Author Archives: Nannette

About Nannette

Wife to The Sweetheart, Mom to the Fantastic Six, Nana to six of the cutest littles on the planet, Author, The Daniel Fast, A Devotional. UPCI ministers.

Shut the Front Door! Pt. 3 Modesty…for Real??

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Having a great time with this series on Warning Signs for Christians! Love the comments and insight from all of YOU! You can read Part 1 here and Part 2 Lethargy & Rebellion here. What nuggets of wisdom you have shared! Please join in again today for our study of Modesty. This one is rather long so it stands alone. Feel free to join in the discussion in the comment section!

Modesty

“Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; 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. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.” 1 Peter 3:3-6.

You may be surprised at how the Bible describes modesty. It is not just what we wear on the outside, although that is important, and we will talk about it here, but it is more than that.

Peter is instructing godly Christian ladies, and men, to adorn themselves with a meek and a quiet spirit. The first paragraph is addressed to both sexes. He also admonishes us that in order to submit to authority we must have a spirit of humility.

No matter how we dress, if we have pride in our heart, our “modesty” and disapproval of others who do not dress as we do, will show that we obviously misunderstand what modesty is all about.

“In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.” 1 Timothy 2:9 NKJV.

We cannot be handed a list of rules to run to every time we go to get dressed.

It has to be in our heart. What is our motive? Who are we dressing to please? Whose eye are we trying to catch?

“Modesty is a way of thinking that is characterized by humility and purity, and results in appropriate actions.” ~ Michelle Brock

“Strength and honor are her clothing; She shall rejoice in time to come.” Proverbs 31:25 NKJV.

When we walk with the Lord, it is Him we are trying to please; we now walk in “…newness of life”.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Does it matter what we wear? Sure it does. Is it more important than what is on the inside? Absolutely not. We have seen plenty that looked good on the outside but their inside was plenty rotten. But still, what is on the inside will come through and resonate on the outside and if we are wanting to represent our Lord, we will dress to please Him.

The word “modest” means something different to everyone, but the bottom line is not to distract or attract. The Greek word meant seemly, decently and in order. Merriam- Webster describes it as “…the quality of behaving and especially dressing in ways that do not attract sexual attention.”

But it all goes back to who are you dressing to please? Who are you trying to attract?

Or, better yet, who are you trying to distract?

A man, or woman, should never have to be uncomfortable when talking with you.

There is nothing wrong with holiness! It is not old fashioned. It is godly, Biblical and pleasing to our Lord.

There is a trend moving back toward modesty, not only in America but around the world! Many are even bold about it and excited to speak out. There are more selections of modest clothing and even several new companies around the world of modest bathing suits!

There is also nothing wrong with looking nice, dressing nice and being well put together. We should look our best, whatever our best may be. I love clothes, I love new clothes! I love the latest styles as long as they do not compromise my walk with the Lord.

Again, to each of us it means something different, but to our Lord it means one thing: not attracting the opposite sex, especially if they are not your spouse, by wearing clothing that is suggestive and distracting.

You can dress outside your box but INSIDE HIS BOOK!

I am ready for your comments, please join in the discussion! Monday we continue our series as we enter the serious subject of Pornography, Fornication, Lust and Adultery. Stay tuned!

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Shut the Front Door! Pt. 2 Lethargy and Rebellion…Yikes!

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We made it to Toronto last night! So blessed to be back with our friends and excited to meet many new ones! This multi-cultural church just grows by leaps and bounds every time we visit! It is a “happening place”! Yesterday we began our series on Warning Signs for Christians. Today we will focus on a few more areas of “pitfalls and dangers” that can cause us trouble if we don’t put a stop to them early in the game. You can view yesterday’s post here.

Feel free to join in the discussion, that’s what makes this a community! I truly enjoy this blog so much more if YOU are involved. Hey guys, it’s lonely if I am talking to myself!

Lethargy

Yikes! You mean Christians actually can get that I-don’t-care attitude? Who has the time? Yes, it does happen for just that reason. Because we are so busy, because our plate is so full, things pile upon us so quickly that finally we can’t take any more and we are so weary-with-well-doing that we cave.

