A Woman After the Lord’s Own Heart

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a woman after the Lord's own heart, biblical womanhood, evolution, femininity, godly women, homemaking, immodesty, motherhood, post-modernism

This world calls us to so many things that seem exciting and many in the church today want to go right along for the ride. Ignoring God’s clear command, they justify their plans, twisting Scripture until it is no longer recognizable, and saddle up and go. When they come back from their voyage into modernity, they bring with them their mistaken beliefs, which they excitedly introduce to all as “a new twist on Scripture” or “a new way of looking at the Word of God” that will “help us relate to the world” or is “guaranteed to build up our numbers”.

We must bring that money in now, mustn’t we? Also, we simply must find a way to justify our sin….

Every now and then a deep thinker will come along, someone who desires to look deep into the Word of God, someone who sees that there is one truth there and they are determined to find it. Instead of applauding their goals and coming along side to help them, the church scoffs at their seriousness, shakes their heads at their determination and begins to explain just why “you are taking this too far, now”. The modern church has little room for those who would take God literally at His Word.

What is true of the church at large is just as true of its women. Typically women have taken the Word of God more seriously than the men have. You really wouldn’t know that by looking at the church today. Oh, the numbers of women who attend still usually outnumbers those of the men but the seriousness is no longer there. Popular beliefs, customs and ways are accepted without question among the ladies of the church. Immodesty is rampant, biblical womanhood is “old-fashioned”, laziness in the ways of the Lord is present and overwhelming and few seem to care. Those who do are immediately branded as overly zealous, told they are “going too far with this thing” and then all of the stops are pulled out to squelch their enthusiasm lest they “rock the boat”.

We will never understand our roles as wives and mothers until we understand God’s Word. We will never understand womanhood or manhood or the roles assigned to each, until we bury ourselves in the study of the Word. Yet, that seems to be the very thing that the church itself doesn’t want us to do.

That begs the question of “Why?” Why wouldn’t the church folks, if they really are the body of Christ (rather than a child of the devil), desire that all of their members bury themselves in the Word of the Lord? Why wouldn’t they desire that their people learn how to pray the way those who went before us did? Why wouldn’t they want to take God seriously in all ways? Unless one digs deep, one will never discover the answer. The trouble is that most of the church will never know the reasons because most of the church will never dig. Most are happy in their complacency.

Don’t be one of the statistics, sister. If you are reading this today, get in the Word and stay there until the Word gets into you and changes you. Get down on your face before God and pray until you learn how to break through in prayer by aligning your will to His. Do some study about higher criticism and evolution and how they have affected the church. Be willing to take the time and make the effort to dig deep and to discover the roots of the problems: discover the dangers of liberalism, modernism, feminism, Darwinism, post-modernism…and all of the other “isms” that have affected the church without the church even knowing it. Unearth the problems that occur when self is seated on the throne of God.

If you are a woman of God who actually takes the Word of God seriously, I applaud you. Don’t stop. Go forth… and dig… learn… pray… study… apply. Find out just what it is that the Lord has to say about being a woman of the Lord. What is your role…according to Him? What is it that you were born for? Discover just what it means to be God-focused, Christ-centered and led by the Holy Spirit. Find out, through your study, what it means to be “bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ”…and then get busy doing it.

We are to live to glorify God. If, instead we are busy glorifying and justifying ourselves, we become the problem instead of the solution. That has been the case for far too long. The church desperately needs those women who “go too far” and who are “far too serious about this thing” to keep on doing just what it is they don’t want you to do. The church needs women who think seriously about biblical womanhood. She needs women who will stand up for modesty, femininity, homemaking and motherhood. She needs women who will point other women to the cross and to the self-denying life waiting for us there. She needs women who are content being women and who have no desire to take on the roles of the men. She needs it desperately but since many in the church aren’t sheep but goats, she will also hate you for it. Stand up anyway, shoulder your cross anyway and go forth. Be one of the few who takes the Lord and His Word seriously. Give Him your all. Discover what it means to be a woman who loves the Lord with all of her heart, with all of her soul, with all of her strength, with all of her mind. Become one of the few women who truly makes a difference. Be sensitive to sin and concerned with holiness. Be a woman after the Lord’s own heart.

 

Womanhood: A High and Holy Calling by Anna Wood

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a man's place, a woman's place, adam and eve, biblical womanhood, what the Bible says about women, womanhood, worldliness

There is such emptiness in many women’s lives, a barrenness that speaks of losing their place, of misunderstanding their calling. Such barrenness is present even in many of our churches.

Christianity is not a cultural thing, bending to societies rules and blending in. It is the truth that sets people free. It is also the truth that sets women free. There is distinctiveness to manhood and womanhood and, understood, it is a beautiful thing.

Sadly this truth has been misrepresented, misinterpreted, misapplied for many decades.

