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Devotional Studies Through the Bible, Uncategorized

>Must Be Alive To Die

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Adam had relations with his wife again;
and she gave birth to a son,
and named him Seth.
Genesis 4:25
God’s mercies are new every morning. Adam and Eve grieved over the death of Abel, and in their grief, God blessed them with Seth. Seth called upon the name of the Lord.
A distinction was now made between those who would go the way of Cain and those who, like Seth, would call upon the name of the Lord. The distinction is so great and so evident that when God inspired Moses to write the book of Genesis, there is no mention of the death of Cain or the death of his children.
On the other hand, with the generations of Seth and his descendants, beginning with Seth’s father, Adam, God made the point to say, “And he died.” For someone to die, he must first live. Cain never lived.
There are many like Cain who appear to be alive but are not connected to the life, and so therefore, are already dead.
An illustration of those without Christ can be seen in a vase. We can see a beautiful vase of flowers on a table. The flowers appear to be alive and thriving. You can even smell their fragrance and touch the softness of their petals, but if you return to that same vase of flowers a week or so later, the truth is made evident. Those flowers in that vase are now wilted and slimy, and they stink. Death has made itself evident.
The flowers only appeared alive for a short time because they had been cut off from their life-giving source. Now, someone who knows more about flowers than I do could have taken those cut-off flowers and placed them back into their life-giving source and those flowers would have lived.
We are like those flowers.
In the garden, when sin entered the world, we were cut off from our life-giving source; we were separated from our Creator. We may appear alive, but left without him, we too become wilted, slimy, and we stink. Death makes itself evident. Cain remained dead in spirit, and his children followed him. Never coming to God to receive life, they merely existed, and then existed no more.
Oh Father,
The death of your children is precious in your sight (Psalm 116:15); the death of the righteous, those who have called upon your name and waited for your promise. Even though they did not receive it in this life, they waited. Father, your Word is true, and they died believing your Word was true. They believed in the promised seed before he came in the flesh, and that faith, that belief, brought them life then as it does me now. Father, I pray that my life will count. Thank you for my life in Christ, for I did not even know I was dead until I finally lived.
In Jesus’ name I pray,
Amen.

[Since the publication of this book I have continued my research and study in the Scriptures. I would like to share some insight that I have gleaned concerning the verse that speaks of Seth calling upon the name of the Lord. At first I interpreted this verse to mean that Seth began the generation of prayer communication between man and God, but after further study, I believe it is much more. As we study further in the Word we discover that when men called upon the name of the Lord it was usually a cry for Him to move on their behalf, to deliver them from an enemy or an oppressor, it was a cry for help. If we consider the placement of this chapter in God’s Holy Word we have to notice that this reference of calling upon the name of the Lord, precedes the chapter of the flood and follows the chapter that speaks of the murders of Cain and Lamech. I believe that Seth’s call upon the name of the Lord was the righteous ones calling upon God to deliver them from the great oppression of the wicked that now filled the earth… thus the flood. Seth’s calling on the name of the Lord was much more than a simply prayer of fellowship it was the same cry we see over and over again in the Word of God clear up to Revelation 6:9-10 “I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” ]
Confessions of a Christian Wife, Uncategorized

The Angry Voice

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confessions

The other day I was fixing supper and my youngest came into the kitchen to tell me about something her big sister had done to her. She came in explaining in her poor pitiful me voice that her big sister was getting on to her in my “angry voice” and was acting like she was her momma.

What? My children? My little precious bundles of joy recognize that I, the one who gave birth to them has an “angry voice” and it is “my angy voice“?

I was shocked!

Well not really…
Yes, I have an angry voice and yes, I use it.

At first I felt condemnation at this realization? Am I not to be kind? Am I not to be sweet tempered? Am I not to be gentle?

Oh I hear sweet soft spoken mom’s who never seem to “lose it” with their children…

I hear them and I think. I will do better. I will become like them. I will remain calm always. I will become even tempered if it kills me. But alas this red-head (yes, I shall blame the red-head, I have it and I shall use it, lol) along with my touch of Irish blood (you know “the fighting Irish”) just seems to get me every time.

