Unconditional Love

by Susan Sampson

The words of the Lord to us –

“Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and COME away” (Song of Solomon 2:13).

“COME, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! COME, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1).

“COME to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

“Incline your ear, and COME to me; hear, that your soul may live…” (Isaiah 55:3a).

Lord, give us ears to hear your voice calling to us in this dry and weary land where there is no water.  Calling us to return to our first love.  Compel us by your love to respond to your word.  “We love because you first loved us”  (1 John 4:19)

“I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me”  (Song of Solomon 7:10).

One sentence that pierced my heart was “STOP trying to get me to love you!” I have lived my life trying to be worthy. Trying to be good enough.  Trying to get it right. Yet the truth of God’s Word tells me: “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6).  But the Lord is saying to us that we don’t have to be anything for Him to love us!  We don’t have to get it right!  He loves us unconditionally!  Jesus is our Righteousness.  The Lord delights in us because we are in His Son!  He knows my every thought and yet He still loves me!  He left heaven and suffered for us!  May these truths deeply penetrate our hearts and come to life!

“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (Isaiah 61:10).

Through Christ, all our sins have been forgiven.  Our sin has been conquered.  It died with Christ and now Christ lives in us!

The goal of our study is that we would know Jesus’ love for us like never before and that we would then love Jesus like never before!  We want to thirst after Jesus.  We want to long after Jesus.  We want our passion to be Jesus.  In looking at my heart I know my passion is not Jesus.  My heart is lukewarm.  The psalmist’s passion was God and His Word.  He immersed himself in God’s Word.  He meditated on God’s Word day and night.  We must stop immersing ourselves in the things of the world and go to the well of Living Water.  I must stop immersing myself in my agenda and be washed with the water of the Word.

Our bridegroom is calling.  He is relentlessly pursuing us.  He will never stop.  He bought us with His blood.

He loves us perfectly.  How has He loved us?  “As the Father has loved me, so have I love you.  Abide in my love” (John 15:9).

May we have the grace to respond to His call and fall in love with our Lord like never before.

Today, may we trust, receive, enjoy, believe and enter into God’s love and as we do so reflect the radiance of His glory.  This is the greatest love we can give to our husbands.

 

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The Royal Robe

by Amy Sizemore

Explaining to the children how Jonathan gave his robe to David made Jesus’ sacrifice so visible. I had to choke back tears of gratitude. I moved a robe from my shoulders to a child’s to show what it looked like.  We discussed how the robe represented royalty as well as covered David.  The same way Jesus gave up His royal privileges to come rescue us.  He made us royal (co-heirs with Christ, Romans 8:17) and covered our sinfulness with His righteous robe (Isaiah 61:10).  We will never find another friend who will do all of that!  I was affirmed too that we can trust Jesus to be the loyal, covenant-keeper for us the same way Jonathan was with David.  It is a beautiful blessing to see Jesus in the Old Testament.  Our prayer for all of the children and families being impacted through Thistlebend is that we will forever grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

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A Helper Suitable

by Susan Sampson

May the Lord give us much grace as we seek to take the truths we are learning in His Word to heart and live them out with our husbands, truly being the helpers suitable He created us to be.

“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).  Our primary function as wives according to God’s word is to be a servant and helper to our husbands.  I’m reminded of the Philippians passage from day 5 of our homework.  My verse for that day was Phil. 2:5-7, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likenss of men.”  What was Eve’s focus?  Self.  All week long, that is what the Lord continued to show me, what I had to continue to confess as sin.  I don’t want to serve others.  I want others to serve me. I must turn from serving self, from serving my flesh.  The flesh is corrupt.  It will never do what’s right. It cannot. I must put it to death.

The Lord gave me a very ugly picture of what my flesh looks like, but it was so incredibly helpful and I believe a gift of grace.  I remember a lecture long ago when Laurie talked about not feeding the flesh–it’s like a wild animal always wanting more, never satisfied.  I saw a picture of this wild animal crouching at a back door.  She looked like a raging, rabid animal with blond hair, fangs and claws, foaming at the mouth, trying desperately to get in the door.  She looked like me.  But then the Lord sweetly brought to my mind the song from the Wizard of Oz, which I am thinking Laurie used in that same lecture seemingly so long ago (oh, how long it takes for me to learn!), “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead!”  Remember that song?  It’s a celebration!  It was so beautiful.  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).  “I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).  

So what does it mean to be a Helper Suitable?  “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2a).  Being a Helper Suitable. It is a world away from being a Controller.  It is a beautiful God given, holy calling.  A gift.  The greatest in the Kingdom is the servant of all.

We must fix our eyes on Christ, the Author and Perfecter of our faith and come up under God by coming up under our husbands in the power of the Holy Spirit and not our flesh.  “In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior” (1 Peter 3:1-2). 

We labor in prayer for our husbands daily (remember being SALT).  This is our primary labor of love, believing by faith that this is the most important thing we’ll do for him all day!  Lord, help our unbelief!

We clear out all the idols!  We must confess our sin of self-reliance, self-worship, self-centeredness, human effort, human thinking, and pragmatism.  I had to look up what pragmatism meant:)  According to my dictionary app, it is “character or conduct that emphasizes practicality.”  Is it no wonder we all worship our to-do lists?!  The feelings of accomplishment we get when we can check something off?  Another definition states, “…generally stressing practical consequences as constituting the essential criterion in determining meaning, truth or value.”  But Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6a).  Lord have mercy on us!  We need you!  Forgive us for our idolatry!  Turn our hearts to you and to our husbands.  Give us servants’ hearts.  Thank you that it is you who work in us both to will and to work for your good pleasure (Phil. 2:13)!  Thank you for your promise to us in Philippians chapter 1 that “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (v. 6)!

Dear wives loved by the Lord, let us consider how we can take the truths we are learning in God’s word and live them out with our husbands.  Not just being hearers of the word, but being doers of the word, trusting the Lord by faith that He will bring forth the harvest of righteousness.  I had forgotten until reviewing my lecture notes that Laurie asked us to go home and ask our husbands what are the 3 things that are the most important to him that I do during the week.  Let’s do this today, trusting the Lord by His grace.

“For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.  And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening” (1 Peter 3:6).

 

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