This coming Wednesday night I will teach my very first lesson at Central Baptist Church. I will be teaching through the first two chapters of Jeremiah. Right there in that very first chapter of Jeremiah is a jewel of a verse…

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
And before you were born I consecrated you;
I have appointed you…

Jeremiah 1:5

Jeremiah was appointed a prophet to the nations. This was what God had created him for and called him to do. Later in the second chapter God tells him something pretty important…

Now behold, I have made you today as a fortified city and as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land, to the kings of Judah, to its princes, to its priests and to the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 2:18-19

God encouraged Jeremiah. He made sure that he knew that God had made him as a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of bronze. Jeremiah needed to know this because the attack was going to come. Jeremiah would have to learn to trust in the midst of fear.

Let me ask you… do you turn to trust when fear sends its blazing arrows your way?

I can honestly tell you right now that I am experiencing fear. I am staring fear right in the face and I feel it circling around my head like those devil birds that I cringe at every time I come up on one chowing down on its latest road kill cuisine. I feel it tightening my chest and I feel it trying to suck what little calm I manage to maintain right out of me. Yet… somehow by the grace of God I am still able to trust in the midst of fear.

I trust because He said He is with me… and I believe Him.

I trust because He said He never gives a snake when his children ask for a fish… and I believe Him.

I trust because He said I could… and I believe Him.

I am trying so hard not to be angry… trying so hard not to be angry at the God I love so deeply and trying so hard not to be angry at those who have wounded me and those I love… holding your tongue is hard… holding your fingers at the wide open gate of a keyboard is even harder.

I keep mulling over Jeremiah 1:5 and the word appointed. Jeremiah was appointed for a specific task for a specific time to a specific people. The word appointed in the Hebrew is nathan and it means to give, set, put. God gave Jeremiah to this time, to these people. He set his course. He put him in his purpose. Does God do that for us? Are the words of Jeremiah 1:5 for all of us? 

You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.

John 15:16

There it is… right there in the New Testament… Jesus speaking to His disciples… the word appointed. They, we, appointed to go and bear fruit.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Ephesians 2:10

The word appointed is not there in Ephesians, but it is clear that beforehand, before we knew Christ, God already had good works planned for us to walk in. We are His workmanship. Before we were born again in Him, before we were in the process of being conformed into His image… God appointed to us, gave us, set before us, our own course.

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us

Hebrews 12:1

At first reading this verse in Hebrews sounds like it could be referring to a group, possibly to the church as a whole, but when we look at the original Greek what we see is that the word used for “us” in this verse is NOT plural… it’s singular. This verse could be read like this…

Therefore, since I have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding me, let me also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles me, and let me run with endurance the race that is set before me.

I have a race.

You have a race.

My Daddy has a race.

My Father-in-Law has a race.

My Sister-in-Law has a race.

For some reason beyond what I can see and understand in this life cancer has become a part of their race.

I DON’T LIKE IT.

Yet it is. It is and I know that in no way could it be apart from God allowing it to be… and here is where the tug of war of trust and fear collide. Here is where Jeremiah stood as a fortified city against all of the land. Standing in the face of great attack yet standing still. Standing seeing those he loved hurting and knowing beyond a shadow of any doubt that the God of everlasting lovingkindness could stop it all. Could stop the attacks against himself. Could stop the attacks against the city. Could stop the spinning of the earth and the flow of the exact amount of trade between oxygen and carbon dioxide that allowed all of creation to even exist.

But He didn’t… because He had a plan. He had a plan for Jeremiah. He had a plan for Jerusalem. He had a plan for not just the salvation of Jeremiah and Jerusalem, but for the world… and that plan is not yet complete… so we who believe step in and we grab the baton for our leg of the race.

God has a plan for us. 

