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57. Knowing Truth Is Not the Same as Believing It · Believe & Become | Ministry, Biblical Encouragement, God's Will, How to Change, Holy Spirit

• 0:00
  Corina: Have you ever thought, I know what the Bible says, so why am I still struggling? You know God provides, but you still feel anxious about money. You know you're loved, but you still feel rejected. Or maybe you know God has a purpose for you, yet you still feel unqualified. Knowing the truth intellectually is not the same as believing it in your heart. So today we're going to talk about how to recognize what you truly believe and how to move God's truth from from information to transformation.
• 0:33
  Josh: If you're tired of leading others while secretly battling doubt, discouragement and mental warfare
• 0:39
  Corina: and you want practical tools to renew your mind and walk boldly in your
• 0:42
  Josh: calling as a leader, you're in the right place. Welcome to believe and become.
• 0:46
  Corina: We're Josh and Corina your spirit filled coaches here to help you overcome those limiting beliefs and lead others confidently.
• 0:53
  Josh: If you're ready to hear God's voice more clearly, to step into your purpose and find joy and strength in the
• 0:59
  Corina: everyday silence those Bible app reminders judging you from your lock screen and let's jump in.
• 1:11
  Josh: I remember early on in our marriage, I actually, I think it was even before we were married. Corina really helped me to understand and to know the love of the father. I knew that. I knew that God loved me. I grew up knowing that. But I had never really experienced the love of the father. And so we actually did a video teaching a Bible study together where I got to experience the love of the father. And it's so different to go from I know it, I read it on the pages of my Bible to actually it becomes part of you or even you encounter the love of God as he shows up. And I just remember as we did this study together, just God showing up so powerfully. And that was the beginning of the process that I went through to know that I didn't have to earn God's love. He just loves me because he's a good father and I'm his child, I'm his son. He delights in me whether I'm good or bad. Regardless of what I do, he loves me because he's a good father. And that really changed the course of my life. And it was a process that he led me through over years and years of just continuing to experience and to know the Father's love. And it's one that we all really need to go through because I think we know what we're supposed to believe. But experiencing it, encountering his love is totally different. And that's what we're going to talk about today.
• 2:40
  Corina: How would you say, since we're talking about like what you believe versus what you know, how would you say that was expressed in the, like maybe in your emotions or your reactions when you went from just knowing it intellectually to beginning to understand it?
• 2:58
  Josh: Yeah, it's, it comes out, like you said, in our emotions and the way that we react to things. And so for a long time I was trying to earn God's love, earn his favor by doing things, by serving him, serving the church, whatever I could do. I felt like I was always trying to make up for mistakes that I had made. And then once I really got that into my heart, where Height encountered his love, realized my position with him isn't dependent on my behavior, on my performance, then there's this joy that comes out that, that, oh, when I do something with God, it's because that's how he created me. We get to do things together. It's fun. It's the difference between you have to do your chores and you get to do your chores because you want to, because you're spending time together with somebody that you love. It's just totally different. So I think that's a little bit of how it showed up in my life, definitely in my emotions. Just God shows up and he pours his love on you and you're overwhelmed by his presence. I had experienced that a little bit here and there, but not in the context of really his deep, deep personal love for me. And that really took my relationship with him to a level that I didn't even really know existed at the time.
• 4:20
  Corina: Yeah, that's so good. And we really. I have seen time and time again in my own life that my emotions are the things that really tell me what I'm believing. Right. So your emotions and your responses can actually help reveal those beliefs that are just kind of bubbling under the surface. And it's hard because we think we know I know the truth, I know what the Bible says, and so therefore I believe it. But just that mental ascent is not quite the same as really believing it in your heart. And so we can always know what we really believe by how we respond in any given situation. And I was actually sharing with Josh before we started. I remember this time being in college where I was praying about my finances, kind of worrying about, you know, what comes next. I have to be a grown up now and take care of all these things that I haven't taken care of. And I'm praying and I'm, you know, asking God what I should do. And I'm Like God, I just, I trust you with my finances. But. Oh man, if there's a but, that means I don't really trust him. And it was, it was showing in the way I was kind of freaking out about my future and about what to do about, you know, the money issues that I was having and the way that I was feeling was revealing that I wasn't really trusting God with my finances. And so you can always tell what you really believe by how you respond and how you feel.