The most frustrating thing is that the “angry voice” does not rise up out of my throat until my sweet voice has already asked at least twice, there just is something about that third time…

But somehow, for some strange reason, my children amazingly seem to comprehend my words and act upon my request the moment the “angry voice” emerges.

Sometimes I feel as though I should just skip the polite requests and just jump straight to the “angry voice”

As I have pondered my “angry voice” I was reminded of a passage in Isaiah…

 Again the LORD spoke to me further, saying,
 “Inasmuch as these people have rejected
the gently flowing waters of Shiloah
And rejoice in Rezin and the son of Remaliah; 
“Now therefore, behold,
the Lord is about to bring on them
the strong and abundant waters of the Euphrates,
Even the king of Assyria and all his glory;
And it will rise up over all its channels
and go over all its banks.”

Isaiah 8:5-7

And here it is. The children ignoring the gentle sweet voice of their Father, not seeming to hear Him at all… then comes the “angry voice”.

Have you ever been on the receiving end of the “angry voice” of God?

How many times has God gotten to the point that He has had to use His angry voice simply because we will not obey the sweet gentle sound of His small still whisper?

I do not believe that God enjoys having to whip out His angry voice to get His children to hear and obey Him anymore than I enjoy having to use mine to get my children to hear and obey me.

Now the “angry voice” is not to be used to belittle, bash, or abuse, it simply is re-stating the exact same request in a more forceful tone, the “I mean business, now!” tone.

My angry voice is usually preceded by the question “how many times do I have to tell you to…?“

And it usually ends with the “do you understand me?” or “if I have to tell you again it will be with the belt“

I don’t enjoy disciplining my children. I don’t enjoy the angry voice. I would much rather they choose to simply do what I ask, when I ask them…

Hmmmm… I am sure my Heavenly Father looks down upon me with the very same sentiment.

Devotional Studies Through the Bible, Uncategorized

>Attitude Adjustment

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But for Cain and for his offering
He had no regard.
So Cain became very angry
and his countenance fell.
Genesis 4:5
I have to admit that on a casual reading of this particular passage of Scripture, one could easily think God was a little unfair. I have to confess that I once held that thought. However, what I have learned in my walk with God is He is never unfair. Taking a closer look at this passage, at this famous story of Cain and Abel, so very much can be seen.
God is our Creator, and He will be honored.
God had regard for Abel’s offering because his offering came according to God’s way. In the garden after the fall, God slew an animal to cover Adam and Eve. This animal was slain to cover their sin. Here God showed them that “without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22). Abel brought God an animal from his flock as his offering. Abel also brought Him the firstlings. God is deserving of our first priority and deserving of our best.
For Cain’s offering, God had no regard because he did not come with a blood sacrifice, and he came in the course of time and not with his firstfruits. Yet even in Cain’s blatant disregard and lack of respect, God’s hand of mercy extended out to him.
God remained patient with him, and He gave him guidance and encouragement. He instructed him on what he needed to do, how he needed to do it, and gave him a warning concerning the sin of his heart.
Oh, precious one, our Creator is still patient with us. He has instructed us on what we need to do. We need to come to Him through the blood of Jesus Christ. He has instructed us on how we need to do it. We come to Him by grace through faith. He has given us a warning concerning the sin of our heart. God’s Word, His commands and precepts, show us the truth, and by them we are warned because by them we see that our way is different from God’s way. We then must choose to heed God’s warning and submit to his way or disregard this warning and experience the consequences.
Cain continued to disregard God and His word of warning, and in this he hardened his heart. This hardening led to jealousy and hatred toward his brother, which ended in Cain murdering Abel.
When we ignore God’s warning, when we blatantly disregard his commands, our hearts grow hard. When our hearts grow hard, we lose our sensitivity to sin, and in this state we can do things we never dreamed we would be guilty of doing.
God cast Cain from his presence. Even in this judgment we see Cain’s hardness of heart. He showed no remorse or repentance, only concern for the greatness of his own judgment. Cain was self-centered, not God-centered. His offering and his reaction toward Abel demonstrated the state of his heart.
In the book of Jude we read, “But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain” (Jude 1:10–11). Cain did not understand why God would only accept the offering if it came according to His way. Cain wanted the offering to be according to his instinct of what was right. Cain refused to accept God’s way by faith. He chose to act according to his own understanding, and by this he was destroyed.
My friend, we may not completely understand God’s ways, but let us accept them by faith and trust the Holy Spirit to bring us into understanding.
Oh Father,
You are God. You are holy, and You will be treated as holy. You will be honored, and You will be exalted. You know my heart. You know my coming and my going.
Oh Father, may I always give You my best. May my walk with You always be priority in my life. When I fail You and Your Holy Spirit convicts me of my sin, may I always be quick to confess and repent. May my heart always be soft and eager to be molded by You. Thank You, for Your mercies are great and Your love endures forever.
In Jesus’ name I pray,
Amen.
Devotional Studies Through the Bible, Uncategorized

