Hello Ladies,
Was this a long week for some of you? Or did most of you breeze through it? This week was a triumph for me. As I minister to you ladies about the word of God through this blog, I am challenged to do more of God's will everyday in my life. Preparing the lessons requires me to spend even more time in God's word and the applications challenge me to go even higher in my obedience to God's will for my life. So, if you were challenged, you were not alone.
However, the reward is a blessing. The spiritual reward of having more of God's presence in my life is so awesome. I cannot give credence to the wonders of having true relationship with Christ Jesus. Additionally, the physical rewards are nice too.
My husband is an avid reader of my blog. After reading Lesson 5, he said he felt challenged to be an Ephesians 5 husband even more knowing that I have vowed to please God through the service of being a Proverbs 31 woman and an Ephesians 5 wife. This is one of the most beautiful rewards I could possibly receive.
Ladies, when we are operating in the will of the Lord for our lives, God will keep His promises (Deut. 7:9 NKJV). His word will not return void (Isaiah 55:11 NKJV). In His time (2 Peter 3:8-9, Psalms 27:14, Ecclesiastes 3:11a NKJV). These are all pertinent principles to carry in our walk of submission to God and our husbands.
This week we will discuss the characteristics of the nurturer. God has equipped us with the innate ability to nurture. We all have it. We must let down our guards, walls, and prideful behaviors of the flesh that keep us from the Godly design of nurturing.
Nurturer of the Family
27 She watches over the ways of her household, And does not eat the bread of idleness. 28 Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also and he praises her: 29 "Many daughters have done well, But you excel them all" (Proverbs 31:27-29 NKJV)
5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength 6 And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up (Deuteronomy 6:5-7 NKJV)
She shall reflect with comfort when she comes to be old, that she was not idle or useless when young. She can rejoice. She is a great blessing to her relations. (Nelson 1997)
Nurturer - to help develop, grow; foster talents; provide care; nourish sustainability; to help (WordWeb 2013)
Nurturing sounds a lot like support as we discussed in Lesson 4 when we covered being the foundation to your loved ones. Women, there are many components to our role, but they are all intertwined within our Godly design. We are constructed specifically to serve God's purpose in these capacities.
In order to nurture our families, we must serve God, spend time in His word, and build relationship with Christ in order to nurture our families in a way that is conducive to the principles of God. If we are spending time in the word of God daily and seeking after the Lord whole-heartedly, God will reveal our abilities to nurture.
We are to exhibit behavior that is nurturing to our children and helpful to our husbands. A pertinent component to nurturing is love. To love your family is to love and to know God ( 1 John 4:8 NKJV). We are to love our families in a way that is loving to them. Everyone loves differently. There are five different ways to give and receive love (Chapman 2004). These five ways are called love languages (Chapman 2004). To ensure that we are nurturing our families appropriately, we must love them in the way that they best receive love.
My primary love language is Quality Time. I feel most loved when my husband and son spend quality time with me. My secondary is Acts of Service. I love when my husband takes my car to be detailed. Thirdly, I respond positively and feel loved when I receive Gifts. So, you see your family members may exhibit one primary love language, but may respond to two others just as well (Chapman 2004).
Learning and practicing our families love languages will allow us to build a closer relationship with them and ensue an efficient and effective way to nurture them. By nurturing our families through the word of God and practicing their love languages, we honor God's purpose for us as nurturers.
How can we love our families effectively, if we do not better understand how they need to be loved? We must be patient and compassionate enough to nurture our families the way they need to be nurtured (1 Peter 3:8 NKJV).
This week we will strive to learn the languages of love that our husbands and children speak. We will take the time to get to know our family members better, so that we may serve them as the nurturers they need and the nurturers that God wants us to be for them.
Single women, this is an opportunity to learn your own love language and to practice God's love language; Quality Time.
Continue to make time to spend time with God. Additionally, continue to practice true submission to the Lord and your husbands. We should not have idle time (Proverbs 31:27 NKJV). Fill your days with the work of the Lord in every area of your lives (Deut. 10:12-13 NKJV).
As always, I pray that this lesson blesses you, challenges you to grow in your walk with Christ, and allows you to build true relationship with Him.
Enjoy your week!
Be blessed,
T. Carter
All scripture references are extracted from The Bible - New King James Version. YouVersion (2013).
Chapman, Dr. Gary (2004). The Five Love Languages. Northfield Publishing. Chicago, Illinois
Nelson, Thomas (1997). Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible. Nashville, Tennessee
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