A monthly newsletter for the Independent, Fundamental, Baptist woman seeking to honour the Lord God in all her life. Within these pages you will find a bible study and monthly topic that includes scripture to memorize that we hope will draw you closer to the Lord, inspiring poetry, prayer requests and praise reports, happenings at other Independent Fundamental Baptist churches, a feature on a selected missionary family, recipes/crafts/homemaking tips and such to help aid you in being the best "keeper at home" that you can be, a mother's corner, Internet interests, and the question of the month. This publication is free of charge and is available on the Internet or in printed form. Please send all correspondence to:
Julia M. Faulkner
sunshine@nwsl.west.ga.net
John and Cathy O'Brien and their children Noelle, Brittaini,
John Steven, and Kendon. I first met John on IRC through the
Internet. He has been such a blessing to me and has really
encouraged me in the Lord. Through his teaching (YES! you can
learn good things through the Internet!) a lot of false teachings
I have been carrying around for years have been brought to light
and I now see WHO I am through Christ and WHAT I have through
Him. The O'Brien's are missionaries to Russia, but are still in
the States on deputation. John has been a born-again Christian
since June of 1986, and Cathy put her faith in Christ in 1973 at
the age of 8! If I'm not mistaken, two of their children profess
faith in Jesus. They are sent out through the Sun & Shield
Baptist Church in Marana, Arizona and would greatly appreciate
your support. Please contact me for their address if you desire
to know more about the O'Brien's and would like to be in contact
with them.
This months topic is on having a woman's adorning. Now, I know you've probably heard these verses many times over, but God has really been dealing with me lately how a woman is to conduct herself. You have often heard the saying that "pretty is as pretty does" and "beauty is only skin deep". Truer words have never been spoken. Sometimes women get so caught up in making ourselves up and making sure we are presentable that we fail to remember that what is inside is what matters to God. For what is on the inside, in your heart, will come out on the outside, how you act.
Let's look for a moment to a favorite scripture of mine: 1
Peter 3:4 "But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in
that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and
quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price."
What does "meek" mean? Some tend to think it has to do
with letting people run all over you, being weak, but that is not
so. The definition of meek according to the Strong's Concordance
is "mild, humble, gentle". I took the time to look up
those three words in the Webster's dictionary to help us better
understand what meek means. I found the following: to be GENTLE
is to be kind, amiable, not harsh, stern, or violent, soft,
moderate; HUMBLE is not being proud or haughty, nor arrogant or
assertive, reflecting, expressing, or having a spirit of
deference or submission (as in serving the needs of others before
your own), unpretentious, absence of vanity and wrath; MILD is to
be gentle in nature (character or disposition), moderate
(avoidance of excess) in action or effect, temperate.
Do you see what I see in the definitions of these words? While
humble is considered a virtue, the definitions of many of these
words point back to the Fruit of the Spirit! For example,
temperance, which has to do with restraint, control, absence of
or avoidance of extravagance. How often do we see in God's word
about moderation or modesty? One fine example is
I Timothy 2:9 "In like manner also, that women
adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and
sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly
array; 10: But (which becometh women professing godliness) with
good works." What God is telling us women is that we should
avoid going overboard in our dress, hair style, and adorning with
jewels and instead put on things that attest to our professing
godliness. Shamefacedness is the same as modesty. Sobriety means
having self-control. (Do you remember what other words had the
same meaning as modesty and self-control?) Another way to look at
it is to allow the Spirit (God's Spirit) to control our flesh
instead of letting our flesh control our spirit.
I believe that a woman who puts on the meek and quiet spirit,
shamefacedness, and sobriety is adorned with ornaments of greater
price than all the jewels in the world. This is what makes a
truly beautiful woman. A woman with a meek and quiet spirit will
be beautiful in God's very wonderful way.
Last year at our Mother's Day Banquet, a dear sister talked
about the Fruit of the Spirit. At that time I had a nagging that
something was amiss in my mothering. During her talk, God showed
me what that was. I was not using gentleness. I will, with much
shame, tell you now that I am not always gentle in dealing with
my children. I get frustrated and start yelling, and then if I
must spank them it is often harsh. Do you see what is wrong with
this picture? I am not exercising temperance (self-control).
Often I realize too late that I am not controlling my spirit, and
that I have gotten in the flesh in dealing with my children's
misbehavior.
Your "assignment" for this month is to memorize the
scripture verses I used today. 1 Timothy 2: 9 & 10 and also 1
Peter 3: 3 - 6.
Next month we will look deeper and see why God gave us women
these commands and see the many areas in our lives that we can
readily apply these two verses. Until then, maybe you can make an
effort to put on this precious ornament now!
Let us go to the Lord in prayer: Dear Lord, being a woman is
often very frustrating and over-whelming. Please remind us Lord
that we are to walk in the Spirit so as not to fulfill the lusts
of the flesh. All those times that we act contrary to the Fruit
of the Spirit, we hurt our testimony and are not setting a good
example for our children or for other sisters in the Lord.
Forgive us now Lord for the sin of not controlling our spirits.
Help us now as we hide your word in our hearts. In Jesus' name we
ask it. AMEN
Seeing as how this is our very first issue, we don't have an
abundance of prayer requests. Please call, write, or email all
prayer requests to be included in each issue by the first of each
month.
My daughter Elizabeth's surgery that was a success and her
speedy recovery.
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Gave thee life and bid thee feed
By the stream and o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Little Lamb, I'll tell thee,
Little Lamb, I'll tell thee:
He is called by thy name,
For He calls Himself a Lamb.
He is meek and He is mild;
He became a little child.
