Ch 5: Who's your mum?

PRINCESS

Have you ever seen this magnificent night sky;

but all with your eyes looking down?

Or have you ever passed this beautiful flower

Though it didn’t stand on someone’s ground?

We all know the world is beautiful

So let me tell you there’s a reason why

You are here in this world to know that you are

highly favored and greatly blessed

You are here in this world as a Princess

Deserving just the love from the best

My brother had it everything but

switched with me

Even all I had of heritage was death

So while he died for me, I got his everything

But greater than I would dare to bet:

‘Cause my brother came back to life again

So I’m a princess now while he is a King!

So I’m here in this world to live that I am

Highly favored and greatly blessed

I am here in this world as a princess

Deserving just the love from the best

You can’t take away my privileges

You can’t take away my joy

‘Cause you can’t take away the fact that my family is

Loving me this much!

Who’s your mum?

So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free. Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

Gal 4:9-5:1

We’ve been talking much about your Father God, and His son Jesus –who’s is your brother. But do you want to know who your mother is? No, it’s not Virgin Mary! I don’t allow you to involve her in your prayer life –even though she was a great woman of God, and I she has a beautiful name –just as I have.

But the Bible says we have a mum. The letter to Galatians verse 21-31 draws a beautiful picture of our mum with the story from the book of Genesis, about Abraham, Sarah and Hagar.

(You can read the story about Abraham, Sarah and Hagar in the book of Genesis chapter 12, and 16-18. Briefly: Abraham and Sarah was a married couple, Hagar was their slave woman. God told Abraham and Sarah that He would make them mother and father of many nations. But the problem was that Sarah was barren. So since the promise of God delayed, Sarah told her husband to sleep with her slave woman –Hagar. He did, and Hagar got pregnant immediately, and gave birth to a son, Ishmael. But God told the married couple that this was not the son he had planned to give them the promise through. After a while, God let Sarah become pregnant and give birth to a son –Isaac, who became the one God blessed and used as a part in His plan saving the world through Jesus Christ.)

It’s a big problem, when people don’t know who their mother is. Unawareness may seem to be very innocent, but very often, it can become dangerous. What will happen for example if I step into a crowded bus, unaware of my bag pack being open? –A thief may come and grasp whatever he finds interesting! Or if I inherit a nice belt from my grandma. I think it’s nice, but since it doesn’t fit exactly my style, I give it away unaware of the fact that the belt consisted of pure gold!

The lies about your mum:

The devil has a blast stealing” from the Christians who’s unaware of who their mum is. The devil’s name is also “the father of lies”(john 8:44). He’ll come and lie about your mum. Since his purpose is to make all God’s children into his slaves (john 8:34), he will of course tell you that your mum is Hagar -the slave-woman. The name Hagar means “fight”. She was not free, but belonged to her master in all areas of life, and was obligated to follow every single command put up towards her, in order to not receive punishment. -Which means that if you are her child; you are under the same conditions as her, and you can expect nothing but punishment if you don’t obey the “hard 10.” Which also means; “Bye-bye love, bye-bye happiness, hello loneliness (lonlyness= the only way to avoid punishment for sins, since most of the sins you’ll possibly commit occure in relationship with people) …” He will tell you that your mum was not very pretty. And since she was bounded to be treated the way her masters demanded from her, you were a result of a shameful act. Nobody wants you here, and your destiny in life is nothing but to become just like her.

And these Christians start live like slaves; they find themselves obligated to try to reach up to the 10 commandments. And when they fail, they feel miserable, sad and expect that God (or someone) will come and punish them.

These Christians are most of the time wearing a sad face. They don’t dare to step out in faith, or have any dreams which involve the help of their heavenly Father, except of course, when they feel they have done enough good works to deserve it.

But I am so thankful that God has given us His word –which is the word of truth. He promises us that as we get to know the truth we’ll be free! (John 8,32) And praise the Lord -Galatians 4 tells us the truth about how your mum looks like and what your true heritage is.

Your mum is Sarah –Grace!

