Monthly Archives: February 2012

Names of God Series, Proven Path Ministries

Names of God: Jehovah-tsidkenu

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I love this name of God.
This name of God is one that brings me peace and hope and relief…
The name we will be looking at today is Jehovah-tsidkenu.

We discover the meaning of Jehovah-tsidkenu in the book of Jeremiah. Now when the prophet Jeremiah was having the words of God written in a scroll it was dark in the days of Israel. It was a time when the people had forgot God. Oh they still did their sacrifices and they had their feasts… and they had them right along with their Baal services and Asherah festivals…

They had convinced themselves that as long as they kept the rituals and traditions they were fine. They did not listen to the prophets of God. They ignored Isaiah and they ignored Jeremiah. Instead they chose to listen to the prophets that told them what they wanted to hear.

Now judgment was coming.
However, even in this coming judgment God gave the remnant hope.

Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD,
“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;
And He will reign as king and act wisely
And do justice and righteousness in the land.
“In His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel will dwell securely;
And this is His name by which He will be called,
‘The LORD our righteousness.’
Jeremiah 23:5-6
 
You see, many in Israel had decided that they were good enough because of their works, their deeds. They thought that keeping the law would be enough to satisfy God. They thought their tradition keeping would be enough.
 
Then the Lord said,
   “Because this people draw near with their words
And honor Me with their lip service,
But they remove their hearts far from Me,
And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote
Isaiah 29:13
 
It wasn’t.
It wasn’t because the system was never put in place to simply be a routine tradition. The whole point of the law was to draw the people’s hearts to their God and to make them aware of their need for Him as they became aware of their sinful state… but the people began to think that these traditions made them holy instead of their God. They had forgotten that we can never do enough good stuff to make us good enough to stand in the presence of God.
 
For all of us have become like one who is unclean,
And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;
Isaiah 64:6
 
All our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment…  all of them. And that filthy garment is actually the term used for a females used menstrual cloth… yeh… that’s as good as your best deeds get… so good luck getting to heaven on that.
 
But now apart from the Law
the righteousness of God has been manifested,
being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 
even the righteousness of God
through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe;
for there is no distinction; 
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 
being justified as a gift by His grace
through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 
whom God displayed publicly
as a propitiation in His blood through faith.
This was to demonstrate His righteousness,
Romans 3:21-25
 
Praise God! I don’t about you but I am ever so grateful that my salvation is not dependant upon my own righteousness nor my ability to perfectly keep the Law… I would never make it.
 
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God were making an appeal through us;
we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 
He made Him who knew no sin
to be sin on our behalf,
so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:20-21
 
Christ came and He traded His righteousness for my sin. I give Him my sin and He gives me His righteousness. It makes absolutely no sense to me why He would do this… I mean really… that is soooo not an even trade! But He knew there was no other way… and He simply loves us that much.
 
Now when I stand before God on my day of judgment because of the cross, because of the work of my Jesus, I will be able to cry as David cried…
 
Judge me, O LORD my God, according to Your righteousness,
And do not let them rejoice over me.
Psalm 35:34
 
Even in my salvation as I live and breathe in this world… as I try to live a life worthy of my calling and worthy of His death… I fail so often. In these failures and stumbles I am able to go to my God and ask His forgiveness and I appeal not to any righteousness of my own, but to the righteousness of my Christ, my righteous Branch, my Jehovah-tsidkenu.  
 
 
Devotional Studies Through the Bible, Proven Path Ministries

Getting The World Out

 

The whole congregation of the sons of Israel

grumbled against Moses and Aaron

 in the wilderness.

Exodus 16:2

 

I wish I could say that the sons of Israel learned their lesson about grumbling at the waters of Marah, but I cannot. The grumbling at the waters of Marah was just the beginning. The children of Israel are a month and a half into their journey from Egypt. They are now in the wilderness of Sin somewhere between the oasis of Elim and Sinai and what we discover is that the name of this wilderness is very fitting. 

The children of Israel have only less than two months ago experienced the mighty arm of God in Egypt. They have just watched God make bitter waters sweet. The children of Israel have had the Lord their Healer lead them to an oasis called Elim, where there were springs and date trees galore. The Lord has delivered them and provided for them over and over and now that it is time for them to set out on their journey again we also find them grumbling again. 

 

The sons of Israel said to them,

‘Would that we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt,

when we sat by the pots of meat,

when we ate bread to the full;

for you have brought us out into this wilderness

to kill this whole assembly with hunger.’

Exodus 16:3   

 

When the people grumbled at Marah about the bitter waters the Lord made them sweet. He then immediately declared to them that He was the Lord their Healer and if they obeyed Him then they would not experience the diseases that were put upon the Egyptians.  

God not only shares a little more information about Himself to these people, and to us, but He also is reminding them that the way of life in Egypt was not according to God. Have you ever heard the saying, you can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl? Well, God was trying to show this mixed multitude that just being out of Egypt was not enough, He is going to have to get Egypt out of them. 

