I went to the Discover your maker camp a few weeks ago, and Kevin Fenger did the talks on Forgiveness...they were totally excellent, inspiring and real! And i want to share with you some of what he spoke about! I asked him to send me his notes - so the entry below is all Kevin :) He did his talks in 2 parts...so ill post them in 2 sections! I hope you find them as helpful and inspiring as i did :)
1. The heart of a father
Picture this in your head: A little boy who has lost his mum or dad in a busy train station, he is alone and vulnerable. His mum is not to be seen and the little boy begins to cry. How do you think the boy feels?
Picture this in your head: Mother, was off buying a ticket and turns to ask her son if he would like to go to the toilet before the train comes. Imagine her looking around. Imagine that moment when she realises that he is not with her and alone somewhere in a busy railway station.
How do you think she feels?
I visualise her running… screaming Brandon!! Brandon!!! BRANDONN!! Running back in the direction she came in, scanning frantically through brimming tears as she fears for the worst. He must be so scared? Is he ok? How close was he to the tracks? Was he abducted? BRANDONN!!! BRANDONN!!!!
Now I want you to take that emotion that you are imagining for that mother and place it into the heart of God when his child is lost. God loves you at least that much, and is panicking and searching frantically to find you… wondering if you can hear him calling… no, screaming your name… KEVIN!!!!!!!
That mother is not thinking “Why did that little wretch let go of my hand? Why did he not stay where he was told? Why did he wander off? The little beast, I’m going to kill him when I find him!” God does not want to punish you for wandering off either; he is desperately searching for you to save you from certain death. He is screaming your name, hoping that you will hear, lift up your head, and follow the sound of his voice.
There is a song that I’ve heard. I don’t know if you guys know it, it goes:
be careful little hands what you do
be careful little hands what you do
Because the Father up above is looking down with … love
I think sometimes we get the words of that song wrong
be careful little hands what you do
be careful little hands what you do
Because the Father up above is going to squash you like a bug...
I used to have this perception of God, the Father, as a stern and remote God watching our every move waiting for us to step out of line so that he can punish us and teach us a lesson… That is not the Father that I know now. Jesus showed us the Father’s love. Jesus gave his own life to save me, he took a bullet for you and for me … and that is an expression of the Father’s love. He will do whatever it takes to save you, he will die for you. He’s not waiting for you to step out of line so he can squash you, He is looking down with love and He wants what is best for you… He wants a relationship of love and trust and communication and fondness. He is especially fond of you. If you’re lost in the railway station of your life, God is desperate to throw his arms around you and hold you close.
He knows everything about you. He knows what you do in dark places in your heart, he knows everything that you think, everything you imagine and he loves you. Just the way you are. He made you and God doesn’t make junk! He sees you as a masterpiece. And if you go missing, he wants to find you.
He will come and meet you wherever you are. You know if Nicola (Kev's daughter) had to call me and tell me she was in the city somewhere and she was scared and on her own, and she thinks someone is following her, I would take the phone into the car with me and start driving. Yeah, I’d break the no talking on your cell phone while driving law. And I would drive up and down every street in the city until I found her. God is your father, He will drop everything to focus on his one lost sheep and come and find you in whatever place you find yourself.
God wants to hear from his children too. If a child is in trouble and turns to God, whether that place is on the end of a needle, whether it’s in a gutter, at a private school, at a public school, in the shower, or right here in this room, he will come to you. Whatever you’ve done, it doesn’t matter. You could have lied to your mother, you could have failed your HSC, you could have downloaded suggestive or explicit music, images or videos, you could have run away from home, you could have sent suggestive or explicit text messages, you could have bullied someone online or offline, you could have endangered the lives of your friends by driving above the speed limit for kicks, you could have popped pills, you could have led someone on, you could have given into lust, you could have abandoned your child in a dustbin. You could have killed someone.
God, your Father just wants you to turn to him so that he can hold you and tell you that you are his child and he loves you more than you will ever know. He wants so desperately to find you and to start spending every day with you, if you will invite him to do so.
So how do we spend the day with God? How do we have a relationship with God? What does that mean? It’s a lot more difficult to understand how to have a relationship with God than it is to have a relationship with a real person.
