The Power of Truth

It’s hard to know where to begin. The last six days have been a labyrinth of experiences of good and bad, right and wrong and a multitude of lessons learned. You know, I really like the lessons that come as God just pours into you revelation, but there are also lessons Jesus has that are so incredibly important that they must be inscribed into the heart by experience, and sometimes it can be painful as the divine chisel goes to work in us.

The awesome power of truth

The lessons I’m learning all have to do with TRUTH, and the powerful weapon of truth in overthrowing darkness and revealing the glory of God. You see God is all about absolute truth. There is nothing within Him that is semi-true or partially true. In God there are no shadows, only the brilliance of absolute truth. Listen to Deuteronomy 32:4, “He is the Rock, His work is perfect…a GOD OF TRUTH and without iniquity, just and right is He.”

Paul wrote to Titus and expressed it this way, “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect people, and the acknowledging OF THE TRUTH which is after godliness; In hope of eternal life, WHICH GOD, THAT CANNOT LIE, promised before the world even began”, (Titus 1:1-2).

Then in Hebrews 6:16-18 it says, “For men in making promises solemnly swear by something greater than themselves: and an oath made in confirming their commitment is to them an end of all doubt as to the performance of the agreement. For this same reason God, willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of His promises the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by making an oath as well: That by two immutable things, IN WHICH IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE FOR GOD TO LIE, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay firm hold on the hope set before us: And this hope then becomes an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast…”

God’s single impossibility

There is nothing that is impossible with God. With a single word He could create a new sun or moon or an entire galaxy and it would be no more difficult for Him than making a single drop of rain, fall from the sky. That is until we come to the topic of truth, and then we find the one and only thing God cannot do.

Because God in Himself is “immutable”, He cannot lie. To lie is the one absolute impossibility of God. When it says He is a “God of truth” it means His very being is truth itself. God is immutable and it is impossible for Him to go against Himself, being that His very nature is the God of truth. It is against the very essence of God to speak or do anything but what is absolute, pure and nakedly true.

God plays no games

This is why we know God is trustworthy and we can place our lives entirely in His care. We know that whatever He says can be counted on 100% of the time. He will not and He cannot say one thing, making us a promise, and then do another thing because in doing so it would be inconsistent with His very being and nature. There is total integrity with God and we learn to securely count on that fact. He is trustworthy and He is always true.

God is truth. God says what He means and means what He says. Listen to Jesus discuss the nature of the Father in Luke 11:9-13, “And I say to you, ask and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it will be opened. If a son will ask bread of any of you that is a father, WILL HE GIVE HIM A STONE INSTEAD? OR, IT HE ASKS FOR A FISH, WILL HE FOR A FISH GIVE HIM A SERPENT? OR IF HE ASKS FOR AN EGG, WILL HE OFFER HIM A SCORPION INSTEAD? If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, HOW MUCH MORE WILL YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER GIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT to them that ask Him?”

Make no mistake about it. God loves to have fun! But His fun never violates His nature of truth and love. As Jesus illustrated above, if you ask your heavenly Father for bread He isn’t going to play some cruel trick on you and do a heavenly bait and switch by giving you a rock instead. There is no confusion here with God as His nature is truth and truth is reliable.

Truth and “light” are expressions of the same idea

The ideas of absolute truth and absolute light are the same. For example, when we suddenly realize a truth, we say that we have been “enlightened”. The same holds true in spiritual language. Truth sheds light on a thing in terms of the spirit dimension.

Remember it is impossible for God to lie. Listen to Psalm 119:105 as it talks about God’s words and their effect, “Your word is a LAMP to my feet and a LIGHT to my path”, and then again in verse 130, “The entrance of Your words GIVES LIGHT.”

There are many other instances in which truth and light are linked, but to give you one more example we will go to 1st John 1:5-6, “This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare to you, THAT GOD IS LIGHT, and in Him is NO DARKNESS AT ALL. If we say we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, AND DO NOT THE TRUTH.”

The weapon of truth overcomes darkness

Truth is one of the most powerful elements in the arsenal of God against evil and evil spirits. God has written this reality into the very fabric of the universe. Just as in nature darkness will rule in the absence of light, even so in the spirit realm darkness rules until truth shines. However, even more powerfully – light will absolutely triumph over darkness in every realm into which it shines. It is impossible for darkness to withstand light. In the presence of light darkness becomes nothing. It is outmatched and overpowered.

In the case of God, who IS light and truth, His light is so brilliant that in His presence there are not even shadows! It is a permeating brilliance. Listen to the apostle James as he says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from THE FATHER OF LIGHTS, with whom is NO VARIABLNESS, NEITHER SHADOW OF TURNING. Of His own will He begat us with the WORD OF HIS TRUTH…”, James 1:17-18. We can also read in 1st Timothy 6:16, where the apostle Paul writes, “Who only has immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man has seen, or can see: to whom be honor an power everlasting. Amen.”

