Women of Worth Introduction In today’s world women have been conditioned by society in many ways. Society however has always changed as the years have gone by. There is no real constant, when it comes to how we should live, act and interact with others. This has taken a real toll on our interpersonal relationships with others. For example; In biblical times a woman stayed at home living with her parents until she was married. In today’s day and age, most women have gone off to school, college, work, careers, moved out, and has relied upon her own ability to maintain a place to live, put food in her stomach and clothes on her back. In biblical times when a woman would get married, the father would provide a dowry that consisted of enough land and livestock that it would take care of her and her husband for the first year of their marriage. This way the husband did not have to go off to work for a year, and was able to spend that time cultivating a strong relationship with his wife. In today’s time, women are usually already living on their own by the time they meet their husband, and do not always meet and marry someone who is a good financial provider, therefore the woman continues to work as well, and I think at least in America it’s almost unheard of that the woman’s family provide a dowry for her and her husband to live off of for the first year. Instead, they get married and are instantly thrown into the perils of life’s financial obligations and all the stress that comes with it. In biblical times, the woman had to be a virgin. If it was found on the night of their marriage by the husband, that she was not a virgin, the law was that she would be stoned to death. In today’s age, the larger majority of women are no longer virgins, and a large percentage of those women are single mothers. So when they enter into marriage, they are already bringing children with them. In biblical times women were raised to respect, revere and submit to God, to parents, and to authorities. In today’s time, not all women have been raised in the Lord. And even many who have, through life’s up’s and down’s women have lost respect for men and authorities, and have in many cases, lost the ability to be submissive to men, authorities and in turn to God. Women who walk with the Lord in large part struggle in the areas of submission and reverence. If they are unable or unwilling to submit to their parents if they are still unmarried, or to their husband if they are married, you can rest assure they have not completely submitted to God. Women who walk with the Lord also through the trends of society have in many ways lost the essence of what it is to be reverent, especially women who are in the work place. In biblical times women wore long dresses (albs, tunics), were modest in their appearance, did not dress or adorn themselves to be looked at by men, wore head coverings to show that they were in submission to the authority of God and or their husbands. They did not concern themselves with overly decorating their outward appearance, they dressed in a way of conformity as to not be a stumbling block to men or to angels, they were quiet and obedient, they did not speak out of turn, they worshipped God regularly and attentively, they kept their homes and families, and minded their own business. In today’s time, women wear whatever pleases themselves and often what will please men or others. They for the most part will scoff at wearing a head covering to show submissiveness and reverence. Their outward appearance is something they continually work upon and are rarely satisfied with, rarely giving any care as to whether or not their appearance or behavior is inviting and stumbling to men or to angels, both in the world and even in church. Many women are loud and boisterous, opinionated, speak whatever is on their minds, worship only on Sundays if at all, don’t have time for their homes and families and know and talk about everyone else’s business. The purpose of this perpetual study is to address these issues and help to refine them, for those women of today who truly do desire to be women of worth, and to have their lives glorify God. Women of Worth will take these women step by step through some pretty difficult self reflection, that ought to transform their minds, hearts, thoughts and actions, by the renewing of the Holy Spirit and God’s true word about such things. It is my hope that you enjoy the journey and come out more spiritually mature from it in the end. CREED (this is to be recited at the beginning of each meeting) I am a woman of worth. I am a woman of worship, obedience, respect, truth and honor, I will glorify God. THE MICAH SEAL (this too is to be recited at the beginning of each meeting) I am an everlasting covenant with Jesus Christ. I am to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God, in submission to His authority and Lordship over and in my life, under obedience to Him in all my ways for all my days. ACROSTIC WOMEN OF W.O.R.T.H WORSHIP “Therefore I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2 OBEDIENCE “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” John 14:23 RESPECT “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 TRUTH “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:1-2 HONOR “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Romans 12:10 WORSHIP “Therefore I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2 The Israelites loved and worshipped God. They were thankful to him for his goodness to them, and they stood in awe of his great power. At times they were disobedient, turning away from him, his laws and his leading. Yet they always came back to him in repentance, with renewed hearts ready to worship. The first recorded act of worship is in Genesis. The children of Adam and Eve brought two types of offerings to God. Genesis 4:2-7 . One God accepted the other he did not. It was God’s response to their actions that established the pattern in worship. Abel’s offering was from his first fruits, his whole heart, and his absolute best. And he did so in truly wanting to serve God. The word worship is translated as service, serving God as being higher than us. Worshiping him and giving him the honor due him for whom he is, for the world he has created, for his work of redemption through Jesus Christ and for his blessings and gifts. God is not interested in outward forms of worship, such as Cain’s offering; he is only interested in praise that comes from the heart. True God-centered worship is reflected in a life lived to honor him. In what ways have you given God your absolute best? