Make Your Move: Finding Unshakable Confidence Despite Your Fears and Failures
288
Make Your Move: Finding Unshakable Confidence Despite Your Fears and Failures
288eBook
Related collections and offers
Overview
In this six-session Bible study (DVD/digital video sold separately), author and Proverbs 31 Ministries speaker Lynn Cowell explores how confidence-in-question keeps us from boldly experiencing what God intends for our lives. Dive into six stories in the Bible of not-so-well-known women who found themselves needing confidence to make their move, and how they uncovered the faith to get it. Lynn encourages women to leave behind all the unnecessary insecurity this world induces and find confidence in God alone.
Learn from the Daughters of Zelophehad, the Women of Exodus, Martha & Mary, Rahab, Deborah, Abigail and Michal how to:
- Intentionally build your confidence on the one thing that cannot be taken from you.
- Recover from defeating decisions to move forward toward a strong self-worth.
- Position yourself to not lose your poise—even in the worst circumstances.
- Identify and address the fears that keep you stuck, with practical steps to walk in your calling with confidence.
This study is for any woman who’s ready to dig into God’s Word to find confidence and boldness to do great things. This book includes personal Bible study as well as group discussion questions. The study can be completed by individuals as well as in groups.
Designed for use with the companion Make Your Move Video Study (sold separately).
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780310084464 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperChristian Resources |
| Publication date: | 11/21/2017 |
| Series: | InScribed Collection |
| Sold by: | HarperCollins Publishing |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 288 |
| File size: | 940 KB |
About the Author
Lynn Cowell is a part of the Proverbs 31 Ministries speaking team, speaking to pre-teens, teens, multi-generational and women’s conferences and retreats on a regular basis. Girls often come up to her saying, "How did you know that's what I was going through?" Hearing direction and guidance on critical issues they face, Lynn encourages them to reach their fullest potential by finding the relationship in Christ they were created them for. For the past 18 years, her ministry has helped thousands of girls and their moms:
- Replace loneliness, rejection, and pain with acceptance, affirmation, and approval.
- Make decisions that lead women to reaching their fullest potential, rather than being a victim to emotionally-based decisions.
- Shift faith in Jesus from a parental influence to a personal, growing relationship.
- Develop and stick to boundaries that protect the heart, mind, and body.
- Communicate with guys and other girlfriends in a healthy and positive way.
In addition to speaking on the national level, Lynn reaches many through her writing as an author of three books, blogger, and devotion writer. As a regular contributor for the Proverbs 31 Ministries’ daily devotions, Encouragement for Today, her devotions reach an audience of over 800,000 subscribers. She has been a regular contributor for The Whatever Girls and The Mom Initiative. Lynn and her husband, Greg, of 30 years, are the parents of three young adults: Zak, Mariah, and Madi. The Cowells reside in North Carolina where they enjoy hiking in the mountains, wearing well-worn sweatshirts and eating anything that combines chocolate and peanut butter.
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
WEEK ONE
The Women of Exodus
WHEN YOUR CONFIDENCE FACES ADVERSITY
*
PRAYER: Lord, I may be an ordinary, everyday, down-to-earth kind of woman, but I still want to make my move and find confidence in You. Encourage me through the study of the women of Exodus that women like me are exactly the type You love to use. Empower me, Holy Spirit. Arrest my fears so I can move forward. In Jesus's name, Amen.
MEMORY VERSE: "For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught." — Proverbs 3:26 (ESV)
DAY ONE
*
More Powerful Than Fear
HAVE YOU EVER NEEDED to do something but lacked the confidence or courage to do it? Go back to college? Give a presentation? Look for a new job? Move to a different city? I've so been there! Not just when it came to skydiving as I shared in the introduction, but also when it has come to pursuing my potential with God.
I think a part of us believes if God nudges us to do something, it won't be that hard. I'm just going to say that has not been my experience in this adventurous journey with Him.
