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Part 1 of this article in the Christian Woman Spiritual Growth series ended with these questions:
Whom will you believe?
Do you abide in unbelief?
Looking more closely at the Biblical meanings of these words may help clarify this Christian article:
| Greek Word |
Definition:
Believe, Belief |
Greek Word |
Definition:
Unbelief |
pistos
(4103) |
|
apistos
(570) |
- not worthy of confidence or belief
- unfaithfulness, faithless
- want of faith
- weakness of faith
|
pisteuo
(4100) |
- to be persuaded of
- to place confidence in
- to trust
- reliance upon
- not mere lip service
|
apeitheia
(453) |
- the condition of being unpersuadable
- obstinate rejection of the Will of God
|
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WHERE
IS
YOUR
BELIEF
GROUNDED?
|
What a Christian woman believes either frees her or binds her.
The Source of her belief can establish her on the firm Foundation, the solid Rock, freeing her to walk in the Spirit.
Or the source of her belief can place her on sinking sand which will bind her as she descends deeper into teachings that keep her from moving forward in liberty and love.
Therefore no one will be declared
righteous in his sight
by observing the law;
rather, through the law
we become
conscious of sin.
But now a righteousness from God,
apart from law,
has been made known,
to which the Law
and the Prophets testify.
This righteousness from God
comes through
faith in Jesus Christ
to all who believe. ~Romans 3:20-22
|
Where do you place your trust, your confidence, your belief?
In Christ, the solid Rock? In man’s interpretations of the Word? In institutions? In moral codes or self-ways?
Ask these questions prayerfully to the Lord and learn to hearken to His Voice. Let Him guide you through the many messages you are receiving to discern the answer to these questions for your own personal life; He will not forsake you.
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HOW
HAVE
YOU
RESPONDED
EXTERNALLY?
|
Do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that by testing you may discern what the will of God is,
that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
~Romans 12:2
|
As a Christian woman is being firmly established in Christ, she will be given many opportunities to respond to His will for her life.
His Will encompasses two broad principles which she can either believe or reject based on her response to the circumstances and relationships in her life:
- Be holy, sanctified, sexually pure.
For this is the will of God,
your sanctification;
that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality.
~I Thessalonians 4:3
- Give thanks in all things.
In everything give thanks;
for this is God’s will for you
in Christ Jesus.
~1 Thessalonians 5:18
|
Clarification
The article does not address the sovereign Will of God* but examines more closely some aspects of the Will God reveals to us in His Word.
~~~~~~~~~
The secret things belong to
the Lord our God
[Sovereign Will of God]
but the things that are revealed belong to us.
[Revealed Will of God]
~Deuteronomy 29:29
~~~~~~~~~
*His sovereign control of all that comes to pass.
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Generally speaking,
the Will of God is that we
no longer live in the flesh.
To live…no longer for the lusts of men,
but for the Will of God.
~1 Peter 4:2
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A Christian woman whose mind is not being renewed—but instead is foundationally building on sinking sand—often chooses to live within images that please man.
She may distort the Word and find prideful self-contentment in her seemingly “super-spiritual” prayer life or faith, lifestyle, occupation, identities and roles, or remain ensnared in other damaging images.
An abiding Christian woman
whose mind is being renewed
will begin to find
matchless contentment in Christ
despite overwhelming circumstances
and disappointing relationships.
|
But the Holy Spirit, Who renews the mind, will give a Christian woman who is willingly being sanctified a new breadth and depth of understanding of the Word—from His Spirit to hers (I Corinthians 2:12-14)—and His anointing will lead her to abide (1 John 2:27).
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Her response to the Spirit’s promptings in external obedience opens her heart to internal transformation.
Examples:
Marriage
Parenting
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HOW
HAVE
YOU
RESPONDED
INTERNALLY?
|
As you are praying for a renewed mind that will transform you, examine the areas of unbelief that manifest in your life. For example,
- Do you believe that His Hand orchestrated the circumstances that will transform you?
- Do you believe He will move you from the darkness of death (separation from Him) to the newness of Life (communing with Him)?
- Do you believe He loves you?
|
Absence of gratitude with regard to our present compels us to change it rather than
be transformed by it.To Be Told
Dan B. Allender, Ph.D.
|
|
This book offers practical, Biblical counsel to help you assess where you abide. The author encourages you to dwell in your reality and rejoice!
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As the Spirit renews your mind, hearken to the message God has for you related to any areas of unbelief in which you abide.
The testing/proving identified in Romans 12:2 is the assessing of your inner condition as you respond to life’s circumstances and relationships.
As you are tested, your response will reveal to you if His Life fills you.
If His Life indeed does fill you, you will respond to the Lord’s child training in your life within the Will of God—with holiness, thankfulness, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness (not unbelief), and self-control.
The hidden person of the heart is precious in the sight of God (I Peter 3:4). That hidden Person is Christ (Colossians 3:3), and Christ is very, very precious to the Father.
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As we abide moment by moment,
we will fellowship with the Father
around the Son
through the Spirit.
This is worship!
As you continue to abide in Christ and obey God without compromise, He will release you to much liberty related to your everyday choices.
You will find this parallel as you release your own steadfast children.
What they do will not matter to you as much as who they are in Christ.
Your Father-God also gives you much liberty to do, as you abide, and rejoices in who you are and are becoming in Christ, His precious Son, your Savior and now your Lord.
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Once a Christian woman finds matchless contentment in Christ, as she carries out the revealed Will of God through obedience, she will be able to apply Biblical truth to new situations not explicitly addressed in the Word.
- Which house should l buy or should I buy a house?
- Whom should I marry?
- What should I eat for breakfast? lunch? dinner?
Most of the everyday decisions we need to make are not explicitly addressed in Scripture. But as a Christian woman’s renewed mind becomes governed by the revealed Will of God and she obeys Him in her conduct, her life reflects His Will and her discernment grows because
self-ways are dying and
His Life floods hers.
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Pray for the renewed mind that will transform you
so that when you are bumped,
what spills out from your heart will be the
good and acceptable and perfect Will of God—
the hidden Person of Christ living in you!
If you have come loose from being grafted to the Vine and are no longer abiding, no longer receiving the vigor of His Life in yours, Part 3 of this series offers hope.
Lord,
through willingness and obedience in our personal conduct,
as you chasten us and release us from our unbelief,
lead us by Your Spirit
to abiding in Christ Jesus, our Savior and also our Lord.
I do believe;
help my unbelief.
~Mark 9:24b
Other articles in this “Spiritual Growth of a Christian Woman” series:
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