The Power of the Truth

Leslie Basham: After listening to lies for a long time, the truth is so refreshing!

Jen Cupp: We talked about God’s view of suffering. One lady kind of was like, “That just can’t be right, that God would allow us to suffer.”

And so, I remember I was taking some time and going back through Scriptures and trying to lay a foundation for God’s role of suffering: that He loves us, that He is Sovereign in all things and He knows what’s best for us, and that He is trying to conform us into His image.

Leslie: This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, co-author of Seeking Him, for April 27, 2018.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Years ago as I was a much younger woman in ministry, and as I listened to the hearts of women who were sharing their burdens, their concerns, the challenges they were facing, the temptations they were dealing with and some of the issues they were battling with in their lives; I began to realize that the issues they were experiencing in their lives and many of the issues and challenges in my own life stemmed from believing things that were not true.

I realized that all of this went back to Genesis chapter 3 where the very first woman was lied to by the devil She believed his lie and began to walk in the lie rather than the truth.

In the course of time, this led me to develop a message for a conference setting called “Lies Women Believe.” Moody Publishers heard about that conference and said, “Would you consider turning that message into a book?” And that’s exactly what happened back in 2001.

In the years that have followed, I have been deeply blessed to see how women have resonated with and responded to this message. In fact, over a million copies of that book, Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free have been sold since 2001.

I’m so grateful for what the reveals about the desire that women have had to learn to discern truth from error and to make wise, truth-based decisions that will lead to blessing in their lives.

Now, obviously, a lot of things have changed in our culture over those past seventeen years, and things have changed in my own life and in my own understanding of God’s ways.

As I’ve shared with you recently, this past year I went through a lengthy process of updating the entire Lies Women Believe book to reflect some of those changes. In fact, we’ve added about 30 percent new content to this revised version of the Lies book.

So we thought it would be a good time to hear from some of the women who have been impacted by this book over the years. As you listen to these stories, I want to encourage you to ask yourself, “Are there any lies I’ve been believing?” And then ask the Lord to show you the truth that will set you free in that situation.

Jen: My name is Jen Cupp, and I live in a village in Uganda.

Nancy: I first met Jen years ago when she traveled to churches in the United States with Life Action Ministries, the parent ministry of Revive Our Hearts. Jen stayed connected with Revive Our Hearts over the years, and then she and her husband moved to Uganda with a team of missionaries. They were looking for a study to share with the women in their Ugandan village.

Jen: We really liked Lies Women Believe because we felt like it was a very theological foundation for all of life.

Nancy: She remembers the way that the women in the village were affected as they went through Lies Women Believe chapter by chapter.

Jen: I remember one in particular where we talked about God’s view of suffering. That was very counter-cultural to them. I even think one lady was like, “That just can’t be right—that God would allow us to suffer.”

And so, I remember us taking some time and going back through Scriptures and trying to lay a foundation for God’s role of suffering and that He loves us, that He is Sovereign in all things, and He knows what is best for us, and He’s trying to conform us into His image.

We spent a few weeks on that. There was hesitation among our ladies. I feel like what we came up to was, “Do you really believe He’s trustworthy?” I feel like women are growing through that.

I think especially in our culture, a culture of being taught more of a health and wealth mentality—and we’re dealing with poverty and sickness—that sometimes there’s confusion of who God really is. So I feel that helped us to biblically go through that.

Nancy: Whether women live in a village in Uganda or in a high-rise in the United States, we all need the truth! Sometimes the Lord will call us to suffering for His sake, but He will be everything that we need—our peace and our joy.

I received an email from a pastor’s wife who was struggling with depression and the Lord used this book, Lies Women Believe, to point her to truth with which she could counsel her heart and move from despair to hope.

She wrote us to say, “This book has changed my life! I realized that I had been falling hook, line, and sinker for Satan’s lies!” I’m so grateful that this woman discovered the truth that could set her free!

Cheryl: The book that’s very meaningful to me, through Revive Our Hearts, is Lies Women Believe.