• 5:47
  Josh: Yeah. It made me think of another example, just our kids lives. And we say that we trust God with them. And the Bible says obviously he's their heavenly Father, he's taking care of them just as much as we are. And even more, he can do a way better job than we can. But do we still try to control little parts of their lives, lives or try to keep them away from danger or, you know, don't, you know, don't do this, don't do that. We're not going to send them to that. It's like, well, if you're still trying to control everything, that kind of is a clue to go to the Father and say, am I really trusting you? Search my heart and know me. Search my heart and let me know, God, where am I not trusting you? Or what does it look like for me to really give up control and let you be in charge of their lives? And that's not an easy thing to do, but it's a necessary thing to our relationship with God and with our kids to allow him to show up and to do what he does best. The more we trust him, the better our lives are going to go because we're not trying to control and manipulate every single circumstance, every situation.
• 6:58
  Corina: Yeah. And I think that's applicable in any area where you lead, whether it's at work, whether it's at church. If you are trying to control, if you're trying to, to manipulate and make sure everything goes exactly to your plan, there's probably a lack of trust with God and with your people. And so that's a really great place to dig in. And we want you to hear us. This is not an invitation for condemnation. It's not for you to go like, oh my gosh, I thought I was believing this about God, but I don't even believe, you know, and that's what the Bible says. There's no condemnation. This is just an opportunity for Jesus to come in and shine light on an area that maybe he wants to heal. He wants to bring our beliefs into alignment with the truth. But if we're stuck in a lie, if we're stuck believing a lie in our hearts because of something that happened when we were a child or at the beginning of our ministry or leadership, then we can't grow past that until we release those lies to him and allow him to come in and heal those places and speak truth to us. And so we just want to give him that opportunity today to come in and to kind of put his finger where. Where he needs to put for you and say, hey, this area right here, where your feelings feel out of control or where you are responding in ways that are not Christlike, maybe that's something we should talk about. Because you can always know that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he right? Proverbs 23:7. What comes out of you is what you're really believing. And so if. If it's anger, if it's frustration, if it's fear, if it's anxiety, then that's really what's going on inside. And so we want to let Jesus in and shine his light in that area.
• 8:44
  Josh: The Bible says out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, or words often are a clue to what we really believe. Especially in a stressful situation where normally when you feel like you've got everything under control, it's like, okay, I can kind of.
• 9:00
  Corina: I totally trust God. Everything's going great.
• 9:02
  Josh: I can control what's coming out of my mouth. But then you get pressed, you get squeezed a little bit, and you start saying things. You go, oh, oh, no. That's a clue, a warning sign to say, actually, maybe there's some beliefs in there that I need to work on. And that's what we do with our clients as part of our Clarity coaching program. We sit with the Lord and we uncover what are lies I'm believing. What's a situation in my life where maybe I don't have hope or I notice I'm saying things, or I'm having a big emotional reaction, I'm angry when I shouldn't be, or I'm sad, I'm crying, I'm frustrated, I'm anxious. All of those big emotions often are tied into a lie that we're believing. So we uncover that with the Holy Spirit. We ask him what the truth is. And then we take our clients through this process of replacing the lies with the truth, renewing their minds with the truth. It is incredible what God does. I remember the first time, after I'd been doing declarations for a while, that that started to come out of my mouth in a stressful situation. So normally I would have been frustrated or angry. Actually, the truth of God's word came out and I was like, whoa, okay, it's working. That process is working. We love that when that happens for our clients. Because, yeah, you can change your beliefs, you can get your real inside your heart to line up with what God's word says. And that is that process of mind renewal, of true transformation, that it's not just, okay, I know all the right things, but this is actually changing who I am from the inside out. That's what we love to do with our clients. So check out our website. It's joshandkarina.com coaching. Check out our Clarity Coach program and just see if that might be something that the Lord is leading you to today.
