Monday, January 23, 2012

Equipping Young Women

My heart is for women’s ministry, but especially for the younger women even into the high school/middle school years. We are losing our girls to Satan’s teachings, which is making it more and more difficult to win them when they get older. He has been able to get a hold of their mindsets from a very early age. And many churches are not teaching some of these concepts today. They’re assuming they’re being taught in the home.

This world has striped women of who they really are. They’ve turned what God made unique and beautiful into something ugly and repulsive. They are taught there’s no difference between girls and boys. They’re told having the desire to be a stay-at-home Mom is lowering their standard and showing weakness. That being feminine is old fashioned and selfishness should be their main goal in life.

Tit 2:1  But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:
Tit 2:2  That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.
Tit 2:3  The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
Tit 2:4  That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
Tit 2:5  To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

I believe these scriptures are even more important today. Verse 1 indicates that the following things will lead us toward sound doctrine. If we don’t have these foundations in this life, it’s much more difficult for the sound doctrines to take hold. And that’s what, hopefully, we all want for one another.

Just because someone is a Christian woman, doesn’t mean she isn’t holding to some of the world truths over God’s. We all may need to ask God to reveal to us any untruth we still believe and guide us into replacing that with the real truth.

If we are fighting against the very thing we were created for, how on earth will we be able to truly live out the sound doctrines, to make them a part of our being, especially, if our being, even part of it, is defined by the world. The world has bombarded us with evolution. It’s even in the cartoons being watched. What does evolution teach us about our worth? What were we created for – oh, wait we weren’t created for anything. There is no purpose for life in evolution.

Look at verse 3….. “aged women.” Hmmm, that doesn’t say pastor’s wife or preacher’s wife, it says “aged women.” We all need to be mentoring these young women for God. We need to be a confidant, approachable, loving and compassionate. You might be surprised at how many young women deep down are longing for someone to come along side them and show them a better way.

I taught 11th and 12th grade girls in the California public school system. These were girls from difficult homes and different cultures. They knew who I was and what I stood for, but they’d still come to me for my opinion on how they were living their life. It seemed they just wanted someone… anyone to hold them to a higher standard. And they didn’t pull any bunches. They asked me about sex, pregnancy, boys, college, etc, knowing pretty much that some of the things they were doing in their life I wasn’t going to approve of and I told them why. You would have thought they would have rolled their eyes or stormed off, but they kept coming back to me. When I left, they gave me a surprise going away party and used their own money to buy me little gifts. That touched my heart so much. To this day I still pray for many of them and hope they’re doing great things.

I was told by other teachers in this school that I was going to have lots of problems. That at the beginning of school I should just go ahead and kick this one and that one out or my school year was going to be awful. That really made me upset that this teacher did this. Every one of these girls just needed a chance. They needed someone who believed in them and expected more from them, and approached them in a truly loving and caring way. Whenever I get discouraged, I think of that year with those girls. You know, those terrible, awful girls who were going to make my first year of teaching the worst year ever, because they made it one of my favorite years ever. They still give me the strength to keep up the fight and keep going. Who knew I’d walk away with a lesson too.

By the way, just before I left that school, that teacher who came to me at the beginning of the year ticking off names on my list of girls to get rid of, apologized and said I taught her how to teach again, how to love the kids and appreciate them for who they are and get to know them. You can’t just apply a brush to people and apply the same rules and standards because they’re individuals. They deserve individual attention.

So it’s more than just teaching these girls. It’s equipping them to stand. We need to equip these young women with the tools to be able to stand when they’re on their own, when they’re up against friends and family. Practical applications are a must for them. Showing them, literally showing them, the difference between what they were made for and what the enemy has convinced them of. One is beauty and stability and one is ugliness and selfishness. We all know living selfishly is trying and draining. There’s no hope, there’s no love and there’s no joy in it. But living for others, living for God, brings an abundance of all of those: hope, love and joy. There’s true happiness living God’s way, because it’s the right way. It’s what we’ve been designed for.

There is so much in these verses that we just don’t have time to pick them apart today. If you have a desire to win your young women back to the Lord, you must first ask God to prepare you. You need to get rid of any judgmental attitudes and be willing to not be shocked, but to be loving. Then pray that the Lord bring them to you and He will. Remember even if only 1 comes, then she’s the 1 God brought to you.

3 comments:

  1. Sharing this with my friends!

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  2. This is great! Thank you for sharing! The other thing I always think too, is that 'aged women' aren't always old :) Some women have alot of life experience at a very young age! I love what you're doing here! Keep at it!

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  3. Hi, I saw your blog listed in one of your e-mails. Thanks for sharing - I appreciate what you wrote. We enjoyed coming to your church and sharing the Creation ministry and going to Sharis afterward. Thanks for inviting us. Also, thank you for being an encouragement to women through your blog.

    Beth Finkbeiner from the Tri-Cities

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