I like to think of God living in my heart talking to me and guiding me each day. And when I am focused on His goodness and His love, he is speaking loudly into my life, but when I focus on things like selfishness or anger or bitterness or revenge or spite, these things drown out the voice of God in my life… If God’s word in my heart is like a seed wanting to grow, then when I focus on these things, I cannot hear God, he still dwells in me, but these things are like weeds in my heart choking him and distancing me from his voice and once that voice drops to below a whisper in my heart or in my conscience, I have lost my guide. God could be screaming my name, KEVIN!!!! … but I cannot hear anymore, but my anger, my bitterness, my selfishness is drowning out His voice … Ephesians tells us how God describes what He feels when we wander away from him in this way and it is probably the most powerful word we have in the English language for the pain of loss. God says he feels ‘grief’! In Ephesians 4: 30 he says do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.
We talk about grief when someone dies. The picture I have of grief is a picture of a Father holding the lifeless body of His son or daughter in His arms and screaming through His sobs: “Noooooooooo!” my son!!! My son! Not my son …
Grief is not an emotion you would normally associate with anger or wrath or judgement. When someone you love dies, you miss them! You feel empty without them. God says that’s how he feels about you. When you let love and compassion and mercy and humility get choked out of your heart, your Father misses you. He wants you to spend time with him. He has always been interested in a relationship with you.
He has made that relationship possible, through Jesus. What Jesus achieved through His life was to triumph over sin. Yes, he triumphed alright. His victory was won by the way he lived and by the way he loved. He lived showing God’s character and God’s love. He forgave sins, He did not condemn sinners; instead he mixed with them, ate with them, taught them and encouraged them. He showed us in every step of his life what his Father would do.
Hebrews 10:5-7
Jesus sweated, as it were, blood to submit his will to his Father’s will. He had come to do his Father’s will. He couldn’t do what he wanted to do, which at that point may have been to run. He had to be true to what his Father would have done and lay down his life so that you and I could be saved: So that you and I could share eternity with Him.
Hebrews 10:11-17
Our sins and lawless acts he will remember no more…
That’s good news for me! As you know, gospel means ‘good news’ and the gospel of Truth for me is this:
• My name is Kevin and I am a sinner (i.e. I am broken, I get lost, I slip
and fall, I backslide and I’m weak)
• My Father loves me (and is especially fond of me) In Him I am forgiven, I
am established, I am found, I am rooted and He is strong.
But above all … I am loved
Saturday, 20 March 2010
Friday, 19 March 2010
You are what you eat
"Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days." - Psalm 90:14
Today I was waiting in line to check in for my Air Asia flight to Phnom Pehn, when I suddenly felt crazy ravenous! I don't know about you, but when im hungry I start having encounters with my little 'Cheeky Abi Devil' and the possibility of me behaving like a foul beast is on the rise! I begin to feel myself becoming easily angered, annoyed, short tempered and down right irrational! This instance felt much like that, maybe not quite as dramatic as that, but if you know anything about me, i like to exaggerate! ;) What did amaze me is how once I managed to find myself some food for my belly, I managed to come back to reality relatively quickly and felt calm and collected and much more at peace with my 'Cheeky Abi Angel' once more! Hurrah!
I had about 3 hours to kill at the airport, so my hunger episode prompted a few thoughts...
I started to think about physical food, and it occurred to me that we were created to be hungry. Our bodies need constant nourishment, and hunger is simply a trigger designed by God to stimulate a necessary response. Whether were talking about physical, emotional, mental or spiritual hunger, we're only temporarily satisfied for a matter of hours between meal times.
When I think about it...the satisfying response to physical hunger is food and drink.
The satisfying response to emotional hunger is love.
The satisfying response to mental hunger is knowledge.
And the only satisfying response to spiritual hunger is God. Nothing can take His place, nothing can come close to God if you want to satisfy your spiritual hunger.
Being a woman I know all about food cravings...sometimes they can be so specific that im not even sure what it is that im craving! Our souls constantly crave to be fed, and I guess if God does not have a proper place in your life...you will stay hungry for a loooooong time! Ive recently started to experience these spiritual food cravings in my life...when I go a few days without praying or reading my bible or reading something spiritual, I tend to start panicking much like I did in the Air Aisa cue for my flight. I also realised that the longer I go without spiritual food, the more irrational my decisions become in my life. My hunger totally affects my judgement, and I guess the same applies when we're spiritually hungry. I have a tendency to compromise my judgement and push my convictions to the back of my mind when im spiritually hungry. Im also less likely to have a spritely conscience which would probably get me out of sticky situations if i wasn't so spiritually starved!
