“Her children arise up, and call her blessed;
Her husband also, and he praises her.”
Proverbs 31:28
Her family rise up and call her blessed! Is this not an aspect of being a woman that we would all thank the Lord for if it happens in years to come? Many woman do not share this privilege with the Proverbs 31 woman whom we are studying, why?
What does it mean to be blessed?
Firstly we have to look at what makes a woman blessed. For a start, a woman is to see how wicked her sin is towards God, who is Holy and Just, through the work of the spirit. Through the knowledge of her sin she seeks for forgiveness and repentance from God. God quickens the spirit, forgives and gives repentance to His child. The woman is so grateful that she now lives her life for the Lord for eternity and she continues down the road of sanctification (fight against sin) for the rest of her life here on earth! Secondly, the woman is to “bring forth Christ” in every aspect of her life. If a woman is blessed, her life would reflect those two things.
How can be bring forth Christ in our families?
So many questions to be asked about this verse. As briefly as I can, I would like to try and simplify what a blessed woman’s work in the family looks like. The areas that we will look at are very complex. What I mean by that is there is so much information available on these topics! I will try and stir up your interest and provide a list of resources to get you to study further, for yourself, in your time.
#1 Meeting basic physical and relational needs, Proverbs, Chapter 31
This obviously goes without saying but I thought I may just remind ourselves, that all we have studied and discussed within this chapter should not only be practiced in word but also in deed. Many of the facets of the Proverbs 31 woman are basically, meeting our families physical and relational needs in an excellent and Godly way.
The Proverbs 31 woman is a great look at what we should look like without the effects of materialism and feminism. I would encourage you to not let everything that we have studied go by the way side but to pursue to better the ways which you do things around your home and always pursue your relationships within your family attentively. If you do this, both your children and your husband will call you blessed.
#2 Family Worship
This is such an important point and in this day and age such a neglected one! What is Family Worship? Family worship is coming together to worship God as a family unit. For some this may only happen if the whole family sits down for a meal and thanksgiving is given to the Lord in prayer with an “Amen” from most members of the family. But there is so much more to Family Worship!
As a family, we are still learning, and still have much more to learn in this area. We have heard of families and have read of other ways in which to worship the Lord as a family. Some ideas for you:
* Regular Reading of Gods Word. This can be done at set times during the day. Find times where you come together as a family and can be still while scripture is read out aloud. Meal times are great times to do this. Let the man of the house decide which book of the bible to read through. You can even alternate eg: Psalms at breakfast, a Gospel at lunch and Proverbs at dinner. If your husband is not at home for a meal, you take his place.
* Singing Together. Cd players can come very useful in some families especially if you are learning words or are not confident to sing with out music. You maybe blessed to have a pianist in your family that can play. You can sing specially selected hymns on Sundays and even during the week. We find it extra special to sing specific hymns by candle light at certain times of the year, at Christmas and at Easter.
* Praying Together: Pray together at a specific time of the day. A good time is at the end of the day. Discuss the days happenings together, the fun parts and the difficulties. The man of the house concludes in prayer for each person.
* Family Devotion: This is where the man of the house must share with the family what he has studied in his personal devotion time that morning. It is a very good thing for the husband to do. By doing this he is washing his family with the Word of God daily. It can be 5mins long or even half an hour. Up to the husband! Even if it requires you to get up earlier in the morning! Encourage him to study Gods word and share it with the family.
Remember to not be embarrassed if you have guests, try continue as you would normally. It is a great way to encourage other believers and to share the gospel of Jesus Christ to the unsaved.
As a woman, we are not the head of the home, the husband is. Providing that the husband is saved, it is good for him to take the lead of family worship. Our role is so encourage our husbands to be fulfilling his role. We can do this by getting the children ready and waiting to hear from “daddy”. This is important and key for a wife to encourage her husband to take the lead of the home.
How ever. This does not mean that the responsibility to be having spiritual input into your children’s lives diminishes! Certainly not! As a mother who is fulfilling her Godly role as a mother, should in fact be having more (time wise) of an input into the children’s lives that the father does. You may also help your husband in the careful selections of hymns to be sung and other little special touches for these special times.
#3 Personal Devotion
Your own personal devotions with the Lord are very important! You should make it a habit to share your personal devotion with someone most days, even every day! If you have children you can share it with them. Then as you go through the day, as you face trials and temptations, you can share it with them and show them how to apply what you have learnt.