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In what ways have you brought a Cain type offering before the Lord? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In the New Testament, Christians joined together to worship God. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, they sang hymns and psalms of praise to the Lord. Paul and Silas even praised him when they were imprisoned. “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” Acts 2:46-47 THROUGH THE ACT OF TRUE WORSHIP AND FELLOWSHIP ON A DAILY BASIS, WORSHIPING, MEETING AND EATING TOGETHER, THE LORD BLESSED THEM AND ADDED TO THEIR NUMBER DAILY THOSE WHO WERE BEING SAVED. THEY TRULY LIVED A LIFE HONORING OF GOD. AND IT DREW OTHERS TO GOD. LOOK AROUND IN YOUR OWN CHURCH; Is it growing? ___________________________________________________________ Is it slow growth? ___________________________________________________________ Is it new growth or old members? _________________________________________________ Are more added to your number daily? _____________________________________________ Do people come and go? _________________________________________________________ Do people go and find another church? _____________________________________________ Do people return to their daily lives and their sinful nature? _____________________________ Are you living a life honoring of God that is drawing others to honor him as well? ____________ Are you participating in some form of fellowship with other believers daily? ________________ As a woman of worth it is necessary that you not only read God’s word, but do your best to put God’s word into action. If true worship is not taking place in your church or your life, then you need to be the one to make a difference. It’s easy to complain about the lack of ministries or the way things are run, or discontentment with the people running them, but it takes integrity to get past that and become an integral part of bringing in new ministries and new ways of fellowshipping with other believers on a daily basis. God desires that you come forth and go forth. “Likewise teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.” Titus 2:3-5 “In the same way, you wives must accept the authority of your husbands. Then, even if some refuse to obey the Good News, your godly lives will speak to them without any words. They will be won over by observing your pure and reverent lives. Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. This is how the holy women of old made themselves beautiful. They trusted God and accepted the authority of their husbands. For instance, Sarah obeyed her husband, Abraham, and called him her master. You are her daughters when you do what is right without fear of what your husband’s might do.” 1 Peter 3:1-6 INTEGRITY The biblical definition of integrity is: a steadfast adherence to God’s strict moral or ethical code, The state of being unimpaired; soundness of mind. Moral soundness; honesty, freedom from corrupting influence or motive, the quality or condition of being whole or undivided; completeness. Is there anything in this definition of Integrity that you need improvement on? If so, list them: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ REVERENT The biblical definition of Reverence is: Disposed to revere; impressed with reverence; submissive; humble; respectful; as, reverent disciples. Expressing reverence, veneration, devotion, or submission; as, reverent words; reverent behavior, showing great reverence for God, leading a godly life. Are you all of these things? __________________ Are there areas to work on? _________________ List them: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ SLANDERER The biblical definition of slanderer is; Oral communication of false statements injurious to a person’s reputation. A false and malicious statement or report about someone. One who attacks the reputation of another by slander or libel? Have you done this? ________________________ If you have ever felt like you should not have said certain things about someone after having had a conversation with someone other than the person you were talking about, that is the Holy Spirit convicting you of having slandered that person. It’s important to remember, that God didn’t just create you, but also the people you talk about. He loves them just as much as he loves you. Whether they are lost or saved, they are his creation. So when you speak ill of someone, you are speaking ill of God’s creation that he loves, therefore you have sinned. What about when you are talking with someone about someone else, or many others? Would you say the same about that person if they were present? Would you change the conversation if they walked into the room? Would you ask the person you are telling, to not repeat what you have said, or to keep it a secret? Again, this is sin. So again I ask you, have you done this? ______________________ ADDICTIONS Are you enslaved by addictions? Whether it be drinking, drugs, cigarettes, immorality, television, eating, a person, work, or any other addiction, your life can not be truly centered on Christ if you are not denying yourself of such addictions. Take the wheel on a car for example. You could have a nice fancy car with a great paint job, great interior, one that others would like to have, but unless you get a front end alignment and your wheels balanced from time to time your steering wheel will begin to shake, and you’ll wobble down the road. You know, you’ve seen that certain person on the road before, with their car wheels wobbling along. It’s the person you try to stay a certain distance from because you’re afraid that at any moment their tire is going to go. And you don’t want to be caught in the path and end up in an accident. