ROOTING OUT THE DISTORTED VIEW 

The Process Of Faith (Part 3)

FOUNDATION STATEMENT: Satan is coming at the believers to distort their view.  Satan comes to get the believers to believe a lie.  As believers we have to develop an image that’s in line with the Word of God and not allow Satan to distort our view of who we really are and what we really have. 

Foundation Scripture: Proverbs 23:7, John 8:44

 I. The believer is everything that the Word of God says they are, the believer has

everything that the Word of God says they have, and the believer can do whatever

the Word says they can do. 

A. The Word of God is a mirror that reflects back to you who you really are (James 1:21-25)

1. A mirror reflects back to you who you are

a. It doesn’t have the ability to reflect back to you what you’re going to be, it only has the ability to reflect back to you who you are at the present moment. 

2. When I look at the Word of God it reflects back to me who I really am

a. If you want to find out the truth about yourself then you have to look at the Bible because it reflects back to you the real you

B. As a believer you were born again by the incorruptible seed of the Word of God and every seed produces after its own kind (1 Peter 1:23, Genesis 1:11)

1. If the Word is the seed that gave birth to me then I must be everything that this Word is because it gave me birth

C. As a man thinks, calculates, or estimates himself to be in his heart, that’s what he is in life (Proverbs 23:7)

1. Any calculation or estimation of yourself that doesn’t line up with the Word of God is unbelief

a. If you’ve calculated yourself to be something that God’s Word says you’re not, then you’re in unbelief

2. We’ve made our calculations and estimations of ourselves off of information gained through the five physical senses, instead of revelation from the Word of God.  Information will tell you what you can’t do, but revelation will tell you what you can do. 

a. You’ve underestimated and under-calculated yourself because you’ve based your estimations and calculations of yourself off of what the world says about you. 

3.  You’ve produced a belief about yourself based on what the world says about you and what circumstances say about you

II. Satan comes to try to distort your view and produce an image in you that is not

in line with the Word of God.  He wants you to see yourself in a way that you really

aren’t.  He comes to get you to believe a lie.

A. Satan’s weapon of choice is deception

1. Deceive – to cause one to accept as truth what is false or invalid, to cause to believe what is not true, to convince that something is true when it is not, to cause to believe what is false, or disbelieve what is true

a. When you’re deceived you believe a lie

b. A person cannot be deceived when they know the truth

2. The Word of God is truth (John 17:17)

a. Truth – truthfulness, corresponding to reality

b. You really are what the Word of God says you are, you really have what the Word of God says you have, you can really do what the Word of God says you can do

B. The way that Satan distorts your image is by speaking words to you that are in opposition to the Word of God (John 8:44)

1. Words are seeds that produce images/beliefs in your heart and the image/belief that is in your heart is bearing fruit in your life

a. Through the words that he speaks Satan is trying to get you to believe a lie

b. EXAMPLE: You might have a temperature, sore throat, and headache attacking your body.  Those things are words from the devil to distort your view to get you to believe that you are sick

2. Unbelief will keep you from your inheritance

a. Seeing yourself in a way that you really aren’t will keep you from walking in the reality of who you really are

C. Numbers 13,14

1. Numbers 13:31-33 – Satan distorted their view and got them to believe that they weren’t able to go possess the land because the people in it were stronger than them.  He got them to see themselves as grasshoppers. 

a. Exodus 32:34, 33:1-3, 34:11 – Says they are well able to go up and possess the land

2. They got their image from the evil report, instead from the Word of God

a. The giants and the walls spoke to the children of Israel and told them that they weren’t big enough or strong enough to posses the land and it distorted their view

b. The truth was they were bigger than the giants because God was with them.  The truth was God was on their side so they were plenty big and plenty strong to possess the land, but their view was distorted when they listened to the evil report. 

3. Watch that “we are not able” image produce in their lives.

a. They were really well able to go up and possess the land, but they didn’t believe that and they didn’t see themselves like that

b. As they believed, thought, and saw themselves in their heart, that’s what they were in life

D. Genesis 3:1-11 – The deception was that they were already like God (Genesis 1:26)

1. Satan distorted her view and got her and Adam to see themselves as being less than, and inferior to, and not like God

a. Satan spoke words and planted an image in her that wasn’t true

2. Watch that inferior “not like God” image produce in Eve’s life

a. She really was like God in reality, but she didn’t believe that and she didn’t see herself like that

b. As she believed, thought, saw herself in her heart that’s what she became in life; she became unlike God

E. Matthew 14:24-31

1. The wind and the waves spoke words to Peter telling him that he was inferior and that he couldn’t walk on the water

a. The wind and the waves produced an image in Peter that was an image of inferiority and failure 

F. In all three of these examples their images were distorted because they listened to a lie.  They listened to words that were in opposition to the Word of God and those words that they listened to produced a belief and an image in their heart that kept them from being victorious (Hebrews 3:12)

1. A distorted view comes when you listen to the evil report

III. Satan is trying to keep you in the dark so that you can’t see the truth and the

reality of who you really are and what you really have (2 Corinthians 4:4)

A. He’s trying to distort your view and get you to see yourself in a way that you’re really not

1. Through his words (evil report, circumstances, situations) Satan tries to produce unbelief in your life keeping you from seeing the truth 

a. He’s trying to plant a self-image in you that opposes the truth of God’s Word

B. Satan wants to keep you in the dark and blinded from the truth through unbelief

1. Numbers 13 – The truth was God sent an angel to drive out the people in the land, but they couldn’t see that because unbelief blinded their minds and they couldn’t see the truth

2. Genesis 3 – The truth was they were already like God, but they couldn’t see because their minds were blinded through unbelief and they couldn’t see the truth.

C. The entrance of the Word will bring light and that light will shine on your situation and allow you to see that situation the way that it really is (Psalm 119:130)

1. You see yourself the way God says you are by sowing the Word of God into your heart

a. The reason you haven’t been able to see is because you’re in the dark

2. The entrance of the evil report will produce darkness and keep you from seeing the truth

a. The evil report produces an image in you that opposes the Word of God and keeps you blinded from who you really are and what you really have