Category: online Bible studies

The Conclusion of Lies Women Believe :: Summer Online Bible Study

We’re at the end of our Summer Online Bible Study of Lies Women Believe. It’s funny how even though this was a long study – 10 weeks – it went by quickly all the same. If you missed any of the posts, be sure to read them here.

Let’s remember that even though we are leaving this study, we are not leaving the mandatory diligence it takes to stay victorious over the lies of the enemy. He is continuously at work to keep in bondage to old lies and introduce new ones. Each and every day we must talk to God through pray and read and study our Bible. Did you notice I said “each and every day”? A relationship with Jesus is just that – a relationship. If we do not talk to Him and learn about Him through His living and active Word, then how can we expect to have a relationship with Him?

Chapters 10 and 11 of Lies Women Believe sum up everything we’ve been learning in the other chapters. Let’s review:

This is the progression of bondage (Lies Women Believe, p. 244):

1. We listen to Satan’s lies.

2. We dwell on those lies.

3. We believe those lies.

4. We act on those lies.

This is the pathway from bondage to freedom (Lies Women Believe, p. 246):

1. Identify the area(s) of bondage or sinful behavior.

2. Identify the lie(s) at the root of that bondage or behavior.

3. Replace the lie(s) with the Truth.

“If we want to know Him, if we want to know the Truth, we must devote ourselves to the reading, study, and meditation of His Word. But it is not enough to know the Truth. We must also surrender to the Truth.” (Lies Women Believe, p. 250)

Download a free printable of these steps here: Lies Women Believe Going Forward Conclusion Printable

Yes, every lie! For now on, when you find yourself dwelling on a lie, turn to God’s truth. Here is another free printable of a list of Truths for you to study. This is not every Truth in the Bible, but it is a good list to get started.

Download a free printable here: Lies Women Believe Truth to Replace Lies Handout

I don’t know about you, but this is a daily struggle for me. It comes down to taking every thought captive, and when I say every, some days it is literally every! But we must not let the enemy tell us that we cannot be free. If we can’t be free, the Cross of Jesus was in vain.

Did you participate in our summer online Bible study? How has it helped you this summer?

*This post includes my affiliate link. Please read my disclosure policy here.

July 23, 2014
Lies Women Believe about Circumstances :: Summer Online Bible Study

This week we’re on our last lie we believe for our Summer Online Bible Study of Lies Women Believe, and we’re talking about chapter 9 – Lies Women Believe about Circumstances. If you missed a week or a handout, you can get all of them here.

Download the handout here –>Lies Women Believe About Circumstances Chapter 9 Handout

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July 16, 2014
Lies Women Believe about Emotions :: Summer Online Bible Study

It’s hard to believe that we only have a few more chapters in our Summer Online Bible Study of Lies Women Believe. This week we’re talking about chapter 8 – Lies Women Believe about Emotions. If you missed a week or a handout, you can get all of them here.

Download the handout here –>Lies Women Believe About Emotions Chapter 8 Handout

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July 9, 2014
Lies Women Believe about Children :: Summer Online Bible Study

Okay, so we’re on chapter 7 – Lies Women Believe about Children. If you’re single, please do not skip over this lie. As I’ve mentioned earlier, getting a firm foundation of your beliefs as a single woman will equip you to stand firm in them when you get into a serious relationship. If you missed a week or a handout, you can get all of them here.

Download the handout here –>Lies Women Believe About Children Chapter 7 Chart

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July 2, 2014
Lies Women Believe about Marriage :: Summer Online Bible Study
We’re on to chapter 6 – Lies Women Believe about Marriage. If you missed a week or a handout, you can get all of them here.

Download the handout here –>Lies Women Believe About Marriage Chapter 6 Chart

Image courtesy of OhMega1982 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I know what you may be thinking. Why do I need to read a chapter about marriage when I’m single? Well, you need this chapter just as much as anyone because you are in a prime position to shape your thoughts, beliefs, and convictions about marriage before you get married which will lead you to make wise choices and build a healthy foundation.

Do any of these lies resonate with you? I suspect the first one might.
- I must have a husband to be happy.
- It is my responsibility to change my mate.
- My husband is supposed to serve me.
- If I submit to my husband, I’ll be miserable.
- If my husband is passive, I’ve got to take the initiative, or nothing will get done.
- Sometimes divorce is a better option than staying in a bad marriage.
I want to camp out of the first lie for most of this post; however, I want to point out that “signs” that you believe the other lies about marriage do begin to show up and take root in your dating relationships. How often do you desire or even try to change your boyfriend? Do you have visions of a dream house, dream car, dream kids, dream vacations along with a housekeeper and nanny? That could be a form of believing that your husband is supposed to serve you to provide all of those things. And then there’s the dreaded “s” word that our culture has totally taken out of context and trampled – submission. What are your thoughts about that? Spend some time really examining these topics.