It is also very important to teach your children how to have their own devotions. You can start at a very young age! We started with a good picture bible, the pictures helped explain the stories and held their concentration. As they begin to understand more, you can start reading portions out of the bible. Explain the story in great detail, children love detail, and give them application. Tell them how they can apply the portion of scripture to their lives that day. Very important to never forget to bring out an attribute of God in each sitting. You can even teach them to memorise scripture from very young. The more the better!
Pray with them at the end of the devotion. Pray what they have learnt and pray for things that are going to happen that day. Ask them to tell you at the end of the day what they learnt in their bible devotion.
#4 Praying
It is important to teach your children how to pray. The only way to do this is to show them. Pray when ever you can, out aloud with them. When they can formulate words, you can ask them to repeat after you have said a few words. It is important that we depend on the Lord for every little thing that we do! We need to show our children our dependence on the Lord!
#5 Discipline
This is so important! Disciplining children is not about sending children to the bathroom to get a hiding, a hug and then being told what they should of done instead. We are not moulding our children in to perfect angels! Discipline is about disciplining the heart, the actions will reflect what is in their hearts. We need to be disciplining as Gods word instructs us. Using Gods word to identify sin, to correct it and then to encourage the children to do what is right. Their own personal battle to meet Gods standards will lead them to see their own need for Christ. The woman who teaches her children their need for Christ and teaches them scripture which will make them wise to the salvation of the Lord will be blessed!
#6 Teaching around the clock
“..And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.” Deut 6:7
As the mother, you spend more time with the children at home and should therefore have more time to teach your children about the Lord.
We need to ask the Lord for wisdom to see each moment as a teaching moment about the Lord. For example, picking flowers in the garden could lead to a lesson on creation. You could rejoice when your little one gets covered in mud as dirty laundry could be a lesson on “filthy rags”, our sin! Fruit, Adam and Eve sinning etc.
#7 Family Traditions
This could be under the previous point of teaching your children every day about the Lord. But I thought that family traditions can be narrowed down to particular events such as Easter and Christmas…..and many more! These two events are vital opportunities to teach our children even more, it really helps to focus on the birth, the death, the resurrection and the ascension of Christ. There are so many important lessons that should not be missed. Find ways in which you can teach these things to your children in memorable ways so that they will never forget Christ!
Her husband also, and he praises her.”
Proverbs 31:28
Her family rise up and call her blessed! Is this not an aspect of being a woman that we would all thank the Lord for if it happens in years to come? Many woman do not share this privilege with the Proverbs 31 woman whom we are studying, why?
What does it mean to be blessed?
Firstly we have to look at what makes a woman blessed. For a start, a woman is to see how wicked her sin is towards God, who is Holy and Just, through the work of the spirit. Through the knowledge of her sin she seeks for forgiveness and repentance from God. God quickens the spirit, forgives and gives repentance to His child. The woman is so grateful that she now lives her life for the Lord for eternity and she continues down the road of sanctification (fight against sin) for the rest of her life here on earth! Secondly, the woman is to “bring forth Christ” in every aspect of her life. If a woman is blessed, her life would reflect those two things.
How can be bring forth Christ in our families?
So many questions to be asked about this verse. As briefly as I can, I would like to try and simplify what a blessed woman’s work in the family looks like. The areas that we will look at are very complex. What I mean by that is there is so much information available on these topics! I will try and stir up your interest and provide a list of resources to get you to study further, for yourself, in your time.
#1 Meeting basic physical and relational needs, Proverbs, Chapter 31
This obviously goes without saying but I thought I may just remind ourselves, that all we have studied and discussed within this chapter should not only be practiced in word but also in deed. Many of the facets of the Proverbs 31 woman are basically, meeting our families physical and relational needs in an excellent and Godly way.
The Proverbs 31 woman is a great look at what we should look like without the effects of materialism and feminism. I would encourage you to not let everything that we have studied go by the way side but to pursue to better the ways which you do things around your home and always pursue your relationships within your family attentively. If you do this, both your children and your husband will call you blessed.
#2 Family Worship
This is such an important point and in this day and age such a neglected one! What is Family Worship? Family worship is coming together to worship God as a family unit. For some this may only happen if the whole family sits down for a meal and thanksgiving is given to the Lord in prayer with an “Amen” from most members of the family. But there is so much more to Family Worship!
As a family, we are still learning, and still have much more to learn in this area. We have heard of families and have read of other ways in which to worship the Lord as a family. Some ideas for you:
* Regular Reading of Gods Word. This can be done at set times during the day. Find times where you come together as a family and can be still while scripture is read out aloud. Meal times are great times to do this. Let the man of the house decide which book of the bible to read through. You can even alternate eg: Psalms at breakfast, a Gospel at lunch and Proverbs at dinner. If your husband is not at home for a meal, you take his place.
