He took our sins to the cross with Him and gave us His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). We can call ourselves righteous women because He gives us right standing with God through His blood sacrifice.
We cannot ask fearfully and expect to receive. We must come to God’s throne boldly. Several Scriptures tell us to do exactly that.
Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace [the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us sinners], that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-times help, coming just when we need it]. (Hebrews 4:16)
We see from this Scripture the attitude we should come with. Fearless! Confident! Bold! We come in that way because we know with assurance that God is faithful, He is Good, and He wants to meet our needs.
We don’t need to act as if God is a miser and that we must twist His arm and try to convince Him to help us. He is waiting to hear your cry!
Some people are unable to pray boldly because their consciences bother them. There are things they need to repent of and commitments they need to make to do things differently. If that is the case with you, then just do it. If something is wrong in your life, don’t spend the rest of your days feeling bad about it . . . do something about it!
And, beloved, if our consciences [our hearts] do not accuse us [if they do not make us feel guilty and condemn us], we have confidence [complete assurance and boldness] before God. (I John 3:21)
Ephesians 3:20 tells us that God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond all that we could ever dare to hope, ask or think. Are you daring in prayer? Are you expecting enough? The devil wants us to believe we must go to God with head hung low, telling Him how terrible we are. He wants us to believe that we dare not ask for too much, because after all, we don’t deserve anything. Satan is afraid of bold, daring, confident, fearless and expectant prayer.
I love the Scripture I am about to quote so please take time to look it over carefully.
In Whom, because of our faith in Him, we dare to have the boldness [courage and confidence] of free access [an unreserved approach to God with freedom and without fear]. (Ephesians 3:12)
WOW! WOW! and, another WOW! We have free access. We can go before God anytime we want to. We don’t need a special invitation. The throne room is always open, God is always home, He is never napping or on the phone. We can go boldly, expecting Him to meet our need and do it willingly and joyfully.
No doubt millions of people pray, but the question we want answered is, how do they pray? Do they pray expectantly, boldly, fearlessly, confidently, aggressively, or, ashamed, condemned, asking for barely enough to get by on, and seriously doubting if they will even get that?
You go girl! Start praying like you have never prayed before. Believe that God wants to meet your needs because He is good, not necessarily because you are good. None of us living in a fleshly body has a perfect record, we all make mistakes and yours probably are no worse than anyone else’s. So, stop beating up on yourself and start expecting God to be God in your life.
BE confident even when you don’t FEEL confident and watch God work!
It’s a New Day
Many of the wrong attitudes toward women have either changed or they are in the process of being changed. We still have a way to go, but as the saying goes, “we’ve come a long way, baby!” As I said earlier, we appreciate the women who pioneered the women’s rights movement. We are sorry for the women who lived in the past and did not know the freedom we enjoy today. We mourn the memory of the millions of women throughout history who were robbed of their God-given destinies. If for no other reason, we must press forward and be all we can be for them.
You go girl! It is a new day. There are no hindrances. The door is wide open for you to realize your dreams. Walk confidently into your future and never look back!
