Cross My Heart Ministry

The Lord God said,
“It is not good for the man to be alone.
I will make a helper suitable for him.”
Genesis 2:18

God created the rest of the world and then saved man, the crown of His creation, for last.  Next we see that God will bless Adam with a helpmate.  Reading verse 18 leads us to hold our breath in anticipation.  If this were a fairytale, it would be the moment when the beautiful princess enters the ballroom and Prince Charming lays eyes on her for the first time…

          Our eyes eagerly move to verse 19 to see the scene unfold and we behold…Adam naming the animals..?  Were two pages stuck together?  Did I inadvertently skip a few verses?  When virtually all of Chapter 2 is devoted to Adam and Eve (my Bible even gives it that heading), why does God suddenly interject this bit about Adam’s assignment to name the animals?

          As each animal came, Adam’s sense of aloneness was heightened. God used the naming of the animals to create a desire for a mate in Adam.  Perhaps if God had given Eve too quickly, Adam would not have appreciated or valued her.  (Sometimes we make that mistake with our children – giving them a toy or bicycle without allowing them time to dream about it, want it, wait for it–maybe even to save for it and earn it.)

          Perhaps all that waiting not only created a longing for a mate, but also had Adam ready to embrace his new mate (spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, and physically) as suitable.

          If you are a mom like me, you have been praying since your children were born for that suitable mate for each of them.  On December 29, 2012, those prayers for our firstborn were answered as Tori Layne Barnes became Mrs. Kyle Macfarlan.  She is an extraordinary woman of God.  She is suitable and then some.  God has answered exceedingly and abundantly more than I could ask or imagine for our son.  They complement each other so well.  They share a passion for God.  They are both equipped with sharp minds that will challenge each other to deep thinking.  On top of it all, I’ll be blessed with beautiful grandchildren one day – as (in this mama’s very biased opinion), they are a handsome couple inside and out.

          Young love inspires old love.  Attending a wedding ceremony is an opportunity to renew vows if you are married or pray for the marriages of those you hold dear if you are not.

          Lord, am I suitable for Kevin?  Am I an effective and loving helpmate? Show me how to love him better today.  And, Lord, please continue to bless Kyle and Tori during these foundational weeks of their marriage.  Thank you for bringing them together.  I pray blessing over their lives and their marriage –may they always live to bring You glory!

And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
Genesis 2:16-7

Today we have federal, state, city, and county rules. We have rules for driving, for buying and selling, and even for dying.  Some of those seem to always be changing – like the speed limit:  50 here, 70 there, only 35 over here.  There are rules at home and at work.  There are moral and ethical rules.  And each one comes with consequences when broken.

Adam and Eve were given just one little rule and still could not keep it.

We can indulge in frustration, irritation, and condemnation towards Adam & Eve – they ruined paradise for everybody!  But…I must ask myself:  if it had been “Adam & Laura” would the results have been different?  In our flesh we are all the same as Adam and Eve.  We, too, would have chosen our own way then…because we are choosing our own way now.

God wanted Adam and Eve – and, by extension, us— to choose to obey Him out of love.  He didn’t force them and He doesn’t force us to obey.  He could have left the tree out. He could have put a high fence around it.  He chose not to make it unreachable and He gave them many other choices –lots of others trees from which to choose.

Why a choice?  Couldn’t he have made us all Pinocchioes to automatically do his bidding?

But He chose to make us in HIS own image (Genesis 1:27) and with that we have free choice.  God wants us to choose to obey.  He wants us to choose to love Him.  As parents, we are delighted when our children CHOOSE to love and obey us.  It surely brings pleasure to our great God and heavenly father when we choose to obey Him because we love Him.

Jesus said, “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me…”  John 14:21. 

Where is God calling you and me to choose to obey Him because we love Him?  We must consider that choosing to continue to sin is to also choose to reject God.  Our love for Him compels us to obey Him.  His love for us enables us to obey.

Would you ask Him today to give you strength, courage, and the ability to walk in obedience – to obey Him in that difficult area where you might be holding out?

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden
to work it and take care of it.
Genesis 2:15

One of mankind’s first assignments was to care for the creation. Stewardship of the earth is not a political issue, but a Biblical call.  Christians should lead the charge to actively and purposefully demonstrate conservation of our earth’s resources—being careful to proclaim that we worship the Creator and not the creation.

The call to recycle is heard by every generation. Modern-day school children recognize the green triangle and the words Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.  The World War II generation can recite the slogan of their era: “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”  Travelers are challenged to reuse their towels with this message in hotel rooms: “Think Globally, Act Locally.”

As 21^st Century Christians, we should not resist, but embrace, the challenge to live a green lifestyle. Consider these simple actions as ways to worship God and fulfill His assignment to take care of the earth:

• Buy a re-usable water bottle.  Keep it filled and ready to grab and go.
• Recycle cans, plastic, metal, and paper.
• Consider wearing clothing a second time before laundering to conserve water.
• Donate items in good condition to a local Salvation Army rather than throwing into the trash.
• As you go, pick up trash from sidewalks, parks, and streets.
• Plant a tree

Our job from the very beginning was to serve as caretaker of the earth.  Our creation is God’s gift to us.  We honor Him and worship Him when we serve as good stewards of what He has entrusted to us.