Have you ever noticed that the less water you drink, the less thirsty you become, but the more water you drink...the more water you want and need? I guess its much like our spiritual lives, the more we feed ourselves spiritually, the more we will hunger and thirst for God in our lives. :)
When I was in high school one of my subjects I took was Home Economics (yes yes...laugh and point, laugh and point!). One of the main formulas we learnt in nutrition was The Food Pyramid. This is a simple but very effective way of looking at the foods we eat and putting them in a hierarchy of 'eat more of' to 'eat less of' etc...so for example Fruits and Vegetables are at the bottom of the hierarchy, but they are the food group you should eat the most of on a daily basis, and then the Fats and Oils group is at the top, but its the smallest tip of the pyramid and so you are supposed to eat Fats and Oils sparingly on a daily basis. When I think about the food pyramid, I started to think about a 'Faith Food Pyramid', and I suppose it would work much the same. Our souls are fed when we experience God each day through the basic faith food groups, such as:
Reading the Bible
Praying
Worshiping
Fellowship
Listening to spiritual music or reading spiritual books etc.
Sooo, we should totally set aside time aside each day to pray, read our Bibles and worship our amazing God who loves us so so much! This is basic faith food stuff, nothing fancy or gourmet like about this one, just the basics :)
OK, so I dont know about you, but I prefer eating my meals in small portion sizes (much like my spiritual food - easy to digest!), but I also need a snack every now and then. Around 4/5pm ish I sometimes start to feel a little jittery and need just a little somethin-somethin. Yum! I suppose a spiritual snack can also hit the spot. Spiritual snacks can come in the form of scripture verses, some choice christian worship tunes, christian radio (although I dont know of any good ones, but heard of a few from my hot mamma), daily devotions and my new time favorite...christian books.
Although snacks are good, they should never replace a main meal ;) And why would we? The more we thirst and hunger after God, the more His amazing light and love shines through us and penetrates this dark and desperate world. We get to be an inspiration to others, and Gods love and Grace should beam from within us, and it should be recognisable to those around us. What an awesome responsibility! "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matthew 5:16
I think its important to remember that God made us this way, he made us hungry and to hunger after Him, and im beginning to see more and more how so much of what God puts in our daily lives holds little gems and gifts and lessons to show us simple analogies of simple teachings. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." - Matthew 5:6
"Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things" - Psalm 107:8-9
"They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them." - Isaiah 49:10
"Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh." - Luke 6:21
Today I was waiting in line to check in for my Air Asia flight to Phnom Pehn, when I suddenly felt crazy ravenous! I don't know about you, but when im hungry I start having encounters with my little 'Cheeky Abi Devil' and the possibility of me behaving like a foul beast is on the rise! I begin to feel myself becoming easily angered, annoyed, short tempered and down right irrational! This instance felt much like that, maybe not quite as dramatic as that, but if you know anything about me, i like to exaggerate! ;) What did amaze me is how once I managed to find myself some food for my belly, I managed to come back to reality relatively quickly and felt calm and collected and much more at peace with my 'Cheeky Abi Angel' once more! Hurrah!
I had about 3 hours to kill at the airport, so my hunger episode prompted a few thoughts...
I started to think about physical food, and it occurred to me that we were created to be hungry. Our bodies need constant nourishment, and hunger is simply a trigger designed by God to stimulate a necessary response. Whether were talking about physical, emotional, mental or spiritual hunger, we're only temporarily satisfied for a matter of hours between meal times.
When I think about it...the satisfying response to physical hunger is food and drink.
The satisfying response to emotional hunger is love.
The satisfying response to mental hunger is knowledge.
And the only satisfying response to spiritual hunger is God. Nothing can take His place, nothing can come close to God if you want to satisfy your spiritual hunger.
Being a woman I know all about food cravings...sometimes they can be so specific that im not even sure what it is that im craving! Our souls constantly crave to be fed, and I guess if God does not have a proper place in your life...you will stay hungry for a loooooong time! Ive recently started to experience these spiritual food cravings in my life...when I go a few days without praying or reading my bible or reading something spiritual, I tend to start panicking much like I did in the Air Aisa cue for my flight. I also realised that the longer I go without spiritual food, the more irrational my decisions become in my life. My hunger totally affects my judgement, and I guess the same applies when we're spiritually hungry. I have a tendency to compromise my judgement and push my convictions to the back of my mind when im spiritually hungry. Im also less likely to have a spritely conscience which would probably get me out of sticky situations if i wasn't so spiritually starved!