Nancy: A Revive Our Hearts woman named Cheryl has been delivered from depression.

Cheryl: I know that my depression started years ago, and it started with lies that I started believing from people—influencers in my life from teachers to family members. I believed the lies and as I got older I started living like the lies that were told to me.

When I hit forty, the depression came because of the lies. But now that God has freed me from all that depression. That’s the book that just means the most to me and I just want to teach to everyone because I believe we can learn the truth that those are lies.

Nancy: Maybe you’re thinking, Well, I don’t struggle with depression, and for sure I don’t believe in health/wealth theology. I don’t know why I would need this book. A lot of women think that they don’t believe lies, like a listener named Debbie.

Debbie: If you had asked me, “How many of these lies do you believe?” I would probably have said, “No, I don’t believe any of them.” But then I started reading them and understanding them. I realized that there were some things that I wasn’t clear on.

So the book just kind of helped get me on the right track early on as I was a believer, and it allowed me to minister to other women. So it’s been a huge blessing!

Jean: When you start to teach it for the first time you think, Ehhh, I know what this is going to say, and then—boom!—you turn a page and there you are!

Nancy: This is Jean, who’s used a lot of resources from Revive Our Hearts. She’s been through Lies Women Believe again and again. The Lord has used it to convict her heart and show her how much she needed His truth.

Jean: I taught that study, I think, four or five times. That’s just a fabulous study—especially to new Christians, people just coming to the Lord—it’s a wonderful study!

Nancy: Another listener named Becky also loves to lead other women through this study.

Becky: For about seven years I’ve taken Lies Women Believe—or Lies Young Women Believe—and facilitated it to small groups in my home.

Nancy: Becky led her own daughters through Lies Young Women Believe, and now her daughters have joined her in teaching other women, using these books.

Becky: We had fourteen girls that were sixteen, seventeen, and a few eighteen-year-olds come and sit in our apartment for two hours on a Saturday afternoon. I didn’t offer food. I just offered the Word of God and prayer.

We had prayer cards when they came in. They signed their prayer cards, and then we just opened up the Word of God through Lies Women Believe. What we did was match them up two on two.

I matched who I thought would be a little bit more of a mature believer/teenager with one who had not really had the Word of God taught to them very often. So they were matched together to be prayer partners and to talk about accountability for what they were learning.

It was real life. My daughters grew so much stronger in respect for the Word of God because they got to see the real-life change that was happening with some of the girls in the group. They also became young leaders, because they have been taught the Word of God for a long time, and they’ve heard God’s Word since they were very young.

They were able to then see, “Wow! This really does change a life, when you really do open God’s Word.” It was simple; it wasn’t hard. We didn’t make it difficult. I just let the Word of God teach through the Holy Spirit to these girls. The book helped facilitate great conversations with these girls. It was amazing!

Nancy: A listener named Susan has also discovered that when you’ve been transformed by the truth, you’re going to want to pass it along to others.

Susan: Probably the book that has meant the most to me is Lies Women Believe. It has just so much truth! What I enjoyed much was the amount of Scriptures that she gave in it.

Actually, what I did was, in each chapter I wrote out every verse that she had us look up and then kept them on a notecard. So whatever area I am basically dealing with, I can pull out those notecards and Scripture and keep reciting that Scripture to myself—“That’s a lie, but here’s the truth that’s going to set you free.”

Bible study teacher to college girls: I read Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free myself, but then I did a college Bible study. We as a group read that book. The girls would come back every week, and they said, “This specifically spoke to me, and this is a lie that I believed.”

But the one chapter that meant the most to me was where Nancy talks about being a mom and of working outside the home but never having that replace your role as a mother. With the particular girls in my group, all of their moms had worked [outside the home].

They had never experienced what a stay-at-home mom was like. The amount of questions that they had asked me about being a stay-at-home mom—and why I felt like that, for our family, that was the best route.

That was one chapter that really stood out to me that spoke to those ladies. Two of those girls are now married, and they chose to stay at home with their little ones.