The name Sarah means noblewoman, and is also translated with princess, queen and lady in the English Bible. The H in her name was added by God, as a sign on His breath -His life into her's. Just like your mum, you are a noblewoman-a princess because of God’s breath of life in your life. –He makes you a noble woman by His grace!

On the other hand, Hagar means fight. But you are not her child; you don’t have to fight in order to be treated as a noblewoman. But because you are a child of God –by grace, undeserving, whitout done anything, you are already seated in the highest places with Christ at His the right hand! Eph 2:5-7!

… even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Whatever you will do, or wherever you will go in life –God is obligated to treat you with grace and favor! Not because of your fights and struggles, but because you are daughter or son of grace!

Don’t be afraid of receiving God’s goodness and favor when you don’t deserve it. Of course, there are a lot of natural (awful) consequences of failures and sins -yes, we’re going to talk about that in a later chapter. -But in God there is only goodness and mercy left for you. I had a blast when I understood this; that God is actually obligated to treat me as a noblewoman–even when I’ve failed. Why is that good? -Because it’s in my moments of failure I need it the most!

Don’t mix with “fight”. –You’ll only become the person God predestined you to by grace!

Your mum is not bound to the law, but to LOVE!

Our mum is a free woman, not bound to any law, like Hagar. The only law she is bound to, is the love for her husband. And you are a child –and not obligated to do anything except being a child of God by Grace. Look what the Bible says in Galathians 4:4-7:

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

WHAT? Aren’t we obligated to do our best to follow the 10 commandments and try our best to live up to Gods standard? Are we lawless just like antichrist?

No and no. We are not obligated to live after any law, simply because God Himself found fault with the law and has introduced a new one; it’s easily explained in Hebr 8:7

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.

It shouldn’t be so hard to understand; if I had a boyfriend, who one day came and told me that he had found fault with me, and found himself another girlfriend; I would get the message pretty clear…

Later in verse 8-10 God explains why he wanted to make a new covenant:

"Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-- 9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."

a.      He want you to stay in his covernant (vs 9). God, as all Fathers, wants fellowship with His children as much as possible. The law is no such thing as picking and choosing the commands you can fulfill, and skip those you can’t. No, Galathians 3:10 says that those who can’t fulfill all of it shall be punished –even cursed! God don’t want you to run away when you’ve done something which deserves punishment. He wants you to stay! Stay in his presence constantly! Regardless of whether you deserve it or not.

b.      He wants to have your heart! I hate communicate with people who’re looking into their i-phone when I talk to them. And God is the same -He doesn’t want you to look into two stone tables while communicating with Him! That’s why He has made a new covenant –putting His laws into your heart (vs 10a)–so you’ll follow His commands by heart –not by force. And have your hands and eyes free to live and fellowship with Him.

c.       He wants to be your God. In the old covenant, only the prophets knew what God was saying to people. Some Christians today even, thinks that in order for God to speak to them, it has to be through a prophet or a “great man of God”. But I know that now, God is my God –He can speak directly to me! God didn’t want you to have any pope or prophet declaring His words to you with a voice-level of a devil. He wants to have you for Himself, and speak to you with His voice. “They shall all know me, from the least to the greatest of them”

d.      Because He wants to be graceful to you and remember your sins NO MORE! (Vs 12) As all Fathers, He love to give His children free gifts, not payment for well done work. And imagine how awesome your marriage would become if you simply forgot about the trespasses committed towards each other. God wants to forget your sins completely –and never let you down by reminding you about them!

How could this be possible?

-By sending Jesus to fulfill the law (matt 5:18). Jesus fulfilled every single of Gods command –completely. He also received the punishment for not fulfilling Gods law completely. 2. Cor 5:21. He completed the law by shouting out at the cross –it is FINISHED –completed!

He is our “everything” –the fulfillment of every single command. He is the end of the law. So what law are we obeying then? –The law of love! We love Him because of what He did for us –and love fulfills the law (Romans 4:13)! Love will never steal. Love will never hurt. Love is the only thing that can draw us into a close fellowship with our heavenly Father. Stay in his covenant as His beloved and favored by Grace. Don’t take a step down and become a slave. He wants you at His right hand; He want to show you His unmerited Grace!

