The Worth of a Woman Bible Study 3
To Finish Strong as Woman of Worth

Today, right now, how are you contributing to the kingdom’s work..been there, done that? Is that what you think?

In talking with Marilyn Orton recently, one of her statements was, “I want to finish strong; I want to accomplish everything God has for me! I want those crowns, all of them I can get, to lay at Jesus’ feet.” “To finish strong” had been really impressed on my own heart recently and her statement only reinforced it. As we get older, new oddities seem to crop up daily in our bodies; many of which would not substantiate a strong finish! But, as Job said in 23:10, “God knows the way that I take and when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and have not turned back; I have not departed from the commandments of His lips; I have treasured in my bosom the words of His mouth. He is unchangeable and who can turn Him? What He desires, that He does. He will complete what He appoints for me and many such things are in His mind.” Whatever God wants and has designed beforehand for me to do as a contribution to Him, I believe He will see to completion. I don’t care how old you are or what your body tries to dictate; God works in you as long as you have life!

My dear husband, Louie, died in March of this year and I found laying on top of his Bible material a little booklet “Transformed Lives” by Ray C. Stedman. In reading through it, I found the following: “A few years ago a group of Southern California pastors met in small groups to discuss and share with one another how we keep ourselves vibrant and spiritually alive. One of the pastors particularly intrigued me. Only 35 yrs old, this man ministers to more than 10,000 people every Sunday morning. I was interested in what he had to say about maintaining his spiritual vitality. Every morning he sits at his desk and writes across the top of a sheet of paper, these letters: A -C -T -S.

A stands for adoration....find a way to express the majesty, greatness and glory of God or begin with “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name and think on just His being; the love of His heart; the mercy He has manifested to you..”Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me, bless His holy name.” Ps 103:1

C - Confession..write down all the sins you committed yesterday! He said if it’s Monday morning, I think about my sermon Sunday when I exaggerated..I said a 9- car pileup, when it was really only 6..don’t say I exaggerated..say, “I lied” because that’s what I did. If someone gave me too much change and I put in my pocket, don’t say I kept some money I shouldn’t have, say “ I stole” because I did.

T- for Thanksgiving..give thanks for being forgiven for my sins and write them out, one by one. And then after each one write forgiven..that is, if you’ve confessed and asked to be forgiven!
S - is for supplication. Pray and ask God for the strength not to do it again but to be honest, careful and thoughtful”.

Why am I repeating all this to you...because if you want to make a contribution in this life, you need it; I know I do. Let’ s make a concerted effort of getting what’s left of our life, right! This is a guideline that will help me and YOU.

To finish strong, don’t be too low in your expectations. God is able to do abundantly more, generously able, with infinite resources to keep His promises. “He is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine according to His power that works within us.” Eph 3:20   Stop looking for outer manifestations; look for Jesus within you; He is here! Renew me, regenerate me to respond rightly to you. God help me, is my plea.   I have read: “God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.”

Laughter de-stresses and strengthens your immune system. A cheerful heart is good medicine. A positive attitude will bring you favor and cooperation. Looking on the down side causes people to lose respect. When things are falling apart, find appreciation for what is still right in your life. Message Bible Hebrews 3:1 “Take a long hard look at Jesus, He’s the centerpiece of everything we believe in.” Look at how life fell apart for Him and He finished strong!

On our way to the finish line, we need to consider others.
If I say..”What are some things that have been offered to you”..what comes to your mind?   (other than money):
A job?      A second chance?       Advice?       A helping hand?

What we normally do is think of things that are offered to us; but we also need to think of how we can offer something to someone else.   We should freely give to God our money and time, plus be willing to share whatever gifts He has already placed within us. “Freely you have received, freely give.” God gave each of us talents/abilities, and has never billed anyone a cent for them yet. He’s the one who said I gave them to you, now you share them with someone else. Every thing good that flows into you should flow out of you to someone else! God fills us with His Spirit and gives us a passion, as well as commitment we would otherwise not have.   It is so important for us to use what God has already gifted within us as we serve. When you do this, He not only strengthens you but other lives are encouraged and enhanced.. The bottom line is that God uses every person who is willing to contribute.

Here’s a vs of scripture you can take to the bank: Ro 12:1 Paul says, “.. here’s what I want you to do, God helping you.. Take your everyday, ordinary life, your sleeping, eating, going-to work, walking around life and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for God. Fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you and respond to it quickly.” You can do that right now, right where you’re sitting.   God brings a lot of “living” into our life span; some of it so enjoyable and some of what He allows is very difficult.   He is the Lord God Almighty and the same God who richly blesses is the same One who seems to remove the blessing at times. He will work it all for our good if we will believe His Word and not give in to the feelings that can choke our faith.

