Episode 2.12: A Look at Woman’s All
Episode 212: A Look at Woman’s All
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AudibleEpisode 212: A Look at Woman’s All
Join Angela as she brings Season 2 to a close by exploring the big picture for a woman who is a Woman of Valor.
Dig into verses like Ecclesiastes 12, 1 Timothy 2, 1 Peter 1-3, and 2 Peter 1 to see how much God has given you to accomplish what He set out for your benefit.
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Transcript
[00:00:00] Angela Legg: Welcome to the Diligent Woman podcast, where Christian women let go of their guilt and step out in confidence by bringing God into every part of the day, learning by examples in scripture, applying simple principles, and trusting the Lord with it all. I am Angela Legg of TheDiligentWoman. com, and I welcome you to growing grace and truth one step at a time.
[00:00:21] Let’s get started.
[00:00:23] Well, hello, and welcome back. Today we are doing our final episode of season two. We have spent the whole season Looking at a woman of valor is trying to define what it means to be that excellent, virtuous woman as described in Proverbs 31.
[00:00:44] We’ve done this from a different perspective than is normally taken, and we have explored single and married women to look for examples of what this woman looks like, you know, in the day to day living it out loud. [00:01:00] Because, as we’ve established, all the characteristics that this woman has in Proverbs 31, all women can have these characteristics.
[00:01:11] It’s not being married and having children that makes her a woman of valor. It’s how she handles herself in those relationships . And we have looked at, you know, just a handful of, there’s so many more examples in scripture that we could go to but we looked at women who achieved being a woman of valor in their singleness.
[00:01:34] We’ve seen women who failed in being a woman of valor when they were married or single that their relationships with others is not what made them that thing. Again, it was the choices they made and how they applied the fear of the Lord that they were living by, if they let it be a part of every decision that they made, or if it got clouded.
[00:01:57] by temptations of other things. [00:02:00] And we saw how not all women are always a perfect woman of valor, but that overall they could still be described as one. We see this primarily in Sarah. God calls her a holy woman and that it is good if we are to be daughters of Sarah and be like her.
[00:02:19] In ancient times, she was holy because of the way she had this meek and quiet spirit that was reflected in the way that she was honoring and submissive to her husband, that she recognized his authority, just like we all have different relationships that we have to recognize authority in. That it’s no different, her subjection to her husband, then the slave to his master, then the citizen to his government, to each one of us, to Christ.
[00:02:48] It’s the same submission. It’s a choice to recognize the authority where it is given, and where it belongs. And today, We are bringing all of [00:03:00] this together, and my hope and intention is that this will give you confidence as you go forward. Having looked at all of these examples, I hope you can see yourself in these women.
[00:03:15] See the hope that you have to achieve being called a woman of valor. And the thing that’s really amazing to me, and I think where this episode is going to end up, you know, you be the judge, is that it doesn’t matter if the husband and the children declare her to all people what a wonderful woman she is.
[00:03:40] That’s a blessing if they acknowledge and can see you for what God sees in you. But the real abundance is when God calls you these things. For Sarah to be a woman that God called, a holy woman, and that all other women will [00:04:00] be blessed. They will do well to be a daughter of Sarah. Oh, to have something like that said of you.
[00:04:08] That if all others were to imitate you the way you believe in the Lord, it would be good for them. That, my friend, is the true thing that we should be looking to achieve, is to have God see us that way. And the way for us to get there is to acknowledge how God does see us and what He knows our potential is, what we can accomplish if we do things The way he has described them.
[00:04:38] It’s pretty easy peasy, while at the same time being a daily work, a daily effort, a daily purpose and intention that we put our hearts into. It’s part of just what we have to do. But we do it because why would you do anything [00:05:00] different? You serve a God. He sacrificed his son, not only on this earth, but he sent him away from the glories of heaven.
[00:05:11] The son was willing to leave so he could take on the price of your sin. So he could be the sacrifice that you can’t be.
[00:05:22] Why would you do anything else than try to serve him and be pleasing to him? Because he has nothing but your best interest in mind. Let’s dive in to take a look at woman’s all, and I will freely admit this is from, you know, kind of from an idea to combat these ideas that the world tries to put out there that men have subjugated everything.
[00:05:51] Men have, you know, pushed women down and they have tried to control them. And I will say some have. But I’ll [00:06:00] say for the most part, as the world has gone on, if you go back and look through history, there were powerful, impactful, motivating women in every type of society that there have been. Lots of them.
