Godly Women

A Bittersweet Ending - The Women of The New Testament

10:00 AM



As we come to the end of our study of the women in the New Testament, I find it bittersweet. For I have so enjoyed these women and their incredible testimonies of faith and devotion to God. It’s been a privilege for me to write their stories, share their emotions, and dig into each of their lives. And as we say good bye, I thank them for their godly examples, inspiring legacies, and womanly wisdom, which I will forever carry in my heart. 

These women lived centuries ago, yet their stories are still relatable to us, the women of today. For as the mothers and daughters of old, they too felt the same sadness and joy, hopes and dreams, and trials and tribulations. Sometimes their stories only consisted of a sentence or two in the Bible, yet their lives will forever be held up as pillars of inspiration to women everywhere. For in a society where women had far less value than a man, they showed God’s equal and unconditional love for us all. He knows our value, and calls each of us for mighty purposes and plans. And when God called, these business women, teachers, missionaries, and evangelists, answered. 


Before we go, I want to give an honorable mention to a young servant girl named Rhoda. She has always had a soft spot in my heart. When God released Peter from jail, he returned to the house of Mary, mother of John Mark. And when he knocked at the gate, Rhoda was the one who answered. I love how in her excitement she left Peter standing right where he was. I want to be like Rhoda, excited and full of faith. I want to pray expectantly to our Heavenly Father, and be filled with joy when those prayers are answered. A great reminder to us all that when we are bound by chains and all gates are shut, the gate to God through prayer is always open and through Him, all things are possible.


I hope you enjoyed our study as much as I, and I look forward to when we start up again with studying the women of the Old Testament. Until then may God bless us richly, and I pray we take the examples of these amazing women and apply their hard learned lessons in our own lives! And as we enter this most Holy of weeks, may we remember the love Jesus had not only for these women, but for the world as He sacrificed everything to give us eternal life. To Him alone goes the glory! 




Angie Benjamin

On being a good neighbor {Luke 10}

3:21 AM




We read in today’s passage (Luke 10) that Jesus was asked what the most important commandment was, to what He responded that the greatest commandment is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind" and the second to "love your neighbor as yourself".  Jesus was then immediately asked who counts as a neighbor and he responded with a parable, or a story lesson that is an example for everyday life. 
The story of the good Samaritan is the story of a man who had been beaten, robbed and left for dead. It is of a story that must have been familiar to Jesus' hearers for it was common for thieves and muggers to hide along the road between Jerusalem and Jericho. A priest and a Levite coming across the beaten man but didn’t want to help. I believe they might have had some excuses (and some of them quite understandable), such as:
"This road is too dangerous for me to stop and help the man."

"He might be a decoy for an ambush."

"I've got to get to the temple and perform my service for the Lord."
"I've got to get home and see my family."
"Someone really should help that man."
"If I'm going to serve at the temple I can't get my clothes bloody."
"I don't know first aid."
"It's a hopeless case."
"I'm only one person; the job is too big."
"I can pray for him."
"He brought it on himself, he should have never been alone on such a dangerous road."
"He never asked for help"


Instead, it is a Samaritan, (one despised in Jewish society), who had mercy and compassion upon the beaten man and went out of his way (even at personal cost to himself) to see that this man is healed and taken care of.

Some few great lessons we can all learn from the story:

1. The good samaritan was willing to get involved.
We may quote scripture and recite platitudes on love and God, but unless we are willing to get involved in other people’s lives, we are only blowing smoke. The Samaritan treated and bandaged the wounds. He set the injured man on his donkey. He took him to an inn and cared for him throughout the night. The Samaritan could have said to himself, “I give regularly to my church.  I donate to the Salvation Army every Christmas. I have done my part.” But he didn’t. As the scriptures say, he had compassion...and he acted on it.
2. The good samaritan ignored racism.
Even though he was considered a “despised Samaritan,” or part of a minority race” he rose above such shallowness to care for a fellow human being. I compare the Samaritan’s actions to an American 19th century slave showing compassion to a plantation owner or a Jewish prisoner demonstrating concern for a Nazi guard during WWII.

3. The good samaritan was generous.
The Samaritan didn’t know how long the injured man would be laid up, but I am guessing (because the text said the attack left him “half dead”), that it could be a long stay. At any rate, the wellbeing of this stranger was more important to our Good Samaritan than whatever the cost might be.

Jesus was showing that if you really want to be a neighbor to people then it is also to those that you normally don’t want to help (Samaritan’s and Jews despised each other). 

It is easy to be a neighbor to your own friends and those close to you. What about those that you don’t normally like? It is easy to turn a blind eye but Jesus was showing that true love is like that of the Samaritan who loved and helped even those they normally stay away from.
I pray that the story of the Good Samaritan change our  thoughts and actions towards people who are not like us! God tells us to love everyone without discrimination!