The people grumbled for water at Marah and now in the wilderness of Sin they grumble for food. They do not give God praise and thanks for the water at Marah and then now seek Him for food, they choose rather to complain.  

My friend, this is nothing more than this group of people thinking that they can emotionally manipulate Moses and God to get what they want. They are testing God, just as every child tests his parents.  

God showed mercy on the children of Israel at Marah and He made the bitter waters sweet. However, we must remember that mercy softens some but it hardens others. Let us pay close attention as we go through this wilderness journey with the children of Israel.  

The Word of God warns us in 1 Corinthians 10:6, “Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved.” God’s mercy on Pharaoh in Egypt during the plagues only hardened Pharaoh more and now we see the same pattern beginning here in the wilderness with the children of Israel.  

God gave them mercy at Marah and made the bitter waters sweet, so that they would have sweet water to drink. Yet this multitude does not give God praise. They do not give Him thanks. They come now expecting that they will grumble to Moses even more and receive what their flesh craves.  

Did you notice how distorted the view of the past is to this multitude? This group looks back on their life in Egypt and they are completely ignoring the cruel bondage that caused them to call out to God for deliverance. They look back and all they are recalling at this moment is pots of meat and eating bread to the full.  

Oh precious one, see how the enemy of our souls can mess with our minds?

Have you been there?

I know that I have.  

As a believer, a redeemed child of God, I have spent time in my own wilderness. I have grown weary and frustrated in that wilderness and my mind has went back to the past when I would dance the night away while intoxicated by alcohol and all the cares of the world would seem to be a million miles away. My mind would take me there because my flesh cried out for what it lusted after and the enemy was whispering lies in my ear. “See how carefree you were then? See how much fun you always had? Go on, don’t you wish you had that at least one more time?”  

How thankful I am for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Romans 8:5-6 declares, “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.”  

When the Spirit of God who is in you, if you do indeed belong to Christ (Romans 8:9), divides through the lies of the enemy and the lust of your flesh with the truth of the Word of God, then you are to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).  

When you know the truth, it is that truth that sets you free (John 8:32). It is being intoxicated with the Spirit of God that brings you peace- mind, body, and soul. Oh precious one, your body can be free, but if your mind is still enslaved then you have gained nothing. You must be “…transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2) 

Oh Father,

Forgive me for the times I have attempted to emotionally manipulate You to get my way. Thank You for opening my eyes to the truth, for I did not even realize what I was doing. Thank You for being patient with me. As You carry me through wilderness journeys, to remove the world from me, may I not forget to give You thanks and praise. For I know that You are working in me and through me to bring about Your perfect result and complete me in You (James 1:2-4). 

My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,

Amen

Confessions of a Christian Wife, Proven Path Ministries, Thirty-three Day Challenge

Secure In Christ

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I hate insecurity.
I have seen it bring out the very worst in me and in others.
It is crazy how we can be insecure about how we feel about ourselves or the way someone else feels about us and that insecurity will cause us to lash-out instead of love-out.

Instead of showing an abundance of love to the ones we are insecure toward we put up a wall of defense and go into attack mode. Fight or flight kicks in every time.

Insecurity.
It’s rooted in fear.
It takes perfect love to cast out fear (1 John 4:18).
I don’t know about you but I don’t have perfect love on my own. There is nothing perfect in or about me…  That is at least until the day that perfect love accepted me and came to dwell in me and with me.

When I accept that Christ has accepted me and given me His perfect love… then His perfect love for me can cast out fear. As His perfect love cast out fear in me and as I learn to trust His perfect love for me, then my insecurities begin to lessen, and fade away, as I begin to learn that I am indeed secure in Christ.

Are you secure in Christ?
Are you secure in His love for you?
Is His perfect love casting out fear in your life?

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Day Eleven

Today we are going to focus on learning to trust our Savior’s perfect love. We are going to be reminded today that we are secure in Christ. We do not have to live our lives in the darkness and fears of our insecurities. We don’t have to continue to hurt others or ourselves as we live in fight or flight mode due to insecurity. We are secure in Him… and honey… if God is for us who can be against us?

Just like yesterday, here’s a list to print off and read daily… study these Scriptures and let the perfect love of your God cast out every fear that creeps into your heart and mind and spirit.

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I AM SECURE IN CHRIST  

I am free forever from condemnation
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
Romans 8:1-2

I am assured that all things work together for good
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28

I am free from any condemning charges against me
Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us
Romans 8:33-34

I cannot be separated from the love of God
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39

I have been established, anointed, and sealed by God
Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22

I am confident that the good work God has begun in me will be perfected
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:6

I am a citizen of heaven
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;
Philippians 3:20

I am hidden with Christ in God
For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Colossians 3:3

I have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-discipline
For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.
2 Timothy 1:7

I can find grace and mercy to help me in time of need
Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:16

I am born of God, and the evil one cannot touch me

We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.
1 John 5:18

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I am reading slowly through Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners by John Bunyan. I was reading in it yesterday and Mr Bunyan was sharing how he was in the midst of a great temptation to be insecure in his relationship with Christ even with his salvation, and the validity of the Scriptures, and the truth that Christ is the only way unto salvation. He shared how this temptation lasted for at least a year. 