Have you ever noticed that the less water you drink, the less thirsty you become, but the more water you drink...the more water you want and need? I guess its much like our spiritual lives, the more we feed ourselves spiritually, the more we will hunger and thirst for God in our lives. :)
When I was in high school one of my subjects I took was Home Economics (yes yes...laugh and point, laugh and point!). One of the main formulas we learnt in nutrition was The Food Pyramid. This is a simple but very effective way of looking at the foods we eat and putting them in a hierarchy of 'eat more of' to 'eat less of' etc...so for example Fruits and Vegetables are at the bottom of the hierarchy, but they are the food group you should eat the most of on a daily basis, and then the Fats and Oils group is at the top, but its the smallest tip of the pyramid and so you are supposed to eat Fats and Oils sparingly on a daily basis. When I think about the food pyramid, I started to think about a 'Faith Food Pyramid', and I suppose it would work much the same. Our souls are fed when we experience God each day through the basic faith food groups, such as:
Reading the Bible
Praying
Worshiping
Fellowship
Listening to spiritual music or reading spiritual books etc.
Sooo, we should totally set aside time aside each day to pray, read our Bibles and worship our amazing God who loves us so so much! This is basic faith food stuff, nothing fancy or gourmet like about this one, just the basics :)
OK, so I dont know about you, but I prefer eating my meals in small portion sizes (much like my spiritual food - easy to digest!), but I also need a snack every now and then. Around 4/5pm ish I sometimes start to feel a little jittery and need just a little somethin-somethin. Yum! I suppose a spiritual snack can also hit the spot. Spiritual snacks can come in the form of scripture verses, some choice christian worship tunes, christian radio (although I dont know of any good ones, but heard of a few from my hot mamma), daily devotions and my new time favorite...christian books.
Although snacks are good, they should never replace a main meal ;) And why would we? The more we thirst and hunger after God, the more His amazing light and love shines through us and penetrates this dark and desperate world. We get to be an inspiration to others, and Gods love and Grace should beam from within us, and it should be recognisable to those around us. What an awesome responsibility! "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matthew 5:16
I think its important to remember that God made us this way, he made us hungry and to hunger after Him, and im beginning to see more and more how so much of what God puts in our daily lives holds little gems and gifts and lessons to show us simple analogies of simple teachings. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." - Matthew 5:6
"Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things" - Psalm 107:8-9
"They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them." - Isaiah 49:10
"Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh." - Luke 6:21
Saturday, 13 March 2010
Change us
God help us to change.
To change ourselves and to change our world.
To know the need for it.
To deal with the pain of it.
To feel the joy of it.
To undertake the journey without understanding the destination.
The art of gentle revolution.
Amen.
by Michael Leunig
To change ourselves and to change our world.
To know the need for it.
To deal with the pain of it.
To feel the joy of it.
To undertake the journey without understanding the destination.
The art of gentle revolution.
Amen.
by Michael Leunig
Thursday, 11 March 2010
For my friend...
When the heart
is cut or cracked or broken
do not clutch it
let the wound lie open
let the wind
from the good old sea blow in
to bathe the wound with salt
and let it sting.
let a stray dog lick it
let a bird lean in the hole and sing
a simple song like a tiny bell
and let it ring
let it go. let it out
let it all unravel.
let it free and it can be
a path on which to travel.
Dear God,
When we fall, let us fall inwards.
Let us fall freely and completely:
that we may find our depth and humility:
the solid earth from which we may rise up
and love again.
Amen.
by Michael Leunig
is cut or cracked or broken
do not clutch it
let the wound lie open
let the wind
from the good old sea blow in
to bathe the wound with salt
and let it sting.
let a stray dog lick it
let a bird lean in the hole and sing
a simple song like a tiny bell
and let it ring
let it go. let it out
let it all unravel.
let it free and it can be
a path on which to travel.
Dear God,
When we fall, let us fall inwards.
Let us fall freely and completely:
that we may find our depth and humility:
the solid earth from which we may rise up
and love again.
Amen.
by Michael Leunig
Sunday, 7 March 2010
Let it rain!
I was sitting in my car the other day while i was parked overlooking the lake in newcastle. It was raining pretty fiercely, and i was battling to see my beautiful surroundings through my hazed up windscreen. I was thinking to myself, "how annoying, i can barely see anything because of this crazy rain!", It made me feel a little frustrated and everything that i saw looked distorted from the splashes of water that were running all over the place.
