Seven Sacrifices to Joy

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Oh, it’s a great day to write from my heart to yours, to have this sort of fellowship/communication that I don’t take lightly but cherish knowing we spend this time together! Grab your coffee and come on in for some more foundation of communication.
Hebrews 13:16 says: "But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." The word “communicate” means to share what you have. But why am I trying to spiritualize communication, you ask? Well, the simple answer is: This is a spiritual matter but let me explain a bit more, and thanks in advance for hearing me. :)
I don’t know about you, but my flesh can be incredibly greedy and stingy and unwilling to part with my acquired pride which drives my opinions and my need to be heard and/or understood! This becomes a fleshly hindrance to a spiritual gift but also a key to the ultimate way that communication is a sacrifice. See, the Spirit in us is quick to share, to give, to communicate. And not that we want to compare sacrifices or level of sacrificing, per se, but God is pleased when we sacrifice that which hinders the type of communication that edifies and builds up. This sacrifice pleases God because God is a living God and desires for His children to be like Him, pursuing relationships, healthy relationships.
Did you know that information is giving out while communication is pouring in? I just heard that in class the other night and thought I’d share it with you! :) So communicating is a type of sharing of ourselves, especially when it leads us to helping others or to consistent fellowship. This of course requires that we share our time, thoughts, resources, and our prayers with others. Sometimes the greatest gift you can share with someone else, especially with God, is yourself. And when people you love the most communicate the least, isn’t that infuriating? No communication is like being in a big dark room with someone and you know you’re eventually going to bump into them, but you’re not sure when! You’re left with all kinds of suppositions, predispositions and crazy expectations.
Just the other day, my husband and I were walking to our car and he communicated something to me that brought me out of what feels like that dark room and I stopped as he spoke. He said, “You know how when you’re asked, ‘how’s your day,’ or ‘how is this,’ or how is that going,’ and you don’t even think and you just say fine?”
I wasn’t quite tracking what he was saying so I said, “Sort of.”
And then he gave me a sweet example where he replayed a typical conversation we’d have at the dinner table with little Bryden and asking about his day and his one-word answers were either good or fine and we’d have to get a little bit more specific to help him use some different words. I smiled at the memories and nodded my head.
He suddenly indicated to his head by pointing to it and saying, “Well, I have so much in here, but when you ask me stuff, all I can say is the same thing.”
I was stunned into silence, my heart falling more in love with him. I didn’t know what to say. Imagine me, speechless! :)
He went on: “I know it’s a guy thing, but I don’t want to be that way with you.”
My darkroom suddenly went white with bright light and all I could do was hug him to me and suggest that maybe I could slow down, and be a safer place for his thoughts, as jumbled as they may be to lands.
Oh, you talk about a huge dose of sweet humility! Coffee Hour Friend, things are never as they seem, even in the darkroom of no communication. Continue to pray, seek to speak words that edify and build up that you and those you desire to communicate with can rise above the darkroom of no communication or painful conflict!
Love,