Nancy: Alla is a young women whose whole future has been shaped by the truth of God’s Word.

Alla: I heard about Revive Our Hearts from my younger sister, and she learned from her friends. About five years ago my sister-in-law and I did a Lies Young Women Believe, study with a group of girls from our church. At that time, I guess I didn’t spend enough time to get to know who the author of the book was, so we just did the study.

The study was amazing. I mean, I was the one who was supposed to teach the girls, but it taught me so many lessons. It kind of did the opposite of what I expected. We did the study in Russian, yes. We go to Slavic Baptist Church in Brookhaven, Pennsylvania, and we mostly speak in Russian.

We actually ordered the books in English and in Russian. My sister-in-law was doing most of her part in English and I was doing my part in Russian because I’m more comfortable speaking in Russian, so we did the study bilingual! It’s amazing that we have Nancy, we have older people that can teach us so that we can each other people.

Nancy: You heard Alla mention the book Lies Young Women Believe. As Lies Women Believe has been updated and re-released, so has this book for teenage women. Dannah Gresh is my co-author for this book targeted toward teenage girls, which has also recently been updated and re-released.

Dannah Gresh: Lies Young Women Believe is being re-released. We have gone through it and made sure that everything is up-to-date and refreshed. It’s getting a whole new look. I’m just excited to reintroduce it because we have seen so many young women whose lives were set free from bondage with the first edition.

I’m excited to hear the stories as we enter into the year 2018 and brand-new focus and emphasis based on the truth that can set us free!

Nancy: Not long ago I met with a group of women to dedicate these newly updated versions of Lies Women Believe and Lies Young Women Believe to the Lord and to pray that the truth would go out powerfully into the hearts of women—young and old—who would read them in the days ahead.

Let me invite you to join along with the women who prayed together in that room that day.

Woman 1: Heavenly Father, we come before you today, Lord, and we give you praise and thanks for Your truth—Your truth that sets us free! We thank You for Your Word, Lord, and for Your presence in our life. As they launch this new book, we just pray over the lives and the hearts of women that it will touch.

We pray that it will permeate through our culture and through other cultures and that women will come to know you in a more intimate and personal way. Through that we would strive to bring glory to You in all that we do. We just ask for that in Your precious name, amen.

Woman 2: Oh, Lord, I do thank You for Your Word which is the truth! I pray that this book will bring many women to that truth, that they will see the lies, that they will recognize it in themselves, and that they will be freed from their bondage.

I thank You that we have this opportunity today to learn and to grow. I’m so thankful for Your forgiveness and that we can continue to walk in relationship with You.

Woman 3: Heavenly Father, I thank You for the way You used the original book over fifteen years ago to work in my life. Forgive my arrogance initially, looking at the contents and thinking that I didn’t believe any of those lies. Then, to my chagrin, showing me one-by-one how many I was still holding onto from marinating in a culture that is far from You.

Lord, I’m so excited to bring the new book to the next generation of women in my life—daughter, nieces, young women at church, and young women outside of church.

As I go forth with the new copy, Lord, I just ask that You already soften hearts. Let them not suffer from the same arrogance of spirit that I had. Let them see that they need You, and they need the truth. Thank you for being the Way, the Truth, and the Life, amen.

Woman 4: Lord, I want to pray that the truth in this book would penetrate deeply into the hearts of every woman who reads it. I want to pray that the glory for this book and the difference that it makes in people’s lives would point back to You and Your power.

Woman 5: And, Father, would You take the words of this book into places where women are oppressed, where Your truth has never been heard, where everything that the evil one has established as “truth” is darkness and is killing, stealing, and destroying everything that Jesus came to give.

And so we pray, Father—unto the uttermost parts of the earth—would you take the truth of Your Word, as given through this book? Would You use it to set women it free? Would You use it as a bridge for the gospel?

Would you be pleased, Father—as Nancy said earlier today—many who would not even naturally or normally receive such a word, would You just draw them? Draw them to Yourself through that. And we will be so careful to give You all the praise!

