In His Love.

Hey sis! You may have already familiarized yourself with The Christ Her in the ‘About’ section. However, I’d still like to briefly introduce myself before we get into the very first devotional! I’m Monika Powell of Atlanta, Ga. A daughter, friend and lover of God. Perfectly imperfect yet still somehow chosen to be a vessel for God’s ministry, THIS ministry; The Christ Her!

The Christ Her is ministry for women from all walks of life with one common goal: to seek & know Jesus more intimately and in the process; constantly discovering and living out our TRUE identity which is found in Him.

Everything we need to know about ourselves is actually found in Him. Who He is, His ways and how He sees us.

Aside from His word, God’s hearts towards you is so evident in even leading you here, where He wants to reveal His desire for constant intimacy with us -His daughters. From the beginning of time with Adam and Eve, God desired friendship and fellowship with His creation. He walked in His glorious Garden with His friends, Adam and Eve in the cool of the day according to Genesis 3:8. And because God is unchanging (Malachi 3:6), we can rest assured that His desire for us to be in relationship with Him has not wavered.

When you think about God, what is the first thing that comes to your mind?

Sometimes we allow our circumstances, relationships with our earthly parents or just simply our own limited thinking to shape our perspective of God. In my most recent season, tragedy altered my perspective of God from good to better. Previously, I had been sensing that God was preparing me for a test of faith. -(I’m convinced that I inherited my extra-ness from my Heavenly Father because boy, did He go over the top with this test!) Months and months went and I had no clue what test of faith I was being prepared for. Then, one morning I journaled as usual and wrote what I sensed Holy Spirit was saying. “I’ll triumph over the enemy”, “God is strong in my weakness”, I wrote. Then it happened… Late that night, while asleep… a stray bullet to my knee.

After some time had passed, I thought, “ This is my time to prove my strength and faith to God”. Surely, He was calling me to be strong and persevere, right? WRONG! Not that strength and perseverance are bad, but that was just a fragment of what He wanted for me. I was so set on being strong in my faith in Him, that I forgot that I forgot to actually be totally vulnerable before Him. The very thing He promted me to write in my journal that morning before the tragedy. I had completely forgot that “He is strong in my weakness.” Though my relationship with God persisted through the trials of these very long, painful days; there was still something I sensed that was missing. I would later find that my weakness is what was missing. God wasn’t preparing me to be strong. He was preparing me to be weak -IN HIM!

See, we’re so programmed by society to be “strong women” that my previous sentence probably sounds weird, huh? But the thing is, our life isn’t based off of society. It isn’t like that with God because no matter how old we are physically; we’re still little children to Him spiritually. I found that God did not want me to be Monika, the 32 year old woman who has it all figured out. He actually wanted to be my childlike self with Him so that I could know Him on an even deeper level as Abba or “Father.” The Perfect Abba, the kind and caring Abba, the protective Abba, the gentle, sweet Abba, the always listening, always speaking Abba. He says that HIS strength is made perfect our our weakness (2 Corinthians 12). It wasn’t until I fully depended on HIS strength, guidance, wisdom & provisions -like a child would a parent; that our relationship began to flourish even more! I truly began to experience Him as daddy and I literally became a child with Him again. Laughing and talking with Him, asking Him questions, becoming totally reliant on Him. He wants that for all of His daughters. To allow Him to be Abba to us -no matter our age or stage! This is the ultimate “Princess Treatment”, okay!! He loves us too much to leave us where we are, whether we’re already in relationship with Him or not. I love that about God!

How’ve you come to know God recently?

Maybe your perspective of God is based off of your experience with people or your circumstances. Maybe you view Him as someone who is sitting on His throne, watching over the earth, not wanting to be bothered by your concerns. Or perhaps you view God as a Father who only loves you when you get it right. These however, are the furthest from the truth!

God IS LOVE.

And He loves you with what is called ‘Agape’ which is actually the highest form of love. It is immeasurable, self-sacrificing, ongoing and without conditions. It can’t be earned. Think about it. While we were still sinners, living in rebellion to Him; He STILL chose to love us and adopt us to be His daughters (Ephesians 1:5 )? He was not ignorant to all of the mess that would come with you. He didn’t think that because you chose Him back that you’d at once be without sin. But He committed to perfecting us in every good thing that He had set out before us since the beginning of time (Psalm 138:8). He committed to going through the process with us.

Truth is, when we grow in relationship with God, we begin to understand the ways of God.  This is the true beauty of the Gospel. That God, in His love and wisdom found a way to redeem us and that is through Christ Jesus. Now, when He sees us, He see us through the lens of His Son who He sent to redeem us. I’m emphasizing this today because though most of you know these truths, life can sometimes cause us to forget.

Even before God sent Jesus to earth to save us, we see His redemption time and time again in the Old Testament of His word. After the Israelites, God’s own people constantly rebelled against Him, He spoke words of love and redemption to them through prophet Jeremiah.

Read and meditate on Jeremiah 31:3 (NKJ version) below:

The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.”

Sis, no matter who you are, what you’ve done, how imperfect you are; God still pursues you with an everlasting love (v2). In Hebrew “everlasting translates to: indefinite, unending and ancient. Not because of who you are but because of who HE is! God IS love. His love redeems, restores, transforms, reveals, forgives and He does not fail. He says in the above verse that it HIS love that draws us. Not our works, not our imagine, not even our own hearts.. but His. See, we cannot even be true women of God apart from His help. But isn’t that the beautiful thing?.. He helps us to be in relationship with Him.. through loving us FIRST.

I don’t know about you but there have been times when I’ve said “Im not teaching anybody’s son how to love me.” -that was before I knew the love and grace of God btw lol.. BUT God, He’s so good, so faithful, so full of grace that He doesn’t say that about us. He teaches us personally how to do RELATIONSHIP with Him because before we can be powerful women of God, He wants us to be lovers of God (and people). Let’s move forward by intentionally being women who are in awe of God. Let’s be drawn to Him by remembering and meditating on His love for us, His daughters.

Application:

Sit with God for a bit and ask Him the easy and not so easy questions. Then take a moment to pour you heart out to Him and watch for how He responds in the coming days. Lastly, get intentional with being child-like before your Heavenly Father!

Finally, let’s end this very first devotional in prayer!

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for another day. Thank You for leading us to this very moment. We know it is not by mistake. You’re an intentional God, so much so, that You created us for relationship. Your word says that “man is not meant to be alone.” Father God, we pray that your presence reign over this group of ladies. Let Your love be evident in this group. Father, overwhelm us with Your love so that we can extend that same love to others, even difficult people. I know that You’ve created every woman here for a purpose. Help us to believe before we even see. Help us in any areas of unbelief, insecurities, doubt, worry, fear, anxiety, and our shortcomings. May major breakthrough begin to happen as we seek You. I come against anything sent to distract, delay, and destroy us from You. As we go deeper with You, help us discover or rediscover our identity in You and grow in the full knowledge of Christ. Give us YOUR strength, courage, boldness, and unwavering faith to patiently persevere and endure all this life may bring. Right here, right now, change our hearts and renew our minds in Christ Jesus. Lord, You know what each of us need so I’m asking that You’d meet us at our individual points of need. We acknowledge that we can’t do this without You and we thank You for sending us people who will help us along the way. All for Your glory and our good. May You be forever glorified in, through, and around this ministry of women. It’s in the mighty name of Jesus we pray, Amen.