I wish that I could tell you that if you go through this challenge and you learn exactly who you are in Christ you will be fixed forever… I can’t. The tempter still seeks to devour you, to condemn you, to make you doubt, to discredit you… He still will seek to destroy you.

However you will be stronger. As you strengthen your faith muscles by walking in the Word and living by the truth of God rather than your feelings. As you grow in knowledge of Him and His grace, you will grow in His love and as you grow in His love, that perfect love will begin to cast out insecurity…

You, precious one, are secure in Christ.

Devotional Studies Through the Bible, Proven Path Ministries

Following the Crowd or Christ

Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea,

and they went out into the wilderness of Shur;

and they went three days in the wilderness

and found no water.

Exodus 15:22

 

The children of Israel and the mixed multitude that just finished singing the praises of the great Redeemer have been three days now on their journey to the promised land. Moses has led them into the wilderness of Shur. Psalm 77:20 says, “You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.” My friend, do not miss that it was indeed the Lord who led them into this wilderness.  

Three days into this wilderness and the people see no sign of water. Three days, a mere seventy-two hours, since the children of Israel, since the people who journeyed out of Egypt, witnessed the greatness of the arm of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Three days, no water in sight, then the people come to a place called Marah.

Marah in Hebrew means bitter. The people finally find water only to discover that it is bitter and not safe to drink. Now how do these people who witnessed the LORD turn the Nile into blood and then make it water again respond to this bitter water now? Do they immediately cry out in faith to God and ask Him to make the water pure?  

No, sadly they turn to Moses and they attack him with their complaints, “So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?” (Exodus 15:24). 

In Moses response to the people’s grumbling we see why he is the one leading these people. Moses does not attempt to fix the situation himself. He doesn’t begin grumbling with the people. He doesn’t crumble in the presence of the people or fall into despair at their complaints against him. He doesn’t pace about and scratch his head doubting his ability to lead these people. He has already been through that at the burning bush before God, and before his people and before Pharaoh. We read that he looks up and cries out to the LORD. The people look to Moses, but Moses looks to God. 
 

The Lord shows Moses a tree, and Moses throws this tree into the water, and the waters become sweet. Oh precious one this is a beautiful picture of the cross of our Christ. When Moses threw in this tree, the tree soaked up all the bitterness of the water and then the waters were sweet to drink. On the cross, on that cursed tree, Jesus Christ took upon Himself all our sin, all our hurts, all our failures, all our bitterness, “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24). 

The Scripture goes on to say in Exodus 15:25 that it was here at Marah that the Lord made a statute and regulation to the people. It is here that He begins to teach them how they are to walk with Him. It is here at the waters of Marah that the Lord tests them. My friend God does not tempt us, but He does test us. The test is not for Him, the test is for us, so that we may know our hearts and learn if we really trust the One we claim to serve? 

The Lord then says “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer.” (Exodus 15:26).  

*If you write in your Bible, underline this verse for we have just been introduced to another name of our God, Jehovah-rapha, the Lord is our Healer.  

We also need to underline “if you will.” This goes back to the test and the question of trust in the Lord our Healer. For without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). And my friend let others say what they may, but our obedience to God’s commands proves our faith in Him. If we refuse to walk according to His Word, then we do not trust Him, and He is under no obligation to heal us of anything.

 Jesus tells us in John 14:23 “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word;…” In John 15:10, He says “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:1-2 that we are saved if we hold fast the gospel that has been preached to us. He shows us it is possible to believe in vain.  

Now how would we know if we have believed the gospel in vain? We cannot look into our hearts and see the seal of the Holy Spirit upon it. So how would we know, how could others know? Hebrews 3:14 declares, “For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.”  

It goes back to the test. It goes back to that very big word, if. “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.” (1 John 2:3) Oh precious one, from Genesis to Revelation the message has not changed. If we trust Him we will obey Him, and if we do not obey Him, we never really trusted Him at all. We simply were just following the crowd. 

 

Oh Father,


I can look at these people who have just witnessed Your awesome acts and yet now fear death from lack of being able to see water and I could judge them for their lack of faith, but then I look at myself. I realize that I have responded the same way many times before. Forgive me for the times that I have grumbled in the moment of testing. How quickly we can forget all that You have done and doubt Your love and even Your very existance. Thank You, Father, for being a God who is longsuffering and has everlasting lovingkindness. You are the LORD my God, and when my times of testing come, may I respond in obedience to Your Word. May I show my love for You and prove to myself that I am indeed Your child and that I have not just followed the crowd. How thankful I am that proof is found in repentance not perfection.


