Aliene

No more holding back.  

I wonder if the widow in the temple heard those words whispered in her soul as she clutched the warm coins in her hand. Pressing the precious metal into her perspiring palm, she held them tightly for the last time. They were all she had to live on—dropping the coins would declare her dependence on God.  

• Was she tempted to pull back?
• Did insecurity or intimidation grab her thoughts as she was surrounded by the well-to-do?
• Did they even notice her?

Her two tiny copper coins were so small compared with the heaps of money the wealthy religious placed in the offering as they paraded by.  

But Jesus noticed and asked his disciples to study this wise woman. Through his eyes—the only eyes that mattered—her offering was far greater than the vast amounts of money given for show.  

The widow was getting ready to give her all—no holding back.  

As she dropped her coins to be captured by the treasure table, the tapping and clinking must have rang out in heaven like a symphony. Jesus watched and beheld the beauty of a woman giving her heart without reservation to him, for where her treasure was, her heart was also (Matthew 6:21).  

The widow’s giving was a picture of the principle Jesus had recently taught to a teacher of the law asking which of the commandments was the most important. Pulling in words spoken to the Israelites in the wilderness on the brink of their Promised Land arrival, Jesus captured the essence of following God: no holding back.  

“Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength”(Mark 12:29-31).  

Giving Our All

Jesus said the widow in the temple truly gave because she gave all she had. No holding back. Anyone can give out of abundance, but how much more precious is our offering when we are giving Jesus our all. 

It’s easy to give out of a harvest, but it takes faith to give our last seed when the harvest is yet to come.  

As the Bridegroom beheld this sacrificial offering, notice he did not stand in the way of her giving. He did not run toward her, grab her hand, and say, “Are you crazy? This is your very last—your very last! Hold back some to see you through the coming days!”  

This passage has always caused me to pause. If our Bridegroom loved the widow, why would he stand back and watch her give everything she had to the temple treasury?  

Meeting Your Needs by Giving

Christine Cain, founder of A21 Ministries, helped me understand why Jesus did not prevent the widow from giving her all in a podcast she recorded. As I listened, I learned that it was not that he did not want her needs to be met. Jesus knew her true needs would be met through her giving. Christine Cain said this “her need was met through her seed.” I love that – don’t you? 

If Jesus can make money come from the mouth of a fish, he can provide for us in creative ways when there seems to be no way (Matthew 17:27).  

Jesus knew the widow’s giving was not about money. It was about her heart. Jesus did not stand in her way because he knew that those who choose to live for the Lord with no holding back are blessed beyond measure.  

Often when we have nothing – we discover He is our everything. 

She trusted him with all her heart…her brave heart. 

When I am down to my last mite of money, my last mite of strength, my last mite of time – let me not pull back in fear but press in to trust you with everything. 

Nourish Scripture: Mark 12

Discover how to live the abundant life Jesus gave you by finding nourishment in the Word. Download Nourishing Your Heart today!

Blog written by Aliene Thompson. Aliene Thompson is the founder of Treasured Ministries and the Author of the Nourish Bible Study Series. © 2019 Treasured Ministries.

When we nurse a grudge and cling to unforgiveness, we come under the influence of evil thoughts and actions.

Nothing positive results from a woman nursing a grudge. Nothing. When we nurse grudges, we play into Satan’s hands, and our influence is wasted instead of being used for God’s glory.  

A woman who prays carries great influence. However, carrying unforgiveness or nursing grudges can have a negative impact on our prayer life. Today, we are going to look at the connection between forgiveness and our prayer life.  

Pray and Forgive  

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. AND when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins” (Mark 11:24-25). 

I think the most powerful and probably overlooked word in this passage is the word and. This word links the importance of forgiveness to a powerful prayer life. We know faith is a key to powerful prayer, but forgiveness is essential also. For our prayers to be effective, we need to walk in the righteousness of Christ, faith, and forgiveness (James 5:16; Mark 11:24-25).  

You see, there is a relationship between forgiveness and our faith… 

In Luke 17:3-6, when Jesus told his disciples to forgive seven times a day, they cried out, “Increase our faith.” When we cling to unforgiveness, we are putting our faith in people coming through for us instead of God. Jesus said, “Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22).  

