Virtuous Daughters

Challenge #31

Good morning my dear girls,

I do pray that these have been a blessing to all of you, as they have been to me.  I have been learning right alongside of you, so although I am the one writing them, I am far from having learned all of these myself.  I still have a far ways to go, but, with His help, we shall continue to grow in Him!

So, shall we begin today’s challenge?  Let’s see what our Father has for us today…

Question #5

“Is talking about the law or doctrine with other women, wrong to do?”

Well, another reason I do not speak about my doctrines on my website is because I do not want to teach another young woman to go against what her father/husband is trying to teach her. I have had a lot of people in my days try to do just that. They try to go behind my father’s back, and try to teach me that what my father is teaching me is wrong. This wasn’t their place. God didn’t give me to them; he gave me to my dad (who by the way, I adore!). They don’t have a command to teach me the things of God, Dad does. So yes, I will say that I believe it is wrong to speak about such things.

Now, let me explain myself here. If someone out of curiosity comes up and asks me what I believe, I have no problem with telling them and explaining why I believe, what I believe. We get this a lot with just how we dress and with keeping the law. I am not trying to teach them here, I am explaining why I do “such and such” of a thing.  Yet, if someone wants to get into a doctrinal conversation with me about why I believe what I believe, and is trying to defeat what Dad is trying to teach, I no longer have any part in it.  I simply will back out graciously or simply tell them that I do not feel this is their job, and I can send them off to dad. J

God has placed me under my father, but He hasn’t just placed me under my father and told my father to “protect” me, girls.  He has also given me a mandate to stay under my father, as well. So, it isn’t just my father’s responsibility, but, it is just as much my responsibility to stay where my father can protect me, as it is my father’s responsibility to protect me.  I have just as much a responsibility to protect that aspect of my relationship with my father, as he does. Do you see what I mean?

Let me try to explain this in relationship to a courtship, as I am sure most of you would be able to understand what I am about to say a little bit better.  We are to be chaperoned, right? This is for our own protection.  So, do we purposefully go out of our way to make it hard on our chaperones to chaperone us? Or, do we purposefully make sure that WE stick in sight of them and WE remain where all can see us (or atleast the person designated to chaperone us)? I dare say; the latter one.  It isn’t their job to be running after us. It would be our job to stay with them.  This is just doing our duty as a courting couple.  This rule wasn’t put in for the other person, but for our own protection and we would have no right to fight against it and make it hard on them. That would just hurt us in the end, not the chaperoning person.  So it is, with our relationships. We are to guard our relationships with our fathers/husbands and what they are trying to teach us. But not only are we to guard our relationships with them, but we are to help them do their job, not make it impossible for them to do it.

And I know this will probably bring up another question about talking to suitors or could be suitors, about what we believe, especially if we don’t agree with our fathers in all that they are teaching (and with our husbands-to-be’s, we would need us to be honest with them, concerning such things), and to this I would say, follow your fathers leadership in this area. If he gives you permission to discuss such things with another, because of the possibility here, then by all means do it, because you now have his blessing in this regard. I am not talking about not talking about how you feel or what you personally believe in a courtship environment, but in an everyday friendship with another woman and/or man. There is certainly a time and a place where I believe you should talk about it, but in general, I think you need to be very careful about this, as there will be a lot of people that will try to tell you that what you are being taught, whether it be by your father or by your husband, is wrong, and you need to guard against that. 

Once again, remember, we were told to follow, they were the ones told to lead.  So, whether we agree with them or not, makes no difference.  We still need to submit joyfully, and back them up, and you can’t do this, by talking to another about what you disagree with them about, as this is NOT backing them up.

How very true this is my dear girls. As I reread through this, I can’t help but nod my head again and again.  I have seen this so much within my own life.  It is SO vitally important for us to stay underneath the authority and head of our fathers (or our husband if we happen to be married)! There is so much protection that comes from that, and it is just as much our job as it is theirs.  Make their life so much easier, by them knowing without a shadow of a doubt, that you are behind them 100% and that they do not have to fear about someone taking their place.

Girls, guard your hearts! And guard your relationship with that dear man! Do not let ANYONE or ANYTHING get between you and your Daddy/Husband! And if something or someone has come between you, and you now find a wall between the two of you, go get that ax and break through that wall and don’t stop until you get through it!

May Yahweh show each of you the blessing of being underneath and guarding that relationship and may He help you break through that wall, if you find yourself on the other side of it.

With all my love,

Your sister, Samantha

Challenge #30

Good morning, my dear girls!

I pray this finds you doing very well and being blessed in your walks with your Saviour. 

