Are You a Mature Woman of God?

What is the role of a mature woman of God? How is she to act? What is her disposition?



Specifically I want to deal with these questions as they pertain to the church and how we as mature Christian women should act as role models. As women who have been in Christ for many years, we should be easily recognized as mature women of God. There should be no behavior that is indicative of us being babes in Christ.

Today, I want to address the issue of gossip. This is not new. I have written about this before. But some subjects need periodical reviewing. It is easy to fall in to this habit and not find our way out of it. If you call yourself a mature woman of God, gossip should never be on your lips.

What is gossip? Here it is by definition: Rumor or talk of a personal, sensational, or intimate nature.
A person who habitually spreads intimate or private rumors or facts. (notice, this doesn't say whether or not the details have to be true or false, it matters not!)


Gossip within the church brings about animosity, hard feelings and divisiveness. The word tells us in Titus chapter 3 verse 10 “Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him.” Anyone being divisive in the church body should be addressed immediately. This behavior is uncalled for and needs to be stopped before it divides the church.

I have had the occasion of seeing mature Christian women in the church teaching the younger newly saved women of the church the wicked art of gossip. In my opinion, this is the absolute worst offense of the gossiper. What we teach those who come after us we will be held accountable for. Not only will our gossip spread like wildfire and destroy many lives, but the gossip that continues on through our line of gossip descendants will also be upon our heads.

Here is what the word of God says that we mature believers should be teaching the newly saved women in our church, notice this list does not include gossip or being divisive:



Titus 2:3-5 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

Here are some more verses about the wicked art of gossip.



Proverbs 16:28 “a dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.”

Proverbs 11:13 “whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.”

Proverbs 6:16-19 “there are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.”

Did you hear that last verse? If you are gossiping you are sowing discord among the brothers and that is something that God hates. Hate is a strong word. Do you really want to be associated with something that God hates?

James 1:26 says this “if anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.”

One hurtful word, one line of gossip can undo all the good that has been done. If you volunteer in church, if you feed the poor, if you love the helpless and the hopeless, and yet you spread gossip all of the former will be forgotten. Gossip is what you will be known by. Divisiveness will be the clothes you wear.

Don’t allow gossip to destroy who you are in Christ. If you find yourself prone to talk about other people do yourself a favor and clamp your lips shut.

Life Coaching...Life Changing

Recently I have had the opportunity to develop a friendship with a wonderful life coach, Terri Babers.



She reigns from the great state of Alaska and has had me journaling about life. My world...meet Terri. Terri, meet my world.

This past week I was prompted to look at the relationships in my life and how they relate to my dreams. I posted the following as a reply. My husband encouraged me to share this post with you all!



"Friendships are extremely important to me. I thrive on interaction and find I get pretty down if I do not have that "certain" friend to chat with.

For the first 6 months or so, after moving to Oklahoma, I felt isolated. I had not yet developed close friendships and while I still maintain my relationships from back home, it just isn't the same from a distance.

My husband and I are careful about who we surround ourselves with. We distanced ourselves from what we call toxic family and friends long ago. Not that we don't love them, we just don't love the impact they have upon us.



My husband is my best friend, my cheerleader and my realist. Although I must say, realist is a stretch as we are both dreamers. We encourage one another in accomplishing our goals and in some ways we are opposites. This keeps us balanced. He is my thinker-through-er and I am his spontaneity. Even with his realist tendencies, he is a dreamer through and through.

When you dream big, when you dream in living 3-D color, not many people understand. Finding people to actually relate to your dream is next to impossible. For a people person like myself, I have found myself associating with people who support me dreaming although they may not understanding the dream itself. They are still encouraging to the point they are a positive influence and not a drain of my energy and my focus."

If you are interested in ten weeks of free journaling with Terri, head to her website.

Here you go:

http://www.positive-changes-coach.com/

Mission Possible

Mark 1: 1-5 In the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, As it is written in the Prophets.

“Behold, I send My messenger before Your face. Who will prepare Your way before You.” The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord, Make His paths straight’.”

John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.”

I want to share today a little something that has been on my heart. I’d like to write about John the Baptist and how the five verses above fit into our lives today.

First, John the Baptist was not a mistake. He was born with purpose. He was born to proclaim the truth. The wilderness he baptized in and preached in was a place of loneliness. There weren’t many hanging out with him. It wasn’t the popular place. It wasn’t the comfortable place.

He was regarded as a freak, as an anomaly. He did not fear man, for he would not have preached repentance. He knew his job and he didn’t let circumstances, lack of money, lack of talent or any other excuse keep him from accomplishing his purpose.

He knew his place. He was in the limelight but a short while and didn’t let the attention go to his head. He never thought of himself more than he ought. His sole purpose was to glorify the Son.

He did not have to chase people down; they went out to him. They knew him and they heard his message.

What do we have in common with John the Baptist?

Well, we are supposed to be preparing the way for the second coming of Christ. The question is, are we?

Each one of us has purpose. We are all supposed to be proclaiming the truth. If we choose to accept our mission, it will be a lonely place, for it is not popular to preach repentance. We will have those that tolerate us, those who disassociate and those who out and out attack us for taking a stand for Christ.

We will be freaks, anomalies. If we choose to fear God instead of man, we will preach the forgiveness of sins, which leads to salvation. Love will have its part in our messages, but it will not be the entire message. We will not know the definition of, nor care about, being politically correct. If we choose to accept our mission, we will do so through every circumstance the enemy is allowed to throw our way. We will face forward, not looking to the left or the right. We especially will not look behind. We will put one foot in front of the other, walking in the direction of our purpose and not let anything sway us or distract us.

We will know our place. We are here to bring Glory to the Father. Period. We only have worth through the blood of Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit will direct those with ears to hear to stand in the path of our message.

So, I’ll ask the question again. What do we have in common with John the Baptist?

Everything. Or nothing. It’s up to you.

In this New Year of new beginnings, will you accept the challenge? Will you go out and prepare the way of the Lord?