Another article i wrote in 2008 for during my hiatus.

I love Jesus so much for his forgiveness and his love for sinners. I am one of those sinners who does not deserve his love, but he gives it to me anyway. This is the story that I used to confess to my FH when we started dating. I wanted to get out in the open my past, to give him the opportunity to take me or leave me. I am happy to say that he took me!

This story is based in John 8. This story takes place in Jerusalem. Jesus had just returned from the Mount of Olives and went to the temple to teach. The Pharisees were trying ever so hard to find a reason to accuse him of false prophesy or blastphemy. So here they come into the temple with a woman in tow who was caught in the act of adultery. Now my question is, “Where is the MAN who was in the act of adultery as well?”, but the Pharisees were SO into the letter of the Law, the woman could have been the easiest catch. Who knows….maybe she was having an affair with one of them? But I digress….

So here is this poor woman. Who knows what condition she was in being “caught in the act” and here she is, humiliated, in front of all these men in the temple. The Pharisees commanded that the Law of Moses be enacted on her, which would have meant being stoned to death. What is Jesus doing during all of this? Stooped over on the ground writing in the dirt. What in the world would the Savior of the World be doodling in the dust? The Bible doesn’t say, but thinking he isn’t paying attention to them, the Pharisees keep going on.

Finally Jesus looks up at them and tells them, “He who is without sin amongst you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8: 7 NASB) and he goes right on writing in the dirt. Now these Pharisees must have seen and known what Jesus was writing because one by one, they turned and walked away. When Jesus looked up, he saw only the woman and himself and he asked her where they all went. She told him no one had condemned her, to which he replies, “Neither do I condemn you; go. From now on sin no more.” (John 8: 11 NASB) You see, the only one left there without sin was the Son of Man. Just like I said in my last blog entry, Jesus came into the world to save the world, not to condemn the world. So he forgave the woman and told her to sin no more. He gave her another chance. Did she take advantage of it? We don’t know.

But you know, it is really easy to sin. It was really easy for Adam and Eve from the beginning of time, so why would it be any different for any of us? Sometimes in life when our marriage isn’t going right to us, it is so easy to look for an easy fix…an affair like this woman was involved in. We don’t know much about her at all. Was she married? Was she having an affair with a married man? Was she looking for love in all the wrong places? All we know about her was she was caught having sex with another man. Dear ones, there is nothing that God cannot fix in your marriage. There are times when we need to go to our Abba Father with all our tears and sorrows, not to another man to fulfill our needs. Christ is sufficient for us all. If you have defiled your marriage bed, you can be redeemed by your Father in heaven. Do as Christ told this woman, “go and sin no more.” If you are even considering stepping outside of your marriage bed to meet needs, don’t even go there. Go to the Lord in prayer. Ask Him to help you. Ask Him to help fulfill your needs. Ask Him to help you change to be the wife he intended for your DH. Our time table is not always God’s, so be patient. God’s timing is perfect.

And yes, there is another story coming….in the Lord’s time.

I am so grateful for my Ladies bible study at church.  We meet just about every Thursday evening, and this is something that I know I need.  There have been days that I  have heard Satan say, “You are just too tired to go.  It will be okay to miss just one meeting.” – I go anyways and have always been blessed beyond all measure.   Sometimes I hear my husband say something similar to this…. “Oh, I didn’t think you were going tonight.”   Why would I not go?  I NEED THIS.

Anyways, over the next few weeks, I will be introducing each of the chapters in the series we are studying.  The book is called “Lies Women Believer and the TRUTH that Sets Them Free” by Nancy Leigh DeMoss.   I will admit this is a TOUGH book to read, especially if you gloss over the topics and the lies and say, “I don’t believe that.  This isn’t for me.”  Trust me, I already have done that…. I glossed over the chapters and said… nope.  nope.  not me.  nope.  oh definitely not…. See, Satan is already trying to convince me that I don’t believe his lies.  While there are definitely some that I know I don’t believe, I prayed to God to open my eyes to the lies that I cannot tell that I am believing….  and already in chapter 2, I’ve found one I didn’t know I was there.

The leader of our group also gave us an assignment…. you don’t have to report it to the class here, but I do challenge you to do this as well.   Like I said earlier, there have already been “this is not me” moments, even when I got this assignment, but again, I have been praying that God would reveal to me the lie that holds me in bondage that i need to be set free from.  The assignment won’t make any sense unless you read the book, so do this if you follow along with me.

Here is the assignment:

you will need a letter sized envelope, and 2 index cards (lined or unlined, doesn’t matter).   On the front of card #1, identify the area(s) of bondage or sinful behavior in your life.  On the back of card #1, identify the lie associated to that bondage.    On the front of card #2, replace that lie with the Truth… identify the truth in scripture, memorize and meditate on the Truth and believe the Truth.  On the back of card #3, act on the Truth…list steps that you will take.

If in my quiet time I am made aware of the Lie that binds me, and I finish this assignment myself, I will reveal it here.   You do not need to reveal yours, unless you want to.   So download the book, borrow it from the library, buy it at Half Price Books or Amazon.com …. let’s try to get started next week with Chapter 1.  🙂