Today is a question that I think we need to pay special attention to, as I know in my own life, this one question/answer, has played a huge part in my own life. This is a question, that if not answered correctly, or you do not know the answer to, will get you into more trouble than most anything else.  Why? Because the world (and yes, even “believers”) will encourage you to do something that I believe is very contrary to what Yahweh says and what His divine will for us is, as His daughters.

So please, dear girls, pay close attention. Pray about this one question and ponder in your own heart, what is the right thing to do.  You HAVE to have an answer for this question, so when you are faced with it (and you will be faced with it!), you will be able to stand strong in Yahweh, knowing that you are doing the right thing, even when your friends or the world, tries to tell you otherwise.

Enjoy!

Question #4

“Are we only to learn spiritual matters from our husbands/fathers, because wouldn’t this be taken away the role of the Holy Spirit from out of our life”?

No, I don’t believe it does any harm with that, at all. 

Let me give you another example; I love fathers (and wherever I say fathers, if you are married, you can just as well replace it with husbands) for a certain reason. Well, I love them for a lot of reasons other than this one, but I am going to give you this reason to try to explain my point…and quite honestly, I just LOVE this about them!   I totally and completely agree with the idea that God will lead through our authorities, with or without us. God has placed them over us, and if it is His will that we do a certain thing, He IS going to lead through them, no questions asked.

 Now that that’s said; there has been many a time that I believed God was telling me to do a certain thing. You could say that I believe this was the Holy Spirit talking within me or speaking to me through the scriptures. How can I confirm this?  Yep, you guessed it! I can go to my father (never telling him that I believed this was from God) and ask my father about whatever it was I felt God telling me to do, and ask him to pray about it.  IF, my father comes back and says “yes, I agree, you should do such and such a thing” I know for a certainty that it was from God. IF, my father comes back and says “No, Samantha, I don’t think you should do this” then I know I heard wrong, OR it just isn’t the right time for it. 

There have also been things that I have told my parents about, and at the time, they did not see how it could have been of God.  But, God was still confirming that I did not hear wrong, this was of Him, and His doing. Okay, now what do I do? They said they don’t see that happening now or in the future, yet I have God clearly telling me, that it will.  What should a person do in this situation? I say, WAIT!  Don’t do ANYTHING!  You should put it on the back burner, acknowledging that it was from God, and tell God that “until He tells them and works through them, I am just going to wait on you!”  I have done this I don’t know how many times.  And, if for some reason my father comes to me, and asks me to do something that I think “might” put what God told me in jeopardy, what do I do? I follow my dad’s leadership.

Girls, God will work through our authority! He will work through the chain of command. He won’t tell you to do something and then tell you to disobey His word and go against what they feel or believe.  No. He may indeed tell you something, but we are to wait on Him to work it all out in HIS timing. We can’t just take things into our own hands, just because we heard something from God.  It may not be the right timing, and that may very well be why God has not given them peace about such a thing.  God may still have to show them something before they would ever be able to adopt such a doctrine or whatever the case may be.  We can still acknowledge that God is God and what God has told us. But, we can acknowledge that by obeying God and staying under that authority figure…by submitting to them. For, if we just get up and do whatever we believe is right, and whatever we believe God has told us, we are now going against our authority, and we are now in direct disobedience to God’s word, thus in direct disobedience to God Himself! So, no longer are we now “obeying” God, but disobeying Him.

Let me go one step further. If we believe something differently than our authority, I believe we are not even supposed to talk about it with another. We are supposed to back our authority up, not what we personally believe and they don’t. Either, we don’t talk about it at all, or back what they believe until God changes them, IF, He changes them…remember, we could very well be the ones in the wrong here, not them!

And that brings us to another question… J

But, you’re going to have to wait for that one, until next time! J

May Yahweh richly bless you all and continue to challenge you on in your daily lives and walks with Him!

Samantha

Challenge #29

Good morning, dear beloved girls!

How are you all doing this morning? Are you ready to read more? J I know some of these are a bit long, but still pray that they will bless you, as they have me.  I know just rereading them and refreshing my own mind about these things, has been a blessing, to say the least!  It’s always nice, even if we already know or believe something, to just go back and refresh our memory of them.

So…are you ready for question #3? J  I am!

Question #3

“Are we to learn from other sources other than those over us, in other words, our fathers/husbands?”

 This is a question that I have often had before. All I can do is share with you what I have been doing, and why I have been doing it, as I myself, am still learning in regards to this very subject. But, this is what God has been showing me, in regards to learning from other sources.