Evinda

Seven Sacrifices to Joy

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Happy Day to you! It’s a great time to meet for coffee and wrap up this sacrifice of righteousness by looking at the cost as we make our way to Destination? Joyful! ™ via the HIGHway! Grab your coffee and come on in.
So I left off with a question of being able to agree to disagree for the greater good. I wish I could say it was easy for me; in fact, sometimes it feels so foreign, but I am learning that the better thing to do, for so many reasons and on so many levels, is to resist evil by walking away after being emotionally/verbally slapped. See, when we agree to disagree, in love, this leaves less clean-up that God has to do! After all, those that we disagree with are His workmanship, not ours! Remember what Romans 12:18 says: If it is possible, as much as is possible with you live peaceably with others.
So let’s put our name in there wherever applicable and the name of someone unlovable in your life. If it is possible, ______, as much as is possible with you, ________, live peaceably with ________! Wow, talk about a splash of perspective and the awesome thing is we don’t have to do it alone! His Spirit will equip and enjoin in our efforts!
But, oh, the cost … so simple and complicated at the same time: Our pride!
Pride is rooted in a feeling that you are more important or better than other people!
Yikes, I don’t know about you, but when I read that part of the definition, I want to run so far and fast from pride that I never run into it again. Unfortunately, because it is a part of my flesh, I know this cost will be an ongoing sacrifice!
See, doing right is more complicated than just behaving ourselves: it is going out of our way to do the right thing, in other words, taking a detour from our own flesh! The reward of joy makes the cost all the more worth it!
But how do we do that? I mean, when you look at the word P R I D E, what’s smack in the middle? I, I, I, I, I!
How hard is it to push pride aside and let peace reside? It’s a matter of focus! Where is your focus? If our focus remains on what was done to us by whom it was done, pride can’t get pushed to the side. But if our focus turns even just a little bit towards the One who died for our pride, pride begins to loosen its grip upon our hearts. Ask yourself this question: Is what I’m hanging on to of any eternal value? If it’s something that won’t be condoned in heaven, then leave it in the world! He tells us in 1^st John 2:15 that if we hang on to anything in this world, we become like the world and the more like the world we become, the less room there is to love our Heavenly Father.
Anytime I think of offering up a sacrifice of righteousness, someone else is always involved! In other words, any of our relationships will require us, and often daily, to offer up a Sacrifice of Righteousness and the price tag is our pride.
Another cost in offering up a Sacrifice of Righteousness is time! How many of us are so busy doing we don’t know how to be? Ouch, I just poked at my own heart! :) Let me get right to a conviction I struggle with: The Sabbath. How many of us make the time to take the time to celebrate – yes, I said celebrate – the Sabbath?  Mark 2:27 tells us that the Sabbath was made for us, not us for the Sabbath. I don’t know about you, but I can become so busy in what I’m doing, and focused, that I don’t take time to rest, or to celebrate life. That’s what the Sabbath is all about, a day of celebrating all He has given to us and done for us through the act of worship! He wants us to take this time to refresh and renew and rejuvenate before it is too late! Burnout is so incredibly common, especially in church leadership. Is it any wonder that a Sacrifice of Righteousness has the price tag of our time? The crazy thing is it’s for our good! He honors our well-spent time. If time were in a bank account, what would the deposits look like and what would the withdrawals look like? Offering up a Sacrifice of Righteousness almost always costs some time. The more time you spend with Him, the more time you’ll have to give!
I’m sure there are other smaller price tags in offering up a Sacrifice of Righteousness, but these are the two that will never go on sale, never change and will always be required.
Oh, Abba, I pray that I would turn to you, and from my flesh, in order to offer a sacrifice of righteousness; that I would stop in the midst of my doing throughout the day and just be with You; that my light, you in me, would so shine before men and women, especially in the midst of their words of fire, that they would recognize something different from my sacrifice of righteousness, your love in me that splashes like water on their words of fire.
Loving my search for joy,

