{"id":12745,"date":"2013-06-27T01:00:20","date_gmt":"2013-06-27T05:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=12745"},"modified":"2013-06-26T23:18:31","modified_gmt":"2013-06-27T03:18:31","slug":"girls-with-swords-chapter-14-living-swords-pages-220-222","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/06\/27\/girls-with-swords-chapter-14-living-swords-pages-220-222\/","title":{"rendered":"Girls with Swords: Chapter 14 – Living Swords (pgs 220-222)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

 <\/p>\n

I am back!\u00a0 If you were wondering where I was the last two weeks, it was India.\u00a0 I was working with young girls who have been rescued from human trafficking to put on a retreat for other young girls who have been rescued from brothels, where their mothers have been trafficked and are still currently living and working.\u00a0 To say the trip was the most amazing experience I could have ever imagined it would be is a huge understatement.\u00a0 God is good!\u00a0 I am so glad to be back with you ladies for the last blog post of<\/span> our study.\u00a0 HUGE<\/span> shout out to the amazing Kim Spring for filling in for me while I was away, thanks dear!<\/p>\n

Of all of the things I have always thought of myself as, sword<\/i><\/b> has never been one of those things.\u00a0 In Zechariah 9:13 we find God telling us He will make us like a warrior\u2019s sword.\u00a0 I personally contend that this realization is a perfect way to end our study.\u00a0 We are no longer just carrying God\u2019s sword to church each Sunday, or meditating on God\u2019s sword each Easter when His cross is displayed on stage.\u00a0 God is carrying us, His swords, each day we follow Him in His will for our lives.\u00a0 As God\u2019s warrior swords we put Him on display each morning as we begin our day letting His love shine through our imperfect human flesh.<\/p>\n

Daughter of God, turn from your reflection, deny its limitations, and reflect Him. <\/b>(Page 221)<\/p>\n

This is one of my favorite things Lisa tells us to do.\u00a0 In our imperfect selves we sure do have limitations.\u00a0 Thankfully though, we have a perfect Savior who gives us His strength to do all things (Philippians 4:13). \u00a0 Stop looking at your reflection.\u00a0 Start living your life how God intended it to be and I promise you, your eyes will be open to seeing Jesus\u2019 love and beauty pouring through your soul.\u00a0 This look is not just for you to see in the mirror, it is for the entire world you pass by for the rest of your life to see so they can see Jesus in you.<\/p>\n

The last sentence of this book has hit me the hardest; I cannot read it without crying.\u00a0 Live like a hero, and you will strike a sure<\/span> blow to the enemy, and captives<\/span> will be set free.\u00a0 <\/b>(Page 222)<\/p>\n

Even more than a sword, I never ever thought of myself as a hero<\/b>.<\/em>\u00a0 I feel uncomfortable with that sentence even as I type it.\u00a0 We need to realize though what a hero is.\u00a0 Being a hero is getting rid of yourself, and filling up your life with Jesus.\u00a0 When we let ourselves be God\u2019s sword, we become His hero as well.\u00a0 Being a hero has nothing to do with us, it has everything to do with what we let flourish inside of us—Jesus<\/strong>!\u00a0 When we are being God\u2019s hero, we will not be found; only Jesus inside of us will be found for all the hurting to see.<\/p>\n

While in India, it became time for me to share my talk with the girls.\u00a0 It was about the weapons of our warfare.\u00a0 After the talk, I decided to share my testimony with the girls.\u00a0 This is something I did not want to do, but I was simply following the Holy Spirit\u2019s lead to do so.\u00a0 In<\/span> that moment, I truly disappeared.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit filled me, and what came out of my mouth was all Him…I was nowhere to be found.\u00a0 As each of His words fell out of my mouth, the room became filled with His presence. \u00a0And GOD MOVED!!!<\/strong> \u00a0(<\/span>If you would like to hear more about Diane’s trip to India, please join us on our next Girlfriends Coffee Hour Conference Call on July 16th. \u00a0Details will be posted soon on our Facebook Community page<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n

I share this because I want you to understand the importance of being sensitive to and being obedient to the Holy Spirit\u2019s leading in your life.\u00a0 As He leads you, I promise you, Satan will be cut by the living Sword you have let flourish and lost, lonely, hurting captives will be set free, and you, my dear, will be nowhere to be found but living as a hero in Christ!<\/p>\n

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

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

Heavenly Father,<\/p>\n

I praise You, and thank You, Lord.\u00a0 I have no words right now, only tears.\u00a0 I know You know the words expressed in each and every one of my tears right now.\u00a0 I pray that the women reading this today will be touched by Your mighty power.\u00a0 I pray that whatever is holding us back from being a hero for You would be demolished.\u00a0 Help us, Lord, to live as Your limitless sword and not a reflection of our limitations.\u00a0 Lord, it doesn\u2019t even feel right that You would give us the title of hero-but let us never forget that without \u201cin Christ\u201d after the word hero, we are nothing.\u00a0 You are what makes the word ‘hero’ true in our lives.\u00a0 Let us never ever keep You out of our lives.\u00a0 Keep us out so You can fill up inside of us.\u00a0 I pray all of these things with thanksgiving in Your Precious Holy Name.\u00a0 Thank You, Jesus!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  I am back!\u00a0 If you were wondering where I was the last two weeks, it was India.\u00a0 I was working with young girls who have been rescued from human trafficking to put on a retreat for other young girls who have been rescued from brothels, where their mothers have been trafficked and are still […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":12752,"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":[8],"tags":[2581,1266,308,2029,1985,2780,1986,2779,2783,762,951,1141],"class_list":["post-12745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-womens","tag-captives","tag-christian-womens-fellowship","tag-diane-meyers","tag-girlfriend-coffee-hour","tag-girls-with-swords","tag-india","tag-lisa-bevere","tag-living-sword","tag-missions-trips","tag-philippians-413","tag-sex-trafficking","tag-womens-online-bible-study","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/page-222.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-3jz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12745","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\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12745"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12756,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12745\/revisions\/12756"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}