The Lord of hosts has sworn saying, “Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand,…”

Isaiah 14:24

It is this plan and the knowledge of this set race that keeps me trusting in the midst of fear. This and the fact that God is greater than cancer. Cancer cannot defeat Christ. Cancer does not decide when your race is over. God does.

My head knows this even when my heart falls apart.

How thankful I am that God is greater than our hearts.

 

I am stepping back in to the world of leading a Precept Bible study. Tonight we will begin a study on the book of Jeremiah with an introductory lesson. Last night I dreamed that I was lost in a crowd and I could not find my room. I walked and walked carrying all my stuff, my backpack, my study book, and my handy dandy white dry erase board but I was just walking in circles. I walked until the pain in my legs became so great I knew I would never make it. I was in a silent-in-my-head panic because I knew that by the time I got there everyone would have thought I was not coming and they would have left and joined another class or no class at all.

Here’s the thing…

I kept seeing familiar faces and strangers and I would ask them for directions. I would ask them how I could get to my room from where I was presently at and every one of them… EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM… smiled at me and welcomed me and they POINTED me in the direction I needed to go.

However…

Not one… NOT ONE… was willing to stop what they were doing and take the time to walk with me. Not one was willing to lay aside there own agenda and make sure I got there. Not one offered to take some of the burden out of my hands or off of shoulders and go the distance with me. Last night I walked alone.

In the church… I walked alone.

No one was mean.

No one was snotty.

No one was self-righteous.

No one was condescending.

No one ignored me.

Yet, no one would walk with me and help me to carry my burden. I walked alone.

Bear one another’s burdens,

and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

Galatians 6:2

I woke up this morning exhausted. The fear of being lost, burdened, and in pain still fresh in my mind. As I began to analyze my dream, because dreams I remember aways come from somewhere, I realized that part of that dream was my nerves and concern that no one is going to show up to be a part of the Bible study I will be leading… but the other part came from the fact… not fear… the proven fact… that so many of us in the church are not as mean, hypocritical, and condemning as so many post on social media… but we are unwilling to actually walk with someone and help them carry their burdens.

We will point them in the right direction all day long, we will gladly hand them the map, we will encourage them and pat them on the back, but we are too busy and too concerned with our own “missions” that we simply do not even see the need to walk with this person. We will smile and wave and watch them walk off… alone.

What if they can’t understand the map?

But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, “Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem toGaza.” (This is a desert road.) So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

Acts 8:26-31

God never intended for any of us to walk alone…

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”

Genesis 2:18

 

Although we who believe can be sure and secure that God never leaves us or forsakes us (Hebrews 13:5), He never leaves us to walk alone, He still chose the church (Matthew 16:18), each of us individually filled by HIM (Romans 12:5), to link arms and be joined together in the unity of the faith (Ephesians 4:13) to ensure that we do not do this justified redeemed life alone and He never intended for us to have to find the way to this justified redeemed life alone either…

I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

Malachi 3:1

***

“…as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

John 20:21

Jesus does not let us walk alone… maybe we shouldn’t let each other walk alone either. Maybe we need to stop and take the time to not just point out the right direction, but offer to grab hold of one end of their burden, just enough to make it bearable, and take them by the hand, and be willing to sacrifice our own agenda’s long enough to walk with them… at least part of the way.

And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 18:2-4

One night, Denise found herself sitting in a cabin with 10 girls immediately after the salvation message. She and the counselor smiled as questions came rapid-fire from the students. “How did Satan come to be?” “What is the Trinity?” “What happens when you die?” and “What does God say about the end of the world?” were among their many queries.

The campers hungered for Truth, and wanted help navigating the depths of the Word of God. Denise realized that if she couldn’t translate the academic theology into the language of an eight-year-old, then she didn’t really understand the truth!

~ DiscipleLand

After our PromiseLand Preschool Christmas program, one of the young mother’s came up and hugged me and said, “you most definitely have found your calling“. That is not the first time that I have had someone say that to me in relation to teaching small children.

I have always loved children.