Okay, the lie “I must have a husband to be happy”.

When I was single, and I looked into my future, I could not imagine a life without a husband. It was like looking into oblivion, my thoughts couldn’t even perceive what that would look like. This was so much the case that I purposely did not pray for God to change my heart, if it were His will, and take away my desire for marriage. I was afraid that He’d actually do it, and then where would I be?

This is a lie that is easy to believe because as a single woman with an intense, good desire for marriage, you can’t imagine a satisfied, content life without it. The problem with this is that we begin to see marriage as a right and not as a gift. Then, after we’re married, the lie “I must have a husband to be happy” morphs into the lie “My husband is supposed to make me happy.” In both cases, our happiness is dependent on something other than God, so it is displaced. This leads to impossible expectations and feelings from your husband of being used and emotionally suffocated. No human being can make us happy. By expecting him to do so, we are asking him to be a kind-of god to us.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss writes on pages 137 and 140:

“Satan twists the Truth about marriage by suggesting to women that the purpose of marriage is personal happiness and fulfillment, and that they cannot be truly happy without a husband to love them and meet their needs. The Truth is that happiness is not found in (or out of) marriage; it is not found in any human relationship. True joy can only be found through Christ.”

The purpose of marriage is not to make us happy. The purpose of marriage is to glorify God through our lives together – to serve Him in a specific way in the unity as a married couple that we could not as two single people.

“The Truth is that God has promised to give us everything we need, and if He knows a husband would make it possible for us to bring greater glory to Him, then He will provide a husband.” Lies Women Believe, p. 140

What are your thoughts about these lies about marriage?
June 25, 2014
Lies Women Believe about Priorities :: Summer Online Bible Study
This week we’re starting chapter 5 – Lies Women Believe about Priorities. If you missed a week or a handout, you can get all of them here.

Download the handout here –> Lies Women Believe About Priorities Chapter 5 Chart

Image courtesy of Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This week in our study of Lies Women Believe, we’re moving away from three foundational lies women believe – Lies about God, Lies about Themselves, and Lies about Sin – and we’re moving into more practical lies women believe. The first are lies women believe about priorities.

Do you believe any of these lies about your priorities?
- I don’t have time to get everything done I’m supposed to do.
- I can make it without consistent time in the Word and prayer.
- A career outside the home is more valuable and fulfilling than being a wife and mother.
Personally, I struggle with the first two at times. The third one I’ve never really bought into. However, I feel the pull from our culture to start believing it all the time.

I want to talk to my single readers right now because you may be thinking, “Why do I need to even be thinking about being a wife and mother when I’m not a wife or mother?” Well, this is why.

Since I was a little girl I wanted to be a full-time homemaker. I also wanted to go to college, but I didn’t plan to climb the corporate ladder. Even from that early age I had (and still have) very strong convictions about staying at home and raising your children full-time.

I majored in education and became a teacher because I thought that would be the best career for a family just in case I wasn’t able to stay home; you can leave at 3:30 everyday and you get summers and holidays off. Well, I didn’t pray about this decision (which is another blog post for another day), and I quickly learned that even though my top spiritual gift is teaching, I hated teaching children in public schools. I know I shouldn’t use the word “hate”, but I really can’t think of a better word. It was rough.

I was a single woman late into my twenties and into my thirties, so I taught to support myself, and ended up teaching for 13 years. Finally, my dream was coming true. In my late 30’s I was married and expecting our baby girl. I was going get to be the full-time homemaker I always wanted to be. Except for one small problem.

My husband didn’t want me to stay home with our baby girl. He wanted me to work outside the home. The idea of staying home was foreign to him. Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Why didn’t you talk about that before you got married?” Well, you’re right, and again that’s another blog post for another day. I did mention it when we were dating, but I didn’t make my convictions about staying at home with our children clear enough.

So why do you, as a single woman, need to think and pray about your role as a wife and mother and your career? Because when you are headed towards marriage, these questions will be important, and you will need to know where you stand on them apart from the influence of love. And even after you’re married you will find that the voices about women’s roles inside and outside of the home are loud. If you don’t know what God has called you to do, then you may begin believing the lie that a career outside the home is more valuable and fulfilling than being a wife and mother.

“However, according to 1 Corinthians 7:32-35, women who are unmarried are still called to be ‘homemakers,’ though in a different sense. They are to devote their energies and efforts to building the household of faith; they are to live selfless lives that revolve not around their own interests and aspirations, but around Christ and His kingdom.” Lies Women Believe, p. 127

What do you think? Do you struggle with any of these lies about priorities?
June 18, 2014