What Happens When You Live by the Truth; not the Facts

Facts are facts.

And I knew what these facts were telling me. They told me so loud I couldn’t think about anything else but the chronic pain I was in.

But through studying the Word and gaining knowledge from my godly parents, it began to click that there’s something greater than facts.

And that’s Truth. That’s what I decided to live by.

Long story short, I went from being bedridden in pain to watching every doctor I went to be surprised at the miracles.

As Christians, there is a higher truth for us to live by, and it’s literally life-changing!

Today, I want to share what I’ve learned that’s helping me walk through—not camp out in—my hardest trial of life.

The facts are real, but God’s Word is more real

Facts are facts. Facts are real.

We know they’re real because we can sense them with our five senses. God gave us them so we could know and discover things.

But we’re not 100% natural. 1/3 of us is spirit—our spirit given to us by God. (1 Thess. 5:23)

Too many people ignore this fact. Too many people live only by the facts: what they can feel, see, taste, hear, and smell. Too many people live only by the natural and not enough by the supernatural.

Yes, the facts are real. They’re here. We can feel and see them.

It’s a fact that I feel pain right now. It’s a fact that there’s nothing the doctors can do for me. It’s a fact that one of my conditions doesn’t have a treatment. FACT.

And if I lived by those facts, I’d be a goner.

But the thing about facts is they change.

Fact: it’s a certain temperature in the living room. But I can change it with the thermostat any time I want.

Fact: I used to have long hair. But then I got my hair cut and layered. The facts changed.

Fact: I may be grumpy to my family one minute, but apologize and be kind the next. The facts changed, but the truth—I love my family no matter what—stayed the same.

Facts, like feelings, are unreliable. They’re unstable. They can change in the blink of an eye.

And they’re not our only reality! There’s something more real than facts, and that’s Truth: God’s Word.

The Word of God is Truth and Truth > Facts

Facts change. Truth does not. That’s why Truth is greater than fact.

… while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
(2 Corinthians 4:18)

You want to live in God’s best? (It’s not going to automatically happen; He doesn’t impose His will. You must seek it.) Find out the truth: what God has to say about your situation.

Your word is truth.
(John 17:17)

The entirety of Your word is truth.
(Psalm 119:160a)

The Word of God is the truth and Truth trumps fact. Every time. Because facts change, but God’s Word remains!

But the word of the Lord endures forever.
(1 Peter 1:25)

The truth of the Lord endures forever.
(Psalm 117:2)

The entirety of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.
(Psalm 119:160)

Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.
(Psalm 119:89)

(See more about the truth of the Word of God at my post here: What’s the Truth?)

Truth > facts, because facts change but Truth is steady and eternal; therefore, a higher standard for us to live our lives by.

For we walk by faith, not by sight.
(2 Corinthians 5:7)

If all we ever did was go by how things looked like, yeah, we’d be finished.

So find out what God has to say about your situation and live it!

Live by the Truth, not facts

When you hold the truth of God’s Word above the factual circumstances of life, it sets you free.

And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
(John 8:32)

When a fact goes contrary to the truth of God’s Word, it becomes a lie. James 4:7 tells us to resist the devil—the father of all lies—and he will flee.

Resist the lies and they will flee. There’s nothing more opposite to a lie than a truth, so live by the Truth and watch the facts line up.

In Matthew 12, when Jesus walked into the synagogue on the Sabbath, He saw a man there with a withered hand. The following happened:

Then He [Jesus] said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.
(Matthew 12:13)

Notice that the man didn’t first complain and say, “But Jesus, I can’t stretch out my hand. It’s withered!”

No, he acted in faith first, moving to stretch his hand out, and it was restored while he did that.

He didn’t wait for the facts to line up before he acted.

And neither should we. Many people live by “I’ll believe it when I see it”, but if you don’t believe it—and live it—you will never see it. :o)

A few miraculous examples from my recent life

Fact: I was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

That was clear. But that’s not what I proclaimed over my life.

The Truth was that 2,000 years ago at a whipping post, Jesus paid the price for my healing.

(The 39 stripes on Jesus’s back were not for our sin—we don’t get healed of our sins. There’s no spark of divinity in them that only needs healing. Our sins have to be washed away completely by His blood. If His stripes were for our sin, He wouldn’t have had to go hang on the cross. “By His stripes, we were healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5, Matthew 8:17, and 1 Peter 2:24) is referring to physical healing.)

So that’s what I believed. That’s what I proclaimed.

And when I got my blood tested, there was not a single trace of inflammation in my blood.

That just doesn’t happen when your knees are severely swollen and can only partially be bent. But even the doctor’s report was confirming the Truth! ?

The first time I saw my new rheumatologist last November for my arthritis, she was horrified.

