Michelle Lesley

Want to share your testimony?
Scroll down to the end of this article to find out how!

Allie’s Story:

I was not raised in a Christian home. However, my mom and dad were, and are, very loving parents. Without knowing the Lord, they cared about godly values and taught us the importance of virtue and wholesomeness. I see this as God’s grace protecting me from a lot of sin that I could easily have gotten involved in. They wanted to raise my siblings and me to be familiar with lots of different religions and belief systems, and so the “church” that we attended growing up was quite a melting pot of those things. We were introduced to some of the Bible, but it was presented right alongside many other religious scriptures and teachings, each of them being presented as equal paths to God. We prided ourselves on being tolerant, but the irony is that the main thing that we were intolerant of was true biblical Christianity.

Jesus clearly said in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”. Sadly, I didn’t believe that the Bible was the entirely true and infallible Word of God growing up. The dangers of New Age religion is that you firmly believe that you have the most enlightened viewpoint and that everyone else, especially fundamentalist Christians, are close minded and not truly understanding the Bible or why Jesus came. Any concept of sin, atonement, or God’s judgment is viewed as harsh and man-made and instead, everyone is seen as ultimately good and connected with the Divine. I was completely into this “spiritual but not religious” movement and we worshiped the idol of self and whatever felt good and sounded comfortable. I had a completely backwards view on everything– I loved what God hates and hated what He loves– and was headed towards hell and God’s righteous judgment.

Toward the end of high school, I began to be interested in more things of a Christian nature, through books and music and such. In my senior year, we moved from Wisconsin to Michigan, another aspect where I see God’s grace being very present, as we left our old church and life behind with the move. In Michigan, not only did we have a new friend group that was mainly made up of Christian families, but we also started attending a church that taught the Bible as the Word of God for the first time. It was not a church that I would attend today since they mainly sought to be relevant and preached a very watered-down, seeker-sensitive gospel, but God graciously used that time to open my heart to His Word.

At this point I was reading my Bible daily and wrestling with so many questions. Outwardly, I was already this “good, Christian, homeschooled girl” to my new friends but inwardly I doubted my salvation, and for a good reason. I had never repented of my sins and trusted in Jesus alone to save me. I was trusting in my own works and believing a mashed up version of some Bible verses and a lot of made up things that I wanted to be true.

God used a year of some Bible teaching at that church, lots of individual study of the Word, and some very humbling events to show me my desperate need for a Savior. One day at church, it all came to a head for me and I recognized my pride and facade for what it was. The Holy Spirit’s conviction was strong and I was clearly aware that I was not adopted into God’s family of believers. And I needed to be. Immediately.

That morning after the service I repented of my sins and trusted in Christ alone for salvation! I got baptized that day and submitted fully to God’s Word and ways, trusting in Him alone and not my good works. I cannot convey the freedom and joy that welled up in my heart that day as my greatest problem was taken care of and I was set free from sin to live for Christ. By God’s grace, my mom and sister both got saved within a month of me and we had the sweetest fellowship time reading our Bibles and growing in submission to the Lord. We found a new church that preached the full, beautiful gospel and taught expositionally from the Word each week.

A week after being born again, I began to experience anxiety and panic attacks, something that I had as a child but was again resurfacing. Satan seems to capitalize on the naivety of new believers and God was allowing me to see more of my weakness and my need for Him. My pride would like to tell you that this is something that I quickly conquered, but in truth, I still battle anxiety to this day. I have learned much from the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 when he talks about his “thorn in the flesh.”

Of course, anxiety is not my only area of weakness, and I have become more and more aware, throughout the years, of my sinful flesh and its constant opposition to the things of God. But, I praise God that His Spirit lives in me to conquer the flesh as I am called to daily take up my cross and follow Him. In Christ, I have been set free from slavery to sin and have become a slave of righteousness, as Romans 6 explains. I’m so thankful that sanctification is both a one time event at justification but also a continual process.

I want to point out three areas of God’s work in my life that I pray will be applicable for you.

