“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS”. (Matthew 11:28-29)
We need rest from our work. We need rest from our worries. We need rest from our griefs. We need some down time! We need time to breathe.
I’ve pretty much quit using the term “quiet time” because more often than not, it isn’t – and I don’t have kids! But, I do have a husband, 2 dogs and 2 cats; that’s a lot like having kids. One or more of them is always needing/wanting something: feed me, walk me, I want to go out, I want to come in, pay attention to me – it seems the demands never end.
If we’re not careful, our “quiet time” can be more of a worry time. Rather than it being a time to be still and know, it can become a time when the weight we are carrying presses in on us.
As one woman told me: “we need to make our time as much of an investment as we do our money. That’s so true. When it comes to our time with the Lord we need to ask ourselves…
Are we investing it wisely?
Are we protecting it jealously?
Are we valuing it greatly?
Again, Jesus is our example.
In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there. (Mark 1:35)
Even when, especially when the people were pressing in on Him, demanding His time, Jesus took Himself away to a quiet place to pray. If the Lord had such a need, why would we think we wouldn’t?
Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, they came each one from his own place…and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and comfort him. (Job 2:11)
Not sure if any of you have watched many westerns. My grandfather loved westerns and when I was a child I would sit and watch them with him. There was one thing you knew you were going to see in every one of them… wagon train being attacked by Indians.
When the attacks came what did they do? They circled the wagons.
That’s something we women need to think more about doing. We need our circle of friends who can help us get through the rough times. Women who will lift us up not break us down.
Women who will
encourage us when we’re discouraged
give us truth when we’re struggling with difficult decisions
hold us accountable when needed
pray earnestly for us
Jesus is our example. He had 12 Apostles, men who were close to Him, men to whom He ministered and taught. But He also had an inner-circle; those with whom He shared his best and worst moments.
Today many women, especially younger women, measure themselves against their “friends” on social media. Too often they think they are less because they don’t quite measure up. It’s very sad.
In Ecclesiastes chapter 4 King Solomon writes: “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor; for if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up! Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.”
The LORD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation. (Psalms 118:14)
Jesus Himself said it: “in this world you will have troubles,” and we do. As women our days are often long and our burdens are many and heavy.
Just a normal day can test our strength. Add in a sick child, an unsettled argument, an overdue bill, a backed up toilet; whatever strength we had will be quickly drained leaving us to wonder how we will ever make it through the next hour, much less the next day.
Then there is this. So many of us are “fixers” and so we not only carry our own burdens but we take on other’s troubles as well. Is it any wonder we have so many back problems?
Life is full of problems. We can’t escape our troubles but we don’t have to carry them alone. Scripture tells us to cast all our anxieties on the Lord, why, because He cares for us. (1 Peter 5:7)
Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows. (Luke 12:7)
We need to know that we are appreciated, and loved; that we are valued.
The world would have us believe that our value is only what we can give back to it – according to what it determines is valuable. Back in the 60s the “women’s movement” began convincing women that they were to have any value, they would have to get out of the kitchen. That if they wanted to be truly fulfilled, they not only needed to cook the bacon, they had to be the ones to “bring it home”.
The movement hasn’t lost steam, over the years it has only accelerated influencing the lives of 3 generations of women. It has not only succeeded in taking away our femineity, and degrading our God given purpose, it is now making every effort to rob us our gender itself.
It’s influence has even moved into the Christian community. Professing Christians, women who are out there, getting a lot of media attention, are telling us that if we’re not pursuing and occupying the same positions as men, if we are not filling those “male roles” that we are somehow less than.
Nothing could be further from the truth. It all sounds good but God’s word says different. When we need to know our true value let’s remember:
God created us and, according to Genesis 1, all that God created is “very good”.
We are daughters of the One True God/heirs with Christ
And we need to remember that God loves us so much that He sent His Son to ransom us.
That the Son came willingly, and suffered and died for US!
So, when in doubt, and we all have doubts, just remember, it doesn’t matter what the world says, it matters what God says and He says our value is in Jesus Christ and we are more valuable that precious stones!
Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. (Proverbs 31:10)
Reading about the life of the Proverbs 31 woman stirs in me a mixture of emotions. Naturally I admire her, I somewhat envy her, in some ways I resent her. But the one thing that is most disturbing is knowing that I can never hope to be her.
As I thought about the Proverbs woman, I had the silliest thought : that the Proverbs 31 woman is the “Barbie Doll of scripture”; you know, the image of the perfect woman. That thought got me to wondering, “if Barbie was a real woman…?” So, I did some research.
