Lies Women Believe Chapters 3-5

I will not go into detail on everything I have read in Lies Women Believe by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. I was going to do a post on each chapter but that did not happen so. I will tell you the high points of each chapter for me and how they have been challenging me.

Note: after having done a bunch of these chapters I see that this is a long post, though I said I would not be to detailed. I think I will split it up so I don't overwhelm you. I will post part of it today and though I am writing it all now I will schedule it to post the second part tomorrow.

I already did a post on chapter 1 and chapter 2. You can read them if you want by clicking the chapter links.

Chapter 3 - "Lies Women Believe About Themselves"
The lies that hit me the most in this chapter were lie 7 "I'm Not Worth Anything." and lie 8 "I Need To Learn To Love Myself." Both are the result of low self esteem and Nancy gives us the truth as usual. Here is the part that really hit me:
"We are constantly looking out for ourselves, deeply sensitive to our own feelings and needs, always conscious of how things and pople affect us. The reason some of us get hurt so easily is not because we hate ourselves but because we love ourselves! We want to be accepted, cherished, and treated well. If we did not care so much about ourselves, we would not be so concerned about being rejected, neglected, or mistreated.
The fact is, we do not hate ourselves, nor do we need to learn to love ourselves. We need to learn to deny ourselves, so we can do that which does not come naturally-- to truly love God and others." pg 70

Wow! Nancy, thanks for opening my eyes yet again. I am such a selfish person. So much I need More of Christ Less of Me. Eph. 5:29 (though speaking to men specifically it applies to us as well) "For no man [woman] ever hated his [her] own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it..." If we are secure in the Love that God showed us by sending his Son to save us and shows us every day as His children we will not be so dependent on the approval of others.

Lord, help me see and appreciate your love for me!

Chapter 4 " Lies Women Believe About Sin"
I guess the lie that hit me the most in this chapter was lie 14 "My Sin Isn't Really That Bad." Nancy says, "Those of us who have grown up in good homes or in the church and have learned how to "act right" are particularly susceptible to this deception." "Compared to others who commit... "serious" sins, its easy for ust to feel that we aren't so bad. Our sins of wasting time, ... eating... too much, a sharp tongue, a critical spirit, ...worry,...or complaining don't seem all that major." (pg 99) I left some of the sins out but put in the ones that hit me most.

The truth is one I don't like to admit. All sin is the same to God. We may prefer to call our sins "... weaknesses, struggles or personality traits." (pg 99) but we need to call them what God calls them, Sin, and we need to confess to God and ask forgiveness, and we need to ask forgiveness of others if necessary. Christ shed his blood for every one of our sins, big or small and that should make it a big deal to us. To many times I gloss over my sin as not so bad and that just accumulates to making me more careless and calloused against the seriousness of sin in my life. I need to see my sin in comparison to the holiness of God not the deeper, "worse" sins of the world.

Chapter 5 "Lies Women Believe About Priorities"
Lie 18 "I Don't Have Time To Do Everything I'm Supposed To Do" This chapter hit me less hard than some of the others. I try to have my priorites straight. I guess the lie that affected me the most in this chapter was lie 19 "I Can Make it Without Consistent Time in the Word and Prayer". I do have time in the Bible, unfortunately it is not consistent. This is one thing I need to strive for. I get busy doing "things" that need to be done for school or my blog or e-mail and then it is time to teach my boys and I don't go back and do my Personal Bible study. I need to make it a priority to do it first. We do Bible for school and we do Family Bible Study, but that does not take the place of personal Bible study.

A few quotes from the chapter: "The Enemy doesn't care if we "believe" in God... as long as he can get us to run on our own steam..." If he can get us to try to "live the Christian life" without cultivating an intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus, he knows we will be spiritually impotent and defeated." There are many other good points but I cannot quote the whole book.

continued tomorrow...

Debbie