Much more is black or white in Christianity than we have been led to believe; indeed, more than we want to believe. The truth of our identity as women, as well as the truth of all that is godly, has been twisted beyond recognition and then painted over and sold on the open market:“truth–mine, yours, theirs, ours; it’s all good: cheap.”

Long ago women stepped on board the “American Success ride”; because of that we lost ourselves. Amid the clamour, the sights and sounds, we lost our understanding of truth, of reality, of womanhood, of God. We invited our mothers, our daughters, our sisters to come join us. Spinning round and round on the dizzying ride, as kaleidoscope colors flash in our brains, our uneasy minds are, for a time, put to rest by the sheer beauty, the excitement, the fulfillment, the fun, of it all.

“It is so beautiful, it must be right.” Well, Adam and Eve thought so, too.

Seduced by the idea that God (and our husbands, society, our families) have withheld what is good from us, American women have plunged headlong into a boiling cauldron of excess: having more, we must have more yet. More success, more money, more beauty, more clothes, more excitement, more fulfilment, more, more, more….

As the character Sabrina in the movie of the same name said,“More isn’t always better. Sometimes it’s just more.”

Yet we strive on, content in our discontent. Something is missing but we don’t know it. If we can only do more, be more, then, one day we’ll find the elusive ‘it” that will, at last, bring our lives fulfilment. Our lives are exhausting, our hearts aching, our spirits empty, our prayers barren. Taking everything and focusing it on us only leads to emptiness. We’ve been lied to. Women have been gullible: refusing knowledge, we’ve believed the lie.

“What do I want? need? deserve? What is good for me?”

No talk of duty to parents, husband, children, the church, the lost. All that matters is me.

What happens when, in pursuit of me and what I want, I throw away everything that could have brought me true joy?

What happens when the maddening music stops and the rollercoaster ride of our lives comes to a screeching halt? When we look around us and realize that what had appeared so bright and shiny from our brief stop at the ascent now appears as it truly is: dull, tired, in need of new paint in order to continually keep up the façade?

What happens when the façade fades? When we look around us and all are strangers? When our husbands and children are walking away from us, indifferent to our pleas to come back and be with us for one more ride? A ride, we promise, that will somehow end differently…this time.

What happens when the lights go up and the show of our lives is over and we have nothing of true value to offer to God–what then?

We’ve lived the lie long enough. We’ve listened to the world even as we were drowning in nothingness.

There is a Way and most of us have missed it. The terrible price is the destruction of our lives, our families, our souls, our churches. Husbands dishonored and disrespected. Children not had or tossed aside. Our own femininity dried up like a rose in the desert. And us women: once secure in our cultural identities, now with nothing, no one, alone at last, reaping bountifully what we’ve sown so very, very well.

What now? What can we do when we’ve done all that we’ve been told to do and the result is nothing but carnage?

For so long we’ve interpreted our lives, our womanhood, by culture rather than by God’s Word. We must repent of lies told and believed. We must rise up, one woman at a time, and reclaim our calling, our womanly heritage, as women of the Word.

It isn’t easy. Most of what is right is not easy. But right is right even if everyone believes it is wrong. Just because our mothers believed it doesn’t make it true. Just because our pastors teach it, our denomination supports it, our culture demands it, doesn’t mean we have to blindly accept it.

Proverbs 14: 12, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

We can search out Truth.

A lie believed out of ignorance is still a lie believed. We must seek God’s Word in order to seek Truth–in this or anything else. What we want, if it differs from Truth, doesn’t matter. What our church, our pastor, our denomination “allows” or teaches about our place as women, if it isn’t centered in God’s Word, doesn’t matter. What our culture has to say about womanhood certainly doesn’t matter. Jesus is Lord and as such He is the supreme ruler of us–even if we ignore it or don’t know it. The Bible isn’t subject to our culture or to our whims. It doesn’t matter what we have always been taught, what has always been done, what anyone wants–if it’s wrong, it’s sin.

Men are called by God to be men and to fill the role that God Himself has laid out for them. Women, likewise, are called by Him to be women and to fill the role that God Himself has laid out for women.  A woman’s place is a high and glorious calling but we’ve forgotten that. We’ve bought the lies, swallowed the poison and forgotten our place. Our place was, once, much more beautiful and holy than it is now. Like Esau of old, we women have sold our birthright. There is joy in true womanhood, in being a woman under authority (both God and her husband’s). Women have been honored by God Almighty in so many, many ways. We prostitute ourselves when we demean ourselves and sell out our calling to fulfill that of a man’s. A man’s place is wondrous and full of glory but not when it is filled by a woman.