 Firstly, what I have been doing right now is to try very, very hard to only read material that I believe my father (as I am unmarried at this time) would not have a problem with, and something I know he most likely will agree with. He doesn’t always read everything that I read (as he doesn’t read all that much, besides his Bible), so this is up to me to do.  But, I even wonder about this at times.

 I will caution you right here that I believe this can be dangerous, which is why I often wonder about it, and if you still choose to read ahead of them, you need to be VERY careful with doing this.  We are easily deceived and easily persuaded.  If our fathers/husbands do not read either along with us or before us, and we read something that sounds great, but really isn’t biblical at all, or in fact, is outright falsehood, and we believe it and go with it, how is he now able to protect and guide us? He can’t.  He has no idea what false doctrines that book has placed in your mind.  Whereas, if he reads it with either you, or before you, he knows what it says, can find out if what it says is true, or false, thus still able to protect and guide you. This is also why I no longer read books concerning other doctrines. I try to stick to books on the topics I need to learn about, like child training, keeping a house, biographies that will inspire and help me in my walk with my Saviour etc., but, something that does not go into detail about different doctrines (especially if I know that they will be against what my father is trying to instill in me).

At the same time, if I find things I don’t know about, or things that it is teaching contrary to my father, I will either put the book down (if I know he doesn’t agree with it) or if I am not sure what he thinks about it, I will go to him and say “Dad, I read this, what do you think?” or something to that extent. This way he now has an opportunity to say “Samantha, what they are saying is wrong and this is why…” thus still able to protect me, and yet at the same time he is now able to teach me why it is wrong.

  The same for the preaching tapes, although I think these can be even more dangerous in a way than can be the books.  My father almost always listens to these before us, as it is a lot easier for him to listen to something, than to read a book. Although, now that he works at home and no longer has a drive to work, it is a bit harder for him to do. But still, he almost always listens to them before we do, or we will listen to these as a family. I pretty much only listen to preaching tapes that I know Dad has approved of, or would approve of. And anyone in our family can tell you that Dad has had to stop them more than once, and explain biblically how the pastor and/or teacher, was off in an area, and why. But, had he not been there with us, he would never have been able to protect us from learning a false doctrine.

I pray this helps and encourages you, girls.  I don’t know about you, but different things like these questions, I have had to honestly go through in my own mind and figure out what I was supposed to do, so when I had another mom ask me about them, I knew I wasn’t the only one dealing with such questions.  This is why I now pass this same question and where Yahweh has brought me, on to you, in hopes that it will help you in your own lives.

Not everyone will believe the same way about things, but I hope to atleast challenge you to stop and think about it and what you should do in your own life, as Godly Daughters. Pray about it and search out what Yahweh would want you to do in your own lives.

*July 2010

Girls, I want to challenge you to also think about something else here, that Yahweh has had me pondering on a lot lately.  How much of our wisdom is coming from books, instead of coming from Him and/or His Word? Have you ever thought about that? When we have a question about something, what is our natural course of action? I dare say, atleast in my own life, it is to find a book on the subject and read it.  Yet, is this really what we as believers ought to be doing? Are we not instead, supposed to get on our knees and ask Yahweh? Are we not supposed to dig into His word to find out what His wisdom would be to us? What He thinks about something, what He has to say about something?

Girls, are we not learning what we should be learning, because we aren’t going to Him? Would we learn more if we simply sought out what He has to say about something, instead of someone else? Are we often being lead astray because of this habit? It is something to consider and pray about.

Also, many of the people we tend to learn from, are they Godly themselves? Are they following His word and what His word says? Are we learning from those who aren’t even following Him? And if so, how are they supposed to lead us in the right way? Again, it is something to think about. These are just some thoughts that I have had going through my own mind.

I know recently, Yahweh asked me to write a book on a certain subject. Never, NEVER in my life have I even considered doing this. Yet, He obviously had. I didn’t and don’t feel capable of writing. But, regardless as to what I think or thought I should do, He had given the command, so I knew that I must submit and do it.  Yet, in all of this, do you know what my first inclination was to do? Pick up a book that someone had written on this subject, and read it! What did they have to say about this subject? Maybe I could learn something from them…I was honestly at a loss about how to even proceed in this project. Yet, you know what Yahweh told me? “Don’t you dare pick up a book on that subject!” He wanted and wants me to come to Him, to be willing to learn from HIM, not someone else! This was HIS book, I was just penning it.

But girls, I tell you this because this is exactly what I am getting at. Do we learn from Him? Or do we put others above Him? Which is the way He would want it to be? I dare say that He longs for us to learn from Him.  Pray about it. Be open to listening to His voice, to tuning into what He is trying to say to you.

Yahweh bless!

