The Weight Of A Woman

Looking back at the creation of God in all of His wisdom, He has made only two species of human beings and that is the man and the woman. God created the woman because He didn’t want the man to be alone. God saw the incompleteness of the man and therefore created her with a purpose. Her creation was intentional. God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him (Genesis 2:18 KJV). So she is his help, suitable, complementary, sufficient, his other half, etc. for him.

As a help to her husband, she becomes a wife, mother, confidant, cook, housekeeper,  and if she goes out to work, financial supporter, and the list goes on. When we speak of the word “weight,” we are reminded of responsibility, importance, influence, and strength. The woman carries the weight of everyone in her life. Helping is an innate quality of the woman. The numerous hats she wears go unnoticed because she wears them effortlessly, willingly, and joyfully.

However, time has shown that a woman can be wise and/or foolish. The book of Proverbs tells us, “Every wise woman buildeth her house: But the foolish plucketh it down with her hands (Proverbs 14:1). So this woman whose purpose is to help, to help build, help create, help support, and help uphold, can actually do so but on the other hand tear it all down. This woman, among all things, is both passionate and compulsive and this is where the wisdom and folly of her comes into play. Depending on her compulsion she can bring out the king in her husband and sons, the queen in her daughters, and the beautiful strength in herself. On the other hand, that same woman can cause a man to not speak or lift his head in his own house, and her sons and daughters to desire to be elsewhere.

A woman whether she bore a child or not carries a lot of weight and according to the scriptures she builds her house. Even though the man may have the blueprint and may have built the foundation, of what the house should look like, how his wife and kids may look, it is the woman who sets the atmosphere and tone for the home and even the church. She carries the brick for whatever the man is building. The brick is the feeding, the clothing, the rearing of the children, bringing things together one after the other, so that the man’s vision is seen clearly. She carries on without complaining exhibiting her power, her capacity or ability to direct or influence the behaviors of others or the course of events to bring it all to fruition.

The wise woman is able to effortlessly build because she is building on the Word of God, where comes her strength. She gives the godly design of her out of the Word of God, to come to light and be manifested in and through her. Her beauty is reflected in her home, church, community, marketplace, and what and wherever she touches.

The woman becomes foolish when she steps out of character and wields weapons of destruction through her words, attitudes, and behavior as a whole. But God wants us to be wise even in the face of adverse conditions and experiences. God wants us to build and not tear down; to lift up and not to trample under. That’s the weight of a woman, to just be there with the bricks to see things through and flourish, even without the fanfare and applause. She must build, she must carry, she must support, and she must help.

Woman, know thyself. Woman, know who you are and whose you are. Woman, know your worth and value. Never be out of character. Out of the mouth of a good, strong and wise woman to her son whom she raised to be a king, asks the question, “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies…” and she proceeded to relate what that woman looks like (Proverbs 31: 10-31). Two things are very striking here and it is that although we do not know much of her son, he was a king, and she named him Limuel meaning ‘belonging to God’ in the Hebrew language. She raised her family on the Word of God with a godly heart and secondly, she gave him the keys to identifying that wise woman, when she taught him that the woman’s works shall praise her in the gates (vs. 31b).

The weight of a woman is humongous, but it is rewarding when she helps after God’s heart. I encourage every woman to recognize her God-given mandate wherever she is assigned and to whom she is assigned and to run with it virtuously and wisely because this is who she is.

Blessings!

When we speak of GROWTH, we are embracing progressive development.  We look for progressive development in every area of our lives. Whether it is in our children, our jobs, our businesses, or our relationships, we become very concerned when there is no progressive development, when there is no Growth. So, it is with the growth of the Church.

As the Church, we are the body of Jesus Christ who is our Head. Luke 2:52 tells us clearly that Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God the Father and mankind. It therefore behooves us as His body to grow and to increase wholly. Jesus requires us to Grow. God wants us, His Church to prosper, to increase materially and outwardly, but most importantly He wants us to Grow from within.

