The Truth Will Make You Free

One's freedom is based on one's acceptance of truth.  The more one embraces truth, the freer one will be.

Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). It is knowledge of the truth and applying it to one's life that makes one free.  The converse is also true: the lie shall make one a prisoner.

Suppose you had an uncle who died and left you a huge sum of money.  Suppose, however, that you did not know what your uncle had done for you.  You would not know to lay claim to your inheritance. You would remain a prisoner of your poverty.

Jesus Christ died and left us an amazing inheritance of eternal life in the hereafter and countless blessings to enjoy on this earth. But if we are unaware of this truth, we will remain in bondage to sickness, poverty, and moral and political ideologies that imprison us intellectually, morally, and, sometimes, physically.

The amazing thing about Jesus is not only that He offers us truth; He IS Truth. He Himself said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). 

One of the greatest lies of this age is that there are many roads to salvation. This is a lie that keeps people in bondage and will take them straight to hell.  There is only one way to be saved, and that way is through Jesus Christ.  He Himself said so.  Believing this truth will set you free.

If you don't believe me, or if you still have doubts, ask Jesus to reveal Himself to you.  He will. :)
__________________________________________________
Copyright 2014 by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio.  All Rights Reserved.

Hurting People Hurt People

It is a psychological truism that hurting people hurt people.  Knowing this helps us to understand others when they hurt us. To understand, however, is not to condone.  Wrong behavior must never be accepted.

In order to forgive those who hurt us, it helps to understand why they hurt us. Usually, the hurt inflicted upon us has nothing to do with us but everything to do with the person who hurt us. The one who hurts others usually acts out of his own pain and takes out his pain on someone else.

Of course, this is sick behavior.  But understanding motives is essential in the forgiveness process.

As Jesus hung on the Cross, He prayed, "Father, forgive them for they don't know what they are doing."  The same is true of us. We can forgive those who hurt us by realizing that they really did not know what they were doing.  If they did, they would never have hurt us.

If one who hurts another truly understood that he was hurting himself far more, he would never hurt anyone.  In his warped thinking, he believes he is gaining a benefit from hurting another person. But this is a lie that will one day backfire on the one who hurts someone else. As Scripture promises, we will reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7).

If you have been deeply hurt by someone--and all of us have--choose today to forgive that person. Forgiving the one who hurt you will set you free.  Remember this: you are a prisoner to the extent that you do not forgive others.  As long as you do not forgive, you remain chained to the one who hurt you. But when you forgive the one who hurt you, you are set free.
____________________________________________________________
Copyright 2014 by MaryAnn Diorio, PhD, DMin, MFA.  All rights reserved.

Are You a Prisoner of These Lies?

Many lies are being perpetrated today in the name of tolerance.  Here are a few:

1) All belief systems lead to God.
2) A good God would not allow people to go to Hell.
3) As long as I am a good person, I will go to Heaven.

Please allow me to address each of these lies since believing one or all of them will result in your eternal damnation.

1) First, the lie that all belief systems lead to God.  All belief systems are not equal in the sense that all do not teach the truth.  What is the truth?  The truth is a Person named Jesus Christ.  He said, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6).

To believe anything that contradicts that Christ is the Truth is to believe a lie.

Jesus taught that there is only one way for man to be saved, and that way is to accept Him as the Savior.  In the Gospel of John, chapter one, verse 12, the Word tells us that ". . . to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God."  One cannot enter God's family without accepting Jesus Christ, the Door to the family.

2) Second, the lie that a good God would not allow people to go to Hell.  The truth is that God does not send anyone to hell.  A person sends himself to hell.  Hell is the tormenting absence of God. When one moves away from God, one moves toward Hell.  The less of God one has in one's life, the more of Hell one has in one's life.  There will come a point at which the decision to remain estranged from God will be a permanent one. That point is called death. Thereafter, Hell will be a permanent state for the person who has chosen not to follow Christ while on this earth.

3) Third, the lie that as long as I am a good person, I will go to Heaven.  Getting to Heaven has nothing to do with what we do, but it has everything to do with what Jesus Christ has done. No matter how many good works we do, they will not get us into Heaven.  Why?  Because our good works mean nothing in relation to our sin.  Our good works can never erase the sin nature from our hearts. Only God can do that, and He did it through Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ took our place and paid the price for our sin.  He became our scapegoat because of His infinite love for us.  He knew we could never earn salvation on our own, so He earned it for us.  All we have to do is believe and receive that salvation.

The time is short before the return of Jesus Christ to judge the earth.  Please take to heart what I have written.  Please research it for yourself.  Most of all, please ask God to reveal His truth to you so that you may have eyes to see and ears to hear.

If you have any questions, please write to me at maryann@maryanndiorio.com.  My prayer is that you will know the truth that will set you free (John 8:32).

What Is Controlling Your Life?