END NOTES
INTRODUCTION
1. Greenberg, Susan H. & Anna Kuchment “The Family Moon.” Newsweek, Jan. 9, 2006, page 47. (back to text)
2. Parenting, Feb. 2006, page 100. (back to text)
3. Parenting, ibid, page 99. (back to text)
4. Newsweek, ibid, page 98. (back to text)
5. Parenting, ibid, page 98. (back to text)
6. ibid, page 98. (back to text)
7. ibid, page 30. (back to text)
8. ibid, page 30. (back to text)
9. ibid, page 29. (back to text)
10. ibid, page 100. (back to text)
CHAPTER 1. CONFIDENCE
1. God’s Little Devotional Book for the Workplace, by Todd Hafer. Colorado Springs: Honor Books, 2001. Pages 310–311. (back to text)
2. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate_Bridge. last accessed 6/15/06 (back to text)
3. Daily Grace for Teens, by Richard Baxter, Brother Andrew, et. al, Colorado Springs: Honor Books, 2005. (back to text)
4. Charles Swindoll, Kindred Spirit, Vol. 22, No. 3, Autumn, 1998, p. 3. (back to text)
5. God’s Little Devotional Book for the Workplace, by Todd Hafer. Colorado Springs: Honor Books, 2001. pp. 182–183. (back to text)
6. “The Journal of John Wesley,” www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/journal. toc.html. Last accessed 6/16/06. (back to text)
CHAPTER 2. SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT
1. Loren Cunningham, David Joel Hamilton, with Janice Rogers. Why Not Women: A Fresh Look at Scripture on Women in Missions, Ministry and Leadership. Seattle: YWAM Publishing, 2000. Pg. 17. (back to text)
2. Cunningham, Hamilton, p.72. (back to text)
3. Cunningham, Hamilton, p. 73 (back to text)
4. “Trafficking In Persons Report,” The Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, U.S. Department of State, June 3, 2005. http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2005/46606.htm. Last accessed 6/16/06. (back to text)
5. ibid (back to text)
6. ibid (back to text)
7. “Female genital circumcision: medical and cultural considerations,” Cindy M. Little. Journal of Cultural Diversity, Spring 2003. (back to text)
8. “2004 National Crime Victimization Survey.” The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN). http://www.rainn.org/statistics/. Last accessed 6/16/06. (back to text)
9. “Criminal Victimization, 2003.” Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice. www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ abstract/cv03.htm. Last accessed 6/16/06. (back to text)
10. ibid (back to text)
11. In Her Own Right: The Life of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, by Elisabeth Griffith. New York: Oxford University Press, 1984. (back to text)
12. The U.S. Census Bureau reported in the 2005 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement that real median earnings of men age 15 and older who worked full-time, year-round declined 2.3 percent between 2003 and 2004, to $40,798. Women with similar work experience saw their earnings decline by 1.0 percent, to $31,223. Reflecting the larger fall in the earnings of men, the ratio of female-to-male earnings for full-time, year-round workers was 77 cents on the dollar, up from 76 cents in 2003. (back to text)
CHAPTER 3. DOES GOD USE WOMEN IN MINISTRY?
1. www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/f/faith.htm. Last accessed 6/20/06. (back to text)
CHAPTER 6. OVERCOMING SELF-DOUBT
1. Reader’s Digest, Oct., 1991, p. 62. (back to text)
2. Barbara L. Fredrickson, “The Value of Positive Emotions: The Emerging Science of Positive Psychology Is Coming to Understand Why It’s Good to Feel Good.” American Scientist, Vol. 91, July-August 2003. Article mentions a study that was performed that monitored the feelings and attitudes of a group of Catholic nuns back in the 1930s which discovered that “the nuns who expressed the most positive emotions lived up to 10 years longer than those who expressed the fewest.” (back to text)
CHAPTER 7. THE POWER OF PREPARATION
1. RWD, “Grass on Your Path,” Our Daily Bread, November 18, 1996. (back to text)
2. “‘
Entitlement Generation’ expects it all’,” Patricia Breakey, The Daily Star, July 2, 2005. www.thedailystar.com/news/stories/2005/ 07/02/gen1.html. Last accessed 6/16/06 (back to text)
CHAPTER 8. WHEN THE WORLD SAYS NO
1. “No More Ms. Nice Guy! Confessions of a Recovering People Pleaser.” Nancy Kennedy. Today’s Christian Woman, November/December 2002, Vol. 24, No. 6, Page 70. (back to text)
2. “A Quick Biography of Benjamin Franklin,” www.ushistory.org/ franklin/info/index.htm. Last accessed 6/16/06 (back to text)
3. “Alexander Graham Bell-Biography,” http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bltelephone2.htm. Last accessed 6/16/06. (back to text)
4. “Semmelweiss, Ignaz Philipp,” http://www.answers.com/topic/ ignaz-semmelweis. Last accessed 6/16/06. (back to text)
5. “Margaret Knight—Queen of Paper Bags,” by Mary Bellis, http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blknight.htm. Last accessed 6/16/06. (back to text)
6. “Female Inventors: Hedy Lamarr.” http://www.inventions.org/culture/female/lamarr.html. Last accessed 6/16/06. (back to text)
7. “Getting What You Deserve,” by Steve Goodier. http://www.inspirationalstories.com. Last accessed 6/16/06. (back to text)
CHAPTER 9. ARE WOMEN REALLY THE WEAKER SEX?
