Remove The Lies In Your Mind
You have lies in your mind.
These lies have stolen much of your joy and blessings.
Here’s the problem: You don’t know they’re lies.
My friend priest told me this hilarious story.
One day, a priest saw a group of kids surrounding a dog.
Curious, he came over and asked, “What are you doing?”
One kid said, “Father, we’re arguing as to who would own this stray dog. We all want him. So we decided that the one who can say the biggest lie would take home the dog.”
The priest shook his head and said, “That’s wrong! Do you know that lying is bad? It’s against the commandments of God. Do you know that when I was your age, I never told a single lie?”
For a moment, there was silence. All the kids looked very sad. The priest was happy. He felt his message hit home.
Finally, the smallest boy said, “Okay, no one can beat that. Give him the dog.”
The First Lie I Ever Told
I remember the first lies I ever said.
I was in Grade 3.
One day, I opened the classroom door, not knowing my classmate was right behind it. The door hit his forehead, and blood flowed down his face, all the way to his white polo uniform. He looked like a victim in a horror movie.
That was when my teacher arrived on the scene. And she screamed, “Who did this?”
There I was, still holding the door knob, and with a shaking voice, said, “Not me!”
I remember how terrible I felt that day.
If you ever told a lie before, you know the feeling.
Suddenly, you don’t feel at peace. (Obviously, I’m disqualifying chronic liars. They’ve deadened their conscience and feel nothing.)
Let me tell you why we lose our peace.
Because God is truth. And when we speak untruth, we move away from God. You move away from the one who said, “Peace be with you.”
Lying isn’t worth it.
Inner peace leaves you.
And your relationships are affected. Because relationships are based on trust—which is based on truth. More so, you can’t even have a great relationship with yourself because you lose respect for yourself.
But let me talk about a different kind of lying.
When We Lie To Ourselves
One day, I was preaching about the power of our words.
I asked my audience to say out loud, “I’m beautiful!” We laughed and had so much fun.
After the talk, I saw a young woman waiting for me at the foot of the stage.
I noticed that physically, she was stunningly beautiful.
She had lovely eyes, but when I looked at them, I sensed deep sadness.
She asked me, “Brother Bo, if one says, ‘I’m beautiful’,but she feels ugly, isn’t she lying?”
I already knew she was talking about herself. I asked, “Why do you think you’re ugly?”
She told me her story. When she was a little child, her father would tell her, “Dorothy, you’re ugly.” And he’d laugh the meanest laugh. He’d tease her again and again. Most of the time, he was drunk when he did this. And she said, “Ever since, I’ve always felt ugly. You were telling us on stage to say, ‘I’m beautiful’! I couldn’t say it. I felt I’d be lying…”
I asked her, “Define lying.”
“When I say something that’s not true.”
“We’ve got a problem here. There are three persons involved. You, your father, and God. You say you’re ugly. Your father said you were ugly. But today, I announce to you that God says you’re beautiful. Who is telling the truth? You, your father, or God? Out of these three persons, only one of you claimed, ‘I Am The Truth.’”
She began to break down.
She said, “Bo, you don’t know what kind of life I’m living now. I live an ugly life. I’ve had 7 boyfriends, some of them married men. I’ve given away my body to all 7 of them and I feel so dirty. I am ugly.”
I knew what happened to Dorothy.
Words have power. And she allowed the words of her father to create ugliness in her life. She was jumping from one lover to another, searching for someone to tell her that she was beautiful.
I said, “Dorothy, God says you’re beautiful. Because He doesn’t look at your mistakes. He doesn’t look at your past. He only looks at the original beauty He created in you from the very beginning. And He also looks at the glorious beauty of your future.”
I have this habit of praying for people on the spot. I prayed for God’s healing on her life. I said, “Lord, dethrone this cruel lie in her mind.”
The next time I saw Dorothy, she was a different person.
She was free from all her bad relationships. She was serving God in her prayer group. And her eyes no longer had sadness. I saw happiness in them. And yes, she was indeed beautiful.
Stop The Lies
You may be like Dorothy today.
You feel you’ve made mistakes in the past. And you believe you’re a bad person. Or you failed in your school or job or family—and feel that you’re a failure.
But I speak words of truth to you: God says you’re not a bad person. God says you’re not a failure. Sure you’ve made mistakes. But those mistakes don’t define you. God says you’re very good, made in His image. God says there’s a champion in you.
Dethrone the lies in your mind.
Listen to what God is saying instead.
My friend George Gabriel told me that in Facebook and other social networks, there’s such a thing as “Status”. Most often, he sees people type in negative words like, “I feel lazy today,” and “I’m depressed,” and “I’m broke.” He says that these negative words are typed in the internet forever.