When Jesus appeared in time, He boldly declared to both the visible and invisible worlds, “I AM TRUTH”, (John 14:6). Listen to Jesus in John 15:22, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have any sin: but now they have no cloak for (means to cover up) their sin.” When THE TRUTH came THE INTENSITY OF THE LIGHT shined brightly and THE MEANS OF COVER UP was destroyed, their disassociation with truth and the glory of God could no longer be hidden.

The contrast between Light and darkness

We’ve been talking about God and truth and the brilliance of the light in which He dwells. But Jesus had some very clear things to say about the darkness as well. In John 8:42-44 Jesus makes the issues at stake quite clear, “Why is it you get confused by the things I speak? It is because you cannot actually hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and the passions of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and ABODE NOT IN THE TRUTH, BECAUSE THERE IS NO TRUTH IN HIM. When he speaks a lie, he speaks out from the very core of his own nature: for he is a liar and the father (progenitor, beginning point, the very source) of all that is a lie.”

Jesus made it plain. There is NO TRUTH in the devil. When Jesus said no truth, He meant zero, nothing, nada. But often the darkness APPEARS to be telling the truth, but at the core of every single expression emanating from darkness is the spirit of a lie. When Paul the apostle was writing the Corinthians he gave them this warning, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into (appearing as) the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for satan himself MASQUERADES AS AN ANGEL OF LIGHT. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also masquerade as ministers of righteousness; whose end will be according to their works”, (2nd Corinthians 11:13-15).

Why is it that we are so easily persuaded by a lie and have such a hard time believing God? We tune our lives to the influence of darkness but have such difficulty abandoning our entire trust to the Holy Spirit who dwells within those who have surrendered their lives to Jesus. We become so accustomed to the subtleties of the lie that the voice of the Holy Spirit seems strange and actually contradictory to us, and to our life experiences, challenges and they way we face them are often based on concepts or ideas that are actually not true.

The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Truth

Jesus promised His followers that the very Spirit of Truth would come to live perpetually within us. This is amazingly significant because it is the Spirit of Truth that sets a follower of Jesus apart from everything else and all other spiritual communication.

Jesus said:

“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that HE MAY ABIDE WITH YOU FOREVER; even the SPIRIT OF TRUTH; whom the world (those dominated by the spirits of darkness) cannot receive, because it sees Him not, and neither does it know Him: BUT YOU KNOW HIM; BECAUSE HE IS DWELLING WITH YOU NOW, AND SOON WILL BE IN YOU”, (John 14:16-17).

“But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send to you from the Father, EVEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH, which PROCEEDS FROM THE FATHER, He will testify of Me”, (John 15:26).

“Howbeit when He, THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH IS COME, He will GUIDE YOU INTO ALL TRUTH: for He will not speak out of Himself; but whatever He hears, that will He speak: and He will even show you things that are to happen even before they happen”, (John 16:13).

Where God Dwells

This is one of the fantastic mysteries of God. From the beginning of the world God has gone from place to place when relating to mankind. He visited Adam in the garden. At times He chose other special places or mountains on which to visit. He had Moses build a special tent that was patterned after heaven and He met people there. David built another tent and God dwelt there.

Solomon built a beautiful temple and the glory of God appeared there, but none of these were His eternal purpose. God had something much greater and much more powerful than any of these places. God had something in mind that would be the ultimate weapon and threat against the dark spirits of this world. God had Jesus in mind and His followers, those who would be redeemed from out of the dark world system through believing the truth regarding His only begotten Son.

The apostle John described Jesus this way, “And the Word (the truth as God declares it to be) was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld HIS GLORY, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH”, (John 1:14)

Hebrews 1:3 refers to Jesus this way, “Who being the BRIGHTNESS OF HIS GLORY AND THE EXPRESS IMAGE OF HIS PERSON, AND UPHOLDING ALL THING BY THE WORD OF HIS POWER, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

But then those who believe in Jesus are extended the very same Spirit of light and truth who dwells literally within us, as it says, “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might BY HIS SPIRIT IN THE INNER MAN, THAT CHRIST MAY DWELL IN YOUR HEARTS by faith; that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the other saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passes far beyond all knowledge, THAT YOU MIGHT BE FILLED WITH ALL THE FULNESS OF GOD”, (Ephesians 3:16-19).

The apostle Paul said it plainly, “Do you not know that YOU ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD, AND THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELLS IN YOU?”, (1st Corinthians 3:16).

