Equipping the 21st Century Mother
Notes
Transcript
With the ever-increasing high cost of living today, both husband and wife find themselves having to go out and work. Some have to take on double or triple jobs to make ends meet. Aside from the demand outside of self, there is also the demand within the self. Some put too much of a high standard of expectation that it puts a lot of stress on one's life. The next thing you know you are on a collision course with many things you have to do in a short period. In the course of dealing with life demands and expectations, we get worn out, tired, and sometimes crash and burn. With the increasing demand for motherhood, you need to equip yourself to handle more tasks, demands, challenges every day.
To celebrate motherhood, I want to share three things that mothers need to have to equip themselves as they gear up for more challenges in life.
In a culture that idolizes physical beauty like looks and curves, where do you find your worth? Despite how busy life can get every day, mothers want to stay beautiful at least decent. Age comes with beauty or beauty come with age? How does she stay in beauty?
1. Equipped with a Beauty that is out of this world. Often than not you need a divine Make-over regularly.
1. Equipped with a Beauty that is out of this world. Often than not you need a divine Make-over regularly.
In this segment let’s not talk about lipstick, eyeliner, mascara, foundation, etc.
Your beauty within comes from outside, outside of this world! As a believer, you are a new creation! It is not a reset in life but a new lease in life. You have heard the beauty is in the eyes of the beholder but hopefully, it is the creator. Beauty that last and gets better with age is not a result of putting on beauty products but instead is the product of the heavenly divine makeup artist.
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
This beauty is not in the physical but instead in the spiritual. As one gets older the physical deteriorates, however, your faith, especially if it is genuine does not depreciate but appreciates. To our creator beauty is not in the looks but the character and personality. For example, being obedient in Christ in carrying out the great commission. Every believer is commanded to:
15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
and those who do so He describe as having beautiful feet
14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!”
It is not the branded bag that you carry or the pricey shoes that you wear but Gospel that you have been entrusted with that consistently carries is where beauty comes. And with beauty also comes self-worth. With self-worth comes purpose. Has God revealed to you your purpose?
In this world, some women consider botox and lipstick as their best friend but from the lyrics of an old hymn says “Oh what a friend we have in Jesus. Beauty for Him is being drenched by his blood that washes your sins away and at the same time indwelled by His Spirit. Botox is temporary but the Spirit residency in you is permanent.
30 Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.
God is the greatest make-up artist. You are not made with cosmetics but from spiritual genetics by way of the Holy Spirit. As an artist, He has good tastes and does not make mistakes.
At the end of the day, after spending your energy overcoming challenges, your make up wear out but the Holy Spirit stays alive, active, and always fresh for your attention. Oh don’t bother, you can’t afford this type of make-up because it’s not something you can buy off the shelf but because it is someone you believe.
So in the event that some here today has not gone through a makeover that lasts forever, why don’t you believe in Christ as your Lord and personal savior. “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved, but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned” (Mark 16:16). Since you were created, sin has marred the Lord’s work in you. What he saw that was very good has been tainted with sin and God is opposed to sin and does not tolerate it.
2. A Contented Heart, Rich and secured with God’s promises in Christ.
2. A Contented Heart, Rich and secured with God’s promises in Christ.
What do you do when the next pandemics strike? Every trial that you go through determines not only how you are economically and psychologically prepared but also how spiritually stocked up you are. It’s not about how much toilet or paper towel you have stored in your closets or can goods and rice in your pantries but how much of God’s Word have you putting in your hear. Psalm 119:11
11 Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.
A human being needs food and water to survive but in the end, you need the grace of God to survive or avoid the Great White Throne judgment as mentioned in Revelations 20
27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,
5 Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”
Don’t worry so much about building your material wealth that moth and rust destroy but work out your salvation. You go to the gym to lose weight and work on shaping a figure the world admires. You work out to firm up some muscles but God is more interested in firm faith.
During my college days, my friends and I would ask girls what they look for in a guy and they would jokingly answer, his “car-acter” and not character. In other words, the car that he drives. But you and I know that cars deteriorate as miles are added to it but a godly heart powered by the Holy Spirit goes a long way, all the way to Heaven. So it is with women too. Your character shows what you treasure in life. Where your heart is there your treasure will be, Matt.6:21.
Money may buy you temporary happiness here on earth but it will not bring you joy. Joy is not brought about by material but the immaterial which is the result of security that is only found in a personal relationship with Christ. The money will desert you but God said I will never leave you and not even forsake you. This is a promise of security, one that is secure. One that is guaranteed that you can have now. Love for God will bring you to eternity. In evangelism, there’s that common line that says, “you need to invite Christ in your heart.” But who does the Bible say is making the invitation, us or God. Let’s invite you to God’s Word.
