Like a toothache, the roots of deception can cause agonizing pain.

Not long ago, I developed a horrible toothache. As soon as I would lay my head on the pillow at night to sleep, intense pain, eventually leading to the death of my tooth, would start. It took two hours in the Endodontist chair to excise the roots of that tooth.

In a similar way, we have strongholds in our lives that prevent us from enjoying time with God. Excising these problems and strongholds takes walking through an often painful process to get to the root of our issues.

We often try to overlook our problems, pretend they aren’t there and that they will go away. But at night when we lay down to sleep, the pain begins.

We can spend years doing this but when the pain gets intense, we go to great length to expose these roots of strongholds so our hearts may be healed.

When the ache comes, when the pain becomes unbearable, don’t run away. Don’t turn to addictions, codependent relationships or other methods to escape the pain. Come to the Great Physician. His desire is for you to be whole and healed.

He longs to reveal the roots of unbelief and the places where you have believed the lies of the evil one.

Satan has come to steal, kill and destroy. But Jesus has come to set you free from rejection, bitterness, abandonment and betrayal. He longs to rescue you from the deception and doubt you have developed toward Him.

He is a good God and you can trust Him. Let Him embrace you and whisper the truth in your ear.

The thing that separates us from God is our evil thoughts and actions brought by believing the lies propagated by the evil one.

Adam and Eve had a wonderful relationship with God in the Garden of Eden but then our enemy, Satan, planted thoughts in their minds that caused them to doubt God’s goodness and believe a lie.

In my own life, I was abandoned by my mother when I was about a year old. So the enemy of my soul lied to me and deep inside I feared that God would reject and abandon me.

But God’s word in Isaiah 49:15 says, “Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has born? But even if that were possible, would not forget you!”

And in Psalm 27:10, King David says, “Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close.”