Hey, it’s good that we’re being emotionally honest. That’s important. Don’t deny what you feel. But I think we shouldn’t stop at emotional honesty. I think we should also proclaim the truth.
If you feel sick, don’t just say, “I don’t feel well.” Say, “I don’t feel well but this is temporary. Health and healing are flowing into my body.”
If you don’t have money today, don’t say, “I’m poor.” Say, “I’m temporarily broke. Abundance is coming my way.”
If you had a relationship that didn’t work out, don’t just say, “I have a broken heart.” Say, “I have a broken heart but I know the best is yet to come. Someone better will walk into my life and I will find my one true love.”
My friend Vic Espanol told me of Dr. Masaru Emoto. I read his fascinating work years ago, but reading it again opened my eyes to the power of our words…
The Power Of Words Over Water
Can water be affected by our words?
Dr. Masaru Emoto, a Japanese scientist, believes so.
And he has proof.
Dr. Emoto took water droplets, exposed them to various words, music, and environments, and froze them for three hours. He then examined the crystal formations under a dark field microscope. And he took photographs.
The results were totally mind-blowing.
Here’s a photo of ordinary water without any prayer spoken over it. The molecular structure is in disarray.
The photo below is water after the prayer was said. It’s simply breathtaking. (I now have a great respect for praying before meals! More on this later.)
Dr. Emoto also exposed water to Heavy Metal music. Here’s how it looks like. Looks sad if you ask me.
Here’s water exposed to classical music and folk dance music. Looks much better, right?
Next, Dr. Emoto stuck a piece of paper with these words: “You make me sick. I will kill you.” Here’s how the frozen water droplets looks like under the microscope…
Below is how water looked like with the words “Love” over it. The difference is amazing.
This is Polluted water…
This is water from Lourdes, France. Utterly beautiful, right?
Wait A Minute—
Aren’t You Made Up Of Water?
Yes! 72% of your body is made up of water.
Imagine how your words affect your own body.
When you say, “I’m a failure,” or “I’m hopeless,” or “I won’t get well,” imagine how these words weaken your health.
Make a choice to say the best words out there. Say often, “I’m wonderful,” and “I’m beautiful,” and “I’m God’s child,” and “God has a great plan for my life!”
It’s not only water.
Dr. Emoto also experimented with cooked rice.
He placed one cup of cooked rice in two airtight jars. On one jar, he wrote, “I love you,” and on the other, “You fool.” Everyday for 30 days, Dr. Emoto would say these words to each jar of rice.
After 30 days, the “I love you” rice was still white. But the “You fool” rice was so rotten, it was black. How can you explain this?
Just as a side note: When I was a child, my mother taught me to pray before meals. Now I realize it wasn’t just a nice thing to do. When I pray over my meal, I know a material transformation takes place in the molecular level of the food that I pray for. I say, “Be blessed,” to the water and food on the table—and I expect it to be blessed.
Can Water Read Or Listen To Words?
Yes and No.
Let me explain this in the simplest way I can.
I’m taking a deep breath now, because I can’t believe I’m going to do this: I’m going to give a mini-lecture on Physics. Me, the guy who got a D in all my science subjects!
Do you remember Albert Einstein?
My friend Albert said that everything is energy.
Remember his formula E=mc2?
Well, he believed that energy and matter are interchangeable. Because in a subatomic level, the most solid matter you can think of, like a table or a rock (or my biceps) isn’t really solid at all. Everything is a sea of vibrating energy. Ever changing, ever moving, at the speed of light. Thus, in a mind-boggling way, there’s really no difference between a thing and a thought. All is energy.
Because of this, everything is interconnected. We’re all inside this ocean of fluid energy. That means my thoughts and words can really affect the entire material universe.
Amazing? You bet.
When you start speaking like this, people automatically think this is New Age and reject it. Not necessarily. What I gave you are reflections based on the Theory of Relativity and Quantum Physics. (Note: From a scientific perspective, I probably will get an F with my explanation above. I apologize to all the scientists out there.)
Friend, use your words to create your desired destiny.
Speak Words of Faith. Believe that your words affect your universe.
The Power Of Prayer
I have a confession to make.
For many years, I’ve never understood why we needed “intercession”.
Why do I need to ask you to pray for me?
Let’s say I need money to buy food.
Doesn’t God love me enough to give me money if I ask Him? Why do I need to ask my friends to pray for me?
Is God moved if instead of one person praying, we come as a group? Is God like a politician that is moved by numbers? Is God saying, “Hmmm, you’re only one person praying. Tsk, tsk. Not enough. Come back to me if you’re a crowd, okay?”
Let’s say you’re sick and want healing.
Why ask the saints to pray for you? Doesn’t God love you enough to heal you—without the backing of saints? Palakasan ba ‘to? Is God saying, “Don’t you bring References with you?”