I a child and thou a lamb,
We are called by His name.
Little Lamb, God bless thee.
Little Lamb, God bless thee.
March 9-13 will be Faith Baptist Church's (Primrose, Georgia) 3rd annual missions conference. Please pray for a great meeting. They are really fired up about what God is doing.
Well, these aren't "real" recipes, but in honour of
Valentine's Day I thought you might get a blessing out of these
two recipes.
The first one is for all us "old married folk"!
LOVE CAKE
Ingredients:
1 lb. love
2 lips, well pressed
4 hands, clasped
1 shade tree
1 narrow bench
Preparation:
Mix well. Serve in the dark.
This second recipe is for everyone.
RECIPE FOR LOVE
Ingredients:
1 c. kind thoughts
1 c. consideration for others
2 c. sacrifice
2 c. milk of kindness
1 c. good deeds
3 c. forgiveness (this ingredient is very important! don't forget
it!)
Preparation:
Mix well; add tears of sadness and joy. Fold in 4 cups of
faith and prayer. Bake in moderation. Serve with cheerfulness and
a smile.
Have you ever noticed the emphasis God puts on His word?
He promised to preserve it in Psalms 12:6 & 7. In Psalm 138:2 we are told that God has magnified His word above His own name! Following are a few examples for the purpose of God's word:
I could go on and on, but I would run out of space! But what
I'm getting at is that God's word is so important that I believe
we should be teaching our children to memorize scripture. Hide
God's word in your children's hearts for we know not what the
future holds for Christians if the Lord tarry's His coming. It's
such a blessing to hear the little children recite God's word to
you. Even the little one's of only 2 years old can learn simple
verses. What is a blessing to me is when the children read in
their Bibles or hear their verses preached or taught and they get
so excited! "Hey mom, that's my memory verse I
learned!"
There are two or three ways to go about this. The first is to
go by the alphabet. By this I mean take each letter and choose a
verse that starts with that letter. This way the child learns a
letter of the alphabet AND a verse of scripture. Granted, some
letters will be difficult to do.
The next way is to have the child learn one new verse each
week. Imagine them learning 52 verses a year! To take this a bit
further, you might want to have them learn two or three verses
from a passage. For instance, if they are doing John 3:16, why
not have them go ahead with verses 17 & 18? Wouldn't it be a
blessing to hear your child quote two and three verses at one
time from the same passage? They too will receive a blessing from
it. Just remember to keep a list of the ones they have learned
and go over them all frequently. Children do tend to forget
things if not reminded on occasion.
Some parents like to take a theme, such as the Romans road to
salvation, and help their children memorize scripture pertaining
to that subject. This is fine also.
As you help your children hide God's word in their hearts,
don't be surprised if you too learn a few! In fact, as an example
to your children, why not memorize along with them? That would be
great in drawing the family closer together.
Whatever way you choose to help your child memorize God's word, just make that you DO hide God's word in your child's heart. They can take your Bible away, but they can't take away what's hidden inside of you!
Have you ever read the O'Timothy magazine published by David
Cloud and Way of Life literature? If you have, then you know it's
truly a blessing. Brother Cloud has an Internet web page with
lots of wonderful things on it. You can also get on his Internet
e-mail list from his page. The URL is
http://wayoflife.org/~dcloud. I promise you won't be
disappointed!
Do you ever wonder WHY so many believe that the KJV is God's
preserved word? Well wonder no more! On the WWW Brandon Staggs
has all the information you could ever want concerning the
AV1611. His page is called the King James Bible page and it
covers just about any question you might ever have concerning the
KJV. Here is the URL for the King James Bible Page:
http://www.aloha.net/~bstaggs/kjb.html. See you around the net!
If i know that a sister in the Lord is living in some sin, is it biblical for me to point it out to her? Am I judging her?
As always the best thing you could do is search God's word and see what He has to say about it. One of the first verses that comes to mind is Luke 6:41 "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" This verse truly does speak of judging others by condemning them for their motives. Only God has that privilege. So, I would say examine yourself and see WHY you want to point out this sister's sin to her. Ask yourself if you are using your own life as the standard for judging others. Sometimes what we see isn't the whole story. Hasty conclusions drawn from what "appears" to be true often get us in deep water!
Next, ask yourself if you're only being a busybody. 1 Peter 4:15 "But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters." In other words, don't meddle and make yourself the authority over the affairs of others! Oops! How many of us are guilty of that offense? Even IF we truly mean well, it is often best to mind our own affairs if our intentions are not PURE! It is always best to examine WHY we want to assist anyone with their problems, sins, etc.
Does this mean we are NEVER to help out a sister that we believe needs a little guidance back to the Lord? No, I don't think this is the case. Galatians 6:1 "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." Notice two things here: we are to restore them in a spirit of MEEKNESS (sound familiar?) and we are to consider ourselves lest we too be tempted by the same sin! That's why we have to make sure we are "spiritual". That means you better be living close to the Lord, walking in the Spirit and not the flesh.
Finally, prayer is most always the best way to handle such a situation. 1 John 5:14: "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. 16: If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it." Pray and ask God to direct you before you make a move. He promised to direct our paths if we only acknowledge Him (Proverbs 3:5,6).
One final thought: if you find yourself faced with restoring a sister be prepared for her to possibly be hurt with you at first. Proverbs 27:6: "Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." A wound is an injury, and yes, most likely you will injure your friend/sister as you attempt to restore her. But as with most all wounds, it will heal and hopefully she will be all the closer to the Lord and will be thanking you for caring.
The End
© 1997 by Julia M. Faulkner, Sonshine Publications