[00:06:15] Women in their circumstances, within the realm, in their society, in the way in which they lived, they achieved great things. And most of them didn’t have to go out of their way to break the mold. They did it while in the mold of the way society functioned at the time. Even in scripture, if you go back through and you see how God talks about the women, you go through those times in Roman times, almost every city comes to that there were wise women who were those that were leaders in the cities.
[00:06:47] It was women and men who were leaders in the cities, who were the ones who either swayed people to not listen to the message or who were coming to the message. God includes both men and women. [00:07:00] with those labels. We see powerful women in Judah who are following Jesus, women of means, and who have men who are in positions of authority, and these women are following Jesus and supporting his efforts.
[00:07:13] They’re, you know, they’re using their money to help support the men while they do the preaching. Every woman has an ability in the place where she is to be of force, and that’s what it means to be a woman of valor. You have the ability from where you are, Esther had it. Being a slave in Persia, far from home, raised to worship God in a foreign country, and doing the best they can.
[00:07:43] From where she was, she took the opportunities in front of her and she did the right thing that she could do in the circumstances in which she was in. All of us can do that. Jael did what she could from where she was when it came to her door. [00:08:00] Literally. Abigail, and if it came to her door, they brought it to her and she met it.
[00:08:07] Right there. She didn’t bump it to anybody else, she just took it and she dealt with it. She dealt with what was within her sphere. She didn’t have to go take somebody else’s sphere and go jump into their hoop and go do their work. They did their own. And they made a huge impact on the world, and we need to not forget that.
[00:08:29] We all can make an impact, because the little ripples that come from the small things that seem small to you, teaching our children, being kind to those around us, those ripples expand out, and God will give the increase. This is not limited to men. It is for us as well, and this is where our lesson is going to take us today.
[00:08:54] So let’s jump in. All right, we’re going to start our [00:09:00] consideration. This is a look at woman’s all I hope that you can see that you’ve come to see that there is work that you can do, that God made Adam and Eve and said his creation was very good.
[00:09:17] And I want you to understand that there are aspects of womanhood that all of those come into play. for this complete effort that is your all for what you’re trying to achieve for God. It’s, it’s, just the magnitude is amazing. And if we go to Ecclesiastes chapter 12, We’re going to read verses 13 and 14.
[00:09:41] The conclusion, this is the conclusion to all of Solomon’s musings, all of his trying to figure out what makes the world tick and why you do anything. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. Everything you give your efforts to, what’s the point in working because you’re just going to die anyway. But he always comes back to [00:10:00] the point is God.
[00:10:02] The point is not the effort in your work. It’s what your work does towards God. And here in chapter 12 and verse 13, he says the conclusion when all has been heard is fear God and keep his commandments because this applies to every person, my friend, that’s you and me. It’s not just men. It’s not just leaders, every person, for God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil, it’s all going to stand before God.
[00:10:41] This is your all. This is what you are working towards is standing before the Lord and giving an account of the choices you have made. And the fact that you’re going to have access to the Lord, and he’s going to [00:11:00] care about your accounting, shows how much he cares about you. And he’s given hope that that can be done in a positive way, and he’s given you the tools that you need for it.
[00:11:14] So, and I think it’s fun to remember that if you go to the beginning of this chapter, again, you know, we talk a lot about which seasons we’re in. He starts out the chapter telling the youth to remember the Creator. Remember the Creator in the days of your youth. But he doesn’t leave it with just them. He also tells the older people in verses six through eight, he says, remember him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed.
[00:11:45] Then the dust will return to the earth as it was and the spirit will return to God who gave it. Vanity of vanity, says the preacher, all is vanity. He says, remember him, silver cord, the golden [00:12:00] bowl. These are the aspects of your life. These things are going to be broken one day. The picture that is your, is your body is going to be shattered and your life is going to leave you.
[00:12:13] So before old age happens to you, remember the Lord. Remember Him in your youth and remember Him in your old age. In all of your seasons, remember the Lord. Okay? You were created to bring glory to God. And as Act 17 reminds us,
[00:12:32] You reach out to him, grope him for that’s what he wants you to him and say, God, I want that. I be a part of you. I want the gift offer because the efforts you’ve gone on my behalf. You have loved me, and I want to love you and show you that I love you. That’s what God wants from you, [00:13:00] each and every one of you.
[00:13:03] Okay, so if we go over to 1st Timothy 2, we’ve talked a little bit when we were talking about Sarah and Sapphira, and some of these others, we’ve talked about this meek and quiet spirit. Right. Well, if we go over to first Timothy two, we get some more aspects of that. We get, that was how Peter described it, but then here’s how Paul describes this woman.
