Women Struggle TooSample

#### Welcome to the Proven Women Plan! As you go through this plan, I encourage you to consider doing it as a group or with a friend. It is helpful to be able to discuss the daily readings with others. I also encourage you to have a notepad nearby. There will be times when you will be encouraged to write out your thoughts or a verse. # To Be Free We Must First Start With The Gospel As you go over the devotional, be sure to jot down notes. You should not just gain knowledge but engage in a time of reflection and plan out how to incorporate these things into your life. This study is not a self-help program. We believe that one becomes free through growing in an intimate relationship with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not want to assume that everyone who has picked up this book already has a relationship with Jesus, so we want to take this first day to walk through the gospel. This may be new to some of you. For those who have already made Jesus Lord in their life, please do not skip this section. The gospel is never something we move beyond, only something we fall deeper in love with. We will walk through this in four parts: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Completion. #### Creation Many of you probably know the beginning of this story. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He created the beauty and majesty of the ocean, mountains, and sunsets. He made all the animals, birds, and fish. Then He made man in His image. He said it was not good for man to be alone, therefore, he fashioned woman as a companion for man. This shows that He designed for all of mankind to be in community. He wanted us to be in perfect harmony with Him and with each other. In Genesis, after he creates everything, including man, we are told that creation was very good. Within God’s design, He also thought through and created relationships. God created husband/wife, father/daughter, brother/sister, friendship and so forth. These relationships were meant to be beautiful, fulfilling, and symbolic of His relationship with us. God made us to be intimate beings, able to fully trust God and each other. I wish I could have seen life back then. It was perfect, beautiful, and good. #### Fall Unfortunately, that is not what we experience today. In the midst of all of that perfection, God gave man free will. Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, sinned against God, and sin has been in the world ever since. We are born into a broken world and we ourselves are broken. Here are a few verses that show us our current condition. “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12, NIV). “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, NIV). “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Ephesians 2:1–3, NIV). Those are some very hard things to hear. We were dead in our sin walking through this world following after Satan. Because of that, God had wrath and anger stored up against us. Just as a loving father has very real anger toward someone when they hurt or threaten one of His kids, God has righteous anger when He sees us sin against one another. This is saying that our natural self turns us away from God and makes us His enemy. Because God is so holy and righteous, we were separated from knowing Him. Fortunately for us, this passage does not stop there. Ephesians 2:4 gives us two beautiful words, “but God.” “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:5–10, NIV). #### Redemption My sister, God has seen the sin in your life. He sees how broken you are. Because He is righteous and just, He cannot just look the other way when we sin. Sin has to be dealt with and justice granted. For each of us, that justice looks like eternal separation from God. He also knows that we cannot become good enough on our own, but God loved us too much to allow anything to separate us from Him. So, out of His love for us, He sent Jesus, His one and only Son to earth. Jesus, fully God and fully man, lived a perfect life, then died on the cross. While on the cross, Jesus took all of our sin onto Himself. Jesus stood in the gap with us. He died and was buried, but three days later He conquered sin and death by rising from the dead. He then returned to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus is no longer suffering on your behalf. He has already defeated your sin and empowers you to live in victory. But we cannot see the beauty of the resurrection until we sit with Jesus before His cross. #### Restoration Once you have become His child, God desires for you to become the person He created you to be. He wants to see you transformed into His image, into His character. He is patient and consistent as He works with you. This will be a lifelong process. Philippians 1:6 (ESV) “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” He is refining us and transforming us to live this life the way He designed it to be, in harmony with God and one another. There will be a day in the future when all of those who have put their faith in Christ will be fully restored. Jesus has promised to return for those who are His. God will make a new heaven and new earth and we will live for eternity with God. All relationships will be as they are meant to be. We are called to place our hope in Jesus’ restoration of all things. But we don’t have to wait to start the restoration process. God is in the midst of restoring you now. #### Salvation If you have not yet given