You know how there can be a difference between what you know in your head and what you feel in your heart. And it’s frustrating.
Why don’t things automatically go into your heart when you learn them in your head?
You know they’re true, especially if you’re standing on scripture. You can see what the Bible says and you know it’s true, but in your heart, you don’t fully agree.
God loves you as much as he loves Jesus. Did you know that it’s in the Bible? It is. You can know it in your head. How does that sit in your heart? How do you get it so that it can sit in your heart fully embracing that and believing that truth?
This is a process that the Lord has taught me, combined with what I have studied. I teach my clients to walk through this with the Lord and with Holy Spirit.
I’ve called this process, Mending the Gap.
The first step is to recognize where there is a gap. Recognize that there is a disconnect.
Where you feel “my heart, doesn’t quite believe that truth”. Pay attention to what thoughts and emotions are there. What are the thoughts behind the emotions? Identify what you’re thinking, what you’re telling yourself in that situation. Identify where the things you’re thinking don’t line up with the truth that you know in your head or that you know from scripture.
Once you recognize the lies that you’re believing, those things that are not true, that don’t line up with what God says about you, then you can ask Holy Spirit to show you where they came from.
I’m not asking you to go back and relive any memories or traumas or anything like that. Trust Holy Spirit to show you what you need to know, and only what you need to know for this to be taken care of. He might bring to mind a person or a situation. He might bring you a memory, whatever He brings you to trust that the first thing that pops into your head is what He wants you to know.
If asking the Lord questions and expecting to hear an answer is new for you. I teach a lot more about that. I would be glad to answer your questions. But very simply we’re shown throughout scripture that He speaks to us. The Father speaks, Jesus speaks, and Holy Spirit speaks. It’s often an inner witness. It’s a thought that pops into your head. It’s a knowing. It’s a sense. That’s Him, as long as it agrees with scripture, again, that’s a whole different thing. We can talk about in another post.
First, you identified that there was a disconnect between your head and your heart. A gap between what you know is true and what you really believe is true. Then you recognize the lies that are making that disconnect. Ask, where did those lies come from? Who taught me that? Or what happened so I decided that was what I believed?
Have compassion and validate your experience and emotions. Whatever happened.
The next step is to confess, forgive, and repent. maybe it is three steps, but I combine it all in one because it all goes together. Confess that you agreed with those lies and that was wrong. Confess because that’s how you get forgiveness. If you confess your sins, God will forgive you. (1 John 1:9) So confess it and receive forgiveness.
Then repent, which involves confessing and forgiving.
Repenting means to turn the other way. Confess what you used to think and how you were acting.
What are you going to do now that’s in line with the truth, because this over here, wasn’t in line with the truth. Repent and go a different way. Then you need to do some forgiving. If God brought to mind a person, you might need to forgive that person for teaching you the lie. You might need to forgive yourself for believing it. You might need to forgive God for allowing the situation to happen in the first place. He’s okay with that. He’s totally okay with you being mad at Him and having held a grudge against him and forgiving you. He’s more than ready to forgive you back. Ask Holy Spirit, “Is there anybody I need to forgive for teaching me this or for the choices that have come out of believing this?” Get it all cleaned up.
Then the last step is my favorites and I call it the great exchange.
The great exchange
Throughout scripture, it talks about God making beauty from ashes, giving us the oil of joy for mourning, bringing dead things to life. You had this place that was dead because it wasn’t in alignment with Him and He wants to bring life to that. There was a place and a situation that allowed this lie to be rooted and grow into the behaviors and whatever other things that grew out of that. You cleaned that out with your confession and receiving forgiveness and repenting. Now you can say, “Lord, I’m giving you all of that. All of my mistakes and the condemnation that I had and the guilt and the shame and all of it, I’m giving it to you. What do you have for me in exchange?”
He might give you a picture. He might give you a scripture or an impression or a word. He’s very creative. Don’t put Him in a box and limit how He can communicate with you.
What is it He wants to give you in exchange for the lies and hurts and all of that stuff that you just gave Him?
Romans 8 32 says, “He, that spared, not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. How shall He not also freely give us all things?” So just be encouraged. He wants to give you good things. He’s a good father who wants to give you good things.
If you have questions or need help or want somebody to walk through that with you that’s something I absolutely love to do. Please reach out to me. We can talk about how to make that happen.
Remember that your healing heals generations.