[00:13:28] He’s talking in this context, everything here is about teaching the brethren. He’s teaching Timothy how to teach the brethren, how to live the Christian life, telling them what they need to do. And he starts out in the chapter telling them they need to pray for all things they need to pray for Peace so that they can live out their life for the lord and they are to be one because there is one god and we’re to remember that And then he wants men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands.
[00:13:58] That means he wants their hands to [00:14:00] be holy, their lives to be holy without wrath and dissension. He doesn’t want them being angry and fighting and, and bitter. And then he says, likewise, in the same way, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing. modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works as is proper for women making a claim to godliness.
[00:14:28] Remember one of our characteristics for a woman of valor is a woman who fears the Lord. She is making a claim to godliness and it is supposed to be defined by her effort, by her good works, who she is inside. A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness, but I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man but to remain quiet.
[00:14:57] This quiet is not literally mouth shut. [00:15:00] It’s quiet in her mind. She’s not arguing with whoever is in charge. She’s still, she’s not sitting in the pew going, I could do that a whole lot better than he does. I know more than they do, because she’s quiet and she’s still, and that is the meek and quiet spirit that Peter describes.
[00:15:21] This is how she adorns herself with this attitude of not being. Wrath and dissension, just like the men are told not to have. You’re not being argumentative. You’re not at war with your fellow brethren because you have Christ, and this is reflected in clothes that show that you’re a woman who professes godliness, that you are a woman who is making a claim to being godly, and it’s reflected in your clothes.
[00:15:53] It’s in your choices that you make. I don’t think at all for one minute that it doesn’t mean that men need to be [00:16:00] modest. I think they do. God’s very clear about that throughout all the examples in the Old Testament. I know that everyone needs to be modest, but I think it goes without question that pertaining to women, that’s a hang up for men.
[00:16:13] And it’s, and that’s something that women have used often as an enticement is the way in which they’re dressed. And he’s saying that needs to not be your focus. The beauty you’re looking for needs to be an inward one, and it is defined by making a claim to godliness, which is going to be a woman who fears the Lord, a woman who has an obedient faith, okay?
[00:16:38] So if you continue in faith and love, in sanctity with self restraint, is what verse 15 says, is that this is how our preservation comes. Our preservation in Christ comes through. Giving an effort to faith and love and having self control. [00:17:00] You want to know how to be a woman of valor? You have some self control.
[00:17:05] You have some discernment to know where to make your choices.
[00:17:08] What do you choose to put on today, armor or your flashy clothes because you want attention because of your clothes, rather than bringing attention to the Lord.
[00:17:19] I take this and when I, when I talk about this, I understand this to mean that my clothes should not be a distraction. They’re a tool, they have a purpose to serve in protecting and covering my body, and they should not be a distraction. They should allow God to be seen, rather than putting me in front of other people.
[00:17:41] That my actions and my words are what reflect him, and my clothes don’t get in the way. Does that make sense? That I’m not making so much of a spectacle of myself that nobody even notices if I’m speaking truth or not. Because the only thing they can see is the outside because that’s where [00:18:00] I’ve put my focus.
[00:18:03] So take that back to first Peter three, and you tie these little things together. These attitudes of what it is that makes you beautiful in the eyes of God, makes you valuable to him, and it’s what you do that brings glory to him. Because guess what? The things that bring glory to the Lord are the things that are good for you.
[00:18:28] Everything that God has told you to do that’s for your benefit. That gives you a life full of blessings and salvation and hope of heaven. Every step of that is for your benefit, but it all brings glory to him. None of it is burdensome for you. None of it is too heavy to manage. And we go back over to first Peter three, where we’ve also mentioned this before, this wives likewise.[00:19:00]
[00:19:00] Well, let’s back that up because we, you know, we talk about the husband wife relationship, but as we’ve been saying all season, this is not just about. Wives. If you back up into 1 Peter 2, 1 Peter 2 11 says that honorable conduct,
[00:19:20] what’s that going to do? Is going to glorify God because of your good deeds, because keep your behavior excellent so that in the thing in which they slander you as evil doers, they may because of your good deeds as they observe them glorify God in the day of visitation. They won’t be able to help it.
[00:19:36] They’re going to call you out and make fun of you for it, but they’re actually glorifying God because you’re doing a good thing. So your honorable conduct, and this is the conduct that could win. A spouse to the truth, because you’re behaving yourself because you have self control. And in 1 Peter 2. 13, someone else is told to submit.