My Jesus it is in Your name I pray,

Amen 

Confessions of a Christian Wife, Proven Path Ministries, Thirty-three Day Challenge

Accepted In Christ

 

 

The next few days we are going to focus on either discovering for the first time or reminding ourselves all over again who we are in Christ.

I am convinced that so many of us struggle with what we struggle with simply because we have not realized who we are in Him. It just has not sunk in. We just have not figured out how we could be so intimately and intricately loved by an almighty God that we can not physically see or touch or even audibly hear.
I pray that as we continue this challenge that you will become ever more convinced of His lavished lovingkindness and delight and  absolute sheer giddiness over you.
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Day Ten
Today our focus is to discover (or remember) that we are accepted in Christ.

In her book Shannon recommends that you print this list off and put it on your bathroom mirror and read it every time you enter. My challenge is for you to print it off and put it on your mirror and then print it off again and take it with you to work or school so that you have it with when you leave the house. Keep it with you until March 17th and read it everyday.

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I AM ACCEPTED IN CHRIST


I am God’s child

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,

John 1:12

I am Christ’s friend

No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends,

John 15:15


I have been justified

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Romans 5:1


I am united with the Lord and one with Him in spirit

But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

1 Corinthians 6:17

I have been bought at a price; I belong to God

For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body
1 Corinthians 6:20


I am a member of Christ’s body

Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.

1 Corinthians 12:27


I am a saint

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,    To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus:

Ephesians 1:1


I have been adopted as God’s child

He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

Ephesians 1:5


I have direct access to God through the Holy Spirit

for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father

Ephesians 2:18


I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins

in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 1:14


I am complete in Christ

and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;

Colossians 2:10

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How we see ourselves affects how we live and the decisions we make. If we see ourselves as weak, tempted beyond control, or needy, then that is how we will behave. But if that is what we still believe and how we still behave, then Christ’s death on the cross was in vain. He died so that His Holy Spirit could fill our emptiness, heal our hurts, and satisfy our every need.

~ Shannon Ethridge

Ladies, for the rest of this challenge study up on the truths of these Scriptures. Let God prove His Word to you. Open up your heart to Him and let His acceptance, His affirmation, His affection, flood your inner being and let the truth of who you are in Him overflow in and through your actions.

Oh precious one, never, ever forget who you are in Him and how very much He loves you…

Devotional Studies Through the Bible, Proven Path Ministries

Sing Sing Sing

 

 
Then Moses and the sons of Israel
sang this song to the LORD…
Exodus 15:1

 

The children of Israel have just experienced the deliverance of God. They have walked across the Red Sea on dry land. They have passed through the parted sea as the waters were rolled up as walls on each side of them while Pharaoh and his armies were coming up behind them. The children of Israel have watched the Lord release the sea and they have seen the waters come crashing down upon their pursuers. Now the children of Israel lift their voices in song to their God.

 
Thus He rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up,
And He led them through the deeps, as through the wilderness.
So He saved them from the hand of the one who hated them,
And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
The waters covered their adversaries;
Not one of them was left.
Then they believed His words;
They sang His praise.
Psalm 106:9-12

 

Moses leads Israel in the first worship song recorded in Scripture. Oh yes, and what a beautiful song of praise it is! Moses sings,

The LORD is my strength and song,
and He has become my salvation;
this is my God,
and I will praise Him;
Exodus 15:2

 

He goes on to sing how the Lord is a warrior and he reminds us that the LORD is His name (Exodus 15:3). The word Lord in Exodus 15:3 is in all caps because in the Hebrew it is Yehovah. The word Yehovah is derived from the word hayah which means to exist, to be.

Moses is taking us all the way back to the burning bush when he asked God what he should tell Israel when they asked the name of the God who sent him. “God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM; and He said ‘Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.” (Exodus 3:14). Do you remember all the names of the false gods that we looked at as we read through the plagues? Does not this question that Moses asks before this burning bush take on a whole new depth with that knowledge?

Moses goes on to sing in Exodus 15:11, “Who is like You among the gods, O LORD? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders.” Oh precious one, who is like our Creator God? Let us remember what he has done! Let us remember who He is!

Moses sings this song and it is a song that will be sang from generation to generation. It is a song to remind the people of the greatness of the arm of their Redeemer. A song to remind them of His lovingkindness and His strength. A song to remind them that they have a God that they do not have to fight for, but a God that tells them to keep silent as He fights for them. It is a song to remind them that their God is the LORD, and He shall reign forever and ever.

This song that Moses sings will be sang even until the end of the age. “And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God…” (Revelation 15:3).
Are you praising him yet?

Oh Father,

How great and awesome You are. My God I give You praise. I stand before You with my arms lifted high and my voice singing of Your mighty acts. You are my Deliverer, my Redeemer, my Warrior, You are! I shall sing this song of Moses and remember all that You have done. I shall sing the song of the Lamb, “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! Who will not fear and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For all the nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.” (Revelation 15:3-4).

