Buying the Lie or Believing the Truth

Recently, I spoke to hundreds of young women at High School Beach Retreat in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Normally, my ministry finds me on college campuses with an older crowd. Typically, I’m speaking to women who have experienced the brokenness of the hookup and hangover lifestyle and they are in need of both hope and healing. Facing a younger audience I felt the pressure of prevention. I imagined myself standing at the edge of a cliff and begging them not to jump off.

My heart was so burdened for these girls and for the bondage that so many of them are in at such a young age. The Lord gave me this question for them: “Are You Buying the Lie or Believing the Truth?” In this talk, I shared my testimony of “buying the lie,” and how for years I bought Satan’s lies about my worth, my value, and my identity. I told the girls how media (TV, movies, magazines, music, etc.) influenced my thinking and therefore my behavior in high school and college. I told the girls that the sad reality is this: whenever you buy something you give up something in return. And my story is the all-too-common tale of a young girl giving away her soul because she believed the lie that she would find love and acceptance in return. Sadly, far too many of them knew exactly what I was talking about.

I don’t know about you, but I’m sick and tired of Satan (the father of lies) deceiving young women.

We face a fierce enemy in our culture, but I believe with everything in my being that the Lord has called Redeemed Girl Ministries for such a time as this. I believe in the power of the gospel. I believe that they can know the Truth and the Truth will set them free. I believe by speaking the truth we can make a difference in the lives of women for eternity.

Many have asked me over the past few months, “What can we do to protect young women?” The number one thing besides consistent prayer is to protect their minds.

“A 2004 study of almost 2,000 teens found that those who watch TV with a lot of
sexual content are twice as likely to engage in intercourse as those who watch
less. ‘The impact of television viewing is so large that even a moderate shift
in the sexual content of adolescent TV watching could have a substantial effect
on their behavior.” --Generation Me , by Jean Twinge, Ph. D.

The issue facing these young girls is the daily, moment by moment, decision to believe God’s truth about whom they are, what they are worth, and how they should live. The world bombards them with the message that says: you are nothing more than a sexual object; you are only as valuable as how you look; and you are not loveable unless….

Thankfully, we can offer young woman The Truth to confront and expose the lies. The Truth is Jesus Christ and His Redeeming Grace. He alone sets the captive free from the lies of the world. He alone can tell these young girls that they are not objects to be used and discarded, but they are treasures worth dying for.

Enough is enough. Satan is a big-fat-liar!

“Jesus said, ‘the thief has come to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come
that you may have life and have it abundantly.’” John 10:10