[00:19:56] He says, Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every [00:20:00] human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him, for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. That’s what government is supposed to do. It’s supposed to punish the evildoer and praise the people who do the right things.
[00:20:16] You know, governments get screwed up because they’re full of humans who don’t do all the right things, and some humans don’t care about doing what God wants, but that’s the role they’re supposed to play. Everyone is supposed to submit to the government. Same submission that applies to a wife, to her husband.
[00:20:35] Because that submission has an impact on the way that relationship works, and in most cases it betters the circumstance. And then you go down to verse 18, someone else is told to submit. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable.
[00:20:59] Being [00:21:00] submissive is your choice. It’s not forced on you. You choose to do it, and you don’t do it just because someone’s nice to you. He says, what, what credit is it if you’re nice to somebody who’s nice to you? So what? That doesn’t take any effort to be nice to somebody who’s nice to you. You be submissive and you respect them for who, what position they’ve been put in for who they are in relationship to you and you do that since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps.
[00:21:30] You do this because Christ suffered for you. Christ submitted to God and he allowed himself to go through difficult things for your benefit. In that way, Jesus submitted himself to your needs and we are to submit in the same way. Okay. And we are all called since Christ suffered and left an example. And that leads us to in the same way, [00:22:00] wives likewise submit to your husbands and it’s not finished there.
[00:22:05] It applies to husbands too. In verse seven, you husbands in the same way with an attitude of doing what is good for other people. Husbands live with your wives in an understanding way since she is a woman, show her honor as a fellow heir. He’s not left out. But I love verses eight through twelve, which sums it all up, literally says to sum all of it up.
[00:22:30] All of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit, not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. Ladies, that’s you. This sums up the whole context of part of one, all of chapter two, and this first part of chapter three.
[00:22:58] This is the point. [00:23:00] Everybody behaves this way. This is what submission looks like. Seeking to be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind hearted, and humble. Not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead. This is how submission works. This is how a woman of valor is defined.
[00:23:21] Because remember, Sarah This is holy woman who adorned herself by being submissive to her husband and calling him Lord, which was a reflection of that inside gentle and quiet spirit. You can do that choosing today how you will behave towards those who are in authority over you. Okay. And all of that comes back to the impact that you might have the context.
[00:23:49] She specifically might have an impact on her husband. That’s not limited though. You might impact a coworker, your friend, a neighbor. You never know what impact you [00:24:00] might leave with a stranger because you were able to regard yourself not more highly than you ought and to put others needs above your own.
[00:24:12] Okay? I love 2 Peter 1, 5 9. If you want, I like to call this a recipe for a godly life, a recipe for being a woman of valor or a man of valor, and in these verses you have all of these things that need to build on each other. This is the work for you to do. This is things, these are all the things that apply to every one of us.
[00:24:45] There is no married woman that has these obligations that a single woman doesn’t have. It’s just the circumstances in which they’re going to play out. You have at your fingertips the [00:25:00] power of God through this access that we have through obedient faith. Reading verses 5 through 9 of 2 Peter 1, now for this very reason also, which goes back, why do we do this?
[00:25:15] Because of that he has granted his precious and magnificent promises that you may become partakers of the divine nature. So this is the reason. This is why you’re going to do this. Because of that. Applying all diligence in your faith supply moral excellence, and I’m going to insert here moral excellence can be as often translated as valor, and in the New Testament in the Greek usage of that, it’s a military term, and it is what a soldier does in the face of battle to have valor or moral excellence as you step into the fight that you can see coming.
[00:25:59] [00:26:00] It’s moral courage, if you want to put it that way. Which goes right along with that mighty man of valor, or woman of valor from the Old Testament. Woman who is a force to keep moving forward despite what’s in front of you. Because God is the power behind you. Okay, keep reading. And in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self control, There’s that meek part, and in your self control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness.
[00:26:35] You’re a woman who professes godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, there’s the words of kindness on your lips, and in your brotherly kindness, love, you’re going to care for others, you’re going to be responsible, for if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:26:58] My friend, you have work to do, [00:27:00] because God has called you and made you, and he’s given you stuff to do to be busy. And if you want to know how to be a woman, a woman of valor, you start that list and you work on those things from day to day, giving your love to the Lord by letting these things pour out of you and growing in his truth.
[00:27:18] So you can do those things. It says, for if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless. Who wants to be useless? I don’t. I want to be valuable to God, nor unfruitful. I want to be fruitful. I want the fruit of repentance to come from me. I want to reflect that, and I want to bear the fruit of the spirit towards other people.
