Weekly Devotionals for Women

Hello Readers!

I and a few other lady friends including will be starting a series of women's devotionals that will be sent out on a weekly basis. They will be sent out beginning Monday. If you would like to receive them in your inbox you can sign up for them here:

http://eepurl.com/cWPGM

You can also visit our website here:

http://www.theredemptivepursuit.com

And follow us on twitter here:

http://www.twitter.com/RPDevotionals

Spirit Filled

"To begin praying for the operations of the Holy Spirit is not simply a matter of scheduling more time for it! We have to repent for the reasons we haven't been praying for them. We must reflect on biblicl passages, recall the strongest works of the Holy Spirit in our lives and consider the lives of men and women in history or the present that show us what the Spirit can do in a human life. We have to stir up a vision in our minds and a passion in our hearts for what the Spirit can do in us, and then pray with energy and endurance for the Spirit to come."

-"Prayer" A Bible study by Tim Keller

Your Clay Pot Assignment

"And why have I called you for this work?...I called you by name when you did not know me. I am the Lord; there is no other God. ...Destruction is certain for those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot ever argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it saying, 'Stop you are doing it wrong! ' Does the pot exclaim, 'How clumsy you can be!'" -Isaiah 45:4-5, 9 New Living Translation

I came across these verses this morning and it spoke to me about how much of a mental complainer I often am about the assignment God gives me. Whether it's a long term assignment like the job I am holding for a season or a short term assignment like the way I am forced to spend my weekend doing chores I'd rather not, I often find myself frustrated by the tasks I have to complete.

But these verses remind me that God created me. And because He created me, He's the best one to dole out the assignments.

When the potter sits down at his wheel, he knows if he is molding the clay into a pot to carry water, a pot for decoration, a cooking pot, etc. The clay is being shaped by its creator for the purpose it will serve.

In the same way, I am being shaped by my Creator. My view of the purposes and plans God's has for me are confined to the past and present of my life. They do not take into account a Creator who stands outside of time and sees how my life intersects with the others He has created to unfold His plans for all time. And the more I try to live my life grumbling and moaning about the assignments He has given me for the here and now the more selfishly I am living. The more I am living outside of the design He has for me. And the more I am, essentially, arguing with my Creator.

And who am I as the clay to argue with the Master Potter?

P.S. Original photo link here.

Pastor Tim Keller on the Current Political Scene

Pastor Tim Keller on MSNBC on demonization in the current political scene and how it stems from idolization.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

And

his article "Backlash and Civility" about the current political atmosphere and where we should stand as Christians:

http://www.redeemer.com/news_and_events/newsletter/?aid=191

Practicing the Practical

I have been reading through Proverbs this week and it has been incredibly refreshing. I have always gravitated toward the Psalms when I just flip my Bible open but reading through this book has reminded me how much practical truths can inform the things I believe which in turn informs my attitude and my behavior. Some that stuck out to me on this read through (all in New Living Translation)

"Your own soul is nourished when you are kind, but you destroy yourself when you are cruel."

-Proverbs 11:17

"A worthy wife is her husband's joy and crown; a shameful wife saps his strength."

-Proverbs 12:4

"Those who control their tongue will have a long life, a quick retort, can ruin everything."

-Proverbs 13:3

"Each heart knows its own bitterness and no one else can fully share its joy."

-Proverbs 14:10

"We can make our plans but the Lord determines our steps."

-Proverbs 16:9

"A cheerful heart is a good medicine but a broken spirit saps a person's strength."

-Proverbs 17:22

"Beginning a quarrel is like opening a floodgate so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out."

-Proverbs 17:15

"Haughtiness goes before destruction, humility precedes honor."

-Proverbs 18:12

"A fool is quick tempered but a wise person stays calm when insulted."

-Proverbs 12:16

P.S. Winter can end now please. :-)

"Loving Into Lovability"

I was reading this blog post by John Piper called "Consider Loving Someone Into Lovability" where he discusses that God justifies His people as righteous before they demonstrate any goodness. God loves them and then, after such love, their heart is changed.