I also couldn’t understand “Soaking Prayer”. Someone told me, “Our mother was sick and we soaked her in prayer for two whole hours. And God healed her!”
At the back of my mind, I asked, “Why? Why two hours? Doesn’t God hear us the first time we ask for healing? Is He that type of God who will wait if we’re really insistent—and then relent to our pleading?
If so, then God is a capricious God who doles out blessings to the strongest, loudest appeals.
But as I reflected further, I began to understand.
This understanding was a giant breakthrough for me.
The Blessings Are Already Given
I believe God has already made available all the blessings that you need. Healing. Miracles. Abundance. They’re all there. The Bible says that (Ephesians 1).
He’s not hiding any of that from us.
He’s not keeping it in a giant storehouse under lock and key, and giving them out piece by piece whenever we ask for them.
I repeat: He’s made them all available to you.
Imagine yourself swimming in an ocean of blessings. That’s the picture!
But here’s the reality: One person can be a sponge. And another person can be a rock. The sponge absorbs the water, the rock cannot.
What makes you more absorbent? Your faith.
That’s why prayer has a powerful effect. It increases your faith. It makes you ready to receive blessings.
And when others pray for you, their faith increases your faith. No mater how far they are, their words travel at the speed of light and bless you. Something happens to you when others proclaim blessing to you. (And note: Love is the greatest power on the planet. When I pray for you, I’m loving you with God’s love. You receive this love. And this love heals and performs miracles.)
That’s why Intercession is powerful. That’s why soaking prayer is powerful. The problem isn’t in the giving of the blessing. The problem is in the receiving of the blessing. Many times, we’re not yet ready. Our faith isn’t ready. (Another note: Faith isn’t only the reason why we don’t receive blessings. There are other reasons that I don’t have time to talk about today.)
But being surrounded by the prayer and love of others, we increase our faith and receive His blessings.
And when you speak words of truth, you affect the universe.
Let me end with one last story.
Who Is Telling The Truth?
One day, a young guy and a young girl fell in love.
But the guy came from a poor family. The girl’s parents weren’t too happy.
So the young man decided not only to court the girl but to court her parents as well. In time, the parents saw that he was a good man and was worthy of their daughter’s hand.
But there was another problem: The man was a soldier. Soon, war broke out and he was being sent overseas for a year.
The week before he left, the man knelt on his knee and asked his lady love, “Will you marry me?” She wiped a tear, said yes, and they were engaged. They agreed that when he got back in one year, they would get married.
But tragedy struck. A few days after he left, the girl had a major vehicular accident. It was a head-on collision.
When she woke up in the hospital, she saw her father and mother crying. Immediately, she knew there was something wrong.
She later found out that she suffered brain injury. The part of her brain that controlled her face muscles was damaged. Her once lovely face was now disfigured. She cried as she saw herself in the mirror. “Yesterday, I was beautiful. Today, I’m a monster.” Her body was also covered with so many ugly wounds.
Right there and then, she decided to release her fiancé from their promise. She knew he wouldn’t want her anymore. She would forget about him and never see him again.
For one year, the soldier wrote many letters—but she wouldn’t answer. He phoned her many times but she wouldn’t return her calls.
But after one year, the mother walked into her room and announced, “He’s back from the war.”
The girl shouted, “No! Please don’t tell him about me. Don’t tell him I’m here!”
The mother said, “He’s getting married,” and handed her a wedding invitation.
The girl’s heart sank. She knew she still loved him—but she had to forget him now.
With great sadness, she opened the wedding invitation.
And then she saw her name on it!
Confused, she asked, “What is this?”
That was when the young man entered her room with a bouquet of flowers. He knelt beside her and asked, “Will you marry me?”
The girl covered her face with her hands and said, “I’m ugly!”
The man said, “Without your permission, your mother sent me your photos. When I saw your photos, I realized that nothing has changed. You’re still the person I fell in love. You’re still as beautiful as ever. Because I love you!”
This Story Is A Parable Of Your Life
Friend, the girl believed she was ugly.
The man believed she was beautiful.
Who is telling the truth?
Simple answer: The man who loved.
You may be like that woman. You feel you’re disfigured by your failures. Marred by your mistakes. You feel you live an ugly life. But God says you’re beautiful! Because He loves you.
He doesn’t look at your mistakes. He doesn’t look at your past. He looks at the original beauty He created in you—and the glorious beauty of your future.
I encourage you to speak words of truth.
Dethrone the lies in your mind.
Say, “I’m beautiful.” Say, “I’m a wonderful person.” Say, “I have a great future.” Say, “I’m anointed. I’m strong. I’m blessed.”
Use your words to create your desired reality.
May your dreams come true,