Evinda

Seven Sacrifices to Joy

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Thanks for joining me today for our Coffee Hour and more of the Seven Sacrifices to Joy. I hope you brought your red Strand of Faith so we can tie some knots in it together! Let’s get back to a Sacrifice of Righteousness because there are so many things that count!
We left off with a thought-provoking teaching by Jesus Himself in Matthew 5:39 wherein He teaches us to resist evil. Oh, how freeing that can be. Often when we think of evil, or an evil doer, don’t we think of a non-believer? For me, one of the most disillusioning lessons in my earlier calling to ministry was dealing with those in the church who hurt others. I believe that He knew that the greatest wounds would come from within the church and this one verse is the greatest prescription for such a sick thing. I now know, through life’s experiences, that when Jesus was speaking to us about resisting evil, He was not and is not confining it to a person who is not a follower of Christ. The church is not a place for perfect people, or I surely wouldn’t be able to attend any church! Oh, that each church would recognize that they are to be like a hospital which doesn’t turn away sick and wounded patients, but takes them in and begins the symptom assessment through a history and physical and then begins treatment!
It is in the church that we are treated for and taught how to not act out of our flesh! How do we resist evil? By not reacting to it! The reason that’s difficult for us is because too many of us put unreasonable expectations upon others, especially those within the church, placing unrealistic hope in people instead of the Author of Hope. Psalm 146:3 tells us “Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is not help.”
I don’t want to belabor this sacrifice, but I feel in my bones that since we deal with people, and God uses relationships to heal us, we need to sit in this for just a bit more. Not that I have perfected this requirement, to resist evil, but now that I understand it I have begun to practice it and each time it gets easier. Now, prior to my truly listening in that example I shared last week, there have been many occasions that I did not turn the other cheek to receive any more words of wrath! In fact, I have been known to spit out a mouthful of nails! You may be saying, “Well, why would you? That’s not what Jesus is saying in that verse.”
I agree; we are not to be doormats; however there is a fine line between turning the other cheek and hurling nails out of our mouth to pierce the heart of the one who hurt us! Have you ever felt like that; like all you wanted to do was strike back and hurt the one who just hurt you? The fine line that must be looked at is the line of pride!
We cannot offer up a sacrifice of righteousness when pride is by our side!
Returning to the incident I shared with you last week, I remember praying before getting out of the car to meet with this person in an effort to resolve conflict, to help me leave my pride in the car. If pride were a child, the conversation would go something like this: I’ll be right back; you stay in the car, I won’t be far. I promise I’ll come back for you! Pride, you stay inside while I go outside!
When we push our pride to the side, we are better equipped to turn the other cheek emotionally from the evil acts of those who hurt us, and face them in love, without retaliating. Could this be a sacrifice of righteousness?
Oh, but I can see now how different it could have turned out; I could have been so ripped off of the spiritual and emotional victory I felt when leaving that meeting.
When dealing with conflict and wanting to offer up a Sacrifice of Righteousness, perhaps if we remember that no matter how right we feel about something and how wrong we feel about someone, in the long run, when we are face to face with Him, He’s not going to ask us about their side; we are going to only talk about our actions and our failure … or success to offer a sacrifice of righteousness! Which shall you choose?
Oh, Abba, I fall short, miss the mark every day, and some days are worse than others. I thank you for your mercies that are new every morning, for your Word that works as a double-edged sword, piercing my heart and trimming away what needs to go. Help me offer up a sacrifice of righteousness, even when I don’t feel like it! When it all comes down to it, Father, what matters is my relationship with you and my relationship with others affects my relationship with you. Help me to be Christ-like to those who slap me in the face with their evil acts.
Seeking to offer a sacrifice of righteousness