When we find Truth we have an obligation to embrace it, obey it, teach it so that others may know. To loudly proclaim part of God’s Word (the parts we like) while ignoring the parts that are uncomfortable, or that will get us laughed at, cause us pain, persecution or death, is to sin. We must honor God by seeking to understand the full counsel of God. Anything less is dishonesty. Anything less is disobedience and not Christianity at all.

A partial lie is still a lie. A partial truth propagated as the whole Truth is as good as a lie.

True biblical womanhood is beautiful. It is a privilege given to us by God Himself. It is a high and holy calling.

 

Power of Virtue

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Dannah Gresh on modesty, modesty, modesty for girls, virtue

A girl’s modesty is first noted by her external presentation, but if it’s not followed by the confidence of internal modesty, she still forfeits the power of her virtue. ~ Dannah Gresh

 

Autumnly Modest by Tia (via Talking Modesty with Tia)

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modest clothing, modesty, modesty for girls, old-fashioned, skimpy clothes

Hey girls, Tia here again with a message on dressing with modesty in Autumn.

So Autumn is here and because of that we’re more likely to see girls covering themselves somewhat better because it’s cooler outside. Cooler weather generally equals more clothes. It doesn’t, however, necessarily mean girls are more modest.

If a girl desires to show off her body it’s real easy for her to find a way to do so. It’s not hard at all to find clothing stores that sell immodest clothes. What’s difficult is to find one that sells truly modest clothing. Hhmm, I think I’ll write on how to find some modest clothes sometimes. Just not today. Today I want to discuss how to dress modest during cooler weather without looking frumpy.

A lot of girls dress in skimpy clothes because they think “Well, everyone else does it” or “It’s so old-fashioned to be modest” or “There’s no pretty clothes that are modest”. Some just simply want to show everything they’ve got because they don’t have self-esteem and they think this is one way that they can draw positive attention to themselves. So they dress in as little as possible in order to make themselves feel good about themselves. Only it’s not positive attention … to read in full, please go to my daughter’s blog at Autumnly Modest by Tia.

via Autumnly Modest by Tia.

New Blog on Modesty

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modesty blogs, modesty for girls

Hi ladies,

I just wanted to take a moment to let you know that there is a new modesty blog for younger ladies that you should check out. It is run by my middle daughter, Tatiana (or Tia as we call her). I supervise her efforts and offer her suggestions as she needs them. The name of the blog is Talking Modesty with Tia and it can be  found by clicking this link: http://talkingmodesty.wordpress.com/

If you get a chance to check it out, let her know what you think of it or if you have any suggestions. Tia is a young lady with a real heart for God and for biblical womanhood. She makes this Mama proud.

God bless you all,

Anna

When We Have No Discretion, What Comes Next?

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discretion, immodesty, modesty, Proverbs 11: 22

Proverbs 11: 22, Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without discretion.

Somewhere in our modern mindset, the word modesty has gotten a bad rep. Often confused with frumpiness, legalism and old-fashioned ways, modesty is considered a yesteryear word that has no proper place in our very new-fashioned, very tolerant society.

Turning a blind eye to what is good, pure and righteous in our ways and in our dress, we ignore the truth of where the road of tolerance ends. If one demands the ever expanding right to dress as one pleases, one day, the demands will take us where few want to go. What is the logical next step after wearing itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny bikinis to swim? Not wearing them to swim. Or, for those who don’t swim, what is the next step for those who wear itsy-bitsy nothings to town, to the doctor, to church? (Come on, you can answer this….). It will be wearing less and less and less, until…. Yeah, until.

It’s already legal for a woman to go completely topless in New York City.

Hhmmm. Maybe until is here already.

 

10 Modest Closet “Essentials” for Young Christian Ladies

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guidelines for modesty, modest clothing, modest essentials, modesty in dress

 

The Christian Woman and Dress by John Newton

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godliness in dress, John Newton on a godly woman's clothing

What Does Modesty Mean? by Elisabeth Elliot

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classic clothes, Elisabeth Elliot on modesty, immodesty, lewdness, modest apparel, modesty

What does modesty mean? Well, it means placing a low estimate on one’s own merits, not being forward or showing off. It means unpretentious. Modesty means to be free from undue familiarity, from indecency, from lewdness, pure in thought and conduct. Speaking of modest apparel, it means decent, seemly. The opposite of modesty is conceit, boldness, immodesty, brazenness, lewdness.

 

Let’s think first what immodesty says about us women before we talk about what its effects may be upon others. What are your Christian standards? Do you seek to be noticed, to make a splash when you come into a room? Or do you seek to be simple, humble, gentle and quiet in spirit and not wearing the very latest fashions nor looking frumpy by wearing something that’s way out of date. We do have to conform to a certain degree, but there’re always classic clothes. Those are the ones that I try to stick with because they last for many years. I have a suit now that I think is 17 years old and I just wore it about a week ago. I wear things, which are tailored and simple and classic.