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to be as righteous people but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets. So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then the measure of the sin of your forefathers! You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.” Matthew 23:25-36 So long as you have addictions in your life, and you are making it through by looking righteous on the outside while you still have unresolved matters on the inside, you are being a hypocrite as Jesus said. Jesus said it was better to first clean the inside, then the outside would become clean. This can be said of slandering, and gossiping as well. You may believe that you have some right to judge, belittle, slander, gossip, or resent someone else, because maybe they aren’t measuring up to your standards, but be aware, you are only looking at the outside of the cup. All the while, God is working on changing the inside of that person. The outside things will come, but what’s inside is the most important. And there is no way for you to be able to judge the inside of a person. God and God alone, knows the heart of a man. It may seem to you that a person is simply not trying or that they are a hopeless cause, but haven’t you yourself been unable to get rid of a certain sin or temptation in your life? Wasn’t it a long hard road for you? Didn’t it seem insurmountable while you were in the midst of it? Didn’t the weight of it, make it to where you could barely stand up underneath it? ___________ So as Jesus says, if you are guilty of this, you will be guilty of all the righteous who have been condemned before you. Is this an area that you need to work on? _______________________ TEACHING Do you teach others the Word of God as it has been taught to you? ______________________ Instead of complaining about people, as women of worth, we are to be teaching them the ways of God verses the ways of sin. Mind you, women are to teach other women, if there are men in need of teaching, you are to direct them to your Pastor. As the shepherd it is the Pastors job to lead and direct his flock in the way they should go. You can however keep any of those men in your daily prayers. There is a verse in a song that I am reminded of, that says, “You can talk about me all that you please, I’ll talk about you when I’m on my knees.” This of course is the most acceptable form of talking about someone, on your knees. By doing so, as a living example, we are teaching other women to pray for people rather than talk about them. When we freely talk about others, we are teaching others that it’s alright to do. The same is true when we freely listen to someone talking about others. What are you teaching? _________________________________________________________ We teach those around us, both by what we do and what we don’t do. There is the acrostic of W.W.J.D. What Would Jesus Do? All throughout scripture when Jesus found others doing wrong, or was disappointed with one’s behavior, he didn’t talk about them accept in prayer, rather he taught them. He would give them a choice morsel of God’s word for them to chew on and digest. And when appropriate, he would rebuke them as well. Again he didn’t go and tell someone about the person’s offenses, he directly confronted the person by rebuking the presence of Satan in them, but then loving them and teaching them. This is the place that we need to get to in our lives as women of worth. But when you teach, be careful to do it in love, gentleness and truth. Again, What Would Jesus Do? How would Jesus do it? These are questions you should always be asking yourself in each situation that you encounter, and if you are having trouble in any of these areas in your life. Going back to page seven, it says to teach the older women in these areas and then they can train the younger women. You might say to yourself, “but I am the older woman.” Older is not referring to age, but to spiritual maturity. You need not be older in age in order to train and teach other women. Just the same, you need not reject the teaching of other women who may be younger in age than you. To do so, is to not accept those whom God has placed over you as prophets, wise men or teachers. And as we read earlier, you will be held accountable for rejecting the prophets and teachers and wise men that God has sent to you. Just as in the same way your forefathers rejected them, and Christ. God places men and women in places of ministry and authority above you. You are to be accountable to them, as they are accountable to God for what they teach you. However, you are to always discern the spirits and test whatever teaching you are given against the Word of God to make sure that a false teacher has not slipped in amongst you. This is all a part of your service to God, worshipping him. “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness and your nigh will become like the noon day. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” Isaiah 58:6-11 To worship God is to serve him in all the ways that he has commanded. To be a woman of worth, worshiping God must be our priority in life. It is not something to be taken lightly. And is something that we will have to spend ourselves on each day. Make a list of those things that the Holy Spirit is convicting you of things that you need to get in line with God’s commands about how we serve and worship him. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Let’s look at nine ways of worshiping God. 1.Meeting regularly with other Christians to honor God. Acts 2:46-47 2.Proclaiming the Word of God. 1 Timothy 4:13 3.Responding in gratitude to the Word of God. Exodus 24:3 4.Celebrate communion regularly. Acts 2:46 5.Observe Christian Creeds. 