Think about a tightly balled fist representing unforgiveness and bitterness. When God pours down his blessings, we cannot receive them because our hands are closed. But when we release others, we can open our hands to receive from God.  

I have always believed faith is one of the most important aspects of prayer. However, after pondering on this passage, my eyes are wide open to the truth that forgiveness opens my clenched hands to receive because it places my faith in God instead of man. This is the relationship between faith and unforgiveness and our prayer life.

Life is not fair—and it never will be—but God is faithful to give us more than enough when we consistently walk in forgiveness.  

In our fallen world beyond the garden of Eden, we have learned that all women will experience bruises along the way caused by others hurting us. A natural reaction to this hurt is to feel that person owes us something.

The debt could be anything.

Think about a hurt you cannot seem to release. What does that person owe you?

• Money?
• Time?
• Your childhood?
• Your self-esteem?
• An apology?
• Your health?
• Your marriage?

What has been stolen? Your dignity, self-respect, or self-worth? Your reputation?  

Our offender may never be able—or willing—to give us back what they took. However, instead of looking to the offending person to restore what we lost, we need to look to Jesus by placing our faith in him.   

Look to Jesus

Jesus has secured spiritual blessing for believers and promises to bring restoration to the hurts in our lives. Jesus brings justice to the injustices in our lives.

It is not our job to administer justice and make everything right and fair. Further, the Word tells us Jesus can make up for the hurts in our lives. People cannot restore what has been lost, but Jesus can (Isaiah 61:7). The restoration may not come from the person who owes us, but it will come.  

Forgiveness is not saying what happened was acceptable or right. Forgiveness is saying, “I release you so I can receive from God.”

We may never receive what we are due from that person, but God will take care of us in ways beyond our thinking. But we must first forgive. As we forgive, we are placing our faith in the King of kings, who owns everything! (Psalm 24:1) This is the relationship between faith and forgiveness.  

People are not your source, brave heart! God has given us a greater way to handle hurts in our life. Release offenders to God so you can receive from God through forgiveness.

Let’s be wise women and walk in forgiveness. Have faith in God. Release others so you can receive from Jesus. Walk in forgiveness and watch the mountains in your life move.  

Nourish Scripture: Mark 11

To walk in forgiveness, you need balance and nourishment. Download Nourishing Your Heart to find out how to connect with Jesus and transform the way you live. 

Blog written by Aliene Thompson. Aliene Thompson is the founder of Treasured Ministries and the Author of the Nourish Bible Study Series. © 2019 Treasured Ministries.

God’s design for family establishes a framework that creates a place of rest, solace, and love—a refuge from the storms of life. His boundaries establish a place where we are free to make the mistakes necessary to uncover our true potential and thrive, free to become who God created us to be.

• Wives are to be loved as Christ loved the church.
• Husbands are to leave the nest of their mothers to create their own family, putting their wives first.
• Daughters are to be valued and raised without anger through unconditional love.  

This love, family love, is sacrificial. It is costly. It brings beauty.  

Sadly, under the weight of a broken world, the experiences most of us have with families is fractured rather than whole, distorted rather than ideal. Every woman has an imperfect family.  

While God’s framework for family is perfect, we are not. The perfect family does not exist because there are no perfect people.  

The Goal Should Be Perfect Love

When you see the fractures do you feel like you failed or that God failed you? Do you feel the shame that comes from using the measuring stick of having a perfect family? I did that for years until I learned this truth: my goal should be perfect love not perfect families. 

Don’t believe the enemy’s lies that God’s framework for family doesn’t work.

If marriage and family have failed to satisfy your own needs or the needs of society, it was not God or his plans that failed. It was people, fallen and imperfect, who were not there to fulfill their God-given role so that you could have the security you needed. It was people, fallen and imperfect, who did not love and nurture you the way God designed you to be cared for. 

Just after Paul’s description of God’s family framework in the book of Ephesians, he writes about the armor of God and our war with the enemy (Ephesians 5:21–6:20). This order in Scripture is no accident…

The enemy knows that there is strength in family and would love nothing more than to destroy God’s design, because then he can distort our perception of our relationship with him.

But Satan’s attack on family goes beyond just us; it is an attack on the gospel itself, since God’s family framework communicates the reflection of his desire to have a relationship with all people. 

