A Woman's High Calling to Godliness : Study 1

A Woman's High Calling: 10 Essentials for Godly Living

Essential #1: Godliness

"The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness..."  Titus 2:3


"How are we to live our lives as women with a high calling? Our calling is to godly behavior, to sacred behavior, to holy behavior. Our conduct must compliment our high calling in Christ."

"Can you fathom any higher calling than godliness? Any more important essential for godly living? Can you imagine any more wonderful way to spend your life and your time and your days and your moments than to spend them in the Lord, immersed in Him, looking to Him, desiring Him and the riches (and the richness!) of His grace above all that this poor world offers? You and I are above all others most blessed to possess such a glorious calling!"

Elizabeth George starts out this chapter, this first essential, by detailing a trip to England that her and her husband, Jim, went on together to attend their church's European missions conference. This trip is such a profound illustration of godliness, godly behavior, that I simply must share the highlights of the visit.

They went to the Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, England. She points out that the area of Kent has a rich Christian heritage dating back to the days of Saint Augustine and the Canterbury Cathedral is one of the finest cathedrals in England.

While her and her husband were walking through the cathedral, admiring the stunning architecture and furnishings, they became "quietly aware" of the people who served and worshiped in the cathedral. What brought these people to their attention was not any flashy displays, or loud voices of prayer, but rather their silent ways of movement and action that displayed a silent reverence for their surroundings. As she decribes:

"They moved reverently - never for a second forgetting that they were in a place of worship. They spoke little, if at all, and always in quiet tones. One could almost sense their awareness that they were in the presence of God. The already ethereal ambiance was further heightened by the sounds of a women's choir in rehearsal. Their voices and the strains of their hymns literally soared upward (and without the aid of a man-made audio system!) to the heights of the nave and the drifted down again, filling the 522 foot length of the cathedral with an inescapable sweetness. The women, singing without accompaniment as they practiced for the Evensong service to be held later that day, were nowhere in sight. In fact, we had to go searching for them. Peering through an iron gate, we caught a mere glimpse of them, all dressed alike in black skirts and white blouses, standing behind the aged wooden railings that marked out the choir loft, singing in unison to the Lord, quite oblivious to the many who sought to get a peek at them."

What a majestic picture of godliness, godly behavior. Mrs. George goes on to say that the visit to the Canterbury Cathedral was very spiritually uplifting. This was so not (only) because of the amazing architecture, but what contributed most to this experience for them were the people who served and worshiped in the cathedral. The reverence displayed in those who served also inspired the same attitude within them. She goes on to explain:

"Suddenly we found ourselves whispering. Why? They were quiet... therefore we were quiet. Without our noticing, our breakneck tourist pace slowed to a stroll. Why? Because they were moving silently, reverently, worshipfully (if there is such a word)... therefore we did, too. One couldn't help but pray in such a place. Again, why? Because the church attendants and choir seemed to be absorbed in worship and in the God they served... therefore we were, too. ... Somehow, the reverential behavior of others brought us to a fresh new awareness of God's presence."

Now, what does this experience have to do with US? Looking at the Scripture reference in Titus 2:3, we see the first of such 'pink passages' in the Bible, which states that women (aged women, likewise, but it is applicable to ALL women of God) should "be in behaviour as becometh holiness..." or should exhibit godly behavior. The high calling to godliness is the first and foremost calling in a woman of God's life.

In this, as the beginning, Elizabeth George issues a gentle warning:

"I must warn you - there's no tiptoeing into our calling. There's no warming up to the godly qualities that we'll be looking at in [these studies]. And there is no apprenticeship. No, God doesn't ease us into His summons on our ife. He instead commences His call right at the core, at the deepest (and highest!) level of our calling - and that is this first calling, a calling to Himself. Because what's inside our hearts affects our behavior, God asks that our relationship with Him be the catalyst that creates in us behavior befitting one who has a relationship with the living God. He wants our actions to be reverent, godly, worshipful, and holy."

Although Scripture addresses this verse directly to the older women in the Body of Christ, it is a high calling laid before each and every one of us, young and old. Why? Because it "points first to our spirit of worship and calls us to be reverent in all of our behavior."

