November 21, 2024

Girls with Swords: Chapter 9 Weekly Review – “Sword of the Harvest”

May 24, 2013 by

Welcome to Campground USA

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Picture this scene:  You are sitting around the pool at the campground, soaking up some warm sunshine with other women from our group studying Girls With Swords.  Ah, how relaxing! 

I was sitting there with you.  As the sun beamed down upon my face, tears of conviction rolled down my cheeks.  You see, I was reading over the handout sheet Teresa, Jennifer, Tonya, and Diane gave us for Chapter 8 in regards to WORDS—words that I had spoken unkindly to others, words others had used to persecute me, and words that I had omitted speaking as a witness for Jesus.  It was a time of judging myself, and asking forgiveness of the times I had grieved the heart of God.  It was also a time of blessing others who had persecuted me.

Though I didn’t realize it at the time, God was untangling me from some of the weeds I had allowed to grow in my heart that had gotten me off the path of holiness that we would be discussing further in Chapter 9.   Oh yes, those tears actually felt good.  Not only did they seem to serve as a cleansing stream, but cleared a path to go forward.

Before I knew it, it was time to head on down to the campfire to hear what my friends had to say about Sword of Harvest.  Come, go with me.

Teresa: 

Lisa points to the fact that there is only one native North American, all-purpose sword—the machete.  It is made to be used for hard work…clearing a path to walk on, insuring safety, as a tool for many purposes, and even food preparation.

Our sWord is much like a machete—it clears our path and ensures our safety.  For example:

  • Deuteronomy 5:33   Stay on the path that the Lord your God has commanded you to follow.  THEN you will live long and prosper in the land you are to enter and occupy.
  • Psalms 1:6   The Lord watches over the path of the godly, the path of the wicked leads to destruction.
  • 2 Samuel 22:29   God, your light floods my path; God drives out the darkness.
  • Proverbs 3:6  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.
  • 1 Kings 2:3  Do what God tells you.  Walk in the paths He shows you. 

At some point in your life, you will find yourself with a choice.  Which path will you take…the one that ascends to light and life, or the one that descends to darkness and death?  There is no middle way.

I urge you to get to know the Leader and follow His path. Let Him carry the machete and clear your path.  He has a plan that is best for you.  

 

Jennifer:

According to Jeremiah, God’s people have wandered off the path of holiness (Jeremiah 18:15).

Lisa tells us how to get back on the path:

  •  Just as a machete clears paths in the wild, the sword of God’s Word has the power to sever what entangles us.  
  • Through the power of His Word, He makes a way where there seems to be no way.
  •  Sometimes you need to make a radical environmental change – turn off your television, get off the Internet, and hang up the phone. When all these voices are silenced, you have a chance to quiet yourself as well. This isn’t an invitation to meditate on a deeper revelation of YOU but to experience a deeper revelation of HIM.
  • To avoid a hostile re-invasion from the enemy, you mustfirmly establish a new lifestyle and environment 

What changes do you need to make today in order to return to the ancient path…to be a trailblazer like Jesus?  God does not really want us to be comfortable. He wants us on a mission, to reach the lost and hopeless, to be trailblazers for His Kingdom.

 

Tonya

Lisa examined the relationship between Jesus and John the Baptist.  (John was the herald and Jesus was the heralded.)

Herald means:  an official crier or messenger, one that precedes or foreshadows, one that conveys news or proclaims, one who actively promotes or advocates—messenger, crier, foreshadows, proclaims, conveys news, promotes, advocates.

Quoting Lisa: 

  •  ” In times of harvest, paths must be cleared and maintained so the harvesters can get to the fields”
  •  “John was a forerunner who understood his season and purpose; like him, we should herald the One to come.”

We have been assigned many titles—woman, wife, mother, daughter, friend, employee, girls with swords, warriors—and now we are also heralds. 

Are we clearing the paths or are we adding more barriers for those trying to reach Him?

 

Diane

Genesis 3:15 says:  Satan will strike His heels (referring to Jesus), but He (Jesus) will crush Satan’s head. 

When we are on God’s path for us, we will encounter Satan, the snake, in many forms. The snake wants us on his path. He will pull out all of his tricks to discourage us on our path for God.

Lisa said:  “Even if the snake is not positioned to strike, it must be removed. Snakes are a threat, but not to God. When we are living our life for Christ, snakes lose their threat to us.”

We have all power and all authority of God behind us, ready to take on that snake! Philippians 3:21 The Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.

We have God’s mighty power behind us, the work has already been done, Satan is already dead, we must continue on God’s path and be prepared princess warriors with the machete of God’s word in our hands and on our tongues at all times!

************   

After Diane spoke, I sat quietly while Praise and Worship began.  I was letting all the words that each lady had spoken sink in. But, tonight God was driving home to me something Diane said about the snake slithering around trying to have us.

It brought me back to a time a few years ago when I was unloading several bags of groceries out of the trunk of my car onto the driveway.  I was going through a hard situation at the time, and I was singing to the top of my voice as I unloaded the groceries:  “The Lord is my light and my salvation.  In whom shall I fear, in whom shall I fear.”

About the third bag I picked up to carry into the house, a tiny lizard jumped out of the bag.  I threw the bag up in the air.  When it met the ground, jars of mayonnaise, pickles, and grape jelly, splattered all over my driveway. 

The Lord spoke ever so gently to me:  “Satan is no more than that tiny little lizard, but yet you allowed it to scare the living daylights out of you.” 

As I recalled that memory, suddenly I began to laugh and laugh and laugh.  My laughter caught on with the other ladies, and suddenly Holy Laughter began to spread all around that bonfire. 

