Ellie Holcomb - Fighting Words Devotional: 100 Days of Speaking Truth into the Darkness

Copyright 2021 by Ellie Holcomb

All rights reserved.

Printed in China

978-1-0877-4779-8

Published by B&H Publishing Group

Nashville, Tennessee

Dewey Decimal Classification: 242.643

Subject Heading: DEVOTIONAL LITERATURE / WOMEN / CHRISTIAN LIFE

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is taken from the New International Version, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Also used: The Christian Standard Bible ( csb ), copyright 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible, and CSB are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

Also used: The Message ( msg ), copyright 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson.

Also used: English Standard Version ( esv ) ESV Text Edition: 2016. Copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Also used: New Living Translation ( nlt ), copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Also used: New King James Version ( nkjv ), copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Also used: New American Standard Bible ( nasb ), copyright 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.

Cover Design and Illustrations by Ligia Teodosiu.

Author photo by Ashtin Paige.

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For my three children.

You are dearly loved.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Annie, my fighting words friend, it has been a joy to kick back at the shadows with you all these years.

Sam, you know me, you fight for me, and you fought to make this book a reality. Thank you for your vision, tenacity, and constant support. You and your team literally make my dreams come true.

Ashley, my editor and newfound friend, you heard my heart and helped me speak it well. Thank you.

Mom, you have prayed Gods Word over me and my siblings for as long as I can remember. Thank you. I treasure Gods Word because I saw you treasure it first. Mom and Nancy, thank you both for living authentically head over heels for Jesus right in front of me.

My Bible study gals, thank you for delighting in Gods promises with me all these years. I know Him more because I know each of you.

Drew, you breathe courage into me and help me remember whats true on the days I forget. Im forever grateful for you.

To Maddie and our team of caretakers, thank you for loving us by loving our children so well.

To my precious friends and family, thank you for doing life with me and for all the ways each of you point me to Jesus.

To my Fighting Words Friday community, thank you for joining me on the journey of holding on to the truth for all these years and for reminding me regularly that none of us do this life alone.

INTRODUCTION

There are some stories that change your life. This is one of them for me.

Thirteen years ago, I was sitting across the table from a friend of mine who battles depression. As I listened to this friend share her heart with me, I was struck by how many lies she was believing.

Lies about who she was.

Lies about who God was.

Lies about how He loved us.

And the more I listened to her talk, the more I realized that there were so many lies I was believing too...

All of the sudden, my heart was pounding in my chest. I started to get angry because I remembered that there is an enemy, and hes called the father of lies (John 8:44). What does that mean? It means that when he speaks, lies are his native languagethat punk .

I remember sitting there with my friend and thinking, I am so sick of the enemy stealing our joy, our peace, our hope, our John 10:10 life to the full that God came to offer us, and I am not going down without a fight! God calls His Word a sword, and were gonna use it!

In that moment, I realized that it might not be enough to just acknowledge the lies we so often believe. More than that, we desperately needed to ground ourselves in the truth .

I grabbed my Bible and did what sometimes you do when you feel desperate for truth: I started flipping through the pages looking for anything I had ever underlined before because I thought, If I underlined it at some point, it must be good! I remember almost shouting at my friend as I frantically flipped through my Bible, WRITE THESE DOWN!

It all makes me laugh now, because I was being awfully bossy, but my friend scribbled down the reference to every verse I spoke. I remember saying, We are gonna start memorizing these verses together. These are gonna be our fighting words , and were going to use em when the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Were gonna kick back at the darkness with the light.

So we started memorizing Scripture, and truth be told, were not very good at it. (Insert cry-laughing face here.) But I can tell you this for sure: Gods Word changed us. It didnt necessarily change our circumstances, but it changed us from the inside out because it gave us solid ground to stand on when the shame storms started rolling in. It was a shelter and a shield and an anchor and a light and a balm and a song that we began to sing into the shadows. We realized that God isnt lying when He says that His Word is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. He isnt blowing smoke when He says that just like the rains that fall from the heavens dont return to the heavens until they cause the earth to bud and flourish, so is the word that goes out of His mouth. It will accomplish the purposes for which He sent it (Isa. 55:1011). Yall! That is a PROMISE, and I dare you to believe it. It will change your life. Its for sure changed mine.

I wont pretend to understand it all. Gods Word is confounding and mysterious to me at times, but it also tells the most beautiful story I know: the story of a lowly God-man who entered our mess of a world so that we could know were never alone and that our brokenness and suffering never have the final word. The story of a God who loves us enough to not leave us as we are, and who invites us into being a part of something much bigger than ourselves... a kingdom thats coming. At the end of the day, even though I dont always understand everything in the Bible, what I have experienced is this: Gods Word is alive, and its brought me to life over and over again, which is what brings us here.

I dont know how this book got into your hands. I dont know where you are on the journey. Maybe youre struggling through a season of dreams that didnt come true. Maybe youre battling depression yourself or someone you love is deeply hurting. Maybe you are weary and wounded and angry that God hasnt seemed to follow through for you. Maybe youre just busy and tired of moving aimlessly from thing to thing on your to-do list. Maybe you feel burnt out or burned by the church. Maybe you feel trapped, or maybe you just want more than what youve experienced with God and with this life that so often breaks your heart. Maybe youre a mom with young kids and you love them, but you feel like youve lost yourself as youve cared for them. Maybe you want to be a mom but cant get pregnant. Maybe you are exhausted. Maybe youre lonely. Maybe you just want some truth to help get you through your crazy day.

Whoever you are and wherever youre coming from, Im so glad youre here. These pages hold my fighting words. They hold the promises of God that I have clung to over the years, that have grounded me when I felt lost, and that have filled me with hope when I felt hopeless.

I hope youll pick up these verses and hold onto them with all youve got.