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The world preaches "self esteem", but the believer should base his/her
self-worth on the basis of what God has said about him/her. Part of the problem
we face when we're dissatisfied with self, is that no matter how "good" you do,
it's never "good enough". The bible teaches that "godliness with contentment is great gain" and this
really applies to self. Creating contentment is a work of faith. You
don't necessarily feel or look your best, but you speak contentment by faith
knowing words are seeds. If you sow seeds of discontentment you will reap
discontentment. If you sow words of contentment, you will reap
contentment. Then you begin to speak what the bible says about you.
"I am the righteousness of God in Messiah", "I can do all things
through Messiah which strengtheneth me" and so on.
This is not to say that we shouldn't endeavor to improve self, but to always
be content with where we are at the time so that the goal doesn't become
unreachable.
Let's look at how the world judges women. First you will notice that
it's always the external woman that they focus on first. "Be thin", "Look
sexy", "Get rid of unsightly hair" and the list goes on. So some young man
marries a woman who is thin, sexy and has no unwanted unsightly hair, but she
has no character, no strength. In no time the woman is obsessed with
keeping herself thin, sexy and free of hair. Her husband takes a back
burner to all her external obsessions. God through the apostles and other
men and godly women spoke of the virtuous
woman, and proclaimed that beauty is fleeting and vain, but a woman of character was
one a man could trust in.
Our focus should be on the internal spirit of self. We are spirits, we
have minds (souls) and we live in bodies. Focusing primarily on the temporary
dwelling place we call the body is rather fruitless. We fool ourselves if
we think the aging process isn't going to take its toll. At the same time
if we totally focus on the soul or the mind, will and emotions we do our
spirit-man and body a disservice. There is a perfect order, and it comes
out in 3 John 2 "Beloved, I pray above all things that thou may prosper and
be in health even as thy soul prospers". Here is the perfect
order. Let me illustrate.
I will add
things to this page as I am lead by the Holy Spirit.
 | Power Up. The first priority of every woman should be time alone with the Father in
the word, in prayer and in fasting. The jobs of wife and mother require more
than just talents and knowledge. They require that the spirit-man be
fed. We are spirit, we have a soul (mind, will and emotions) and we
live in a body. If you don't feed your spirit, your soul or body will
take the pre-eminence and cause problems. We were created to have
dominion on this planet, and this huge task can not be done by either
thought (will power) or by bodily strength alone. The spiritual woman
keeps her spirit fed and allows the Holy Spirit to rule and reign over
emotions and over the body.
 | Emotions such as anger, fear, sorrow, grief, despair, and any other
negative expressions of mind, will or emotions have to be controlled by
the Holy Spirit ruling and reigning in our lives. This takes time
and discipline. When negative thoughts seek to overthrow your
spiritual thoughts (thoughts in line with God's word) you need to resist
them. I speak to thoughts of fear and say "I resist you
fear". In the beginning it seemed that I was saying this more
than just about anything, but today fear doesn't have much of a chance
in my thought life. Emotions are natural expressions of the body and
soul. They will "naturally" come out depending upon your
situations. As a spirit lead believer our spirit should have
superiority. Expressions of spirit are called "fruit of the
spirit". We are told in Galatians 5:22-23 that the fruit of
the spirit is "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."
When a person's spirit is in charge rather than his/her soul or body the
expression of his/her spirit will be these things. It takes
practice, discipline to develop your spirit self. Your flesh has
had control more years than your spirit self, so you in effect have to
retrain your senses. When you want to thump a person for treating
you poorly, the fruits of the spirit of spirit of longsuffering,
self-control and love can help you overcome the desire to
"react." |
 | Your body: You should remember that your body is like an
earth suit. Without it you would have no authority to live on this
planet. When you slough it you will leave this planet. We are
told (Romans 12) to make our bodies living sacrifices as a reasonable
service to God. A rudimentary study of sacrifices in the Tanakh
will give you a deeper understanding of what is required of a
"living" sacrifice. Isaiah 53 tells us that Yeshua was a
sacrifice and gives a really good picture of how to present your
body. Too many of us let our "earth suits" speak.
Whether in appetite or in pain, our bodies have way too much say in how
we conduct our everyday lives. Our flesh is enmity with our spirit
person and is subject to the spirit. Your flesh can be retrained
to take it's subordinate place with discipline and time with the Father. |
 | Your mind: Just because you're out of school and married
or dedicated to the L-rd doesn't mean you should
quit growing. 3
John 2 says "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul
prospers". NKJV Your soul is made up of your mind, will and
emotions. If your soul doesn't grow you can't prosper and your
can't be in health. The first way to expand your mind is to read
the word and meditate on what it says. Then you look for ways to
do what it says. We're also told that we're to guard our hearts.
Your heart is your spirit. Many people will read anything, or
watch anything that comes on TV. We have the freedom in Yeshua, but not everything is good for us. Let
me illustrate again. Let's say you're believing to be free of
fear. You speak the word, you trust God, you love your neighbor
and you shun sin, but you watch every news broadcast that comes
on. Oh yes, your favorite TV programs are about policemen,
firemen, crime fighters of every kind and maybe a mystery or two thrown
in for good measure. The next thing you know you have a new fear in a
new area and no matter how much faith you exert, it seems
fruitless. You've simply overthrown your faith with too much time
dedicated to your desire to watch TV. "Out of the abundance
of the heart the mouth speaketh". You've filled your thoughts
with one thing and are trying to speak something else. No
success. This is where fasting comes in. Fasting can be
food, fasting can be doing without anything that has too much control
over YOU. You use your spirit to discipline your mind and
body. Fasting is "Just saying NO".
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