[00:27:43] In the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, for he who lacks these qualities is blind, or short sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. You are washed, and if you can’t live out these things for the Lord, because he has washed you [00:28:00] clean, You have forgotten the beauty and the awe that should be there that that was even possible for you.
[00:28:05] A mighty woman of valor who fears the lord is no longer ashamed because she’s been washed and we’re going to remember and make these qualities ours and increasing because we don’t want to be blind and short sighted. We’re going to be like Abigail who can see the problem and can know what to do about it.
[00:28:31] We know how to answer it, therefore, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing you. For as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble. For in this way, the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.
[00:28:51] It is this way, living God’s will in your life because of the gift you’ve been given, because of having accepted that in obedient faith, [00:29:00] and putting on Christ.
[00:29:02] Your joy is overflowing and you have, you’re making a claim to godliness out of a rightness. You have a right to claim godliness because God has shown you how to access it. And my friend, this is how a woman of valor is made and every single one of us can do this. Because we have the armor of God who is helping us to do this.
[00:29:29] It is His power, His word, and it will get past all of our weaknesses if we give them up.
[00:29:35] You can be a mighty woman of valor for the Lord, and you can protect the keep, protect the home and the heart of all of those you come in contact with, and you can do them good all the days of your life so that they can trust you and see in you the faithfulness that is in God, so that you reflect God to them.
[00:29:58] That no longer it’s not you, it’s [00:30:00] they are seeing the Lord because you are showing them His way. This is something that you can do. It is possible, and you were made for it.
[00:30:12] If you go over to Titus 2,
[00:30:15] we’re told how this gets played out again through the seasons that we’re in. Not only are you given the capability of being this way, you are given the ability to teach others.
[00:30:32] He says in chapter 2 of Titus, to the older women, and again you have a likewise. He’s talking about, he’s talking about things that are fitting for sound doctrine. He’s already told the older men what to talk about, but he’s going to talk about the older women. And he says, older women are to be reverent in their behavior.
[00:30:51] That’s respecting authority, not malicious gossips, that’s having wisdom and kindness on their tongue, [00:31:00] not enslaved to much wine, that’s being responsible, teaching what is good to be sensed and so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, that’s a phileo kind of love, you know, to feel connected to them, to nurture them, to make this, this family spirit between you, to nurture that.
[00:31:24] Motivated by agape love, which is doing what’s in the best interest of everyone. So they’re going to encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children. They’re going to encourage them to be sensible, pure, workers from home, kind, being subject to their own husbands so that the word of God will not be dishonored.
[00:31:48] Is this not what the woman in Proverbs 31 does? And again, being a worker for at home doesn’t mean never leaving it. It’s that the home is her focus. And as you see over in 1st Timothy [00:32:00] 5, when they don’t have responsibilities and they don’t have a home like a young widow, they get too busy being busybodies and gossips and they fail at being good for other people.
[00:32:13] And Paul tells them the answer for that is you need to get married, you need to have kids, and you need to focus your energy that’s benefiting other people so you’re not tempted by the devil. You don’t make a way for the devil to get into your life because you’re not busy. Get busy. Well, take the same admonition if you’re single and if it’s not get married and have kids and you’re not there yet, get busy.
[00:32:37] You find things to do that fill all of these things. Learn to teach what is good. Learn how to love other people. Learn how to be sensible and pure, knowing how to be in submission, all of these things so the word of God will not be dishonored when people talk about you. That is a woman of [00:33:00] valor. All of these characteristics, it’s all doable.
[00:33:04] Because over and over and over in scripture, it is spoken of as just something that can be done. That woman in Proverbs 31 who has been made to seem so high and hard to achieve and can’t be met, that’s been Satan talking, trying to get you to quit trying. Because you go anywhere else in scripture, you look at any other woman, you look at all the characteristics that God teaches for Christians in general, that means everybody, not just men, not just you, all of them are that woman in Proverbs 31, that Satan has made her hard.
[00:33:46] She’s not hard. She is an example of what can be if you will but submit to the Lord. And if you have already done that and you are a woman who fears the Lord, you are doing that. You [00:34:00] are that woman. It is possible, yes, to be a woman is a hard job. Remember what we learned in 1 Corinthians 7, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7, 32 35, that being unmarried and focusing on obeying the Lord is concern enough, and it’s a blessing to be able to focus only on serving him.