>Never Without Hope

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And he said to the woman,
“Indeed, has God said,
‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
Genesis 3:1
In Genesis 1:31, God saw all that He had made, and He said it was good—very good—and He rested.
Somewhere between chapters 2 and 3 in Genesis, Satan attempted to set himself up as God. We get a glimpse of his rebellion in Isaiah 14:13–14: “You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God … I will make myself like the Most High.”
God cast him out of heaven and down to earth, and one third of the angels followed him. In Revelation 12:9 we read, “And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”
Never again in Scripture does God say He presently rests. In fact, He now says He never sleeps nor slumbers (Psalm 121:4), but a sabbath rest is waiting (Hebrews 4:9). We now are engaged in a battle, a battle “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” (Ephesians 6:12).
Satan was cast out of heaven into a serpent. While in this serpent, Satan remained not only under the dominion of God, but under the dominion of man, for man had been given dominion over all the living things on the earth. This, Satan would not have, so he came and deceived Eve. Then Adam listened to the voice of his wife and chose to disobey God. In this one act of disobedience, “sin entered the world and death through sin” (Romans 5:12), but God was not surprised.
In the fall of mankind, God shows us how great His mercy and kindness is and how far His grace extends. In the ugliness of sin, His glory still beautifully shines. We see the truth of God’s Word and the fact that His Word is for our benefit. His words are an illustration of His love, and when they are obeyed, they result in giving and sustaining life. Yet even in our disobedience, his love abounds.
God is perfect in wisdom, and He knows all things. He knew Adam and Eve believed the lie of the serpent and had disobeyed His command, and yet He gave them the opportunity to first come to Him and confess what they had done. God gave them the opportunity to repent.
He listened patiently to the blame game and pointing of fingers. When it came time for God to deliver His judgment, it was just, for He is a just God. He cursed the root first, the tempter.
Before our Creator cursed man and the earth, He first laid out His redemption plan. God did not leave Adam and Eve without hope, and He does not leave us without hope. He did not eradicate the consequences of their actions, but in their repentance, He gave them hope. God’s mercy and grace continued as He shed the blood of an innocent animal, the first blood sacrifice, to cover the shame and nakedness of a sin-aware Adam and Eve.
In his mercy He cast Adam and Eve out of the garden so that they could not eat of the tree of life and live forever in their sinful, decaying state. Outside the garden, sin would claim its wage, physical death (Romans 6:23), but also outside the garden, redemption could be found. God had promised a seed, and that promised seed was and is Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:16), and all who trust in him even though they die, they shall live (John 11:25).
Satan was out to destroy man’s relationship with God, but all he succeeded in doing was showing Adam and Eve how very great God’s love was for them when he forgave them for their disobedience. My friend, do you know how great his love is for you? Do you understand that He has “forgiven you for all that you have done” (Ezekiel 16:63)?
Do not listen to the lie of the serpent: “Indeed has God said” (Genesis 3:1). Know that yes, God has said and all that God has said is true. Know, my precious one, that when God speaks, He speaks out of the essence of who He is and “God is love” (1 John 4:8) and in His words are the power of life.
The same God that reached out to Adam and Eve in their sin is the very same God who is reaching out to us in our sin. His arms are outstretched, and his voice cries “come” (Revelation 22:17).
Oh Father,
That I would never forget Your great love for me, nor the open arms You hold out to me. I fail; even as Your Holy Spirit-filled child, I fail. I still stumble, and sometimes I have eyes that don’t see and ears that don’t hear and a mind that’s been deceived, but still I am Yours.
You promised You would never leave me nor forsake me (Hebrews 13:5). This is the hope I have that is in Christ; if I confess my sin, You are faithful and righteous to forgive me and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
Oh Father, I am so grateful to be Yours. My Jesus, I am so thankful for the hope that I have in You. I love You, my Elohim.
In Jesus’ name I pray,
Amen.
Devotional Studies Through the Bible, Uncategorized