* Singing Together. Cd players can come very useful in some families especially if you are learning words or are not confident to sing with out music. You maybe blessed to have a pianist in your family that can play. You can sing specially selected hymns on Sundays and even during the week. We find it extra special to sing specific hymns by candle light at certain times of the year, at Christmas and at Easter.
* Praying Together: Pray together at a specific time of the day. A good time is at the end of the day. Discuss the days happenings together, the fun parts and the difficulties. The man of the house concludes in prayer for each person.
* Family Devotion: This is where the man of the house must share with the family what he has studied in his personal devotion time that morning. It is a very good thing for the husband to do. By doing this he is washing his family with the Word of God daily. It can be 5mins long or even half an hour. Up to the husband! Even if it requires you to get up earlier in the morning! Encourage him to study Gods word and share it with the family.
Remember to not be embarrassed if you have guests, try continue as you would normally. It is a great way to encourage other believers and to share the gospel of Jesus Christ to the unsaved.
As a woman, we are not the head of the home, the husband is. Providing that the husband is saved, it is good for him to take the lead of family worship. Our role is so encourage our husbands to be fulfilling his role. We can do this by getting the children ready and waiting to hear from “daddy”. This is important and key for a wife to encourage her husband to take the lead of the home.
How ever. This does not mean that the responsibility to be having spiritual input into your children’s lives diminishes! Certainly not! As a mother who is fulfilling her Godly role as a mother, should in fact be having more (time wise) of an input into the children’s lives that the father does. You may also help your husband in the careful selections of hymns to be sung and other little special touches for these special times.
#3 Personal Devotion
Your own personal devotions with the Lord are very important! You should make it a habit to share your personal devotion with someone most days, even every day! If you have children you can share it with them. Then as you go through the day, as you face trials and temptations, you can share it with them and show them how to apply what you have learnt.
It is also very important to teach your children how to have their own devotions. You can start at a very young age! We started with a good picture bible, the pictures helped explain the stories and held their concentration. As they begin to understand more, you can start reading portions out of the bible. Explain the story in great detail, children love detail, and give them application. Tell them how they can apply the portion of scripture to their lives that day. Very important to never forget to bring out an attribute of God in each sitting. You can even teach them to memorise scripture from very young. The more the better!
Pray with them at the end of the devotion. Pray what they have learnt and pray for things that are going to happen that day. Ask them to tell you at the end of the day what they learnt in their bible devotion.
#4 Praying
It is important to teach your children how to pray. The only way to do this is to show them. Pray when ever you can, out aloud with them. When they can formulate words, you can ask them to repeat after you have said a few words. It is important that we depend on the Lord for every little thing that we do! We need to show our children our dependence on the Lord!
#5 Discipline
This is so important! Disciplining children is not about sending children to the bathroom to get a hiding, a hug and then being told what they should of done instead. We are not moulding our children in to perfect angels! Discipline is about disciplining the heart, the actions will reflect what is in their hearts. We need to be disciplining as Gods word instructs us. Using Gods word to identify sin, to correct it and then to encourage the children to do what is right. Their own personal battle to meet Gods standards will lead them to see their own need for Christ. The woman who teaches her children their need for Christ and teaches them scripture which will make them wise to the salvation of the Lord will be blessed!
#6 Teaching around the clock
“..And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.” Deut 6:7
As the mother, you spend more time with the children at home and should therefore have more time to teach your children about the Lord.
We need to ask the Lord for wisdom to see each moment as a teaching moment about the Lord. For example, picking flowers in the garden could lead to a lesson on creation. You could rejoice when your little one gets covered in mud as dirty laundry could be a lesson on “filthy rags”, our sin! Fruit, Adam and Eve sinning etc.
#7 Family Traditions
This could be under the previous point of teaching your children every day about the Lord. But I thought that family traditions can be narrowed down to particular events such as Easter and Christmas…..and many more! These two events are vital opportunities to teach our children even more, it really helps to focus on the birth, the death, the resurrection and the ascension of Christ. There are so many important lessons that should not be missed. Find ways in which you can teach these things to your children in memorable ways so that they will never forget Christ!
#8 Homeschooling
A mother who homeschools her children has a wonderful opportunity to teach her children a biblical world view. She can show her children that everything comes from God and the proof for all things (subjects) are found in Gods Word! What a precious gift from a mother to her children!
Concluding:
There are so many more ways to bring forth Christ in our families! I haven’t even touched the iceberg! We obviously are limited with our time with our children and it will go by very quickly. This is why it is so important to seek the Lord urgently in prayer on this matter. Start disciplining your life in such a way that you may teach your children more about who Christ is, why we need him, his provision to us and the way in which we must now walk.