1 Corinthians 11:2 6.Sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Ephesians 5:19 7.Pray in the Spirit. Ephesians 6:18 8.Present your whole person to God. Romans 12:1 9.Offer a sacrifice of praise, confess the name of God, do good and share with others. Hebrews 13:15-16 OBEDIENCE To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him.” John 14:23 The Lord is very clear here. If you love him, you will obey him. You’ve read what it is so far to be a woman of worship, which encompasses prayer and respect, and you will go on to read how truth and honor come into play as well. To honestly become that, means you will have to look at your lists, your character defaults, your short comings and your pride and be willing to surrender to the living God. It means you will have to stop living as though you cannot attain to all that God wants of you, and be obedient without question as he calls you to be. Make an affirmation of faith here. If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything. So make your stand, make a list of areas you need to be obedient in. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Now write down your plan of action to accomplish obedience in your life with Christ. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ RESPECT Living Your Life To Please God, Not The World “make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 Paul tells us in Titus 2:7-8 “In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.” There is a song I’m reminded of that says, “Lord I want to be just like you, cause he wants to be just like me, I want to be a holy example for his innocent eyes to see. Let me be a living Bible Lord, for my little boy to read, I want to be just like you cause he wants to be like me.” When you begin to think in that light, realizing that not just your children, but your family, your friends, your neighbors and even those whom you do not know personally, are all watching you, are any of your actions, words or deeds something that you would not want someone to imitate? Actions “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry and do not give the devil a foothold. He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands that he may have something to share with those in need.” ** Ephesians 4:22-28 ** Note that part of the selflessness that Christ promotes in us as Christians, is not only for us to give up our former way of life, but then to work doing something useful that we may have something to share with those in need. He does not promote that we work to obtain material possessions, get ahead and acheive great personal and professional success, but rather, so that we can give it away to those in need. Consider this and meditate on this as well, in the scheme of learning to become selfless instead of selfish. It is definately a profound statement. ** Think about the way that you act with your children, family friends, towards your neighbors, towards men, towards your boss, co-workers, church family, on the road while driving, waiting in a long line, members in your community such as store clerks, bank tellers restaurant servers and post office personnel, etc. Are your actions something you would want your child or anyone’s child to imitate? Surely if they are not, you certainly wouldn’t want any other adult to imitate them either! Words “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:29-31 Aside from filthy language, what about hurtful speech? Have your words to your family, friends, or anyone else been hurtful? How about your words regarding others? Have any of them been slanderous, or considered unflattering or gossip? “Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.” Ephesians 5:4 What about filthy language? What about foolish talk? What about coarse joking? “You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” Matthew 12:34 That which comes from your mouth is what is on or in your heart. Even Jesus said, “It’s not what goes into a man that defiles him, but what comes out.” Deeds “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. For this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person such a man is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth and find out what pleases the Lord.” Ephesians 5: 3, 5-10 What about your deeds towards men? Are they respectful or impure? Jesus said in Matthew 5:27-28 “You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery, but I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” What Christ condemns is not the sudden thought that Satan may place in a person’s mind or an improper desire that arises suddenly. Rather it is a wrong thought or desire that is accompanied by the approval of ones will. It is having an immoral desire that would seek fulfillment if the opportunity arose. The inner desire for illicit sexual pleasure, if contemplated and not resisted, is sin. This is not exclusive to men alone, especially in this generation. This also includes taking pleasure in scenes of immorality, such as films or pornographic material. Not just pornographic films, it can be theatre or television movies or sitcoms and especially the internet or billboards and magazines and commercials, that have sexual scenes in them. When you view these scenes are you enjoying them, commenting about them, or repulsed and embarrassed by them? Remember, how you view them is how your children will view them. How do you want your children viewing men or sex? What about greed? Greed too is lusting after something. It can be a person or a thing. It is wanting more than what God has allotted to you in life, it is not being content with what God has given you and constantly seeking after more. It’s looking at things that you desire and want to have for yourself, and doing whatever is necessary to obtain it, and if you are unable to obtain it, you still spend a great deal of time in the challenge of trying to obtain it. It’s all you think about. It consumes you. You can relate it to a man. Let’s say you see a man and you desire to get to know him better. Maybe you are not