Blessed weekend sisters!
In Christ
Angie

2020 Women in the Word

Walking in Wisdom - Bible Study (January 6th)

4:18 PM


Hi ladies! I pray that you all had a very blessed holiday! With Christmas behind us our attention now turns to not merely a new year, but the new decade ahead! And if you’re like me, a new year means time to take stock of the past and set goals for the future. 

First on my list is to grow closer to the Lord and dive deeper into His Word. If you too share this same desire, I hope you’ll join our study through the New Testament entitled, “Walking in Wisdom”,  starting January 6. 

Each morning Monday through Friday one of our writers will post her message on the reading of the day and encourage you to share your thoughts, questions, experiences, and anything else you feel led to share. Saturday we’ll have Scripture to memorize, and Sunday a reading plan for the upcoming week will be posted. 

I love the quote, “January 1 is the first blank page in a 365 page book, so write a good one!” Here at Women in the Word, we are so excited to worship, learn, grow, laugh, and cry together as women across the world who love the Lord. So join us as we fill in the pages of our book of 2020! ❤️


Join our Bible study at:


Here is the link to the Bible study reading plan we will be following:

2020

Challenges for 2020!

10:52 AM

It's Time for The Big Reveal for 2020!

Hi Everyone!!

I am so excited about what we'll be doing in 2020!! Have you realized that we're getting set to embark not only on a new year, but a new decade!!?

Once I realized that, the pressure was on to make next year's study something really special, and I think we've done just that! We're offering not one, but two challenges for 2020 and both are things we've never done before!!

The first challenge will be to read through the New Testament; Monday through Friday chronologically! We'll begin with Dr. Luke and his first book named after him and then move into his second book - The Book of Acts. Only then, as we're going through Acts, we'll jump off into other books. For example, as we read about Paul imprisoned in Rome, we'll then jump to the letters he wrote there while in prison! 

It will be as though we're traveling through the First Century! 

Does that sound exiting to you? It does to me too! Our new journey will begin here on the blog and on Women in the Word Facebook group on Monday, January 6, 2020. 

And if that wasn't enough, we've also added a second challenge for 2020! 

Our second challenge for 2020 is to memorize Jesus' entire Sermon on the Mount that's found in Matthew, chapters 5, 6 and 7! We'll be meditating and memorizing on two verses each week and will have gone through the entire sermon by the end of 2020. 

Even if you're not into hiding His Word in your heart, I hope you'll be excited to meditate on this special part of Scripture throughout the year!

Sandra will be posting our verses to work on each week on Saturdays and Sundays will be dedicated to worship and prayer. 

That's our year in a "nutshell" only we still have one problem.... A Name! We still haven't come up with the perfect name for our study!! We've had some great suggestion and I think it's time we put it to a vote! 

If you'd like to cast your vote you can join us over at Women in the Word to make your vote count!

Here are some of the great suggestions so far:

1.) Fully Pleasing Him
2.) Seeking the Knowledge of God
3.) Walking in Wisdom 
4.) Walking in the Light of His Word
5.) Seeking His Favor in 2020

We'd love to hear your thoughts! But whatever the title will be, I'm fairly confident that it's going to be an exciting year and study! And I hope you'll join us!!

Blessings,
sue

Angie Benjamin

Guilt Free Life {Revelations 12:1-14:20}

1:35 AM





Revelation 12:10 New International Version (NIV)


Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:“Now have come the salvation and the power    and the kingdom of our God,    and the authority of his Messiah.For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,    who accuses them before our God day and night,    has been hurled down.



Has it happened to you? Do you often fall into the trap of thinking you are the worst person on the face of the earth and that nobody else does the things that you do?

Romans 3:23 says that WE HAVE ALL fallen short of the glory of God (excellence). This means that every man, woman or child that was ever born or will ever be has a problem with sin. But the GOOD NEWS is that God provided and answer to our problem.

Just as we have all sinned, we have been justified and made righteous through the redemption provided through Christ, as a result, as believers in Jesus we now have the "rightness" instead of the "wrongness".

Satan wants us to feel wrong, unworthy and like helpless messes. He knows that without confidence we will never step out in faith to fulfull God destinies for our lives. He wants to keep us captives in the prison of self-hatred, self-rejection to prevent us from making progress or even being a thread to him and his kingdom of darkness.

We must believe we have made righteous in God's eyes, so we may actually start behave rightly. Believe it first, so you can live it. For we cannot produce the fruit of something for which no seed as been sown.

2 Corinthians 5:21 New International Version (NIV)
God made him who had no sin to be sin[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.



Satan is called "the accuser". He tries to make us feel guilty and condemned. When we feel like that we must remember that God does not make us feel that way, instead, God wants us to experience His love and feel the freeing power of His forgiveness.
Guilt depresses us and makes us feel as we're under a heavy burden. But Jesus came to lift us up and to bring the good news that our sins... all of them have been forgiven and forgotten!
Resist the guilt and condemnation by embracing the salvation and authority of Christ in your life!!