Giving God a comfortable home

Seeing we are chosen to be the dwelling place of God, it becomes those who long for the full measure of the Holy Spirit to be revealed within them to create the kind of “home environment” in which the Spirit is most comfortable. It is in the atmosphere of absolute truth (among other things) the Holy Spirit is most comfortable. It is the atmosphere that resonates with Him.

In Ephesians chapter four, we are taught by Paul that “the TRUTH” is in Jesus and like a garment we are to put off our old attitudes and behaviors that were based on the lies of darkness (v.21-22). Then he tells us we are to be “RENEWED IN THE SPIRIT OF OUR MIND” and that by doing so we will literally be putting upon ourselves that which bears the very image of God Himself (V. 23-24). Then one of the first things Paul specifically addresses to put off from us is lying, and the first thing he tells us to put upon ourselves is an absolute commitment to truth as he says, “For this reason PUTTING AWAY LYING, every one of you must SPEAK TRUTH WITH HIS NEIGHBOR” (V. 25).

Why do you suppose that is? It is because TRUTH is the atmosphere in which the glory of God is most clearly revealed! It is because God is absolute truth and absolute light and when we harmonize with God by His Holy Spirit, His glory is reflected through us.

There can be no lies in the presence of God

How important is truth to God? In the Book of Revelation and in other places we discover there can be no lies or liars in the presence of God. In the heavenly, supernatural city of God where the throne of God resides Revelation 21:27 tells us, “And there will IN NO WAY enter into it ANY THING that defiles, or makes abomination, OR MAKES A LIE…” And then it assumes that those who follow Jesus easily fit this class of people as it says regarding those who do enter, “but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” So it makes the assumption that the followers of Christ the Lamb are void of the spirit of lying, which would mean they are filled with the Spirit of Truth.

Regardless of whatever else you may believe about the City of God, one thing we can all agree on is the city represents the fullness of the presence of God. And there are certain things when practiced bar one from PARTICIPATION IN THE FULL BEAUTY, GLORY AND PRESENCE OF THE UNVEILED GOD. In Revelation 22:13-15 we read Jesus saying, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have RIGHT TO EAT OF THE TREE OF LIFE, and MAY ENTER IN THROUGH THE GATES INTO THE CITY. For on the outside are those who are dogs, and sorcerers, and murderers, and idolaters, AND WHOSOEVER LOVES AND MAKES A LIE.”

In the presence of the God of truth a lie is intolerable. It is the antithesis of His very Spirit and nature and comes out from the father of lies, the devil. In case you haven’t noticed, that is the crux of this whole matter is it not? The focal point of all things in this present age is the war in the spiritual dimension in which the devil and his works and workers are ultimately and entirely destroyed. It's light versus darkness, good versus evil, the glories of heaven versus the sufferings of hell, love verus hate, healing versus sickness, peace in all of life versus torment and fear in the soul, life versus death, Jesus versus the devil, Christ versus anti-Christ, truth versus lies, and the like. And the people whom God inhabits are His special warriors in the midst of the fray of this battle, wrestling not against men but against the spirits that bind men to the dark leaches of evil that devour peoples lives.

To date in history one of the most amazing revelations of God’s presence on earth is seen in Jesus and then among His followers in the early church. I’m not going to go into it, but just for fun I encourage you to read Acts 5 to see what happened to Ananias and his wife Sapphira when they brought a lie into the presence of the Holy Ghost. In the atmosphere of pure truth, judgment comes quickly on the dark spirit of deceit.

Conclusion

The light of truth is a powerful weapon against the forces of evil in the earth. Where truth shines, darkness is destroyed and becomes as nothing. Our God is the very God of truth and the followers of Jesus are made to be His dwelling place in earth. It is in the atmosphere of truth that the Holy Spirit finds Himself most comfortable because He is the very Spirit of Truth. For the glory of God to shine in it’s fullness we must put on a commitment to speak, do and follow purely truth as God declares it to be, not as the world declares it to be.

In Ephesians 6 it talks about spiritual warfare and we as the followers of Jesus heading out to destroy the darkness. The first bit of armament we are told to put on is that of truth, “Put on the whole ARMOR OF GOD, that you may be able to STAND AGAINST (as an opposing force) the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. For this very reason take to you the WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD, that you may be able to withstand (as in pressing against) in the evil day, and having done all, to remain still standing. Stand therefore, HAVING YOUR LOINS GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH…” (Ephesians 6:11-14).

And I guess I will finish with this thought, going back to the passage where Paul is telling us what to put off from us and what to put on. Remember the first thing he said to put off is lying and the first thing he said to put on is “speaking the truth”. As he goes through his list of new and old clothing, he interjects this thought, “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption.” Truth brings the joy of the Holy Spirit and the reflection of God’s light and glory through us. The opposite brings grief and a restriction of the flow of the Holy Spirit within us. We defile ourselves. There is no such thing as a white lie.

Randy