The Apostle Paul implores us to present our bodies as living sacrifices unto God which is our reasonable service, and not to be confirmed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we may prove what is that good and acceptable, and perfect will of God (Romans 12:1-2). As the Church, we must present our bodies, our temples to God and have our minds renewed. This is clearly a growth process from within.

As we meditate on this very foundational text, it speaks of a sacrifice we must make to set ourselves apart from not only the world, but from our old self. 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us “… if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” So, we must strive to be more like Christ, not more like our old selves, which were tarnished and had to be washed in the blood of Jesus. We put Christ to open shame and crucify Him afresh when we resort to our old self or become stagnant in our spiritual growth.

God wants to change us from the inside out. As a Growing Church, we must be ever-evolving, updating in our minds and hearts. Renewal means to: make like new, restore to freshness, vigor, or perfection; regenerate, revive, rebuild, etc. These are the things God wants to see happening in and through us as His Church.

HOW DOES THE CHURCH GROW WITHIN?

The Apostle Paul gives us a pivotal strategy in 2 Timothy 2:15 when he said, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that need[s] not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.” Don’t just read the Word of God like a history book, but sit and study it, cross-referencing text to build your faith, strengthen your decision to stay in Christ, and to Grow in every area of your life which starts with the renewing of the mind. Jesus Himself tells us in John 15:3, “Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you.’ The Word is that water that cleanses our minds as we read it; it is that light that illumines the dark areas of our minds; and it is that sword that pierces asunder every ugly and stubborn thought that tries to contaminate the pure flow of good and healthy thinking in our minds.

THE CHURCH IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HER GROWTH

As the Church, we are responsible and accountable for our growth in Christ. We are responsible and accountable for feeding both our flesh and spirit man, it is not anyone else’s responsibility to feed us. This means that our reading of the Word of God should not be confined to only when we gather for worship. We need to read the Word for ourselves on a daily basis, so that we can work and apply it to our lives and watch God perform it in us. Reading the Word daily builds our faith in Christ whom we serve. It builds our spirit, and it kills our flesh both at the same time. This is how we feed both spirit and flesh. The spirit is fed, and the flesh is starved. The more we read the Word, our flesh dies daily and the Christlikeness in us shines so bright that we truly become the Light of our world.

Let me leave you with a Word to ponder. “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit (the Word) shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8).

WHY CHURCH?

My pastor, Pastor Exzabia Dukes, spoke on a very thought-provoking topic last Sunday morning that left me thinking of how as believers we can say things that have no merit from the word of God. He asked the question, WHY CHURCH?

When one speaks of the Church, the location of a building whether it is rustic, old, or beautiful twenty-first century, comes to mind. We make plans to GO to Church, we invite others to accompany us to Church, and we exude such excitement to be expected when we attend or arrive at Church as if something will happen there to impact us for the better. We stand in awe of the beauty of the building with our imaginations fiercely calculating the possible cost spent to erect such artifice, the workmanship, and the dedication of laboring hands and minds.

And then we enter this beautiful building with its glittering walls and polished floors, but if we just stand there that building does absolutely nothing. It doesn’t smile at us, it doesn’t call out to God, neither does it make a sound. I’m invited to Church with such excitement, but nothing happens until the visitors to that building, the people, open their mouths and sing praises to God. The building doesn’t.

So I’m reminded of the Psalmist David who said, “Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: Sing forth the honor of His name: make His praise glorious” Psalms 66:1-2 KJV). Then He tells the Lord, “Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed” Psalms 65:1 KJV). No wonder the beautiful buildings are silent and cold until the worshippers come in and make joyful noises unto God.

We are the Church, not the buildings made with hands. We the living breathing temples are the church and as the Apostle Paul tells us, “Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands (Acts 7: 48) and reiterated this point in Acts 17:24 when he said, “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands.” God intentionally made a special temple for Himself to dwell in and it is our bodies.

Even as we clean and beautify the inside and outside of the buildings where we gather to worship, so must we more importantly take care of the temple of God. For what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? for we are the temple of the living God, as God Himself said, I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people (2 Corinthians 6:16).

