April 18, 2024

Girls With Swords: Chapter 6 – “Becoming a Warrior” (pgs 81-84)

April 29, 2013 by

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR READING ASSIGNMENT THIS WEEK.

Why don’t we send our children into battle?  Why are we so shocked and disturbed when we hear of countries that DO send their children into a war zone?  I believe it is hard enough to send an adult off to do battle.   I cannot imagine looking my innocent, naïve children in the face and sending them off to face a vicious enemy.  I have a responsibility to train my child, teach them the things they need to be successful, develop their knowledge until they are mature.  God doesn’t expect us to fight our battles untrained either.

This week we move from just being a soldier in armor and carrying our swords to developing the heart of a WARRIOR.  Did you know there is a difference?  I did some research on characteristics of a warrior and found some words that made me think.  What do you think of when you hear these words?

Commitment                   Determination                                Willingness to Succeed

Prepare bodily                 Prepare mentally                           Ability to Adapt

Will Power                       Driving Force from within           Push limits beyond expectations

These are not casual words.  They are ACTION words.  They are words with character and strength, experience and wisdom.  Our children do not possess these characteristics yet.  It takes experience and the guidance of a caring parent, teacher, or counselor to bring about this kind of maturity in a person.  SO…there’s the word…MATURITY.  To become a WARRIOR we must develop maturity.  Not just in life experience, but in Spiritual Matters.  We ARE Spiritual Warriors.  Some of us are on the front lines and some are still back at the tent waiting our turn.

The Apostle Paul spoke to people in the new churches about becoming mature Christ followers.  He used some pretty strong language as he taught them to “grow up.”  Check out Hebrews 13, Ephesians chapters 4 and 5, and Hebrews 6.  This is the first part of Hebrews 6:

“So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God.  You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.  And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.” (New Living Translation)

The basic teachings are very important.  If a believer doesn’t get that right, it doesn’t matter how passionate she is about Jesus.  Once a new believer understands the basic lessons, it is time to practice what was learned and “move forward” toward maturity.  The first five chapters of our book Girls with Swords is “Basic Training” for every good soldier.  Now we will learn to develop the heart of a WARRIOR.  Lisa tells us, “The warrior has a CHOICE.  Honoring what is godly and noble is often the rite of passage when a soldier becomes a warrior”  (page 82).

In our reading, Lisa gives us words a WARRIOR would understand:

Strategy                        Intuition                              Vision

Wisdom                        Patience                               Persistence

Tenacity                       Unified Voice (Unity)        Concerned Effort

Do any of these words pertain to you?  Have you developed any of these traits of a Spiritual Warrior?  If you can honestly say “No,” it’s OK.  You know where you need to start.  If you recognize some of these character traits in yourself, that’s Good; continue to work on the area you are lacking.  The Scripture would not tell us to move on to maturity if it was not a possibility for our lives.  God makes use of every attempt we make to move closer to Him.

Lisa shares, “You should never doubt that what seems a small or insignificant decision or gesture now may very well open a passageway or even empower you in the future” (page 83).  Has anyone ever told you what you actually GET to take to heaven with you, that you acquired while on earth?  Some people live by the phrase, “You can’t take it with you, so USE IT UP.”  I need to share with you that the only thing we carry to heaven acquired on earth is our CHARACTER.  We will be known by our godly character in heaven.

Yes, there will be spiritual babies crawling through the gates.  Yes, there will be spiritual adolescents and, hopefully, some spiritual young adults.  But I hope that each one of us will burst the gates of Heaven wide open like a WARRIOR on a mission for God.  We have a CHOICE to believe, a CHOICE to mature and a CHOICE to live in a way that brings Honor and Glory to God the Father.

Let’s finish our time together with Jesus’ best friend, John.  In 1 John chapter 2 we are encouraged to mature in our faith.  The whole chapter is beneficial, but I want to leave you with this:

“24 So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning.  If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father.   25 And in this fellowship we enjoy the eternal life he promised us.  26 I am writing these things to warn you about those who want to lead you astray. 27 But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.

Living as Children of God

28 And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when he returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame.  29 Since we know that Christ is righteous, we also know that all who do what is right are God’s children.”

Our struggles on this earth are not with other people, social injustice, or anything we can see.  Our struggle is Spiritual and must be fought with Spiritual Strength, Spiritual Might, by a Spiritual WARRIOR.  It’s time to pick up your SWORDS, ladies, and get to training.  Our future maturity and Spiritual Survival depends on it.

Listen to “Greater” with me as we pray.