 Evinda

Seven Sacrifices to Joy

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Happy day, Coffee Hour Friend! Thanks for joining me today for more of Seven Sacrifices to Joy! Grab your coffee and your Red Strand of Faith and let’s go back about 2000 years to Jesus and His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, and then we’ll do a fast-forward to apply His words to our lives.
Matthew 5:39 He says: “But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.”
Now let me share another life-lived experience that brought this scripture dancing to life within me!
As I got out of my car, armed with prayer for this conflict resolution meeting, I was confident that He was with me and would speak through me, after I kept my mouth shut and listened. Yes, that was the plan; to sit and listen as He had been teaching me to do so I could teach others, but I had never engaged in such a listening exercise; only read and taught about it. I greeted her with a hug, as if there were no problems to resolve, and I remember genuinely feeling the love which I offered. We got our drinks and went outside and sat down. I began the conversation by asking her permission to take notes, confessing this would help me to keep my mouth shut and truly listen to her. And then I shared that I wanted to show her more respect.
If eyeballs could pop out, hers would have and here’s why I say that: everything leading up to this conversation was problematic, putting it mildly, and I just don’t think she was prepared for me to show her kindness and respect. Trust me; it was Him in me, every bit of it, for when I am a vessel full of myself, nothing good happens, but when I got out of my car that day, I left pride in the passenger’s seat, assuring it I’d be back for it afterwards!
I don’t need to glorify the enemy and I won’t by repeating our conversation. However, and this is a big however, because I kept my mouth shut and my ears opened as she spewed out her hurtful comments and opinions, I was able to detect that much of her present was mixed with painful moments in her past of which she wasn’t even aware! She was/is so focused on others’ behavior that she was totally unaware of her own, and I don’t say that to be demeaning. Quite the contrary because it shed light and gave me compassion. It was as though there was this invisible connect-the-dots picture and each comment laced with hurt and anger equipped me to visibly connect the dots internally. It was this incredibly out-of-body experience where He equipped me to listen, and because I really listened, I was able to validate all of her misperceptions! It was the most freeing hour of my life!
Now let’s return to the words spoken by Jesus Himself in Matthew 5. I wouldn’t call this person who had been keeping this silent scorecard of wrongs evil, although her words and opinions felt evil. But maybe, just maybe there’s something to this verse that applies to these types of in-the-heat-of-the-moment situations. At least this verse is speaking to me ever so loudly in a soft kind of way. See, as I sat there and truly listened to this person spewing all of her misperceptions about situations we had been involved in, I listened, one insult after another … turning one cheek, then the other, and then turning back and repeating the cycle. This went on for over an hour and I have to tell you, because I chose to turn the other cheek, in other words, keep my mouth shut and truly listen, I was able to pick up some very enlightening information and understand why/how she had connected the dots the way she did.
Guess what? Her venom and bitterness really had nothing to do with me – she thinks it did and that’s okay -- but had I not turned the cheek … over and over again, I wouldn’t have recognized that powerful truth and my anger would have erupted and spoiled the victory!
Could it be that actively listening was accounted as an act of righteousness for me that day? Oh, please know that I take no credit for anything but showing up and shutting up … Oh, to continue seeking to offer a sacrifice of righteousness!
Please join us tomorrow for our Faith Filled Fridays with Debbie Croley!

Love,

Evinda

Secret Faults & Presumptuous Sins from Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Psalms 19:12-14

Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. ¹³ Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless,
and I shall be innocent of great transgression.

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

It’s great to be sipping coffee and writing from my heart to yours. Let’s get back to this series and see where we land before our Coffee Hour is complete!
Oh, that’s right; we need to wrap up the whole presumptuous sins context.

We’ve checked out the Merriam Webster’s definition; now let’s look at my favorite study tool, the Hebrew/Greek concordance.

The first definition is arrogance, so that confirms that. Hold on; there’s more.

It goes on to say “proceeding from excess of confidence; applied to things such as hope! Now that’s interesting! Sorry, but that’s about as clear as mud so let me do some research. Don’t you just love Google!

I just plugged in how an excess of confidence differs from hope and here’s what I found so far: “The theological virtue defined as the desire and search for a future good, difficult but not impossible to attain with God's help.”

I’m dancing in my seat like a little kid bursting with excitement, just screaming silently by raising my hand because I think I got it without having to dig and delve deeper: My Teacher said "go ahead," so my hand is coming down to write what I’ve realized, from my heart to yours, of course.
See, hope in Christianity includes God’s help when the follower – not the fan – calls upon the Author of Hope, whereas an excess confidence puts self first in that hope! Does that make sense?

Let me give you a very simplistic example. I just asked Him for one. Let’s take a toddler, for example, our little Bryden, or you can put one of yours in this example, too. His famous words about this very thing squeeze my heart with a giggle any time I remember the many instances where I was doing something for him – often out of love but also out of convenience for time’s sake, if you know what I mean – and he would stop me in my tracks and say emphatically: “I’ll do it myself!”
So I’d step back and allow him to do it himself … until he would get so frustrated that his frustration drove him to either get mad, or finally give in and ask for help.

Watching him struggle was symbolic to us as adults when we venture to attempt to do something, go somewhere, or even communicate with someone with the attitude of doing it ourselves and our way! It’s only when we let go and remember Who and Why we do what we do that we can grab hold of the hand of the Author of Hope, and the tendency towards a presumptuous sin leaves …

Let’s continue for just a bit more through the Hebrew concordance for another facet of presumptuous: “Unduly confident, irreverent with respect to reverent things.”

