April 23, 2024

His Commands are not Burdensome

August 23, 2013 by

SeekingHimLogo

The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.
The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous.
They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.
By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
But who can discern their own errors?  Forgive my hidden faults.
Psalms 19:7-12

We read in this beautiful psalm that God’s commands (His law, His statutes, His precepts, His decrees) are:

  • perfect…they refresh our souls
  • right…they give joy to our hearts
  • radiant…they give light to our eyes
  • pure…they endure forever
  • firm…they all are righteous

How encouraging is that?!?  What a merciful, gracious, kind, compassionate God we serve! Throughout time, He has communicated with His people and given them His commands. In the beginning, God told His man, Adam, ONE simple command—not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden (Genesis 2).  To the children of Israel as they journeyed for forty years to the Promised Land, He gave them His rules to follow (e.g, Deuteronomy 6).  When Jesus was instructing His disciples, He pulled it all together, giving them TWO direct commandments—to love God with their whole heart, soul, mind, all their strength and to love their fellow man as they loved themselves (Mark 12:29-31).  Our hearts’ response to our loving God should be loving obedience…plain and simple.  I pray that the following verses will be a reminder and encouragement for us all to trust and obey the Great I AM.

In fact, this is love for God: to keep His commands.  And His commands are not burdensome.
1 John 5:3

I obey your precepts and Your statutes, for all my ways are known to You.
Psalm 119:168

Blessed are those who keep His statutes and seek Him with all their heart—
Psalm 119:2

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Thank You, dear Lord, for how gracious You are to us.  You are not a harsh, exacting God Who demands perfection…rather You are a loving Father Who sets righteous, life-giving commands before us!  You guide us and help us to seek You and obey You from our hearts.  You are SO good!!!  We love You, Father…and pray in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

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Captivating: Chapter 10 – “Mothers, Daughters, Sisters” – “The Long Road Home” (pp 168-173)

March 11, 2013 by

 

Adam named his wife Eve,

because she would become the mother of all the living.

 GENESIS 3:20 

If you want to understand any woman

When I think about the woman that I have become, I give all the credit to my mother.  I may not have been the perfect daughter, but I did my best to be who she wanted me to be.

Just like Stasi Eldredge, I went through different phases while growing up.  I, too, did things I am not proud of; and I, too, gave my mother grief during my college years and my early twenties.  When I was at home, I made sure I was doing everything as I was told but all the while hiding the things I was doing.  I wasn’t into drugs, but I portrayed myself as someone who wasn’t dating or going to parties.  However, no matter how hard you try to hide, things come out in the end and, in my case, they did. My mother was disappointed and threatened to have me withdrawn from college.  For a while I lived up to her expectations until I started working and began to live with my aunt.  Well, my aunt made sure she reported everything I did—if I came late from work, my mother knew about it; if I had a date on Saturday afternoon or if I didn’t go to church on Sunday morning, my mother would ask me why on Monday morning.

My relationship with my mother was restrained during this time, and it made me hide who I was from her.  I longed to be a good daughter…but I couldn’t be since all she heard were the bad things that I did.  My mum would say that “I needed Jesus.”  All the “bad” I was doing was because I didn’t know Jesus.  Well, like a daughter who wanted to be in the best books with her mother, I received Jesus at a major crusade that took place.  I stopped pretending that I loved the Catholic Church and started going to a Pentecostal church.  I broke up with my boyfriend at that time because he didn’t share my new faith.  My weekends were spent at church or at home if there wasn’t a church program.  I became someone who my mum and aunt were proud of.  The reporting slowly stopped and life was good.

I wish I could end here and say that things were like that over the years.  Unfortunately it wasn’t.  I wasn’t always the good girl and this wasn’t the last time I would hide or make wrong decisions in life and disappoint my mother.  However, despite my shortcomings, my mother was there to correct me and show the correct path.  My mistakes did not stop my mum from loving me.  She was there with me through the heartbreak and pain that I suffered in my relationships.  She always rushed to be by my side when I needed her the most.

“Girls’ hearts flourish in homes where they are seen and invited to become ever more themselves. Parents who enjoy their daughters are giving them and the world a great gift. Mothers in particular have the opportunity to offer encouragement to their daughters by inviting them into their feminine world and by treasuring their daughters’ unique beauty” – Stasi Eldredge.

Looking back at my life now, I cherish the life that my parents gave me and my siblings.  We were given opportunities to excel in everything that we did.  My parents encouraged us to dream big and rejoiced with us when we did well in school and never failed to show us how much they loved and cared for us.

My mother went to be with the Lord last year after she lost her battle with diabetes.  She left behind a legacy of love, strength, and care.  She was always full of advice.  She was not someone who would embarrass you when you did something wrong;she would call you aside, listen to your side of the story, and tell you what you did wrong and what doing the right thing looked like.  My mother lived by example.  If she wanted something done, she would be the first to do it.  She was someone who would be the first and last to leave a room, making sure everything was fine.  I pray that I  become half the person that she was.