And yes, it is a high calling indeed.

Next we will be learning about godliness, what it means, the Greek root words from whence it comes, and how it can be applied to daily life.

Blessings!

Grace and Mercy Undeserved

Lord, Lord, I'm trusting You

In everything I do,

With every step I take,

As every choice I make.

Your promises echo loud and clear

Assuring that you hold me dear,

Timeless as generations pass

That one day I'll be home at last.

You can see the days yet come,

You can hear the song yet sung.

In Your hand I'll always be;

Your faithfulness soon to see.

I have your Word I'll never beg

As I pray for daily bread.

When the future is unclear

I know in You I shall not fear.

This world it seeks to stifle me,

For what I have they can never be.

But from my lips praise still sings

With hope they too can know You're King.

Guide my hand, still my heart.

To my children, Your Word impart.

Fill me, stay me, as You have made me,

And as You would bless it, let all my days be.

Your glory, Your grace;

From all lips: praise.

All is perfect through Your blood

For in myself, I am no good.

Grace and mercy undeserved

Brought me peace I had never heard.

In You alone I put my trust,

For You alone are good and just.

Gracious to redeem my sins;

In your presence, every knee bends.

That love that made a way for me

Cost You everything on Calvary.

Then on that third day You rose again

Declaring victory over death and sin.

Into your hands I place my soul,

For You alone have made me whole.

Help me, Lord, as I pilgrim through,

Til that day I may come home to You.

"What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the Blood of Jesus."

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A Woman's High Calling Study ~ Coming Soon

I am embarking on a study of what it means to be a woman of God, and how to live it out. I will be using the book A Woman's High Calling: 10 Essentials for Godly Living by Elizabeth George as my study guide, and I invite you all to follow along. I have read this book time and time again and each time found great inspiration and encouragement to follow my high calling as God would have me do, so I am now putting my study in print for future reference, as well as perhaps inspiration and encouragement to any ladies like me who are seeking the same in their life. Namely, the will of God.

A quick note: the topics that will be covered in this study include our high calling to

1: Godliness
2: Godly Speech
3: Personal Discipline
4: Encouraging Others
5: Marriage + Loving our husband
6: Family + Loving our family
7: Wisdom
8: Purity
9: Home
10: Goodness

Postings will be on Mondays and Thursdays of each week beginning Monday, June 27th. Mondays will be the initial posting, and Thursdays will be the follow-up of each essential and how it can be applied to daily life.

I am sure that we have all prayed a prayer for god to help us be a godly woman. I know I have for sure, many times over. Author Elizabeth George states that while a worthy prayer, there is one problem: it is vague. She says "therefore over the years I have begun not only to pray to be a godly woman but also to ask, 'What does a godly woman do? How does she act? What is it about her that marks her out as a godly woman?' "

With those questions to direct us, we will be setting out to discover our high calling in Christ and find out what it means to be a godly woman. This study is about what the author calls the 'pink passages' of the Bible, or those that apply directly to us as women of God.

As Mrs. George states in her forward, I will echo it to myself and to my readers who are up for the task of coming along on this journey:

"So, do you want to grow in knowledge and grace? Do you want to learn more about being 'a godly woman'? Do you want to develop a good set of worthwhile lifetime goals? Do you want to move toward fulfilling a life-long dream of becoming God's kind of woman?"

Then let us do so in all eagerness, honesty, humility, and with all that we have. This is my heart's prayer.

The storms of life

God never promised to take away the storms, only to see us through them. 

 "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." Psalm 37:25

"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:" Philippians 1:6

No matter what you are facing, no matter what you are going through, God is bigger, and greater, and still a loving God. If you are in the center of His Will, and doing the best you can with what you have, and with a joyful heart, God will provide the rest, but on His terms. He never promised to provide in accordance to the world's standards, but to His. According to the Bible, if we have food and raiment, we are blessed, and how true that is. Sow contentment, reap joy in the Lord, for He is above our circumstances, and we are not of this world. 

ALL of this, every BIT of it is temporary. It will ALL pass away one day. Make sure your value and hope is in the eternal, not the temporal of this world. Fix your eyes on God and follow His Word, and you will be blessed beyond all measure. And never stop believing that God can and that God will. 

"Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." Mark 11:24

Never lose hope, for we have been given a Hope that has overcome the world. Be blessed, and bless the Lord. ♥

 "Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name." Psalm 103:1

The True Meaning of Memorial Day

While some may not agree with the necessity of a military, and while we all know that true liberty comes only from God, without these men we would not be able to enjoy God's liberty the way we can here in America. Without their sacrifice, we would not be able to hold strong against evil forces that threaten us daily. These men sacrifice their time, family, and sometimes their lives to defend our God given right to freedom so that people like you and I CAN choose to differ on opinion, and CAN choose to go to church and worship our God without fear of being killed, tortured, stoned, or burned. We CAN choose to have as many children as God would choose to bless us with without being forced into a hospital, held down, and sedated while a living child is ripped from our wombs in the name of "population control". We CAN petition our local and federal governments to decide one way or another on certain things, and we CAN make our voices heard without oppression and death like is seen in other countries. Say a prayer daily for our military and thank God for all that He provides for them, including the wisdom and strength to make the right decisions in order to continue to uphold that freedom that we so cherish and value. God bless our troops, and may God bless America once again. ♥

Disaster Relief

Our thoughts are with those in Joplin, Missouri, struggling with the aftermath of this recent deadly tornado.  Visit www.redcross.org to learn how you can help.  Donations can also be made by calling 1-800-RED-CROSS; or text the word "REDCROSS" to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

USA Today Photos of Joplin, MO Aftermath

 ^Source: Washington Post National

 ^Source: New York Times

 ^Source: International Business Times

 ^Source: Boston.com

 ^Source: The Atlantic

 ^Source: Reuters

 ^Source: PBS Newshour

"Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be thou my helper. Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever." 

Psalm 30:10-12

The Ministry of Encouragement

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Have you ever taken a moment to sit and ponder the importance of the ministry of encouragement? Note for a second the ministry of Barnabas in the Bible. His actual name was Joseph, or Joses, but the apostles called him Barnabas which meant "son of encouragement," or "son of consolation." What a great ministry to be called the "son of encouragement" by your very peers! Barnabas was by no means a poor man, but he still took the time to serve and encourage others, so much so that he was recognized as a son of encouragement. I look at this example and see a man who likely died to himself daily in order to serve others, pushing his own thoughts and feelings aside so that he could better encourage others in their daily walks and through even their times of trial and tribulation.

Have you ever tried to do that? Push yourself out of the way in order to serve others? Its not very easy to do. It's not easy to go day to day listening to people complain and wallow in self-pity and seek to encourage them every step of the way to stop wallowing and continue to strive forward for God. It's not easy when you have so many reasons that your flesh continually nags at you about, insisting that you have justified reason to wallow along with them, or even on your own for different reasons. It's not easy keeping that proverbial "stiff upper lip" when sometimes you just feel like the world is caving in around you, even though you KNOW just how blessed you are. It's difficult to see people who have it so much BETTER than you in so many areas of trial (money, family, etc) complain about how bad they think they have it when every inch of your flesh wants to scream at the top of your lungs for them to be thankful for what they have 'cause it could be a lot worse. It's even more difficult to remind yourself of that very same thing every day, all day. 

Yet, here I perceive a man who did just that. 

"Oh to have the strength to be strong for everyone all the time. To be able to carry the burdens for everyone," We may wistfully sigh.

Oh, but dear sisters and brethren in Christ, we are missing the point. It is not for us to bear. Yes, I am aware that Galatians 6:2 instructs us to carry each others burdens, but how far? How long before the yoke gets too heavy and collapses upon us? We are only meant to carry it as far as Jesus, and then leave it at His feet. Matthew 11 teaches us to come to Jesus when we are burdened and He will give us rest, for His yoke is easy and His burden is light. 

THINK of the impact that this ONE man in Scripture had in the ministry, the impact that he had on the Church, the people of Christ, that he would bear the label of the son of encouragement. That alone should be an example of how important and needed this ministry is in the Body, especially today. 