The first is this: Christ is not needed only by those whose lives have hit rock bottom. I greatly enjoyed my childhood and was walking with the assumption that I was a good person who cared about spiritual things and inclusivity and so that was enough. The truth is that my rebellious heart towards the exclusivity of Christ was just as vile to God as the heart of anyone in history has ever been. I was separated from God by my sins and headed toward hell for eternity. Christ offers the free gift of salvation for anyone at any time and today is the day of salvation! I urge you not to wait as long as I did to be right with Him.

The second point has to do with my pride. I was in a place right before I got saved where I struggled with the fact that I already was identifying as a Christian and most of my friends probably thought that I was a believer. I thought if I truly got saved at that point, those around me would think I was faking it before then, which I was. I beg you not to let this keep you from being saved. Being identified with Christ in His death means also experiencing the death of our pride, and we should feel the sting of denying ourselves and being crucified with Christ as Galatians 2:20 says.

My third point is that coming to Christ does not make all of our problems go away. This is a dangerous misunderstanding of the gospel. As Christians, we are told by Jesus that in this life we will have trouble. We will experience persecution, criticism, opposition from Satan and from the world, perhaps even those very dear to us. However, I cannot convey to you the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. We can receive complete forgiveness of sins as well as abundant life now and for eternity!

Please don’t stop praying earnestly for your unsaved friends and family. If you had known me 10 years ago, I was that person that drove you crazy on Facebook and in person with my prideful resistance to the gospel. I am still amazed at the 180º turn that has come from being saved. I truly became a new creation, as 2 Corinthians 5:17 speaks of.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creation;
the old things passed away;
behold, new things have come.
2 Corinthians 5:17

I went from trusting in myself and making God to be who I wanted Him to be, to fully submitting to Christ and delighting that God’s ways are higher than mine. That is the amazing thing about regeneration! Any time God chooses and saves a sinner it is a miracle and worthy of our constant remembrance and praise. Christ is a treasure far greater than anything this world could offer and I pray that you may also know Him as Savior and Lord!

Additional Resources:

What Must I Do to be Saved?

Searching for a new church?

If you are in the New Age movement, or were saved out of the New Age movement and need a little help and encouragement from someone who’s been there, I highly recommend my friend Doreen Virtue and her YouTube channel as a wonderful resource.

Ladies, God is still at work in the hearts and lives of His people, including yours! Would you like to share (anonymously, if you like) a testimony of how God saved you, how He has blessed you, convicted you, taught you something from His Word, brought you out from under false doctrine, placed you in a good church or done something otherwise awesome in your life? Drop me an email, and I’ll send you the particulars for sharing your story. Let’s encourage one another with God’s work in our lives!

Mailbag

The Mailbag: Immodest Proposal

August 20, 2024August 20, 2024 Michelle Lesley

I’m wondering if you could offer some advice on how to handle a tricky situation with my neighbor. She often runs on the road in front of my house and chooses to wear just a sports bra and skin tight running shorts. It creates a sin opportunity for both my husband and my sons and is really causing a heart issue for me.

I know she’s a believer, or at least attends church regularly. How can I best approach this so it doesn’t turn into a subjective argument about modesty?

Also, we have found a doctrinally sound church but haven’t joined because so many so women are dressed inappropriately. Unfortunately, some of these women are in the elders/deacons families. Any advice on how to approach this when we meet with the elders? Our hope is that the issue can be corrected and we can continue to be a part of this body.

I know it’s a heart issue for these women and I can certainly pray, but is there Scripture that says church discipline should be taking place allowing us to worship too?

It’s no secret to anyone with eyes that the fairer sex is – more and more, every day – letting it all hang out. I’m just as appalled as any other Christian woman when I look around at the world. And, sadly, sometimes immodesty infiltrates the church as well.

Before you do anything in either of these situations, I would encourage you to listen, listen carefully, and maybe even listen more than once to the three episode A Word Fitly Spoken podcast series Amy and I released a few years ago on modesty:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

You might be wondering why I’m recommending that you – someone who obviously cares about modesty and Scripture’s teaching on it – give the subject more study. It’s a perfectly reasonable question.

