HE IS GOD’S SON

Time with Jesus - 24 Sept 2013

Hi all,

The result of the fall of man appears to have been more tragic for women than for men. Man was to work by the sweat of his brow. That’s what the Lord commanded. In practice, it hasn’t worked that way. 

Because of muscle power, the situation arose whereby the women did all the work; he “ruled” over her! In most countries you will find it’s the women who do most of the manual work; the fields, carrying water, cooking the meals, caring for the home and children. 
In many cultures they are treated as second class citizens. They receive very little education, are completely under the control of husbands or fathers and, on occasions, have been sold as slaves. In most ways, what was stated by God in Gen 3 became a reality. ¹⁶ Then He said to the woman, "I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you." (Gen 3:16 NLT)

Life of Susanna Wesley in Brief

By way of illustration, it’s not much more than 200 years ago since women worked in the mines hauling coal trucks. They did so for some 12 hours per day on hands and knees, naked because of the heat and confines of the tunnels. They fastened ropes or similar round their waists so that their hands were free to enable them drag the trucks. I can’t believe God approved of this. Things had to change. They did thanks largely due to reforms brought about through the British Parliament.

In the UK, women were not permitted to vote. The suffragette movement changed this. One of the best known women associated with this movement was Mrs Emmeline (Emily) Pankhurst. Born in Manchester, she was introduced at the age of 8 to the women's suffrage movement. She attended the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. In 1878 she married Richard Pankhurst, a barrister 24 years her senior. They had five children over the next ten years. 

He supported her activities outside the home. She tried to join the Independent Labour Party but was initially refused membership by the local branch on account of her gender. She also worked as a Poor Law Guardian and was shocked by the harsh conditions she encountered in Manchester workhouses. 
After her husband died in 1898, she founded the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), an all-women suffrage advocacy organisation dedicated to "deeds, not words." The group quickly became infamous when its members smashed windows and assaulted police officers. Pankhurst, her daughters, and other WSPU activists were sentenced to repeated prison sentences, where they staged hunger strikes to secure better conditions.

After the First World War, the Representation of the People Act granted votes to women over the age of 30. Emily then exercised her right to vote! She died in 1928 (Courtesy Google)

Perhaps the best example of an overworked and almost unrecognised woman of her day was Susanna Wesley. (20 January 1669 – 23 July 1742) Sometimes called the “Mother of Methodism” She was the 25th of 25 children. She married Rev Samuel Wesley on 11 November 1688. He was 26; she was 19. Susanna had 19 children! Nine died as infants; four were twins. A maid accidentally smothered one child.

Susanna experienced many hardships throughout her life. Her husband left her and the children for over a year because of a minor dispute. Susannah Wesley wrote to him: I am a woman, but I am also the mistress of a large family. In your long absence I cannot but look upon every soul you leave under my charge as a talent committed to me under a trust.
 I am not a man or a minister, yet as a mother and a mistress I felt I ought to do more than I had yet done. I resolved to begin with my own children; in whom I observe the following method: I take such a proportion of time as I can spare every night to discourse with each child apart. On Monday I talk with Molly, on Tuesday with Hetty, Wednesday with Nancy, Thursday with Jacky, Friday with Patty, Saturday with Charles.

Samuel Wesley was in jail twice due to his poor financial abilities. Their house was burned down twice; during one of the fires, her son, John, nearly died and had to be rescued from the second story window. She was the primary source of her children's education. After the second fire, Susanna was forced to place her children into different homes for nearly two years while the rectory was rebuilt. During this time, the Wesley children lived under the rules of the homes they lived in. Susanna was mortified her children began to use improper speech and play, more than study. “Under no circumstances were the children permitted to have any lessons until they had reached their fifth year”. The day after their fifth birthday their formal education began. They attended classes for six hours and on the very first day they were supposed to learn the whole of the alphabet. All her children except two managed this feat. 

Susunna Wesley
Homeschooling her Children
in Latin and Greek!

The children got a good education, daughters included. They all learnt Latin and Greek and were well tutored in the classical studies that were traditional in England at that time.” During a time when her husband was in London, Samuel had appointed a locum to bring the message. The man’s sermons revolved solely around repaying debts. The lack of spiritual teaching caused Susanna to assemble her children on Sunday afternoons for family services. They would sing a psalm and then Susanna would read a sermon from either her husband's or father's sermon file, followed by another psalm. 

The local people began to ask if they could attend. At one point there were over two hundred people who would attend Susanna’s Sunday afternoon service. Meanwhile, the Sunday morning service dwindled to nearly nothing. In addition to letters, Susanna Wesley wrote meditations and scriptural commentaries for her own use. She wrote extended commentaries on the Apostles Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments. Alas many of these were lost in the rectory fire, but many survive. Susanna was buried in London. (Courtesy Google)

The above are but two of a vast number of accounts of the extent to which the female descendants of Adam and Eve have suffered. The bottom line is sin; Adam’s sin. Eve was deceived. 
Adam was not deceived. He stood there, watched and did nothing. Nothing, except eat the fruit she gave to him; fruit he knew he shouldn’t! 

Adam and Eve were both put out of the garden into a world under the control of Satan. Since then, Satan has shown his “appreciation” to Eve and her daughters by compelling them to “carry” the men as much as they could. Why? Two reasons: The first is because he’s a sadist. The second is because of Gen 3:15 I will make you and the woman hostile toward each other. 
I will make your descendants and her descendant hostile toward each other. He will crush your head, and you will bruise his heel." Gen 3:15 GW Satan knew what was coming. He’d stop at nothing to prevent it. Every woman is/was “fair game” to him. She still is!

