I know God doesn’t have any favourites, but there are times
when I certainly feel like one of His because my life has been so idyllic, especially over
the past three months. We have been visiting the family in Australia for 40
sleeps with one family near Perth and then 40 sleeps on the Sunshine Coast with
our middle daughter and her family who have emigrated this last year (see previous
blog). Fancy three months holiday! Well, not being happy to sit around while my
hard working families were running around and giving us quality time as well,
my precious daughters allowed me to do laundry duties and I loved it, an
opportunity to pray, worship and listen to teachings.
But all the time the verse of the Bible that I was
meditating on more than any other was Genesis
3:16 ‘He told the woman, I’ll multiply your pains in childbirth; you’ll
give birth to your babies in pain. You’ll want
to please your husband but he will lord it over you.’ This was the curse
that came on all people after Adam and Eve had chosen to disobey the only rule God
had given them. ‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity you shall not
eat,…. ’ Genesis 2:16,17. They lived
in perfect harmony with Him in the Garden of Eden but doubted His Love. Then again from the NET Bible ‘To the woman He said ….. You will want to control your husband, but he
will dominate you.’ And from the Amplified Bible ‘…….. With spasms of distress
you will bring forth children. Yet your desire
and craving will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.’
What a change from the Garden! God’s original plan was
for Him to share daily with His creation. He had made us to fellowship and share everything
with Him, a relationship of no secrets, no limits, and total trust on both
sides. But instead of looking to God, we have looked for this quality
relationship from friends and partners. We have desires and cravings that God longs to satisfy. Even the most
attentive human lover cannot be with us all the time. No other person knows the
intimacies of our hearts, minds, and spirits, -- but God. He knows everything about
us (the good and the bad) and still loves us passionately. Whatever we do will
not cause Him to love us any more or any less. Stop and think about that! Many of us spend a lifetime or a small fortune
searching for someone who understands us, only to be disappointed.
But as always, the awesome Almighty, Creator, Loving God
has a plan for us to be restored to Him. He wants us to walk again with Him in
intimate relationship just like Eve did in the Garden. Jesus removed that curse
on the Cross, Galatians 3:10-14. So now
we don’t have to live with these desires
and cravings that we are trying to get a person to fulfill, when all the time
God alone is the only one who can truly satisfy us. We need to bring our relationships
into line with His Word, making Him the centre of our lives. When this is the
case our relationships with people will blossom and flourish, and our intimacy
with God will be moment by moment.
When symptoms of this torment return, run to the Lord, tell
Him everything, (He knows everything anyway) and get His directions. Focus your
eyes on His Word. Read it out loud if necessary. Say “I believe it. I will do
it. I forgive. I take it. I thank You for everything, even the smallest things.”
Fill your heart with worship until it overflows, receiving His Love. When we
approach God with thanksgiving, the Light of His Presence pours into us transforming us through and through, so walk in the Light of Jesus by practising
the discipline of thanksgiving.
I am disappointed that I
didn’t apply this Truth to my family life years ago but I can thank God for the
wonderful people He has given me and when I feel control, cravings, and desires
I can keep quiet and run to the arms of my Heavenly Father and rely on the
counsel and comfort of the Holy Spirit. He is freely available to all of us who
call on Him.
When we open our hearts to receive Jesus as Saviour it is
the beginning of an eternal love story. Jesus the Lover of our soul understands
us perfectly and loves us forever, so let us trust the power of the Holy Spirit
in us to no longer live under the curse!
Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His
name, He gave the right to become children of God -- John 1:12
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