Barbie’s head would be two inches larger than the average American woman’s while resting on a neck twice as long and six inches thinner, making her physically incapable of lifting her head.
Her 16-inch waist would also be four inches thinner than her head, leaving room for only half a liver and a few inches of intestine.
Like her fragile 3.5 inch wrists, her 6-inch ankles would prevent her from heavy lifting.
Her ankles along with her size 3 feet would make walking upright impossible; she would have to walk on all fours.
The odds of finding a single woman with the same naturally tall and thin neck like Barbie is one out of 4.3 billion.
Similarly finding a woman with Barbie’s waist would be one out of every 2.4 billion.
Read the remaining Proverbs 31 verses. This woman is a woman of strength, wisdom, loyalty, virtue, and much more. She has an inner beauty to be admired by all who know her.
I don’t think any of us wants to be the unrealistic image the world considers the perfect woman, I do believe however that most of us would like to be as “Proverbial 31” as possible.
And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe on Him; (John 19:2)
Crown Him with many crowns, The Lamb upon His throne; Hark! how the heav’nly anthem drowns All music but its own: Awake, my soul, and sing Of Him who died for thee, And hail Him as thy matchless King Thro’ all eternity.
Crown Him the Lord of life, Who triumphed o’er the grave, And rose victorious in the strife For those He came to save; His glories now we sing, Who died, and rose on high, Who died, eternal life to bring, And lives that death may die.
Crown Him the Lord of peace, Whose pow’r a scepter sways From pole to pole, that wars may cease, And all be pray’r and praise: His reign shall know no end, And round His pierced feet Fair flow’rs of paradise extend Their fragrance ever sweet.
Crown Him the Lord of love; Behold His hands and side, Those wounds, yet visible above, In beauty glorified: All hail, Redeemer, hail! For Thou hast died for me: Thy praise and glory shall not fail Thro’ out eternity.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. (1 John 4:18)
When I see and experience God’s love for me, found in a personal relationship with Jesus and lived out in true friendship with others who know Him and love Him – my life becomes filled and strengthened with the many wonderful benefits of salvation.
There is no challenge too great, no failure too bad, no enemy too strong – for we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us! And there is no dream too big, and no hope too audacious, and no task too impossible – for we can do all things through Him who loves us.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:12)
There are many people, even some Christians, who buy into the world view that all we have to do is to be good to be saved. They believe that if we act good and do good, God will reward us. It sounds right doesn’t it? After all, if God is truly a just God, and if He is a God of love, would He really allow all these good people to spend eternity in torment? From our world view, it makes perfect sense. But God doesn’t see things from a world view, He sees them from an eternal view.
Some time back my daughter asked her Sunday school class “how do we become righteous”? One of her students raised his hand and answered “by what we do”. She was so disappointed. She is constantly trying to drill into them that righteousness is of God, not of our own efforts. Why, she asked, can’t the kids get it? Why indeed? Why don’t we adults get it?
God’s word says that no matter how good we are, how much we try, or how hard we work, it will never be enough. We can give our human best but to a holy God, it amounts to nothing more than a pile of dirty rags.
Throughout His word, God tells us how we can obtain Godliness. In his letter to the church at Corinth Paul wrote “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God”. (1 Corinthians 6:11). And Peter, in his 2nd epistle, reminded the early believers “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed”. (1 Peter 2:24)
Until we understand just how depraved man’s heart is, it’s difficult to appreciate fully the gift we have received through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
Spend a few minutes and meditate on all that Jesus has done for you and praise him for His wonderful love.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
I remember when my Daddy bought our first set of encyclopedia. The year was 1959, the encyclopedia a twelve volume set of Compton’s. Daddy was so proud, he read them as if they were the latest novel. Owning this priceless set of books took the arguments that were so common in our household to a whole new level. Whenever there was a dispute about anything, we knew we would soon hear “get the book”! The book was the authority and whatever it said pretty much settled it. The tradition continued throughout my Daddy’s life. Even though the world wide web was at his fingertips, it was his beloved encyclopedia that was the final word on any subject.
Every day we make thousands of decisions. Most of them are a natural part of our daily routine and we aren’t even aware that a decision has been made. But then, there are those situations that come along that aren’t so routine: Am I going to tell my boss about the mistake I made, or try to hide it? The clerk gave me too much change, give it back or put it in my pocket? I betrayed my best friend’s trust, confess and ask forgiveness, or just hope she doesn’t find out. A coworker is flirting with me, smile and enjoy the attention, or ask him to stop. These are the kinds of decisions, seemingly inconsequential ones – that have the potential to change the course of our lives.