• 10:45
  Corina: So here's the deal. Truth is something that we need to experience, not just understand. And Josh has kind of mentioned this and talked about in that place of learning the Lord's love, it came through encounter. Not just somebody told me again that God loves me, but really encountering his love in a way where he experienced that feeling. And we know that John 8:32 tells us that you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. But John 8:31 says, abide in my word and you're my disciples. Indeed. And so Jesus isn't just saying, like, memorize it, know it, and then you're going to be set free. No, he's saying, come and live in the truth that I am and that I have spoken over you. Come and spend your life here. Abide, dwell on the truth, and then you will know it. You will experience it. This, this knowing in John 32 is relational. It's experiential. It's not just information. It's getting to know. It's like, hi, nice to meet you, versus like, oh, I know that guy. He's in my class, right? It's this personal encounter that you have with God. It's not just, I know it, it's I know it in my heart. You can know a celebrity, right? You can know everything about them. You can know what they look like, where they were born. You can know how many siblings they have, what their favorite color is. But you can, you know, you could think you know them, but you've never met them. Until you shake hands with them and sit down to coffee with them, until you hang out with them, you don't really know. You haven't experienced them. And it's the same thing with God. We can know about Him. We can watch the Chosen. We can read our message Bible. Like, we can do all those things and have an understanding of who God is and what he's like. But until we experience him, until we come face to face with him, until we hear his voice tell us about who he is and what he thinks thinks about us, that's a totally different understanding of the truth. And so that transformation, really, that freedom that you get from knowing the truth, begins when we encounter Jesus. Not just another memory verse, Bible challenge. Right. Not just like, oh, I know where that is in the Bible. No, like hearing God speak to your heart and tell you who you are and show you who he is. That is completely different story.
• 13:11
  Josh: I know that when I was growing up, we talked a lot about in youth group, the difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge. And that was a nice concept, but I never really understood what that really meant or how do you do that? Right, we're going to talk about that. We'll give you some practical steps a little bit later on on how to get that knowledge that you have from reading God's word into your heart. So one of the ways that we get knowledge from our head to our heart is through intentional partnership with the truth.
• 13:41
  Corina: Yeah.
• 13:42
  Josh: Romans 12:2. One of our favorite verses around here is, transformation comes from renewing your mind. So we have to actually, it's something you have to do. It doesn't just happen magically. It's something that you have to be intentional about. Obviously, God's word, it does transform us as we read it. But if we are intentional to partner with that truth, to really get it inside of us, that's when the true transformation happens. And that word for transformation is actually metamorpho in the Greek, which is a metamorphosis. And the only other places that that's really used is in the transfiguration. So it's like this. It's a real transformation. And as we renew our minds, as we reprogram our brains to think like Jesus thinks, to think his truth, that comes out in our lives. It comes out of, inside of us. But it is a process that you actually have to do. It's not just saying a verse once or memorizing it, but actually bringing your thoughts into agreement with what God says. And that comes from doing that daily over and over again. Here's a truth that God's given me. I'm going to repeat that to myself when the situation pops up. Oh, that's going to come to mind. And I'm going to live in that Truth. I'm going to replace the lie that I had been believing for too long with God's truth of what he's revealed to me through His Word, through just spending time with Him. That's where that transformation comes.
• 15:12
  Corina: Yeah, And I think it's the difference between, you know, somebody coming out of the world, maybe out of a rough situation, rough life, coming into the church and kind of learning how they're supposed to behave and memorizing some scriptures, going to Bible study, and they just start to get cleaned up. Right. And so now they're coming to church and maybe they're still struggling with some of those things, but on the outside they're presenting themselves as a good Christian. Now I know how I'm supposed to behave, to fit in versus someone who comes in completely, you know, broken and from a difficult situation. And they're transformed. They encounter God's love, they encounter his grace, and they are transformed from the inside out. And that transfiguration is not just a cleaned up on the outside, but it's, I look like Jesus. So even if the outside hasn't changed yet, the inside, the joy, the hope, the light that is coming out of them, that's that transfiguration. You know, it said that Jesus was changed and he became so bright that the disciples couldn't even look at Him. Like they couldn't even see he was so bright and beautiful. And that's what God wants to do with us. It's not just changed into a good church person. It's not just changed into a nicer, you know, more pleasant version to be around. It's true transformation of inside out. And that's what God wants to do. And he's not just after good behavior. Good Christianity is not behavior modification like God is transformation all the way. The Holy Spirit's job is to make you look like Jesus. And so that is what we get to partner with when we renew our minds with truth, when we meditate on the scripture, when we declare the truth over and over, when we just work on building those new thought patterns in our mind, we're coming into alignment and agreement with the truth so that the transformation can take place.
• 17:10
  Josh: Yeah, I like to say God's more interested in the who than the do. He's more interested in who you are, who you're becoming and your behavior. Because he knows if he can get the truth of who he created you to be, the truth of what he did for you on the cross, if all that can get inside of you, all that other stuff is going to follow along. That's why we go after identity. You know, who did God. Who does God call us to be? Who is God really? We got to know him, know the truth about him from His Word, so that we're not believing false stuff that we've just picked up along the way and we didn't realize we're believing it.
