“See, I Told You So!”

“See, I Told You So!”

By Steve Backlund

Those who say they can, and those who say they can’t, are both right. The story in Numbers 13 and 14 illustrates this. The ten spies said they were not able to overcome the giants in the Promised Land, while Joshua and Caleb said they were. Each group ultimately experienced what they believed and what they said. Both could have said, “See, I told you so. What I believed was the truth.”

We are called to be thermostats, not thermometers. I used to be only a thermometer in my thinking and talking. I would think and say things like:

• “I’m tired. Everyone’s tired.”

• “Things are getting worse.”

• “This area is hard for the gospel.”

• “Every time I move forward in God, I get attacked by the devil.”

God confronted me on all these, especially the last one. He asked me why I renewed my mind with that. He said, “It is true for you, but it is not the truth.” I began to realize this was a self-fulfilling prophecy in my life. I believed it, then experienced it, and then I would say, “See, I told you so. This is the truth.”

I had a negative stronghold in my beliefs that believed advancing Christians would regularly experience difficult circumstances. This was developed by my tendency to only renew my mind with my feelings and past experiences. Once a stronghold is established, we will constantly look for proof to confirm the belief of that stronghold, and we won’t even see circumstances that would tell us something else. For instance, I used to have a belief system that God did not value joy. Because of this, I did not receive all of the Bible verses about joy and its importance. 

Here is the pattern of how strongholds are developed: 

1. We experience it and feel something

2. We renew our minds with this and create a belief from it

3. We experience it again

4. We believe it more and keep experiencing it

5. Then we enter the “See, I told you so,” mindset. “I was right about this!”

How do we overcome this tendency:

1. Realize we get pulled toward what we believe and say - “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). James tells us that our words are like a bit in a horse’s mouth and a rudder on a ship (James 3:3-4). The direction of our life results from what we say, and what we say comes from what we believe. Whatever you want to see more of in our lives, speak it regularly (“calling those things that do not exist as though they did” - Romans 4:17). Whatever you want to see less of, stop declaring it as so.

2. Know our feelings and experiences catch up to our beliefs  - This is like setting a new temperature on a thermostat. The environment does not immediately change to the new temperature setting, but by faith we believe it will. When we set our mind on things above (Colossians 3:2), our feelings and experiences will not immediately change to what we are believing, but a process is set in motion. We will say things like: 

• “I am a strong person having a weak experience.”

• “I am a great leader having a non-great leadership experience.”

• “I am a debt-free person having a debt experience.

  
  

As we wait to experience and consistently feel our beliefs, we keep renewing our minds with what is true. By faith we believe it will happen. 

3. Manage our lives with wisdom while we grow our beliefs - I love the phrase, “Let the weak say, ‘I am strong’” (Joel 3:10). It does not say, “Let the weak say, ‘I am not weak.’” Faith does not deny the existence of the challenging circumstance, but it believes truths higher than those facts. If we are battling weakness, we may need to go to the doctor, take medication, or get counseling. Every adverse situation in our life needs a specific approach to navigate it while we keep our mindset on the truth. 

“See, I told you so. It is the truth!” Obviously, this is not a phrase only said about negative strongholds, but, more importantly, we will say it about the promises of God we have repeatedly renewed our minds with:

• “See, I told you that God would heal. It has happened!”

• “See, I told you I would be free of that addiction. It has happened!”

• “See, I told you that the debt would be paid off. It has happened!”

As I close this blog, I am praying for every reader. As I do, I am hearing you are in a 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 season of demolishing arguments in your mind that seek to exalt themselves about the knowledge of God. You will help multitudes do the same. And that makes me glad.