{"id":10535,"date":"2013-03-20T00:01:55","date_gmt":"2013-03-20T04:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=10535"},"modified":"2016-01-04T14:53:01","modified_gmt":"2016-01-04T19:53:01","slug":"captivating-chapter-11-warrior-princesses-relational-attacks-a-warring-bride-pgs-193-197","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/03\/20\/captivating-chapter-11-warrior-princesses-relational-attacks-a-warring-bride-pgs-193-197\/","title":{"rendered":"Captivating: Chapter 11 Warrior Princesses – “Relational Attacks” – “A Warring Bride” (pp 193-197)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sword<\/a><\/p>\n

Whoa. When I read what Stasi and John shared in the \u201cRelational Attacks\u201d section, my mind flooded with past situations with roommates, boyfriends, family members, and friends where the Spirit of Accusation applied.\u00a0\u00a0I bottle things inside of me.\u00a0\u00a0I let those negative feelings fester, and I dwell on the situation at hand.\u00a0\u00a0How dare<\/em> she not take out the trash after I\u2019ve done it the past five times! If he really<\/em> cared about me, why would he have said those things? He said, she said\u2026the situations play on.\u00a0\u00a0This Spirit of Accusation doesn\u2019t just occupy our heads.\u00a0\u00a0It occupies our hearts.\u00a0\u00a0As the prophet Jeremiah reminds us, \u201cThe heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure\u201d (Jeremiah 17:9<\/strong>). Many times, what we harbor in our hearts are lies and evil.\u00a0\u00a0But there is freedom in Christ.\u00a0\u00a0There is freedom in prayer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you believe that there is a spiritual war that rages around us?\u00a0\u00a0Even when you sit alone in your room, supposedly secure from all physical danger, the war ensues.\u00a0\u00a0But we have no reason to fear; we have power in Christ<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0So no matter what she didn\u2019t do or what he said, God has given us power<\/strong> <\/em>over those evil thoughts and negative feelings.\u00a0This chapter really brought to light the power of prayer.\u00a0\u00a0When we call on His name, He is faithful to deliver us<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m ashamed to say that my first reaction to unhappy situations is not always prayer.\u00a0\u00a0I usually let my feelings overwhelm me until I have time to \u201ccool down.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0This chapter has challenged me though.\u00a0\u00a0The next time a situation arises, I want to take a step back, denounce the evil that is at work, ask for the Lord to take the situation and help me see how He wants me to handle it.\u00a0\u00a0Just as Jesus was tempted in the desert, we, too, are tested in our faith daily.\u00a0\u00a0Satan knows our weaknesses, but we are not to give him a foothold<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s take the power that is already ours in His name and use it<\/strong>! I love the quote from our authors on page 196:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cChristianity is not a passive religion.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

We know that oftentimes the Lord will allow hardships so that we may grow in our trust and faith in Him.\u00a0\u00a0Even Paul speaks of a \u201cthorn\u201d that tormented him:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations,<\/span>\u00a0there was given me a thorn in my flesh,<\/span>\u00a0a messenger of Satan,<\/span>\u00a0to torment me.\u00a0Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.<\/span>\u00a0But He said to me, ‘My grace<\/span>\u00a0is sufficient for you, for my power<\/span>\u00a0is made perfect in weakness.’\u00a0<\/span>Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.\u00a0That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight<\/span>\u00a0in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships,<\/span>\u00a0in persecutions,<\/span>\u00a0in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong\u201d (2 Corinthians 12:7-10<\/strong>).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ladies, God is so good! He will never give us more than we can handle<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0Do you believe that?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Do you also believe that we are warriors in Christ<\/strong>?\u00a0\u00a0We have His strength to sustain us when we feel we can\u2019t take another step, another breath, another disappointment, another insult, another negative feeling.\u00a0\u00a0He is with us always, and His power is available to us through our communication with Him. Talk to Him, share with Him, rest in His presence and in His control over things that may seem uncontrollable.\u00a0\u00a0Nothing is too much to handle for our God<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Praise Him,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Carissa<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s Pray:<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Father, thank You for who You are and for offering Your power and Your strength to us.\u00a0\u00a0In Your Name, I pray that we take hold of that power daily.\u00a0\u00a0Lord, as situations arise to test our faith, that we will stand firm in the knowledge of Your presence and protection.\u00a0\u00a0Let us be warriors for You.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You for Your strength that sustains us through the everyday battle called \u201clife.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Your Assignment:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Is there a situation in your life that you need to turn to God?\u00a0\u00a0Do that today. In love, work to reconcile relationships, and know that you have power in Christ to do all things.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Have you signed up for our next Online Bible\/Book study yet? \u00a0If not, you will want to right away! \u00a0This is going to be an amazing study!! \u00a0The study begins March 24th!<\/span><\/h3>\n

Click on the picture below to be taken to the sign-up page. \u00a0Once we receive your registration, we’ll email you further details.<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"GWS\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whoa. When I read what Stasi and John shared in the \u201cRelational Attacks\u201d section, my mind flooded with past situations with roommates, boyfriends, family members, and friends where the Spirit of Accusation applied.\u00a0\u00a0I bottle things inside of me.\u00a0\u00a0I let those negative feelings fester, and I dwell on the situation at hand.\u00a0\u00a0How dare she not take […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":9918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[20],"tags":[1868,1251,182,425,1985,2069,2068,571,1986,2070,2071,1009,2072],"class_list":["post-10535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-singles","tag-2-corinthians-127-10","tag-captivatingunveiling-the-mystery-of-a-womans-soul","tag-carissa-markantone","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-girls-with-swords","tag-god-is-faithful","tag-jeremiah-179","tag-john-eldredge","tag-lisa-bevere","tag-power-in-christ","tag-spiritual-warfare","tag-stasi-eldredge","tag-warrior-princess","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/GWS.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-2JV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10535"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29382,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10535\/revisions\/29382"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}