I can’t remember a time when I was not lugging around someone else’s children Whether it was my baby cousins, someone’s child at the ball park, my nieces or nephews, someone’s child at church, children I was babysitting, or my own.

I remember once in high school when someone showed me a picture of Aaron Spelling’s house, (you know when the whole 90210 was a thing) and I remember looking at that picture and thinking and saying out loud, What a waste. All that house and money for so few people… I would have every bedroom filled with an adoptive child. 

Loving children comes naturally to me… it has nothing to do with being Spirit filled. After high school I was planning to get a degree in child development and /or psychology and open my own day care or become a counselor for children. Something in me desires for every child I have ever seen to know that they are loved and beautiful and special and wanted… I am the weirdo that will wave at your kids in the check out line and have a ten minute conversation with them in the Target isle about why they must have this particular pair of shoes because they sparkle… because they matter.

Children matter.

I don’t cringe when I see the parents with 5, 6, 7, plus kids… I dream of what it would be like to have a quiver that full. I don’t go into a panic with a room of 10 or more kids… I sit back and smile and watch them interact with one another and me and wonder what amazing plans the Lord has for each of them and what impact will each of them leave in this world.

When the Lord called me to Himself, and I FINALLY began to walk with Him, and I learned that He had gifted me to teach His Word… teaching His Word to “grown-ups” terrified me... and to this day it still does. It takes His Spirit in me to stand up in front of any grown person whether it be two or three of them or over a hundred. That’s my calling. That’s what I can only do if the Lord goes with me.

What my love for children has allowed God to do within me is to show me how to learn His Word and actually be able to break it down in a way that anyone from two years old to ninety-two years old can understand it. What Denise learned at camp God taught me through leading a third and fourth grade Sunday School class and from simply interacting with little ones my whole life.

If we can’t translate our academic theology into something that an eight year old can understand then all we can do is repeat big words and memorize doctrinal statements.

There’s gotta be more.

To truly grasp the Word of God and all the beauty it holds for our everyday life we have to be able to chew it.

Your words were found and I ate them,
And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart;
For I have been called by Your name,
O Lord God of hosts.

Jeremiah 15:16

Have you ever tried to swallow something without chewing it… simply because you didn’t like the taste? The texture of it being broken down in your mouth where you could experience all the little different aspects and flavors of it made you gag, and so you just choked it down without the discovery… and in the process you almost got strangled and choked as the massive size of the bite cut off your airway?

Yeh, well that’s what it is like to try and survive just off of academic theology without the understanding of how to break it down into bites small enough that a child could consume it without losing all its integrity.

Eating solid food (Hebrews 5:12-14) in a healthy way requires chewing… or it simply just will not come out right.

Eating solid food with a palate that can taste all the little delicious details in each bite requires time and practice… and cleansing the palate.

Would you join me for a tasting?

O taste and see that the Lord is good

Psalm 34:8

Tasting the Lord and seeing that He is good… If you only pick around at Him you will never experience the explosion of flavor that He is. If only pick around at Him and never try parts of Him that seem foreign and strange then your palate will never mature.

If you have ever had children then I can almost bet that you have experienced the spitting out of food before it has ever been chewed, or the snarled nose of refusal to even take a bite, the supper table showdown is a duel almost every parent will face.

Our youngest is still in the showdown stage… but our two older have passed it and their palates have matured because of it. Our youngest will spit and gag and even swallow things whole to keep from having to chew it… and her digestive system pays the consequences. On the contrary our older two will now try anything, and they will chew on it a while before they come to a conclusion on whether or not it is good and if they decide it is not, they have the ability to make a firm and educated reason why… it’s not based on simply its outward appearance.

If we want to mature in the Lord, we have to be willing to taste Him… all of Him… we have to be willing to take little bites of Him and chew on it. This is what studying the Bible through Precept does. It’s a supper table showdown. This January the table is set with the book of Jeremiah for me… would you like to join me supper?