Too many people (even I sometimes find myself guilty, ashamedly) find it too much of a burden to see other people fighting the tide in the midst of doubt, confusion, pain, grief, depression, exhaustion, and the like and give a kind word of encouragement. Too many of us, members of the Body, find it too time consuming to forget ourselves for a moment and just think of someone else and put ourselves in their shoes (compassion!) and speak to them as we would want people to speak to US in our times of doubt and trial. Then, some of us are just so self-consumed that we just simply are blinded by our own circumstances and can't see past the wall that we have built to keep our misery in.

Perhaps it is too much of a burden to bear, IF you are bearing it farther than you need to. If you do not take your burdens to the Lord, He cannot take your yoke from your shoulders and replace it with His light and easy one. Perhaps it's not that it's too much trouble to drop a line of encouragement rather than ignoring it or attempting to show ourselves in the same predicament (thereby wallowing with the person needing encouragement; definitely not helping matters, for then we are left with two who need encouragement, and so one and so on...), but rather it has become too much trouble to find time to bring our petitions to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, taking time from ourselves and our daily grind to drink the water from the well that will never run dry. 

Perhaps we are refusing the yoke of other people's burdens (thereby expelling the concept in Galatians 6) because we don't want to take the time to unload our yoke at Jesus' feet. I can empathize, too much stuff going on, kids bouncing off the walls all day seems like, never any "me time", you feel overwhelmed and just plain don't think about it. Doesn't make it right, though, or best, dear sisters.

Take the example of Martha and Mary. Martha was setting about her work as any good woman should, yet Mary took the time to sit at Jesus' feet and soak up His teaching. Martha got frustrated (as I probably would have in the situation!) as she was cooking and cleaning and serving our Lord and the other men, alone in the kitchen, likely feeling totally overwhelmed, til she hit that breaking point (we've all been there, I am certain) where she burst out practically yelling at the Lord, interrupting His teaching, insisting that she was doing it all by herself and insisting that He tell Mary to get in the kitchen and help her! Jesus' response was encouraging: He calmed her, and proceeded to say that Mary had chosen what was best. This was not diminishing from what Martha was doing to serve, but Mary had chosen what was best.

No amount of serving in this earthly kingdom could ever add up to time spent at the Lord's feet daily. You can wash your dishes, vacuum, educate your children, put three square meals on the table daily (as we should), but without time at Jesus' feet, it would all be meaningless in the end. And this routine that is SO easy to fall into is a root source for our own tribulations and discontentment. 

In 1855, Joseph M. Scriven wrote this hymn, and O how true it's words ring still today:

"What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

 Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.

 Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield you; you will find a solace there.

 Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised Thou wilt all our burdens bear
May we ever, Lord, be bringing all to Thee in earnest prayer.
Soon in glory bright unclouded there will be no need for prayer
Rapture, praise and endless worship will be our sweet portion there."

Perhaps the problem is not that we're tired of hearing about other people's problems, perhaps it's that we aren't making time for the Lord as we ought to and are thereby burdened under a heavier yoke than we were intended to carry for so long.

Perhaps this is what is hindering the Ministry of Encouragement today. We've got so many distractions around us. Telephone, cable, internet, and cell technology just to name a few. While these things aren't bad in themselves, they can become a tool of Satan when they distract us from our daily walk with God, preventing us from nurturing our Spiritual walk/growth as we should. These distractions coupled with the lies and deceit of the world can make it SO easy to put God and Bible Study on the back burner (speaking from experience here) and the only place that that ever got anyone was farther from God and farther into self. 

Sisters, Brethren, I am here to call you up to the ministry of encouragement, to commission you and I both to be a Barnabas. Dying to self daily (and not just because we have to in order to care for little ones but rather because we want to in order to bring glory to the Lord), taking any free moment we can to sit at Jesus' feet by reading and studying His Word, praying, casting our cares upon the Lord (not only our own, but those of others as well), and allowing ourselves to bear the yoke of others in their time of need, thereby fulfilling the law of Christ as spoken of in Galatians 6:2. The ministry of encouragement is not something that anyone is naturally inclined to because every bit of it goes against everything the flesh stands for. It is a ministry that we must rise to and seek daily, in the Lord, to fulfill for Christ's glory alone. 

Will you rise along with me?