My Jesus it is in Your name I pray,
Amen

Confessions of a Christian Wife, Proven Path Ministries, Thirty-three Day Challenge

Power Play

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Today’s challenge just might be the hardest yet…
It might be the most humbling, the most humiliating, the most harrying, but also the most helpful and most freeing… if you have the courage to face it.
Are you willing?
Are you ready?

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Day Nine

We are fixing to dig deep ladies… so very deep. We are going to take a walk through our past and quite possibly our present.

Today your challenge is to at some point and time between now and March 17th… I am not asking you to do this today because I know personally how hard this will be for some… so just some time between now and March 17th I want you to get physically alone with God. No one else around. No time limit. Just you and God and a sheet of paper… or a couple of sheets of paper. Get alone and undistracted and pray that God would lead you in this challenge.

The challenge I am issuing you is the same challenge that Shannon was given as she sought healing. I will share the challenge in a bit, first let us go back to the garden.

It’s somewhere between 6000 and 8000 BC and Adam and Eve are at peace in a beautiful garden. God comes and walks with them and they are naked and unashamed before each other and God. All the world is at peace… except for one.

There is one who has become full of pride and violence and lies. He sits lurking in the darkness, awaiting his opportunity, his perfect opportunity to steal authority over this world so that he might wreak havoc in it. He’s been watching Adam and he’s been watching Eve… and he sees his open door.

Eve is alone.
She is vulnerable.
He has figured out her weakness.
She gets giddy with the right words.
She gets intoxicated by what she hears.
You see it wasn’t the serpents smooth handsome face and physique that caught Eve… it was that smooth tongue. He spoke words that went to her head and moved her emotions and he deceived her and she did eat.

She then, quite possibly, slithered and slinked up to her husband in her new discovered false sense of power and Adam, dumbstruck and mouth gaped at the visual pleasure of his Eve, forgot truth… forgot holiness… forgot what was right… forgot God… and he listened to the seductress not his God.

Their life would never be the same… consequences came… they always do.

Adam and Eve lost their relationship with God, severely damaged their relationship with each other, lost their authority over Satan and over this earth. They traded acceptance for rejection, belonging for loneliness, competence for inadequacy, equity for exploitation, identity for confusion, security for anxiety, significance for worthlessness, and transcendence for a spiritual void.

The serpent was cursed, Adam was cursed, the land was cursed, and yes… Eve was cursed.

To the woman He said,
“I will greatly multiply
Your pain in childbirth,
In pain you will bring forth children;
Yet your desire will be for your husband,
And he will rule over you.”
Genesis 3:16

Let me a share a little something with you. My heart was broken over and over again by boys that I wanted so desperately to want me, to like me, to love me, to think I was beautiful. I wanted them to desire me and I was willing to go to whatever extreme just to get that… even if it was only for a moment. The desire was rooted in the heart of a little 2nd and 3rd and 4th grade little girl who wasn’t pretty enough and the boy said he didn’t want her anymore and went off holding hands with another girl. The desire was rooted in the shame of a date rape that I blamed myself for and never told anyone about. The desire was was rooted in wanting the approval of a man…the affirmation of a man because I felt so unattractive and unwanted compared to other girls. The desire was rooted in the curse… your desire will be for your husband. 

Then one day I got tired of being hurt and I realized that I could be the one in control. I realized I could say and do certain things and I could have power and I learned how to use it. I grew cold. The last thing I wanted was a relationship with a man. I just wanted to control him the way I had been controlled by the desire to be loved. He was not going to rule over me. I would rule over him. The problem was… I still got hurt… it was just in a different way.

“I believe a woman’s desire and the issue of rulership or power are related in a way that unwraps some of the mystery behind a woman’s sexual conduct (or misconduct, rather). I believe that the desire for power (and the belief that men possess the power women crave) is what causes many women to seduce men, as well as what prompts some to use sex as a bargaining tool in their marriage. It’s not as much sex or love that these women are in pursuit of as it is the power behind bringing a man to his knees with her charms.

When we discovered as young women that our curvaceous bodies or pretty faces would turn heads, it awakened us to a form of power that we may have never known as preadolescence girls. For some of us, that power was intoxicating… perhaps even addicting.”  

“Most of my single days are a tragic testimony of a young woman striving to gain some sense of power through inappropriate relationships with men. Rather than use what beauty God had given me to bring glory to Him. I used it as bait to lure men into feeding my ego. Rather than inspiring men to worship God. I subconsciously wanted them to worship me, and if I was successful in hooking a man with my charms, I secretly felt powerful.” 
~ Shannon Ethridge

So my dear sweet sister… what have you used what beauty God has given you for? Has it been to inspire men to worship God… or to inspire them to worship you? Why have you had the relationships you have had?

Why do you think so many women degrade themselves with photographs? Why do you think magazines are full of thousands of articles about how to manipulate and control a man through sexual positions and seductions? Why do these women pose for these pics and play these parts in the movies and dress that way and dance that way?