• 17:44
  Corina: Yeah.
• 17:45
  Josh: And so that's part of that intentional process to partner with God, to get the truth inside of you. And what we're not saying is that you have to earn transformation. You're not. It's not based on your behavior, but it's really just a process of yielding and saying every day, holy Spirit, what do you want to work on inside of me? Yes, I allow you to do that. I'm going to agree with what you're saying to me. What you're saying over me, what you're doing inside of me. It's just yielding. And that's the beauty of our relationship with God. It's all about just partnering with him and allowing him to do the hard work. He gives us grace. That's his supernatural power to change. He just gives it to us. And he's giving it to you right now. Maybe you felt stuck, frustrated. Maybe you've said, I don't think I can ever change. This is never going to change in my life. Right now. God is giving you grace for those impossible situations. He's the God of the impossible. And he's working powerfully in your life for you to see that change, that transformation that you've always wanted for so long. And he's not there to frustrate you. He actually is giving you his strength and his power. God's just been speaking to me about his strength. It's not our strength, it's his strength. And it could be when we're weak, God shows up in his strength. But sometimes it's when we feel strong, we gotta realize, actually, I still can't do it by my strength. It's by God's. And so he's giving you his strength today to transform, to change into the person that he created you to be.
• 19:14
  Corina: Yeah, Sometimes it can feel difficult to see these areas. You know that you're stuck, but you don't know why, or you know that you wanna change. But there's this. I don't know how. And that's what we love to partner with our clients to do, is to find those places. Where is that lie that you're believing and how can we overcome that? And so we guide our clients through this five step process of encountering the Holy Spirit and hearing God's truth for your situation. And then we come up with practical ways to to build your life around the truth and to begin to walk in that truth. So if you're interested in working with us, you can check out our website josh and karin.com coaching and we would love to work with you to help you begin to walk in the fulfillment of your purpose and believe who God says you are and become what he made you to be.
• 20:08
  Josh: Okay, let's give you some practical action steps of how you can walk this out in your everyday life. The first thing to do is just to notice when you have a big response and it doesn't line up with what you think you believe or what you know it says in God's word. Yeah, if you're responding out of anger when you know you should should have a kind word or gentle response or boy, you're really frustrated or super stressed or anxious when you know you can trust God in this situation, that is your clue to say, okay, here's something that God and I get to work on together. To work it out in my life and to change my beliefs. So you can ask yourself, where are you regularly anxious or discouraged or defensive or feeling hopeless? That sense of this is never going to change. That's not from God. God wants to come in and change all of those things. And it starts with our beliefs. So once you've identified that area, bring it to the Lord and say, God, what do I need to believe in this situation to have hope? Or what does it look like to trust in you? What do I need to believe? Focus on those beliefs. What is the truth, God, that you're revealing to me in this situation? And then you can begin to apply that to your life.
• 21:21
  Corina: Yeah. The second thing you can do is to ask God, what do you want me to know about this situation? Because often we're like Josh said, it's the who, not the do. Right. We're concerned with. What do I need to do? How am I going to solve this problem? God, where are you? How, when are you going to show up and when is this going to be resolved? We want to get out of pain, but God is often more concerned about teaching us in the process. Not that he wants you to be in pain or uncomfortable, but sometimes in that process of getting from A to B, there is something he wants to teach you. There's a belief that he's trying to uncover a lie that he's trying to uncover and to draw you closer to him. And so we can ask him, God, what do you want me to believe about this situation? Or what do you want me to know? And sometimes just that starting at that place will uncover all the lies you've been believing about a situation. You'll be like, oh, I thought that's what I believed already. But God is showing me actually I'm believing something else. And we love to say, just write down whatever comes to mind first, whether it's a thought, whether it's a scripture, a feeling. Maybe you get a quick picture in your mind the way that God speaks to you. We use the word speak, but communicate is a better probably term. The way that God communicates with you will be unique to you. You might hear his voice in, you know, it sounds like your thought, but it's like way better. That's God. Maybe it's a something you just have this feeling of sudden peace or you, it's a picture that you see. Or maybe you're out for a walk and something in nature speaks to you. God communicates with us in so many different ways. So when you ask him a question, be prepared to just write down the first thing and then you can come back and does it line up with scripture? Does it line up with God's character? Talk to a friend or a pastor who believes that God speaks and is, you know, interested in helping you to kind of figure out the way that he speaks to. And like I said, make sure that it reflects scripture and the character of Jesus, because we know that he will never speak outside of his character, outside of his word.
