A letter to the Christian women who have already given the “most valuable” part of themselves away…and the men who touch their bodies, but not their souls.

Please take Rachel’s post to heart. Reblog it, share this message. Heal hearts, and transform minds. (Yes, it’s that good!)

\o/

Rachel O'Dea ♥

As women of the world, our value is placed upon our sexuality.

We are seen as valuable because of the pleasure our body offers.

But as women of Christ, we know that our value actually lays in Him and not ourselves.

However a very popular message preached in the Church today emphasises on our value being in our sexuality, again.

“Keep yourself pure, so that the most intimate parts of yourself can be for only your future husband, and you.”

“You are like a piece of paper that continues to be scrunched up each time you have sex. By the end of it- you are still a piece of paper, but you have creases that can never be unfolded.”

“Your purity is the most important thing you have to offer as a women.”

We are told to keep ourselves pure because our viriginity is the most valuable thing we have…

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Forgiveness Redefined

I recently learned a new definition for forgiveness. It is this:

“Letting go of the hope of ever having a better past.”*

That may sound like a ‘no-brainer’, and it is…if you aren’t the one who must let go!

As I considered this point of view, it became increasingly apparent that this is the main hitch to forgiving. What happened was wrong. It should never have played out that way.

I want a different story!

For a one-time event, like being cussed out, this isn’t a very difficult task. On the other hand, if you’re talking years of mistreatment, that’s a different matter entirely.

How does one go back and rewrite their history?

Short answer:

It’s not possible.

What can we do with the lost years, or even decades? How on earth do we let go of the hope of having a magic wand waved over time and see the past changed in an instant?

This definition took forgiveness to a whole new level for me…and at the same time, showed me why I struggled with giving up the accompanying bitterness and resentment.

I wanted my life back, written as a fairy tale instead of the ugly reality I lived.

Which is not possible.

It was necessary to let go of the dream of ‘what might have been’.

Until I could do so, I was stuck in pain and despair.

If you’ve read many of my posts, you know that life has showered me with abandonment, rejection, and abuse of every sort. I don’t understand why my story is thus, but am grateful for the lessons learned along the way. Thankfully, God is using my history to develop my character, and to draw me close to Him.

The depth of relationship I enjoy with my Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit would not exist apart from my history.

While I’ve walked through the ‘steps’ of forgiveness, there were parts from which I could not shake free. This definition shed light on the problem.

Maybe it will help you, too.

 The struggle to accept this truth was tough. It’s too bad that mental gyrations don’t count as trips to the gym. I’d be buff!

At the end of each session, though, the conclusion was the same…the past could not be changed one iota.

When I finally came to grips with this, freedom happened.

The final moments between seeing that a different past was a hopeless cause – and accepting reality – was mind-bending in the extreme. I could almost hear the synapses in my brain stretch and, one by one, snap.

Talk about a renewed mind!

Lightness followed, as did clarity. At last I understand:

If we don’t like our history, then we must make better choices today,

which will give us a better ‘past’ tomorrow!

If I hit on a trigger: You don’t understand! I didn’t ask for this; I was a kid, let me clarify. Some of our history was beyond our control, for sure. No two-year-old has a say about much that happens to them.

However, we are no longer two years old. We’re grown-ups with a voice. As adults we have a great deal of say in what we will and will not allow.

Choose wisely!

*****

*This definition comes from Affair Recovery. If you, or someone you know, has either been unfaithful – or been betrayed – this is a fantastic resource. Their video blogs are insightful and informative, too.

Two, Not One

The covenant God ‘cut’ with Abram (later Abraham) was a curious affair. We find the event in Genesis 15.

To the question, “How am I to know that I shall possess it (the land)?” Abram was instructed to lay out a 3-year-old heifer, female goat, a ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon. All but the birds were cut in half, then laid out in such a way that they could be passed between by the parties involved in the covenant.

But then God did something strange. Abram was put into a deep sleep and a great darkness fell upon him.

How could he possibly participate in the agreement while in this state?

At this point, we are told, God alone passed through the carcasses. Yet, verse 18 states, “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram…”

Oops! I missed a verse:

“When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between the pieces.”

If this was God alone, then why were two representations of Him present?

Unless…

God is never alone. He is a triune Being. The Trinity does not act independent of One Another.