Several years ago, one of my adventures began on the road to publishing. Not knowing just how hard the journey would be, I naively sent out my proposals. One by one, the replies filled my box, each one saying the same thing in a different way: No. It was as if a huge, rubber stamp marked REJECTION were stamped right across my forehead. The stamp got larger and ink darker with each notification.
No-You aren't well known. No-Your writing is not what we are looking for. No-We don't publish books for teens. I felt like my heart could not take another rejection.
Some days, I was brave. I gave myself a little pep talk, "Every no gets you closer to that yes." Other days, I curled up in a ball on my kitchen floor and wept. It all felt so very personal.
Make Your Move
With no college degree, no background in English, and no platform as an author, I didn't offer a publisher the reasons to say yes that they were looking for. Encouragement from friends and family such as "God's timing is best" or "God will take care of it" were no longer working on my wounded heart. After five long years of noes, I received my nineteenth rejection letter. I wanted to quit. My confidence was shot. I felt like a complete failure.
Have you ever heard that you are not good enough over and over again? Are you in the middle of navigating rejection right now? Have you felt a rejection so deep it shook the very core of who you believed you were?
Maybe you can think of a time in your life when the enemy whispered the lie that you couldn't do it, whatever it was. You might be in that place today. You feel like you're not good enough. You're not fun enough. You don't have enough. You're not loved enough. Fear overshadows your confidence.
I wonder if these were some of the feelings of the women we'll meet this week: the women of the book of Exodus. They, too, may have believed they were not courageous enough. Not confident enough. Not brave enough for the task ahead.
And yet, we'll see by their courageous actions, what they may have felt and what they may have believed in the beginning all changed as they found the confidence they needed for the undertaking that lay before them.
I find it so very exciting that this story of women that took place long ago in an ancient land can be exactly what you and I need today to empower us with confidence. Exodus comes from a Greek word exodos plithous meaning "departure." It is the narrative of the deliverance of the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt and their journey toward God's Promised Land of Canaan. Moses, who is believed to have been the author, served as the Israelites' imperfect leader. For years, the Israelites had been able to put their trust and welfare in the hands of the Egyptian Pharaoh. When a new Pharaoh came into power, all that security was stripped away. Completely out of control, they needed a strength and confidence to navigate this new and challenging change.
Maybe you know that feeling. Just when it seemed life had calmed down and you were enjoying a season of serenity, your peace was pulled out from under you. With circumstances spinning out of your control, you were left staring at a choice. Spin out of control with them or turn to the Lord for the strength and courage to face your situation.
Digging Deeper
Please read Exodus 1:8-21 for the foundation for today's study. Write any details that stand out to you below.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Paranoia whispers to Pharaoh that if Egypt went to war, the Hebrews would side with the enemy, fighting against Egypt and leaving the land. A cold sweat beads up on his forehead just thinking of so many people against him, so Pharaoh devises an evil scheme to combat his building anxiety. First, slave labor. And still the people multiply. So next he determines to stop the Hebrew nation from growing by killing all the newborn Hebrew male babies.
Describe a time when, like the Hebrews, others turned against you and you did nothing to deserve it. As you look back at that situation, how did that experience impact your confidence?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Pharaoh was fear-filled, but he had reason for concern. When the sons of Jacob came from Canaan to Egypt, they came as a clan of seventy. Now they have increased to number two million (Exodus 1:1-7).
According to Genesis 22:17-18, what had God promised the Israelites as far as their future was concerned?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Maybe Pharaoh knew of this promise that the Israelite God had made to them. Seeing just how blessed they were, his fear-induced instincts told him he had to bring an end to their prosperity. His plan: intimidation, aimed at two Hebrew women. Meet Shiphrah and Puah.
According to Exodus 1:11-14, how effective was Pharaoh's first attempt to oppress and brutalize the Hebrews to cease their growth?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
According to Exodus 1:15-16, why did Pharaoh pick these two women to carry out his dirty work? Have you ever been in a situation when you were asked to do something illegal or unethical? How did you respond?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
The monarch delivers this edict to the midwives: Kill your own people. "When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live" (Exodus 1:16).
