My Muslim family trained me well. They trained me to tell little white lies. I was a lying machine. Lies were normal for me. I used to live with masks. No one knew the real me. But after I met Jesus, I had to break the habit of lying. Those lies got me into trouble. It is a good thing that my mouth got me in trouble, because every time, I had to go back to God in confession. He did an amazing job in my life to break that cycle.
To break old habits, there needs to be repentance, confession and asking for forgiveness. These are the steps I took and you must, as well. You must repent to, confess to and ask God for forgiveness. No More Hiding. Take off the masks and be real.
Can you believe that 70% of people who get out of prison return to prison? They can’t seem to break the cycle which sent them there. Those 70% say that they don’t know how to live out of prison. How sad it that?! However, many people outside of prisons are living in prisons of their minds. That was me. I was a Christian and also an inmate. God wants to set you free today. Jesus Christ died on the cross for your freedom.
Change can be difficult. I have seen people in their 50s, 60s and even 70s who have wasted their lives. They are in a prison of their own. What about you? Do you prefer your prison/your chains? Do you want to break that cycle and change? Are you teachable? You might be 80 years old but still, it is not too late to break free if you are teachable. It is never too late to do the right thing.
If you want to break the cycle and you are stuck in your circumstances and if you are un-teachable, you must surrender to Jesus Christ and tell The Lord, “Lord, I don’t want to be a stiff-necked, hard-hearted person any longer.” Surrendering is in the mind. Church people, we can crucify the old self and become completely new creatures. “I am crucified in Christ. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).
When the devil has your mind, he has control of you. He will manage you. He will manage your eating, your sleep. He will manage every area of your life. He will tell you, “You need comfort food right now.” He will get you into depression if you allow him to continue. We need to be concerned about the small stuff. And break his power to control our minds.
“Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). As Christians, we have the mind of Christ. This is what we need to pray; “Lord give me your mind. I have the mind of Christ, like it says in your word.” When we memorize scriptures we can recall and proclaim those scriptures. And when we proclaim scriptures, this helps to memorize them, as well. This is the main scripture to learn today, 1 Corinthians 2:16. Claim that you have the mind of Christ. As you do this, you are breaking the cycle which has you locked in chains and you are breaking the devil’s power to control.
Repentance means changing the mind. Repentance is evidence of your salvation. The two hardest things to change are your communication and eating habits. You may be saying, “I can’t change.” You are right. You cannot do this by yourself, but with Jesus, change is possible.
Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through him who gives me strength.” If you have Jesus and say that you cannot, then you are lying. You may say, “I am praying and praying, and it’s not happening.” Or you say, “I proclaim the word of God and it’s not working.” Again, you are lying. That negative speech needs to stop. You are accusing God for not answering your prayers.
Break your agreement with lies and deception. People told you lies about yourself when you were young and you accepted those lies as truth. You were deceived about your worth. Now that you are in Christ, you are free to not believe those lies any longer. You are a new creation. Break off that agreement that you grew up with. Rip that agreement to shreds and throw it into the garbage. That is a decision you must make and act upon. If it helps, you may want to write those lies on paper and actually rip it up.
Leave the past in the past and Break the generational curses. No matter what our family of origin was like, we don’t have to continue those old ways. Galatians 3:13 tells us that, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us…”, so we take God at His word by faith and repent of the old beliefs that held us back. In God’s word, Isaiah gives us more hope that we can change, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! (Isaiah 43:18-19) Christ redeemed us and He is doing a new thing! That is so wonderful!
Remember that we have the mind of Christ. So we need to pray, “Lord, give me your mind. I have the mind of Christ. Instruct me about the new thing that you are doing in my life.”
Maybe the lies have kept you from completing important milestones in your life. There was a man working for me who was very talented with his hands. I called him and asked if he had a high school diploma. He said, “No. Nobody in my family for generations has a high school diploma.” See, he thought that he wouldn’t be able to accomplish more because no one in his family ever did. I told him that he must get his diploma or he will be fired in six months. Maybe, yes it was manipulation but I was a manager and I wanted to do good for this man. He was upset because he couldn’t read or write. I already knew that he couldn’t because he had not been filling out his forms.
He did learn how to read and write in six months. And he became the first person in his family to get a GED. Then I gave him a promotion with more money. And I told him that if he would take college courses that I would pay for it. He took advantage of this and afterward his whole family had a big celebration in his honor. Today he has a higher position in a different company. He broke the cycle of his generational curse. And you too, can break any cycle that you are in. It is possible through Jesus Christ.
We learn from Luke 18 in the story of the Persistent Widow that God will bring about justice, “And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice and quickly. However, when the son of man comes, will he find faith in the earth?’” (Luke 18:6-8). You need to have persistent faith like this widow from Luke 18. Go to God with your troubles believing He wants to help you. And don’t stop believing. Be persistent. You will get justice.
Also, you should Forgive yourself for your past mistakes. Repent of them and move on. Think on scripture and remind yourself that you are forgiven. Keep coming against the negative thoughts with the word of God. You have the power of the cross of Christ.