STOP!

Wow, I just thought of another example: can’t ritualistic things that we do in the church fall into this category if we’re not careful? I hear you asking for an example, so at the risk of stepping on toes, let’s tread lightly:

How do we approach communion? Is it ritualistically or relationally? How do we participate in the worship part of the service? Is it with our whole hearts, or just our minds? And when it ‘s time for the message, are we listening with our whole hearts, taking notes, or using whatever learning style that helps us to absorb the most, or are we tuning out, on our cell phones, on Facebook, or any other form of social media?

Wow, I had no idea a presumptuous sin could be so …. You fill in that last word! Join me tomorrow for more. :)
Writing from my heart to yours,

Nana Holds!

Evinda

Secret Faults & Presumptuous Sins-from Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Psalms 19:12-14

Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. ¹³ Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless,
and I shall be innocent of great transgression.

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power…

Thanks for joining me for Coffee Hour and more of our November’s WOW! I certainly hope and pray we can chew through the rest of it before the end of November flies right by! Grab your coffee and come on in.

We were almost done with the Webster’s Dictionary definition for presumptuous: “right, or good reason.”
Well, what in the world does that mean? I’m sorry but that kind of muddied the waters! Let’s go explore and see what we find out!

Oh, em, gee! I found some good stuff on this KJV Page of the Web and they are really putting this word “presumptuous” in perspective: “Bold and confident to excess; adventuring without reasonable ground of success; hazarding safety on too slight grounds; rash; applied to persons; as a presumptuous commander.”

Okay, I have to find out something that’s just been whispering, albeit loudly, in the tiny recesses of my brain and that is, did this confession and pleading have anything to do with his adultery committed with Bathsheba, and the sin he committed after that to cover it up, namely the murder of Uriah? Talk about a thick plot! I’ve got to research this.

Wow, I’ve been to all sorts of sites, commentaries and there seems to be a bit of theological tug-of-war on this very subject: on one side they reference error – the good news is the majority of resources contribute “ignorance “to errors – and on the other is the presumptive or presumptuous sins.

Ah-ha, and yes, every resource I looked at mentions David’s affair and the murder he committed to get what he wanted! He committed every one of the oppositions to the 10 Commandments all in one sin that begat another which begat another and the aftermath was horrible. Oops, let’s stay on track. I was just tempted to defend God, as if He needs me to – for those who say, see, He’s an angry, cause-and-effect God! NOT SO!

What happened back in Old Testament days to those who committed presumptuous sins? Well, in Numbers 15:30, they were cut off from the community AND “his guilt would be upon him.” In other words, end of story, to hell with them; no hope of heaven for you! Wow!

So you may be wondering, why in the world are you staying parked in this presumptuous sin reference? I’m glad you asked! See, I don’t think I’m supposed to just sugarcoat this subject by saying “Hey, we’re living in New Testament times now; we don’t need to worry about those presumptuous sins anymore because of the truth of God’s grace. We can’t just say we’re all good; don’t worry about it. See, there is another theological tug-of-war regarding this very issue as well, meaning some are stuck on Old Testament thinking, minimizing the power and reality of the necessity of the grace of God and on the other side is the knowledge that His grace does help us with and free us from those presumptuous sins.

Wow, there’s that reminder again: for years, I was caught up in a web of presumptuous sins due to sin heaped upon me in my childhood. Now, through the love and grace of Christ, He has granted me forgiveness of and freedom from these presumptuous sins and filled my heart with a desire to help others recognize and dig up their presumptuous sins, also deemed a hurt, habit and hang-up!

Oh, Father, I am blown away by the leading of your Spirit that is taking me through the pages of your Word, revealing the mysteries of your ways so that we may be free from our presumptuous sins! May I never, ever sin with the presumption that you’ll cover it!