The Marriage Relationship Reveals God’s Heart

In marriage, God created a relationship like no other. It goes beyond any friendship. It is a covenant in which two lives intertwine to become one.

With the purpose of providing a reflection of the relationship between Christ and the church, the marriage relationship was designed to reveal God’s heart for intimacy with us. Quoting Genesis, Jesus reminded the Pharisees who came to test him,

“But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh” (Mark 10:6–8).   

But even in the brokenness of our own family frameworks, the gospel message pierces through those cracks when we look to Jesus.

• Redemption
• Forgiveness
• Adoption
• Unconditional love

Stop the shame in Jesus name! 

Treasured Tribe, let the fractures be the very parchment upon which Jesus writes his story of redemption, illustrating it with your life.

From our Nourish Scripture this week, we see the heart of Jesus towards women inside fractured families. Let the imperfections in your family drive you straight into the arms of the only source of perfect love—Jesus.  

Our goal should not be perfect families but, rather, families and lives that reflect God’s perfect love toward others within our fallen, fractured world. Could there be any greater blessing in life than that?

Nourish Scripture: Mark 10

When you encounter Jesus, you not only experience perfect love but also discover the truth about who you are meant to be. Download Nourishing Your Heart and learn how to use God’s Word to discover your purpose. 

Blog written by Aliene Thompson. Aliene Thompson is the founder of Treasured Ministries and the Author of the Nourish Bible Study Series. © 2019 Treasured Ministries.

Treasured Tribe,  can we talk real today? 

There is a difference between ministering to someone who needs the Lord and tying your soul to someone who is unhealthy.

There is a difference between loving others and deeply enmeshing yourself with them. I know this – because for years I did not understand the concept of boundaries.

Can you relate? 

God is the only one who can be God (it’s not our job!) and when he is, we are free to love others and let go of those unhealthy entanglements. 

Sometimes we must take drastic steps to detach from unhealthy relationships when they are causing us to stumble. Relationships, like our eyes, hands, and feet, are good and necessary in our life, but some relationships are not healthy. 

“If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand than to go into the unquenchable fires of hell with two hands. If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one foot than to be thrown into hell with two feet. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. It’s better to enter the Kingdom of God with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell.” Mark 9:43-47 

Jesus was not advocating self-mutilation; he was making the point that it is wise to recognize your weaknesses and temptations and remove anything or anyone enticing you to sin.

Jesus is teaching an effective strategy to avoid sin—it is better to sever ourselves from anything that separates us from him than to keep it and sin.

For a time, you may need to lose something or someone valuable, essential, and beneficial so you can find your life in him. 

Identifying Unhealthy Relationships

Unhealthy relational entanglements have destroyed many of Christ’s strongest branches. We all understand the overt signs of an unhealthy relationship—signs like physical, verbal, emotional, or spiritual abuse, and infidelity. But what about the more subtle signs? 

In her book When Godly People Do Ungodly Things, Beth Moore, who has ministered to the church for years, points out how some of the most committed Christians have fallen into “messy” relationship entanglements. Beth Moore also talks about the importance of discerning clean versus messy ties in relationships.

How can we discern a messy tie? Beth provides some warning signs.

Do these describe any of your relationships—either friendships or romantic ties? 

• Unhealthy dependency on each other
• Temptation to engage sexually with the person outside of marriage 
• Someone in the relationship becomes a false Christ figure, spiritually guiding the other person more than Jesus 

Is there a relational tie in your life that needs to be severed?

Don’t ignore those red flags and warning signs, no matter how strong your emotional attachment is and how well your desires are being satisfied. Anyone who is influencing you to sin is not worth keeping around, no matter how valuable the relationship may be to you. The situation may be sticky, and the severing may be painful, but you must cut it off.  

Instead of depending on this relationship, bring your desires to God, who can fulfill every one of them. 

Nourish Scripture: Mark 9

Download Nourishing Your Heart today and discover how to rely on the Holy Spirit so your desires may be fulfilled. 

Blog written by Aliene Thompson. Aliene Thompson is the founder of Treasured Ministries and the Author of the Nourish Bible Study Series. © 2019 Treasured Ministries.