the brain, and storing them in the non-conscious. Whether he fed them to her in the spirit realm, or he used others around her to speak those lies to her, her conscious mind chose to believe them and stored them in the non-conscious as truth. So, in nearly every experience she had, even good ones with loved ones, the non-conscious fed the conscious the lie and influenced the conscious mind’s choice to shape the information according to the lie. It became a cycle that was repeated nearly every day of her life.

How can such a cycle be broken? 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 God told us through Paul, “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Messiah…” A cycle can only be broken when something is placed in the midst of it to make it come to a halt. A stronghold can only be destroyed when one comes against it until it is no more. Spiritual and mental strongholds must be attacked with truth. The cycle must be stopped with God’s word. We must take captive EVERY thought and determine whether it is truth as spoken by God and modeled by our Messiah.

Her stronghold was the lie of low self-esteem. Let’s see how she might come against the strongholds in her mind. First, she must recognize the strongholds, and recognize the fact that they are lies. Then, she must choose to come against those lies with truth. Only if she is daily in the truth can she come to immediately spot a lie and choose to come against it. As she chooses to believe, speak and act in truth, the lies will literally, physically fall apart.

She must start with the truth concerning her relationship with God. The lies are meant to separate her from God just as Satan lied to separate Adam and Eve from God. So, the lies spoken, “you are not wanted. Everyone would be better off without you,” are really meant to say, “God does not want you. He made a mistake when He made you. He loves everyone else but tolerates you. You will never measure up to what God wants or expects. You are a failure.”

Once a person recognizes that not only have they been living in agreement with lying spirits and their lies, they must also realize that those lies were deliberately meant to separate them from the One who loves them so deeply there is no end or limit to His love. As He is infinite, so is His love for everyone He created. That is where one must start when taking thoughts captive and coming against strongholds.

Think back to the scene between Satan and Yeshua in the wilderness. Satan spoke a lie or half-truth, even using scripture to do so, with the agenda of separating Yeshua from the relationship he has with our Father. For separation from the Father will lead to beliefs, words, and actions that come out of a need for self-preservation; things that operate outside of who God is and what He instructed for His people. If Satan could get Yeshua to question (consideration) his relationship with the Father, question his identity, if he could get him to doubt the Father was truly with him, protecting him, and loving him, and that God’s plan was perfect, Yeshua would be vulnerable to Satan’s attack. Yeshua would be more likely to give in to the temptations presented before him by Satan. He would choose self-preservation over obedience to and trust in God.

It is the same with us. Satan wants and works to get us to doubt our Father’s love and word. Satan works and wants us to be separated from the Father, so we are much more vulnerable and more likely to operate contrary to what God instructed and intended. If Satan can get us to choose to believe lies about God and our relationship with Him, he can attack us and motivate us to choose to operate out of those lies instead of operating in love and in the assurance of God’s love for us.

But, how did Yeshua handle those attacks? He faced the liar and said, “It is written……” He spoke truth to each lie. That is our example for our own lives.

Lie of low self esteem says, “God has rejected you.”

Truth says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have continued my faithfulness to

you.” Jeremiah 31:3

Truth says, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” Jeremiah 1:5

Truth says, “I have loved you, says YHWH.” Malachai 1:2

Truth says, “For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall

not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says YHWH, who has

compassion on you.” Isaiah 54:10

Truth says, “The steadfast love of YHWH never ceases; His mercies never come to an end..”

Lamentations 3:22

Truth says, “See what kind of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of

God; and so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.

Beloved you are God’s children now, and what you will be has not yet appeared; but we know

that when {Yeshua} appears we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is.”

1 John 3:1-2.

Psalm 139, in the Hebrew language, makes it very clear that not only was God in the womb with you, but that He already approved, accepted, and loved you. That is truth!

How long will the lies of low self-esteem remain a stronghold when one chooses to come against them with these truths?! If the conscious mind continues to feed the non-conscious these truths, they will replace the negative and lying thoughts physically, mentally, and spiritually. The negative thoughts will literally die when they are not used, and positive healthy thoughts will thrive in their place. The stronghold will be demolished! The thoughts will be changed! The more thoughts that are changed, the more the perspective will change. When the perspective changes, so does how one will choose to perceive everything and everyone around him/her. Even old memories will be changed! And the more one practices this, the easier it will be to spot and capture the lies that come across one’s mind. The icing on the cake is that as the negative thoughts are replaced in the mind, changes will also happen within the body. The chemicals and energy released with each positive (truthful) thought will repair, build up, strengthen, and do good to every cell in your body.

Next time you and someone you know seems to have a very different perception of what was said, done, or experienced, remember that it comes from the perspective each of you holds. Perhaps it is also a good time to double check your own perception and measure it up against truth. And every time a lie comes your way, follow our Messiah’s example. Face the liar and say, “It is written…..”

This week ask our Father to reveal to you a stronghold within your life that needs to be destroyed with His truth. Use the process for capturing your thoughts and decide how you will change those thoughts. May His spirit remind you of the truth so you may meditate upon it and make it a permanent part of who you are and how you choose to operate. Until next time….

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Messiah, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Ephesians 4:15-16