I promise to wrap this up next week! But join me tomorrow for a very special day with a new friend of CPM, Debbie Croley, an amazing woman of God who has been in ministry for years and has agreed to partner with CPM in using the gift of writing. You’re going to love her, and by all means, scroll down and share our coffee hour with others!

Evinda

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Secret Sins & Presumptuous Faults from Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Psalms 19:12-14

Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. ¹³ Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless,
and I shall be innocent of great transgression.

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power…

Thanks so much for stopping by to have coffee with me and to read a bit more of our November’s WOW! It’s a lot of meat to eat, so I’m trying to give you just a bit more than a mouthful each time. I hope you are getting the sweet rewards from applying knowledge to your life so your spiritual fruit may be experienced! Grab your coffee and let’s wrap up the wrap-up of David’s conversation found in these three verses.

David then moves from cleansing him from his secret faults to a more assertive action, and I truly believe the reason for that is the presumptuous sins had a bigger hold on his heart so it’s like you can just hear him groaning as he says: “Keep back Your servant also from” – in other words, in addition to these secret faults of mine, Lord, can you literally pull me back from these –”presumptuous sins.”

Now I have a confession for you: I thought I knew what presumptuous meant, but I wasn’t completely right. I just had a little tiny piece of it so I did some research. The Merriam Webster’s Dictionary defines presumptuous in this way: too confident, especially in a way that is rude. That makes sense, but here’s where the definition gets a bit tricky: “Done or made without permission.”

Ah-ha, so could that mean that if I do something without asking the Lord’s permission, presuming it is okay, and it’s not, then that’s a presumptuous sin? Well, the simple answer is why would I do something without my Father’s permission? Oops, I just answered a question with a question. Let me see if I can clear this up somehow by explaining what a presumptuous sin is not!

Have you ever misinterpreted, misheard or misjudged what you thought to be the right thing to do after seeking God in prayer? Oh, friend, I have, and more than once. I think spiritual disillusionment as a result of thinking something was right according to His will for my/our life is one of the most emotionally and spiritually challenging humps to climb up and over. And why is that? The answer is found in one word …. Drum roll… P R I D E!

Isn’t it hard enough to admit you were wrong in any given situation, i.e. a disagreement with your spouse, or a friend, a mistake in the way you parented your child, or a financial blunder wherein you spent something you shouldn’t have? Oh, how I remember it being so difficult to admit that I was wrong, had made a mistake. I mean, old cement melting would be easier than me admitting my faults, errors and bad judgments.

But I’ve learned something very, very freeing when it comes to making a mistake while erring on the side of faith: We are covered! As long as I invite Him into it, to guide me through it, even when my flesh fails, or if I do it wrong, hear it incorrectly, plan it wrong, make a wrong decision, this is not a presumptuous sin!

I think of this whole ministry journey that began with a desire to write ONE book … I have made so many mistakes in so many areas despite thinking I was doing the right thing and He was there to pick me up, and clean up the mess and teach me to listen a bit closer, granting me wisdom and more discernment and spurring me on … in writing, in event planning, in office administration, in conducting board meetings, in teaching, in ridding me of me so there can be more of Him and less of me! So I’m thinking that what distinguishes between a presumptuous sin and a mistake is the heart.
Have you had your heart checked today?
Oh, Abba, rid me of anything that will lead me to a secret fault and a presumptuous sin!
Join us tomorrow for more of this ten-course meal of scripture!
Love,

Evinda

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The Adulterous Woman-From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Thanks so much for taking time out of your day to come have coffee with me! Grab your coffee and come on in. We are about to receive one of the most important lessons Jesus ever taught with the least amount of words!

So it’s almost as if the Pharisees and religious leaders are taunting Jesus, wanting to hear how He’s going to respond to the Law given by God to/through Moses. They were as confident that they had trapped Him in their trickery as I am that the son is going to shine tomorrow.

All eyes are on Jesus, and I’m sure some are even holding their breath in anticipation, wondering how He will respond to this dilemma and if He was/is really the Savior. Jesus didn’t disappoint them; that’s for sure! All eyes and ears on Him, He bends down and begins to write on the ground with His finger.

