Godly Woman

So, I'm on a quest to learn what the bible has to say, what God has to say, about being a godly woman.  Usually we're directed to Proverbs 31:10-31.  There it talks about a virtuous wife.  In this chapter King Solomon starts out by asking "Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies.  The heart of her husband safely trusts her...."  On and on it goes describing how responsible and prudent she is.  She is confident.  Strength and honor are her clothing.  She speaks wisdom and watches over the ways of her household.  This woman fears the Lord.

This is the kind of woman I want to be! :) I heard it taught that a godly, virtuous woman hopes in the Lord.  She has not fear and she is confident. I've also heard it taught recently that women, although submitted to their husbands, are co-rulers.  They too were created to rule in authority with Adam.  But, why was she created?  She was created for Adam to be his helper.  But, why?  Wasn't God enough for Adam? Sure God was His all, but I heard it taught, as well, that God wanted to supply someone for Adam who would resemble Himself.  Oh yes, this is the kind of woman I want to be!  This matriarchal woman is a godly woman.  She is humble and meek.  She has restrained power that is displayed with grace; this is true "meekness".  (Look it up!)  She is the daughter of THE King.  This is truly who I want to be.

God has really laid womanhood on my heart lately and I'm thankful for how many biblical teachings, scripture and bible studies that has aided me in my learning and understanding.  I think out of it all, the greatest teaching was on the grace of God. I'm doing a bible study on "Becoming a Woman of Grace."  In this bible study it explains in Isaiah 30:18 that the Lord LONGS to be gracious to us.  He waits on high to have compassion on us.  This in and of itself is LOVE!  God is Love and He is Grace!  There is freedom in this Grace!  Oh how I want to be like Him - to be like Dad. :)

But, then we should also read Romans 3:19-26.  Paul, the apostle, breaks it down for us.  God wants to be our just Justifier.  He wants to demonstrate His righteousness towards us.  He demonstrates this to those who believe in Jesus.  Those who have faith in Him are justified FREELY (no cost) by His Grace.  How is this done?  It's "through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, by His blood."  His blood is our propitiation. God passes over our sins and gives us the freedom from the law.  In the bible and in general "law" is like the "law of gravity."  There's an action and a consequence.  It's more than just do this and do that.  Law says, if this happens, then that will happen.  In the old testament (the old covenant) if we sinned, we died!  We died right away!  But, the bible says in Romans 3:23 that "all have sinned and fall short of God's glory."  BUT, God is satisfied with what Jesus did for us.  Jesus atoned for our sins.  Jesus paid our debt.  We sin(ned) and now we must pay for it!  But, Jesus is our Advocate.  He is also our Savior, because He died for us.  Sin brings death, but now we don't have to die spiritually!  Jesus is LIFE!  And, when we put our faith in Him and trust that the bible and all that it says is true, God pardons us and give us everlasting relationship with Him!  Amen!

So, the detour to talk about God's grace is to explain that as women of grace, we should resemble our God and our Father.  He should want to take on the image of Jesus and bear fruit worthy of our salvation.  Our fruit is the fruit of the Holy Spirit (i.e. love, peace, joy, long suffering, goodness, kindness, faithfulness!)  God lavishes this towards us and so we should share the same graciously with others!  He loves us. We should love all others.  He is our peace and so we should act peaceably before all men.  He is our Joy and so we should be joyful because of it!  He suffers long with us.  He waits for us to repent because of his love.  We too should suffer long with those who do not do us good or who try our patience.  He is good and kind!  Shouldn't we be as well?!  He is faithful to the end.  We too should walk in the faith.

Lord, I pray for all the people who might read this blog and I ask Lord that you would guide them in the path of righteousness.  Help us Lord, the church especially, to wake up and to see that you are coming soon and that you are coming for a beautiful bride without spot or wrinkle!  Getting ready for Jesus' return is more than just "saying you believe."  It's about preparing one's heart!"

Do we reflect all that He sends our way?!  Out of our hearts will flow rivers of living water. He's our water!  His words in the bible are our water!  Read them, drink them.  Live them, let them pour out in action, in love and in word!  "Deeds of the law" or "works" don't save us. But they are evidence of our faith!

Thank you Jesus!  Strengthen us.  Equip us to submit ourselves to you.  As godly women or as people who reflect your godly bride, might we walk in hope, walk in confidence and be as the virtuous woman.

Amen!

Words of Wisdom to Chew On - Leonard Ravenhill

"Today’s church wants to be raptured from responsibility."

"If weak in prayer, we are weak everywhere."

"Men give advice; God gives guidance."

"Are the things you are living for worth Christ dying for?"

"A sinning man stops praying, a praying man stops sinning"

"The only reason we don't have revival is because we are willing to live without it!"

"God pity us that after years of writing, using mountains of paper and rivers of ink, exhausting flashy terminology about the biggest revival meetings in history, we are still faced with gross corruption in every nation, as well as with the most prayerless church age since Pentecost."

"The Church used to be a lifeboat rescuing the perishing. Now she is a cruise ship recruiting the promising."

"The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized within the lifetime of the opportunity."

"My main ambition in life is to be on the devil's most wanted list."

"If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified."

"Entertainment is the devil's substitute for joy"

Not Enough? The Answer to Total Fulfillment.

Have you ever felt like you just ______ enough? (You fill in the blank.) I assume we all have this phrase set aside and ready to be departed from an area in our mind where we think “I just don’t have enough,” “aren’t good enough,” “can’t give enough,” and etc.