Shalom,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give			Time with Jesus  24 Sept 2013			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes						©
	INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	HE IS GOD’S SON
Let earth and Heaven combine, Angels and men agree, To praise in songs divine The incarnate Deity, Our God contracted to a span, Incomprehensibly made Man. He laid His glory by, He wrapped Him in our clay; Unmarked by human eye, The latent Godhead lay; Infant of days He here became, And bore the mild Immanuel’s Name. Charles Wesley		At the 6:15 Special (18h15) on Sunday 9th October 1960, at Bainbridge Memorial Methodist Church, in Heaton, Newcastle on Tyne, UK, I heard the gospel for the first time. To use the expression of John Wesley, “my heart was strangely warmed”. That was nearly 53 years ago! This place, date and time, my testimony if you like, is something I’ll never forget even if I live for another thousand years! Since that date, apart from several years in a wilderness of my own making, God has allowed me the privilege of walking with my Saviour and Lord. Thinking back over the years, I’m still inclined to weep over the fact that He came to save me! Yes, others as well. But to die for me is still astonishing. The change in my heart very quickly changed my taste in music and by the end of 1960, my favourite hymn was one of Charles Wesley’s hymns, “And can it be that I should gain and interest in my Saviour’s blood”. The verse concludes with the words, “Amazing love, how can it be that Thou my God would die for me!” All these years later, it still amazes me. Some have told me that I’ve been given a similar gift to the one the Lord gave Charles. To be spoken of in the same breath with a man of his unique God given ability, is to elevate my “doggerel” to heights above anything I can imagine. It’s a bit like comparing Beethoven with Ringo Starr’s “We all live in a yellow submarine”. Forever I’ll be in awe of the writings of Charles Wesley. His hymns are still alive 250 years later. If my verse and rhyme are still remembered 50 years from now, I’ll be astonished. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx		9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9 ESV	It really is amazing. The one who owned it all. Infinity personified, compressed Himself so small, That He could fit with comfort into a human frame. To leave behind His riches and never once complain! The wealth of the creation; He owned it all by right. But He did not hang on to it, He put it out of sight, And lived among His creatures, in abject poverty, So each and every follower may know prosperity. Not so much in money. That was a bagatelle. But so that those who loved Him would not end up in hell. He came to take our sicknesses, iniquities and sin. To fight against the devil; to take him on and win! We saw Him in His glory, Mount Hermon was the place, Where He was transfigured and light shone from His face. We also saw His glory when He was crucified. The whole earth seemed to tremble the instant that He died. We saw Him in His glory when He walked out of the tomb. We saw Him in His glory; in that quiet upper room We saw Him in His glory; He was lifted up on high. And taken back to heaven, His home up in the sky. He didn’t look much different from any other man. He was rather handsome and far more gracious than, The people He encountered. He personified the truth; And got along with those who were ill-mannered and uncouth. We knew that God had blessed Him above all of His peers. Some thought He was Messiah, in spite of many sneers. He had a joy filled lifestyle, of great variety, Mingled with an attitude of utmost piety. We “tasted” of His goodness. The gracious words He said, Had God’s very power to raise men from the dead. He fed men by the thousand from a little schoolboy’s lunch. He said the Scribes and Pharisees, were mostly just a bunch, Of self-promoting hypocrites whose god was mainly greed. Giving an impression of their warped and misplaced creed. The Jesus Christ Whom we all loved was not like that at all. He healed the ones who came to Him; all people great or small. We sat within His shadow; His “fruit” was sweet to taste. And when they crucified Him, we all said, “What a waste” But now we know that He is God, and all that He has done, We bow our heads and worship Him. Indeed He is God’s son. Jim Strickland Written 24th Sept. 2012
				14 The Word became a human being. He made his home with us. We have seen his glory. It is the glory of the one and only Son. He came from the Father. And he was full of grace and truth. John 1:14 NIrV
				2 You are the most handsome of the sons of men; grace is poured upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever. Psalms 45:2 ESV
I make no apologies for the fact that two of my Christian heroes are John and his brother Charles Wesley. God used these two men to begin a revival in England that has not been seen since. Charles was born on 18th Dec 1707 in Epworth, England and died on 29th March 1788 in London. (80 years) He was a gifted hymn writer. It is said he composed 6000 hymns, a number of which are still sung today. One of his better known hymns included the words, “Our God contracted to a span. / Incomprehensibly made Man”. The second line of today’s poem borrows from this. John was born on June 17, 1703, in Epworth, England. He died: March 2, 1791, in London, UK aged 87. John was older than Charles and travelled more extensively than his brother. It is said that he rode on horseback some 250 000 miles around England. John and Charles didn’t always agree on doctrine and didn’t always travel together. They both travelled to the New World to be ministers in America. Neither was successful and returned to UK. Only then were they born again!				22 All the people spoke well of him. They were amazed to hear the gracious words flowing from his lips. They said, "Isn't this Joseph's son?" Luke 4:22 GW
				3 You can do it now that you have tasted how good the Lord is. 1 Peter 2:3 NIrV
				10 Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony of God in them. Those who don't believe God have made God a liar. They haven't believed the testimony that God has given about his Son. 1 John 5:10 GW
				11 I can guarantee this truth: We know what we're talking about, and we confirm what we've seen. Yet, you don't accept our message. John 3:11 GW
				8 Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Psalms 34:8 NIV
				3 As an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. With great delight I sat in his shadow, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. Song of Solomon 2:3 ESV
				9 But he said to me, "My grace is all you need. My power is strongest when you are weak." So I am very happy to brag about how weak I am. Then Christ's power can rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9 NIrV
				7 But each one of us has received a gift of grace, just as Christ wanted us to have it. Ephesians 4:7 NIrV
				10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: 1 Peter 4:10 ESV
Jim & Phyllida Strickland