She stumbled over her words trying to describe the swelling in my knees. I limped when I walked. I cried in pain. I couldn’t move my knees normally. I couldn’t run. I couldn’t crouch.

The doctor was planning to put me back on a harsh drug commonly used for chemotherapy—something we had done before and definitely didn’t want to do again.

Those were the facts. Painful, incurable facts.

But that’s not what I settled for. That’s not what I lived by. I knew Jesus paid the price for my healing. I knew, despite what many American churches teach today, the Truth: God wanted me well.

He didn’t want me in chronic pain, unable to move correctly, and living on weekly injections for the rest of my life. Jesus paid too high a price!

Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.
(Psalm 103:1-3)

So I believed that Truth and took steps of faith on it. Wasn’t easy, I didn’t feel like it, everyone thought I was a radical lunatic and ran their mouths.

But it’s the people who are this radical that get miracles. People who are passive about it don’t get many, if any.

Fast forward to March of this year. My rheumatologist walked in the room nervously and examined me.

She was absolutely blown away. “You’re perfect,” she said. “I’d been expecting the worst because of where your knees were last time.” Overjoyed, she hugged me.

Now, I can’t even remember the last time I walked with a limp. February, maybe? That sucker left fast!

I can’t even remember the last time I woke up in the morning and didn’t want to get out of bed due to how bad my knees ached. I used to not be able to sit cross-legged, but I’m sitting that way right now with no pain.

I used to not be able to crouch down to the ground. I would squat halfway and just couldn’t go any farther—that was the end of my range of motion. Just the other day, I decided to give it a try—and I could go farther than I did in years!

Quick comparison of how my range of motion and inflammation has improved since last year… with no drugs. :o)

On the left, that’s as far as I could bend my left knee. I literally could not bend it any more—if I tried, the pain was just too much. It felt as if someone was pulling my joint apart as I tried to bend. And the swelling! You can’t even tell that’s a knee!

On the right… check out the difference. Only God. ?

The same day my rheumatologist was shocked, I went to my ophthalmologist, who keeps a check on my eyes—they had inflammation in them (uveitis) once, too. Not something you want to play with. If the devil had it his way, I would be blind.

But she looked for inflammation and could find none. “All clear,” she said.

I find it hilarious that God uses even my doctors to confirm His truth to me. I don’t always get a great report, but whenever I do despite the symptoms, it’s like God saying, “See? I told you!” ?

When we told the ophthalmologist the rheumatologist had told me I looked perfect too, both she and her nurse were in disbelief.

“What? She must be a nurse practitioner.”

“You do realize arthritis has no cure, right? It can only go into remission?”

Yeah, maybe for you, buddy. Live by the facts all day long. I don’t identify with defeat. I’ll take the Truth.

It’s not denying your reality; it’s believing God’s reality.

I went to the doctors because I’m not denying the facts. That’s a good way to end up in the psych ward.

Facts are, I hurt. And if there’s something I can do in the natural to make me feel better, I’ll do it.

But when I started living by what God’s Word said, all these doctors looked for problems and couldn’t find them! And what’s more—the symptoms started to miraculously leave!

The facts screamed “pain” at me every day, but God’s Word said “healed”. You can never go wrong believing, living, and speaking what God says. He is the higher authority!

When what you see doesn’t align with what God spoke, go with what He spoke.
– Elevation Church

There are still symptoms that remain. This whole thing has been obnoxiously stubborn, trying to take almost a year of my life and ministry. But the devil’s fun is over. I’ve had it.

I don’t give the facts a second thought as I continue living by the Truth, and the facts continue to flee.

That’s why I came back to blogging. Healed people don’t stop what they’re called to do, and God says I am healed.

This isn’t faking it until you make it.

This isn’t a fantasy. This is how God wants us to live.

If all it took was arthritis and pain to keep me from my ministry, I’d deal with it all my life.

There is a real enemy out there, and he’s not on God’s leash (1 Peter 5:8). An attack from satan—the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4)—is not an attack from God, because God tells us to resist him (James 4:7).

Recognize things for what they are. And if they’re from satan—the author of sickness and disease (Luke 13:16, Acts 10:38)—we’re told to resist them.

Again, this isn’t insanity. Nothing about living by a higher authority is fake.

If you simply believe God’s Word, He’ll empower you to get to the place He wants you to go.

Conclusion

Facts are real, but the truth of the Word of God is more real.

And as Christians, the eternal, infallible Word of God is a much higher and greater standard for us to live by than changeable facts.

Live by the Truth. That’s God’s will as defined in His Word; that’s God’s best for us.

I challenge you:

If you’re up against something in your life today, find out what God’s Word has to say about your situation and live it!

There’s a fantastic book for this called God’s Promises for Your Every Need (which I talk about in this post).

I’m with you and for you, whatever you’re facing. Drop a prayer request below (or email me if it’s private) if you need someone to stand in prayer with you!