{"id":2997,"date":"2012-10-29T05:00:11","date_gmt":"2012-10-29T10:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=2997"},"modified":"2012-10-29T05:00:11","modified_gmt":"2012-10-29T10:00:11","slug":"lady-in-waiting-lady-of-devotion-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2012\/10\/29\/lady-in-waiting-lady-of-devotion-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Lady in Waiting: Lady of Devotion"},"content":{"rendered":"

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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.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go back when everything was beautiful, pure and unstained.\u00a0 Before sin entered the world.\u00a0 We meet a beautiful woman named Eve. \u00a0Can you imagine how the first woman ever to be created looked like.\u00a0 She had no one to compare her looks with. \u00a0God created her not as an afterthought but as the ultimate work of art. \u00a0This is just my opinion, but I must say when God created Eve, He must have showed her off to everyone present.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 Can you imagine what it was like talking and walking with God in the cool of the day?\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Eve just like every woman must have listened attentively and dreamt that one day she would share what she was learning with her children.\u00a0 This is what we call \u201cthe fullness of devotion.\u201d<\/p>\n

How I wish life could just remain forever like this without what happened next.\u00a0 How the same woman was deceived by the Devil to question her devotion to her Lord.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

This is how Naomi felt when she left Moab to return to Jerusalem, she left Jerusalem so full of life but she returned empty.\u00a0 \u201cShe said to them, \u2018Do not call me Naomi [pleasant]; call me Mara [bitter], for the Almighty <\/i>has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. \u2026the Lord has witnessed against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?\u2019 \u201d (Ruth 1:20-21).<\/p>\n

Our devotion to the Lord should not depend on our past experiences, present circumstances, or our parents\u2019 devotion or lack thereof may cause us to have an incorrect view of God.\u00a0 Life is so full of trials. \u00a0We experience pain, loss, fear, and so much more.\u00a0 People will hurt us in ways that we could never think of.\u00a0 However, to take what life and people have done to us and think that God will do the same to us is a misconception.\u00a0 Don\u2019t allow guilt, fear, your inabilities or imperfections to cause you to hold back from receiving what God has in store for you.<\/p>\n

The Love of God is so much different and it cannot be compared to human love.\u00a0 When we want to know how much God loves us, we should look to the cross.\u00a0 How God spared His only Son, Jesus Christ to redeem us from our sins.\u00a0 It took Jesus Christ to die for us in order for us to return to the \u201cGarden of Eden.\u201d\u00a0 In order for us to regain the devotion we lost when Adam and Eve sinned.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 He longs to share with us what plans he has for us as He says in Jeremiah 29:11 \u2013 \u201cFor I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to give you hope and a future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs 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. \u00a0He desires a totally devoted heart. \u00a0Deuteronomy 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).\u201d<\/p>\n

Furthermore, \u201cas a woman, you have been created with a desire to be known\u2014not 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\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

_______________________<\/p>\n

LET\u2019S PRAY<\/b><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 Father, forgive me for comparing your love with the love of those around me.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Create in me a clean heart Lord and renew a steadfast spirit within me.\u00a0 Restore to me the joy of my salvation.\u00a0 May I know you intimately, personally and devotedly.\u00a0 Take me back to the Garden of Eden.\u00a0 In Jesus Name Amen.<\/p>\n

YOUR ASSIGNMENT<\/b><\/p>\n

Meditate on your picture of God.\u00a0 Has a wrong picture of God been invented by the enemy in order to rob you of a true knowledge and love of God? \u00a0Read Psalm 103: 8 \u2013 14 to help you with the wrong assumptions that you have about God.<\/p>\n

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Be Blessed,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jackie<\/p>\n

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______________________________<\/p>\n

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\u00a0For the \u201cLady in Waiting\u201d 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 \u201csign-up here\u201d button at the top of our webpage; which is also where you can sign up to participate in this awesome bible study!<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Please email Christi@girlfriendscoffeehour.com if you have any questions, or if you have a private comment that you would like to forward to one of our bloggers in regards to their post that day.<\/p>\n

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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.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go back when everything was beautiful, pure and unstained.\u00a0 Before sin entered the world.\u00a0 We meet a beautiful woman named Eve. \u00a0Can you imagine how the first woman ever to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[20],"tags":[144,1164,292,305,425,544,545,551,830,918],"class_list":["post-2997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-singles","tag-bible","tag-bible-study-2","tag-debbie-jones","tag-deuteronomy-65","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-jackie-chingawale","tag-jackie-kendall","tag-jeremiah-2911","tag-psalm-103-8-14","tag-ruth-120-21","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-Ml","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2997\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}