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leadership

“Taking Back The Family” (A word from Brazil)

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Thank you Adriana, for this dose of encouragement.

Blessings,

Brenda

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“’For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’”

Jeremiah 29:11

ENGLISH TBTF200X250These days I’ve been thinking about the prophet Jeremiah, and I thank God for his life, for how he lead the people who were captive in Babylon to know and to understand what God expected of them at that moment, so that in the future His plans would come to pass among them, and so that they would be able to reap the fruits of obedience.

Today God continues to reveal Himself through His Word, and He has given us a precious tool – the principles contained in Taking Back the Family. In a very clear way, God has spoken to us as He spoke to Jeremiah, in order that we may know and understand what He expects of us today as servants, women, wives, and mothers, so that we, too, will be able to reap the fruit we so desire, through obedience. That is, a family, which enjoys healthy relationships, and full satisfaction in the Lord, so that He can fulfill His purpose in us.

May we always remind ourselves that God’s plans are good, and every time that we call on Him in prayer, He will hear us!

Let us move forward in this confidence, not allowing any thoughts that are contrary to this Truth find a place in our hearts.

OUR FAITH WILL DETERMINE THE BLESSINGS THAT WILL COME.

May the Lord be glorified through our lives, today and forever.

Adriana Marques

Brazil

Glorious Gumption: Deborah

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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]