We must also keep in mind that next to the bible, a mother is the book that shows them how true obedience, love and honour to the Lord is actually carried out. We have so much influence in our children’s lives, please be encouraged to make it a Godly, God honouring influence, with humility and wholeheartedly.
Our aim as mothers is to give our children a good understanding of Gods Word, to give them a correct understand of who God is and to show them their desperate need for Christ!
As such a high standard is expected of us, it is only by the Grace and Strength of the Lord that we are able to attain to it. Not all in one day or even in one year but over our life time! Our motive for doing so is to Glorify the Lord because we love Him.
And remember that the Word of God will not return void! Its amazing that Gods word will live on in children’s hearts right until the day that they die. Gods word is quick and powerful, use your opportunity to write Gods Word in their hearts. This is why they rise up and bless us, because we labour to instil Christ into their lives! The woman who does this could see the day when her children and husband rise up and bless her!
(It is the work of God to save a person in His time, but still our responsibility to teach Gods Word! We are not forcing children to “Ask Jesus into their hearts“! No, not at all, we labour in prayer and nurture, we wait to see the evidence of salvation in our children’s lives. Until then, many closet tears will be shed from the compassion of mothers to see God saving their children from their sin! )
All for the Glory of God!
Written by Natalie Rogers
Appendix A
An extract of a mothers life whose children could of called her blessed!
Mrs Savage and her children
Mrs Savage loved home, and as the head of a family, aimed, by setting a pattern of cheerful, serious piety, to walk “as becometh the Gospel.” For the spiritual welfare of her domestics she cherished a holy zeal, and discovered it by regular and patient instruction, as well as fervent prayer. “Oh!” she writes soon after her marriage, “that the family might be the better for me. As far as I know my own heart, U earnestly desire the salvation of every should under our roof. Oh, that they did but see what I see of the Excellency of Christ, the sinfulness of sin, and the vanity of creatures.”
She was the mother of nine children. The care and tenderness she discovered in their infancy did not exceed her concern for their souls. As they advanced in years, her pious anxiety increased, and no pains were spared to teach them the things of God. A considerable portion of the evening of the Sabbath was devoted to family instruction. She excelled in the happy art of recommending religion to the young. She gained their attention, and encouraged them to be inquisitive in divine subjects. To her instructions were added the most affectionate prayers; and her children, who were not immediately under her inspection, were visited with such letters of piety and love as, with the blessing of God, were calculated to produce the happiest effects. Her diary abounds with expressions of concern for her children. “Oh!”” she writes, “” that I could be every day travailing to see Christ formed in them. This week I was much affected when, reading in my daily course, Proverbs 30:8, ‘Remove fr from me vanity and lies.’ Methinks it is a very proper prayer for children. I have earnestly begged of God to remove from mine vanity and lies. “At another time, “I read in my daily reading in my closet, Isaiah 54, with the exposition; I was much affected with the 13th verse, ‘And all they children shall be taught of the Lord.’ Though it is spoken of the Church’s children, I could apply it to my own children in particular, and desire to act faith on it. I am caring and endeavouring that they may be taught and instructed in the good way. This is the inward desire of my soul. ‘Now, ‘ saith God, ‘they shall be taught of me, and all thy children shall: be a sweet promise; it much satisfies me. ‘ Lord set in with poor parents, who desire nothing in the world so much as to see their children walk in the ‘narrow way that leads to life. “
Taken from ‘The Christian Lady of the Seventeenth Century; or the Life of Mrs Savage.’ By Sir J.B. Williams. London: Religious Tract Society.
Appendix B
Suggested Reading:
*Mothers of the wise and Good by Jabez Burns (Testimonies and short biographies of famous children and their mothers!)
*Disciplines of a Godly Family by Kent and Barbara Hughes
*Family practice by R. C. Sproul and Elisabeth Elliot
* Treasuring God in our traditions by Noel Piper
*When you rise up by R. C. Sproul Jr.
*How to bring your children to Christ by Ray Comfort
*What the bible says about parenting by John MacArthur
*Teach them diligently by Lou Priolo
*Shepherding a childs heart by Tedd Tripp
*Instruments in a redeemers hands by Paul David Tripp
*Don’t make me count to three by Ginger Plowman
*Spiritual parenting by Charles Spurgeon
*A mom after Gods own heart by Elizabeth George
*Disciplines of a Godly woman by Barbara Hughes
Concluding:
There are so many more ways to bring forth Christ in our families! I haven’t even touched the iceberg! We obviously are limited with our time with our children and it will go by very quickly. This is why it is so important to seek the Lord urgently in prayer on this matter. Start disciplining your life in such a way that you may teach your children more about who Christ is, why we need him, his provision to us and the way in which we must now walk.
