The Weapons – The Altered Identity Incendiary Bomb vs. The Truth Atomic Bomb
My fighting Strategies – The Truth Bomb using the Notice It, Name It, Flip It, Find It, Scaling and True Evidence strategies.
We can fight Satan with the truth.
We have believed Satan’s lies about ourselves for so long that we have adopted them as part of our identity. This is his tactic called – The Altered Identity Atomic Bomb.
How many times have we heard the voice inside our heads repeat, (and remember, as we said before, sometimes he speaks to us as if outside of us using the third person pronouns and sometimes he weasels into our heads using first person pronouns.) “You can’t do this. You’re not strong enough.” Or, “You are such a procrastinator.” Or, “You’re not smart enough.” Or, “This is just my nature.”
Whatever it is he is trying to get you to believe, its a lie. He wants to alter your identity.
If he can get us to believe everything he tells us about ourselves he scores the winning touchdown. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want him scoring a field goal let alone a touchdown in my life. I want him to lose and lose big. I want to score on him, not the other way around. I score best when I notice his attack and deflect it. All the work is done in our heads. Here is when I use the Notice It, Name It, Flip It, Find It principle.
First, I have to notice it.
I have learned to search my inner thoughts when I feel my chemistry shift. I ask myself, “What am I believing about myself right now? How has Satan altered my identity?” Then the real work begins. Once I have a firm grasp on the lie, I dig deep inside and ask myself the first question. Am I the kind of person who… A good measuring tool to rate my conviction to the altered identity or the lie is the scaling tool. I use a scale from 0-10. On a scale from 0-10 how firm am I on holding to this lie about myself.
Once I find an altered identity I am not highly committed to, I name it such as, “I am lazy.” Then I flip it. “I am aggressive and proactive in my life.” At this point, I find it. I re-center my thoughts on my true identity. This enables me to pull my nose out of the rabbit hole or pass it up altogether.
Here is an example:
I am innocently scrolling through my social media feed when I see a cool drawing that intrigues me. I have seen stuff like this many times. I notice a slight chemical shift. Before I click on it, I think (probably the Holy Ghost), “If I click on that it might send me down a destructive rabbit hole. This won’t be good.” But then another strong thought comes into my head (probably Satan), “But, I am the kind of person who likes looking at creative drawings.” This is the rabbit hole of identity deception.
Now I take on the task of naming it. I ask myself “Am I the kind of person who is willing to risk my sobriety to explore someone else’s creative endeavors?” (This is the right question.) Remember, he wants me to believe a lie about myself. When I am in my right mind, I know if I really care about exploring people’s creative endeavors, there are many other ways to do it rather than risking my sobriety.
Now I ask, “How firm am I on holding to this identity?” I rate myself. “Right now I am at an 8. I am the kind of person who appreciates creative art. I want to click on that drawing because I don’t want to take time to explore this person’s creativity in a safe way. I would rather be lazy and get the immediate gratification of clicking.”
This is another attack on my identity.
Satan wants me to believe that I am lazy. Now, I ask myself again. “Am I the kind of person who is lazy? How firm is my commitment to this identity?” I find that I am at a 3 on this one. I actually don’t believe I am a lazy person by nature. I know, from past experience, a 3 on the scale is weak. I can begin my fight here.
I flip it. I say to myself, “I am not a lazy person. I am aggressive and proactive in my life.” A 3 on the scale is low enough for me that sometimes just knowing my commitment level or lack of commitment is enough for me to find it and re-center.
However, if scaling it isn’t enough, I find true evidence in my life that reminds me that I am aggressive and proactive, not lazy. I will say things like, “I left my family of origin and lived in a different state just to pursue my education.” He may try to fight with me on this one and throw back into my face that I didn’t actually graduate from that out-of-state school but then I will throw back, “I graduated! So shut up, Satan.” This is all the takes. I swipe out of that social media app, put my phone down and get on with my day. Touchdown! Battle won!!
Satan will be back to fight again another day but he is weakening his grip. I am learning how to fight him with the Truth Atomic Bomb. And, I am learning how to drop that bomb with accuracy using the Notice It, Name It, Flip It, Find It, Scaling and True Evidence strategies.
His Altered Identity Bomb may be destructive but the Truth Atomic Bomb is more powerful. He may have power to bruise my heel but I will have power to crush his head.
If you have a daughter struggling, or feel like you are personally struggling, we can help. Our Daughters of Light program is for you. Please call to schedule a consultation with a therapist to help determine what the best steps would be and how to help. Call 801-989-1023 or email daughtersoflight@lifechangingservices.org. We offer both in-person and online counseling options.
If you are interested in more information like this, you may like the free ebook by Maurice Harker, CMHC, Like Dragons Did They Fight.
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Aneladee Milne, CMHC Intern, has been working with women and adolescent girls for over 10 years. She specializes in working with those that struggle with anxiety and depression and the often unwanted behaviors that are associated with those mental health concerns.
