Woman's Battle for Grace

Cheryl Brodersen

Description

When Guilt Wages War, Fight for GraceChristian women repeatedly fall into the trap of self-condemnation. They choose to berate themselves in their weakness rather than fight through their pride to receive the strength only God can provide. Cheryl Brodersen, ministry leader and popular speaker, knows it's time for women to understand the daily battle they're facingto pinpoint their enemies, claim their God-given weapons, and examine the true prize awaiting them. God wants His daughters to live moment by moment in His victory, but first they have to see what's at stake when they go their own way. The truth about grace is simplerand deeperthan you may realize. Discover how this life-saving, life-sustaining resource can be your motivation and means for living in freedom today.

Informations

• Publié par: Harvest House Publishers
• Date de parution: 22 janvier 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780736974592
• Langue: English

Extrait

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
EUGENE, OREGON
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version . Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Verses marked NLT are taken from the New Living Translation Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Verses marked NIV are taken from the New International Version Holy Bible, New International Version , NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Version, public domain.
Cover and Illustration by Juicebox Designs
A Woman s Battle for Grace
Copyright 2018 Cheryl Brodersen
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97408
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
ISBN 978-0-7369-7458-5 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-0-7369-7459-2 (eBook)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Brodersen, Cheryl, 1960- author.
Title: A woman s battle for grace / Cheryl Brodersen.
Description: Eugene: Harvest House Publishers, 2018.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018011412 (print) | LCCN 2018015687 (ebook) | ISBN 9780736974592 (ebook) | ISBN 9780736974585 (pbk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Christian women-Religious life. | Grace (Theology)
Classification: LCC BV4527 (ebook) | LCC BV4527 .B746 2018 (print) | DDC 248.8/43-dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018011412
All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other-without the prior written permission of the publisher. The authorized purchaser has been granted a nontransferable, nonexclusive, and noncommercial right to access and view this electronic publication, and purchaser agrees to do so only in accordance with the terms of use under which it was purchased or transmitted. Participation in or encouragement of piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of author s and publisher s rights is strictly prohibited.
Contents

Dedication

1. A Revelation of Grace

2. What s So Great About Grace?

3. The Battle

4. The Enemies of Grace

5. Qualified by Grace

6. The Armory of Grace

7. The Champion of Grace

8. Enlisted in Grace

9. Use It or Lose It

10. Land Mines

11. Trophies of Grace

12. Stories of Grace

Acknowledgments

Notes

About the Author

Other Books by Cheryl Brodersen

About the Publisher
Dedication
This book is dedicated to the author, source, and giver of grace, the Lord Jesus Christ, and to all those who find themselves in need of grace!
One
A Revelation of Grace

