Article by: Sarah Koontz, Founder of Living by Design Ministries
Are you a Christian woman longing for more of God in your daily life, yet inexplicably stuck in a spiritual desert, struggling to find your way back to the Living Waters?
I’m here to say, you are not alone!
Sadly, I wasted far too many years of my life wandering in a spiritual desert.
Somewhere along the journey, I had lost my desire to pray. To open my Bible. To attend church.
And when I (occasionally) did these things, it all felt so forced.
Dry.
Dusty.
Desert-like.
And then, of course, I would rationalize the guilt away…
I’m just too busy, too stressed, too tired.
I’ll get back to that when my kids are older.
I don’t need those things, God loves me as I am.
And sure, there may be some truth to the statements above.
But I’ve recently realized there was a much deeper, darker, and more sinister plot unfolding in my life.
And sadly, the storyline is all too familiar.
The Bible says our adversary, the Devil, prowls around like a lion, looking for someone to devour (1 Pet. 5:8). It also says he is a liar and the father of lies (Jn. 8:44).
My excuses were just the tip of the iceberg.
What I couldn’t see (at the time) was the massive, icy growth hiding beneath the surface.
The enemy had fooled me. He had fed me a bunch of bologna and I had taken the bait.
Hook, line, and sinker.
Our adversary is filling our heads with lies—about Bible study, church, prayer, God.
He is doing everything in His power to keep us from experiencing the transformative power of God in our lives.
And I’m done with his underhanded scare-tactics!
As I searched my heart, I discovered several lies I was believing about Bible study. As I shared these discoveries with friends, I realized I was not alone in my struggle.
Today, I choose to climb atop that frozen iceberg and reclaim stolen ground; I choose to declare God’s truth and break free from the enemy’s lies.
And I invite you to join me.
I pray declarations below will give Christian women everywhere courage to pull that dusty Bible from the shelf and dive into God’s Word—today, tomorrow, and everyday.
“But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again—ever! In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up within him for eternal life.” – Jesus (from John 4:14)
Let’s stand together and boldly replace the enemy’s lies with God’s truth!
7 Lies Christian Women Believe about Bible Study
Lie # 1: I am too busy for Bible Study.
The most difficult lies to weed out of our life aren’t actually lies. The truth is everyone is too busy for Bible study until they choose to make time for Bible study.
No matter what the world would lead you to believe, you are not the victim of your circumstance. We have far more control over the pace of our lives than we realize. And we are never too busy for the things that matter most to us. NEVER!
We are never too busy for the things that matter most to us. NEVER!How to Overcome this Lie: Make a weekly commitment to Bible Study, and pick a time each day to work toward your Bible Study goals. But make sure that your weekly commitment isn’t so much that you couldn’t complete it in a single sitting. For me, it’s just 15-minutes per day or a few hours on the weekend (depending on how my week goes). Keeping our goals reasonable helps us achieve them!
Lie #2: The Bible isn’t relevant to my life.
If I had a penny for every time I’ve heard this…well, I’d have a pocketful of pennies. And I get it, honestly I do. The Bible was written a long time ago, and it’s a big book, and it’s confusing, and sometimes the stories feel so out-of-touch. These are obstacles we must all overcome, but they don’t make the Bible irrelevant.
2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness.” Because of this, we can have full confidence that the Bible is extremely applicable to our 21st Century lives.
How to Overcome this Lie: You aren’t going to like this. But in my experience, the only way to overcome this lie is to actually study my Bible and experience the benefits firsthand. It also helps to pick up a modern translation of Scripture to help bridge the gap. I highly recommend the Message Bible for this purpose.
Lie # 3: I’m not smart enough for Bible Study.
This is a big one for us, ladies. The enemy doesn’t fight fair, and he just loves to make us feel insecure and inadequate. And this particular lie is one of his most effective strategies to keep us trapped in a spiritual desert!
Bible study is a skill we must learn. It takes time and practice. And I don’t believe we’ll ever completely understand what we read in our Bibles. Because that would mean we were capable of comprehending the full glory of God. An impossibility according to Job 36:26, “God is exalted beyond our knowledge; the number of His years cannot be counted.”
How to Overcome this Lie: Never study the Bible in isolation. Find a few trusted friends to journey through this sacred text alongside you. A few of my favorite people to study with are Matthew Henry, Kay Arthur, Dr. Warren Wiresbe, and all the beautiful souls who join me for our free online studies.