I felt like i needed to get out of the car just so I could see with clarity.
I had a little think about it and realised how often this happens to me in my life.
When it rains it pours! Sometimes were prepared for the rain in our lives and sometimes were not. Sometimes we have to let the storm pass and only then will we begin to see with clarity again. Sometimes you have to get out of the car to see with clarity.
The other thing i realised is that no matter what happens in my life, there will always be storms and crazy, blinding, unrelenting rain, no matter who im with or where i am, and although it can feel frustrating when your out stuck in the rain and unprepared, the rain is also a blessing! Rain waters the earth and enables growth to take place in our surroundings. It nourishes the earth and helps maintain the balance of nature. It cleans and renews.
I guess its much the same with life...because when we encounter rain, it too produces growth, within us! And it helps us to appreciate the warmth on the days the sun does shine!
So bring on the rain!
I felt like i needed to get out of the car just so I could see with clarity.
I had a little think about it and realised how often this happens to me in my life.
When it rains it pours! Sometimes were prepared for the rain in our lives and sometimes were not. Sometimes we have to let the storm pass and only then will we begin to see with clarity again. Sometimes you have to get out of the car to see with clarity.
The other thing i realised is that no matter what happens in my life, there will always be storms and crazy, blinding, unrelenting rain, no matter who im with or where i am, and although it can feel frustrating when your out stuck in the rain and unprepared, the rain is also a blessing! Rain waters the earth and enables growth to take place in our surroundings. It nourishes the earth and helps maintain the balance of nature. It cleans and renews.
I guess its much the same with life...because when we encounter rain, it too produces growth, within us! And it helps us to appreciate the warmth on the days the sun does shine!
So bring on the rain!
Leftovers anyone?
I must admit, I was a little hesitant to post this entry, and id really love your feedback to let me know what you think! :)
How would you feel if you were invited over to someone's house for a special meal, you had prepared yourself adequately for the evening out, and when you arrived you were served last Sundays half eaten pot roast? Would you feel disappointed? Under valued that your company didn't quite deserve a fresh, home cooked meal that took love and time to prepare?
Do you think maybe this is how your future marital partner would feel if you had given away little pieces of your heart to various different people in your life? I think we can get so wrapped up in not wanting to give away parts of our physical bodies prematurely, that we forget about saving ourselves emotionally. Protecting ourselves from emotional purity is just as important as protecting ourselves from physical purity.
Everyone seems to understand physical intimacy, and where the boundaries should be, but I think its hard to define where the line should be drawn at emotional intimacy. We are told over and over again in the Bible that our bodies are the Lords temple (1 Corinthians 3:16) and that we are not to defile them with fornication (Romans 13:13). Gods plan was for us to be pure in body (Hebrews 13:4), but shouldn't we also consider to be emotionally pure before marriage?
The dictionary defines 'emotions' as "agitation of the passions of sensibilities, strong complex feelings", and it defines 'intimate' as "marked by a close acquaintance or familiarity, very personal or private, a close friend or confidant." From this I have gathered that emotional intimacy would be a close, private relationship that would invoke strong feelings, passions, and the senses.
The other thing I have been thinking about is that emotional intimacy will bring about physical intimacy. Emotional intimacy is the kind of closeness and familiarity that stirs feelings and senses that create a bond, a union that God reserves for a marriage relationship. "Let marriage be held in honor among all" (Hebrews 13:4). Once we make a solid commitment to someone and marriage vows are spoken, we are then free to explore all areas of intimacy: physical, emotional and spiritual.
I think this kind of intimacy is also mirrored in our relationship with God. When we get baptised we enter into a 'marriage covenant' with God, we then experience the freedom of emotional intimacy that comes with committing our lives to Christ. It is impossible to have that connection before the commitment. Only after we commit to Christ can we enter with confidence into and enjoy the benefits of a committed relationship with God. Our path should be commitment and THEN intimacy.
You cant righteously satisfy another person until you make a commitment.
God clearly tells us not to defraud one another. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-6 - "For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality, and each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God, and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you." I think we have become desensitised to the emotional purity of our friends & partners. We defraud each other without even realising what we are doing. The word 'defraud' means "taking something that is not yours". You can so easily take something from someone that does not belong to you.