 

But we’re talking about these low-cut dresses, sleeveless blouses, see-through blouses and the slit skirts. Does a man’s thought life have a problem? Well, of course. As both of these men recognized, it is their job to stop looking. Don’t look the women up and down. Don’t fall for the types who are dressing like prostitutes. But is it right for us women to be thoughtless in these areas? Is there an earnestness about pleasing the Lord? Have we taken His yoke? Are we learning from Him? Are we gentle and humble in heart? Are we walking worthy of the Lord, looking and acting and speaking differently from the Lord?

 

The Bible says that we’re supposed to shine as lights in the world. Christ lives in me. Does that make any visible differences? Will it correct my thinking? Do I pray that God will purify my desires? Prostitutes dress obviously, so as to draw attention. It’s their business, isn’t it? The last thing that a Christian woman is thinking of is being like a prostitute. But here is some very frank talk from two different men in two different places, and it’s not by any means the only letters that I’ve had from them. It is a very difficult and a very delicate question.

 

What would the Lord have you do? Look like a frump or look like the vanguard of the fashion magazines? Flashy or sober? Are you pregnant? Are you overweight? Do you try to dress in such a way as to minimize those things? Are you too old for short skirts? I see a lot of women as I travel around who I would certainly say are too old to be wearing those short skirts. And if you’re 16 years old, how short a skirt can you wear if you want to be responsible before God in the presence of young men?

 

Neat or messy? Wildly and deliberately messy? I see some hair-dos, which I think of as wildly and deliberately messy. Feminine? There are many ways of drawing attention to yourself without your once thinking about it. Think. Ask the Lord’s guidance. We older women must be willing to take the risk of making someone angry and speaking to her about the way she is dressing. We have to take responsibility. It is our fault that we have not been teaching younger women modesty.

 

All About the Lord by Anna Wood

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glorification, godliness, holiness, modesty, spiritual adultery

God Who is holy has called His people to be holy. Holiness means being set apart. Just as God is set apart from all creation, we must be set apart from the world. There are no shortcuts to holiness. Our whole life is to lived as unto Him. All that we do is to be done for Him. We aren’t given an option in this. We cannot say, “Oh, Lord, I’d like to keep back this part of my life just for me but, here, You can have every other part of it.” Rather we must be fully persuaded that our lives are to be lived for Him.

Romans 14: 8, “For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.”

Holiness is godliness lived out. Those who are godly will be different from those who aren’t. Godliness will show itself in separated living. This isn’t about legalism but about love for Christ. One way this can be expressed is through our manner of dress. Our clothing must speak of our hearts being hidden in God.

You should never wear anything that you would not want to be caught dead in. Seriously. When you dress in the mornings, think carefully about what you are putting on and what it says about you. A good way to judge the appropriateness of the outfit is this: is your outfit something you could be comfortable in if you were standing before Jesus? Whether you see Him or not, He’s there.

I Corinthians 6: 20 says, “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

The children of God are not in this world in order to be of the world. We are not here to give place to the flesh. The flesh must be crucified. You cannot give your spirit to God and reserve your body for yourself. We do not belong to ourselves, we belong to God. It is Him alone that we must please. To live to please the world is to commit spiritual adultery. 

Modesty begins in a heart that is set apart for the glorification of the Lord. A modest woman’s entire life will be about Him.  Her clothing choices will be no different.

Defining Modest Apparel

“Nakedness is shameful, but what constitutes being naked? Try this food for thought: Adam knew he had sinned and tried to cover himself with the loin covering of fig leaves, yet he still said he was naked – an assessment which God did not dispute (Gen. 3:7-11). There is obviously more to being naked than being without any clothing. Thayer says it is “scantily clad” and Arndt-Gingrich include “poorly dressed.” Take another look at what God made for man to wear in Gen. 3. Adam made a “loin covering” which God replaced with a “tunic.” Wilson and Gesenius define the word as generally covering from the shoulder to the knee. The priests where told to cover their thighs or they would be naked (Ex. 28:42) and the figure of shame in Isaiah 47:1-3 includes uncovering the thigh. Peter recognized that though he could fish in the relative privacy of his boat on the sea without outer garments, he reclothed himself before going ashore to meet the Lord. (Proving that you can swim just fine with some clothes on.) I have a very hard time dismissing these precedents when attempting to make a biblical definition of sufficient clothing.” – Laurie A. Moyer

Noah Webster on Modesty

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1828 Dictionary, noah webster, Noah Webster on modesty

“Modesty, as an act or series of acts, consists of humble, unobtrusive deportment, as opposed to extreme boldness, forwardness, arrogance, presumption, audacity, or impudence. . . . Unaffected modesty is the sweetest charm of female excellence, the richest gem in the diadem of their honor.”

~ Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language ~