It’s because modesty is such a concern for you that I want to make sure you (and all of my readers, really) have a biblical understanding of it. And once you do, I want to lovingly suggest that you spend some weeks praying for wisdom and clarity on the question of whether all of these women are actually dressed immodestly, or if there’s a possibility that your own ideas about modesty might need some biblical tweaking.

I’m not saying that’s definitely the case, because I don’t know you, and I can’t see how all of these women are dressed. I’m saying study up and explore that possibility in private prayer time with the Lord before you decide you need to take action, especially with something as serious as church discipline.

I would also suggest that you and your husband spend some time in prayer about all of this and have some focused discussions around the question of how much of this is his and your sons’ issue and how much of it is your issue. It’s not fair to your husband or sons to assume they are incapacitated by lust over all of these women unless they’ve told you that’s the case. You said, it’s “really causing a heart issue for me,” and I think it might be more of an issue for you that you realize. You may need to explore the questions of:

whether or not you trust your husband to be faithful, including whether or not he’s been unfaithful, habitually used pornography, or had a lust problem in the past
the balance between protecting your sons from sexual sin and entrusting them to the Lord
the degree to which you should be the one dealing with your sons about this issue (As a woman, you don’t have a man’s eyes, brain, or heart. Your husband does. He’s the best one to build your boys into godly men in this area.)
whether weight, health, aging, or other factors might be causing you to be jealous of these other women’s appearances
if you’ve ever been the victim of sexual abuse, is seeing so many women as immodestly dressed somehow connected to that experience?
(I know this is extremely unlikely, but it could apply to another reader): whether you’ve had sin issues of homosexuality or homosexual lust in the past and that might be playing a part in this.
whether you’re struggling with trusting the Lord with any aspects of this situation

If your husband is struggling against the sin of lust and/or pornography, my recommendation to him is to contact either a doctrinally sound pastor or godly older man he knows and trusts to disciple him about this, or he needs to set up an appointment with a certified biblical counselor (not the same thing as a “Christian counselor/therapist/psychologist/etc.”).

If you and your husband spend sufficient time studying, praying, seeking wisdom, and discussing all of these things and you can stand before God with a clear conscience and honestly say, “It’s truly not us. There really are a lot of immodestly dressed women around us,” then you can discuss what action, if any, to take. The biblical pattern is to always examine our own hearts first before seeking to correct others.

The biblical pattern is to always examine our own hearts first before seeking to correct others. (See Matthew 7:1-5)
Tweet

In either case, I would not advise approaching your neighbor about her running garb unless you are extremely close friends (and I suspect you’re not since you called her a “neighbor” instead of a friend, and you can’t confidently say whether or not she’s a Believer). It’s not going to go well no matter how kindly you approach her or what you say.

My advice:

Most people run at a regular time each day. Figure out when that is. (For heaven’s sake, don’t ask your neighbor. That’s going to come off as creepy and stalker-ish.)
If you’re the one who has the issue with seeing her dressed immodestly, either don’t walk through the living room at her running time (or don’t look out the window if you do), or don’t open the curtains until after that time, or both. However big your property might be, it can’t possibly take more than a few minutes for her to pass your field of vision.
Let your husband and sons handle their business of making a covenant with their eyes. That’s their job, not yours. And they’re already having to do it every day in scads of other situations you’re not aware of, so they’ve got some practice at it.

With regard to the situation at the church, either the issue is with you and there aren’t multiple women dressed so immodestly every week that you can’t worship, or there are and this church is not doctrinally sound. Because those two things – ongoing extremely immodest dress by the elders’/deacons family members and a doctrinally sound church – cannot coexist. They cancel each other out.

In addition to it being the biblical pattern, the reason I emphasized examining your own heart first is that I’ve been a member of and visited dozens of churches in my life. I’ve visited a few that would give Bethel a run for its money. And I’ve never, even in the worst of those churches, observed so many women so scantily clad every single week that it would have been impossible for doctrinally sound Christians to worship (had it been a doctrinally sound church). An isolated modesty issue here and there – usually with a visitor? Sure, even in the doctrinally sound churches. But never the type of pervasive, continuous issue you’re describing – something that would prevent potential members from joining the church.