By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

1 C ORINTHIANS 15:10
I t started out as one of those perfect days. I walked around my perfectly ordered house, congratulating myself on a job well done. I glanced at five neatly packed suitcases, ready for a lengthy missions trip to England with my husband and four children. My laundry was done, and dinner preparation was in full gear. On my bed lay two masterful messages on grace I d share the following day at a women s conference at our home church. Though the pressure to speak at a conference just two days before our scheduled departure would overwhelm others, it seemed to have no effect on me. I remember my feelings of self-satisfied smugness as I contemplated all my accomplishments.
If you hate me so far because of my perfect life, don t worry; it was all about to change-drastically.
My husband, Brian, walked into the house with our teenage daughter. They had left together that morning for Kristyn s visit to the hairdresser, and she d been only mildly annoyed about her long, blond tresses. Now the same child was almost unrecognizable. Gone were the flowing locks, and in their place were inch-long spikes with concentric blond circles. I stared for a moment before my mind registered that I was looking at my daughter.
Then it happened. I let out a long and loud shriek! Unfortunately, that was only the beginning of my tirade. I can t remember how my daughter responded, but I know I let loose with a litany of comments a mother should never make to a daughter who is still in the throes of adolescence.
When my husband threw me the Who are you and where did you come from? look, I naturally turned my fury on him. How could he have allowed my daughter s hair to be plowed into these ghastly furrows?
That man then had the audacity to ask me if I was planning on speaking at the church the next day with that attitude. Now the deepest reaches of my anger were loosed. I ran upstairs and grabbed my messages off the bed. Standing on the second floor overlooking the banister, I ripped them apart and poured their pieces down on astonished faces. Gone were the majestic messages extolling the glory of God s amazing grace.
Brian tried to calm me down, but his words only made me angrier. I ran back into my bedroom and loudly slammed the door behind me. Then it began to strike me that I, the woman who was supposed to share on amazing grace, was a monster. I desperately wanted the control I d exhibited hours before my daughter s arrival home, but it wouldn t come. I threw myself on my knees and begged God to help me get control. I didn t want to be that woman I felt inside-the out-of-control woman who was scaring everyone around her.
Even as I prayed, I explained to the Lord that I was not that woman. I didn t even know her. She was nothing like the image I had of myself. Again, I repented. This time I asked the Lord to remove that woman from my home. I berated her. I hated her. Having sufficiently explained my case to the Lord and repented, I went out to apologize to the family. Five dismayed faces stared at me as I profusely apologized for my appalling behavior. I told them I d been as shocked as they were by the irrational display of anger.
However, as I articulated my apology, the girl with the polka-dot-cropped hair said something sassy, and the beast came back to life! Back to my room I ran. I was as terrified of myself as my family was of me. I was out of control. I couldn t predict what I would do next. No one was safe, especially not me.
This time as I prayed I was crying and pleading with the Lord! I felt helpless against my own temper and irrationality. I told Him I wasn t getting off my knees or even leaving that room until He delivered me from myself. I was ready to feel the full condemnation of His disappointment with me; I had failed my family, my husband, the ministry, and the church. I had not only acted unbecomingly, but downright beastly. I fully deserved whatever sentence the Great Judge meted out. I was ready to step down from ministry as well as resign any position in the church He chose.
The message that came to me from the Lord was far different from the one I expected. First, it was kind. He reminded me of the story of Nebuchadnezzar found in Daniel 4, the humiliating experience of the prideful military conqueror and king of Babylon. Having had a troubling dream, he summoned the prophet Daniel to give him the interpretation. When Daniel heard the king s dream, he also became troubled and begrudgingly explained that the dream signified God was about to humble Nebuchadnezzar s pride in a drastic way. Daniel urged him to quickly humble himself before God so the episode could be avoided.
Nebuchadnezzar placed this saintly advice on the back burner. Perhaps he amended his way for a time, but he went right back to his prideful self. Then one day a year later, as he was perusing his kingdom and boasting to himself about his glorious accomplishments, the inevitable happened. Even as the prideful words spilled from Nebuchadnezzar s lips, a voice of judgment fell from heaven. At that very moment he lost all his senses and was driven to live among the beasts of the field until he acknowledged that the Most High ruled in the kingdom of men.
Like Nebuchadnezzar, I felt as though I had lost my sensibilities. I was totally out of control. Less than an hour before I had been walking in my own little kingdom of good works, congratulating myself on everything I d done to merit God s grace. Now I felt the Lord speak to my heart, Cheryl, this is you without My grace . Immediately I began to cry out for God s grace to pour into, over, and on me. It did. This time, unlike the after of my other attempts, when I rose from my knees and left the room, the anger was gone. It hadn t simply subsided. It wasn t being suppressed. It wasn t even there. It was gone!
By the further grace of God, my family was able to not only forgive me, but to laugh with me as I retold the story of Nebuchadnezzar with me in the starring role. When I sat down with the Lord and my open Bible later that night, I received two entirely different messages on grace from the ones I had neatly typed and set on my bed. They contained no finger pointing and no example from my perfect life for how to display the quality of grace. No. This humbled pastor s wife shared the utter torment, beast-like qualities, and ugliness that happens when even for a moment God s grace is absent from our lives.
What a lesson I learned and shared that day! God wouldn t allow His amazing grace to be presented in a spirit of pride. Grace by its very nature is humble, offered to anyone who will receive it without regard to merit, accomplishments, or achievements. Grace is the great leveler for all mankind.
Growing Up Christian
Growing up in a Christian home, I thought I knew grace. I knew lots of Scriptures about grace. I loved the concept of grace- G od s R iches