• 23:27
  Josh: Asking these types of open ended questions with the Lord is really powerful. I had a client I was working with, he's really struggling. He was just feeling really afraid in a particular situation. And he kept asking God, what am I afraid of? What am I afraid of? And he really was just kind of tied up in the fear. And I said, let's ask a different question. Just ask God what you want me to know about this situation. And that's when God showed up and he had all these things to say and to reveal to him. He showed him this is actually what you need to know, what you need to believe in this situation to move past the fear. Sometimes we're so focused on the problem right in front of me. God, help me understand what's happening right now. What do I need to do? And God's like, actually, you don't need to worry about that. Let me take care of that. Let me just speak into your situation. You can trust me. I'M working it out for your good. He's going to show up and speak truth, the truth that transforms your life. When you just ask him those questions so many times we're asking the wrong question when we just really need to ask God, what do you want to say? Because he always speaks, he always has something to say. So if you're not hearing God, maybe you're just asking the wrong question. You say, God, what do you want to say? Yeah, and then just listen. Allow him to speak into that situation. And then the last step that we're going to do is we're actually going to practice believing the truth. So whatever God is speaking the truth that he's spoken into your situation for your life, we're going to turn that into a simple present tense. I, statement, declaration. I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I trust God in every situation because I know that he is working things out for me. God is a good, good father and he always has my best interests at heart. Those are examples of just declarations that you can write and make them specific to what your situation, what God has said, verses that he's revealed to you. Maybe even it's a lyric of a song that you heard that you said, whoa, that really spoke to my heart when I was struggling with fear. God showed up with peace in the situation because of that lyric. Write it down. And then we're going to say that out loud multiple times per day. I like to do at least morning and evenings. Do your declarations say that in the morning, in the evening, and especially anytime that that emotion shows up or you start struggling with the fear, the anxiety or whatever it is, you start to become angry. Oh, okay. What is the truth? You redirect your thoughts back to what God has said and use the power of your tongue to reprogram your brain to think like Jesus.
• 26:01
  Corina: Yeah. And you can also just begin to take baby steps. What has God said that requires action? How can you partner with what God is speaking to you? Take those little baby steps, Begin to step out in faith. Actually, God said that I'm gonna speak to millions of people, Right? Okay, well, I'm scared to speak to five people. Start there. Go to a Bible study and ask a question like, begin to step out in the direction that God is calling and even if it's trusting him with your finances and say, okay, God, how do you want me to partner with you in this? Where can I be generous? Where can I be a good steward of my finances in a way that honors you and just Begin to partner with him in your word and in your action. I love that God always meets us like, we think we're going to have to do all this work to get where God wants us. And it's like we take one step and God's like, great job. And he, like, does all the work for us. He is so amazing and so faithful to come through. And so as we begin to declare and agree with the truth, and then we begin to take action steps to partner with what he's saying, he will show up and do the thing that maybe felt impossible to you, but he will begin to just move you in the right direction. So we know that you are good sheep and you hear God's voice so well because he is a good shepherd and he leads us and you follow him really well. And so we just encourage you to lean into what God is saying.
• 27:35
  Josh: So right now, I just sense God's grace coming upon you to identify and destroy lies that have been holding you back. God's speaking to you right now. Even throughout this whole podcast, there's been something going on in you. God's doing something miraculous. His power to transform cannot be stopped. He's giving you his strength to just partner and say, yes, God, I yield to your process. And he's doing that process of getting all those things that you know are true from your brain all the way into your heart so that it actually flows out, out of your life. Every. Every aspect of your life, every area of your life is going to be overflowing with his incredible hope, his peace, his truth. Because his truth is setting you free.
• 28:24
  Corina: Hey, friend. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. If so, would you take 30 seconds to share this podcast with someone who may need encouragement or practical tools for fighting their battle?
• 28:34
  Josh: Then rate and review this podcast. Help us spread the message of transformation far and wide.
• 28:40
  Corina: All right, time to walk back into the noise with peace, purpose, and maybe a tiny bit of guffing.
• 28:45
  Josh: We'll meet you back next Thursday for another episode. Bye.