Posted by: jakinnan | July 24, 2014

The Way a Man is with a Woman

2 trees

There is something mythic in the way a man is with a woman. Our sexuality offers a parable of amazing depth when it comes to being masculine and feminine. The man comes to offer his strength and the woman invites the man into herself, an act that requires courage and vulnerability and selflessness for both of them. Notice first that if the man will not rise to the occasion, nothing will happen. He must move; his strength must swell before he can enter her. But neither will the love consummate unless the woman opens herself in stunning vulnerability. When both are living as they were meant to live, the man enters his woman and offers her his strength. He spills himself there, in her, for her; she draws him in, embraces and envelops him. When all is over he is spent; but ah, what a sweet death it is.

And that is how life is created. The beauty of a woman arouses a man to play the man; the strength of a man, offered tenderly to his woman, allows her to be beautiful; it brings life to her and to many. This is far, far more than sex and orgasm. It is a reality that extends to every aspect of our lives. When a man withholds himself from his woman, he leaves her without the life only he can bring. This is never more true than how a man offers—or does not offer—his words. Life and death are in the power of the tongue, says Proverbs (18:21). She is made for and craves words from him.

– John Eldredge, Wild at Heart

Posted by: jakinnan | July 24, 2014

07/24/2014 Scripture

WaterFlow

“Pay attention, O Jacob,
    for you are my servant, O Israel.
I, the Lord, made you,
    and I will not forget you.
I have swept away your sins like a cloud.
    I have scattered your offenses like the morning mist.
Oh, return to me,
    for I have paid the price to set you free.”

Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done this wondrous thing.
    Shout for joy, O depths of the earth!
Break into song,
    O mountains and forests and every tree!
For the Lord has redeemed Jacob
    and is glorified in Israel.

-Isaiah 44:21-23 NLT

Posted by: jakinnan | July 23, 2014

Qualities That Speak of God

sunset

Can there be any doubt that God wants to be sought after? The first and greatest of all commands is to love him (Mark 12:29-30; Matt. 22:36-38). He wants us to love him. To seek him with all our heart. A woman longs to be sought after, too, with the whole heart of her pursuer. God longs to be desired. Just as a woman longs to be desired. This is not some weakness or insecurity on the part of a woman, that deep yearning to be desired. God feels the same way. Remember the story of Martha and Mary? Mary chose God, and Jesus said that was what he wanted. “Mary has chosen what is better” (Luke 10:42). She chose me.

Life changes dramatically when romance comes into our lives. Christianity changes dramatically when we discover that it, too, is a great romance. That God yearns to share a life of beauty, intimacy, and adventure with us. “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jer. 31:3). This whole world was made for romance—the rivers and the glens, the meadows and the beaches. Flowers, music, a kiss. But we have a way of forgetting all that, losing ourselves in work and worry. Eve—God’s message to the world in feminine form—invites us to romance. Through her, God makes romance a priority of the universe.

So God endows Woman with certain qualities that are essential to relationship, qualities that speak of God. She is inviting. She is vulnerable. She is tender. She embodies mercy. She is also fierce and fiercely devoted. As the old saying goes, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” That’s just how God acts when he isn’t chosen. “I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not share your affection with any other god!” (Ex. 20:5 NLT). A woman’s righteous jealousy speaks of the jealousy of God for us.

Tender and inviting, intimate and alluring, fiercely devoted. Oh yes, our God has a passionate, romantic heart. Just look at Eve.

– Stasi Eldredge, Captivating

Posted by: jakinnan | July 23, 2014

07/23/2014 Scripture

Lake

I am the Lord;
    there is no other God.
I have equipped you for battle,
    though you don’t even know me,
so all the world from east to west
    will know there is no other God.
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
I create the light and make the darkness.
I send good times and bad times.
    I, the Lord, am the one who does these things.

“Open up, O heavens,
    and pour out your righteousness.
Let the earth open wide
    so salvation and righteousness can sprout up together.
    I, the Lord, created them.

-Isaiah 45:5-8 NLT

Photo: Getty Images

Posted by: jakinnan | July 22, 2014

07/22/2014 Scripture

SmokySunrise

“Do not forget this! Keep it in mind!
    Remember this, you guilty ones.
Remember the things I have done in the past.
    For I alone am God!
    I am God, and there is none like me.
Only I can tell you the future
    before it even happens.

-Isaiah 46:8-10 NLT

Photo: Chris Mobley

Posted by: jakinnan | July 22, 2014

07/21/2014 Scripture

StarLight

Our Redeemer, whose name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
    is the Holy One of Israel.

-Isaiah 47:4 NLT

Posted by: jakinnan | July 22, 2014

07/20/2014 Scripture

OceanStar

“Listen to me, O family of Jacob,
    Israel my chosen one!
I alone am God,
    the First and the Last.
It was my hand that laid the foundations of the earth,
    my right hand that spread out the heavens above.
When I call out the stars,
    they all appear in order.”

This is what the Lord says—
    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
    who teaches you what is good for you
    and leads you along the paths you should follow.

-Isaiah 48:12-13 & 17 NLT

Posted by: jakinnan | July 19, 2014

07/19/2014 Scripture

green sunset

Sing for joy, O heavens!
    Rejoice, O earth!
    Burst into song, O mountains!
For the Lord has comforted his people
    and will have compassion on them in their suffering.

-Isaiah 49:13 NLT

Posted by: jakinnan | July 19, 2014

07/18/2014 Scripture

Paria Light

The Sovereign Lord has given me his words of wisdom,
    so that I know how to comfort the weary.
Morning by morning he wakens me
    and opens my understanding to his will.

Who among you fears the Lord
    and obeys his servant?
If you are walking in darkness,
    without a ray of light,
trust in the Lord
    and rely on your God.

-Isaiah 50:4 & 10

Photo: NPS

Posted by: jakinnan | July 17, 2014

What Is Really Going on Here?

BTR

Either (a) we’re blowing it, or (b) God is holding out on us. Or some combination of both, which is where most people land. Think about it. Isn’t this where you land, with all the things that haven’t gone the way you’d hoped and wanted? Isn’t it some version of “I’m blowing it,” in that it’s your fault, you could have done better, you could have been braver or wiser or more beautiful or something? Or “God is holding out on me,” in that you know he could come through, but he hasn’t come through—and what are you to make of that?

This is The Big Question, by the way, the one every philosophy and religion and denominational take on Christianity has been trying to nail down since the dawn of time. What is really going on here? Good grief—life is brutal. Day after day it hammers us, till we lose sight of what God intends toward us, and we haven’t the foggiest idea why the things that are happening to us are happening to us. Then you watch lives going down with the Twin Towers, read about children starving in Ethiopia, and wham! If a good God is really in charge . . . and all that.

We need clarity and we need it badly. A simple prayer rises from my heart:Jesus, take away the fog and the clouds and the veil, and help me to see . . . give me eyes to really see.

– John Eldredge, Waking the Dead

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