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Welcome to Campground USA
Log Cabins, Nature Trails, Canoes,
Paddle Boats, Bikes, Fishing
Yep, that’s the sign entering our campground where we gather around the bonfire nightly to discuss Girls With Swords by Lisa Bevere.
How about that meeting we had last night discussing Chapter 4! The Holy Spirit moved upon Christi, and it was as though fire came down from heaven as she spoke about taking back all that Satan has stolen from us. Didn’t we have a Hallelujah time dancing on top of the old devil’s head!
And speaking of a fire within them—Jennifer, Teresa, Tonya, and Diane did as they answered the questions: “Where is the Battle?” and “Who is my Enemy?”
- Jennifer put it to us straight! Our war is not with each other; it is with Satan.
- Teresa laid out God’s plan of Redemption: “One Heart, Vision, Purpose, Name, Kingdom, Mandate. We could be the answer to Jesus’ prayer He prayed for us at The Last Supper by becoming ONE.
- Tonya reminded us that we must battle to become ONE, using the tools God has given us in Galatians 5:22-26.
- Diane told her testimony of how the thief had come to steal, kill, and destroy her. But, Jesus came to give abundant life, and she didn’t listen to the lies of the enemy.
- Praise and Worship ended the meeting with Heaven’s angelic choir joining in.
I just gotta tell you about a childhood memory I had as I was walking back to my cabin after the meeting. I began thinking about the cattle farm I grew up on in Georgia. I loved watching Daddy’s herd of cattle grazing out in the field. The old cows would fill their bellies full of hay and then lie down under the shade trees and wait until it was time to get up and graze some more. It was as though they lived only “to be fed.”
A thought suddenly hit me as I recalled that memory, and I stopped and prayed: “Father God, help me not to just graze on the things I am learning. May I feast upon your word, and really ‘get who I am in Christ.’ May I not lie down like Daddy’s old cows after feasting. Instead, may I rise up and use my Sword as a weapon in my daily life.”
Well, the sun has gone down here at the campground. It’s time to make my way on over to the bonfire. Tonight we are discussing Chapter 5—“The Cross as a Sword.”
Teresa pinpoints the Crossroads.
Lisa says: “Just as Adam stole the fruit of a forbidden tree and caused all within him to die, Jesus died on a barren tree and thus became its fruit that all in Him might live.”
You and I are part of the fruit of Adam, and if we accept Jesus’ gift on the cross, we are His fruit as well. Because we are Adam’s fruit we have a sinful, hurtful part of us. Many of you have been hurt. Your hurt is holding you back from the freedom and abundant life Jesus Christ has to offer. If you have buried secrets, living in shame and regret, you are at a crossroads.
- One path leads to…loneliness, embarrassment, shame, pride, just getting by.
- The other path leads somewhere new and scary, feels vulnerable and shakey.
- It requires us to walk one step at a time lighted by faith, trust, hope, and love.
- But,it binds us to other travelers who are ready and willing to share their life story.
“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17).
Could we get together, talk, and share our stories?
Jennifer spoke on Transformation.
Isaiah and David prophesied that God’s chosen people would kill His only Son. The religious leaders thought that by killing God’s Son they would get to steal His inheritance. “None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified The Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:8).
Lisa asks the question: “What blindsided each and every ruler of that age? They could not see the transforming power of The Cross.”
What about you?
- Do you see the transforming power of The Cross?
- Do you live a transformed life?
- Do you live fully believing that Christ died for you?
- It is one thing to know about The Cross and what happened that day on Calvary.
- Do you live in a way that your life represents this knowledge?
We were saved, forgiven, healed, loved, graced, empowered, and restored “in Christ” at the Cross. It was the dead tree that brought us all back to life.
You were already transformed because of the Cross.
The question is – Have you accepted it? Are you living it?
Tonya spoke on the power of The Cross.
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity” (Ephesians 2:13-16).
Lisa said: “On the cross God leveraged all that He was for all that we could be.”
- Jesus died on the Cross, so that we could one day fulfill our potential.
- The Cross brings us together.
- The Cross lifts us up above any attack used against us.
- Christ created the bridge needed between our neighbors and ourselves, between races, between genders, between ages, between classes.
The Cross has the power to unify all who are willing to embrace it.
In Christ the far-off and the wandering come near.
Diane spoke on the Scapegoat.
Everyone’s journey to The Cross is different. We can all relate with the scapegoat in different areas as we journey to The Cross.
Guilt Lonely nights Oppression Rejection
Jesus knows the pain and the hurt behind each and every word used to describe what a scapegoat represented. Yet, this pain was all taken with Jesus on the Cross as He became the ultimate sacrifice. Lisa is right: The Cross is a Sword of Love.
“Yet it was our weakness He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down. And we thought His troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for His own sins! But He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all” (Isaiah 53:4-6).
“Ladies, we must pick up His Sword and follow Jesus to Heaven!”
After Diane spoke, many women shared their painful past as Teresa had suggested. Suddenly, a woman spoke out boldly: “Let’s lay hands on these women that God would restore the years that the locusts and canker worm has eaten up!”
This lady has “got it.”
She knows who she is in Christ and is applying the Sword to the hurting.
Praise and Worship followed with old hymns of the church flowing throughout the campground: Near the Cross, At the Cross to name a couple.
The smell of s’mores roasting nearby filled the air, and what’s that other smell I smell? Could it be the aroma of Christ? (Ah, how sweet it is!)
Let’s Pray: Father God, may we become a living testimony of who we are in Jesus and know that, because of the Cross, You have equipped us to walk in You and defeat anything the enemy might throw at us. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
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If you would like to join us for the “Girls with Swords” Online Bible/Book study, click HERE to be taken to our sign-up page. Once you complete the enrollment process, we will email you further details. We hope you will join us!