>Covenant of Marriage

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Then the Lord God said,
“It is not good for the man to be alone;
I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
Genesis 2:18
The earth was ready. The garden was ready. The man was ready, almost.
God breathed life into Adam and placed him in the garden to keep it and cultivate it.
God showed him what to do … and what not to do.
God told him that he was free to eat of all the trees of the garden except one—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—and he told him that in the day he ate of it, he would “surely die.” (Genesis 2:17)
Then God brought beasts out to the man, and he took ownership over them by giving them their names.
God looked at man, and God looked at the beast, and He knew He was not yet finished with His masterpiece.
Man still needed a suitable helper.
So God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and as he slept, God took from his side a rib. From this rib God fashioned a helper. God awoke the man and presented to him his gift, and the man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called woman” (Genesis 2:23).
This woman, this gift from God, was taken from his side, close to his heart. She was not taken from his head to rule over him or to be ruled by him. She was not taken from his feet to walk all over him or to be walked all over. She was taken from his side, to complement him, to be his helper, to be his friend. The man was given responsibility over his woman, not dominion. She was bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh.
Then God said, “They shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24), the first blood covenant.
Our Creator is a God of covenant.
A covenant is a solid, binding agreement that is made by passing between two pieces of flesh. It supersedes all other relationships and contracts. It is an unconditional agreement.
God created the marriage covenant. In this covenant we also see another picture of our triune God. In the book of Ephesians we read that the husband is to love his wife as Christ loves the church (Ephesians 5:25). When God chose to create the woman he called her “a helper.” In John 14:16, Jesus tells the disciples that the Father is going to send them a helper. This helper is the Holy Spirit.
In a marriage covenant, we have God as the head, we have the husband who is to love as Christ, and we have the wife, the helper. Do you see the beautiful image of the Trinity of God that is displayed through the covenant of marriage?
Oh precious one, God provided all for man. He met his physical need, his emotional need, and his
spiritual need. He walked with him. He talked with him. I imagine He laughed with him. God’s work was complete, and on the seventh day he rested. He rested not from fatigue, but because He simply was done. His masterpiece was completed.
Oh Father,
I can only imagine how those days in the garden must have been; You and the man and the woman—no sin separating the relationship. The joy and the peace of life in the garden is almost unimaginable for me. Yet, because of Your Holy Spirit within me, I can close my eyes and fall before You in complete worship and adoration. I feel the hope of Your peace, the hope of my utter joy complete in You.
In the creation of woman, I also can see a picture of my life in Christ. On that cross a spear pierced my bridegroom’s side, and by the blood that poured out from His side, I was able to become His bride.
Oh Father, I love You, and I am so excited to be the bride of Christ.
Oh Father, may I be presented to my Bridegroom “as a pure virgin”
(2 Corinthians 11:2).
My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,
Amen.
Devotional Studies Through the Bible, Uncategorized

>Created For His Pleasure

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Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.”

