Time with Abba, Singing Praising 親親爸父，唱詩歌頌 : OT DAY 406 - Men Are Clueless about Understanding Women (Please click here for English podcast)

Monday, December 21, 2015

OT DAY 406 - Men Are Clueless about Understanding Women (Please click here for English podcast)

Please click the link below to my new 40 days Break.Build site any time you like to having a 40 days "Break.Build" daily devotion with one to two people as a discipler to help those Jesus prepares for you to disciple. You need to know that the call and purpose of my Break.Build and this Discipler123 blog/podcast is for you to become a discipler to help more people to have a daily intimate relationship with Jesus and then they can become disciplers too:
http://www.breakbuild.blogspot.ca/

Please click these links to the app. Andy Ng wrote if you have an Android cel.:

Discipler123: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ideal.rec.app

Break.Build: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ideal.bb.app

Silence

1. Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence

2. Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace and feel His presence. Exhale your worries.

Praise and Thanksgiving

1. Think through your day, all the times that made you smile

2. Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people

3. Open your heart to praise the Lord

I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name forever and ever.

Psalm 145:1

Confession and Repentance (Subjective Shifting Devotion Method http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html)

1. Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in you:

“Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

2. Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:

"Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sin to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gift to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."

The Word (1 Samuel 1:1-8)

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1 Samuel 1&version=ESV

There was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephrathite. 2 He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

3 Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord. 4 On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. 6 And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. 7 So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. 8 And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”

1 Samuel 1:1-8

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmax47l2hLU

My Listening

We start the book of 1 Samuel with an unusual topic "Men are clueless about understanding women". You may wonder why I did that? Well, that's an inspiration I got from Professor John Goldingay and also a direct listening from Jesus.

Let's see how Professor John Goldingay tells us:

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Goldingay) :

Elkanah finds himself living with permanent tension in the household and with deep depression in the soul of the woman he loved first and best. The poor man does his best to handle the situation, but we guys are clueless about understanding women. "Am I not better to you than ten sons?" Actually, Elkanah, no. Don't apply a Band-Aid to the wound. Get her to talk about it some more…

When we finish reading Judges, we have a nasty taste in our mouths. The stories have become more and more troublesome as people are more and more doing "what is right in their own eyes," which isn't right in the eyes of any normal person. First Samuel starts by telling us about a particular family, as several of the stories in Judges do, and the family story it tells is one that begins with heartache and anguish, yet it will be a story with a happy ending and one that makes us want to read on rather than making us want to stop.

John Goldingay. 1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p.6-7.

The book of Samuel tells us about how we can get from a state of doing "what is right in their own eyes" to what is right in God's eyes through listening and prayers. Samuel is a servant of God who knows how to listen and obey to God. Samuel is a prophet who teaches God's people from being clueless about understanding God to listen and obey to God.

I have seen too many husbands being clueless about understanding their wives and make their relationship a mess.

I have seen too many wives being clueless about understanding their husbands and make their relationship a mess.

Just as what Professor Goldingay says, why not let your wife to talk about it some more so that you understand more about what she thinks rather than thinking and doing what is right in your own eyes? And wives, you need to do the same if you want your marriage a happy marriage, your family a blessed family.

But, this won't happen because human beings are selfish. You would have a better chance if you know how to listen and obey to God. God is the only one who can lead you to listen and understand your spouse better if you are able to listen and understand Him better.

Dear Lord Jesus,

Help us to be able to listen and obey to you better so that we are able to listen and love our spouse better. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Reflect on these questions:
1. Do you think you are one of those who are clueless about understanding your spouse? What have you done so far to make your relationship a better relationship?

2. Do you think your relationship with God has anything to do with your relationship with your spouse? How can you listen and obey to God better so that you can listen and love your spouse better?

3. What have you got from Jesus today?

Today's Time with Abba daily reading:

Psalm 144:9-15

Zechariah 1:1-21

Revelation 12:1-13:1

Proverbs 30:17

Photos of my copying the Bible the last few days using Time with Abba passages