 

Last week the words, “I hate Christmas“, were mumbled underneath my breathe as the weight of the season fell on my shoulders. The past two weeks I have lost count how many times my family has almost been killed in a car wreck. Just last night I almost had a head on collision with someone pulling out of the mall parking lot and choosing to skip their own two lanes and cruise straight on in to mine. Near misses. We live in a day of near misses…

After ten nights in a row of parties, programs, concerts, and church this girl was just flat out tired. I also was beginning to believe that the possibility of picking up any gifts for our family was not going to happen. I hit the internet and did as much as I could online before the sun rose and simply had to trust that when the boxes arrived that the correct gifts would be in them.

The rush of it all.

The distraction of it all.

So very distracted.

Distracted from what the whole purpose of the day is about… O Holy Night… Peace On Earth… Goodwill Toward Men…

This year I have so many loved ones who will be celebrating Christmas without a piece of their heart. In our own family we will be celebrating Christmas Eve in a rehab center with my Father-in-Law, who is now down to a frail 113 pounds. Then we will have to say good-bye to him and go on and continue without him… I simply am not so sure how this night will go for us all.

This season is so strange… we sing of the joy while inside we are cringing. We dread being in the presence of family that has not even bothered to call and check on us in tragedy, who has treated those we love unkindly, yet at the same time we know the importance of the bond so we suck it up and stick it out.

We wish that we could we just crawl under the covers and hide from the pain of facing another holiday without that laugh, without the smell of that meal that only they could cook just right…

This season, this thing we call Christmas… this thing that makes so many of us crazy, frustrated, rushed, and distracted… Yet at the same time this season brings us the hope of redemption. In the midst of its chaos it manages to still our hearts and bring us to our knees in worship.

Somehow God manages to bring us into the stillness.

That moment of the deep breathe as I sit in the presence of the twinkling lights of our tree that is covered with memories… when the house is quiet and I remember Him. It’s all about Him. Let us not nearly miss Him.

There has been so many things, so many times, this year that the Lord has simply whispered in my heart… I AM here.

I am beyond thankful for another Christmas with my family this side of eternity. By the grace of God and His mercy, we have been granted another season of greeting and gift giving.

I mumble “I hate Christmas” and He responds with, but “I love you.” Yes, Lord. I hear You. I do. And I love you too. You are here. In my crazy. In my chaos. In my hurt. In my heart. In the stillness.

You. Are Here.

Today is Thanksgiving. I have not participated in the thankful challenge this year, but the other day as I sat and watched my husband being prepped for a medical test, with his long-sleeve button up hanging on a hook behind me, sitting there in his denim jeans and white Hanes t-shirt, I was reminded once again why I am thankful for Hanes white t-shirts.

When I was a little girl one of my favorite things to sleep in was my Daddy’s Hanes white t-shirt. I did not want fancy pajama’s when it was time for bed I wanted to snuggle into my bed wearing my Daddy’s t-shirt. My Daddy is 6’4″, so as a little girl when I would put that Hanes t-shirt on, those short sleeves on my Daddy would come almost to my wrist and that t-shirt was almost long enough on me to cover my ankles. I was covered in the reminder that my Daddy was with me when I laid down to sleep.

When my husband and I got married, and I pulled our girls out of the tub, there were many times that they wanted to sleep in either my pajama’s or my husband’s t-shirt, and well guess what this Momma did? I wrapped them babies up in a fuzzy towel and we went to the master bedroom to get them their choice of the night… and I would tell them every time, “Guess what Mommy’s favorite thing to sleep in was when she was your age? Papaw Wayne’s plain old white t-shirt!”