Most of us are not fully satisfied with our relationship with the Lord, we would like for it to be better and if certain aspects of our life were different (we say) then we’d be different. You start where you are..you’ll never start where you are not. Stop waiting for your husband to change, your job to be better (or maybe you have no job), your kids to love and appreciate you. The above scripture says He’ll change YOU from the inside out when we embrace what He is doing in our lives. God is always working in your life..you don’t see it? Fix your attention on Him.

“Abraham without hope, in hope, believed God and so became the father of many nations just as it had been promised him. He faced the fact that his body was as good as dead since he was almost 100 years old and that Sarah’s womb also was dead. He didn’t waiver in unbelief re God’s promises but was fully persuaded that God was able to do what He had promised.” Romans 4 “God is able to do immeasurably more than we can imagine.” God is for you; He wants you to finish strong.

Mark 5:36 “Don’t be afraid, just believe.” We can’t wait for God to answer our prayers. Once prayed, we expect God to “hop to”–when in reality, sometimes it takes years for what we’ve prayed for “to be prepared.” We want to walk with God but we need to realize sometimes God walks slowly. Ever think about the fact that sometimes God waits for us..the answer is ready but we aren’t. Neither are we moving with Him so it’s missed. Sometimes we over-wait because we don’t have the confidence to move forward. The promise is “The Lord will guide you continually”. We lag behind, run ahead, when the goal is to walk with Him, so we’re available when everything else is in sink/timing is right. God requires obedience. Blessings come when we do what is right, when we do what God requires. Not only walk and go forward in obedience but have faith in God. Stop believing your doubts. You have no problem whatsoever believing your doubts..why is it so hard to believe what God says. We have to enter the conflict in order to win. When we enter, He comes to fight by our side. We are more than conquerors through Him who loves us..why not believe that? He helps us in our ignorance; He delivers us from our lethargy; He strengthens us in our weakness. He delivers us in His determined time. God has a fixed time and an ordained purpose for everything. He who controls the limits of our life also determines the time of our deliverance. “Don’t be afraid, just believe!”

Quoting from my Pastor:   “Some days you fly, some you run, and some you only walk. If you fly, remember it’s not from you. If you run, thank God you’re still in the race. Don’t look at the fliers or you’ll be discouraged, don’t compare yourself with the walkers or you’ll become proud. You just keep running. If you’re a walker, just keep putting one foot in front of the other and don’t look at the fliers or the runners. Give yourself permission to be where you are.” The goal is to finish strong as God has empowered YOU.

God doesn’t respond to what we do, we respond always to what God does. Let Him set the pace. You never see two eagles flying together, they fly alone. God seeks for eagle people. The best thing is to learn how to walk before you take flight. God will encourage you at every turn when we seek to follow hard after Him. He’s already at the finish line, cheering us on.   If you really want to be used of Him, find out what He’s up to and get in on it! My reason for wanting to become a part of Women of Worth.

Be open ..the Message Bible says, “Today, please listen! If we can only get a firm grip on the sure thing we started out with, we’re in this with Christ for the long haul.” And too, “Listen to the Wind Words. Listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”    Be open to anything the Lord speaks into your heart. Be an encouragement to someone; be prayerful for those who have healthier bodies and do serve..then whatever they accomplish, you’re a part of it. To finish strong is my prayer. It is the desire of my heart and I know how He responds to that!!

Study notes:
1. Are there some issues in your life right now that would hinder your finishing strong? Write them down and commit yourself to prayer:

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2. Job 23:14 “He will complete what He appoints for me and many such things are on His mind.” Do you have an assignment that is pending, not yet finished? If the Lord gave it to you, He will enable you to finish it.

3. Eph 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” We were created for a lifetime of good works which He has already prepared for us to do. When God created you, He “prepared beforehand” what you are to do. Do you know what that is and are you doing it?

4. Every thing good that flows into your life should flow out of you to someone else. Give an example of what you’ve done this week that shows “a river runs through you”:

5. “Readily recognize what God wants from you and respond to it quickly.” Romans :1
Not responding quickly shortens the chance of doing it. Your adversary will give you ten reasons “quickly” why you should not do it. Don’t dwell on missed opportunities, look forward to new ones. What do you recognize as something God wants from you?

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God has a fixed time and an ordained purpose for everything. He not only determines the limits of our life but the time of our deliverance. He sees our finish line just ahead. WOW, let’s run our race well and finish strong together!