Because they have scanned the room and though there are eyes that condemn them, that pity them, that are embarrassed for them, that truly love them, they instead choose to lock eyes only with the one they realize that they have power over… the ones that are affirming them… these eyes they are addicted to and these eyes they will continue to degrade themselves over for this very moment… this moment of being “worshiped”.

Shannon shared the confession of a young women named Jennifer who admitted that she realized that even when she went to church she dressed herself to be seen. She said she walked in the sanctuary and she scanned the room to see if there was anyone whose eyes were on her. You see she came to church not to worship God… but to be worshiped.

Oh… honey there is only one that is worthy of worship.

And he led Him up
and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 
And the devil said to Him,
“I will give You all this domain and its glory;
for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 
Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.” 
Jesus answered him, “It is written,
‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’”
Luke 4:5-8

It’s time to share the challenge.
I’ll let Shannon introduce it.

“I was seeking to understand why I still felt tempted outside of my marriage, so my therapist asked me to spend a week making a list of every man I had ever been with sexually or had pursued emotionally. I was shocked and saddened to see how long my list had grown through the years. 

At the next visit, she asked me to spend a week praying and asking myself, “What do each of these men have in common?”

“As I searched my soul to discern why such a common thread existed in my relational pursuits, the root of the issue became evident: my hunger for power over a man.”
~ Shannon Ethridge  

Ladies this is the challenge: create a list of the men you have had sexual experiences with, pursued emotionally (or allowed to pursue you), or fantasized about, the point is to find out what common threads surface as you do this.  

When you discover it… go boldly before the throne of grace and seek help in your time of need and ask God to meet this need in you. Seek His forgiveness.

Then if you need to… seek your husbands forgiveness if you have been using your sexual relationship with him as a means to control or manipulate or punish him.

*(PS- destroy this list after you have done it… it is the past… we are working to put it behind us… and not bring it into our present or future any longer)  

Confessions of a Christian Wife, Proven Path Ministries, Thirty-three Day Challenge

Woman to Woman

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Compare and compromise and competition… we are going to continue today to look at comparisons and our emotional ties… but today we are focusing on us… woman to woman.

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Day Eight

There she goes… big brown eyes, smooth perfect complexion, at least a D cup all perky and tight, makes it to the gym every day, flat stomach with no stretch marks, butt is still where yours used to be, she eats only food from the organic store because she doesn’t have two or three (or five or six) kids at home to feed on a one income budget… and every man she walks by looks up and smiles… ugh.

And you look down, you haven’t showered in two days because the kids have had the flu, you smell like medicine and vomit, and you have on an old pair of leggings with your husbands over sized old sweatshirt that he wanted to throw out… but you kept for days like this, because it was comfortable… and you see her… you don’t know her but you have just decided that you hate her and you hate yourself for not being her.

So you get ill and mad and ugly (only in your head of course, on the outside you are the queen of Christian politeness, you may even make a point to purposely say “Hi” to her just to prove that to yourself).

“Hmmmm well I could look like that too if I didn’t have a family to take care of.”
“Enjoy that body while you can honey, because it’s all down hill from here”
“Well, I can still look that good if I want to, and next time, I come in this store, these men will be looking at me”
“She is probably stuck up and rude and thinks she’s something”

Then… you walk out and there she is…

She has on a shirt that is too short and jeans that are too tight and stuff is hanging out the bottom and over the top. Her hair is stuck in the eighties and her make-up is way too dark and you think, “Honey did you not look in the mirror before you left the house, please do not tell me you actually think you look good.”

Now you walk out to the car feeling pretty darn good about yourself because at least you had the good sense to cover up and camouflage anything that was hanging out or over. Now here you are still smelling like medicine and vomit in old sweat clothes and because you saw her after you saw her… well now you can head back home feeling pretty darn good about your hot mess self and ready to pump kids full of tamiflu and tylenol all momma style.

For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves
with some of those who commend themselves;
 but when they measure themselves by themselves
and compare themselves with themselves,
they are without understanding.
2 Corinthians 10:12

 

This is a challenge I face. I have allowed the beauty of another female to make me feel so insecure that I couldn’t even get “in the mood” for my husband because I would be so disgusted with my own appearance compared to hers… all I would want to do is put on even baggier clothes and crawl under the covers and bury myself until death do us part.

This type of measuring is dangerous for us and it is dangerous for our marriage.

“We feel huge and sloppy. We feel powerless. We wonder who would ever want to be with us. Such feelings can lead us to become victims of seduction. When we focus so much on superficial appearance, our self-esteem can become so low that if a man takes notice of us, we are pleasantly surprised and become affirmation-seeking missiles. We begin to hunger for a man’s approval so much that his flattery and attention can manipulate us.”
~ Shannon Ethridge 

So today ladies… let us not compare ourselves woman to woman. For the rest of this challenge, this is added to your challenge. Don’t compare your husband to another man and don’t compare your self to another woman. This goes back to Psalm 139… you my dear are fearfully and wonderfully made.