lusting after him in your heart but you are thinking about him constantly, when you are at home, in public, at work, in your car. You can’t sleep, you can’t eat your thoughts are all directed towards how to get that man in your life. While at first you may not be lusting after him, the greed and desire of your heart will eventually take you there. If you are single and your relationships with men are not respectful, this is an area that you need to get in line with God’s will. If God has a partner in mind for you, then seek his will. Be praying for that unknown or known partner, concentrate on allowing God to make you the woman of God that you will need to be for your future husband and family. It is more important that you concentrate on your relationship with Christ and making him the center of your life and that you pray for your eventual partner that they too will have their lives centered on Christ. It takes three people to make a marriage work, you, your spouse and Christ. Christ must be the center of your life and his life in order for him to be the center of your marriage or pre-marital relationship. Women are supposed to be submissive to their husbands, and God commands husbands to live considerately with their wives as the weaker partner and a fellow heir in the inheritance of the kingdom. Women can only be submissive to a husband that is submissive to God. When women know that their husband is surrendered to Christ, that he gets his every direction from God through fervent prayer, they can trust their husbands to lead and guide them in the way that God would have them to go. They are then submissive to the husband as being the spiritual leader of the household, and thereby fulfill their command by God to be submissive to him. So this is the light in which you should be viewing men that you are looking towards as a prospective relationship. And none of it involves lustful thinking. Rather, training, a renewing of your mind, actions, words and deeds. And greed does not play into any relationship in your life as well. A man or woman who is not content with what God has given him and is continually seeking after more, will never find rest. “Then He said to them, Watch out, be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Luke 12:15 “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature; sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all these: anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and is in all. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Colossians 3:5 Who you are when you are alone is who you are in Christ. And that is the inner man that is portrayed to others. So what are you portraying? Make a list of what you have been portraying and pray over that list daily, giving these things over to God continually. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ TRUTH “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:1-2 Renouncing Secret And Shameful Ways “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.” 1 Chronicles 28:9 This alone should be enough for us to want to clean our closets. Not only does God search our hearts, but he even knows every motive behind our thoughts. Nothing is kept secret from him. Do some less than desirable moments in your life come to mind? ________________________ Aside from renouncing our own secret and shameful ways, Ephesians 5:11 says “we are to have nothing to do with fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.” List some of the fruitless deeds of darkness that have been happening in your life or in the lives of people you associate with. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Have nothing to do with these. Also you are not to condone what others do but expose them. This does not mean talk about them, it means pray for them, confront them, teach them God’s holy standards against what they are doing. To talk about their sins and disobedience with others, is shameful. You bring shame upon yourself. Do not deceive people and do not distort the word of God. Rather speak the truth of God’s word plainly and in times of trouble or doubt, people will turn to you for counsel. For if you do deceive people and or distort the word of God, causing them to sin in any way, Jesus says it is better for you to tie a millstone around your neck and throw yourself into the sea than to mislead one of his children. HONOR “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Romans 12:10 Honor towards people “Never repeat a conversation, and you will lose nothing at all. With friend or foe do not report it, and unless it would be a sin for you, do not reveal it; for someone may have heard you and watched you, and in time will hate you. Have you heard something? Let it die with you. Be brave, it will not make you burst! Having heard something, the fool suffers birth pangs like a woman in labor with a child. Like an arrow stuck in a person’s thigh, so is gossip inside a fool. Question a friend; perhaps he did not say it; or if he said it, so that he may not repeat it. Question a friend, for often it is slander; so do not believe everything you hear. A person may make a slip without intending it. Who has not sinned with his tongue? Question your neighbor before you threaten him; and let the law of the Most High take it’s course.” Sirach 19:7-17in the Apocrypha Being devoted in love Let’s read 1 Corinthians 13 together. After reading it, list the areas of how you love others that need working on. Take just one relationship in your life and examine it against the list of what it is to really love. Ask yourself if you truly behave that way towards that person in every area of your relationship. And if there are areas where you come short in, list those areas below and make them a matter of prayer. Challenge yourself in every day to intentionally treat them in the way of true love. Watch your relationship grow and deepen and transform into all that God desires it to be. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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