Samantha

*Sorry about that, dear girls! It was just brought to my attention that somehow day 15 was never uploaded. I deeply apologize for that! Here it is!

Challenge #15

Greetings dear Girls,

  I pray you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and had a day full of giving Yahweh the glory and praise for what He has done in your life! I know I had a wonderful day and certainly had a lot to be thankful for!

  Today I would like to finish our first verse, which means including both the word “vaunteth” and “puffed up” as I believe they are pretty much the same definitions.  Or atleast, they are very similar to each other and dealing with the same problem.

But, before we go on let’s first reread our verse in 1 Corinthians 13;

1 Corinthians 13:4, “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,” 

Strong’s definition puts the word vaunteth and being puffed up this way:

 1) to boast one’s self

 2) a self display, employing rhetorical embellishments in extolling

    one’s self excessively

2) to inflate, blow up, to cause to swell up

    2a) to puff up, make proud

    2b) to be puffed up, to bear one’s self loftily, be proud

And the Webster’s dictionary puts them like this:

1)    Boast; a vain display of what one is or has, or has done; ostentation from vanity.

1)    Driven out suddenly, as air or breath; blown up; swelled with air; inflated with vanity or pride; praised.

Do you get the general idea, girls? Basically, this verse is saying that if we love each other, we will not have a prideful or vain attitude.  We will not go out of our way to draw attention to ourselves, but instead, we will have a humble spirit.  We won’t do something just to have someone praise us, but instead, we will do it just because we love that person. We won’t show off. 

Girls, have you struggled with being vain and prideful? Have you been doing things only to get the praise from another, or have you been doing things because you know it would truly bless another, even if they never know it is you? Do you only do things that others will take notice of and praise you for? Or, do you live a Godly life, even behind closed doors? What is your life truly like, when no one outside of your family sees you? Do you live a two-faced life, one when around friends, and one when around your family? What about your relationship with Yahweh? Do you serve and love Yahweh (living a life that is pleasing to Him), even behind closed doors, or do you live a life for Him, only when others will notice? What about the way you dress, girls? Do you dress in a pleasing manner to Yahweh, or are you living a life trying to attract attention to ones self and how “beautiful” you are? Are you vain, girls?

As you go about your day today and over this weekend, I want you to be thinking about these questions.  Go before Yahweh and really search out the reasons why you do everything in life.  And remember, if you truly love those around you (and this includes your parents and your God), you will live a life centered on the Messiah and pleasing Him, not the world.

May Yahweh richly bless you this preparation day and reveal to you just why you do, what you do.

Love always,

Samantha

Challenge #28

Good evening dear Girls,

I pray this week finds you doing wonderfully!

As I mentioned in the last challenge, we are going to be going through some questions that another lady had asked, which I thought were some really good questions, and questions that we have either all faced, or will face in the future.  This is why I wanted to share them with you all, in hopes that these questions, as well as answers, will richly bless your life and help you grow even more in your daily walks with your Saviour and help you to know how we as daughters, should act, think and do.

May this question and answer, richly bless you.

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“Will God/the Holy Spirit teach you or show you things ahead of what He will/has shown to your father/husband?”

 Yes, I completely believe this is possible and does happen. This has happened in my own life.  I believe God can, and often does, show you certain things through scripture, but I believe the ultimate decision lies within the father/husband.

 For example; God could show me something through scripture, and I can bring my findings up to my father. Or, I could believe that God would have me to do something, and bring that up to my father (and I am using father here, simply because I am not married, but it could as easily be worded husband, as I believe the husband and father play a pretty similar role in the lives of us women – depending on whether you are married or single). 

So here I am; I bring something up to my father.  I sincerely believe it was from God. I show my father, or tell my father what I believe God has shown me or spoken to me about. My father decides that “No, that would not be wise for you to do”. What do I do then? Do I do it anyways, because I believe it was from God and what God wanted me to do? Do I do what I believe doctrinally was correct, even though my father does not agree with my findings? Absolutely not! God has given us these precious men to guide and protect us.  Is it wrong to share things with them, and to see what their thoughts are, on a matter? Absolutely not! In fact, I believe it is wise to constantly be talking to them (if we do it in the attitude mentioned in Question #1), and seeing where they are, and whether or not we are on the same page, spiritually. This is unity and might I say, how else can we further and help them, if we aren’t even on the same page as they are?

 But, to go against them, even if we are right, is clearly wrong. Why?  We were placed under their authority for them to protect us and lead us, and *we* were commanded to obey *them*.  Not *them* obey *us*. As long as we are willing to still follow them, no matter if they agree with us or not, and are coming to them to learn from them and not to teach them, I think it is a great thing to do!

