Chapter 1 - Questions

[JCsMomma]

Here are our discussion questions for this chapter:

1. Write a paragraph describing what you believe to be the role of the Christian woman.

2. Make a list of the priorities in your life. In other words, what activities and commitments do you have? What takes up your time?

3. Look up the following verses and write down what God's Word teaches us about priorities.
a. Matthew 6:25-33
b. Colossians 3:1-2
c. Romans 12:1
d. 1 John 2:15-17
e. 2 Peter 3:18
f. Galatians 6:10
g. Ephesians 5:15-16

4. Pray as you begin this study and ask God to:
-Teach You
-Show you if your priorities are biblical
-Give you a desire to make changes in your thinking
or actions that God desires for you to make
-Use this study in your life for His glory


*** OK ladies.. I know that we are all extremely busy, so I would recommend that we all take a bit of time each day this week to work on these questions and we can post them all week and discuss them. I will start chapter 2 on Monday the 8th.

[laura]

jcsmomma said:

Here are our discussion questions for this chapter:

1. Write a paragraph describing what you believe to be the role of the Christian woman.

First, thank you for taking the time to lead this study.

Based upon my limited knowledge of Scripture, I believe the role of the Christian woman is "seasonal, and multi-faceted".
As a young single woman, her first love and allegiance is to serve and love the Lord.
When she marries, she is to be a wife to one husband, till death do they part. She is to be under the authority / protection of her BELIEVING husband. She is to be a keeper of the home, helpmate to her husband.
When she has children, she is to train them up in the way they should go (per the Bible). Her "priorities" should be first to God, then to her husband, then to her children.....In this season of her life, I believe this is her full time ministry.
When her children are grown, and should she out live her husband and become a widow......she should return to full time ministry inside the Body. If she is not a widower, she should return to ministry inside the body as long as her husands needs are met first. This is where the circle of service meets. She is now the older woman teaching the younger woman.....

I am SO not this woman....yet. But I am wanting to be.....I completly understand why God has things set up like this.....it's to protect us. To keep us from harm. To keep us from hurting. He is so loving......to such unloveable people

[Mom2boys]

Laura started by posting her paragraph and I thought I would follow that .

What I believe to be God's role of the Christian woman

I believe that God calls us first to serve Him. When we are single we are to serve only Him. Then He brings us our mate (hopefully we allow Him to do the choosing) and we serve Him and then our husbands. Our children come after that with any outside ministry following after our children.

Our roles as wives and mothers would be to minister to our husbands first. Ministering to my husband simply means that I support him in his endeavors and make a happy comfortable home for him.

We are to guide our children in a Godly manner. Teach them what the Bible says about integrity and finishing something that is started. We are to show them how to solve conflict in a Godly manner and we are to model what a Godly home should be so that they will one day grow up to have one. If we don't show them, they will not know.

As a woman that is called to ministry, my responsibilities include training women to run Godly homes and be Godly wives. If I am not first doing my job at home, I will be walking in hypocrasy to teach it at church.

[Mom2boys]

2. Make a list of the priorities in your life. In other words, what activities and commitments do you have? What takes up your time?

I'm going to list them in order of priority
1. quiet time
2. time spent with dh. Mostly in the evenings just talking about our day.
3. quality time with the boys. It's few and far between right now, but I'm trying to find the balance here.
4. ministry- It is interfering less and less now that I have set up boundaries and have someone helping me .
5. Church- we're there a lot, but we are growing so much because of it.
6. Time with friends- There's not much left for this, but it's so important to me. It's my prayer that God will provide a way for me to have more of this.
7. Time for me- This is non - existent and I think I just realised something with it being last on my priority list.

[laura]

jcsmomma said:

2. Make a list of the priorities in your life. In other words, what activities and commitments do you have? What takes up your time?

I think I can answer this back wards!

*What takes up my time?"
Caring for my husband. Making sure that he is loved, and respected. Supporting him in all ways, and being his help mate......This includes having the home clean and neat 90% of the time / having meals prepared or if I am not going to be home for dinner, have everything laid out for my oldest to cook / not spending his last dime / keeping myself presentable too him / caring for the finances.....
Educating the children. I (by the Power of God) am in my 3rd year of home schooling the kids. I plan lessons / pick curriculum / teach + train with and without books.
Spending time with the Lord, in prayer / study / and conversation.
What I do for me??? When I have free time, or I will carve out small chunks of time.......I scrapbook. I am trying to preserve the past, for the future! I garden, and that's about it!!