1. “U.S. Census Bureau Report.” www.census.gov. Last accessed 6/16/06. (back to text)
2. A Box of Delights, compiled by J. John and Mark Stibbe, Canada: Monarch Books, 2002, pg. 121. (back to text)
3. Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, eds. John Bartlett and Justine Kaplan. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1996 pgs. 144–145. (back to text)
4. ibid, p. 654. (back to text)
5. 100 Women Who Shaped History. Gail Meyer Rolks, San Francisco: Bluewood Books, 1994. (back to text)
6. World Book Encyclopedia Chicago: Chicago World Book, Inc. 1996, p. 275. (back to text)
7. www.brainyquotes.com/quotesauthors/m/margaret_thatcher.html. Last accessed 6/19/06. (back to text)
8. 100 Women Who Shaped History. Gail Meyer Rolks, San Francisco: Bluewood Books, 1994. (back to text)
9. International Dictionary of Women’s Biography. The Continuum Publishing Co., 1982. (back to text)
10. Stowe, Harriet Beecher, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, (New York: Signet Classic 1966) pgs. v–vi, 20–21 (back to text)
11. www.webster.edu/~woolflm/dorotheadix.html. Last accessed 6/19/06. (back to text)
12. World Book Encyclopedia. Chicago: World Book, Inc. 1996. pp. 171–172. (back to text)
13. “Yes, Women Are Different from Men,” by Jane Everhart. International Journal of Humanities and Peace, Vol. 16, 2000. p. 96. (back to text)
14. Love and Respect. Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, Nashville: Integrity Publishers, 2004, pg. 30. (back to text)
15. For Women Only by Shaunti Feldhahn, Sisters: Multnomah Publishers, Inc. 2004. pg. 25. (back to text)
16. Sparks, quoted in Homemade, Dec. 1984. Accessed at: www.bible. org/illus.asp?topic_id=1695. 6/19/06. (back to text)
CHAPTER 10. STEPS TO INDEPENDENCE
1. Scarf, Maggie. Unfinished Business: Pressure Points in the Lives of Women. New York: Doubleday, 1980. (back to text)
2. Barbara Hatcher, Vital Speeches, March 1, 1987. Accessed at: http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/s/speech.htm. 6/20/06. (back to text)
3. “Engaging Your Employees.” James K. Clifton, SHRM Online. www.shrm.org/foundation/engaging.asp. Last accessed 6/19/06. (back to text)
4. “How a Country Music Superstar Found Her Real Self,” by Carol Crenshaw, December 1, 2005. www.wynonna.com. Last accessed 6/19/06. (back to text)
CHAPTER 11. THE ANATOMY OF FEAR
1. “The Numbers Count: Mental Disorders in America,” National Institute of Mental Health. http://www.nimh.nih.gov. Last accessed 6/19/06. (back to text)
2. Confidence Booster Workout by Martin Perry. Berkeley, CA: Thunder Bay Press, 2004. (back to text)
3. “Runaway bride’s pastor to publish book on ‘foolish decisions.’” Greg Bluestein. The Macon Telegraph, Jan. 6, 2006. http://www. macon.com. Last accessed 6/20/06. (back to text)
4. Our Daily Bread, April 6, 1995. Accessed at: http://www.iclnet. org/pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread/db950406.txt. 6/20/06. (back to text)
5. Caring Enough to Confront by David Augsburger, Ventura, CA: Regal, 1980. (back to text)
6. Story from Dr. Jeff Ginn who serves as pastor of the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, Colonial Heights,Va. (back to text)
7. www.cybernation.com/quotationcenter. Last accessed 6/19/06. (back to text)
CHAPTER 12. FEAR HAS RELATIVES
