Women

7 Qualities of Women Who Influence Nations

By Earma Brown

The Lord gives the word (of power); the women who bear and publish (the news) are a great host.

(Psalm 68:11)

In a study conducted with ten thousand people they were asked, "Who has had the most positive influence on your religious faith?" "My mother," was the most frequent answer from every age group. "My wife," was the second most frequent response from men. This poll confirms woman's gift of influence.

The gift commonly taken for granted is the woman's ability to influence. Have you watched a little girl with her daddy? She is already getting to know her power to influence, batting those baby soft eyes or pouting those lips to close the request of what she wants. And don't leave Grand-mama out as she scours the stores one by one to find that trinket for her beloved granddaughter.

To further confirm this fact, we may visit the fact that almost every ad has a woman present in it. Take the woman out of the ad and sales drop. Why? The truth is God has given woman the ability to influence and along with this privilege comes a responsibility to use it for God's glory. From our physical makeup to the sound of our voice are all empowered to influence others.

Are you using your influence to encourage someone? We can choose to use this power in a godly manner influencing others for the good. We all have an area of influence to be accountable for. For example, are you influencing those around you with encouragement, respect, admiration and your faith in God? Or are you influencing them with negative words, gossip and disrespect? What about your children? Are they being influenced by your graciousness or your temper tantrums?

Let your light of influence be a signal to the weary. Influence others to the good. Godly influencers empower, persuade, and convince others to the reality of Christ and to the common good. There are some qualities to nurture to become the powerful woman of influence God has created you to be: • Use the power of invitation. We as women have the power of invitation. We have the power to attract, draw in, entice, urge, persuade, captivate and so on. Determine to use your power to invite others to obey God. Spend your invitations wisely. Make sure your invitations include inviting others to Christ. • Give good counsel. Why is it that the woman is often the friend everyone brings his or her problems to? Is it because she listens better than her male comrades? I believe its because God has gifted His woman with the ability to give good counsel. Ask God for wisdom with any counsel you attempt to give. Sometimes, the best counsel is to listen and allow the Holy Spirit to whisper the answer to the person talking. • Be an encourager. Are you influencing your husband, your family, or those in your area of influence to God or away from God? Are the decisions in your life and family lining up with God's plans for your life? For example, God has called you and your family to a holy life. Are you suggesting you go watch the latest R rated movie? Or are you influencing your family to obey God and purify your lifestyle? • Empower others. Decide to use your power to influence to empower those around you. According to Webster to empower is to 'influence; to give power to or to enable.' Every now and then we all need a little appreciation. Our families, our co-workers, our associates need to know they are affirmed and appreciated. • Set a good example. Your life is often the only Bible some will read. Is anyone being influenced for Christ by the life you lead? Remember the wife of the unsaved husband. The Apostle Peter's advice to her was even if her husband did not obey the Word of God, that he could perhaps be won over by her godly life and observing her purity and reverence (1 Pet.

3:1,2).

• Be gracious. Have you learned the power of a soft answer, well-chosen words or silence? The writer of Colossians puts it this way, "Let your speech at all tines be gracious (pleasant and winsome), seasoned (as it were) with salt, (so that you may never be at a loss) to know how you ought to answer any one (who puts a question to you)" (Col 4:6) AMP. • Stir to Action. Tap into your enthusiasm. Share your enthusiasm with others. It is contagious. According to the writer of Ephesians enthusiasm has the power to stir others to action. Rejoice in God's gifts to you and use them enthusiastically.

Beware of the enemies to good influence. I've listed some examples of women in Scripture that failed to use their gifts of influence for good. Each example points to a wrong choice to guard against:

Used her power of invitation to invite husband to sin. Eve, created to be a helper for Adam, invited him to join her in sin (Gen. 2:18 and 3:6).

Drew others away from God. Solomon's wives drew his heart

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I Don't Want to Raise a Good Child

By Lysa Terkeurst

"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." (Proverbs

22:6)

My daughter, Hope, is a senior this year. And she decided her senior year should be adventurous and a little out of the "normal" box. A lot out of the box actually.

She withdrew from traditional school. Applied with the state to homeschool. Enrolled in online college courses that would allow her to get both high school and college credit simultaneously. And planned to spend the month of January serving in Nicaragua doing missions.

This didn't surprise me really. Hope has always liked charting her own course. This thrills me now. But it didn't thrill me so much in the early years of raising this strongspirited child.

When she was really little, I was scared to death I was the world's worst mom, because Hope was never one to be contained. And I honestly thought all her extra tenacity was a sign of my poor mothering.

One day I took her to the mall to meet several of my friends with toddlers to grab lunch. All of their kids sat quietly eating cheerios in their strollers. They shined their halos and quoted Bible verses and used tissues to wipe their noses.

Not Hope.

She was infuriated by my insistence she stay in her stroller. So, when I turned away for a split second to place our lunch order, she wiggled free. She stripped off all her clothes. She ran across the food court. And jumped in the fountain in the center of the mall.