While they all watch in disbelief, I am positive that it is still pretty quiet but I bet the mind of the adulterous woman is speaking all kinds of things, beginning with her recognition for a need of the Savior. I wonder if she could read, and if she could, she knew what He wrote, or had a good idea because she was down on the ground, bent down with shame, not to be confused with humility.

The Pharisees become impatient and begin to ask Him all over again, as if Jesus hadn’t heard them before. Jesus continues to write, and I’m sure the adulterous woman is silently pleading for forgiveness. I wonder if this is when her God-shaped hole suddenly opened up in recognition of her need of a Savior. I know mine would be opening about now, if not beforehand!

Finally, and slowly, Jesus stands to give His answer to these Pharisees and religious leaders perched on pride, an answer of fifteen words that captures one of the most important lessons we as Christ-followers need to let sear on our heart and live out in our lives. And what I love about this answer is HE actually stumped those who came to trick Him so they could arrest Him. I can just see Him scanning the crowd before He speaks, and His eyes coming to rest on those deceived, His voice calm, controlled and confident and He says: “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”

Isn’t that a response to get you thinking?

Join me tomorrow for the conclusion to The Adulterous Woman.

Evinda

The Adulterous Woman-From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Thanks so much for joining me today for a little coffee break at Coffee Hour. I’m so glad you could make it because I believe we are finally going to meet her, The Adulterous Woman!

So we’re back at the Temple, and the Pharisees have just walked in practically dragging this woman and I can only imagine that we can probably hear a pin drop about now. These prideful men had only one thought in mind as they brought her to Jesus: They were trying to trick Him so they would have a reason to arrest Him once and for all, as if that would do the trick!
 
Here she comes.

From my vantage point, I see long, beautiful hair, but why can’t I see her face? As she gets closer, it becomes apparent why we can’t make eye contact. Her head is hanging down, as if she is clothed in shame. Uh-oh, they are stopping right in the middle of the huge circle and they put her just steps away from Jesus. Let’s listen to what they say: “Teacher” – interesting that they called Him that – “this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses commanded us in the law that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”

STOP! So I went back to Leviticus 20:10, the part of the law they were talking about, and here’s something interesting that I think we should know before we continue on: The law required that both the adulterer and the adulteress be punished. But these guys only brought one of the guilty parties. Is this a hint of their intent to trick Jesus? That’s just a little something to think about
I can only imagine that this woman had to be shaking in her clothes – I don’t think she had boots in those days! The Word doesn’t give us any insight into her, if she was the town ho, or if she had a good personality, whether she was pretty, friendly, none of that. But if we want to understand her, all we have to do is look inside of us, for every one of us women have committed adultery of one form or another at one time or another! Ouch, I know that hurts, but the truth will set us free and bathe us in humility, challenging us to befriend this adulterous woman, and any other one that comes in your  world, and not condemn her!

The Scripture goes on to confirm that “this they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him.” In other words, they wanted to see if He would contradict the Law that came from God to Moses and the people,  but what these religious leaders and Pharisees didn’t realize is the Law was established to point them, and us, to the reality of the necessity of the love of a Savior and because they were so deceived – filled with pride – and intent on re-establishing their authority and power, they missed all the cues along the way.

I’d better let you go for now. Please join me tomorrow for one of the most beautiful responses to The Adulterous Woman’s sin, a response that He echoes for us when we as adulterers come to Him.
Being freed from adultery,

Evinda

The Adulterous Woman-From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Thanks for stopping by for a little break today at Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power. Grab your coffee and come on in. We’re in the crowd of people surrounding Jesus in the Temple and He was teaching and then the Pharisees and scribes entered with someone. Grab your coffee and let’s go get comfy.

Who is it that they are practically dragging in with them? Could this be her, the adulterous woman we’ve been waiting to see? As she gets closer and closer, it is hard to see her, what she looks like because her head is looking down. They are heading straight for Jesus, looking straight at him, only daring to look out into the crowd once before they stop right in front of Him.