We must also keep in mind that next to the bible, a mother is the book that shows them how true obedience, love and honour to the Lord is actually carried out. We have so much influence in our children’s lives, please be encouraged to make it a Godly, God honouring influence, with humility and wholeheartedly.
Our aim as mothers is to give our children a good understanding of Gods Word, to give them a correct understand of who God is and to show them their desperate need for Christ!
As such a high standard is expected of us, it is only by the Grace and Strength of the Lord that we are able to attain to it. Not all in one day or even in one year but over our life time! Our motive for doing so is to Glorify the Lord because we love Him.
And remember that the Word of God will not return void! Its amazing that Gods word will live on in children’s hearts right until the day that they die. Gods word is quick and powerful, use your opportunity to write Gods Word in their hearts. This is why they rise up and bless us, because we labour to instil Christ into their lives! The woman who does this could see the day when her children and husband rise up and bless her!
(It is the work of God to save a person in His time, but still our responsibility to teach Gods Word! We are not forcing children to “Ask Jesus into their hearts“! No, not at all, we labour in prayer and nurture, we wait to see the evidence of salvation in our children’s lives. Until then, many closet tears will be shed from the compassion of mothers to see God saving their children from their sin! )
All for the Glory of God!
Written by Natalie Rogers
Appendix A
An extract of a mothers life whose children could of called her blessed!
Mrs Savage and her children
Mrs Savage loved home, and as the head of a family, aimed, by setting a pattern of cheerful, serious piety, to walk “as becometh the Gospel.” For the spiritual welfare of her domestics she cherished a holy zeal, and discovered it by regular and patient instruction, as well as fervent prayer. “Oh!” she writes soon after her marriage, “that the family might be the better for me. As far as I know my own heart, U earnestly desire the salvation of every should under our roof. Oh, that they did but see what I see of the Excellency of Christ, the sinfulness of sin, and the vanity of creatures.”
She was the mother of nine children. The care and tenderness she discovered in their infancy did not exceed her concern for their souls. As they advanced in years, her pious anxiety increased, and no pains were spared to teach them the things of God. A considerable portion of the evening of the Sabbath was devoted to family instruction. She excelled in the happy art of recommending religion to the young. She gained their attention, and encouraged them to be inquisitive in divine subjects. To her instructions were added the most affectionate prayers; and her children, who were not immediately under her inspection, were visited with such letters of piety and love as, with the blessing of God, were calculated to produce the happiest effects. Her diary abounds with expressions of concern for her children. “Oh!”” she writes, “” that I could be every day travailing to see Christ formed in them. This week I was much affected when, reading in my daily course, Proverbs 30:8, ‘Remove fr from me vanity and lies.’ Methinks it is a very proper prayer for children. I have earnestly begged of God to remove from mine vanity and lies. “At another time, “I read in my daily reading in my closet, Isaiah 54, with the exposition; I was much affected with the 13th verse, ‘And all they children shall be taught of the Lord.’ Though it is spoken of the Church’s children, I could apply it to my own children in particular, and desire to act faith on it. I am caring and endeavouring that they may be taught and instructed in the good way. This is the inward desire of my soul. ‘Now, ‘ saith God, ‘they shall be taught of me, and all thy children shall: be a sweet promise; it much satisfies me. ‘ Lord set in with poor parents, who desire nothing in the world so much as to see their children walk in the ‘narrow way that leads to life. “
Taken from ‘The Christian Lady of the Seventeenth Century; or the Life of Mrs Savage.’ By Sir J.B. Williams. London: Religious Tract Society.
Appendix B
Suggested Reading:
*Mothers of the wise and Good by Jabez Burns (Testimonies and short biographies of famous children and their mothers!)
*Disciplines of a Godly Family by Kent and Barbara Hughes
*Family practice by R. C. Sproul and Elisabeth Elliot
* Treasuring God in our traditions by Noel Piper
*When you rise up by R. C. Sproul Jr.
*How to bring your children to Christ by Ray Comfort
*What the bible says about parenting by John MacArthur
*Teach them diligently by Lou Priolo
*Shepherding a childs heart by Tedd Tripp
*Instruments in a redeemers hands by Paul David Tripp
*Don’t make me count to three by Ginger Plowman
*Spiritual parenting by Charles Spurgeon
*A mom after Gods own heart by Elizabeth George
*Disciplines of a Godly woman by Barbara Hughes
No comments:
Post a Comment