If you are in Christian ministry the statistics are high! It is said that more than one-fifth of those in Christian work fall away because of weariness and exhaustion! It doesn’t have to be that way. We must realize we are holding the key to salvation for souls that we come in contact with on a daily basis. They are our responsibility. So we must pour ourselves into the work of God. We must re-focus and re-charge ourselves on a daily basis.

If we are complacent, then our prayer life is definitely lacking. That’s the first place to start!

“Be sober, be vigilant for your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour…” 1 Peter 5:8.

Not a morning person? Then try hard to get up a half hour early every morning. Spending that time with the Lord in the morning is too important to use the excuse that you’re just too tired. Try hard to go to bed a half hour earlier in the evening and that problem takes care of itself. I used to say I was just too tired to get up early to pray but then realized I found time for everything else I wanted to do. I would stay up to read, stay up to clean, and stay up on the computer.

So I would start going to bed earlier in order to be able to get up to pray. Some days I missed of course, but the days I conquered the flesh I was rewarded with the company of the God of heaven waiting for me. He had all the time in the world…just for me.

Prayer is not just time spent on your knees!

It is communion with God, walking with Him all day long, as if He is with you, beside you, and IN you, because HE IS!

And many days will not go as planned; we don’t beat ourselves up over those days. God doesn’t keep track and give us demerits for days missed! But oh, the glorious benefits of those uninterrupted minutes, that turn into half hours, that lead to an hour or more of quality time with our Lord!

If you have never found yourself lost in worship and praise where nothing else mattered but giving Him glory, where His presence enveloped you, tears flowed down your cheeks like rain and the strength and peace of God seemed to carry you into another realm…oh friend, you are missing the world’s greatest blessing!

Now before all of the stressed out mothers and overworked fathers get mad at me, I was a stressed out mother once. I raised My Three Sons, in another lifetime, and realize how difficult it was to find a time of day that WAS NOT interrupted! But I also know that when I pressed for that, the days that I found the time and made myself get up before everyone else did and found a quiet corner in the house all to myself…what a difference it made in ME. It changed ME. That’s when my relationship with the Almighty God took a real turn. Because that’s how relationships grow, you spend time with someone. You get to know them, you talk to them, and you listen to them.

Don’t misunderstand. My relationship isn’t perfect. Far from it. I am just saying I know this is what works if we keep at it! It is a daily walk, a relationship, just like any chosen relationship, it’s communication.

There is a battle going on for the souls of men and women and we are needed in this battle, we cannot afford to be sleeping!

Rebellion

The next sin that can trip us up is rebellion. This is an old favorite of Satan. He is tricky with this one too. It is serious business. Look how it is described in the Old Testament: “Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols.” 1 Samuel 15:23.

It is so serious it can cut you off from God!

“God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.” Psalm 68:6.

Rebellion is linked to the demonic spirit world in the scriptures when it is compared to witchcraft and divination.

In Acts 16:16, we find a woman possessed with a spirit of divination or fortune telling, “And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying.”

If rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, according to 1 Samuel 15:23, then can we agree that rebellion in a person’s life can open the door to the demonic world if left unchecked?

This is too dangerous to play around with!

Rebellion will also keep you from hearing what the Word of God is saying to you. “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.” Ezekiel 12:2.

Rebellion and stubbornness will also blind your spiritual eyesight and keep you from seeing the things of God. “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” 2 Corinthians 4:4.

So many times it starts out with something minor, something trivial and small. We don’t like what was said by the pastor. We come home and discuss it around the kitchen table. Was he picking on US? It sure felt like he was singling us out. And so the soil is dug up, the breeding ground is ready for the seed of rebellion to be planted.

The next time Pastor starts to preach, we decide we aren’t going to be as supportive with our “Amen’s”, or the nodding of our head. We won’t smile quite as much; we might even fold our arms across our middle. When church is over, we leave earlier than normal. He doesn’t want to talk to us anyway; he is probably talking ABOUT us. And so the seed begins to grow.

This is just an example, but one that needs to be stopped before it even gets this far! I could have taken it much farther but I wanted it to be “nipped in the bud” as Barney would say, before it had time to take root!