1. “Teenage girls suffer in silence. They really are worried sick.” The Observer. June 28, 1998. Accessed at: http://www.childrens-express.org/dynamic/public/d299901.htm. 6/19/06. (back to text)
2. Preacher’s Commentar #26: Luke by Bruce Larson, Nashville: Nelson Reference and E-publications, 2003. p. 43 (back to text)
3. www.cyberntion.org/quotationcenter. Last accessed 6/19/06. (back to text)
4. Hell’s Best Kept Secret, by Ray Comfort, New Kensington: Whitaker House, 1989. pp. 160–161. (back to text)
5. Adapted from The Great Stories CD, John Ortberg, South Barrington, Il. (back to text)
CHAPTER 13. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STRESS AND FEAR
1. Surviving Information Overload by Kevin A. Miller, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004. pg. 27. (back to text)
2. “The Life of Henry Ford.” http://www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/hf/default.asp. Last accessed 6/19/06. (back to text)
3. “People & Discoveries: Jonas Salk 1914–1995,” http://www.pbs. org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bmsalk.html. Last accessed 6/19/06. (back to text)
4. Bits & Pieces, April 29, 1993. p. 3 (back to text)
5. Howard Hendricks, in The Monday Morning Mission. Accessed at: www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/c/change.htm. 6/19/06. (back to text)
CHAPTER 14. CHOSSING BOLDNESS
1. Victory in the Valleys of Life by Charles Allen, Old Tappan: Revell, 1981. (back to text)
CHAPTER 15.WINNERS NEVER QUIT
1. www.cybernation.com/quotationcenter. Last accessed 6/19/06. (back to text)
CHAPTER 16. BECOME A COURAGEOUS WOMAN
1. Bits & Pieces, March 31, 1994, p.24. Accessed at: www.bible.org/ illus.asp. 6/19/06. (back to text)
2. “Courage: They All Voted to Die,” in Child Evangelism. Accessed at: www.elbourne.org/sermons/index.mv?illustration+3928. 6/19/06. (back to text)
3. “Courage: Facing Down a Threat” by McCartney. Accessed at: www.elbourne.org/sermons/index.mv?illustration+3925. 6/19/06. (back to text)
4. “Courage.” Accessed at: www.elbourne.org/sermons/index.mv?illustration+1285. 6/19/06. (back to text)
5. Paul Harvey, Los Angeles Times Syndicate. Accessed at: www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/c/courage.htm. 6/19/06. (back to text)
6. “To Save a Life: Stories of the Holocaust Rescue,” Story synopses, The Barbara Makuch Story. Accessed at: www.humboldt.edu/~rescuers/book/synopses.html. 6/19/06. (back to text)
7. In the Face of Surrender: Over 200 Challenging and Inspiring Stories of Overcomers by Richard Wurmbrand, New Brunswick, NJ: Bridge-Logos Publishers, 1998. pp. 219–220. (back to text)
8. Told by Harold Dye, in The Teacher. Accessed at: http://elbourne.org/ sermons/index.mv?illustration+3930. 6/20/06. (back to text)
JOYCE MEYER has been teaching the Word of God since 1976 and in full-time ministry since 1980. She is the bestselling author of more than seventy inspirational books, including Approval Addiction, In Pursuit of Peace, How to Hear from God, and Battlefield of the Mind. She has also released thousands of audio teachings as well as a complete video library. Joyce’s Enjoying Everyday Life® radio and television programs are broadcast around the world, and she travels extensively conducting conferences. Joyce and her husband, Dave, are the parents of four grown children and make their home in St. Louis, Missouri.
TO CONTACT THE AUTHOR IN THE UNITED STATES:
/> Joyce Meyer Ministries
P.O. Box 655
Fenton, Missouri 63026