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Girlfriends, today, I want us to go on a journey to the place where it all began, to the Garden of Eden. Let’s go back when everything was beautiful, pure and unstained. Before sin entered the world. We meet a beautiful woman named Eve. Can you imagine how the first woman ever to be created looked like. She had no one to compare her looks with. God created her not as an afterthought but as the ultimate work of art. This is just my opinion, but I must say when God created Eve, He must have showed her off to everyone present.
Adam and Eve had the best of everything life could offer, the perfect place to live, food in its abundance and the best and most loving Father anyone could dream about. Can you imagine what it was like talking and walking with God in the cool of the day? The Creator of the Universe taking His time to have fellowship with the two people created in His image, teaching them everything they needed to know about life. Eve just like every woman must have listened attentively and dreamt that one day she would share what she was learning with her children. This is what we call “the fullness of devotion.”
How I wish life could just remain forever like this without what happened next. How the same woman was deceived by the Devil to question her devotion to her Lord. Just like Eve most of us have been deceived to doubt how much the Lord loves us because time is going and we have not yet met the love of our life, or the one whom we gave our body, mind and soul has told us he has found someone else and leaves our heart so scarred that we feel no one else will ever love us again.
This is how Naomi felt when she left Moab to return to Jerusalem, she left Jerusalem so full of life but she returned empty. “She said to them, ‘Do not call me Naomi [pleasant]; call me Mara [bitter], for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. …the Lord has witnessed against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?’ ” (Ruth 1:20-21).
Our devotion to the Lord should not depend on our past experiences, present circumstances, or our parents’ devotion or lack thereof may cause us to have an incorrect view of God. Life is so full of trials. We experience pain, loss, fear, and so much more. People will hurt us in ways that we could never think of. However, to take what life and people have done to us and think that God will do the same to us is a misconception. Don’t allow guilt, fear, your inabilities or imperfections to cause you to hold back from receiving what God has in store for you.
The Love of God is so much different and it cannot be compared to human love. When we want to know how much God loves us, we should look to the cross. How God spared His only Son, Jesus Christ to redeem us from our sins. It took Jesus Christ to die for us in order for us to return to the “Garden of Eden.” In order for us to regain the devotion we lost when Adam and Eve sinned.
God loves us so much that each day He waits for us to go to Him to have that fellowship with Him, He longs to hear about the plans we have made. He longs to share with us what plans he has for us as He says in Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to give you hope and a future.”
“As a single woman, you have a wonderful opportunity to use your time to maximize your fellowship with God. When you love someone, you give them your heart, the center of your being. God asks for no less. He desires a totally devoted heart. Deuteronomy 6:5 says that you are to love Him with all your heart (deepest devotion), your soul (what you think and what you feel), and your might (your strength and energy).”
Furthermore, “as a woman, you have been created with a desire to be known—not just in a physical or general way, but deeply known and intimately loved. If you are hoping a man will one day fill your heart’s desire for intimacy, you will be disappointed. God knows your deep longings for intimate love. Only He, the Lover of your soul, can fill this need completely. Your heavenly Father tenderly created you with needs that only God can fully understand and fulfill. As you come to know who He really is, He will meet your needs for love.”
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LET’S PRAY
Lord, I come to you to ask for forgiveness, there are times when my devotion to you has died because of what life and others have done to me. Father, forgive me for comparing your love with the love of those around me. I realize that you love me unconditionally, you long to have fellowship with me each day, and your thoughts towards me are not of evil but good. Create in me a clean heart Lord and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of my salvation. May I know you intimately, personally and devotedly. Take me back to the Garden of Eden. In Jesus Name Amen.
YOUR ASSIGNMENT
Meditate on your picture of God. Has a wrong picture of God been invented by the enemy in order to rob you of a true knowledge and love of God? Read Psalm 103: 8 – 14 to help you with the wrong assumptions that you have about God.
Be Blessed,
Jackie
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For the “Lady in Waiting” Bible Study, you will need the book, your Bible, pen or pencil, a highlighter and a quiet place. You can order the book right through our website by clicking the “sign-up here” button at the top of our webpage; which is also where you can sign up to participate in this awesome bible study!
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