Tuesday, January 18
3 do not waste your strength on women,
on those who ruin kings.
The Message translates the first sentence of the previous verse like this, “Oh, son of mine, what can you be thinking of! Child whom I bore! The son I dedicated to God!” It seems obvious what this promise of hers was thinking! This mother was not naïve. She was the original advocate for talking to your kids about sex and other pitfalls of life! The word ‘strength’, according to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance means wealth, valor, and virtue and is confirmed by The Message translation, “Don't dissipate your virility on fortune-seeking women, promiscuous women who shipwreck leaders.” Recently, I was cable channel surfing. I came across The Joy Behr Show. A guest host was interviewing two beautiful young women who were discussing their life as part of a harem. Their manager, who was there along with them, vehemently asserted that the young women were free to leave any time and that he, in no way, was a pimp! The interviewer stated that she had heard that virgins are becoming more and more desirable and asked him the going rate for a virgin. He stated a virgin can bring as high as one million dollars.
Have you have lost your virginity, physically or metaphorically? You can still become virtuous. Remember Bathsheba. The word, virgin, implies an absence of an action. Virtuousness implies a lifestyle.
In what ways are you living a virtuous life?
Can you articulate, on a separate piece of paper, a time when you wasted your “strength, wealth, valor, or virginity?”
Now, take that piece of paper out side, and give it to God in exchange for His forgiveness, make an altar and burn it! It is gone! It is impossible to reassemble!
Journal your confessions of renewed virginity.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Don't Live in Reverse!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
2 O my son, O son of my womb,
O son of my vows,
The Amplified Bible says it like this, “What, my son? What, son of my womb? What [shall I advise you], son of my vows and dedication to God?” The repetition of the word “what” amply describes the weightiness a mother feels when faced with the responsibility of another human life. “What shall I do?” “What shall I say?” “What if I make a mistake?” “What shall he be?” “What then?” “What now?” “What if…?” The king’s mother seems to comfort herself with the last phrase, “What, son of my vows?” She reminds herself that it was God who gave her the promise. It was God who gave her the strength to bring the promise to birth. The same God who answered her prayers for a child will also guide, direct, correct, and redeem. He will do the same for us. Maybe your answered prayer is a life calling, a dream, or a vision that was birthed.
Are you living your life in reverse by living in regret of bad decisions or mistakes concerning that to which you gave birth?
Can not the divine life-giver fix our mistakes, even when our promise was affected? He must become the God of that which he promised. It is his.
Can He not make all things right?
What are some “whats” you need to relinquish to God?
Journal your responses
2 O my son, O son of my womb,
O son of my vows,
The Amplified Bible says it like this, “What, my son? What, son of my womb? What [shall I advise you], son of my vows and dedication to God?” The repetition of the word “what” amply describes the weightiness a mother feels when faced with the responsibility of another human life. “What shall I do?” “What shall I say?” “What if I make a mistake?” “What shall he be?” “What then?” “What now?” “What if…?” The king’s mother seems to comfort herself with the last phrase, “What, son of my vows?” She reminds herself that it was God who gave her the promise. It was God who gave her the strength to bring the promise to birth. The same God who answered her prayers for a child will also guide, direct, correct, and redeem. He will do the same for us. Maybe your answered prayer is a life calling, a dream, or a vision that was birthed.
Are you living your life in reverse by living in regret of bad decisions or mistakes concerning that to which you gave birth?
Can not the divine life-giver fix our mistakes, even when our promise was affected? He must become the God of that which he promised. It is his.
Can He not make all things right?
What are some “whats” you need to relinquish to God?
Journal your responses
Saturday, January 1, 2011
What's your message?
Happy New Year Ladies! May this be the year that we go deeper in God, deeper in His Word, deeper in love with Him! Let's start together on Tuesday, Jan. 4th. I'll be praying for you.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
1 “The sayings of King Lemuel contain this message, which his mother taught him.”
Recently I facilitated a ladies’ Bible study on Proverbs 31. I asked them to use some of their own reference material to research this verse to determine the identity of King Lemuel and his mother. We were rather surprised to find that many references cited Solomon and his mother, Bathsheba as the characters referred to in this verse. We were surprised as to the reason we were surprised! We found preconceived prejudices about Bathsheba existed because of her affair with King David. (You can read about this incident in 2 Samuel 11.) Even though David was the king, and holds the responsibility for this action, some commentaries suggest Bathsheba would have known the king was at home in his palace while all the other men were at war. Her dwelling would have been in very close proximity (some say as close as 25 feet) to his since her husband, Uriah, was one of David’s mighty men.
Whether Bathsheba was an accomplice or a victim, the Holy Spirit has given her an influential platform in which to share her words of wisdom.
Why do you think it is difficult to imagine that God would have chosen Bathsheba to introduce this prominent chapter concerning the ideal virtuous woman?
Do you think there are things in your past that could keep God from using you?
Could God want to use you to encourage others in the very thing that could have destroyed you?
Like King Lemuel’s mother, we all are communicating a message, consciously or subconsciously. What message are those around you hearing?
Record your thoughts.
Please share your insights with all of us:) or you can go to the facebook group, "A Great Company" to see the fb comments. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=233014019961
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
1 “The sayings of King Lemuel contain this message, which his mother taught him.”
Recently I facilitated a ladies’ Bible study on Proverbs 31. I asked them to use some of their own reference material to research this verse to determine the identity of King Lemuel and his mother. We were rather surprised to find that many references cited Solomon and his mother, Bathsheba as the characters referred to in this verse. We were surprised as to the reason we were surprised! We found preconceived prejudices about Bathsheba existed because of her affair with King David. (You can read about this incident in 2 Samuel 11.) Even though David was the king, and holds the responsibility for this action, some commentaries suggest Bathsheba would have known the king was at home in his palace while all the other men were at war. Her dwelling would have been in very close proximity (some say as close as 25 feet) to his since her husband, Uriah, was one of David’s mighty men.
Whether Bathsheba was an accomplice or a victim, the Holy Spirit has given her an influential platform in which to share her words of wisdom.
Why do you think it is difficult to imagine that God would have chosen Bathsheba to introduce this prominent chapter concerning the ideal virtuous woman?
Do you think there are things in your past that could keep God from using you?
Could God want to use you to encourage others in the very thing that could have destroyed you?
Like King Lemuel’s mother, we all are communicating a message, consciously or subconsciously. What message are those around you hearing?
Record your thoughts.
Please share your insights with all of us:) or you can go to the facebook group, "A Great Company" to see the fb comments. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=233014019961
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