Shamefaced or Shameful?
Greetings to our sisters in Christ.
Praise the Lord for yet another day to serve Him, let us honor and glorify Him in all ways.
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Sadly the norm is to glorify 'self', not God, the Creator of the universe, just as we see in Romans 1.
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
vs 25
They worship and serve the creature (themselves and others) more than the Creator. We saw this yet again the other night when we stood outside of a convention center where a false teacher was putting on training classes to pass on his unbiblical swill. We started out way down by the road, using a flashlight to light up the sign.
Then brother Jim said that if it's a public convention center that we should be able to stand right up at the doors where people would come out...so we did.
It was pretty amazing because when we walked up there, a man was coming out with some equipment and was happy to answer our questions and told us right where to stand for the people coming out.
Check out that building. It's huge and wow did they spend the money on the entire place and surroundings! We were front and center for when people came out, to warn them about the wolf who just finished entertaining them with his false teachings. Many people walked by and ignored us but there were plenty of women who just couldn't keep quiet and had to protect him. (It was mostly women that attended.)
I'm going to share a video clip of that night so you can see an example of NOT being shamefaced, and a little bit of what goes on while we're out witnessing.
(I take videos anytime someone approaches us, for protective reasons, because people lie and say we are chasing them etc, his way the police can see everything that went on. It also diffuses many situations when people see themselves being video taped. This particular night we were welcomed by the staff who said they had no problem with us and to enjoy our evening.)
Those two ladies in the video were just 2 of the several that confronted us during the evening. NOT ONE MAN came over to discuss truth. By their words and actions, they are full blown 'word of faith' which is false theology, wicked mysticism and heresy.
I've been pondering the depths of 'shamefacedness' the past few months (1 Timothy 2) and that video is a picture of what it is not. What I used to be before Christ is another example of what is NOT, so I know all about it. What we should be, as godly women bought with the blood of Christ, is shamefaced (1 Timothy 2), with a meek and quiet spirit. (1 Peter 3)
Shamefaced means:
aidōs
perhaps from 1 (as a negative particle) and 1492 (through the idea of downcast eyes); bashfulness, i.e. (towards men), modesty or (towards God) awe:--reverence, shamefacedness.
Look at Hebrews 12:28, the word reverence toward God is the same greek root word 'aidōs'
Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear
Picture yourself before the Lord with that 'aidōs' / shamefacedness / reverence.
* Now picture yourself standing before your husband who you are to submit to and respect.
(Is he afraid of you?)
* What about the man behind the checkout counter at the grocery store?
* And the man who just cut you off in traffic?
* Or the man that just said something against God because he saw you dressed as a biblical woman?
Is your demeanor shamefaced, meek and quiet? Or does that change according to the situation?
Brother Jim and I have talked about how men and women are totally comfortable with the opposite sex. Back when there was more morality, there was a respectful distance between men and women. I actually remember some of that growing up, how a man would talk to a man about whatever business they were dealing in and if the woman interjected she was ignored and the man would continue to deal with her husband. A woman wouldn't dare have long discussions with strange men, standing next to them within personal space, eye to eye and toe to toe in controversial subjects. Most women don't respect the authority that God has given men, they don't respect men because if they did, they would be shamefaced and have a meek and quiet spirit. I'm not talking about the world either because the world is in continual sin against God in many ways, I'm talking about women who claim Christ's name. (Yes, I know, most women claiming Christ's name are of the world because they are not born again, but they are to be held to that standard none the less because they are claiming it.)
The culture of our society has cultivated an equality of sorts between men and women in the area of boldness and authority. God is no respecter of persons when it comes to spiritual matters and seeking His truth (Romans 2:11, Galatians 3:28) but in the physical realm, in our earthly status as men and women, there is an authority level that must be maintained. We see that in 1 Timothy 2, 1 Peter 3, 1 Corinthians 11, 1 Corinthians 14, Ephesians 5, Colossians 3 and many more places in scripture.
God created man, then he created woman from man, to be man's helper. This shows the simplistic and clear view of God's order and then it is reiterated in the New Testament as I noted in the many scripture verse above.
Just like the homosexuals are pressing their agenda on the world to not only allow, but to welcome and willingly accept this sinful choice of life, so are the women pressing their agenda on the world to not only be allowed to usurp the authority of man but for it to be welcomed and accepted. This turns God's order upside down and puts the woman in a position of boldness and authority and the men end up afraid and catering to the woman. It's called 'FEMINISM' and it's one of the BIGGEST spiritual cancers of this time. It's also glorifying 'self', the creature, rather than the Creator who set in order the line of authority.
We will be standing out on the street or outside a false religious place and a husband and wife will walk by. The woman will boldly get in Jim's face and spout off something, and her husband will be standing next to her almost blushing, being ashamed. Total role reversal. The woman is to be quiet and shamefaced and the man should be the man, the strength, the authority.
I encourage you to examine how comfortable you are with men other than your husband. I'm not comfortable dealing with other men and if I have to, I keep a physical distance between me and them, I don't stare them down eye to eye, I don't start small talk and I allow them to say or do whatever they need to and as soon as business is over, I politely smile and go about my business. Sometimes they might make a joke and that makes me uncomfortable because joking with the opposite sex can be considered a form of flirting or trying to be charming, of which neither is godly.
This is not only for dealing with our husbands or men of the world, it is how we should also be with brothers in the Lord. Too often we see sisters intermingling freely with brothers without shamefacedness, speaking on equal levels and not reverencing the authority line God has established.
I encourage you sisters to examine your hearts, examine your daily mannerisms when it comes to dealing with your husband, men in the world and brothers in Christ.
Are you content to be quiet and shamefaced?
If not, do some soul searching and ask God to help cultivate that within you so it is something you become as opposed to something you have to make yourself do.
I hope you have a joyous and peaceful evening.
Sister Deb
The biblical gospel...