Close to a year ago, I was upstairs in the master bedroom, aka Mommy and Daddy’s room, and I had the laundry dumped on the bed as I was folding away, I grabbed one of my husband’s Hanes white t-shirts to fold and I just stopped…

I stopped and I held it out in front of me and I was overwhelmed with thanksgiving. I flashed back to when I was a little girl wearing that Hanes white t-shirt of my Daddy’s. Wearing the shirt of the man who would make sure I had food on the table and a roof over my head. He would make sure I was warm when it was cold and cool when it was hot. He would make sure I made it to the doctor when I was sick and he would make sure those doctor bills were payed. He would make sure there were clothes on my back and shoes on my feet. He would make sure that I knew that if anyone tried to hurt me they would have to kill him first and if for some reason they hurt me when he was not there, he would kill them. He would be the reason I never feared the night and looked forward to the next day with no worry or care. Then, one day, he transferred all that responsibility to another man… to the man whose Hanes white t-shirt I was folding.

The man who wore this Hanes white t-shirt that I was now folding stepped in to fill many roles in my life. He stepped in to be the one who would make sure I had food on the table and a roof over my head. He would make sure I was warm when it was cold and cool when it was hot. He would make sure I made it to the doctor when I was sick and he would make sure those doctor bills were payed. He would make sure there were clothes on my back and shoes on my feet. He would make sure that I knew that if anyone tried to hurt me they would have to kill him first and if for some reason they hurt me when he was not there, he would kill them. He would be the reason I never feared the night and looked forward to the next day with no worry or care… and then he would also be the one who would commit to doing all those things for our children.

How on earth could I ever complain about being the one to fold those white Hanes t-shirt? I couldn’t. Folding that Hanes white t-shirt is an honor for me… it is a reminder to me that I am loved by three of the greatest men that God ever formed in the womb.

My Daddy…

My husband…

and my Jesus, because God used both my Daddy and my husband to bring me to my Jesus. As a matter of fact, I imagine that when Jesus comes riding in on His white horse to redeem and defend His bride and bring her home, that under that Armor of God there will be a Hanes white t-shirt 😉

There seems to be a growing trend for we women of the modern age… the trend of thinking we are more than we ought.

For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.

Romans 12:3 

That wonderful man of mine was up this morning and started a crock pot of green beans for Thanksgiving dinner and a load of jeans and then he sat down to watch a little TV and from my office, in the background, I heard this…

This seems to the perfect time for many women to “suffer” through the last few months of marriage, you know for the kids, because when the holidays are over, they are going to kick hubby to the curve… rarely because he is abusing them or the kids… usually it’s just because they are tired of having to actually live out the gospel. They are tired of having to extend grace and forgiveness and mercy seventy times seven times. If you follow my blog you know I am not being condescending… I have been that woman. However, by the grace of God and the desire to walk in obedience to Him and not my changing feelings I love my husband more today that I even imagined was possible… and I can’t even fathom how much more I will love him after fifteen more years of folding his t-shirts.

I LOVE folding that man’s Hanes white t-shirts.. but shhhhh don’t tell him that 😉

Normal?

What is normal?

I agree with the Momma in the movie clip above… our imagination of normal does not exist. Normal is a beautiful messy forgiveness wrapped ball of mercy dipped in grace with a bow of love on top!

That man of yours is a mystery… he comes with a story that is going to take you years to read… and the more you read beloved the more you will grow to love this man who chose you… and whom you chose back. And not to mention, that there is absolutely nothing that I find my husband more attractive in than his denim jeans and plain old Hanes white t-shirt!

Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying,“Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among them.”

Numbers 13:1-2

In the last post, Becoming a Woman of Encouragement and Influence (part 4), we looked at the second part of that beautiful verse in Isaiah that instructs us how to help others…

Encourage the exhausted,

and strengthen the feeble.

Isaiah 35:3

We have dug deeper into what it means to encourage and strengthen others. We have seen that we encourage from the front and we strengthen from the back. We have learned that we must encourage with conviction, to comfort, with passion, and we must do it in person. We have learned we must strengthen from behind, even from our failures, and with patience. We have been reminded that we live in a world where people are hurting, where people are falling, where people are discouraged, and weary. There is much rubbish around… and we have a choice to make.

