The Blessing of an Excellent Wife* - 2

As usual, all the emphasis or comments in Purple font are mine.


“Few influences affect a man’s heart for God more than his wife, for better or for worse.”


Her Sacrifice
Third, this diligent woman gives generously to “the poor” and “the needy” (v. 20). As “the snow” approaches, she also gives to her family. She has planned ahead, making “scarlet” garments (v. 21) for her household. She spares no effort or cost in providing the best she can. After providing for others, this industrious wife makes “bed coverings” and clothes “for herself” with “fine linen and purple” (v. 22). Her ability to give expensive garments is clear evidence of God’s favor upon her labors.


Her Savvy
Fourth, her many virtues enhance her husband’s position in “the gates” (v. 23), where city leaders meet. With keen savvy, this excellent wife “makes,” “sells” and “delivers” (v. 24) her goods. Despite being very competent, she does not compete with her husband’s leadership, but undergirds it by her humble submission—and everyone knows it.


Her Strength
Fifth, this treasured wife looks to the future with inner “strength” and “dignity” (v. 25). Though she anticipates many challenges, she nevertheless “laughs” (v. 25) with positive confidence in the Lord’s providential care. She is expectant that heaven’s supply will meet her family’s every need. As people seek her counsel, she speaks words of “wisdom” and “kindness” (v. 26) to them. Though busy outside the home, she does not neglect “her household” (v. 27).


Her Supremacy
Sixth, she is such a fine mother that as her children observe her excellence, they “call her blessed” (v. 28). Her husband sees her character traits in parenting and “praises her.” He boasts that among women, “[she] surpass[es] them all” (v. 29). In his eyes, there are none who can legitimately claim to be her equal.


Her Spirituality
Seventh, this woman’s true greatness is her spiritual devotion. She “fears the Lord” (v. 30). “Charm” and “beauty” alone are “deceitful” and “vain.” Her real attraction to him is her reverence for God. Even the city leaders “praise her” in the “gates” (v. 31), recognizing the integrity of her life. Her husband prizes her fidelity and industry. He is the most blessed of men.


Is it any wonder that her husband trusts her? The reality of God in her life makes her worthy of his full confidence. By every estimate, she is “the crown of her husband” (12:4). Only God can provide such an excellent helpmate.


Has the Lord given you such an excellent wife? Do you see how she is specifically suited for you? Do you recognize how she has increased your effectiveness for the Lord? Then give thanks to God for such a woman in whom your heart trusts.


Oh wow! I'm actually humbled that my husband sent this to me. I've also identified areas for improvement for sure - hence my response was:

May God help me meet and surpass these 7 Ss. I also pray the same prayer for you, my sister.

AMEN!

Source:
* http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/284004-blessing-excellent-wife-steven-lawson.html

The Blessing of an Excellent Wife*

You won't believe who or when I received this email...here's a snip for a hint:

Because of his wife...

This topic dropped in my heart after I overheard something similar in by way of a comment about a Pastor - or rather about his wife. As you'd expect, it got me thinking about what things my husband gains or loses "because of me" - his wife.

The Bible gives us examples or exhortations on what men gain or lose because of their wives. In fact, we have more than 1 example of men, leaders - actually kings - who lost their relationship with God "because of their wives."

1 Kings 21:25 - So Ahab sold himself out to do what the Lord says is evil. There is no one who did as much evil as Ahab and his wife Jezebel, who caused him to do these things. *

1 Kings 11:4 - When Solomon was old, his wives caused him to follow other gods, so he did not follow the Lord completely as his father David did.*

Then in Proverbs which was mainly written by Solomon, who missed it because of his wives, we read that:

The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, & he receives favor from the Lord.**

A worthy wife is her husband’s joy and crown; the other kind corrodes his strength and tears down everything he does. (Proverbs 12:4 - TLB)

Further in Proverbs, because of his wife, a husband - also known as the "Proverbs 31 Man" was described to another leader - a king - by his mother this way:

"Her husband is a well-known and respected leader in the city." (Proverbs 31:23 - CEV)

Proverbs 31: 11 shown below in different translations, explains why he was respected:

Her husband trusts her without reserve, and never has reason to regret it. (MSG)

The heart of her husband trusts in her confidently and relies on and believes in her securely,

so that he has no lack of [honest] gain or need of [dishonest] spoil. (AMPC)

The heart of her husband trusts in her [with secure confidence],
and he will have no lack of gain. (AMP)

Her husband depends on her, and she never lets him down. (CEV)

Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. (NLT)

Reading these I can't help but challenge myself to do what verse 12 says:

"She does good for her husband all her life. She never causes him trouble." (ERV)

 



The way I see it, as a wife, Mrs Pastor or not, it's always in your best interest to do good to and for your husband. When you do that, he will trust you and beyond that, you will be evidence that God is happy with your husband - and blessed him with you as Proverbs 18:22 reminds us

"If you find a wife, you have found something good.