Wow, these men that brought her in are pretty arrogant, treating her as though she’s an extremely dangerous and sought-after criminal and they should get the reward. If I didn’t know better, I’d say they are wearing an innate mask of smugness.

Let’s get closer so we can hear what they are saying.
Oh, would you just look at them all look around before they begin to address Jesus! Talk about prideful! Ugh. You can just see it oozing out of their pores as they speak. “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.”

Let’s stop there for a second. Now, this is just an Evinda-ism, but I can’t help but wonder if they really caught her or just saw her and knew of her reputation and used her to advance their scheme of tricking and thereafter arresting Jesus. That’s just a thought! Let’s get back to what they are saying.
“Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”
Scripture says thereafter that they said this to test Jesus that they might have something of which to accuse Him, which is why I wondered what I did.

Before we get to one of the most acclaimed responses of Jesus, let’s talk about this woman for a bit. Though she remains nameless in the Word of God, she is such a pivotal example of the reality of The Gospel, the necessity of the reality of the need for a Savior. And though she remains anonymous in Scripture, she is someone we can all relate to, someone we must relate with if we dare to let go of shame, one of Satan’s most powerful ropes that hold us in bondage, an unseen bondage that pulls us away from abundant life.

Now you may be saying to yourself, I can’t relate to this woman; I’ve never committed adultery. Well, I’m so glad you brought that up, and we will definitely dig a bit deeper into this tomorrow, but for now let me leave you with this truth: Idolatry is a form of adultery!

Being freed from adultery,

Evinda

The Adulterous Woman From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Welcome to Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power! Thanks for joining me today for a little break. Grab your coffee and come on in. We are about to find out the common denominator of deception.

As we wrap up this detour, we can see through the eyes of our hearts that there are many examples, too many examples of deception, a sort of unawareness where truth leaks out of the soul and something else replaces it without even a conscious awareness and when that happens, it affects our attitudes, our actions and our abilities, rendering us utterly and hopelessly deceived.

So what is the common denominator? Well if we go back to this meeting that the Pharisees were having with the chief priests and the officers who confessed that they had never heard anyone talk like “this Man,” all I have to do is take a look around the room with the eyes of my heart wide open and my ears ready to listen and the common denominator swirls around me like a frenzied ghost. I can see it in their demeanor; I can hear it in their comments. In fact, it’s as though each one of the Pharisees is bound up in this common denominator like a mummy. And if I look at them as I rewind the tape on other scenarios of deception that have literally wrenched at my heart during our lifetime, those people are no different than these Pharisees for they wear the same garments of deception.

Plain and simple, the common denominator is pride and what’s in the middle of “pride”? I, I, I! I could never, ever claim to have the full view of the heart of the deceived; only God has that, but the one glaring thing that brings clarity to any and all kinds of deception is this thing called pride. The Webster’s Dictionary defines pride as inordinate self-esteem; proud or disdainful behavior or treatment. How ironic that I would return to this subject just after returning from a writers’ conference that has definitely taught me that I was there to continue the process of being emptied of me that He may write completely through me without any clogs of prideful or un-inspired text. Oh, that I would remember that deception sneaks in through the window of pride!

“Pride” is in the Bible 49 times and was used in the beginning by poets to refer to glory, but thereafter the majority of the uses of pride are negative in that they denote human pride as an antonym for humility and as in Proverbs, pride is put together with arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. The New Testament (Greek) translation says: pride is a swollen estimate of his/her own power and merits and looks down on others and even treats them with insolence and contempt. One who compares himself secretly or openly with others and lifts himself above.

These definitions bring clarity into this meeting with the Pharisees, Chief Priests and these officers, practically shining a light into their hearts revealing the source of their deception. And as the light moves into my world and the experiences I’ve had with deception, clarity comes, and I am at peace to pray for the veil of deception to be lifted and that truth would prevail sooner than later.

Keep these definitions in mind as we get closer to actually meeting The Adulterous Woman!

Anticipating the introduction,

Evinda