I think if you are going to take the "free-for-all" method, you should remember that you may be playing with the heart of someone elses future spouse. I have been known to share too much information to others about my feelings and life, but what i didn't realise was that i was building emotional ties that do not belong to those people.
I thought about ways to avoid premature emotional intimacy in relationships & friendships. I thought these would be some good questions to ask yourself:
1. Would I be treating him this way if his wife were here?
2. Would I be saying this if my husband were here?
3. Would I even be thinking about this person if I were married?
I think at some stage in our lives, we try to fill our hearts with something or someone that in actual fact, only God can fill. God will not allow anything to fill that void we feel in our lives with anything but Him.
God blesses those who desire purity and holiness. I think if we strive toward emotional purity, one day we will reap the rewards. Its not too late!
How would you feel if you were invited over to someone's house for a special meal, you had prepared yourself adequately for the evening out, and when you arrived you were served last Sundays half eaten pot roast? Would you feel disappointed? Under valued that your company didn't quite deserve a fresh, home cooked meal that took love and time to prepare?
Do you think maybe this is how your future marital partner would feel if you had given away little pieces of your heart to various different people in your life? I think we can get so wrapped up in not wanting to give away parts of our physical bodies prematurely, that we forget about saving ourselves emotionally. Protecting ourselves from emotional purity is just as important as protecting ourselves from physical purity.
Everyone seems to understand physical intimacy, and where the boundaries should be, but I think its hard to define where the line should be drawn at emotional intimacy. We are told over and over again in the Bible that our bodies are the Lords temple (1 Corinthians 3:16) and that we are not to defile them with fornication (Romans 13:13). Gods plan was for us to be pure in body (Hebrews 13:4), but shouldn't we also consider to be emotionally pure before marriage?
The dictionary defines 'emotions' as "agitation of the passions of sensibilities, strong complex feelings", and it defines 'intimate' as "marked by a close acquaintance or familiarity, very personal or private, a close friend or confidant." From this I have gathered that emotional intimacy would be a close, private relationship that would invoke strong feelings, passions, and the senses.
The other thing I have been thinking about is that emotional intimacy will bring about physical intimacy. Emotional intimacy is the kind of closeness and familiarity that stirs feelings and senses that create a bond, a union that God reserves for a marriage relationship. "Let marriage be held in honor among all" (Hebrews 13:4). Once we make a solid commitment to someone and marriage vows are spoken, we are then free to explore all areas of intimacy: physical, emotional and spiritual.
I think this kind of intimacy is also mirrored in our relationship with God. When we get baptised we enter into a 'marriage covenant' with God, we then experience the freedom of emotional intimacy that comes with committing our lives to Christ. It is impossible to have that connection before the commitment. Only after we commit to Christ can we enter with confidence into and enjoy the benefits of a committed relationship with God. Our path should be commitment and THEN intimacy.
You cant righteously satisfy another person until you make a commitment.
God clearly tells us not to defraud one another. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-6 - "For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality, and each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God, and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you." I think we have become desensitised to the emotional purity of our friends & partners. We defraud each other without even realising what we are doing. The word 'defraud' means "taking something that is not yours". You can so easily take something from someone that does not belong to you.
I think if you are going to take the "free-for-all" method, you should remember that you may be playing with the heart of someone elses future spouse. I have been known to share too much information to others about my feelings and life, but what i didn't realise was that i was building emotional ties that do not belong to those people.
I thought about ways to avoid premature emotional intimacy in relationships & friendships. I thought these would be some good questions to ask yourself:
1. Would I be treating him this way if his wife were here?
2. Would I be saying this if my husband were here?
3. Would I even be thinking about this person if I were married?
I think at some stage in our lives, we try to fill our hearts with something or someone that in actual fact, only God can fill. God will not allow anything to fill that void we feel in our lives with anything but Him.
God blesses those who desire purity and holiness. I think if we strive toward emotional purity, one day we will reap the rewards. Its not too late!
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Once upon a time
When I was a little girl, my favorite books were fairy tales. Snow White, Cinderella, The little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast etc. I loved these stories! I never thought my life was a fairy tale, not even close, but those fairy tales inspired a life that I WANTED to live. They spoke to the little girl inside me who wanted mystery and beauty, danger and adventure and most of all, the prince with my 'happily ever after'. Im sure im not the only little girl who felt this way. :)
When you think of all these stories, most of them follow a similar pattern: Lovely girl grows up into a beautiful, brave and gifted woman, and through some sort of suffering and betrayal her prince appears.