If there truly are multiple elders’/deacons’ family members who are immodestly dressed every week and it’s not being dealt with, it’s not a doctrinally sound church and you shouldn’t join it. Use my Searching for a new church? resource in the blue menu at the top of this page and find another church.

“…is there Scripture that says church discipline should be taking place allowing us to worship too?”

I understand the what you’re trying to convey here – basically the idea that the people who are doing wrong (dressing immodestly) are the ones who should have to change their ways, not the people who are not doing wrong (you and your family). I sympathize and there are many ways in which I agree with you on this.

But you can’t throw that idea into the blender with church discipline or you’ll be guilty of mishandling the Scriptures that deal with church discipline, primarily Matthew 18:15-20.

Now if your brother sins, go and show him his fault, between you and him alone; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as the Gentile and the tax collector.
Matthew 18:15-17

Church discipline has nothing to do with making things right or comfortable or fair *for you*. Church discipline is about rescuing brothers and sisters from sin and reconciling them to Christ and to the church *because we love them*.
Tweet

Church discipline has nothing to do with making things right or comfortable or fair for you. Church discipline is about rescuing brothers and sisters from sin and reconciling them to Christ and to the church because we love them.

Brothers, even if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, each of you looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Galatians 6:1

And if anyone does not obey our word in this letter, take special note of that person to not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame. And yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15

My brothers, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. James 5:19-20

Modesty can be a tricky issue to deal with. Just deal with your own heart first, and then move on to helping and discipling other women in this area.

If you have a question about: a Bible passage, an aspect of theology, a current issue in Christianity, or how to biblically handle a family, life, or church situation, comment below (I’ll hold all questions in queue {unpublished} for a future edition of The Mailbag) or send me an e-mail. If your question is chosen for publication, your anonymity will be protected.

Faith, Prayer

Throwback Thursday ~ Hamartiology Hits the Homefront

August 15, 2024 Michelle Lesley

Originally published March 1, 2013

I admit it. I struggle against sin. A lot of sin. Often.

Sometimes it’s a small, easily won skirmish. Sometimes it’s a hard fought, bloody battle. Yesterday, God helped me take a hill.

For a couple of weeks, I’d been feeding on this sort of casserole of worry, doubt, fear, unbelief, distrust, and frustration with the Lord. I needed Him to act, and He wasn’t acting. Every time I tried to pray about the issues that were tempting me into this mélange of anxiety, I ended up feeling even more anxious.

So I quit praying about it. Smart and spiritually mature, huh?

“Lord, You know what all these issues are. Please, just handle it.”

From time to time, it can be helpful to pray like that. But not when you’re using it as a semi-spiritual cover for avoidance, which is what I was doing.

Yesterday, I finally heard the bugle sound the call to arms. I felt God pushing me toward the battle line. The urgency to pray through this mess was absolutely compelling.

So I laid it all out before God. Every last bit of it.

And as I did, conviction of sin rolled in.

Sometimes we think of conviction as a negative thing. It makes us feel bad. Guilty. Humiliated.

But conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit is really a good thing for the Christian. It gives us pinpoint accuracy and clarity on exactly how we’re offending God. It gets everything out in the open and brings things to a head so that we can repent, be made right with Him, and start fresh. None of us are so weak that we can’t deal with a little guilt if it pushes us up and over the wall of repentance to reconciliation. Buck up, soldier.

As I continued to pray, God began bringing all manner of applicable Scripture to my mind (this is how God speaks to us—through His written word). I remembered how God dealt with the ungrateful, complaining Israelites in the wilderness. I also remembered what David said in Psalm 103:2-3

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,

I realized my sin was a double edged sword of commission and omission. It wasn’t just what I was doing—doubting and worrying—it was also what I wasn’t doing—being thankful and remembering how God had been faithful to me in the past.