“And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”  Genesis 2:3

School children love snow days. Moms and Dads love vacation days.  Everybody loves holidays.  Celebrating the occasion aside, just doing something different than what is required all the other days makes a day off a treat.  In proclaiming the seventh day for rest, God set the example of giving us a day off. He even modeled this for us by resting from all the work He had done on the other six days.

I don’t think God was tired, but rather He wanted to enjoy the blessing  of a job well done – not unlike the feeling of satisfaction we get from sipping sweet tea and looking at a freshly mowed lawn or a newly-mopped floor.  Ahhh….satisfaction!

A day off is a gift.  A blessing.  A delight to be enjoyed, not a drudgery to be endured.  And yet, when we hear  Sabbath, our minds quickly jump to words like legalism, law, or bondage.  Perhaps we should consider that real bondage is trying to continuously maintain the stressful, hectic pace of every day being the same – is Sunday the day that you and I try to play catch up on everything we just didn’t get to the rest of the week?

God, as the Creator of our bodies, knows what we need.  Just as we refer to the owner’s manual to determine how many quarts of oil our engine needs to run effectively, we need to use God as the authority for what our bodies need.  He is our manufacturer.  A day off will help the other six unfold both more productively and more joyfully.

What holds us back from accepting His gift?  Are we so arrogant or prideful to think that we are too important, too busy, or just have it too much together that we don’t need to or don’t have time to take the day off?

How can you and I be intentional about making this Sunday a real day of rest, a holy day, a day of blessing? For many believers, Sunday is the MOST hectic day of the week and certainly not the day of rest God intended.  Join me in making some plans.  Let’s intentionally make Saturday count and take Sunday off.  How can we make Sunday different?  Go for a bike ride, play games with the family, read a book, go for a walk – whatever rest looks like for you.  Let’s make it holy – set apart – different from the other days and, most of all, honoring to God.

Let’s plan to open our gift of a day off!

Sorry for the unplanned “sabbatical.”  The transfer of my blog administration from Feedburner to Mail Chimp exceeded my techno skills.  Of course, my eldest son was able to do in about five minutes what I had labored over for weeks.  Now that the transfer is complete, you can expect more Genesis posts.

In the meantime, I’m sharing the links below to the teaching lectures from the weekly Bible study I teach at First Baptist Church here in Siloam Springs, AR.  Please email me at crossmyheartministry@cox.net if you would like to receive the Power Point slide show that accompanies the audio.

Here are the recorded Genesis lectures to date:
Genesis Intro:
http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/2012/09/09/genesis-intro-laura-macfarlan-9612/

Genesis 1 –Because of needing to be out of town for a funeral, this lecture was recorded directly into Power Point.  Email me directly and I will send you the file.

Genesis 2:
http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/2012/09/20/genesis-2-laura-macfarlan-92012/

Genesis 3:
http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/2012/09/27/genesis-3-laura-macfarlan-92712/

Genesis 4:
http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/2012/10/04/genesis-4-laura-macfarlan-100412/

Genesis 5 & 6:
http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/2012/10/12/genesis-5-6-laura-macfarlan-101112/

Genesis 7 to 9:
http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/2012/10/19/genesis-7-to-9-laura-macfarlan-101812/

Genesis 10 to 12–This lecture was recorded directly into a Power Point file.

Genesis 13 to 15:
http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/2012/11/02/genesis-13-to-15-laura-macfarlan-11112/

I welcome your comments on how God is using age-old stories from Genesis to challenge your modern-day living!

“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good…”  Genesis 1:31a

My oldest son is a man of few words.  From the time he was a little boy, the mono-syllabic response I received to questions such as, “How was the party?” “How was the pizza?” or “How was the movie?” was always the same:  Good.  The mother in me wanted details.  Give me sentences loaded with verbs, adjectives, adverbs – I wanted more words!  After reading God’s description of each day’s creation, perhaps I need to consider good an appropriate, fitting and positive summary.

Each day had its own assigned work.  And consistently at the conclusion of each day, God pronounced His work good.  But on the sixth day, He added the adverb very.  This was the day the crown of His creation was added to the world:  He created man.  Creation was good to this point.  Now it was proclaimed very good.

In the months leading up to the birth of that boy-of-few-words, his daddy and I lovingly prepared the nursery for our first-born child. Our guestroom was transformed with paint, teddy bears, and baby furniture.  Even the laundry was cuter, as I washed the teeny tiny baby clothes and put them away in anticipation of the arrival of our first born.  Each night before going to bed, we wandered into the nursery, stood at the edge of the crib, and anticipated the joy that would be ours to see our baby there in a few weeks.  As we painted walls, sewed bedding, washed new clothes, and hung pictures, we could declare it good.  But not until our baby arrived would it be very good.  Welcoming our child home was perhaps the closest I can ever come to understanding God’s delight in placing Adam in the Garden and declaring His creation very good.