Genesis 1:26

How many times have you read God’s Word and never seen “let us” and “our image”? So many times I read this phrase and never realized what it said. It does not say “let me” or “my image.” God uses plural words to speak of Himself. The beautiful Trinity is once again seen so clearly if we will only look. 

God, three persons in one, made man in His likeness. God gave us just a small insight into who He is in His creation of man. Man is body, mind, and spirit. We are in a sense a triune being.

God also illustrates His likeness to us through the dominion that he gave man over the earth. God holds dominion over all. He is the supreme, sovereign ruler over all creation, and in His likeness He created man. He created man to also have dominion, dominion under His authority; on this place he called earth.

God created earth for man. God designed it to be able to sustain our life. He created every provision we would need for life before He ever fashioned Adam from the earth. He is a God of order and detail. God forms, and then God fills.

He formed the sky then filled it with stars. He formed the water then filled it with fish. He formed the land and then filled it with beast. When he commanded the earth to sprout forth its vegetation and commanded the trees out of the ground, they came fully grown, ready to reproduce. 

When all was ready and good, God created man.

God created man to have fellowship with Him. God created man for His own pleasure. God created you for His pleasure.

Zephaniah 3:17 tells us that God will exult over us with joy and will quiet us with His love and rejoice over us with shouts of joy. We are formed by the hand of a Holy God, created in His image, according to His likeness, and we are filled with the breath of His life.

This was our beginning, but as we go further into Genesis, we will discover how we lose our dominion and even more frightful, how we lose the likeness of the image of our Creator. But oh, precious one, our Creator has not forsaken us. Jesus Christ, God the Son, has come, and in Christ, we once more begin to bear the image of our Creator. 

In 2 Corinthians 3:18 we read that in Christ we are being transformed back into the image of our Lord from glory to glory. We were created bearing the image of our Creator and having dominion over the earth under the authority of our God, and only in and through Christ can we, to this purpose, be eternally restored.

Oh Father,

You created us with intent and purpose. You created us because You wanted us. You created me because You wanted me, and not just for a short time; You created me for eternity. You loved me so much that when mankind fell, You sent Your Son to earth in flesh to make the way for me to return to my eternity with You.

Someday, my Father, because of my faith in Christ, I’ll get to walk again in the garden with You. One day I’ll see Your face. One day I’ll be held in Your embrace. Oh Father, thank You for loving me.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen.

Confessions of a Christian Wife, Proven Path Ministries, Uncategorized

>Woman Behave Thy Self

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UPDATE May 1, 2023: I wanted to delete this post, but deleting doesn’t undue for anyone who might come back to it to reference. So I have decided to simply update it here at the beginning. This post was written in 2011. I was a 35 year old wife and mother who had only been walking with the Lord for about 10 years and was so desperate to be obedient to Him and to honor Him with my life in every way because I was so broken and hurt and I didn’t want my girls to ever experience what I had been through. In my open heart to God then, I have since realized that I was wide open to toxic teaching as you will see if you choose to read the original post.