It reminded me of the way wind is formed. Warm air rises into the atmosphere, and cold air rushes in to fill the void left by the warm air. Voids don’t last long in our spiritual lives. Something is always rushing in to fill them.

At the end of a long day of fighting, my doubt, fear, unbelief, worry, distrust, and frustration lay on the battlefield as bloody casualties, replaced by fresh, mighty warriors of faith, gratitude, love, and remembrance.

Sin. It’s the only battle you can win by surrendering.

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
3 who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

6 The Lord works righteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
8 The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
13 As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
14 For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.

15 As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
17 But the steadfast love of the Lord is from
everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children’s children,
18 to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.
19 The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.

20 Bless the Lord, O you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his word,
obeying the voice of his word!
21 Bless the Lord, all his hosts,
his ministers, who do his will!
22 Bless the Lord, all his works,
in all places of his dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Psalm 103

Sin. It’s the only battle you can win by surrendering.
Tweet

Faith, Sin

Repeating Wrongs Renders Right?

August 14, 2024August 8, 2024 Michelle Lesley

Originally published September 17, 2013

“Four hundred thirty seven.”

“Sorry, that’s not right. Try again, Buddy.”

scribble scribble scribble

“Oh, ok. Four hundred thirty seven.“

“No, Honey. You just said that, and I just told you it was wrong. Give it another try.”

“But it’s 437!”

“Son, I have the answer book right here in front of me. The answer is not 437. Repeating the wrong answer over and over again doesn’t magically make it right.”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had this conversation -nearly verbatim- with each of my four children in the fourteen years I’ve been home schooling.

But I can tell you that this morning was the first time I realized that this is the same way many people relate to God and the Bible.

When this dialogue takes place between my child and me, it is because the child has done something wrong. He has forgotten to carry the one. Confused a peninsula with an isthmus. Mistaken an adverb for an adjective.

But he can’t see what he’s done wrong, or indeed, that he’s done anything wrong. And because he’s blind to his wrongness, his default position is to assume that he is right and I am wrong. Forget that he’s in fifth grade and I have a bachelor’s degree, half a master’s degree, and nearly two decades of teaching experience. Never mind that this is the fourth time I’ve taught fifth grade from this very same book. Completely disregarded is the fact that I have the teacher key right in front of me that shows exactly what he did wrong and what the right answer is.

No. He’s right. I’m wrong. The book is wrong. Math is stupid.

Foolishness is indeed bound up in the heart of a child.

But foolishness is bound up in all of our hearts when it comes to sin:

“My husband doesn’t treat me right.
God wouldn’t want me to be miserable
for the rest of my life, so my relationship
with the guy at work is just fine.”

“What the Bible says about
homosexuality only had to do
with male cult prostitutes, so my
monogamous homosexual relationship
with my partner isn’t a sin.”

“I’ve gone to church all my life.
Once, I even repeated a ‘sinner’s
prayer’ and was baptized. It doesn’t
matter what my life looks like now,
I’m sure I’m saved because of that.”

“The Bible says women aren’t
to instruct men in the church?
But I feel that God has called me
to be a pastor, so that verse must
not mean what it clearly says.”

Over and over we say it, hoping to convince ourselves, to drown out God’s law that’s written on our hearts, and to shout down anyone who would call us to repentance. Because we’re blind to our wrongness, our default position is to assume that we’re right and God, and His Word, are wrong. Never mind the fact that He’s God -Creator of the entire universe, knows everything, sees everything, has power over everything, and is perfect in holiness- and we’re, well… not.

No. We’re right. He’s wrong. The Bible is wrong. People who agree with God’s Word are just haters.

But, just like I tell my children: repeating the wrong answer over and over again doesn’t magically make it right. When each of us stands before God on the day of judgment, it’s not going to matter how many times we’ve tried to convince ourselves, others, and God that our way is right. It’s only going to matter what God says is right.

There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death.
Proverbs 14:12

Bible Study, Mailbag

The Mailbag: Can you recommend a good Bible study for women/teens/kids?

August 13, 2024August 8, 2024 Michelle Lesley

Originally published May 15, 2017

Can you recommend a good women’s Bible study?