**My activities / commitments**

I wait tables 2-4 nights a week. It's a part time short hours type of job, but it provides so much more than a little extra income!! It has given my husband time to be "daddy", daddy's way. It have given him a chance to build a strong relationship with the kids, without me "watch over" (you know, to make sure he's doing it right ha ha)....it has given him the freedom to make mistake, and to grow with the kids.

My son plays travel hockey, and it's expensive, so I work out at the race track in concessions a few weekends over the summer to raise the funds so he can play.

My commitment is to grow in the Lord, to role model this and to live this out in front of my family and friends so that they may see a "light on the hill".

***Priorities***

To grow in Christ. To raise godly children who will choose Jesus over the world. To strengthen my marriage. To become completely debt free, so that my kids will not have to financially care for us in our old age. To serve the Lord wholeheartedly.
(not necessarily in that order!)

[Mom2boys]

In Matthew 6:25- 33 , God tells us to worry about nothing BUT seeking His kingdom. I found it interesting that He even pointed out that the Pagans are the ones running around worrying about food and clothing. As Godly women, if we walk in the confidence that God has all of that in control , we will truly raise a generation that gives him those issues second nature.


Colossians 3:1-2 We are to set our eyes above instead of what is here on earth.

Romans 12:1 To me , this verse says that as Christians we are to die to our flesh and to conform to God's word while here on earth. We are to be humble and only desire to serve him. I have a long way to go.

1 John 2:15-17 Worldly things are temporary while heaven is forever.

2 Peter 3:18- Our main goal should be to grow in Christ

Galatians 6:10- We should help people especially our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Ephesians 5:15-16 We are to be careful that the decisions that we make and that the life that we live glorifies God and lines up with the word. There is a lot of pull from the world and we need to resist it.

These verses really convicted me. I have been a brat lately about my car. I drive a car that I really like, but it has not been running right lately. I have told my husband that I don't want it anymore and I want a new car. I told him I didn't want a used one, it had to be new. We are debt free and this would cause a debt for us. After doing this study, I have been convicted that cars really don't matter. The responsible thing to do is to fix the car that I have, which is a perfectly good car and focus on storing up my treasures in heaven. Thanks for doing this study. I am really getting a lot out of it.
Tina

[laura]

jcsmomma said:

3. Look up the following verses and write down what God's Word teaches us about priorities.
a. Matthew 6:25-33
b. Colossians 3:1-2
c. Romans 12:1

I will answer the first 3 today, then 2 tomorrow, and the final 2 Wednesday:

Matthew 6:35-33

The number one priority is to "Seek FIRST His Kingdom AND His Righteousness".
We are not here on this earth to be up on the latest trends / newest lawn treatments / and the material likes. God knows what we need, and He provides what we NEED, not nessacarily what we "want".....
His Kingdom = Salvation
His Righteousness= How to conduct ourselves after Salvation.

Colossians 3:1-2

Set your minds on things above, Set your hearts on things above.........NOT on the things of earth

Matthew 22:37-40
37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

All our minds, and all our hearts are to set on Him. The things of this earth will be burned up in fire. They are not worth wasting our time chasing!!

Romans 12:1
Offer yourselves as a living sacrafice, considering what God has done for you!
Thusia is Greek for sacrafice. It means the act of offering, giving back. The KJV calls it "your reasonable service".
When you consider what God has done for us, the Death of His Only Son for our sins, and the simplicity of the Gospel........it is reasonable to "offer ourselves" and "give back" to the Lord.


THIS IS AWESOME!!
I am looking in my NIV / KJV / Vines / and Strongs!!!

Laura

[Dandelion]

I am still a 'keeper at home in training', but here goes anyway.
First to love and serve the Lord. Second to love and do good to her husband (even though I have none, I need to keep myself pure for him, emotionally as well as physically, and prepare to be his wife one day. Prov. 31 -she does him good and not evil all the days of her life)
Third comes children and the home. Fourth would be parents (part. widows). (1 Tim. 5) Service in the church is next and then those outside of it

I believe that this fits for all women, though the activities will range according to need and time/service available. From Proverbs 31 and 1 Tim. 5 we should be busy with good works, children, lodge strangers, wash the saints' feet (hospitality), relieve the afflicted (nursing, health), work with wool, flax (useful crafts), willingly with her hands, food gathering/preparation, gardening, selling her merchandise (home business), candle making, helping the poor, making clothes.

[laura]

jcsmomma said:

3. Look up the following verses and write down what God's Word teaches us about priorities.
d. 1 John 2:15-17
e. 2 Peter 3:18

1 John 2:15-17
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.
17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

The first 3 words say it all.
Do Not Love: Agape is Greek for "love", the kind of Love God has towards His Only Son. Phileo is Greek for "love" the kind one has towards a friend, tender affection.
We, who are women of God, are to FIRST love the Lord, with all our heart, strenghth, minds and souls.

