shadow

Articles from June 2015

Glorious Gumption: Deborah

Posted on: by: Comments: Leave a comment

You don’t hear the word gumption used very often. I like the sound of it. It makes me think of courage. It involves wisdom, discernment, spirit, ability, and judgment, among other things. It also requires good old-fashioned get-up-and go! When gumption is utilized in a godly way, I call it glorious. Join me this week as we look as some women who displayed glorious gumption in their lives and understand how we can do something similar!

 

Deborah

Barak told her, “I will go, but only if you go with me.”

“Very well,” she replied, “I will go with you. But you will receive no honor in this venture, for the Lord’s victory over Sisera will be at the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh.  

Judges 4:8-9, NLT

Tuesday_Day_Two_Pic-Trust_God_SignWhen was the last time God told you to do something and you got someone else to do it for you? As believers, the Holy Spirit prompts us to obey the Lord, but we sometimes ignore His commands. It doesn’t have to be anything over the top, either. It could be something as simple as a prompting to go to someone and share your story of what the Lord has done in your life.  “Oh, that’s too hard, Lord. I would but I’m too nervous to go by myself.” We ignore the prompting.

Other times, we may half obey Him by modifying his command. We grab our best godly girlfriend and tell her something like, “Hey girl, I know how you love to share your testimony with others. Come see so-and-so with me. God’s got something for us to tell her.” We’ve just put our trust in someone else ahead of putting it in God. Is half obedience really obedience at all?

It’s not like God’s going to crumble and say His plan is ruined because we disobeyed Him. When we fail to obey God’s commands, He still accomplishes His plan, often with someone else who’s willing to obey. They get a blessing and we miss out. God still gets His glory.

This was the case for the people in today’s Dose verses. Read them.  God told the prophetess Deborah to pass on His command to Barak to call out warriors and go to an appointed place for war.  God even gave her instructions for Barak explaining what He (God) was going to do to give Barak the victory over the enemy (Judges 4:4-7). Barak chose to let Deborah lead, over God.

Deborah, however, rose to the challenge and was utilized to take part in the military campaign to overthrow the Canaanite tormentors. She put her faith squarely in the hands of God and acted without hesitation. Her trust was in God to protect and direct her. What glorious gumption this took!

God used Deborah to accomplish His task because of her wealth of faith and Barak’s lack of faith.

Sometimes we trust in people over God. We have the possibility of leading others to the Lord with our testimonies of how God is working in our lives, but when we don’t show the faith and courage to lead, God may decide not to use us.

Are you trusting in people over the Lord today?

Glorious gumption through trust in God,

Rita

[Read Judges 4 & 5 for more of this story]

Glorious Gumption: Esther

Posted on: by: Comments: Leave a comment

You don’t hear the word gumption used very often. I like the sound of it. It makes me think of courage. It involves wisdom, discernment, spirit, ability, and judgment, among other things. It also requires good old-fashioned get-up-and go! When gumption is utilized in a godly way, I call it glorious. Join me this week as we look at some women who displayed glorious gumption in their lives and understand how we can do something similar!

 

Esther

“…though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.”  

Esther 4:16, NLT

Monday_Day_One_Pic-Fear-Courage_SignHave you been reluctant to ask for help from someone in authority for fear something awful would happen to you?  For example, in a work situation, you may need to bring a matter to the boss’s attention. He may be the only one who can take the required action. Yet you fear he won’t listen to you, or worse, not believe you. You may ask, “What’s going to happen to me if I approach him?”  Perhaps the better question is what’s going to happen to others if I don’t?

Queen Esther experienced a similar, even more serious, predicament. She needed help from the king but had to get past the king’s evil top official, Haman. Haman had plotted to get rid of the Jewish people, Esther’s people, through directly targeting her uncle, Mordecai. Mordecai told her she needed to speak to the king on behalf of her people and herself (Esther 4:5-15).

Initially, Esther didn’t want to face the reality of Haman’s order to kill the Jews. She was preoccupied with her own fear that she could be killed for coming before the king without being invited. This very real fear prevented her from considering the long range results should she refuse to do the right thing in a timely manner.

Read today’s Dose verse. Esther eventually agreed to assist her people by going before King Xerxes, despite the uncertainty of whether she’d be welcomed or harmed. This action took great courage, glorious gumption! (Esther 5: 1-3)

Esther also prayed, fasted, and asked her people do the same (Esther 4: 15-17). She displayed godly wisdom in seeking God first and selecting the right time and atmosphere to present her requests to the king (after a couple of feasts, where he’d be relaxed and more receptive to a favorable answer. See Esther 5:4-8 and chapter 7.)

Sometimes the only thing blocking us from receiving the help we so desperately need is our own fear. When we trust God to move us through our fear to appropriate action we can act with glorious gumption, even against the threat of death, as Esther did!

Dear one, are you failing to act today due to your fear? Ask God for help and surround yourself with godly believers to pray with you.

Glorious gumption over fear,

Rita

[Read all of Esther for more of this story]

Fearful to Fearless: Things That Go Thump in the Night

Posted on: by: Comments: Leave a comment

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Deuteronomy 6:31, NIV

From Genesis to Revelation, God exhorts believers not to be afraid. Join me this week as we venture to be fearless in a world packed with reasons to fear.

 

Things That Go Thump in the Night

“When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.” 

Proverbs 3:24, NIV

“Burglary! Burglary! You have violated a protected area! Leave the premises immediately!”

child-666133_640Our alarm split the stillness of the early morning air. All too familiar with the drill, my husband grabbed the gun and checked the area indicated by the motion detector. I groggily gave our password to the voice on the line at Central Station. The good news―it was another false alarm. Forever a mystery. The bad news―it wasn’t even 5 a.m., and I was wide awake again. I surrendered to the adrenaline pumping through my veins, hit the switch on the coffeemaker, and reluctantly conceded defeat.

Clutching my coffee mug, I sank into the couch on the landing―my favorite place to greet the day―and noticed that our daughter’s bedroom door was still shut. Her room was dark and quiet. Had she even flinched as the 120-decibel alarm screamed overhead? If she had been awakened, she remained unrattled by the morning’s chaos. Her composure was the epitome of trust in us, her parents, the ones responsible for her protection.

Do I exhibit this same level of trust in my heavenly Father, who is sovereign over all that threatens to harm me? Do you? I’ve never thought of myself as a person plagued by fear, but as I become increasingly aware of the evil that prevails in this world, I can sense an uneasiness hovering just beneath the surface of my thoughts. Fear of the unknown. Fear of threats. Across our nation, we are growing more and more apprehensive concerning terrorist attacks, the economy, unemployment, retirement, health care, and the upcoming elections. If we dwell on catastrophic events, our vulnerability as a nation, or persecution worldwide, we can conjure up an incredible amount of fear―fear that will hold us hostage even when the alarms are false.

As responsible parents and citizens, it’s wise to invest in measures to secure the safety of our homes and our loved ones. But what about those things over which we have no control? Do we react to them with fear and anxiety? In life, it’s impossible to know all we’ll need to overcome, but it is possible to know the Overcomer. Scripture tells us that the God who watches over us neither slumbers nor sleeps (Psalm 121:3). If we have a relationship with our heavenly Father and trust in His love and protection, we’ll be less disturbed by the alarms from without or within. As we rest in His care, our Father can be trusted to handle whatever threatens to invade our positions of peace.

“In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety”

(Psalm 4:8, NIV).

Sleep tight!

Starr