Christian author and speaker Joyce Meyer reflected in a sermon that the devil convinced her it was her own fault that her father sexually abused her throughout her childhood, and warned Christians that holding on to false guilt can be one of the biggest barriers to growing with God."The devil convinced me there must be something wrong with me, for him to want to do that to me," Meyer said in a sermon about God's righteousness posted on Monday, speaking about her father.The evangelist noted that all her other friends and people that she knew weren't experiencing the same thing, which at the time led her to believe that "there must be something wrong with me."
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER "And that's what most children do if they are not treated right," she reflected, but warned the audience that "that's exactly what the devil wants us to do."Last week Meyer opened up about some of the details of the sexual abuse she suffered in the past, estimating that her father must have raped her at least 200 times."He didn't force me physically, but through lies, and manipulation, and fears, and threats, I was still forced," she said."Literally, what he did was rape me, every week, at least once a week, until the time I was 18. My father, who I was supposed to be able to trust, who was supposed to keep me safe, raped me a minimum of 200 times," she added.In her latest sermon, Meyer said that dealing with the internalized guilt was one of the toughest challenges she had to face during the healing process."Well, I had a record playing in my head for most of my life 'What's wrong with me?' And I think it's so amazing [that] the first thing Jesus wants to give us is something right."