Woman 6: We praise You, Lord, because of Who You are. You are the Bread of Life; You are Living Water; You are all-powerful. And we thank You, Lord, that You have warned us there is a roaring lion out there. You’ve called him the deceiver and the father of lies, but You are bigger than him, and we praise You for that.

You have said that You are the Truth, the Way, the Life. You also said that You would send Your Holy Spirit who would take us by the hand and lead us into all truth—and we thank You for that.

We thank You that we can trust You; we can depend on You. So may this book be to the praise of Your glory, in Christ’s name.

Woman 7: And Father, I want to thank You and praise You, how You enabled and equipped Nancy in the rewriting of this book as she has shared how hard, how difficult it was and how she felt pressed on different sides. But yet You gave her the perseverance to continue and to follow Your calling.

I pray, God, that You would refresh her and bless her many times over! But I know, too, that if there was opposition in the writing of this book there is going to be opposition as it goes out. I just pray for Your protection over this book in every way.

As women read Your Word and the truths therein, I pray that they would allow You to work that deeply in their hearts, to know You, and come in reality to a deeper relationship with You because they’re willing to take off the mask. So God, I just thank You and praise You. I am just excited to see how You’re going to use this!

Woman 8: We are thankful that You have given the wisdom to Nancy, the courage as she continues through her books and through the ministry, Lord, to constantly point us to You. Lord, I pray that You would give grace—give mercy—as this book goes out.

I pray that You open hearts now and you put it in the hands of those ladies that need it most. And Lord, we ask all these things in Your precious name, amen.

Nancy: There was one more woman that I wanted to invite to join this prayer time. Her name is Judy Dunagan. She serves with Moody Publishers, and she has a real heart for this message. She has been a champion and a co-laborer with Dannah and me in the re-release of these books. So, Judy, lead us in prayer if you would.

Judy Dunagan: In the gospel of Luke, chapter 4, we’re given a beautiful picture of our Savior’s heart and mission for setting captives free. Starting in verse 16, we read,

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read.

And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, ‘The Spirit of the [Sovereign] Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.’

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ (vv. 16–21).

Oh, Father God, we can only imagine what it must have been like for all in the synagogue that day, as Your Son read those ancient words from the prophet Isaiah.

Thank You for fulfilling those promises through our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank You for Your faithfulness in binding up those who are broken-hearted, proclaiming freedom for captives, and releasing prisoners from darkness!

We humbly ask that You use Lies Women Believe—a book that is drenched in Scripture—to shine a light on Your mission to set captives free. May those truths be cemented in the hearts of the readers.

May the stories shared throughout the book whisper hope into weary hearts, showing them that they are not alone, and that You are our only hope for true and lasting freedom. Father God, we know the enemy hates any movement toward being set free, so we pray against any plans he has to thwart the message of this book.

Thank You that greater are You who is in us than the evil one who roars. We worship You as the Lion of Judah with a louder roar. We cry out for revival in Your church today!

Convict us of our sin and how far we’ve wandered from Your truth. May it be as if we can hear chains hitting the ground as women run toward freedom, as they dwell in the truths from Your Word taught in this book.

We ask all of this in the name and power of our Lord Jesus Christ. May You be the One to receive all glory and honor and praise, amen!

Nancy: That’s Judy Dunagan from Moody Publishers. She’s been praying for the release of the newly updated and expanded book Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free.

We’d like to send you a copy of this book when you support Revive Our Hearts with a gift of any amount, so be sure to ask for Lies Women Believe. You’ll get the new version of this book when you call us at 1–800–569–5959, or visit us at ReviveOurHearts.com to make your donation and request this book.

This fall will mark the tenth anniversary of the True Woman Manifesto. This is a document that explains the heart of this ministry and explores the biblical teaching on what it means to be a true woman of God.

This spring we’ve been walking through the Manifesto in several series and will pick it back up on Monday, focusing on marriage—so please back with us for Revive Our Hearts.

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth wants to help you walk in the truth. It’s an outreach of Life Action Ministries.