We can listen to wisdom.

Or we can listen to folly.

We can speak wisdom.

Or we can speak folly.

Let’s rewind to the day that the children of Israel stood on the brink of the promise land. There they were. Two years have passed since the Lord brought them out of Egypt. In these two years they have faced many testings to prepare their hearts for the promise land. The Lord has revealed Himself in great judgements, in a pillar of fire, in a cloud of glory, in the thunder of His voice, in the presenting of His covenant. He has delivered them from Pharaoh, had mercy in their unfaithfulness, been patient with their grumblings, supplied their every need, defeated attacking enemies, He has been with them every step of the way. There have been ups and downs, squabbles and rebellion, shouts of anger and shouts of praise. Yet, here they stand staring in the face of the fulfilled promise of God.

The Lord tells Moses to send out spies, one from every tribe, every one a leader among them. Every. One. A. Leader. Among. Them. Theses were men of influence. These men were chosen because they had the ability to influence their tribe. Here’s the thing ladies… YOU ARE A WOMAN OF INFLUENCE.

There is a reason this quote is so popular. Whether or not you influence is not the question. The question is how are you influencing? We women have the ability to control the thermostat of the home and not just the home, but the place of business, and the church. Gossipy busy bodies in the church, in a place of business, or even in our homes cause as much havoc and destruction as false teachers.

Ladies, let us not be deceived into believing that what we do or say does not natter. It matters. We don’t have to have a platform or a stage to influence others for the kingdom of God. We are given the opportunity to give birth to and raise and train up future kingdom warriors.

Your mission might be one child.

Your mission might be a whole nation of children.

Both are equally important.

Several months ago my husband and I took our two youngest daughters to Helen Keller’s birthplace. We walked through the home and listened to the guide share about Helen and her trials and triumphs. She was a young girl who lost her sight, her hearing, her ability to communicate. She was lost in the prison of herself… until one woman showed up at her door, Anne Sullivan.

As we walked around the grounds of the property we stopped at a display where they were playing a recording of a speech that Helen made to the Lion’s Club. Anne Sullivan introduced Helen. As Helen walked up and touched Anne on the face, my husband turned around and looked at me and said, “Anne came to help Helen when she was twenty years old, Helen was her life’s work. She spent a lifetime focused on helping one person, and look what came from it.”

One woman who chose to invest her life in a child, one specific child.

Here these men were, sent out spies, all leaders expected to influence their tribe… all seeing the same thing. Yet, how different their perspectives were when they returned to report.

Ten of the twelve could not get past the circumstances. Ten of the twelve put the eyes of others on the greatness of the challenge before them. Ten of the twelve said no we can’t. Ten of the twelve influenced fear.

Two of the twelve saw past the circumstances because they knew their God. Two of the twelve tried to put the eyes of the others on the promises of their God. Two of the twelve said yes we can. Two of the twelve influenced faith.

There would be only two of the twelve that would take up resident in the promised land. The two that used their influence to encourage.

The world is attempting to do a very good job at convincing we women that raising our children is a waste of our time and ability. We shouldn’t have to make the choice to be the ones that encourage and influence our children. Let’s leave that up to the professionals… high quality educated people who know best… lets lower the compulsory age and lets lengthen the school days and hours of attendance. This will, after all help you to get back into what you were really called to do, and in turn it will build our economy… because that’s what is really important. The economy.

Ladies, you have no higher calling than to love the Lord your God and to love others as yourself, those others begin with our husband and our children, and then the other women that God has placed in your path. Older women are to encourage the younger how to love their husbands and how to love their children (Titus 2:3-5). I am not saying a woman shouldn’t work outside the home, but that career outside the home should never take priority over the calling within it… and we need to encourage one another and strengthen one another, and help each other keep our eyes off the rubbish and on our Refuge, so that it doesn’t.