Like your mum, you are filled with laughter!

When Sarah finally gave birth to the son God had promised her, they gave him the name Isaac. Isaac means laughter. In genesis 21,6 Sarah says

"God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me."

Where it’s freedom, it’s also laughter. God has created you to be a laughing person –just like your mum.

Maybe you wonder how that can be possible. You may say –Hanne-Mari, it’s so easy for you, you are so young. You have never experienced any sorrows…”

You know, when I’m sad, I’m inconsolable. I’ve realized how easily people trust in human efforts in their sorrows; how easily they trust people to comfort them, trust psychology, brain exercises in positive thinking, and so on. But listen carefully to the Bible; Sarah says God has made me laugh! Once, God told me; “Hanne-Mari, stop trying to comfort yourself. Let me be your comforter. Only I can heal broken hearts.” 

My dearest, when Philippians 4:4 says

Rejoice in the Lord always!

is it not a demanding, that you’ll have to pull yourself together in order not to cry. But it tells that as a child of Sarah, by the Grace of God - you can laugh always!

Although God wants you to be happy always, doesn’t mean that He'll only give you some smiley-drugs consisting in some good feelings some in awhile. No, surely God sees the root cause of your sorrows! God gave Sarah laughter –by taking away the root-cause of her sorrow- Her barreness –by giving her the son she longed for! 


Another woman in the Bible, struggelig with barreness was Hannah. She was pouring out her sorrows concerning her barrenness in the house of God so hardly that the priest thought she was drunk! But however, God has delight in people pouring out their feelings for Him regardless about what people think about them –like Mary I wrote about in chapter 3. But do you know what? God comforted Hannah! How? By giving her some therapy to cope with her barrenness? Taking her to a funny movie? NO! By giving her the son she longed for! In 1. Sam 2 she puts words on her joy, and I LOVE these passages from old King James Bible;

My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in theLORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies ; because I rejoice in thy salvation!

I believe that there is some secrets with crying sometimes; the Bible says actually in Matt 5:4: Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. -Blessed are those who only God can comfort. God further told me that: "Hanne-Mari, you can't comfort yourself, because you're crying because of barreness." I first thought "Oh of course, I'm crying because I am a single woman without any husband or kids." But later I understood that the reason because I was sad, because in that moment, I was separated from my ministry, and felt sad because I couldn't bring any results anywhere. But then I realized that our own struggles can not produce any "kids." -Only His grace can. He can turn your life into a joyful fruitful garden in all kind of circumstances- like it says in psalm 84:6: 

 When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs, where pools of blessing collect after the rains!

I had a similar experience once not so long time ago. I recently started to sing in the youth-choir on youth-meeting in my church in Ukraine. But for me as for everyone else, life does not only consist of things I feel like laughing about. Once, while standing in the worship choir singing at service, I got so overwhelmed my Gods presence into my situation, that I couldn’t help but cry out all my mascara there, in the front of the whole congregation. It was pretty humbeling to be, also of course because I couldn't make it to sing very beautifully. But after the service, some people came along and told me that; ” there is something with your face today. Your face was literally shining there in the choir among the twenty others.” I kind of understood what God means when He says in 2. Cor 4 that our bodies are like jars of clay, and that when we break, His glory is unveiled.

However, the day after, God answered my prayer requests, and I was happier than anyone! Don’t believe for a moment that God don’t care about your lack or loss. Isaiah 61:7 says

Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs.

Whatever situation you are in, God will for sure bring you laughter! Sometimes, God also gives us grace to cope with the situation you’re in, although it’s bad; Like Peter. He was supposed to be executed in Acts 12, but he didn’t receive it as a sorrow; and slept all night –until an angel woke him up and guided him out from the prison! Paul and Silas were abused and cast in prison; but chose to rejoice in the Lord –and God sent an earthquake, saved the solider and gave them freedom. So as you see, God has enough grace for you, in order to make each day sweet and filled with laughter!