“When we compare ourselves to others, we put one person above the other. We either come out on top (producing vanity and pride in our lives), or we come up short (producing feelings of disappointment with what God has given us). Regardless of how we measure up when we make these comparisons, our motives are selfish and sinful rather than loving.”
~ Shannon Ethridge

Ladies, we have lost something in this day of feminism and liberation… we have lost our friendships with one another… woman to woman. Instead she has become your competition. You compete with her and you don’t trust her. So you choose to make and form friendships with men instead of women… but ladies, listen to me… WE NEED EACH OTHER!

“Not only can we attract unhealthy relationships with men when we feel intimidated by or superior to other women, we also miss out on something we all desperately need: intimacy with our sisters. Whether we are single or married, our sisters often keep us connected to God’s love in a way that a boyfriend or husband can’t or won’t. If we would stop competing and start connecting with other women, this battle for sexual and emotional integrity wouldn’t be nearly as overwhelming. Remaining connected to healthy, loving friendships can keep us out of bed with the next guy we meet and help us satisfy our longing for emotional fulfillment”
~ Shannon Ethridge 

Ladies I understand your fear of female friendships. I experienced the lies and the stabs in the back and the twist of the knife from those girls that were supposed to be my friends. I experienced the secrets shared and the boyfriends stolen… and yes, growing up I was just as guilty of all that at times myself.    

We are not kids anymore.
Let us not act like it.

When I was a child, I used to speak like a child,
think like a child, reason like a child;
when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 
For now we see in a mirror dimly,
but then face to face;
now I know in part,
but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.
1 Corinthians 13:11-12

When we were children growing up we did foolish things… we said foolish things… we hurt others for selfish gain… we are not children. We are women of God who know better now. Let us be those women and let us raise our daughters and the other young women in our lives to not compete with one another, to not compare with one another, but to hold each other up.

We need each other.

I need women in my life that I can come to and confess my hurts and fears to. I need women who have been there and made it, who can encourage me. I need women to laugh with, and cry with, and stand firm with, when times get hard. Ladies, I need you!

Day Nine: Power Play
Devotional Studies Through the Bible, Proven Path Ministries

The Lord Will Fight For You

 
But Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear!
Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD
which He will accomplish for you today;
for the Egyptians whom you have seen today,
you will never see them again forever.
The LORD will fight for you
while you keep silent. 
Exodus 14:13-14
 
The children of Israel have gone out boldly from Egypt (Exodus 14:8) however Pharaoh still pursues them. Yes, the children of Israel had been redeemed. Yes, they had been set free from their slavery. Yet still, the one who once held them in captivity still chases after them in order to enslave them again.
 
As I read this chapter in Exodus I am reminded of the verse “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8).
 
Even after our redemption in Christ, even after our being set free from the slavery chains of sin, the one who once held us captive by our fear of death (Hebrews 2:14-15) still chases after us. He still seeks to deceive us and enslave us once again. He still gathers his army and pursues us with a vengeance.
 
Moses turned to the people and he commanded them to not fear. God continues to give us this command today. Jesus tells us in John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
 
When Jesus is praying on our behalf in John 17, He asks the Father to not take us from the world but to keep us from the evil one and He asks that we be sanctified by the Word of truth.
 
The Word of God is what sets us apart from the world. The Word of God is our strength. Obedience to the Word of God is our only weapon against the evil one. The Word of God is the Lord fighting for us. We speak it and trust Him and keep our own thoughts and words silent and victory will come on our behalf for His glory.
 
Our Creator is a God of action. He is living and active and involved with our lives. Just look at the action verbs we discover that follow references to the Lord in Exodus 14 alone. In verse one we see that the Lord spoke. In verse four we see that He hardens and we once again see the phrase “I am the LORD”.
 
I love when God reminds us who He is.
 
In verse thirteen we see that the Lord will accomplish. In verse fourteen the Lord will fight. Then in verse fifteen we see that the Lord said. In verse nineteen the Lord moved and in verse twenty-one He swept the sea back. In verse twenty-four we read that He looked and that He brought and in verse twenty-five He caused and He made and He is fighting for the children of Israel. In verse twenty-six we see that once again He said and in verse twenty-seven we read that He overthrew the Egyptians. Finally in verse thirty we read that He saved Israel that day.
 
This is our God fighting for us. This is our living and active Creator God. He fought on behalf of His children then and He fights on behalf of His children still.              
 
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
Put on the full armor of God,
so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,
but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness,
against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Therefore, take up the full armor of God,
so that you will be able to resist in the evil day,
and having done everything, to stand firm.
Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth,
and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith
with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
And take the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 
Ephesians 6:10-17
 
This, my friend, is the armor of God. Did you notice that He has us covered from head to toe. Not only head to toe but as we look at 1 John 4:4 we see that He has us covered inside and out, “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”
 
Oh precious one, doesn’t this just make you want to shout out a hallelujah? My friend let’s praise the Lord who fights for us, let us fear His holy name and believe His word and trust in the One He sent to lead us into the promised land.
 