            So, WHY CHURCH? Because we are the temple of the Living God and He is building us up to become the Unbreakable Church. We become that unbreakable Church when we come together, for with unity there is strength. God has given to us KEYS, not to the buildings we have built, but keys to His Kingdom where we can walk triumphantly in the midst of a world we are in, but not a part of. It is important that we not only know the keys to apply to our lives, but we must understand them.

            Keys to being a holy Church as He, whom we worship, is Holy. Essentially, we are encouraged not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, so that we may exhort and encourage one another (Hebrews 10:25). It is in our unity we gain and develop the strength to be the Unbreakable Church of God. And so, as the Church, we must have a desire to know our God for ourselves, and in so doing our trust for Him will increase. That relationship God seeks to have with each and every one of us will be deepened and enriched so much so that we become that Salt and Light of a world that Jesus spoke of.

            We are the Church., not the erected building. We are the walking Church who assembles to worship, to teach, to be encouraged, strengthened, and built up for the glory of our God.

THIS IS WHY CHURCH!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: We always say, ‘I am going to church.” But we have learned that we are the church. In light of the Word of God, what should we then say? How must we coin the reverse of the Church is going to gather, or the Church is gathering or assembling?

SUGGESTIONS:  

• I am going to the Gathering for worship? 

• Come with me to the Gathering?
• We are gathering at the Family of Faith Ministry building today will you come with me?
• The Church is gathering at the Family of Faith Ministry on 414 N Front Street. Murfreesboro, TN?
• I know, I know, it all sounds so weird, but isn’t it the truth? What do you think?

We would love for you to drop us a suggestion in the comments.

Here are the steps to connect Zoom to YouTube for live streaming:

1. Sign in to the Zoom desktop app
2. Open the Live Streaming app under the Apps tab ,
3. Configure your YouTube live streaming settings before the meeting
4. When you're ready to start streaming, join the meeting and click "Start Livestream to Zoom Events Lobby"
5. This will start streaming your Zoom meeting to the event lobby, and you can then stream it to YouTube ,

Let me know if you have any other questions!

           In the farming world, the farmer plants with the expectation of reaping fruits from every seed planted. However, some seeds will germinate and grow into fruitful plants while others die, still others grow up to be fruitless. These barren trees are usually cut down and thrown out, while the fruitful ones will be harvested, trimmed and pruned for new produce.

            We are reminded of the incident in the bible when Jesus returned to the city hungry. He approached a fig tree in the way and found it bearing leaves only and no fruit. Jesus was not happy and cursed the tree that it bore no fruit in the future and the fig tree withered immediately (Matthew 21:18-19). The fig tree was planted in the way and should have borne fruit but it didn’t. How many of us as believers are planted in the way to be fruitful to others and we bear no fruit? Like Jesus, so many pass us by, into our spaces hungry for a word of encouragement, a smile, a prayer, healing, or salvation and we have no fruit of the Spirit to offer, and they walk away hungry still.

We Are A Solution To A Kingdom Problem

            St Luke tells us a similar story where “a certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth (being in the way or render useless. Merriam-webster) it the ground?” Luke 13:6-7. The tree was not planted for itself, but rather to feed mankind, and Jesus was teaching that in failing to produce, the tree was useless and needed to be destroyed. The lesson was that every believer has been planted by God not for themselves but to be a solution to a Kingdom problem here on earth. Each of us has been given a gift which is our seed to minister one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God (1 Peter 4:10). We must however discover it so that we may fulfill it. Don’t just know your purpose, fulfill it for the Kingdom.

Call To Action

Everyone has something to do in the kingdom of God. The Apostle Paul admonishes Timothy to stir up the gift of God within him (2 Timothy 1:6) and to keep that good thing, that gift given by the Holy Spirit that was in him (vs. 14). It is time for us to shake ourselves loose from every complacency, apathy to the kingdom of God and stir ourselves up in the power of the Holy Spirit and bear the fruits we have been planted to produce. Let not the Lord come and find us wanting.

Other References: Psalms 1:3; Genesis 2:5-7; 2 Timothy 1:6; Jeremiah 51: 21-23; Genesis 2:15; Romans 12:11; Job 23:10.