My eye opening began in 2018. You can read about it here: https://www.nicolelhvaughn.com/wearing-nothing-but-a-crown/
Now here in 2023 I cringe at how I was used in my brokenness and oppression to share this false teaching that kept me and countless other women in bondage and abuse. I thank God that He led me to freedom while I still had the opportunity to unteach what I was indoctrinated in to my own girls and to share it with others. 
For whom the Son has set free is free indeed!
Below is the original post.
****************************************************************
“For the queen’s conduct will become known to all the women
causing them to look with contempt on their husbands
by saying,
‘King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti
to be brought in to his presence,
but she did not come.’”
Esther 1:17
My girls and I are studying through the book of Esther. The verse above is the memory verse they are to learn from the study of the first chapter. When I saw this was the recommended memory verse my first response was, “Why on earth is this the memory verse?”  
I mean, really?
At a casual first reading of this first chapter in the book of Esther, my initial reaction to Vashti’s response to the King, was “You go girl! You ain’t his puppet on a string! You ain’t just some thang for him and his buddies to gawk over! That’s right honey, you just say no!” 
But that initial, first response is the reason why this is the memory verse.
“For a man ought not to have his head covered,
since he is the image and glory of God;
but the woman is the glory of man.”
1 Corinthians 11:7
When we dig a little deeper in this chapter of Esther we see that there are three banquets. The first lasts for 180 days and is for all the “big dogs” of the land. The second lasts for 7 days and is for all the kingdom from the greatest to the least. The third was Queen Vashti’s party for the women.
The King calls his Queen after this second 7 day banquet. He called her to come not just before him, but before her people. He called her to display her beauty as a picture of the beauty of the kingdom and as a representation of his glory. This call was not a “common cat call”. It wasn’t simply to call all the boys together and give Vashti a slap on the booty and say “boys ain’t she perty!”
This was Queen Vashti’s call to come and represent the glory of her husband who was also her king. This was her time to come into the presence of the people with her back straight and her head held high, to come in honor and respect, while her husband, and yes the people of her kingdom, looked upon her with her pride and admiration.
“As for Titus,
he is my partner and fellow worker among you;
as for our brethren,
 they are messengers of the churches,
a glory to Christ. 
Therefore openly before the churches,
show them the proof of your love
and of our reason for boasting about you.”
2 Corinthians 8:23-24
Should our husbands not be able to say:
As for my wife, she is my partner and fellow worker in this life, she is a messenger of our family and a glory to me as a man, her husband who is the head of her home. So honey, come and show them the proof of your love for me and the reason why I speak so highly of you… I would love for you to meet my beautiful wife.
(I don’t know about you, but I find absolutely nothing insulting about that.)
What Queen Vashti did, was spit in her king’s face. She despised is place as head over their family and head over this kingdom. She did not show him any respect what-so-ever.
“Nevertheless,
each individual among you
also is to love his own wife
even as himself,
and the wife
must see to it
that she respects her husband.”
Ephesians 5:33
The thing is, I do believe that the King had fulfilled his end of this verse. He loved Vashti as himself, he equated her with his glory and the splendor of his majesty. He boasted of her beauty to everyone in the kingdom, even when the wine was talking, he was still talking about his beautiful wife…
but did Vashti respect her man?
Ummm no, I don’t think so.
You see she had her own personal feminist movement taking place at banquet #3. She had all her “girls” around her and I imagine they were having a full blown “man bash” at this little get-to-together. I can hear them now… “Oh you think yours is sorry, let me tell you what mine did…” 
(Now please know this is not to say that we do not need to seek wise counsel as we learn this role “wife” in marriage, wise counsel is a must, issues will arise in marriage, but these issues are meant to be discussed with someone who can advise you as an impartial, someone who will speak truth into your life and not just encourage your own personal side of the situation )
 Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior,
not malicious gossips
nor enslaved to much wine,
teaching what is good, 
so that they may encourage the young women
to love their husbands,
to love their children, 
to be sensible,
pure,
workers at home,
kind,
being subject to their own husbands,
so that the word of God will not be dishonored.
Titus 2:3-5
Then the call comes for Vashti to come to her king…
Vashti could have used some wise counsel at this time, she needed some teaching, but instead I lean more to believe that what she got was more like this:
Can’t you just here the girls…
“Oh no he didn’t!” 
“Well, I’m just sayin if I was you I would tell him, ‘I don’t think so!'”  
“Oh girl, it’s time for you to take a stand”
“Girl, don’t worry, he’ll be mad, but he’ll come around when he wants some.”  
“Yeh, Mr Euneuch boy, go tell the Kingy that his Queeny said she’s busy.”
“Girl, this is your time, you better tell him to step!”
Woman behave thy self!
Your King has called.
Your beloved has summoned you into his presence.
He’s had you on his mind.
He’s been talking about you for days… what else could you possibly want?
Why on earth would you spit in his face and insult his honor and disrespect his authority before his people by denying him such a simple request?
Ladies, wives, let us be very careful how we represent and respect our husbands… have we not seen the fulfillment of the fear that these men had over Vashti’s response to the King in our current day? Maybe we have so many “sorry men” simply because we have made it that way by our lack of respect toward them. We are not meant to cower before men in fear, but simply to respect and submit to our own husbands and honor them as men called to protect us, care for us, provide for us as the representation of Christ and His bride…
Yes I know that in this life, in our marriages, we can not demand, nor control their love for us, or the way they treat us, or honor us. Your husband may be cold, he may be indifferent, he may be borderline cruel, but we can still choose to be obedient to our Maker who is our eternal Husband (Isaiah 54:5).
We can show respect to our husbands (even if they seem not to deserve it) by our obedience to God’s instructions to us as wives. Our husbands are responsible to God for their own actions, as we are for ours. Let us just be obedient to God and leave the consequences to Him.
**** Disclosure****
I do not mean abusive by “borderline cruel”… if your spouse physically or emotionally or mentally abuses you or your children seek help immediately. Talk to someone now. Don’t put it off another day. There is hope for your marriage and for your future.
Devotional Studies Through the Bible, Uncategorized