I know that some of you cannot say such things about your relationship with your mother because of the pain she may have caused you; but at the end of the day, a mother and daughter’s relationship is the most of important of all.  It’s the relationship that helps us when we grow up and become mothers ourselves.

My prayer is that no matter what went on in the past or if it may still be happening right now, we would look to the Lord to help us restore the relationship with our mothers.  My mother said I needed Jesus—and she was right.  Our faith in the Lord is what cemented our relationship.  Every time we discussed issues regarding faith, all our differences would melt away.  When we talked about Jesus, we were not mother and daughter but we were both children of the most High God, we were both daughters.  I enjoyed hearing my mother say “I am praying for you” because I knew that she meant it.

Be Blessed

Jackie

LET’S PRAY:

Lord, I thank You for the precious gift that You gave to me—my mother.   I thank You for the life that I had with her, and what she meant to me and my family.  I pray for my fellow sisters whose relationships with their mothers are not great right now, that You will restore it.  May they cherish one another and learn from one another.  May their relationships be Christ-like and forgiving.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

YOUR ASSIGNMENT:

How is the relationship with your mother or daughter?  If you were given an opportunity to write about her, what would you say?  Please take time today and tell her how much she means to you.

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GWS

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Captivating: Chapter 9 – Arousing Adam – Standing in Love’s Way (pp 148-153)

March 4, 2013 by

This is one of those chapters where if I happened to meet with John and Stasi, I would thank them for including this topic.

It’s so easy for us as women to blame the men in our lives for the pain that they have caused us over the years without knowing that they, like us, carry the same wounds. Such blame comes because we have not really gone to the basics to find out why men act the way they do.  It’s only when we understand the issues at play that we will begin to address our hurt.   The truth of the matter is that both men and women have wounds that date back to the time of Adam and Eve and, should we fail to address them, every generation will go through the same things.

There are so many misconceptions about masculinity that we have believed and embraced.  However, looking at our topic today, we can put some of those lies to rest.  Men just like women HURT and as much as they don’t always show this side to us, deep inside they carry childhood wounds.  They may act macho and have an “I don’t care” attitude, but they too have been hurt by their fathers who were also struggling with the same issues and did not know how to reach out to their sons.

How do we expect little boys who have grown up being told that “boys don’t cry, it shows weakness” to understand and comfort a woman when she is hurt and needs emotional support?  How will such a man relate to you when you want answers to these questions:  “Why won’t he talk to me? Why won’t he commit?  Why is he so angry? Why is he violent?”  The truth of the matter is the boy in him sees this type of emotion as weakness and probably thinks you are needy.

John and Stasi tell us that we won’t begin to understand a man until we understand his Question, his wound and how Adam also fell.  His search for validation is the driving force of his life.  The question that boggles a man’s mind is “Do I have what it takes? Am I the real deal?  Am I a man?”

We may love the men in our lives with everything we have got but we cannot answer this question for them.  This validation of a man’s soul only comes from knowing who he is in Christ.  In the same way, a man cannot fill the void that is inside our hearts no matter how much he declares his love for us.  ONLY GOD CAN.

Let us allow this chapter to help us heal the wounds that have been inflicted on both men and women.  Let us open our hearts and minds to allow God to validate our souls.  Only God can restore our beauty as women and strength to the men who we love and cannot live without.

Our understanding of this topic will help us build loving relationships and help heal the hurt that we have inflicted on one another because of lack of knowledge.  The bible says in Hosea 4:6 “My people perish because of lack of knowledge….”  When I understand what my husband or a boyfriend went through while growing up, it will help me understand why he acts the way he does with me.  Then it’s my job to pray for him, not try to fix him!

Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ went through Calvary in order to restore the relationship that we had with our Heavenly Father.  At Calvary, Jesus bore our sins, including all the misconceptions that are there between men and women.  When He created us as male and female, He did not create us to inflict pain on one another but to love one another, enjoy one another and be One.  However, it is because of the Fall that we were cursed and have to endure the pain and suffering of this fallen world.  Jesus’ death and resurrection was vital for man’s existence because it validates our existence and answers the questions that He alone can answer.  It is through their relationship with Jesus Christ that men and women can truly love another and live in harmony.  I pray that this study will continue to draw us near to Him and, that through Him, we will embrace the relationships that we have with one another.

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LET’S PRAY:

Father, thank You so much for all that You did for us at Calvary through Jesus Christ.  His death gives us purpose and validates our existence on this earth.  It is only when we know You that we can embrace who we are and are able to truly love one another.  Restore in us that which was stolen when Adam and Eve fell.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

YOUR ASSIGNMENT:

Ask Jesus to show you what you’ve been doing with your Question and how you have related to Adam.

