More Insight

Insight

(Dragonfly Ministries President, Mary Hamrick)

October 2002

"Oh Lord, when I feel downtrodden, you send someone to phone me; someone obedient to your voice.  When I feel burdened, you send someone to say they are praying for me, because You placed me on their heart and asked them to pray.  Sometimes when I enter a room, you send someone to talk to me about Your work in their life and how You have touched them.  Oh Lord, the sisterhood you have brought to me – for I am only a mere child after your own heart.  Oh that you have blessed me with women who love you and who desire to follow you.  Oh that your grace gifts me with such precious friends – sisters – who care deeply for me – not because of anything I have done, but because you love me.   I thank you, oh Lord, that you have given me the gift of sisterhood – the gift of women whose hearts long for your presence and your communion.  Even, Lord, when I have been distressed, discouraged, and overwhelmed, you answered by sending women into my path to encourage me.  I thank you, O Lord, for the gift of a sisterhood – bound together with you as the center cord.  And Lord, what you have joined together, no one can separate.  I thank you for my friends – my sisters in Christ - for we are all children of the King – and we will all live together in your kingdom one day."

I am discovering what it means to be a part of a sisterhood.  Sisterhood is defined in the Bible concordance as “a group of women bound by a spiritual relationship based upon faith in Christ.”  I’m coming to understand that sisterhood is a relationship of warmth, trust, and loyalty where there is a bond greater than friends.  It is a bond that delivers strength during times of hardship and stress. It is a bond that grows stronger over time.  It is non-competitive and soul nurturing.  It prays for and patiently waits for the spiritual growth and development of each other and provides encouragement.  It brings a still, quiet and peaceful knowledge that you are loved because of who you are (or as Karis would say, because of whose you are) and not for any other reason.

You see, it’s not how much we love each other that makes us sisters, but how much we love the Lord, for when we love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and body and strength, then we are able to love others more deeply than we could ever imagine.  Then we are able to recognize the common bond we share – the love of Christ – and  the love in sisterhood that we share will be eternal – forever – a love that is strong and bound by the heartstrings of Christ. It’s not that the sisters are all at the same spiritual level; it’s that the desire of their heart is to serve the Lord. 

Our new Chapter and Verse writer, Lynn Lillard, explains this relationship as a covenant relationship, where another covers us.  She says, “If a person is not in covenant with God (has accepted Christ and is allowing God to grow them in His likeness), then that person will not have God 's interest, hence not your best interest, at heart. We need to have covenant relationships, not friendships. Friendships are based on flesh while covenant relationships are built and based on the spirit and transcends to the natural.”

Lynn goes on to explain, “The covenant relationships bypass you and me and go first to God and then to us. These relationships are the ones that you want to cover you, through prayer, fellowship, marriage, etc.  This is different than when you minister to a lost person or someone who is struggling in their walk and need help.   The Hebrew word for cover is; Oal, which means to cover, enclose, shelter, shield, surround . This is what God does for us, so God is saying we are to let the person that we allow into our heart have the same attributes that He has. Hence, the Lord says, “Let me be in covenant with them and them with me, so as I shelter you, shield you, surround you, they too will do the same thing, they will have My best interest at heart, therefore having your best interest.” 

It’s not that the sisters are all at the same spiritual level; it’s that the desire of their heart is to serve the Lord, and that desire will overflow into their love for us.

Are you part of a sisterhood?  Do you have a covenant relationship with others?  Ask the Lord to reveal to you the hearts of the women you interact with; ask Him to bond you together with a sisterhood that will be uplifting and encouraging to you.  Our lives are so much richer when we have spiritual friends that we can share and grow with. 
 

Mary H.