I will try to explain a little bit farther as to why I believe we are not to just to “do what we believe” but instead, “do what they believe”.

Hebrews 13:17 “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”

 We were told to submit to them, and that submission is a yielding of one’s will, to resist no longer… in other words, submission is not agreeing with something another is having us do, but we are choosing to do it, regardless as to what we feel (in other words, we disagree with them, but are doing it anyhow). This is submission. Submission is not doing something that we agree with. In order to submit, it implies it is something that we do NOT agree with.  Below is a definition for submission that the Strong’s Concordance gives:

 5226 hupeiko {hoop-i’-ko}

 from 5259 and eiko (to yield, be “weak”);; v

 AV - submit (one’s) self 1; 1

1)     To resist no longer, but to give way, yield (of combatants)

2)    To yield to authority and admonition, to submit

Now I would like to pull something else out of this verse. Let’s read this verse again.

Hebrews 13:17 “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”

You see here, it is not us that must give account for ourselves. And with this I am talking about doctrinally. We will certainly all be held accountable for our salvation, walks with God, and how we act etc. But God put the men in charge of us concerning where we go doctrinally, and we were told to follow them. Thus, if they are wrong in an area and lead the family in the wrong direction, we are then protected, because we are following our head of authority like we were commanded to. We are not to step out and do our own thing, because we believe we will be judged, if we don’t. God will judge the man for where he is/has brought his family. I don’t believe we will be held responsible for this at all. It is those God has placed over us; they will ultimately be the ones that will be asked to give account for us. But, in order for them to be able to do this, we MUST obey them and not only obey them, but follow and back them where God has and is bringing them.

There will be times that, yes, we will be in the right.  But, God does not call us women to stand up for that rightness. No, instead He calls us to sit silently back, and pray and let Him work in their lives. 

Look at the chain of authority. It is God-Man-Women-Children.  Just like we are to submit and obey the man, they are to submit and obey God, and if they do not, God will deal with them personally. We don’t have to get in the way. In fact, when we do stand up, we are getting in the way of God dealing with them, because now we are standing in God’s way. Do you see how this works?

Another example would be: If a 9 year old child comes to a parent, with something they believe, and the parent disagrees, what should they do? Do they have the right, to do it anyways? Of course not! Think of it as a two year old now.  They want to go outside, but Mom says “no”.  They may very well feel like they ought to. Now what should they do? Obey and submit, of course!  The same is for us as women. Nowhere in scripture, is the process of submission different, just because of the age difference.  The only thing that has changed is just who has to submit. God doesn’t give age ranges for obedience, He just tells us to submit and obey.

 We are protected, as long as we stay where God put us…and that is under the man.

 Let me share something from my own life and what I have done about it. There have been many, many times that I have felt God telling me something, showing me something. I have battled with what to do with that feeling. I had a choice. I could totally come out from under the protection that God has given me…my hedge and my head…or…I could sit back and follow the authority that God has placed over me, and just leave it all up to God to show them differently, if indeed, they were the ones in the wrong.

Let me share with you my choice…my decision. I decided that I would stay under God’s chain of authority; regardless as to what I felt was right or wrong, and would back that authority figure, my father.

Girls, I have been SO incredibly blessed because of this decision! I have been spared things that I now realize I was wrong in, not them. God has also shown things to my father that he was wrong in, and I had been right in. And I didn’t have to do a thing! God doesn’t need us, my sisters! That is something that is a powerful thing for us to learn. He doesn’t need us to work in our parents/husbands hearts and teach them, nor does He need us to stand up for the right, and prove to them, what is right. This job was never given to us. This job is God’s, and we need to leave the teaching up to Him.

1 Timothy 2:11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.

1 Timothy 2:12-14 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.

Notice here that this was not referring to the church. It was “you are not to teach or command a man” period BECAUSE, you are easily deceived, and the man is not.

Romans 13:1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

Romans 13:2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

God didn’t tell us to be subject unto them IF we agree! He told us to be subject (to submit) to them regardless, unless we have completely clear BLACK AND WHITE, no questions asked, ground to stand on.  Obviously, we are not to murder and things like that. Those are clear black and white things. 

But, I will also say that even if we are told to do things like these, we are not suppose to do it in a “I know better than you” attitude. We are to do so in an honoring, loving manner, explaining to them meekly why we can not obey them. So even when we do stand up for the things that God has clearly said we are to do, (and again I mean things that there is no possible way on earth, that we could be wrong in), we are to still do it in a lowly, meekly, kind of why.

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May this richly bless you, my dear girls!  Think about it…pray about it.

Yahweh bless,

Samantha