Rebellion against the man of God will only lead to destruction! When it started, this man should have immediately went to his pastor and cleared it up. He should have asked him if he had done something, was this directed at him? In all actuality it probably wasn’t at all! But the enemy LOVES to stir up discord and REBELLION in the Body! If he can make us believe a lie and magnify it to the point that we react, he’s got us just where he wants us!

Don’t let it get that far. Our prayer life is the key to keeping our spirit in check and rebellion out of our hearts. We must be in tune with the voice of God and His Word must be forever settled in our mind in order that we don’t let the enemy in!

If we can’t hear the voice of God, and we are cut off by playing around in the demonic world, how long will it be before we are not able to get back?

This kind of rebellion and stubbornness is dangerous and evil and comes straight from Satan himself. If you are hanging on to that sin you are playing with fire.

Share by pinning, tweeting or posting to Facebook! Most of all, get involved by leaving your thoughts today! I would love to have your input! Have a blessed weekend and join me Monday as we resume our Warning Signs series and discuss “Modesty”.

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Shut the Front Door!

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Today I am on my way to Toronto, Canada with The Sweetheart. We are traveling for Revival By Design, sharing this wonderful Blueprint for Revival! We appreciate your prayers for safe travel.

I am beginning a four part series on Warning Signs for Christians entitled “Shut the Front Door!” In other words, we have to be careful about allowing certain things into our lives, if we notice unwanted evils creeping in…shut the door! Don’t even allow them to step one foot inside your front door! My sons took this picture when they were on a missions trip in Scotland. I thought it was fitting for today’s post!

There are many pitfalls that can trap the Christian in our spiritual walk if we allow them to. Yet they are easily avoided if you know how to spot them and take action to remain steadfast, faithful and a vital member of the Body of Christ. Let’s take a look at a few of them today.

Just Say No!

You can please some of the people some of the time but you can never please everyone at once! We are natural-born people-pleasers. We try to be everything to everybody. We are nurturers by nature! But that can have its downside because it causes us to stretch ourselves so much that it takes us to a breaking point.

Of course we must take care of our families. They are of utmost importance to us. But it is all of the other demands that put the unnecessary strain in our lives. We just cannot learn to say, “No!”

We are really only here to please our Lord and Savior. If we are in tune with Him, then all is right with the world. His opinion of you is the only one that matters. If you have always been a people-pleaser, then you have been running yourself ragged. It’s time to stop.

“For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10 .

Overload

It is Satan’s business to keep us so distracted that we have no time for God or the things of God. No time to pray, no time for His Word. We are just too busy. We must take authority over the enemy and just say, “No!”

So many things demand our time today. We are slaves to technology. Our smartphones, laptops, tablets, e-readers, all of these things keep us pre-occupied and steal hours of our time every single day. Can you imagine a day without your cell phone? Have you had to go without it recently? It is truly an addiction and sadly, an idol with so many of us. We can hardly have a conversation without continually looking at our devices.

It is the enemy’s business to keep us this busy. If we are so tired and worn out from running all the time then we will not have time for God, and guess who is happy about that?

We must get our priorities in order. Jesus is first, then family, church, friends, career, etc. It may mean that you have to lay down some things to be able to put God and your family at the top of that list. But the rewards are eternal!

When in Doubt, Don’t

Decisions are made by the hundreds every single day. What outfit should I wear? What to fix for dinner tonight? Those are the simple decisions, thankfully. The more important ones we are careful to decide. We mull over them, hopefully we pray over them! If it is a difficult decision we might seek counsel. Friends might tell us to do one thing, parents might suggest another. What do you do? If there is no peace in the situation and there is no clear answer, we must not move.

If you are anxious, stay put. Even if this is difficult, realize that an uneasy conscience is the way the Holy Spirit speaks to us about what might be best. Hold on to truth and wait on the Lord.

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. But in all thy ways, acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy path.” Proverbs 3:5,6.

Overreacting has caused many a heartache and making hasty decisions can lead to disaster down the road. Be careful and prayerful, you will be thankful in the long run.

Tomorrow we will start with Lethargy! Doesn’t that sound like a fun subject! You won’t want to miss it. I would love to hear your comments today. Be sure and pin, tweet or share today’s post on Facebook.

Blessings!

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Author Archives: Nannette

About Nannette