>Elohim

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In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1

Here we are in the book of beginnings; the book that has been passed down the generations since the days of Moses, the one chosen by God to write His most holy Word. In this first chapter, God reveals amazing things about His character, about who He is.
I don’t believe we can realize the depth of what God shows us about Himself without looking at the Hebrew translations of some of the words used in this first chapter.
“In the beginning God:” In the Hebrew, God is Elohim, meaning plural, more than one—God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. How amazing that we see the Trinity in the very first sentence of the Bible.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Created in the Hebrew is bara ex nihilio, which means “created out of nothing.” God is the only one who ever took absolute nothing and made it something. From this verse in God’s Word we see that the first something that God created was time.

We next see the creation of space and matter. God created the universe and the very components that make it exist. Components that in themselves represent the essence of who He is, the blessed Trinity. If one component was missing, the universe would not exist—each component unique yet equally needed, all three working together to form the one universe.

In chapter one of Genesis, we are introduced to action verbs that give us insight into God. We read, “And the Spirit of God was moving.” The word moving in Hebrew is rachaph; it means to flutter, shake, move. The Spirit energized the earth, bringing it to life. The phrase “then God said” is often repeated in Genesis. The word “said” in Hebrew is “amar”, it means to command.; God commanded and it was. God always speaks with authority.
In verse four we read, “God saw.” The word saw in Hebrew is ra’ah. When God “ra’ah” His creation, it meant He approved, enjoyed, and joyfully looked upon it. Genesis 1:4 declares that “God separated.” Separated in Hebrew is badal; it means to divide, to distinguish, to utterly sever.

Then we see that “God called,” which in Hebrew is qara. It means He named with authority, He proclaimed and called out to, and He properly addressed His creation by name. When we read “God made,” in Hebrew it is “God asah” and means that He fashioned, He formed, and He finished.

In verse seventeen, “God placed,” or Elohim nathan,which tells us God appointed, ordained, occupied. He appointed the occupancy of the lights in the sky exactly where He ordained them.

One of the last action verbs in chapter one is “God blessed.” Blessed in Hebrew is barak. It means to praise, to salute, to adore. Have you ever considered the thought that God looked over all His creation, which included man, which includes you, and he adored it?

When we look at Genesis chapter one in light of the Hebrew translations of our English words, we can see intricate details that have oftentimes been overlooked, details that expound upon the character of our Creator. Our God did not flippantly throw the world together. He created with power and authority, with care and precision, and with great joy and adoration. My precious one, spend today resting in the realization that your Elohim addresses you by name and He adores you.
Oh Father,
I praise you, for you are the beginning of all. You created out of nothing.
You spoke, and the earth formed.
You commanded, and the light obeyed.
You control time, space, and matter.
You shape and form the very dust of the earth, every star in the sky.
You alone put the sun in its place, and by your word, it shines.

Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.”
Psalm 147:4 says, “He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them.”