• But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9)
• You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:13-16)

You are first to proclaim the excellencies of Him within the walls of your own home. You are first to be salt and light to your own house.

What if your life’s work is one?

Oh beloved then let it be so for the glory of the One!

Be a woman of encouragement and influence for the glory of the gospel and the glory of God.

Encourage the exhausted,

and strengthen the feeble.

Isaiah 35:3

In Becoming a Woman of Encouragement and Influence (part 3) we looked at who, when, why, and how we are to encourage. Today we will do the same for strengthen.

• How do we strengthen?
• When do we strengthen?
• Who do we strengthen?
• Why do we strengthen?

The first time the word strengthen is used in the NASB is in Deuteronomy 3:28

But charge Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him, for he shall go across at the head of this people, and he will give them as an inheritance the land which you will see.

The word strengthen in the Hebrew is amets and it means

• confirm, be courageous of good courage, steadfastly minded, strong, stronger, establish, fortify, harden,
• to be alert, physically (on foot) or mentally (in courage)

As I was continuing my word search study on this word “amets” I read this verse in the book of Nahum…

The one who scatters has come up against you. Man the fortress, watch the road; strengthen your back, summon all your strength.

Nahum 2:1

Something hit me when me I read this verse. What I saw was that we are to encourage from the front, but we are to strengthen from the back.

Just think of when we are teaching a child to walk. We grab hold of the hands of the child and walk behind them as they tightly grip our fingers. We support them as they learn to put one foot in front of the other, but once we know they can do it, we move to the front and call out to them to come to us as we encourage and cheer them on with every step. If they falter, if they hesitate, if they began to doubt, we are right there to snatch and seize and get them steady and moving again.

Encourage from the front and strengthen from the back, because when you know that you know that someone has your back… that in itself strengthens.

Strengthen from Behind

From that day on, half of my servants carried on the work while half of them held the spears, the shields, the bows and the breastplates; and the captains were behind the whole house of Judah.

Nehemiah 4:16

When we go back to the book of Nehemiah and the Scriptures that we poured over in part 2 of this series, let us remember the discouragement of the people. They could not move forward because they had no one strengthening them from behind and no one encouraging them from the front. They were stuck in the rut of their rubbish. The only words they could hear were the mockings of the nations around them. The people were paralyzed by their circumstances. They couldn’t even look up to remember their God. They were demoralized. They were caught in the trap of their false reality.

They needed someone to step into their false reality and wake them up and strengthen them. Nehemiah was that someone. Nehemiah could be that someone. Nehemiah could face whatever was in front of him, because he knew someone had his back. When Nehemiah first heard of what was going on in Jerusalem he too was discouraged and downcast, but when King Artaxerxes told Nehemiah to go and let him know that he had his full support. Nehemiah was able to walk into Jerusalem ready to encourage and strengthen others.

And now here in Jerusalem, once the people knew that someone had their back, once they knew that the captains were behind the whole house of Judah, the people got refocused, recharged, and were ready to work.

Ladies, who needs to know that you have their back? Does your husband need to know that you have his back? Do your children need to know that you have their back? What about in the ministry? What about at work? What about school?

If you are leader in a position of authority, do those serving under you know that you have their back?

Do you need to know that someone has your back?

Perhaps you are sitting here reading this and you feel stranded and alone. Perhaps it appears that no one who has your back. Oh precious one, never forget that God has you back!

You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.

Psalm 139:5

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At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

2 Timothy 4:16-18

The Greek word used for strengthened in 2 Timothy 4:17 is endunamoó and it means properly, to impart ability (make able); empowered, fill with power, strengthen, make strong.

When no one else is there, God is. If you know, that you know, that you know, that God has called you to the task, He is sufficient to empower you, to support you, to strengthen you. He is enough.