Really, nothing makes the mother of a toddler feel more incapable than seeing her naked child splashing in the mall fountain. Except maybe that toddler refusing to get out and said mother having to also get into the fountain.

I cried all the way home.

Not because of what she'd done that day. But rather because of how she was every day. So, determined. So independent. So insistent.

I would beg God to show me how to raise a good child. One that stayed in her stroller. One that other people would comment about how wonderfully behaved she was. One that made me look good.

But God seemed so slow to answer those prayers. So, over the years, I changed my prayer. "God help me to raise Hope to be who You want her to be." Emphasis on, "God HELP ME!"

I think I changed my prayers for her because God started to change my heart. I sensed He had a different plan in mind for my mothering of Hope.

Maybe God's goal wasn't for me to raise a good rule-following child. God's goal was for me to raise a God-following adult. An adult just determined and independent and insistent enough to fulfill a purpose He had in mind all along.

Today's key verse reminds us we are training children so that when they are old, they will not turn away from Biblical principles, but rather implement them in their life-long pursuit of God. Remember, the things that might aggravate you about your child today, might be the very things when matured that make them great for God's kingdom tomorrow.

I've certainly seen this in raising Hope.

I don't know what mama needs to hear this today. But let me encourage you from the bottom of my heart with three simple mothering perspectives you must hang on to: 1. Don't take too much credit for their good. 2. Don't take too much credit for their bad. 3. Don't try to raise a good child. Raise a God-following adult.

And all the mamas of fountaindancing children said, "Amen!"

Dear Lord, I know You desire for me to raise a God-following adult. Please give me Your wisdom as I seek to become the parent You called to this high honor. Redirect my perspectives and equip me for this task today. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Reflect and Respond:

The things that might aggravate you about your child today, might be the very things when matured that make them great for God's kingdom tomorrow.

Power Verse:

(Deuteronomy 4:9), "Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them." © 2021 by Lysa TerKeurst. All rights reserved. Proverbs 31 Ministries > Women’s Clothing Accessories Jewelry

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Seven Ways for Busy Moms to Get in the Word

By Courtney Joseph

Fall is almost here, and for most moms this is the beginning of the busiest season of the year. Back-toschool to-do lists lead right into Thanksgiving and Christmas to-do lists, and we will not find rest again until January 2nd. And while God’s word sits on our shelves waiting for us to get a slow moment, the world bids us to keep busy. Get those kids signed up for soccer, piano, gymnastics, basketball, football, and the list keeps going. You just name it, everybody else is doing it.

The world tells us to get our calendars full and stay on the move. If you don’t, your kids might miss out, or they won’t be cool, or they won’t learn important life lessons, or they won’t be socialized, or they won’t, won’t, won’t. “Get busy and keep busy” is how the unspoken mantra goes.

The world says this chaotic running around is what the good moms do.

But the truth is that we need slow moments.

It’s in the slow moments that God speaks to us through his word and we speak to him in prayer. This is when we step away from all the busyness in order to fellowship with our heavenly Father. This is when we come to his word for the precious purpose of drinking from the living well — Jesus Christ.

Here is a simple guide for busy moms who want to build more of these slow moments into their everyday — moments to stop and drink deeply from the living well. 1. Choose one passage of Scripture for the week. My favorite passages for meditating on come from Psalms, Proverbs, the Gospels, and the Epistles. 2. Write the passage on a note card, and slip it in your pocket or beside your computer. Pull it out periodically, and read over it. Keep it in your purse all week long, and pull it out at convenient times and read through it. 3. Read the passage first thing in the morning. Read the passage as soon as you get out of bed, so it’s the first thing on your mind that morning. 4. Open your Bible to that passage, and place it on the kitchen counter. All day long, when you walk through the kitchen, pause, read the passage, and then move on. 5. Read the passage out loud. Read it to yourself, and read it to your children during mealtime and at bedtime. 6. Reread the passage before you go to bed at night. Bookend your days with the reading of this passage of Scripture. 7. Write the passage at the top of your to-do list. This way, every time you look over your to-do list, you can review the Scripture passage.

Courtney Joseph has been married for 16 years and classically educates her son and daughter at home. She writes daily at WomenLivingWell.org and co-founded an online Bible study community at GoodMorningGirls.org.>

QUALITIES

Continued from Page 8

away from God (1 Kings 11:4).

Stirred to evil action. Jezebel stirred up her husband Ahab to commit acts of abominable wickedness (1 Kings 21:25).

Gave evil counsel. Job's wife counseled him to "curse God and die" (Job 2:9).

Convinced or persuaded her husband of an evil plan. Rebekah willfully deceived her husband Isaac (Genesis 27).

Despised her husband. Michal despised her husband David (2 Samuel 6:16).

We as women in Christ are equipped with qualities for good influence. I exhort you to use your gifts to become influencers for Christ through the good you do. Let it be said that by the power of your influence you invited others to Christ, drew some toward God, stirred others to action, gave godly counsel and persuaded many to God's perfect plan. ©2021 FaithWriters.com. All Rights Reserved >

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