His Excellency wrote about a woman of excellence because he was raised by an excellent woman. The only way a baby boy becomes an excellent king, by God’s definition, is to have noble parenting by both dad and mom.
Women don’t understand how critical their role is – not only to the family but to the world. Mothers have a hands-on ministry with their children from the moment they are found in their womb to the day they die. I remember talking to God about our four married children. The Lord said, “You aren’t done raising them yet.” Our children are all walking with the Lord but they still need our counsel, prayers, teaching and encouragement.
As wives and mothers who are “in Christ” we should understand what the Lord’s people will be doing when He returns for His thousand year reign on earth so we will make, not only ourselves ready for the Lord, but our children ready for their positions and purpose in that Day of the Lord. Now if husbands and wives will get this, they will get all.
Beloved, “in Christ” all things belong to us; eternal life, the nations, present things, future things, the new world of Christ’s coming Kingdom – it all belongs to the faithful in Christ. Knowing this, how should we think and live NOW? We need to stop running wild, get rid of our idols, offer ourselves to the Lord and get busy doing the will of our Father.
We are in what Jesus and His prophets called the “intense and rapid birth-pains” of something to come into the world. The Great Tribulation of anti-Christ’s reign is coming but so is Jesus Christ coming again at just the right time and exactly like He said He would come, as Conqueror and King over all, but until He does there are things we need to do and be prepared for as His people who long for His Kingdom to come.
The Holy Spirit has made sure that each generation of Christ’s faithful church has believed that He would return in their generation so that each generation would be ready and prepared. Much of the church today is not ready for the Lord; not prepared for His coming because they honestly don’t believe the Lord will return in their generation. When the Lord’s people believe this (in any generation) they slack off and begin to live for themselves. They just keep doing what they’ve always done (religious traditions) under the delusion that God would never let them suffer.
Jesus is the Father of His churches, but most churches are without their Head and it’s why there is so much disagreement and disunity among the Lord’s people today. We have not truly represented the Lord on this earth as we were meant to and so we are weak and sickly instead of healthy, tough, feared and prevailing with our God-given duties.
It is said that Solomon’s mother nick-named him Lemuel which means “devoted to God.” The name Solomon means “consecrated to God.” This implies she was a humble praying woman; a woman who listened to God’s Spirit and trusted in God’s design and laws of orderly living. God highly favors this woman’s prayer life and the wisdom behind her mothering and teaching.
What makes a woman a woman of “excellence?” She thinks highly of herself but in a humble way. She works to bring out the best in people, especially her family. She conducts herself as one who has advantage and worth from God. She goes out of her way to make things right and comfortable in her home for her family. She takes her God-given responsibilities seriously, but doesn’t let any failure stop her or crush her persevering spirit. She doesn’t do anything half-hearted because (as my husband says), “if it’s worth doing – then it’s worth doing right.”
No matter what she does she strives for excellence. She does not overlook little things or consider small things insignificant. She does not compromise and she does not give over her duties to any others for hire or otherwise because it all reflects who she is, and she reflects God’s household of excellence.
It will take God’s most-excellent women to make noble men and women that are prepared and ready to reign with Christ Jesus. When we look out over our chaotic sinful world today we should be compelled and highly motivated as wives and mothers to get back to living as the Word of God commands us to live. A marriage, church or nation’s blessings from God will only be received by adhering to God’s standard, the standard that has never changed.
To be a woman of excellence takes courage, and in today’s world especially. Without confidence in what God requires of a woman (wife, mother, grandmother – caregiver or manager of any sort) she will not achieve her pinnacle of womanhood, nor succeed in all she is fully capable of in God’s coming Kingdom.
Years ago I had a hotel maid return to my room with a necklace she had worn to work that day, not knowing why she felt the great urge to wear it but sensing that God wanted her to wear it that day for some reason. She had never worn it to work before. A she made up my room and I worked on my computer – we got to chatting and found out that we were both Christians. Of course that opened the moment up to a new friendship based on our love for Jesus. She returned an hour later after cleaning my room with the necklace she had worn to work that day. She told me that God told her to give me her “courage necklace.” She was so thrilled to give that special necklace of hers to me. It was hard for me to accept it. As she put it around my neck I wondered what God was telling me in this ‘obvious’ divine moment.
At that time in my life I was trying to fit in with what the Pastor’s wife wanted me to do for her ministry to the women in the church. There is nothing wrong with helping the pastor’s wife minister to the women in your church, but it is wrong to ‘not’ ask the Lord what He would have you do with gifts and talents He gave you to serve HIM with. Not all pastors are serving Christ. Many serve their own pride and glory. We need to be wise and discerning when it comes to what we do within the structure of an organized church because most churches today are not striving with Christ’s Spirit for what they should be doing as a church.
It takes courage to tell a pastor that you can’t do what they would like you do for them, especially after they have flattered you with their observance of you. It takes courage to do what God wants you to do while everyone else is doing something else. It takes courage to speak the truth, taking that risk with someone. It takes courage to remain in your anointed place of serving God while being regarded or rebuked as a divisive person trying to make disciples of your own. It takes courage to stand on God’s Word to you no matter what people think of you. It takes courage to go against mainstream Christianity today. God was telling me to “be courageous” with His purpose in my life.
What other people want you to do with them or for them because of the gifts and talents they see in you is normal, but it can keep you from serving God’s purpose for why He gave you those gifts and talents. According to 1 Corinthians 6:12 and 10:23 godly wisdom tells us: “Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial and constructive.” We should not be mastered by our pastor or pastor’s wife, nor by our employer or anyone or anything else that has the tendency to enslave us to anything. God is Master over all. Bind yourself to the Lord and His yoke of work for you because He shares it with you so that you are not overwhelmed or burdened down with too much. God’s purpose is perfect for you and He wants you to enjoy your work and life “in Christ.”
For me at that time, I was trying to please the pastor’s wife without checking in with the Lord about it and without bringing before my husband for his thought and direction. I did exactly what Eve did when she listened to the serpent tell her what she should do and why she would be happy doing it, and then getting her husband (Adam) to fall in line with it also. We are all Eve’s daughters and we all need to be aware of the devil’s subtle schemes.
My husband and I were sent there together by the Lord to help the pastor and his wife, but how we were to help them was not in the way we thought. The way God wanted us to help them would take courage. It takes courage to speak the truth in love; to be timely and direct with His message of warning, deliverance or encouragement. Needless to say, my lack of godly wisdom caused me some trouble and shame, but God used it in a good way to mature me.