Do not love what is dead (the world and all that's in it).
Do not embrace the worlds ways, it's thoughts, it's ideas, it's views, it's methods, it's systems.
Abide in the Lord. Abide in Greek is Diameno, and means "to continue without interruption".

We are to remain in Him, trust in Him for all our needs.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18

14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God.

As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
17"Therefore come out from them
and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you."
18"I will be a Father to you,
and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."

I love how Scripture, points us to more Scipture.

2 Peter 3:18
18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

Grow= Auxano in Greek and used here it is talking about the growth of the individual believer. Not growing the church or the children, but your own personal growth.
I believe we as women of God should do this every day. It should be our goal to be a "light on the hill" for the lost.
Grace=Charis in Greek meaning "the spiritual state of those who have experanced the exersize of recieving Grace".
I believe we as women of God should never ever forget from the depths we have been saved, by His Grace alone, and not by anything we do or say......and that should humble us and help us to understand the depths of His Love.......So that when we become that "light on the hill" we can share the Love and Grace He extends to all who believe!!

Laura

[Dandelion]

At this stage in my life, most of my time is taken up with working in my parents home - looking after the animals that produce milk, meat, eggs and wool for us, using the produce to spin and knit clothing, make cheese, etc. Doing my share of meal preparation and other housework.
After this I usually find time to enjoy the computer and to read a good book

Matt. 6:25-33 - God first. Thought life is important. While it is good for me to be content and busy in the place where God put me, and while only a small amount of my time is put into Bible reading each day, He should still the most important thing. To show this attitdue - trust Him, do not worry about physical things, but thank Him for everything and think on the Word/pray while busy with the days work. 'Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God'. (1 Cor. 10:31)

[laura]

jcsmomma said:

Here are our discussion questions for this chapter:

f. Galatians 6:10
g. Ephesians 5:15-16

Galatians 6:10
10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.(NIV)

I like the pause, "as we have opportunity".
Opportunity in Greek is Kairos, which means "a fixed and definate period / a time / a season.
I believe that this little pause "as we have opportunity" gives us the permission NOT to sign up for every little thing at church and obligate ourselves to the hilt, in the "Name of God".

Good in Greek is Kalos which means "take thought for things honorable".

Based on Scripture I beleive that our first service to God is to care for the husband, and children and the home. In doing so, we are in our full time ministry. Then, "as we have opportuinity" we are to serve those in the Body of Christ. Be that having a Bible study in our homes. Visiting shut ins with our children. Things of this nature. AND THEN, we reach out to the lost.
I firmly believe that the lost cannot be lurred into a relationship with Jesus, by using worldly methods. I think if we lived out our biblical responsibilities in front of the world, they will take note.......and be drawn to the "light".

Ephesians 5:15-16

15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.(NIV)

15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.(KJV)

I found the word circumspectly in Greek means "careful / diligent" (akribos)
That goes back to my last statement. If we live out our Biblical calling......we will draw people to the Lord, simply because we live in Victory, and when we are in our guidelines set by the Lord, we live in Joy!! People are drawn to that.
No one it drawn to a ___ leader who is running around like a chicken with her head cut off. No one is wishing to themselves "gee, I would love to look frazzled all the time, be snippy with my words, and never be at home".
Same goes with the over obligated Christian!
She may be signing up for Nursery / VBS / Bible Study group / Woman committee / Inner city missions / and work part time at the church as the secratary........
But she is just as fried as the "worldly" woman.
The only difference is what they give all of their time too.

When we are under the umbrella God has set up for us, we live in Peace, and with deep Joy.
That, is what attracted me to the Gospel.
The girl radiated with Joy. She was so soothing to be around because she was SO at Peace.
I knew, whatever she had going on......I had to have some too!!!
And she was 5 years younger than me!!


I believe this passage also tells us.......be ready for trials! The days are evil, and in Greek that is poneros which means "toilsome / painful". Our light shines it's brightest when we come thru trials in the strength of Jesus Christ........We look SO different than the world.

James 1:2-8
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord;
8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.(NIV)

1 Peter 1:6-7
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
7 These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
(NIV)

6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
(KJV)

[JCsMomma]

Ladies,
I have to tell you that I am awed and inspired by what you are sharing on this board regarding this study. The Lord has really begun a great work in my heart as well regarding my place as a Christian woman. To be honest, I never really gave it much thought. I get all wrapped up in what I am going through and my children also that I never really thought that I could be making an impact on other women along the way.
I am excited to see what lies ahead for us!