Don't study the Bible in isolation. Find a few trusted friends to journey alongside you.Lie #4: Bible Study only happens at Church.
When I asked a few close friends to their fears and insecurities about Bible study, I was surprised to discover that many of their struggles were isolated to small group studies in a Church setting. They were worried about embarrassing themselves, being judged, or feeling out of place. Oh, my! Aren’t we all?
Although Church is one of the very best places to open our Bibles and study alongside our sisters in Christ, it’s not the only place! If you don’t feel comfortable attending a Church Bible study, please don’t let that keep you from studying your Bible. There are so many online studies happening these days, and maybe after a few of those, your confidence will grow and you’ll be ready to participate in a study at your Church.
How to Overcome this Lie: The sad truth is we’ve all had less than ideal experiences with our local Church. Churches are full of people, and people aren’t God. It’s tempting to allow our past experience with Christians dictate our future relationship with God, but this is a grievous mistake. God is capable of meeting you wherever you are at, but you must persevere until you find a way to “draw near to Him (James 4:8).”
Are you allowing your past experience with Christians dictate your future relationship with God?Lie #5: I am a Bible Study failure.
Fear of failure is the most crippling lie of them all! Because, if you’ve been a Christian for any length of time, you’ve failed. I cringe to think of all the times I’ve tried to establish a consistent Bible study routine over the years—and then failed to stick with it. Maybe a hundred times? Maybe a thousand?
Fear of failure is the most crippling lie of them all!One of my favorite character traits of God is the fact that He does not define us by our failures. Oh, what comfort we find in the promise of Psalm 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
How to Overcome this Lie: Accept the fact that you are human and all humans are prone to failure. Then get over it! If God doesn’t define you by your failures, then neither should you! As the saying goes, “It’s better to try and fail than not try at all.”
Lie #6: I don’t need to study my Bible.
I don’t know if anyone else struggles with this lie, but I know I sure do! I have been a Christian my whole life. I’ve got twelve years of Christian education and three and a half decades of Church experience. I’ve read through the Bible several times, served as a missionary in a foreign country, and memorized large portions of Scripture. I’m good! I don’t need a daily Bible study routine.
This lie is rooted in pride and self-sufficiency (two sins I personally struggle with…a lot). The problem is we weren’t created to live in independence, but rather moment-by-moment dependence on our Creator. And do we ever, truly, outgrow the need for consistent time in the Word?
How to Overcome this Lie: Pray. Ask God for freedom from pride and self-sufficiency. Then study the life of Jesus Christ in the gospels. He was God incarnate, yet He consistently pulled away from the crowds to spend time with His Father. If Jesus needed consistent quiet time, so do we!
Lie #7: I don’t believe any of these lies, so I’m safe.
As long as the Lord allows us to tarry here on earth, we will never be safe from the enemy’s attacks. And there is no greater threat to the devil’s strategy than women who study their Bibles—women who are armed with the Truth! So, even if you don’t struggle with the lies on this list, your Bible study routine will always have a big, fat spiritual target on it.
Spiritual warfare is real, and it’s happening all around us. Paul reminds us of this in Ephesians 6:12, “For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.” I urge you to stand guard against the enemy, for he will never stop prowling or cease lying until the Lord Jesus returns.
Spiritual warfare is real, and it’s happening all around us.How to Overcome this Lie: We must not fear the devil. God has given us everything we need to be victorious in every battle, but we must be persistent in our counterattacks. Prayer is the best way to access God’s stash of spiritual weapons and experience victory in our everyday life.
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Phew! We made it all the way through my list of seven lies Christian women believe about Bible study.
I hope this article has helped you see that you are not alone in your struggle. Because we all struggle to separate the lies from the truth—to overcome our insecurities and honor God with our choices.
And we are powerless to escape the desert in our own strength.
That is why I want to close with a few words from Jesus prayer for His Disciples shortly before he was betrayed.
“I am not praying that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth (John 17: 15, 17)
I am not praying that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. -JesusBuild your life on the truth. Pray for protection from the evil one. And find a safe place to grow your faith and safe people to study your Bible alongside.
Then you will be equipped to stand firm against the lies of the enemy!
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