As women, we long for intimacy and adventure, we all want to be the Beauty of some amazing story. God set these desires in our hearts. God created men and women in His own image, and our feminine hearts have been created as a reflection of Gods own heart.
God put a desire for romance in our hearts, you can try bury it or hide it, but its there, and it WONT go away!!! God loves romance! He created it. Jeremiah 29:13 - "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart". God wants to be pursued and so do we. Sometimes I feel like God put these desires in my heart to torture me, but of course He didn't, God placed these desires in my heart to guide me and help me discover the woman he made me to be and the life he created me to live. Psalm 37:4 - "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart".
The massive desire and capacity a woman has for intimate relationships tells us of Gods own massive desire and capacity for intimate relationships. God yearns for a relationship with us. John 17:3 "Now this is eternal life, that they may know you, the one true God". Gods heart mirrors our hearts. He desires all the same things we desire, to be loved, cherished above all others, trusted, cared for etc. Jeremiah 24:7 "I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart". How totally awesome to think that God is tenderhearted, and yearns for the same intimacy we crave, only in us. Gods greatest commandment is to love your God with your whole heart, mind and spirit. He wants to be sought after, desired and pursued, just like us! So why do we find it so hard to make Gods love for us tangible when we have so much in common? I dont know about you, but my closest female friendships were built on the sharing of experiences and sharing of emotions and finding out that other women felt the same as me...God feels the same as we do! He wants all the same things we do! :)
In most fairy tales there is the 'happy ending', where after some sort of problem, the prince rushes in on his white stallion and kisses the princess. In the case of snow white, she is awakened by this kiss from death. I would always imagine my hot prince being someone like Brad Pitt or Ashton Kutcher, but I realised that putting my trust in an 'earthly prince' is futile and only leads to dissapointment. We need our prince, who is Jesus, to kiss us awake, because Christs love is perfect! Everything else in this world is so volatile, and Christ needs to be our Number 1 romancer...our rock. :)
Jeremiah 31:3 - "I have loved you with an everlasting love".
Songs 4:9 - "You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride, you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes".
2 Samuel 22:2 "The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer".
When you think of all these stories, most of them follow a similar pattern: Lovely girl grows up into a beautiful, brave and gifted woman, and through some sort of suffering and betrayal her prince appears.
As women, we long for intimacy and adventure, we all want to be the Beauty of some amazing story. God set these desires in our hearts. God created men and women in His own image, and our feminine hearts have been created as a reflection of Gods own heart.
God put a desire for romance in our hearts, you can try bury it or hide it, but its there, and it WONT go away!!! God loves romance! He created it. Jeremiah 29:13 - "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart". God wants to be pursued and so do we. Sometimes I feel like God put these desires in my heart to torture me, but of course He didn't, God placed these desires in my heart to guide me and help me discover the woman he made me to be and the life he created me to live. Psalm 37:4 - "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart".
The massive desire and capacity a woman has for intimate relationships tells us of Gods own massive desire and capacity for intimate relationships. God yearns for a relationship with us. John 17:3 "Now this is eternal life, that they may know you, the one true God". Gods heart mirrors our hearts. He desires all the same things we desire, to be loved, cherished above all others, trusted, cared for etc. Jeremiah 24:7 "I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart". How totally awesome to think that God is tenderhearted, and yearns for the same intimacy we crave, only in us. Gods greatest commandment is to love your God with your whole heart, mind and spirit. He wants to be sought after, desired and pursued, just like us! So why do we find it so hard to make Gods love for us tangible when we have so much in common? I dont know about you, but my closest female friendships were built on the sharing of experiences and sharing of emotions and finding out that other women felt the same as me...God feels the same as we do! He wants all the same things we do! :)
In most fairy tales there is the 'happy ending', where after some sort of problem, the prince rushes in on his white stallion and kisses the princess. In the case of snow white, she is awakened by this kiss from death. I would always imagine my hot prince being someone like Brad Pitt or Ashton Kutcher, but I realised that putting my trust in an 'earthly prince' is futile and only leads to dissapointment. We need our prince, who is Jesus, to kiss us awake, because Christs love is perfect! Everything else in this world is so volatile, and Christ needs to be our Number 1 romancer...our rock. :)
Jeremiah 31:3 - "I have loved you with an everlasting love".
Songs 4:9 - "You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride, you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes".
2 Samuel 22:2 "The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer".
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)