From that day forward, life could not go on as usual for Shiphrah and Puah, who once delighted in bringing God's babies into the world. A choice had to be made. They needed to make up their minds what move they would make before they received their next patient's call.
Fear would drive their response. The question — what kind of fear? Whom would they fear? Exodus 1:17 supplies our answer: "The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live."
The word translated fear in verse 17 is quite different from the type of fear Shiphrah and Puah may have had toward Pharaoh. This fear is the Hebrew word yare: to be afraid, be frightened, to revere, to respect or to be awesome. It is a fear that comes from a combination of love, hope, and reverence, not extreme apprehension.
How does fearing God, having a deep reverence for Him, and having courage fit together in the lives of these women?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Has there been a time in your life when the fear of God — your desire to honor Him because you love Him — empowered you to be courageous? Or can you picture yourself in a scenario where this might happen?
As a teenager, I often bypassed situations where I had the opportunity to have fun if it brought the possibility of getting into trouble. My mind often went to the possible ramifications of my choices. A high school party with alcohol? What if someone called the police? Making out with a guy? What if we got caught? Some of my friends thought my straight-and-narrow living simply came from my rock-solid faith. Honestly, the fear of God had much more to do with it. I was just plain afraid to go against Him. As a young person, sometimes this tender conscience drove me crazy. I just couldn't get wild like my friends, and sometimes it was maddening. (I am confident the prayers of my mother had a great deal to do with it!) As my relationship with the Lord developed and my love for Him grew, the desire to please Him grew from a negative type of fear into a healthy fear — a desire to want to please Him because I love Him. This desire to show Him I love Him compels me to obedience.
When Pharaoh's attempt to stifle Hebrew prosperity through slave labor failed, he moved on to Plan B (directing the midwives to kill every newborn Hebrew male). When that didn't work, Pharaoh summoned Shiphrah and Puah to his throne. They had not been following the command he had given them to kill the Hebrew males as they were born and now they were being called to account for their actions. I've never been summoned by the head of a country. The closest I've come is being called into the office of someone in authority over me. Whenever that has happened, I have immediately panicked. My mind turns to fear first. What did I do? Why is she calling?
Shiphrah and Puah had every reason to be terrified when they received the command to come to Pharaoh's throne. This ruler of Egypt was ruthless. They had, at worst, disobeyed him; at best, disappointed him to a fault.
Though Shiphrah and Puah may have been trembling in Pharaoh's presence, they did not allow the situation to paralyze them. Yes, they were struck with awe but not by the powerful, intimidation of Pharaoh. Their fear, directed toward the majesty of their God, empowered them with the courage to let the male sons live, and that courage would not fail them now as they faced accounting for their actions.
Pharaoh's pressure brought forth an effect for sure, but it was the opposite of what he intended. Pharaoh's edict brought out, from a place deep within, a faith deeper than the women's fear of his earthly power. Shiphrah and Puah's faith in God compelled them toward courage. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who had brought the Israelites safely to Egypt in the famine, would not quit on His plan to make Israel a great nation.
Shiphrah and Puah chose to fear God over fearing Pharaoh.
Do it scared became their motto.
God would come through just as Hebrews 6:10 says: "God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them."
Shiphrah and Puah chose to be courageous not because they were fearless. They chose to be brave because their love for their God was stronger than their fear of a human. God's love for them empowered them and helped them move forward.
Apply It
Describe an area in your life that is causing you fear now or hascaused you fear in your past.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Just as a fear of Pharaoh's power and punishment may have pressed on Shiphrah and Puah, this same type of fear presses on us too. It tries to tell us what to do, when, and how to do it. Text her. Do it now. Speak your mind. Don't let them push you around. Like a miniature dictator, fear from the enemy attempts to call the shots.
Today, tune in to when this fear is trying to speak to you. Ask the Lord to set off an alarm in your mind, alerting you to when fear's voice is attempting to dictate your actions. When you feel fear trying to pull you under, speak this week's memory verse over your heart: "For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught" (Proverbs 3:26 ESV).