Where do we go for advice? Some of us would look to Oprah or Dr. Phil for counsel. After all we tell ourselves, they have a finger on the pulse of the world, they are the experts. Others of us would call a friend, someone we can always trust to gives us “sound” advice based on past experience and personal opinion. However, if we are serious about making right choices in this world gone wrong, we need to go to The Book!
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalms 6:10)
Last Saturday I saw the movie “War Room”. It was a really good movie, one that I highly recommend. After the movie, my SICs (sisters in Christ) and I went for a meal and discussed what we had seen, we each shared something we took from the movie that we felt would enhance and empower our prayer lives. For me, the takeaway was “just do it”.
Prayer is an amazing and powerful gift from God. I don’t know why prayer is difficult for many of us, but it is. There have been thousands maybe even tens of thousands of books written that tell us how to pray, what to pray, when to pray, where to pray. Yet, in spite of all this advice, many of us are prayer deficient. We western Christians are suffering from what we’ll call PDS (Prayer Deficiency Syndrome). Here are some of the reasons we give as the cause of our PDS:
“I don’t understand prayer”. Scripture tells us to pray (Philippians 4:6), Jesus taught us to pray (Luke 11:1), and the Spirit empowers us to pray (Ephesians 6:18). But, our human minds tend to neglect, even reject, those things we don’t understand. We often think that because God is sovereign and has already determined what will be, our prayers won’t make any difference.
Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. (Daniel 10:12)
2. “I just don’t feel it.” We are created as emotional beings, our emotions from sorrow to joy, are a wonderful gift from God. But, if you haven’t already learned, you will learn, that we are on dangerous ground when we allow our feelings to dictate our decisions (Jude 1:10). Many blessings are missed, because of someone waiting on a feeling. A lot of mistakes are made because someone follows a feeling. Most tragically, souls are being deceived because someone is counting on a feeling. Next time you don’t feel like praying, pray anyway.
But even if we don’t feel at ease, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything. (1 John 3:20 CEV)
3. “My mind wanders.” That’s ok, eventually it will wander over to Jesus. If you will just wait on the Lord, His Spirit will come in and change your wanders to wonders.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27)
4. “I’m not sure how I’m supposed to pray.” We think there is some special formula (all those books) we’re supposed to follow when we pray. Consequently, if we don’t stick to the “program”, we question if we’re doing prayer right; we keep trying to get it right, until finally we get frustrated and give up.
And He[Jesus]said to them, “When you pray, say: “(Luke 11:2a)
“And when you pray” (Matthew 6:5a) “But when you pray” (Matthew 6:6a) “And when you pray” (Matthew 6:7a) “Pray then like this: ” (Matthew 6:9a)
What’s the cure for our prayer deficiency, how do we become strong women of prayer? Since formulas seem to be the thing these days, (all those books) I would like to suggest a formula that I found in a book.
Ready? Here you go.
Be. Show up. Every day. You show up for your job, your nail appointment, lunch with the girls. Set a time, set a place and then be there! Turn off the phone, lock the door, pretend you’re not home, whatever you have to do. I mean, do we really want to keep Jesus waiting?
Be still. Stop, look listen. Are you one of those who doesn’t feel it? Be still – 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes. If nothing happens, don’t worry about it. Tomorrow is another day (see above and be still).
Be still and know. Know that God is there. Know that He is glad that you are there. Know that He cherishes this time with you.
Be still and know that I AM. I AM listening, I AM your answer, I AM your hope, I AM your peace, I AM all of your tomorrows.
Be still and know that I AM GOD. God on the mountain, God in the valleys, God in the fire, God in the storm. “I AM the Lord your GOD and there is none holy like me, there is none greater than me”.
Good stuff huh?
Before we go, let’s have a look at the final words of our anchor verse. Think about it. Here, in these few words, God answers every single one of our prayers – “I willbe exalted among the nations, I willbe exalted in the earth!” What else could you ask for, that pretty much covers it all.
From my heart to yours: My dear sisters, I know that you want quality, effective time with the Lord or you wouldn’t be reading this. You and I look at the hurts and struggles of our family and friends and we want to fix it for them, we want to make everything better. Listen, we don’t have the cure, I’m sorry. In our own power the very best we can hope to do is put a little ointment and a band-aid on the wounds. But, when we give it to Jesus, when we give it to Jesus, when we give it to Jesus… Next time you get a case of PDS, think back on all we’ve talked about today, enter your prayer place humbly and with boldness – standing, kneeling, bowing, resting on the promises of God.
Sandra Bivens Smith 