28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Jesus said come to me and He will give you rest.
17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
He is inviting you to follow Him to become fisher’s of men.
4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
He is inviting you to abide in Him. It’s not the other way around where you only abide in Him if He abides in you. Remember you are a follower and He is the leader. You are the creation and He is the creator. He is the head and you are the body.
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
The dwelling place does not come to you, you go to the dwelling place.
1 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
As Jesus was trying to comfort His disciples He is inviting them to believe in Him.
As children of God, we are the ones going to dwell with Him. This is an invitation and a promise.
A contented heart is a heart the is CONSISTENTLY, FULLY, YIELDED TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. When there is a consistent solid signal between smartphones you will not miss a word from each other. What do you usually do when the signal starts breaking up? You adjust! The closer you are to the source of the signal the clearer the reception will be. The moment we move away from the control of the Holy Spirit, we start hearing him less. So you can hear Him clearly you adjust.
The challenge:
12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;
We are to exercise our faith, demonstrate our faith, and we need to do it in a serious manner keeping in mind that we are doing it in obedience to the Lord. That’s what the fear and trembling means. We do it out of love and worship to God.
Contentment in your heart is about the One who is in your heart.
3. A Healthy Body
3. A Healthy Body
In the beginning, it seemed like we were going to neglect the physical aspect totally. God is also practical. It would not be complete if we don’t address the body. God wants us to take care of our bodies. If it were not so then there would be no need for healing.
Remember Jesus was fully human, He clothed Himself with a physical body. He needs to be one of us so we can relate to Him and he can relate with us. Not only that, but God’s plan also required Christ clothed with a human body nailed to the cross followed by a physical resurrection on the third day.
In as much as God gave His Son a human body, He also clothed us with the same flesh.
Check out this post resurrection evidence:
27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
He ate with them:
42 They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish;
What does the Bible say about our body?
What does the Bible say about our body?
Be a steward of your God-made, God-given body.
A temple is sacred and must be treated accordingly, with care and respect.
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
And so is our human body. He created it, when need to take care of it.
31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Part of taking care of it is so that we can glorify Him with it.
13 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; 16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. 17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.
2 Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.
18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,
1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, And whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise.
Eating Habits
Eating Habits
You don’t find long-lasting comfort in food. You eat to live not live to eat.
“Food does not bring us near to God” (1 Corinthians 8:8a).
8 But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat.
You eat to live, you live longer if eat healthy. I’m learning that right now myself specially when I’m older. Slow and aging metabolism plus lock down, recipe for obesity.
You will be what you eat!
You will be what you eat!
8 But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself. 9 Now God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the commander of the officials, 10 and the commander of the officials said to Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has appointed your food and your drink; for why should he see your faces looking more haggard than the youths who are your own age? Then you would make me forfeit my head to the king.” 11 But Daniel said to the overseer whom the commander of the officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 “Please test your servants for ten days, and let us be given some vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 “Then let our appearance be observed in your presence and the appearance of the youths who are eating the king’s choice food; and deal with your servants according to what you see.” 14 So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for ten days. 15 At the end of ten days their appearance seemed better and they were fatter than all the youths who had been eating the king’s choice food. 16 So the overseer continued to withhold their choice food and the wine they were to drink, and kept giving them vegetables. 17 As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom; Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams. 18 Then at the end of the days which the king had specified for presenting them, the commander of the officials presented them before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s personal service.
Bring your anxiety to God not to the table.
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
You are a vessel, a messenger for the Lord. Just like a ship, you need to stay afloat to safely deliver your cargo be it people or cargo. You cannot effectively reach the lost if you a rich in diseases. You cannot operate for the Lord when you are on the operating table.
In as much as we talk about being free from the love of money so also you need to be free from diseases.
27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
Paul is using the metaphor of competition to explain his sacrifice he goes through to win others to faith in Christ. Just like an athlete preparing and partaking in competition he practices self-control in training to win the race. He practices self-control over diet, exercise, sleep, and other behaviors.
Winning the race is not a matter of finishing first but finishing well and that is being able to fulfill the call that God has called you to do. At the finish line is a crown of Christ's recognition for his faithful efforts. He longed to hear the words uttered in Matt. 25:21...
21 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
Today is Mother’s day and leave you this closing verse
31 Give her the product of her hands, And let her works praise her in the gates.