Battle Cry Thirty-Day Devotional: Discover the Life-Changing Power of Intentional Thinking

BATTLE CRY

THIRTY-DAY

DEVOTIONAL

Discover the Life-Changing Power

of

Intentional Thinking

SHERRY ROSE & JENNIFER MORIN

Copyright © 2015 Sherry Rose & Jennifer Morin.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture quotations marked (TLB) are taken from The Living Bible copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2011

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-2024-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-2023-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015918987

WestBow Press rev. date: 03/22/2019

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Opening Prayer

Foundational Scriptures

Day 1 What Is a Battle Cry?

Day 2 Intentional Thinking

Battle Cry for Faith

Day 3 Prayer Life

Day 4 Peace of God

Day 5 Dwell on Truth

Day 6 Your Faithful Father

Day 7 Choose to Trust

Day 8 Those Tricky Feelings

Day 9 Stand Up, Daughter!

Day 10 A New Confidence

Day 11 Be Brave

Battle Cry for Forgiveness

Day 12 Embrace the Power

Day 13 Stay Fixed

Day 14 Overcomer

Day 15 No Condemnation

Day 16 His Generous Love

Day 17 Mercy Every Day

Day 18 I Forgive

Day 19 I Release

Day 20 Free to Heal

Battle Cry for Obedience

Day 21 An Obedient Life

Day 22 A Grateful Heart

Day 23 Propelled by Love

Day 24 Sanctification

Day 25 Holy Spirit’s Role

Day 26 Your Role

Day 27 The Choice to Surrender

Day 28 A Holy Pursuit

Day 29 The Garment of Humility

Day 30 The Final Day: Warrior On!

Group Bible Study Plan

About the Authors

Preface

This devotional was birthed out of the momentum from a powerful women’s conference in August 2014 called Battle Cry. The focus was on learning to speak truth and stand on three pivotal Christian principles: faith, forgiveness, and obedience.

As the conference ended, each woman wrote her own personal battle cry on a card. (The stack of those cards sits on my desk as a reminder of God’s grace and goodness.) In looking at the heart cries represented on these cards, I began to see similarities in the needs, desires, and struggles of these powerful and amazing women. In addition, we offered a training series to further expand the principles and reach more women; their battle cries joined the stack as well.

At the end of 2014, the Lord began to prick my heart with the idea of writing this devotional. Little did I know that my life was about to be impacted by those four little words no woman ever wants to hear: You have breast cancer. In January 2015 I received the diagnosis, and in February I underwent a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.

Four weeks later, I led the last Battle Cry training series meeting. They say you can tell the strength of a woman by what it takes to stop her. I am an overcomer.

My personal battle cry is I trust my faithful Father, no matter what I see or feel! This has been my heart’s cry for more than twenty years and was birthed out of a broken heart of infertility. During my life, the Lord has taught me the power of intentional thinking from a place of scriptural understanding. I tell you these things so you know that I practice what Jennifer and I preach here—and from personal experience I can assure you that Jennifer practices it too. It’s all to God’s glory!

This is what I know of life. Life is a collection of moments that result in a treasure of memories and lessons learned. These moments are found in relationships, circumstances, and events. Some of those moments uplift us, and others shake us to our core. In one moment, we may embrace a great victory, only to see it followed by utter defeat.

We have so much to look forward to in life, with its cherished memories and fulfilled dreams. But as anyone who’s been alive five minutes can attest, life is also unpredictable, with uncertainties around every corner. Common to all these moments is the influential element of belief. What we believe determines in great measure how we will walk into tomorrow having faced those moments.

In our Christian experience, one of the most important beliefs to grasp is that God is good! We say to each other God is good! and receive the response All the time! But do we believe it—really believe it? Whether you’ve walked with God for thirty years or thirty minutes, His love and goodness already overcame you when you said yes to Jesus and the power of the cross. God already has a track record in your life. If your own testimony isn’t enough to convince you of His goodness, would the Bible be enough? Have you ever read God’s Word to seek out His goodness? Try it! Start with Psalm 145.

We are instructed in Scripture to destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV). So what is your self-talk saying about your belief in God’s goodness? Is it lining up with Scripture? And what if the words you speak into your life were based on the honest belief that God is good? What might your self-talk sound like then? Wow! Would trusting Him be easier if you were fully convinced that He is always good? Could you speak life to yourself during a struggle, while embracing your identity as His daughter?

How about forgiveness, the ultimate expression of God’s goodness and love for you: Could you find yourself forgiving others because He forgave you? Surely it would be easier to live a life of obedience knowing that God is good and will always lead you in His ways, even if they don’t make sense to you.

My heart persists with a desire to see God’s daughters overcome. As I write this, I am still pressing through my healing process. God blessed me richly with the support and loving friendship of my coauthor, Jennifer Morin, who brings a rich history of walking with God through difficulty, disappointment, and heartbreak. She too is an overcomer. I didn’t know what the Lord had in store when He asked me to write this devotional. But you can know it comes from understanding personally that women need encouragement to equip them to overcome.

Our devotional is a little different than most. Its purpose