Piper then poses the question, "Can we do the same? Can we, by God's grace, love someone into lovability?"

What a difficult task. It's so much easier when someone is hard to love to just walk away. It's so much easier to make our relationships consumer like and avoid those are not very fun to love and serve.

When I read Piper's blog, two things came to mind:

First, if God looks upon me as now sinless because of the sacrifice that Christ has made, it means He also looks upon the person I find difficult to love as sinless perfection as well. Those I am frustrated or angry with are perfect in God's eyes. They are made in His image. They have been perfected by Him and His sacrifice. If we are both on the same plane in God's sight, then finding myself superior to someone is not a possibility. And if I do not feel superior in any way to that person, they become much easier to love.

The second thing that I thought of was how very gracious God is with us. We find it so difficult to love those around us who we feel don't "deserve" our time, effort and energy and yet we are unphased by the amount of sacrifice that has been poured into us when we were considered unlovable. We are so hard hearted that we look upon Christ's blood and sacrifice as cheap. Christ believed that in our totally depraved and sinful state, we were worth dying for. Yet we have difficulty extending grace, patience and love to that family member who is overly opinionated. To the checkout lady who we feel always gives us attitude. To the friend who always complains.

We know that love is supposed to be sacrificial but we often find it harder to make the small day to day sacrifices of loving those we find "difficult" than to make big sacrifices for those we feel are serving us well.

But the more we meditate on 1) our lack of superiority because of the Gospel and 2) the abundant Grace that has been given us by Jesus, hopefully(!) the easier it will become.

Warrior Women

The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper
suitable for him."
-Genesis 2:18

A friend of my husband’s asked us if we would be willing to host a Bible study using our church’s study entitled Sex, Singleness and Marriage. It was a seven week study that unpacked some of the baggage surrounding all of these topics and, undoubtedly, brought up a lot of questions while it was answering others.

One of my favorite things that I learned, however, was regarding the above verse. I had perused several marriage books/articles/sermons about this verse and the verses surrounding it and listened to various opinions about what it all meant. What does it really mean to be someone’s “helper”? And am I only supposed to be a “helper” if I’m married? And frankly, being a “helper” sounded a bit boring.

From the Redeemer study:
“The English word “helper” is, unfortunately, a rather weak word. It connotes an “assistant”—
someone who is less capable and who simply runs errands and does menial tasks. However, the Hebrew word “ezer” is used in the Bible almost every other time to describe God himself, in a military context. For example in Deuteronomy 33:29, we read: Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword. Your enemies will cower before you, and you will trample down their high places. All the citations of “ezer” (helper) in the Bible (including this one from Deuteronomy) illustrate that a helper is someone who helps out of strength, to fill up a need that is lacking in the other. And the Bible’s consistent use of “ezer” with a military reference has led to a consideration of women as warriors working alongside men to bring about God’s kingdom here on earth....


“For example, a broad interpretation of v. 18 is that:
God created the woman to be a warrior alongside the man in advancing, God’s kingdom throughout the earth. This is every woman’s calling, regardless of her age, marital status, or circumstances. Every woman is an ezer from birth to death. We are warriors for God’s purposes alongside our brothers in Christ. (Carolyn Custis James, The Gospel of Ruth, 211)”

If “every woman is an ezer from birth to death” then I should be a warrior for all of the men in my life. My husband, my brother, my father. The men in my life and at my church.

Around the same time that we were going through this study, I was reading through The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian. It made me think that the greatest way I can be a warrior for my spouse and the other men in my life is to be a prayer warrior. To take very seriously my role and responsibility as someone who is to be fighting for them…. And to fight with prayer.

I’m now trying to develop a habit of praying for the men of my life with a warrior mentality. With a mentality that acknowledges that part of the reason I was created is to fight for them in the battle of life because they need the support of their warrior wife, daughter, sister, friend.

They need the support of an Ezer.

(P.S. The picture is of Joan of Arc.)