[00:34:21] Don’t be upset about it, don’t be ashamed of that. Be thankful that you only have to worry about you, be thankful that you don’t, that right now that that’s all you have to worry about if, you know, and when times come. Don’t make it where that’s a small thing. You still have power and value to the Lord.
[00:34:43] Being married is a good thing as well, but it forces one to care about worldly things in addition to spiritual things. The glorious thing is that God has given each of us what we need to get through it all. That goes back to 2 Peter 1, go up to verse 3. He’s [00:35:00] given you everything for life and godliness.
[00:35:05] And I would put forth that that life is life here and life in him and godliness is how you get both. He’s given you what you need. He’s even created a relationship for you to have a natural teacher of these things, your mother and the older women in your life. Don’t scorn their knowledge and their ways of doing things.
[00:35:28] Learn from them. Trust them. Find the ones who care about you and want to nurture you as a young woman, as a woman who has young children, whatever your season is in. Find a woman who’s been there and gone before you or a woman who is steeped in God’s word who can help you. God’s given you these. Use them.
[00:35:49] Use those resources, learn from them, and then, when you are the older woman, and guess what, that’s always relative, there is always someone younger than [00:36:00] you, that you could be passing something down to, teach to the younger women. This will create generations of people who will be seeking after the Lord, and it will create generations of women who are women of valor and are ready to be soldiers for the Lord.
[00:36:19] Not soldiers for the Lord in the way that the men do it, because men have their own thing. They have their own version of their responsibilities. They have to do all these things, the same list that you have, but they have to do it in the way that men do it. We do it in the way that God has shown us to do it because he has empowered us.
[00:36:40] He has built us to function in those ways. And wow, they’ve got enough to be going on with. I don’t need all of their stuff. I have enough responsibility in front of me with all these things that God has given to me. There’s so much here, so much [00:37:00] opportunity, so much scope for accessing that hope that we know is a reality.
[00:37:05] That’s why it’s hope.
[00:37:07] I truly, truly pray that you can walk away from this series of lessons with that confidence and certainty that God has made you to be a woman of valor, that excellent, virtuous woman who is, whose price is worth more than rubies. It’s in you. He’s shown you the way. He built you for this.
[00:37:35] It just takes you choosing to live that way and to accept it and to thank him for it and to see the freedom that comes in it because those are some decisions that are already made for you. What’s right or wrong in this situation? Well, what’s God say is right or wrong. Okay. I’m going to go with what God said.
[00:37:57] Done. It may be hard, but the [00:38:00] decision is made. And I’m not too sure how to make the decision about this, that, or the other. Well, does God show me how to be discerning and how to make wise choices and how to do the best that I know right now? And you’re still being a woman of valor and because you’re serving a merciful God, the days where you stumble and the days where it’s a hard thing and where you may not right make the right choices, he’s giving you a way of escape.
[00:38:27] He gives you a way to clear that so you don’t carry those burdens and you don’t carry the guilt. You keep trusting God. You trust Him with your heart, with your life, with your will, and you are a woman of valor. So I’m, I’m gonna go out on a limb and expect that most women who are coming to hear this, if you got up today, and you took care of your family, or you took care of your responsibilities, [00:39:00] you cleaned your home, you went to your job, you paid your bills, you checked on your neighbor, you took care of your elderly grandparent or your parents, You called on a loved one in the congregation.
[00:39:14] You prayed for someone today, you are already behaving as a woman ofor. You’re being the woman in Proverbs 31. It doesn’t happen when you achieve the next season in life. You’re being that right now.
[00:39:30] You have that within you. You have the capability and you’ve been doing it. But Satan has tried to tell you that it’s not enough, my friend. We need to remember that Satan is the father of lies. You need to listen to the great redeemer. And listen to what he has made you to be and then go out and be it.
[00:39:57] Okay, so my [00:40:00] prayer for you going forward and as we end this season, is that you are going to have abundance in all things, in, life and in health, but especially as your soul prospers, as you seek him out in his grace and his truth, and you’re looking for knowledge and wisdom, going to the source where all things should be, should be running from.
[00:40:23] It all comes down to a God who loved you and loves you every day going forward. And has done so many things to create this so that you can be what you were made to be, the way that you are, that your personality, your energy, your gifts can shine to people around you and you can be a force. So go out and be a force.
[00:40:50] And I look forward, Lord willing, to see you in the next season. Bye.
[00:40:56] Thanks for joining me today on the Diligent Woman podcast. Please [00:41:00] subscribe to be notified of new episodes, and share those with your friends. Until next time, enjoy!
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