Book Break - Captivating #11

Grab your favorite drink, get comfortable, and let's get ready to be encouraged.

As I've stated before, my hope is you will be curious and intrigued to the point of checking this book out (in its entirety) for yourself.   {Please note: these are all direct quotes from the book, Captivating by John & Stasi Eldredge.}

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Captivating

Chapter 11 ~ Warrior Princesses

*      (pg 186) Women are often portrayed in stories and tales as the “Damsel in Distress.”

*      We do long to be fought for; loved enough to be courageously protected.  But there is a mighty fierceness set in the hearts of women by God.

*      This fierceness is true to who we are and what we are created to do.

*      (pg 188) Redeemed women of God have tender, merciful hearts, backbones of steel, and hands that have been trained for battle.

*      There is something incredibly fierce in the heart of a woman that is to be contended with - not dismissed, not disdained, but recognized, honored, welcomed, and trained.

Fighting Back

*      (pg 189)  It’s amazing what we will live with because we think it’s normal when it is not.

Emotional Attacks

*      (pg 190)  I was filled with self-doubt, anger, shame, and a deep sense of worthlessness.  I loved my husband.  I loved my sons.  But I was keenly aware that I was not able to love them well.  I wanted to be happy.  But I was not.  I was disconnected from my heart and from my God.

*      I had no clue why I felt the way I did, other than believing that there was something deeply wrong with me and there always would be.

*      (pg 191) She walked with me, with God, into the dungeons of my heart and helped me to see that Christ had destroyed the iron gates.

*      I couldn’t think clearly.  I didn’t have the energy or the hope to go further.  It was then that she suggested I begin taking antidepressants.

*      (pg 192) So I started taking the medicine.  Within a couple of weeks, I no longer felt the weight over my soul that I had lived with the majority of my life.  I wondered, Is this what other people feel like all the time? Sheesh! I could now move forward with God into deeper realms of my heart.

*      Antidepressants are stigmatized in the church.

*      But we don’t shame diabetics who need to take insulin.  Why do we shame people with a chemical imbalance who need to take something to help them?

*      By seeking healing through counseling, God was addressing my soul.  God’s provision of the help of antidepressants was a tremendous help to my body.

*      Demons smell human brokenness like sharks smell blood in the water, and they move in to take advantage of the weakened soul.

*      (pg 193) I needed to address all three aspects - my body, soul, and spirit - in order to come more fully into healing.  Far too many women will focus only on one or two aspects and not engage in the spiritual warfare that is swirling around us.

Relational Attacks

*      Another common enemy that often is at work in women’s relationships is a spirit of accusation.

*      In our friendships, in our relationships with peers at work, and especially in our marriages, we often feel that we are a disappointment to others, that they disapprove of us.

*      We feel in their presence that we are not enough, or that we are too much.  After we leave a time with them, we’re plagues by a deep sense of failing.  We feel frustrated and irritated and ashamed that we feel that way.

*      Our hearts often land in shame and isolation, or we go to resentment … and isolation.

*      (pg 194) Well, a spirit of accusation was operating in our marriage for the first ten years of our married life.  I felt John’s disapproval over how I spent my time, my relationship with God, even how I chopped vegetables.  I felt as though everything I did disappointed him somehow.  I could not live up to his (unspoken) desires.  It’s hard to offer your heart and love to a person when you feel that way.  Our tendency is to withdraw in shame or anger.

*      He often felt, he said, that I was disappointed in him, that he couldn’t do anything right, that I disapproved of how he lived and who he was.  What?!  This was unbelievable to me.  I felt nothing of the sort toward him.  I wanted to be more like him.  I told him that I didn’t feel that way toward him, but I certainly felt that from him - felt that I was a deep disappointment to him.  He told me that was utterly untrue.  He felt nothing of the sort.

A Warring Bride

*      (pg 195) Ladies, you are the Bride of Christ …and the Bride of Christ is a warring bride.

*      Now, often the hardest person to fight for is …yourself.  But you must.  Your heart is needed. 

*      You must be present and engaged in order to love well and fight on behalf of others.

*      Without you, much will be lost.  It is time to take a stand and to stand firm.  We are at war.  You are needed.

*      One day we will be queens - we will rule with Jesus (Rev. 21).

*      He uses spiritual warfare in our lives to strengthen our faith, to draw us closer to him, to train us for the roles we are meant to play, to encourage us to play those roles, and to prepare us for our future at his side.

*      It is not that we are abandoned.  Christ has not abandoned us.

*      It is not that we are alone.  He will never leave us or forsake us.

*      It is not even up to us.  The battle is the Lord’s.

*      Jesus came through for us before we were even born.  He fought for us before we even knew we needed him.  He came, he died, he rose again for us.

*      (pg 196) He has won the decisive victory against our Enemy.  But we must apply it.  Christianity is not a passive religion.

*      Much of what he allows in your life is not for you to simply accept, but to get you to rise up!

*      Women are not meant to be helpless creatures.  God has given us a fierceness that is holy and is to be used on behalf of others.

Warrior Princesses

*      (pg 197) What does a warrior princess look like? 

*      Women who were wise, cunning, strong, beautiful, courageous, victorious, and very present.

*      (pg 199) Women warriors are strong, yes, and they are also tender.  There is mercy in them.  There is vulnerability.

*      In fact, offering a tender vulnerability can only be done by an incredibly strong woman, a woman rooted in Christ Jesus who knows whose she is and therefore knows who she is.

*      Offering our hearts wisely, living in the freedom of God’s love, inviting others to rest, alluring those in our lives to the heart of God, and responding to the heart of God in worship are some of the most powerful ways that a woman wars for her world.

*      But she also puts on the full armor of God daily and takes her immovable stand against the powers of darkness.

*      Satan is defeated.

*      Satan and the fallen angels, now demons, have been cast down, but they are not chained.  Not yet.

*      Now, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (I Pet. 5:8) And he does devour.

*      He assaults and maims and steals and kills and destroys wherever he can, and the brunt of his malice falls on God’s image bearers.  On you and me.  On the Beloved.  Satan is a vicious, ruthless bully, and a bully will not back down unless someone stronger stands up to hi and exposes hi for what he is.

*      That is your job for “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (I John 4:4 NASB)

*      God made you a woman.  On purpose.

*      Perhaps it would help you to know that in wearing the armor of God, nothing is diminished - not your beauty, your femininity, or your tender, merciful, mighty heart.

*      Let us say it again.  Your life is a Love Story set in the midst of a life-and-death battle.

*      The beauty, the adventure, the intimacy - they are what are most real.  But it is a battle to gain them and a battle to keep them.  A battle for your own heart and a battle for the hearts around you.

*      “The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name” (Ex. 15:3)

*      Jesus fights on your behalf and on behalf of those you love.  He asks you to join him.

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How about you?

How about you - do you find it hard to fight for yourself, do you believe your heart is needed? (pg 195)

This has been a hard lesson for me to learn.  I have read this book so many times, yet as I read this book again I am reminded {again} I don’t do this well.  Only by the Grace of God.