Let’s Pray:

Heavenly Father, You alone are worthy of our praise.  You alone are great, and we worship Your name.  Father, we will follow You into battle for the souls on this earth.  We want to grow in character as we become more like Jesus.  Give us the spirit of a WARRIOR, the strength to endure to the end, and receive us in heaven as victors of this life.  We love You, Lord.  We are ready to go deeper, be wiser, and learn to be greater.  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!

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Crazy Love – Chapter 3: “In Love with the One I Fear” – Pgs 56-57

January 22, 2013 by

Quoting Frances Chan, page 56:  “If I could choose one word to describe my feelings about God in those first years of being a Christian, it would be fear.  Basically, any verses that described His overwhelming greatness or His wrath were easy for me to relate to because I feared my own father.”   However, Chan stated on page 55 that his relationship with God took a major turn when he became a father himself.  The words he now uses are reverent intimacy.

Personally, I am so grateful I never experienced the fear of my father.  I knew my daddy loved me, even when he disciplined me, and I have never doubted God’s love for me. However, there came a time in my life that I experienced what Christian counselor and psychologist, Robert McGee, refers to as blocked development, which began to affect my relationship with God.

In his book, You and Your Parents, McGee points out that a child goes through 4 stages of emotional development, each stage serving as a foundation for the next.

  1. Bonding (birth – 2)  The need to be loved:  Its purpose is to convey feelings of love, value, worth, closeness, and trust.
  2. Separateness (2-11)  The need to set personal boundaries:  This is what I feel, I  don’t feel that way; I believe this, I don’t believe that.
  3. Adolescence (11-18)  The need to develop adult behavior and identity: What am I good at doing and not good at doing.  What are good and unwise choices.
  4. Maturity (19 & older)  The need to continue growing in adult behavior and identity: Learn how little we really know, and how much more we have to learn.

McGhee says that based on the type of parental modeling a child encounters starting at birth, the child could become blocked and not progress to the next stage.  When that happens, the child’s emotional, relational, as we as hi spiritual, development remains at whatever stage he became blocked in.

Hang with me while I give a personal example that bears this teaching out. As I said, I never doubted how much my dad loved me as a child.  Certainly, I had bonded with my dad and it transferred over to knowing God loved me unconditionally.

However, once I reached the next stage called a separateness, that’s when problems started, although I didn’t know this as a child.  In both my parents’ efforts to shield and protect me from “life,” they were unable to find a balance between advising and guiding while at the same time giving me some freedom to begin forming my own thoughts and beliefs.

Added to that was my own personality type, which could be described as laid back, don’t rock the boat, desires peace and harmony at all cost.

The result of these two scenarios combined were:  I became a cripple at making decisions on my own and had no confidence in myself.  In short, I lost my identity and became a puppet on a string in my adult life trying to please everyone with whom I interacted.

I began to sense the emotional strain this was having on me, but did not realize that it had actually affected my relationship with God until He began to lead me down a totally new path in my life—a path that would require a major transition.

Fear gripped me.  I was afraid of trusting my own heart.  I was afraid of making a  decision…something I had never done as a child nor as a grown woman.  Up until this time, I had allowed others to think, feel, and make decisions for me. 

However, after months of prayer in trying to make a decision to follow the path I felt God was leading me down, these Scriptures literally leaped off the pages of the Bible to me: 

  • For do I now persuade men or God?  Or do I seek to please men?  For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.  (Galatians 1:10)
  • These are the commands, decrees, and regulations that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you. You must obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy, and you and your children and grandchildren must fear (reverence) the Lord your God as long as you live. If you obey all his decrees and commands, you will enjoy a long life.  (Deuteronomy 6:1-2)

A peace settled over me, and I knew it was God that I should be concerned about pleasing.  And with that, I began walking in obedience to His call on my life.  “He’s the BOSS.”

 

And that chapter in my life was my testing time in learning what Reverent Intimacy or the Reverence of God means.   Mr. Chan learned it when his own children were born.  I learned it when I was put in a position to make a decision to wholeheartedly follow God’s leading.  My life has never been the same.

Be blessed,

Martha

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Let’s Pray:

Father God, thank You for Your unconditional love for us.  May we put aside anything that has hindered us from being intimate with You.  In Jesus’ name, I pray.  Amen.

Your Assignment:

What does reverent intimacy mean to you?  Share your experience of coming to this place.

 

If you would like more information about Crazy Love Bible study, click HERE to be taken to the sign-up page.  Once we receive your registration, we will email you further details.

If you would like to send Martha a personal message in regards to this blog, you may email her at: Martha@GirlfriendsCoffeeHour.com.

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