Have you ever felt stuck in fearful thought patterns or a sinful lifestyle? 

Think of a kitten stuck in a tree. It’s terrifying and she wants to be safely back on the ground. Like this kitten, many girls are captive to Satan’s lies. They are scared and stuck. It seems like God is far away and doesn’t even care about them.

Lies can capture us before we even realize we’re in bondage. We want to be free, but we just don’t know how to break free from Satan’s lies.

Do you wonder how to find peace and freedom? 

Rose, I want to encourage you to pursue Christ, the Redeemer of our souls.

Captive to the Enemy

Satan’s strategy is to deceive us and accuse us. As a liar, he twists our thoughts, trying to put distance between us and God. His goal is to keep us captive and without hope forever.

Satan’s lies seem innocent and intriguing, yet they lead to disaster. We can become so used to our false beliefs that we don’t realize how much they hurt us.

The Trap of Sin

When we are caught in sin, it traps us. Satan tries to convince us sin won’t hurt or affect us, and that we can hide and control it. But sin will always be found out. It cannot be controlled.

When we allow hidden sin to trap us, it damages us and our relationship with God.

Satan tells us freedom from rules leads to happiness. He wants us to think we will miss out by following Christ, and that sin will satisfy us more than anything God can give us. 

Satan commonly convinces girls that sexual relations before marriage carry the false promise of excitement and pleasure, which will fulfill our heart’s need for love. 

Often, a young lady’s hopes are dashed when she is left rejected and alone by her boyfriend. Trapped and vulnerable, she doesn’t know what to do next. 

The truth is that sin, any sin, brings misery and death. Sinful pleasure lasts for a moment, but never satisfies. True freedom and joy is found in surrender to Christ. Satan deceives us about our position in Christ.

 We start to worry we can’t be forgiven and feel rejected because of our sin. But whenever we are trapped in sin, there is a way out.

The Trap of Fear

Anxious thoughts enslave us. We fear what we cannot control, so we worry about it. Yet security and peace doesn’t come by knowing your future and controlling your life.

Satan lies about God’s character, telling us God is untrustworthy, can’t keep His promises, and will let us down. 

He wants us to believe we must control our life to have peace. But peace is found by trusting God, not by constantly worrying.

I understand the lie of anxiety well, because social anxiety bound me for many years. I was self-conscious about what others thought of me. I thought I had to be perfect in order to be a good friend. Believing this lie trapped me in anxiety.

Then I realized I must rely on God. By His grace, I can genuinely care about others and show them Christ’s love without worrying about how I am perceived.

Recognize your Captivity

Consider the lies that keep you captive. They are hurting you. How can you find freedom? The first step is recognizing your bondage. 

Don’t live in denial. Identify the lies you are believing. Anxiety and sin are common traps, but Satan is the father of lies. He can twist any truth to trap us. 

Search your heart: Are you believing what is true? Are you trapped in a lie? 

Realize that You Can’t Free Yourself

To find freedom we have to recognize that on our own, we can’t fix our mess. It is impossible to jump out of the brambly branches of a lie on our own. We need our Rescuer.

Like a kindly firefighter rescuing a kitten, He scales the ladder to take us into the safety of His arms. 

To be rescued we have to surrender and trust. Like the kitten we must retract our claws and let go of the branch that ensnares us.

It takes great courage to face the unknown and overcome sin. But we can rise above whatever we are facing. Christ’s Truth puts Satan’s lies to death. Freedom and victory are ours!

A Plan of Action

When you notice anxious thoughts or untrue beliefs in your life you need a battle plan. Take action and fight inwardly and outwardly. 

• Pray for Guidance: 

Ask God for wisdom and strength to obey Him and fight Satan.

• Find Verses to Combat the Lies:

Clearly define the lies you believe and be honest and humble. Ask God to give you specific verses that will strengthen you and weaken Satan. 

• Make a Practical Plan of Defense:

Write out your plan and have clear steps to follow when you feel tempted.

• Fight Mentally:
  Define the lie.
  Resolve to fight temptation. Reject the lie and replace it with truth. 

• Fight Spiritually: 

Fill your mind with God’s Word.
Use scriptures to defeat lies.
Pray. 

• Fight Physically: 

Choose a physical action or tangible reminders of the truth. 

An Example Plan:

The trap of struggling to accept your body: 

• Identify the lie: 

“I believe my worth is found in having a perfect body. I have distrusted God’s love for me.”

• Create true thoughts: 

“God created me to serve Him. My worth is in Jesus.” 

• Find scripture to reinforce truth: 

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalm 139:14

• Take physical steps to reject temptation:

“I resolve to stop daily scale checks (or other unhealthy pattern) and use tangible reminders of how God created my body to glorify Him (like a necklace or a beautiful shirt).”

• Replace negative thoughts or actions with positive activities: 

Pray. Serve. Witness. “When I feel tempted to dwell on my body I will choose to pray for or serve someone.” 

 

God is With You In This Fight

If you do give in, don’t let that defeat you from turning back to God. Take action. It is never too late to stop believing a lie. Remember, Rose, God is on your side. No matter how many times you fail, He will always forgive and restore you.

Trust your Savior, the Rescuer and Redeemer of your soul. He wants you to be free.