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Captivating: Chapter 2 – What Eve Alone Can Tell

January 14, 2013 by

 

“And the Lord God cast a deep slumber on the human, and he slept, and He took one of his ribs and closed over the flesh where it had been, and the Lord God built the rib He had taken from the human into a woman and He brought her to the human.”  (Genesis 2:21-23 Alter)

Girlfriends, our journey today is going to take us to the beginning of creation, when God created the world that we see and marvel at.  The world before sin and destruction altered it.

Before it all came to be there was darkness, everything was formless and empty. In the midst of this darkness, a voice speaks and then there was LIGHT.  What a difference light makes in a room.  When it’s dark it seems as if the room you are in is small and empty but when you switch on a bulb or light a candle, you see everything as it supposed to be.

When Light came into the world it set in motion the creation of everything that we see, water, dry land, plants, trees of all kinds, the sun, moon and stars, animals, birds and fish of all kinds, big and small, long and short, beautiful and not so beautiful, creepy and even scary ones.  All of them were created and placed in their habitats.

Can you just picture how it looked like in the Garden of Eden, the grass was so green, the trees heavy with all kinds of fruits, the flowers were so beautiful, talk of the roses of all colors, lilies, daisies, name them they were all there beautifying the garden.  The lake was so full of fish that you love.  The animals were all in one place like a picture perfect zoo or national park. Picture the lion living together with the lamb and the zebra without thinking of them as food.

I could go on and on about this beautiful Garden which has a river with 4 river heads running through it.  I can picture how it was like seating down at the beginning or ending of a perfect day, watching the sunrise or the sunset.

All this beauty was created as a place where God’s own image would dwell.  This would be the home of Adam and Eve.

“The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”  (Genesis 2:7)

“It is nearing the end of the sixth day, the end of the Creator’s great labor, as Adam steps forth, the image of God, the triumph of his work. He alone is pronounced the son of God. Nothing in creation even comes close.  Picture Michelangelo’s David.  He is … magnificent.  Truly, the masterpiece seems complete. And yet, the Master says that something is not good, not right. Something is missing … and that something is Eve.”

The creation of Adam was different to the way God made the world.  He said the Word and it came into being but with Adam, He formed him from the dust of ground and then breathed life into him.  How awesome this is to know that we were created differently than everything else and that we bear the image of God.

Now Adam is in the Garden, he has seen everything, marveled at the beauty of it all, played with the animals, probably swam in the lake, ate a fruit or two.  He has met his creator and everything is just wonderful.

Wait! Did you hear that something is missing?  Yes you heard right! God says “It is not good for that man should be alone.  I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

Every living creature was made together with a partner and when Adam was given the task of naming them, there was “not found a helper comparable to him.”  Wow, for the first time Adam realized that he was alone.

Looking at this situation some people have concluded that Eve came as an afterthought but I don’t think that is true.  Eve’s creation was not an afterthought but a well thought out plan and God wanted Adam to appreciate the Woman who was brought to him.  Where am I getting all this?  Well from what the Lord did, He caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep and took a rib from him to create Eve.  Imagine the surprise and wonder of Adam when He woke up and saw Eve for the very first time.

I am trying to create a picture but I know I won’t do justice to her.  She is so perfect.  This first WOMAN! so beautiful, with flawless skin, long hair, the eyes, when she first set them on Adam. Talk about her body, her arms and legs….. A beauty to behold!

Now Eve is brought to Adam, he hears Eve speak for the first time.  I am sure Adam stammered in reply.  Was this a dream, no Adam, you are awake and this is your Woman.  No wonder he made this statement.  “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh…”

“Given the way creation unfolds, how it builds to ever higher and higher works of art, can there be any doubt that Eve is the crown of creation? Not an afterthought. Not a nice addition like an ornament on a tree. She is God’s final touch, His piece de resistance. She fills a place in the world nothing and no one else can fill. Step to a window, Ladies, if you can. Better still, find some place with a view. Look out across the earth and say to yourselves, “The whole, vast world is incomplete without me. Creation reached its zenith in me.”

Dear girlfriend, you are Eve, the crown of creation.  It’s no wonder you feel the way you do, the way you long to be the beauty or the princess in your story.  I pray that you will allow the Lord to restore what has been lost so that you can take your rightful place.

Be Blessed,

Jackie

LET’S PRAY

Father, I am in awe of You because of the way You created me.  I am thankful that I wasn’t created as an afterthought, but as a crown of creation.  Help me to embrace this truth and live my life with this in mind. In Jesus Name. Amen.

YOUR ASSIGNMENT

 Before reading this Chapter, did you think that because God created woman second to man that women are second to men in the heart of God?

What does your heart do with being called the “crown of creation”?

 

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