Women of
Courage- Mary Magdalene – Mar. 7
Question 4 in Bible connections:
Matthew
11:25-30
25 At
that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and
understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was
your gracious will.[g] 27 All things have been handed over to me by my
Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father
except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn
from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your
souls. 30 For
my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
We are looking at the spiritual recognition
that He is sovereign over us . Shera
discussed the types of yokes that have been used, the double yoke for training;
the single yoke for the master to lead; the human yoke that wraps around
shoulders and must be a balanced load in order to carry it. What are the possibilities of the type of
yoke we are discussing? The yoke being
our subjection to the Lord, devoted and surrendered. Having a life of obedience and having the discernment
to know the will of God is the yoke we should have.
Every woman we have studied is similar in
their place of obedience. It was the
Lord’s direction in their lives that revealed the truth. The complete opposite of that is revealed in
Jeremiah 6:16
Thus says the Lord:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
and
ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and
find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
We sometimes don’t recognize the yoke we
should be walking with. It is often that
we take our eyes off of the Lord and our hearts travel the wrong
direction. We long to see the world
yoked back to God.
Matthew 11- the only self-description of Christ
in the scriptures: , for I am gentle and lowly in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
If we take up His yoke it will be as he has
described, we will find rest for our souls. But, it is work. We will not learn by just sitting. We need to be teachable, letting God work
through you, to have an open heart and open mind, making sure we are learning
the truth, meditating upon His words and communing with him in prayer. We tend to struggle against giving him
all. We must desire to delight ourselves
in Him, to “beat our bodies into subjection” taking up the yoke, keeping
connected to the Lord, abiding in Him.
Question 5 John 20:1-13 Shera went to verse 18.
Staci mentioned that the disciples left her
there as they went home. She may not
have been able to keep up with the disciples. She remained and was the first of many that
would see the Lord. WE need to be
careful not to be callous of heart.
Vs. 8 – the disciple saw and vs. 9 they did
not know the scripture, and vs. 13 know
( the recognition of something) but when
they believed they understood all the words of the Lord. We have to recognize and experience the words
of the Lord as well.
Question 6 : John 10:3-5
3 To him the gatekeeper
opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads
them out. 4 When
he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him,
for they know his voice. 5 A
stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not
know the voice of strangers.”
Mary recognized his voice, she followed in
obedience. He called her out of the
demonic influence and she remained obedient and following. Jesus said to her in John 20
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic,[b] “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but
go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the
disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.
So many had followed Christ, but at his crucifixion
there were so few that stood with him.
The same is true today, the remnant can be very small. Are the people that turn away and leave saying
the words from Jeremiah 6:16. We must
remain steadfast in our walk. WE need
to hold together and so much the more as we see the end approaching. We have to fight the current of the world
that is trying to lead us away from the things of God. We need to put the things of the Lord first
and the things of the world last.
2 Thessalonians 3: 1-5
Finally,
brothers,[a] pray for us, that the word of the Lord may
speed ahead and be honored,[b] as happened among you, 2 and that we may be delivered
from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful. He
will establish you and guard you against the evil one.[c] 4 And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that
you are doing and will do the things that we command. 5 May the Lord direct your
hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.