You can always be sure that God knows you, and He wants to exchange your grieving with laughter by His Grace. These verses are very special to me;

And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don't even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will. 28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Like Jesus was happier than anyone, you can expect to be the same! People ask me all the time –Hanne-Mari, why are you so much happier than anyone? Then I love to answer: When you see Gods grace, you can’t help but be happy!

Like your mum, you are beautiful!

The Bible records many beautiful women; Esther, Rachel, Rebecca, and so on. But Sarah, the woman who is pictured as your mum, was so beautiful that even a gentile King (a person with humanly natural eyes, that didn’t look so much to her inside;) desired her for his harem although Sarah was more that 80 years old!

You are predestined to be beautiful your entire life –just like your mum. The name of Hagar, the slave woman means “fighting” . Fighting turns people’s faces wrinkled and weary in a young age. But you don’t have to fight. You can only “trust that you are blessed –and God will do the rest. Psalm 116:7 says

Return to your rest, oh my soul, ‘cause the Lord has dealt abundantly with you!

Save your fights and struggles consisting of worries for your life and for those around you. God has given you more than enough!

You can even expect to be beautiful in old age! Psalm 103:5 says that He feeds your soul with good, so your soul becomes young again like the eagle! It’s funny; the eagle literally becomes new again after a certain age. I have seen people coming to the God with dozens of diseases, wrinkles, weary faces, no teeth, and so on. But after some time, receiving good food –the true gospel of grace which is able to save (Romans 1:16), they literally become renewed –not only inside, but even on the outside! Sometimes, we believe that God only cares about our inner beauty, because there’s a verse in 1. Samuel 16:7 that says that “God looks to the heart”. But before that, it also says that “human look to the outside”. And if God created us to be the praise of His glory (Eph 1:6), then it’s should not be very beneficial to His glory, if we as His children went around looking like weary, scary zombies.

Start hearing, receiving and believing His word!

I had honestly not the easiest time growing up; Thank God, I had parents who told me that I was beautiful. They even gave me the name, “Mari” which from Hebrew means beautiful! But the people in my school, for some reason, didn’t like me so much. I remember getting comments from both girls, and boys that I was ugly. Even once, when while disagreeing with the teacher, she slipped the comment; “look at your face, how ugly you are.”

And for a little girl, hearing such comments over and over did something. Some people fall into eating disorders in order to “fight”, but I more received their statements as “truths”, which I of course found “proved” to be true as an explanation of all my defeats and dismisses. Agreeing with their evil statements, made me passive –I gave up all attempts to be beautiful; I chose the casual, simple look in order to avoid attention, because I thought that if I tried to look good, people would come and tell me that I was ugly, as I had experienced traumatically. As a result, I hided from the gym-classes, and gained some weight. I didn’t mention it as a problem, before I entered the Bible school in Oslo Christian Centre in 2007.

The Bible school is absolutely the best thing ever happened to me. I recommend you all to put aside at least one year of your life to hear the truths from God. (Most people have more tremendous stories than me! And I needed two years to become “whole” again.)

I started to hear that I was beautiful –both through the word of God, and through the word of other students. I can’t forget how a brother in my class, repeatedly called me (in a brotherly way) “pearl”.

But however, I continued to “communicate to myself” with the name “ugly”. Seeing a nice dress, I still said to myself “No I can’t have it. I’m too ugly”. Standing in the mirror, I still punished myself for my defeats and faults by exclaiming “ugly”.

But while the words from God and the other students filled my mind more and more, truths started resound louder than the lies I had heard from the devil through my former classmates earlier. And one day, as I stood in front of the mirror, still proclaiming lies about myself as I did by habit, God’s voice resounded loudly in my mind: “STOP telling yourself lies. You know the truth now! Start speaking the truth!”

I started to apply the word from songs 4:7 to the mirror –you are fair my beloved! There are no spot on you.

And really; that was hard! Although my real name was Hanne-Mari –beautiful by grace, I had for some reason resounded the perverted satanic version “ugly” for the most of my life, although I was only 20. God was dealing a little harshly with me; He had given me everything I needed in order to take back my real name, acquainting me with my mum Sarah –Princess and Noble woman. Now, in order to get “further” in my walk with Him, I experienced how He in His love demanded me to start obeying my new name.