Can you recommend a Bible study we can do with our teens/children?

Next to being asked whether or not a particular teacher is doctrinally sound, this question, or some variation of it, is the one I’m most often asked. And, to be honest, it’s a question I have a love-hate relationship with.

I love (LOVELOVELOVELOVE) that women ask me this question because it means two things: they want to study, or teach their children, the Bible and they want to be sure what they’re learning or teaching is doctrinally sound and in line with Scripture. That’s the central reason my ministry even exists- I want Christian women to be grounded in the Bible and sound doctrine, and it brings me unbelievable joy and encouragement when I see women seek that out.

The hate part has nothing to do with the people asking the question, but with the prevailing line of thought in evangelicalism that has led them to ask the question. Namely, that the people in the pew aren’t capable of studying and understanding the Bible for themselves- they need some Christian celebrity to tell them what it means.

This is scarily reminiscent of the pre-Protestant Reformation ideology that ruled Roman Catholic “Christianity.” The pope and the priests, not the Scriptures themselves, told Christians what to believe. Catholic rulers prohibited the people from having copies of the Bible in their own language and martyred many Bible translators and Reformers. Only the elite, those in leadership, were supposedly able to comprehend the Scriptures and dispense doctrine to the common Christian.

Twentieth and twenty-first century evangelicalism hasn’t taken that direct and violent route, but rather, has gradually brainwashed – whether intentionally or unintentionally – Christians into thinking that if they’re going to study or teach the Bible, they have to have a curriculum, book, or DVD study in order to do so. Teach straight from the Bible with no leader’s guide or student books? It’s practically unheard of in the average church, and hardly anyone is equipped to do so. Why? Because for the past several decades, that’s how Bible study has been presented to church members. You walk into Sunday School and you’re handed a quarterly. Somebody wants to teach a women’s Bible study? She’s sent to peruse the shelves of LifeWay for a popular author, not to her prayer closet and her Bible. Using teaching materials written by somebody else is just assumed.

Well in my opinion, it’s time for another reformation. A Bible study reformation. And, so, with hammer in hand, I have one resolution I want to nail to the door of Church As Usual:

I will no longer help perpetuate the stranglehold the pre-packaged Bible study industry has on Christians. If you are a 21st century believer with access to a Bible in your native language and doctrinally sound preaching and teaching I will not recommend a Bible study book or program to you. You need to pick up the actual Bible and begin studying the God-breathed text for yourself, and teach it to your children.

“…my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen.”¹

Ladies, I know you may feel inadequate, but don’t give in to those feelings. Try. Pick a book of the Bible, start at the beginning, and read it through to the end, taking as much time as you need. You might just be pleasantly surprised at how well you grasp it. That’s because, if you’re a believer, the Holy Spirit resides within you and will help you to understand the Word He authored.

Read directly from the Bible to your children. Ask them simple questions about the passage: How was this Bible character obedient or disobedient to God? What can we learn about what God is like from this chapter? What does this passage teach us about prayer, forgiveness, loving each other, kindness, etc.? Explain any big words they might not understand, or look them up together.

Afraid you might get something wrong? Confused by a particular verse? That may happen from time to time, and that’s OK. Bible study is a skill just like everything else. Nobody ever tried a new task and was perfect at it the very first time. But God has not only given you the Holy Spirit who will never lead you into doctrinal error, He has given you a pastor, elders, teachers, and brothers and sisters in the Lord to help disciple you. Ask questions, trust God to illumine your understanding, and keep right on practicing.

There are also a myriad of reference materials that can hone your skills and help as you study your Bible (see the “Additional Resources” section below). And there are some fantastic, easy to read books on theology by trustworthy authors that can give you greater clarity on various points of doctrine. By all means, read as many as you can get your hands on.

But when it’s time for Bible study, study your Bible. When it’s time to teach your children, teach them the Bible. You can do this, ladies. Women with less education and fewer resources than you have access to have done it for centuries and have flourished in their walk with the Lord.

Trust God. Study hard. You can do this.