Book Study - Assignment 3 Discussion

Karen over at the T.A.G blog is hosting this book study/discussion on Nancy Leigh Demoss's book Lies Women Believe And The Truth That Sets Them Free. Please feel free to come join in if you'd like! http://www.homesteadblogger.com/tagblog


Chapter 2 is titled Lies Women Believe ... About God

the author discusses 6 lies she believes are at the root of much of the bondage that affects christian women today.

There were several places I underlined and starred in this chapter, but I think the one that means the most to me or caught my attention most was on page 58. Actually there are two places

In the middle of the page the author starts a paragraph with this sentence: "The Truth is, life is hard."

And the bottom paragraph on the page says "We want God to fix all our problems. God says instead, 'I have a purpose for your problems. I want to use your problems to change you and to reveal My grace and power to the world.' That is the Truth - and the Truth will set you free."

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Assignment 3

Read: Chapter Two (pages 45-62)

Questions Karen asked us to answer:

1. How is what we believe shown in our lives? (see pg. 46)
After we listen to something, we dwell on it, think about it, and that leads to believing it ... once we believe we ACT. So, how we act, priorities we set, choices we make and what we do in everyday life really shows what we are believing.


2. What are two important questions we need to ask ourselves as we read about these lies? (see pg. 46)
"Do I believe this lie?" and
"Do I live as though I believe this lie?"


3. Have you ever found yourself thinking God isn't good? Explain.
I want to say No, but I'm sure I have to some degree. I know that this last month, having attended 2 cancer funerals and now knowing another life lost to cancer and today a friend lost her baby at 24 weeks ... I'm just sad and aching. I KNOW and I BELIEVE that God is good, but man this is just hard!!! (I think that was mentioned on pg.58) I just don't understand ... I just can't see the good in the loss of these lives. But then the people who I now miss are in heaven ... I doubt they would want to be here again, now that they have stood in God's perfect presence.

And one way I've tried explaining these events to our kids is to consider Joseph of the Old Testament ... its a story that kids learn early and are very familiar with. Joseph knew God had great plans for him, he had seen it in his dreams ... but suddenly here he was being tossed into a well by his own brothers and then sold into slavery and as if that were not enough then he wound up in jail, even though he was innocent. How he must have wanted to scream "This can't be right!!! God, you made a mistake!!! You told me you had great plans for me ... whats so great about a well and jail???!!!" I'm sure he spent a lot of hours going over and over what was happening and HOW ... HOW could God turn this around into something good? But we were not there with Joseph, we don't know exactly what his thoughts were, but it is obvious he clung to God. He continued to trust and believe in his great God. And God did indeed bring something good from Joseph's experiences in the well and jail. Not just good, but wonderful ... because of where Joseph ended up, he was able to save many many lives from starvation, including his own family.

In moments like I'm in now, I try to say "ok, I'm in a pit or my own jail ... but I know that God is good. His word says so, so it must be true" And then I cling to Him and pray and pray and pray. I'm not God, I'm not in control, I don't need to understand why these lives were only here for such short times. But I do need to trust and cling to My Lord, My God. Its the only way!



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For next week we will only be reading part of
Chapter 3 (pages 63-73)

*Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free by Nancy Leigh DeMoss published by Moody Publishers, Chicago, IL ©2001.