This word for strengthen is only used seven times in the New Testament. This strength can only come from God. Endunamoó is used in Act 9:22, Romans 4:20, Ephesians 6:10, Philippians 4:13, 1 Timothy 1:12, 2 Timothy 2:1, and the above verse 2 Timothy 4:17. Do you need strengthened beloved, take these verses and write them down, learn them, and cry out to the Lord with them.

Now let’s get back to woman to woman, to woman to husband, to woman to child, to woman to anyone you see that needs strengthened.

The first time the word strengthen is used in the New Testament in the NASB is in Luke 22:32. This word in the Greek is stérizó and this is the word for strengthen that relates to us strengthening one another. This is the word that relates to us pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.

It’s definition:

(from stēringks, “a support that fixes, plants down”; akin to hístēmi, “to stand,” having a duplication of the primitive Gk root/sta, “to make stand”)

• properly, set fast (fix); give support to secure (firmly establish); solidly plant (which eliminates vacillation).
• I fix firmly, direct myself towards, generally met: I buttress, prop, support; I strengthen, establish.

The first time this Greek word is used in the New Testament is in Luke 9:51, where it is translated as determined. In Luke 9:51 we see that even Jesus had to set His face toward what God called Him to do. This is where we have to step in faith in what we know. This is our responsibility, either within ourselves or to offer to others.

As we look at the context of the use of this word strengthen, in Luke 22:32 we learn we are to:

Strengthen from Failures

but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.

Luke 22:32

Peter is about to epically fail. He is about to deny Christ. He is about to turn his back on the one he just swore to defend to his own death. Jesus, in full knowledge of this failure, says “when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

In other words beloved, whether you are the one who failed or you see someone who has failed, God is not through with you or them. It doesn’t matter the failure, God can use it. God can also use you to strengthen others. Not even our worst mistakes, our most grotesque sin, our deepest pit is wasted by our Redeemer. He can and will redeem anything and anyone.

The last time this word for strengthen is used is in the book of Revelation…

I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God

Revelation 2:3

Beloved, where ever you are, what ever you have, if you have breathe in your body, God is not through with you. When you see that someone else, where ever they are, whatever they have done, if they have breathe in their body, God is not through with them yet. Strengthen what remains.

I don’t care how far you have strayed. I don’t care how far they have strayed. I don’t care what you have done. As long as there is light, there is life. Wake up. Rise from the dead. For you have been created and called for a purpose that is bigger than you.

Set your face. Direct yourself to the face of Christ. Put one foot in front of the other and never forget that if no one else is there to strengthen you from behind… God is.

Lastly we need to know that we are to

Strengthen from Patience

Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.

James 5:7-9

Be patient beloved. Be patient with yourself, and be patient with others. Stop griping and complaining because someone isn’t “getting it” or you are not “getting it”. I know the frustration that comes when you can clearly see the choices someone needs to make, but they don’t. I know the irritation and even fear that can come when you see someone you care about repeatedly turning down the wrong path even when you know that they know the narrow way. Be patient… and pray.

Someone may not be getting some where as quickly as you want them to, or even in the way that you think they should, but that doesn’t mean that God is not at work. Strengthen from patience. Love is patient (1 Corinthians 13:4).

So…

How do we strengthen?

• We strengthen with patience.

When do we strengthen?

• We strengthen anytime we see someone who needs it.

Who do we strengthen?

• We strengthen those who have failed, those who are failing, those who have fallen, those who are getting back up.

Why do we strengthen?

• We strengthen because we are at war.

In war there are wounds. There are times of victory and their are times of defeat. We all grow weary. We all need an Aaron and Hur to hold up our arms. We all need to know that someone has our back. The battle wages on beloved, but the God of angel armies is by our side. He goes before and behind. He is the One who strengthens and encourages. If we are to be imitators of Him, then we too are to be women who encourage and strengthen.

 

Becoming a Woman of Encouragement and Influence (wrapping it up)