your life to Christ, what do you need to do to ask Jesus to be your Savior? The Bible says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9, ESV). Jesus will not reject you. You can know this because Jesus was rejected on the cross for you. Everyone who turns to Jesus and believes in Him becomes a child of God and therefore inherits eternal life in this age and in the age to come (John 1:12). This includes you and me, but you must personally ask for and accept the free gift of forgiveness. He died for you and He wants to know you. If you turn to Jesus and accept His shed blood as the perfect sacrifice and substitute for your penalty, you’re no longer considered impure, no matter what wrong things you’ve done or will do. God the Father will not reject you because His Son already paid the full penalty of death for all your sins. Right now, go to God with a surrendered heart. You’ll be asking Jesus, who paid the death penalty that you deserve, to forgive you and to enter your heart. Ask Him for His grace and mercy. He wants to give it to you. To ask Jesus into your heart and accept God’s righteousness, pray something like this: God, I know that I am a sinner and deserve death. I know that Jesus is God and that He died on the cross to rescue me from the penalty of my sin. Please forgive me. I receive the free gift of eternal life, which comes solely from the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ for my sin. I pray and ask You, Jesus, to come into my heart right now and to make it Your permanent home. Take total control of my life. I choose to follow You and to turn away from sin, including my former lifestyle. Thank You for loving me and forgiving me. I commit to following You forever. In Your precious name, Jesus, I pray these things. Amen. These are not magic words that save you if repeated. The important part is to bow before God as the good, Holy Father and repent of your sin, accepting Christ as the sacrifice needed on your behalf. If you prayed this prayer with your heart, then congratulations! You’re my eternal sister in Christ. You’re free from the power of death. Jesus now permanently lives in you, and you’re God’s child. #### Jesus As Lord It’s now time to daily make Jesus the Lord of your life. That’s the key to sexual integrity. You’ve taken a very important step. You’ve realized that you cannot win the battle on your own. You’ve probably tried many times and failed, but you’re finally on the right track. You see, your battle is not about using more of your own power or even about overcoming bad influences. Instead, it’s a spiritual battle. In fact, the Bible teaches that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12, NIV). The only way to stop being a slave to sin is to rely on Jesus Christ. These are more than just words. When you need forgiveness, power, and strength, you go to the source of forgiveness, power, and strength: Jesus, His cross, and resurrection. His power is available to you through the Holy Spirit, so turn and yield your entire life to Him. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8, NIV). Now the journey begins. You never travel alone! A wonderful by-product of having an intimate relationship with God is victory over sins, including sexual immorality. Jesus desires to take control of your life and lead you in His holy and pure ways. The power of the Holy Spirit is ready, willing, and more than able to lead you victoriously if you let Him; but you must want to love and serve God more than your former selfish and prideful ways. You need to start hating sin because it blocks your relationship with Jesus Christ. Making Jesus Lord over your daily life is what being on the Proven Women team is all about. Each day you wake up, you give control to the Lord. Throughout the day, you test your thoughts and actions against the six PROVEN letters: Passionate for God Repentant in spirit Open and honest Victorious in living Eternal in perspective Networked with other PROVEN Women. Proven Women, in its most basic form, is a guide to being Jesus’ disciples. Plan to link together with other Proven Women as you learn how to live out a Proven life. It’s a journey you never have to face alone because you’re part of the family of God and Proven Women. You’ve lived for yourself and that has left you empty. Today we hand our lives over. We commit to being His disciples—to knowing His cross and resurrection. # Heartwork Every day, we will ask you to spend some time in prayer, talking with God. The entire purpose of this Bible plan is to help you develop an intimate relationship with God. Prayer is simply talking openly and honestly with God. If you have placed your faith in Jesus, then He grants you access to God the Father. But just like any relationship, we need to spend time with Him. God is always with you, and seeking Him in this truth will help us know Him throughout the day. God is always listening to your prayers. Pray with humility and sincerity to deepen your relationship. Hebrews 5:7 (ESV) says, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.” Spend some time talking with God. If you just prayed to ask Jesus to be your Savior, then spend some time thanking Him for this new relationship. If you already have a relationship with Christ, thank Him for the years that you have known Him. Ask Him to help you get to know Him more and to love Him more. Write out the areas of your life that you haven’t acknowledged Him in. Invite Him into those places.