The Dignity of Woman ~ 1

a woman's hands

Scripture exhorts us to tear down every argument which sets itself up against the knowledge of God. Not the people, just the arguments. No matter how beloved said argument may be to the church, to our families, to our friends, and even to ourselves. I want to advocate for what scripture says, and not for what we want it to say. Even if it's about women.

So before we dive in, we must make sure that we are approaching these scriptures in the right Spirit and with the right heart. This begins with the right posture toward Heaven.

Pray with me the following lines taken from the Psalms:

Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me. ~ Psalm 51 KJV

Search me, oh God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. ~ Psalm 139 KJV

[Lead me] in the paths of righteousness for [Your] name's sake. ~ Psalm 23 ESV

Amen.

Please ponder the following verse with me, so that we can make sure we are all on the same page about how to keep our peace on the long and painful road which we are about to traverse together.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. ~ from Galatians 5

I want us to meditate on this verse. Do these qualities resonate with you as Godly... or womanly? Do you ever "fake" these outward behaviors to appear more like a "good woman" to other people? Does working to exhibit these qualities tire you out?

If so, I need you to understand something very deeply as a woman before we can continue forward:

Faking the fruits unfortunately means that the fruits are fake. And if your fruits are fake, then the Spirit of God is not the One in the driver's seat of your heart. You will need Him there for this. I promise you that.

The truth is that only the Spirit of God Himself can produce these Godly qualities in us in a way that's real and true, and it can only happen through surrender. Let Him change you, rather than trying to change yourself. Ask Him for His help. He will give it. Simple as that. Let Him amaze you with the way that He responds to your simple request to help you love people better than you do.

Why is this so important?

Because, when the fruit is real, it comes from a relaxed posture. Sometimes, you even feel "high" because it's the Spirit moving through you, and it actually feels good to do good. There is no strain and no performance involved. You are not trying to convince, persuade, or manipulate... you're peaceful. Genuinely peaceful. And when your peace is real, you will become like a true woman of scripture who laughs at the future (Proverbs 31) and is unshaken by the many storms of life and all the would-be-troublesome things.

Now, getting there is an ongoing process ~ we have to keep on checking ourselves, keep on surrendering, keep on remembering to humble ourselves along the way, reminding ourselves that it's His goodness sustaining us, and not our own.

This same battle is at the center of everything we do with Jesus, and it's the battle we must keep on winning, no matter what else happens.

Every time our flesh rises up to declare itself (meaning we are overwhemed by feeling afraid or offended) is an opportunity to let the Holy Spirit work in us. We must ask Him for help, each time, and let His Love transform us, little by little.

The point I am making is this:

Working through your outrage with God is more important than reading the next sentence, at any given point along the way. I emphasize this because we are about to spend a ridiculous amount of time and energy on a truly outrageous topic that is bound to be incredibly triggering, possibly from beginning to end.

Therefore, in light of all of this, I want to ask you to do something. I want to ask you to stop reading at any point if you find yourself getting angry, depressed, resentful, rushed, or even a little unhinged in response to anything we discuss moving forward. You may not realize it right away, so just take a moment to pause once you do. You may find yourself wrestling later in the day or the week ~ don't brush it away. Lean into it, let yourself feel it, and then give it to God so that you can continue forward in peace.

The ultimate goal is to become totally unemotional about "the woman question" and to finally put it to bed within our hearts as women. To leave it behind us. To let it die. Otherwise, we will not be equipped to live and minister in a way that is "above reproach" and "blameless" as it must be; instead, we will be carried away with the wind of our own emotion and call it passion, or worse, mislabel it as righteous anger.

Whether the information or perspective you find here is mostly new to you, and perhaps difficult to digest, or is instead a path well-traveled that you already know makes your blood boil, please just take it slow. You need to keep the purity and restfulness of your own heart as your top priority.

As David teaches leaders in Psalm 4 "be angry, yet do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still." ~ NKJV ~ Ponder these things until you have worked them all the way through personally. Then, and only then, can we move forward with men.

Stay tuned...

Agape ♥️ Shalom in Yeshua,

Apostle Tamara