I believe we all were set free and our eyes were opened to see the fields that surround our lives that are white and ready for harvest.

*****

Let’s Pray: 

Father God, how I thank You for Your Word.  It is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.  As Lisa said:  I want to use Your Word to create environments that encourage others to flourish.  In Jesus’ name I pray.  Amen.  

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Girls with Swords: Chapter 9 – “Kill or Defend” (pgs 150-151)

May 23, 2013 by

I wanted to point out to you ladies that in the introduction to this chapter, Lisa explains that the machete is a formidable weapon for self-defense, capable of fending off assailants and wild animals and killing venomous snakes (pg 140).

This reminded me of something a friend told me last night.  I was explaining how sometimes I feel like I am in a tug of war with Satan.  I feel him wanting to wrap his slithering body around my arm and try with all of his might to pull me on his side, but God is not pulling my other arm, He is holding me securely in His mighty arms.

Her response was this: Satan is first mentioned as a snake in the Scriptures.  Did you know that when a snake gets its head cut off, it can still live.  They do not know that they are slithering around without a head.  Satan is walking around with his head cut off, he just doesn’t know it yet.  Genesis 3:15 says Satan will strike HIS (referring to Jesus) heels BUT HE (Jesus) WILL CRUSH HIS HEAD.  Satan is still trying to have you because he doesn’t know that he is dead, but he is.

YES!  He sure is dead.  There is something more powerful than the machete; the stained cross where our Precious Lamb was slain for you and me.  That same cross sliced the head of Satan the day He rose from the dead.  Jesus has overcome Satan’s many attempts to strike His heel, with His stained cross and empty tomb.  Jesus has freely given us this same victory over Satan’s many attempts to pull us on his path!

Satan is slithering around headless, he is dead, and he just doesn’t know it yet.  When he tries to wrap around your arm, that is when we, princess-warriors-in-training, MUST slay his grasp with the machete of God’s word.

When we are on God’s path for us, we will encounter the snake in many forms.  The snake wants us on his path.  He will pull out all of his tricks to discourage us on our path for God.  Lisa tells us on page 150 that even if the snake is not positioned to strike, it must be removed.  Snakes are a threat, but not to God.  When we are living our life for Christ, snakes lose their threat to us.  Especially when you know the snake doesn’t have a head!

We have all power and all authority of God behind us, ready to take on that headless snake!  Philippians 3:21  “The Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.”  The same God who raises our bodies to be with Him in Heaven one glorious day, is the same God who has beheaded Satan’s body.  We have God’s mighty power behind us, the work has already been done, Satan is already dead.  We must continue on God’s path and be prepared princess warriors with the machete of God’s word in our hands and on our tongues at all times!

 

*****

Let’s pray Lisa’s prayer together:

Dear Heavenly Father,  direct my paths by the light of your Word, and instruct me in ways to leave a clearly marked trail behind for others.  I want to use your Word to create environments that encourage others to flourish.  I choose to guard my heart so as not to mistake co-laborers for competitors.  Open my eyes to see the fields surrounding my life that are white and ready for harvest.  In Jesus’s name, Amen.

AMEN!

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Girls With Swords: Chapter 1 – “Women As Warriors” (pgs 8-12)

March 27, 2013 by

Gen3_15

Sometimes we have to sit down and look at the reality of the situation. The reality of the situation we are in today is not only biblically supported, but it is supported by the world as well, by what we see on a daily basis. The author of this book pointed out gendercide, a very real threat to women in some areas; there is also sex trafficking and sex slavery. I sit with my daughter and watch TV, or look through her pre-teen magazines.  What I see and hear scares me—the methods of communication the world uses are teaching our daughters to be self-centered, superficial women who place their value in the latest brands, and the ability to find the perfect man. It doesn’t stop there, I see the same when I’m in the aisle at the store looking through the women’s magazines. What is the world telling us to focus on? What is the world telling us to place our value in?

There is a lot of pressure on women.  There is quite a bit expected from us: we hold down jobs, we raise families,we are to do it on our own as an independent woman, we are to look beautiful. We are distracted at every turn. No, gendercide doesn’t directly affect all of us in our hometowns, but like Lisa said when writing this book “your birth location just means you will be targeted in a different way.” The reality of the situation is that we have a target on our backs, we are women, we are Christians, and we are determined to take up our swords and fight back. These three combined make us a very real threat to Satan and he will do what he thinks he can do to throw us off of our path.

And then there is a bigger reality than the one I just spoke of—the reality that we have God on our side, the reality that His promises are stronger and more powerful than any threat Satan has made. “There is no way we can or should fight this battle alone.” We don’t have to, we don’t need to, and we can’t. We NEED God’s heavenly support.

We as women are faced with a choice, “Will we be an unarmed civilian, victim, prisoner of war or a hero”? Where will we stand? What will our position be?

Ephesians 1:11-14

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

We have been chosen. ladies. We need to look at the reality of the situation, we need to decide where we stand, and we need to take a position. There is a target on our back, but the swords we hold are bigger and stronger than the weapons being thrown at these targets. Our swords, our prayers must not be influenced by what is around us; they need to be powered by looking to the One who created us to be warriors.

 

Psalm 62:5-8

Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
my hope comes from him.
Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Trust in him at all times, you people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.

 

*****

Let’s Pray:

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for the swords You have placed in our hands.   Thank You for showing us a bigger reality, Your bigger reality. Your protection and love are more powerful than anything Satan can lay in our path. Lord I pray for boldness when we pick up our swords!  I pray that our prayers hold a power we could never have imagined because they are powered by You. Lord, You created us to be warriors; You gave us the power to be warriors, to make a difference and to take a stand. Thank You for this gift and thank You for Your protection and power.  In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.

*****

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