Let's end with a prayer today:
Father, I'm tired of this unhealthy fear pushing me around. We know that fear is not from you because, "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love" (1 John 4:18). Drive fear from me with Your love today. In Jesus's name, Amen.
DAY TWO
Do It Scared
MEMORY VERSE: "For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught." — Proverbs 3:26 (ESV)
DURING HER SENIOR YEAR of high school, my youngest daughter, Madi, started traveling with me whenever I spoke. Often, at the end of the conferences, we would do a question-and-answer time with girls and their moms. When speaking, Madi would light up. Her passion to encourage young women to fully pursue Christ could not be contained.
Yet, after we had partnered together a few times, Madi informed me that although she had considered it, she could never become a speaker. "Why? You seem so natural," I wanted to know.
"Every time I get ready to speak, I get so scared! Whether I'm with you on a stage or in a classroom at school, I feel like I can't do it." Boy, did I know what she was talking about!
Even after speaking for many years, I still have to "do it scared." I have to look to Jesus to find the courage to make my move to share His word with others. Right before I get ready to speak, it's as if my mind and body conspire to hold me down. "You really have to go to the bathroom!" "Do you even remember your opening story?" "What if someone falls asleep in the middle of your message?" As these fears surface — fears all based on things that have happened to me before — I have to remind myself, God has called me to this assignment. He will empower me to complete it. I have to remind myself to fear God more than I fear the people I'm speaking to.
I used to think that if I felt afraid, that was an indication that what I was about to do wasn't from God. I've learned that is just not the case. This is not the kind of fear protecting us from danger; our fear has a different source. We may fear failure or looking like a fool. Often, the discomfort of doing something we have never done tries to lock us down before we even get started.
Digging Deeper
Read Acts 4:18-22 and Acts 5:27-29. Peter ran into multiple situations that were also very scary. What was his response in both of these passages?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Courage is not a feeling. Courage is a noun, the strength to go forward even in the face of fear.
One of the Hebrew words for courage is ruah, which can mean "breath of God" and can be used to describe God's creative activity. Just as He did in Genesis 1, God is creating something out of nothing in you and me. Alone, we don't possess confidence, courage, or bravery. He is forming this fortitude where there has been a void, where it never has existed before. He is very good at making something out of nothing.
Psalm 33:6-9 tells us, "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm."
According to Genesis 1 and Psalm 33:6-9, what does God use to create something out of nothing?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
From these verses, what can we learn about the power of words?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
All God has to do is speak and it is done! By His word, we are empowered. We can believe that the power that brought the sun shining through your window and the moon lighting up the night sky and that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the same power that can bring the confidence we need to do all He calls us to do. God gave Shiphrah and Puah the confidence they needed to deny Pharaoh and obey God. He will give us His confidence as well.
Minds made up, the women move forward, determined to obey God rather than Pharaoh. At any moment, the moaning of a mother and the cries of a newborn could deliver an Egyptian henchman to the delivery door. The women's brave steps would not be a once-and-done move. They would need to bring forth courage each time a Hebrew sister's delivery time had come. The mother in labor and the midwives would have to be brave together. The nation of Israel depended on it.
When have you or when could you partner with another sister in the Lord to make a move of courage, big or small?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
What difference can it make having another beside you?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Make Your Move"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Lynn Cowell.
Excerpted by permission of Thomas Nelson.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Introduction, xi,
WEEK ONE: The Women of Exodus: When Your Confidence Faces Adversity, 1,
WEEK TWO: The Daughters of Zelophehad: When Your Confidence Is Challenged, 43,
WEEK THREE: Rahab: When Confidence in God Is Elusive, 85,
WEEK FOUR: Deborah: When Confidence Is Required, 131,
WEEK FIVE: Abigail and Michal: When Confidence Is in Question in Relationships, 177,
WEEK SIX: The Sisters of Bethany: When Confidence Is in Doubt, 219,
Endnotes, 269,
About the Author, 271,
Proverbs 31 Ministries, 273,