We were created in His image.  Genesis 1:27 says He created male and female.  Both were added by God on the sixth day and His masterpiece was complete.  Only then did He declare the world very good.

What very good thing does God want to complete in your life? Are you seeking fulfillment in something or someone other than Him?  Do you realize you were created with a purpose– that you are here for a reason?  We are on this planet to bring Him glory.  We were created for relationship with Him.  We look for fulfillment in so many other things, but nothing else will ever bring real satisfaction.  We may find temporary fulfillment masquerading as good, but there will be no real good, and certainly no very good apart from Him.

Lord, how I thank you that in You and because of you my life is very good!

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Genesis 1:1-2

Before God began His miraculous work of creation, the earth was described as “formless and empty.”  In other words, there was nothing there.

The word translated “create” in verse 1 is the Hebrew word, bara.  Most often it refers to creating something from nothing.  This contrasts to using create to describe arranging materials that are already in existence.  I may create a flower arrangement by picking annuals from my garden, but I certainly did not create the flowers themselves.  Anytime bara is used in scripture, God is always the genius and the power behind the creating.  He is doing a work that only He can do.

Like the earth (formless and empty), our hearts are dead before God does His miraculous work in our lives.  In Ephesians 2:1 Paul says, “..you were dead in your transgressions & sins.”

As God brought forth His creation from nothing, He also brings forth new life to a sinful heart—doing a work that only He can do.

He may be calling you to enter into a relationship with Him for the very first time– to accept the new life in Christ that He offers.  Or He may be calling you to a new way of thinking or living your life.  Join with me in asking Him, “What do you want to bara in my life, God? I willingly submit to your work.” 

I want to be faithful to do my part – to follow in obedience as He leads.  I also want to submit to His work in my life—allowing Him to do what only He can do:  to create something from the nothingness in me.

What is it that He wants to bara in your life?  Are you ready for the change that only He can bring?

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  Genesis 1:1

Genesis provides the details on God’s creation of our world.  I’m reminded that not only did He have the creative genius to think it all up, He had the divine power to speak it into existence.  If the universe is His palette, His signature is everywhere!

This week as we walk, drive, and go, let’s look and behold the magnificence of what God did.  The beauty, the order, the amazing dovetailing together of seasons, generations, and life – all of it should compel us to marvel and to worship.

God breathed it all into existence.  And that realization should take our breath away.

Look around you.  Take note of the life cycle in a single seed.  Consider the order in the water cycle:  evaporation, condensation, precipitation.  Look at the intricacy of the human body and its many systems all working together:  circulatory, digestive, neurological, etc.  Our lungs breathe in oxygen.  We breathe out carbon dioxide.  Plants are just the opposite:  they need carbon dioxide and give off oxygen.  Could that really have just happened?

How many brilliant engineers would it take to design all this?  Our great God is truly the master engineer – the great designer who gave us both form and function.

I know there are those who challenge the existence of God.  Personally, I’m convinced it would take a lot more faith to believe it could have all just happened.  Think about it:  does order every really come from chaos or nothing?  The clutter in my house convinces me otherwise.  Within my four walls, I have yet to see order flow from chaos without intentional, deliberate action!

As we begin our study of creation, let’s take time to observe creation.

Stop and take a time out from the busy-ness of life.

Look at the world around you.  Flowers, trees, fruit, animals, colors, texture, taste—our senses can easily become overloaded in the wonder of it all.

Marvel, as you allow yourself a few “wow” moments.  Share those with your children and grandchildren.  Read through their school science book with them.  Point out that it is all so wonderful and amazing – it couldn’t “just happen.”  God’s signature is all over His masterpiece.

Worship – Oh, how good He is to bless us with all this! Join with me in offering praise that “In the beginning God…!”

Our weekly ladies Bible study here in Siloam Springs is off to a great start.  We are using materials from Joy of Living and adopting a format similar to that employed by Bible Study Fellowship or Community Bible Study for those of you familiar with those methos of study.

I’ll be devoting some posts to truths gleaned from Genesis. I hope you will join us for this journey.  You can do so several ways:

• Read the posts that I’ll be making a couple of times per week
• Read through Genesis with us
• Purchase the Joy of Living study and do it on your own http://www.joyofliving.org/html/gene.html
• Find a friend to also do the study and meet for coffee each week to go over the questions together
• Listen on-line to the recorded lecture each week
• Any combination of the above

You can download the first week’s lesson here for free:
http://www.joyofliving.org/html/GENEBND01FF.pdf

You can listen to the introduction/overview lecture here:
http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/2012/09/09/genesis-intro-laura-macfarlan-9612/

The lecture for Genesis 1 (Week 1 study) was recorded into a Power Point.  If you would like me to send you this file, please email me at: cross.my.heart@cox.net

Isn’t technology amazing?

Genesis has been called the book of beginnings.  What better place to begin a serious study of God’s Word?  I hope you will consider joining us!