Your life is controlled by your thinking, not by your circumstances. Most of us have made the mistake of believing that our circumstances control us and that we are helpless victims of fate. But this is a lie. If we continue to believe this lie, we will never be free of emotional pain.

The truth is that your life is controlled by the space between your ears. In other words, your life is controlled by how you think and what you believe.

The mind is the control center of our lives.  Scripture says, "As a man thinks, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7 TLB). 

What are you thinking on a regular basis?

A friend of mine once told me this powerful story about her little son.  When he was three years old, she found him staring out the window.  She said, "Matt, what are you thinking about?"  In the wisdom of children, he replied, "I'm thinking about what I'm thinking about."

Profound advice that we should all take to heart.  How often do we think about what we are thinking about?  How often do we analyze what we are thinking to determine if it aligns with God's Word or not?  If it does not align with God's Word, then it is a lie.  And if it is a lie, we must renounce it and replace it with the truth.

We will remain in bondage spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, and physically to the degree that we believe a lie.  By the same token, we will be free spiritually, emotionally, psychologically,  and physically to the degree that we know and believe the truth. 

The Truth is found in the Holy Bible.  The Truth is Jesus Christ.  He said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6).  He who finds and follows Jesus finds and follows Life.

If you are hurting today in any way--spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, or physically--turn to Jesus Christ and accept Him into your life.  When you do, you will be accepting freedom in all of its aspects.

Jesus considered you valuable enough  to die for you in order to set you free. But that freedom will never be yours unless you willingly accept His free gift of salvation.  Do so now. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

If you have questions or would like more information, please write to me at maryann@maryanndiorio.com. 

Are You Thinking Straight?

Emotional problems result from believing lies. Since we were designed to function according to truth, any deviation from truth will cause us to malfunction, whether emotionally, physically, or spiritually.

So, the big question becomes What is truth? Truth is defined as "the actual state of a matter" (Dictionary.com).  But herein lies the problem: Who determines what the actual state of a matter is?

For me, the actual state of a matter may be one thing; for you, it may be another.

What this means is that my truth may not be your truth, and vice versa. This way of thinking is called relativism and is a lie.

In our culture, man has taken it upon himself to determine the actual state of a matter. For example, it is common for people to say things like, "Abortion is not an option for me, but it may be an option for you".  Many have determined that the actual state of the matter about abortion is that it is a viable option for terminating a pregnancy. Some have determined that the actual state of the matter about abortion is that abortion at any stage is murder.

The nature of Truth is that it applies to everyone everywhere, equally and indiscriminately.  This means that Truth is absolute, just as gravity is absolute. No matter who you are, if you jump off a roof, you will go down.

Most people don't like the truth that Truth is absolute. In fact, they rebel against it.  But what they don't understand is that by rebelling against absolute Truth, they are hurting themselves. That hurt may not show up right away, but it will always show up eventually.

Man was designed by God to function according to the laws of Truth.  When man deviates from those laws and goes his own way, he will always suffer. There's no escaping this truth.

We need to understand that emotional problems result from rebelling against Truth and insisting upon creating our own truth. Any thinking pattern that deviates from God's thinking pattern will end up hurting us.

God's thinking pattern is found in His Word, the Holy Bible.  If we want to learn how God thinks, then we must read His Word. As we change our thinking to align with God's thinking, we will be moving closer to the Truth and closer to emotional health.

How to Identify the Lies You Are Believing

In this week's post, I am assuming that you have already accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord and that you are a believer.  If you have not yet accepted Christ, I urge you to read last week's post entitled "Lies and How They Hinder You".

Today we're going to discuss how to identify the lies that you are believing and that are keeping you in bondage.  Here is a basic rule of thumb in identifying lies:  Any thought you have that contradicts what God says about you is a lie.

So how can you know what thoughts contradict what God says about you?  Great question! A question to which there is an easy answer. But first let me tell you a story.

When a person trains to become a bank teller, she has to learn to recognize counterfeit money.  But, amazingly, she never handles counterfeit money to learn what it feels like. She handles only real money.  And she handles real money so often and so well that if a counterfeit bill should pass through her fingers, she would instantly recognize it as counterfeit. Why?  Because she knows what real money feels like, and she can immediately recognize when false money is in her hands. 

The same is true with us. If we handle God's Word (the Truth) often enough and well enough, we will instantly  recognize the counterfeit (the Lie) that Satan sends our way. 

So the first step in identifying the lies you are believing is to study the Bible.  Read it. Memorize verses. Meditate on the Word. Saturate yourself with it as much as you can so that when Satan throws a lie at you, you will instantly recognize it as a counterfeit.

If you have not formed the habit of reading the Bible every day, start today.  Begin with the Gospel of John in the New Testament.  Read slowly and apply what you read to your personal life.  As you do, you will be handling the Truth and you will be getting to know it well.

Next week, we'll explore what it means to want to get well.