If a friend were to lie to us, we’d feel betrayed, hurt, and upset. We’d wonder why they felt the need to deceive us and the friendship would be damaged. If this is the case, then why do we then lies to ourselves? And even worse, why do we believe it?
In her follow up book, Enough. Silencing the Lies that Steal Your Confidence, Sharon Jaynes gets open, honest, and vulnerable about the battle over your thought life. Geared toward women (though men battle lies as well), she shares narratives about women she knows and has worked with who each have battled the same war against lies that you face also.
Jaynes breaks her book into two parts: 1) The process necessary to transform our minds from lie to truth, and 2) Specific lies women tell themselves. Throughout part one, we find relatable insight about how difficult it can be to hear the distorted truth from the world, from Satan, and even within our own flesh. Well researched and full of sound biblical doctrine, Jayne supports her statements with ample scripture – reinforcing the fact that our truth comes from the Word of God alone.
But truth must be believed if it is going to be impactful. Jaynes teaches us we must first identify the enemy to our identity – the voice behind the lies. And that enemy is Satan. Not our spouse. Not our neighbor. Not our coworker. The enemy is Satan. If you’re going to win any battle, you must first know exactly who it is you are fighting. Once we know who is firing the arrows at us, we can recognize the specific lies he uses. Training your mind to separate fact from fiction is the precursor to then rejecting those falsehoods and replacing that faulty thinking with truth.
You may be thinking you don’t believe any lies. Well, Jaynes offers some of the most common lies women tell themselves and those lies do exactly what Satan intended – steal, kill, and destroy lives. Lies such as “I’m not good enough,” “I’m not pretty enough,” “I would finally be happy if only ______(fill in the blank),” and “God doesn’t really love me.” If you’ve ever questioned your worth or your value, then you’ve fallen victim to the confidence killing lies of Satan. It doesn’t have to be this way!
Enoughwould make an excellent women’s bible study as it comes with fifteen weeks worth of study guide questions to facilitate meaningful conversation about silencing those wrong voices and reinforcing truth. In an effort to further help the reader replace myths with biblical truth, Jaynes even includes a quick reference guide for replacing lies. For examples, someone thinking, “I’m not smart enough” should replace that lie with God’s truth, “I have the mind of Christ.” Jaynes even offers the scripture reference, “We have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).”
Though it’s written for women, Enoughis a book that gives men great insight into the thought war that’s waged daily in the mind of a woman. Perhaps knowing how the women in your life are attacked from early ages and on can help you speak words of truth and life into her. Fathers can support daughters and husbands can support wives by joining them in the process of rejecting falsehoods of Satan and replacing them with what God says instead.
– Joel D. Walton