Oh Father,
 
How thankful I am that I am Your child. You word says in Romans 8:14-15 that all who are being led by the Spirit of God, are sons of God. You tell me that I have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but I have received a spirit of adoption by which I may cry out, “Abba! Father!” My Abba, I love You. I will honor and respect Your holy name. I will believe in You and trust in Your Word for I know that You will fight for me. You are in me and with me and you go before me and behind me. Oh how I praise You, my Creator God.
 
My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,

Amen

Confessions of a Christian Wife, Proven Path Ministries, Thirty-three Day Challenge

I Wish My Husband…

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I received a comment on one of the Thirty-three day Challenge posts sharing that they were doing the challenge, but they felt like a failure…

Ladies, God is honoring your efforts. Just as I shared with this woman I will share with you, don’t feel like a failure, just persevere! Keep going. Our God is not a performance based judge. He judges according to the heart. 

Day Seven:

Today as we focus on becoming a woman of sexual and emotional integrity we will focus on our thoughts toward our husbands or future husbands….

She doesn’t compare her husband to other men, discounting his personal worth and withholding a part of herself from him as punishment for his imperfections.
~ Shannon Ethridge

I think that quite possibly this is one of the leading causes of infidelity and divorce when we get down to the heart of the matter. Comparisons.

“When women compare their husbands with other men, they are toying with a threat similar to the threat a man plays with when visually lusting after other women. Whether the comparison is physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual, we not only show disrespect for our husband’s uniqueness, but also undermine our marriage and emotional integrity.”

“At the very least, when a woman’s comparisons of her husband with other men (real men or fictional men from a book) heightens any disappointment or disillusionment she feels with her own husband, it can prevent her from getting excited about him sexually or emotionally. These comparisons encourage her once-glowing passion for her husband to fade to a mere tolerance of him as she forgets all about the wonderful man she fell in love with.”
~ Shannon Ethridge

Ladies, for the rest of our challenge… stop comparing your husband with other men. Don’t watch a movie or read a book or listen to a song or look at the man you work with or go to church with and say..

“I wish my husband would spend that kind of effort toward me”
“I wish my husband would say things like that”
“I wish my husband would come to church with me like her husband”
“I wish my husband would lead our family like he does”
“I wish my husband was like that father”
“I wish my husband would meet my needs like her husband does for her”

STOP!

What you are doing is not fair. You are comparing your husband to fleeting moments you see in others. You don’t live with any of these men… and honey, none of these men have to live with you.

Think about that for a moment.

You have to love your husband through eyes of grace. He is not perfect.

However, he is yours.

Love him with 1 Corinthians 13 love.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous;
love does not brag and is not arrogant, 
does not act unbecomingly;
it does not seek its own,
is not provoked,
does not take into account a wrong suffered, 
does not rejoice in unrighteousness,
but rejoices with the truth; 
bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things. 
Love never fails
1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love him with the grace you have received from God and with the grace you desire to receive from him. Don’t get caught up in just trying to survive in your marriage. Don’t get caught up in escaping reality by burying your heart in a world of a fantasy. Instead, open up the Word of God and study up on grace.

“If we crave genuine intimacy, we must learn to seek it only in this kind of grace-filled relationship.”

~ Shannon Ethridge

Spend today remembering all those little things about him that you fell in love with. I understand you may feel like you have been abandoned and lost in the shuffle of his life. You may feel last on his list. He may even be horrible to you…

If you are to find the life God wants for you, you must do one more thing- you must forgive. This may be the last thing you want to do, but it may be the very thing you need to do most. Your husband may never ask for your forgiveness. Or at times he may say he is sorry only to repeat the offense in a short time. He may be the worst of the worst, but no matter how “bad…” he is, you need to find a way to forgive him. Not for his sake, but for yours.

The longer you refuse to forgive him, the longer he has control of you. You may think he doesn’t “deserve” forgiveness, but you deserve living beyond the bitterness and resentment that hurts only you. You deserve the freedom that will only come when you let go of all you have against him. This is not an easy or instant process. You may have been so badly hurt that it would take years to forgive him totally. If that is the case, all the more reason to begin the process now.

Many men do not even know the depths of hurt and pain we have caused the women we love. We have a way of rushing through our lives and stumbling over the most important people in them. Please forgive us for the hurt we have caused. Please forgive your husband so you can unshackle yourself from a past you can not change and destructive feelings you cannot afford to harbor. Forgive the unforgivable and move into the life that is waiting for you.

~ Stephen Arterburn

Ladies here is when you begin to put the Word of God in action. When you finally begin to apply the truth of grace and forgiveness to your life and to the lives of those closest to you, even the one’s who have hurt you the most. Let me assure you that His Word never fails. Love never fails because God never fails.