You uphold all things by the word of your power (Hebrews 1:3).
My Jesus, you are Creator of all things (John 1:3), and all things were created through you and for you (Colossians 1:16).
You are the center of the universe, the beginning and the end.

Worthy are you, my Jesus, the Lamb, standing as if slain (Revelation 5:6).
Slain for my redemption, to pay my debt, to reconcile me to you, my Father God. Slain to make me holy, to be my righteousness, to bring me life. Slain to bring me back to where God said it was good.

Oh thank you, my Elohim! You are all this and more, and yet still you adore me. Oh may your Holy Spirit fill me, teach me, guide me, and create in me a clean and pure heart. May you, my Father, be able to joyfully look upon me.

My Jesus, it’s in your name I pray,
Amen

Confessions of a Christian Wife, Proven Path Ministries, Uncategorized

>New Blog

>After submitting my second book to my publisher and realizing that maybe, just maybe, there was another way to do this… I have decided to not go through with a second publication.

Having recently discovered the “blog world” I have instead chosen to take my vision of a devotional series through the Torah, the books of the Law, and turn it into a blog that will go past the Torah and all the way to Revelation:

Devotional Studies Through The Bible

I hope that you will join me on this journey as well, and that you will share this blog with your family, and friends, and all those you meet in your own blogging communities, and outside them as well.

As much as it thrilled me to receive that “yes, we would love to publish your manuscript” my desire never really was for a royalty check… but that God might use me to open eyes to the beauty and relevance of the Old Testament.
The pressure of wondering if people will actually buy the book is more pressure than I want to bear at this time. It is a weight I need not carry, for my joy is in sharing the gospel, teaching the Word, and simply not leaving all that God has shone me in my study time in a notebook in the attic, but getting it out there in the world so maybe it will help someone else.

Devotions From Genesis is out and books are still selling and there even is another book signing coming up in October, I of course, would be overjoyed to have everyone purchase a copy of this book, but the dream is not to just sit at a table and sign a book, but to tell of the glory of my Creator God and leave someone with a tangible thing to take with them that will hopefully help them to persevere through all the begots and cubits and names that are almost impossible to pronounce. 

Maybe someday I will pursue the publication of Devotions from Exodus Part 1 and Part 2, and then Leviticus, and Numbers, and so on, but then it will simply be turning the blog into books and not the books into a blog.

So my friends I invite you to join me on this journey through the Bible, one devotion at a time, beginning today…  🙂

Devotional Studies Through the Bible, Uncategorized

>Introduction to Devotions From Genesis It’s Not Just Ancient History

>

Introduction
With every turn of the page in God’s Holy Word there is more and more of who he is, to man , to the whole world, to those who belong to him, and to those who refuse him. His Word is so precious to us. How true the disciple answered when Jesus asked them if they were going to leave him too, Simon replied “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.” (John 6:68)
Where would we go if we had not his Word, his promises, to cling to? We would go down in a pit. We would be in darkness. We would be drowning in a world of confusion. We would be unable to decipher the top from the bottom, frantically searching for light to lead us to the top where we could breathe again.
Possibly you are already there or fear yourself on the threshhold. I understand. I have been there. Know my precious one that God has not forsaken you, nor will he ever. He is there, desiring greatly to show you his truth and to help you understand the heart of the psalmist when he wrote, “This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your word has revived me.” (Psalm 119:50)
As Jesus walked with the disciples and explained the Scriptures, he too will walk with us. He sent us the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth. I believe our search for truth, our search for revival, should begin at the beginning.
I began my search with Genesis and the God I discovered there was one I realized I did not know. The joy of my discovery impacted my life greatly and ignited a passion within me to encourage others to leap into the pages of the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament Scriptures.
My hope is that the daily bites of this devotional will only wet your appetite and create within you an unsatisifiable hunger and thirst for the Word.
My prayer is that God will open your eyes and your heart to the glorious wonders in his Word and guide you into all truth. I pray that he will give you a greater understanding of his Word and make it as a part of you as your marrow is to your bones.
To God be all the glory and honor and praise!