Today I was thinking about this.  There are so many things we can go back to in our past and say if only I “had enough”: money, talent, interest, good looks, spirituality, faith, time, and on and on.  You name it; I think we’ve said it. Sometimes as we’re thinking these things inwardly, we’re outwardly comparing ourselves one to another and even competing to make ourselves feel better. But, I truly believe this is an attack of the enemy (Satan of course) and is a tool that he uses to move us away from what truly matters.  Jesus; He’s what matters!  Him and His Kingdom! (Simple, I know, but it’s true!)

We’ll never “be good enough”; we can’t be.  Our human nature (our fleshly, carnal nature) prevents us from being that perfect being.  We won’t ever have enough.  Our flesh seeks more and more.  We’re usually interested in having more money, left wishing we had more talents/capabilities or wishing we were more spiritual in some way.  But, why?  This is the question I asked myself today.  Why do we allow these thoughts of aspiring to have more or be more to circulate around in our brain?  Why do we then allow what we assume about ourselves and our situations drop into our heart and plant seeds of doubt and confusion?

My theory is that we do this because we’re seeking three things.  We want to be loved, wanted and accepted.  I think on some level we’re all yearning for this.  Sometimes we compare the number of “Friends” we have on Facebook to other friend’s numbers and at other times we might find ourselves in other situations that will give us some sort of indicator of how well we’re doing in the social arena.  Those who are single can feel this way or people in general who are not receiving what they think they want or need from people. As humans, we’re longing for some sort of social/spiritual fulfillment.  We want to connect, but we’re not sure how.

Well, here’s the answer!  God placed these desires in us.  He wants us to want His love.  He wants us to want Him to want us.  And, He wants us to seek His approval and acceptance, not man’s.  These feelings that we have, these desires and hungers are set in us from the time we were knit together in our mother’s womb.  As babies, we can’t deny that we wanted our parents to care for us.  We were hungry, cold and uncomfortable.  We were insecure and didn’t want to fall.  Even now, it’s instilled in us to want these things from our Heavenly Father.

We want our Heavenly Father to feed us.  He will, but will also remind us that we don’t live on bread alone, but every Word that proceeds from His mouth.  His Word, His Life, and His Revelation….all these things sustain us as well!  He cares for our every need.  He is our supplier.  Philippians 4:19 says, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”  Then in Genesis 22:14, we find that Abraham discovers that one of God’s names, in Hebrew, is Adonai Yir’eh.  We commonly translate this as Jehovah-Jireh – The Lord will Provide, He will see to it. He cares for us; He cares for our every need, but when we don’t recognize that the pulling on our hearts to want this is from Him, we are left distraught, confused, isolated and sometimes angry.

I think that it’s at this point that we begin to look inwardly.  We think there’s something wrong with us.  If only I had more money to go to college, get the car I want, or _____.  If I just had better looks, someone would want to marry me.  If I had a better personality, opportunity or talents, I’d have more friends.  If only I could pray more, have more faith or take part in more church activities, God would accept me and love me more.  Maybe my walk would be stronger. Some of things may be true, but it’s not going to fulfill what we’re truly looking for.  The root and origin of our quest for more of something is the need to fulfill the longing we have to be wanted and accepted by God.  

We don’t want to be forgotten.  We want to be used.  We want to have a calling and purpose on our life.  We want to live a life of meaning, not wasting it.  And, these are good things, BUT we must turn to God and seek Him.  The ultimate purpose for our life, before any other thing, is to totally surrender our lives to our Creator and King.  We are to, and need to, focus on Him and His plans.  When we get so wrapped up in the cares of this world and focus on our lack, we begin to worry and are doing the complete opposite of living by Faith and walking in the Spirit. 

Habakkuk 2:4 “…the just shall live by faith.”

2 Corinthians 5:7 “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

In order to find our lives, we must lose our lives for His sake. 

Matthew 10:39 “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”

This is the greatest calling and #1 only fulfilling thing we can do.  Living our lives for any other thing is a complete Waste.  

Ecclesiastes 1:12-17 “I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³ And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised. ¹⁴ I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind. ¹⁵ What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered. ¹⁶ I communed with my heart, saying, "Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge." ¹⁷ And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.”

King Solomon was the wisest king to ever live and in his wisdom he discovered that “all is vanity.” He searched to do all and to obtain all that he could.  Nothing fulfilled Him. His desire for fulfillment and purpose could only be fulfilled by one thing.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man's all.”

The conclusion is that our relationship with God is of utmost importance.  Him and His love.  He is the Great I AM!  He is our Heavenly Father.  He knows our needs because He placed them there.  He is Jehovah – Jireh, our All.  We find complete fulfillment in Him.  We find our purpose, our identity, our salvation, our hope and our future.  We find our life because He is “the Way, the Truth and the Life.” 

We don’t need enough.  There’s no point in trying to obtain more!  God is all sufficient and He is sufficient for ALL our needs.  The BIG ones and the small ones.  Relax…. And trust Him!  He’s got it all covered.  We’re His children. We’re the Bride of Christ.  When we come to the full revelation of who He is and how much He loves us, we’ll supernaturally come together in unity as the Bride of Christ.  We’ll not only find fellowship deeply with our Heavenly Father and Heavenly Husband, but we’ll find each other.  God has all the details worked out for our life.  We don’t need to put it all together because we can’t!  Trust Him to do the work.  He’s a very BIG GOD.  He’s our almighty El-Shaddai!

God Bless.