She shows that the Lord is happy with you."*

And, if, or shall I say when a Pastor is happy, blessed and respected because of his wife, she will be happy, blessed and respected because of her husband...

References:
* ERV, emphasis mine

** Proverbs 18: 22

Ministry is not just the Father's Business... (2)

...it must be your "Family Business" too

Last week we started talking about Mrs Moses Amram* - and what we can learn from how involved she was or wasn't in the Ministry God committed to her husband.

Ministry is not just the Father's Business... (1)

...it must be your "Family Business" too.

Interestingly in the past week, I've been really blessed to have listened to 2 Webcasts - 1 Live - hosted by Mrs Lois Evans (@LoisEvans) and the second one was hosted by her daughter Chrystal (@ChrystalHurst). The topics covered - "Raising kids that don't hate the Ministry" and "Living the life you love" respectively - a good segue to this post.

I cannot explain how but in the past couple of days I've been thinking about Mrs Moses-Amram and her family. I'm sure you know who I'm talking about. What if I tell you her first name starts with a "Z"? Yes, Zipporah - you got it!

God-service...

...or Eye-service?

Serve your gift...

...and it will serve you in return.

A few weeks ago, my husband were talking about Joseph - that's where this topic came from.

We were talking about his experience in the prison and how he could have withheld his gift.

Let's read select verses in Genesis 40,
⁵ While they were in prison, Pharaoh’s cup-bearer and baker each had a dream one night, and each dream had its own meaning. ⁶ When Joseph saw them the next morning, he noticed that they both looked upset. ⁷ “Why do you look so worried today?” he asked them. ⁸ And they replied, “We both had dreams last night, but no one can tell us what they mean.” “Interpreting dreams is God’s business,” Joseph replied. “Go ahead and tell me your dreams.” (NLT)

Unsolicited he offered to help then i.e. serve his gift so the butler shared his dream - v. 9-11. After hearing it, Joseph could have withheld the interpretation for several reasons: 

- he could have doubted if he had the platform to interpret dreams since neither of his 2 dreams had been fulfilled (yet) or

- he could have been a "dog in a manger" knowing that in 3 days, he Joseph will still be in prison while one of them would be restored and the other destroyed 

...yet he proceeded to share the interpretation:

¹² “This is what the dream means,” Joseph said. “The three branches represent three days. ¹³ Within three days Pharaoh will lift you up and restore you to your position as his chief cup-bearer. ¹⁴ And please remember me and do me a favor when things go well for you. Mention me to Pharaoh, so he might let me out of this place. ¹⁵ For I was kidnapped from my homeland, the land of the Hebrews, and now I’m here in prison, but I did nothing to deserve it.” (NLT)

We know how this story ended in Genesis 41 after Pharaoh had 2 dreams no one could interpret, the butler caused God to remember Joseph. Joseph's gift of interpreting dreams would have been no use to him or to anyone else if he hadn't served it to others. It was only in serving his gift to others that he was served and promoted in a strange land. Daniel who was also in a strange land, was served then promoted by serving his gift.

God's expectation of us is clear:

Just as each one of you has received a special gift [a spiritual talent, an ability graciously given by God], employ it in serving one another as [is appropriate for] good stewards of God’s multi-faceted grace [faithfully using the diverse, varied gifts and abilities granted to Christians by God’s unmerited favor].*

So serve your gift...and it will definitely serve you in return.

* 1 Peter 4:10 - Amplified

Option 1 or...

..."1 Option"?

Strange question huh? Not too strange if you keep reading as I hope you will.

No questions?

Yes that was my questioning thought too when I read this passage:

Hold the applause...

Have you noticed how much - explicit and implicit - applause occurs in the church these days? Such as the current wave of using worldly methods to attract people to church - I've written about it* before and it's still really bugging me.

Decades ago I remember my pastor (Pastor T) saying,

"The church is becoming too worldly and the world is becoming churchy."

It's truly really sad what the world is becoming and even sadder what the church is becoming. Actually it's quite unbecoming which is why the question I keep asking myself and others about some of the things I see is: "With all this is God applauding us or is He appalled."

 

I can start off a list but I'm sure that you know some examples of situations that people applaud and God is saying "Hold the applause" since He's appalled with what we're doing or not doing.

In my opinion, the only thing worse than Salt (i.e. us) not coming out of the Salt-shaker** is Salt that is out if the Salt-shaker and its impact is not obvious…

 

Matthew 5:13 says “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.” (MSG)

God's expectation is that we are integrated with not isolated from the world we live in so we can influence them positively. The question is what are our churches imparting to our members...it's only with what is within them/us that we can make impact wherever we are.

Bottom-line: 

"Hold the applause", pause, ponder then proceed in the direction that pleases God.

 

References:

* http://mrs-pastor-and-pastor-mrs.blogspot.com/2015/11/its-no-playing-matter.html

http://mrs-pastor-and-pastor-mrs.blogspot.com/2013/07/how-salty-is-your-church.html