SWORDS Bible Study: Life of the Believing Woman

By Mari

We read and study the word of God because we want to grow in wisdom and knowledge, since no one wants to stay a baby in the faith their whole life, do they?

What grows us in our faith, of course, is right doctrine, by rightly dividing the word of truth. We are stablished by the gospel of the Apostle Paul, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery.

Rom 16:25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began

Paul’s gospel is where we learn the will of God for our lives today and begin to mature in wisdom and spiritual understanding:

Col 1:9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

Here Paul prays that we might be filled with a knowledge of His will, and how to possess our own vessel (body) in sanctification and honor.

1Th 4:4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;

The word sanctified means set apart unto God, and the moment we trust Christ we are washed, sanctified, justified of the Lord Jesus…we are set apart unto Him.

1Co 6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

No one can sanctify themselves.

We do not work for sanctification.

We cannot be more sanctified than we already are in Christ!

Only those in Christ Jesus are made unto wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption.  We glory only in the Lord, not ever in what we think we are or what have or can do, or what we think we can be though our own works!

1Co 1:29-31 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

There is no sanctification apart from Christ. We cannot work for sanctification, nor be any more sanctified than we are in Him when we first believed!

Our standing, our position is different than how we see ourselves in the flesh. It is like having all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.  We believe this by faith in the word of God.

It is NOT a progressive sanctification as many FALSELY teach.

It is because we are already fully sanctified that we can choose to walk now in the Spirit of God, rather than in our flesh.

As we mature in Christ, by rightly dividing the word of God, studying in the word of God, we grow in knowledge and wisdom by taking what we have learned and putting it into practice, learning how “to possess our vessel in sanctification and honour; (1Th 4:4), how to be in the will of God, and walk as a woman of God.

It is God Himself who sanctified us, who gives us a perfect position before Him, wholly set apart to Him.  And knowing what God says about holiness will help us possess the vessel of our body in sanctification and honor.  This is not just a suggestion, it is our calling:

1Th 4:7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.

It is what enables us to “walk worthy of the Lord,” and to be fruitful in every good work etc. as Paul says here:

Col 1:9-12 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;

Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

After we have come to a knowledge of God’s will and begin to walk worthy of the Lord, guess what is left for us….Service to God! This is God’s will for us!  And the highest service we can be involved in is…to share the gospel of reconciliation and to make all men see the fellowship of the mystery.

2Co_5:18-19  And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

Eph 3:9-11…to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

This is God’s “eternal purpose,” and we get to be part of it!  To accomplish this, the most important thing we can do as believers is:

Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

As women of God, we want our lives to be pure, we want to strive to live in purity, so that we may serve God that much more richly. Strive to me means making the choice to walk in the Spirit not the flesh. We then are presenting our bodies to Him that are pure and “holy,” as Paul says we will be the lights to the world around us, to our families, our church families, and to the lost world that surrounds us.

Reading the word of God in the mornings helps me to remember and set me solidly on the path of how I am to walk.  It is like having my soul showered, my mind cleansed, and my body energized in the Spirit ready for the day, come what may!  And if bad or disastrous things happen, or temptation or trouble, I am shored up by the Word that fed me that morning.  I go out with my spirit renewed, and it is easier to talk to people, share the gospel, or do the good works that God ordained I should walk, set before me.

Eph_2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

1Ti_2:10 But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.

To sum it up: we can live the life of a believer as a believing woman.

We can do this because we are saved, stablished, sanctified and are willing to do the good works set out for us!

We are ambassadors for Christ. 2Co_5:20  Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

The reason we study and learn God’s word is not just to fill our heads with information, it is to fill our lives with good works with the fruit of holiness that He longs to see in us.  Remembering that it has been committed unto us who believe, the word of reconciliation and to testify the gospel of the grace of God, as ambassadors for Christ!