Is it possible that in the ‘smoking fire pot and a flaming torch’ we have Father and Son making this covenant? Could the Son have been present that day to represent man?

Jesus didn’t come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it…to live it out perfectly, as no other man had ever been able to do!

That three entities did not cut this covenant is not out of keeping with the rest of Scripture. The Holy Spirit draws attention to God and Jesus, never to Himself.

We see this same symbolism in Exodus 14:19: “And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them.”

Get this:

“So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night.” (v. 20)

I always thought it was God alone who led the Israelites. In this I see that I was mistaken!

Further, when the tabernacle was erected, the cloud (by which they were led through the wilderness) covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

On Sinai, the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud…” (Exodus 19)

And in Revelation 1, we have John’s record of Jesus: The hairs of His head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire…and His face was like the sun shining in full strength.”

Ooh, and don’t forget the entrance to Eden! “ He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.”

Note that this isn’t cherubim with swords in their hands.

Ephesians 6 tells us that we have the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. What is the sword doing at the entrance? Guarding the way to the tree of life; ensuring that there will always be a way to enter in.

Jesus is the door, the Way, the Truth, the Life!

He is the Word.

“Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

All this to say that it would seem that God and (Christ as pre-incarnate) ‘man’ cut covenant in the presence of Abram – on behalf of all mankind. God, it would seem, was the smoking fire pot; and Jesus was the flaming torch!

Jesus, the second Adam, and God present at this most important event…the Abrahamic covenant. Very cool.

Why do we care? One reason is this: Galatians 3:7 states, “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.” Galatians 3:29 reads, “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” In Romans 11 we’re told that we’ve been grafted into the olive tree (a symbol for Israel).

For those in Christ, this covenant concerns us, for we are also considered sons of Abraham.

Israel’s modern-day fight to keep the land God gave them is ours as well!

*****

Thanks for listening to my ramble. I’m mostly thinking out loud. I find the rich symbolism used in Scripture fascinating.

What does it all mean? Not sure; I just found this intriguing…God doing for man what man could not do for himself.

One thing I know for sure, we should care about Israel. Not only is it ‘their’ land…but, as sons of Abraham, it is ours as well. What concerns them also concerns us.

Did God kill Jesus? Part four

” Yes, it feels good to come out the Matrix.

Morpheus: What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong with what you were told. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I’m talking about?

Neo: PSA

Morpheus: Yes! PSA is everywhere. It’s all around us…it’s the atonement that’s been pulled over our eyes to blind us from the truth…

Neo: What truth?

Morpheus: That you don’t have an angry deity that wants to dangle you like a spider over a flame, a Father who hates you but tolerates you because He killed His Son in your place. No, you have a loving Father who came to rescue you because of His great love! You’re not a slave, Neo. You’re His beloved son…. :)”

Feeling ‘born again’ – again! Whooee, we are loved by a Father who is pleased with us…right here, right now!

Enjoy Mel’s final post in this series…

In My Father's House

If God didn’t kill Jesus to placate His wrath, who did kill Him?

This is the final installment of my series that asks the faithful question, “Did God kill Jesus?” Last time we jettisoned the wooden literal take on Isaiah 53:10 for the following three reasons: it’s hermeneutically unsound; it ignores that a biblical literary

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Did God kill Jesus? Part three

The Trinity looks kind of like a family to neighbors – they all live in the same ‘house.’ Lift the lid off the house, though, and what do we find?

An angry father (God), a silent, subservient mother (Spirit), and our big brother (Jesus) who throws himself under the bus to protect us from the father’s wrath. Dad doesn’t care whom he hits; he just wants to vent on someone. His rules were broken, and *someone* is going to pay for that.

This couldn’t be further from the truth.

The Trinity is in perfect harmony at all times. They’ve never had an argument – ever! God doesn’t need anger management classes or a chill pill.

Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

Could it be that our minds need to be renewed concerning our great God?
\o/

In My Father's House

Was God actually pleased to crush Jesus(crush, meaning kill)? We’re now ready to turn our attention to Isaiah 53:10.

This is part three in my short series that looks at the question, “Did God kill Jesus?” The reason for this faithful question is because the popular view of atonement (Penal Substitutionary Atonement, or

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