Reflections on God's Word

by Victoria Robinson

In the beginning … ahhh those famous first words recorded in the book of Genesis. Beginnings so often start with a sense of great hope and wonderment. This was the fresh starts of all fresh starts. A blank canvas with limitless possibilities. Girlfriends, don’t you just love a fresh start? A chance to begin anew with no past mistakes. There are times when we just need to start over.

Spiritually speaking, a new beginning is found in the book of John. That new beginning is found in putting our faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The apostle Paul spoke of this transforming faith in the book of Titus. he said, “… a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time …” Acknowledging that a new life is only possible through Jesus Christ is the only way to have a fresh start. In fact, Jesus said to a man named Nicodemus, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Born again—let’s start over! If this is your desire, click on this Heaven link and learn more. Heaven

If you already have a relationship with Jesus Christ then you surely know what a wonderful feeling it is to be able to “wipe the slate clean” and start over. King David came to a place in his life when he desperately needed to start over. Troubles surrounded him due to his disintegration into a sinful life. The enemy of his soul had enticed him to indulge in lustfully gazing upon a beautiful woman named Bathsheba. This led to sleeping with her apart from marriage as set forth in the Word of God. Once it becomes known to him that Bathsheba is pregnant, we see the actions of a desperate man. So panicked by his circumstances that he engaged in a murderous plot to kill Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah. If ever a person needed to start over it was King David.

The good news is David repented and turned his heart back to the Lord. David’s fresh start resulted in the Lord speaking these kind words about him after his departure from this world, “… walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness …”

King David whose life was ravaged by his sinful choices, but who got a fresh start from the heavenly Father, has been memorialized by the Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus.  He wrote, “David was truly a man after God’s own heart.”

This is an encouraging story when we reach a point in our life where we need a new beginning. If that is where you are today, then praying the very words King David prayed after he repented are appropriate. In the book of Psalms David wrote, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”

Near the end of Lamentations, a book of poetry written to lament the destruction of Jerusalem, the prophet Jeremiah makes a plea to the Lord. He says, “Bring us back to you! Give us a fresh start.” What a wonderful way to cry out to the Lord when we have a remorseful heart and want to start over!

Dearest girlfriends, let us turn our hearts towards our heavenly Father and receive a new beginning.

by Victoria Robinson

What in the world does learning how to use etiquette in conversation and learning how to converse with our heavenly Father have in common? Actually, quite a bit. Conversations with Him are what we think of as prayer. In the 1896 etiquette book, The Secret of a Happy Home, Christian author, Marion Harland, speaks of the satisfaction in telling one’s woes and sorrows to an interested listener.

“Undoubtedly there is a momentary satisfaction in telling one’s woes and sorrows to an interested listener. When the auditor is a friend, and a trusted friend, whose sympathy is genuine and whose discretion is vast, there is a comfort beyond description in unburdening one’s soul.”

Marion Harland, The Secret of a Happy Home 1896

Fortunately every one of us has a trusted friend we can unburden our souls to. King Solomon told us, “… there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” The friend  he is referring to is Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Our Lord and Savior gave us detailed instructions on having a polite conversation in prayer with our heavenly Father. He told us, “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.”

“Some people are always bored. May it not be because they look at everything animate and inanimate from a selfish standpoint, with the query in their minds, “How does that affect me?” The old definition of a bore as “a person who talks so much of himself that he gives you no chance to of yourself,” may apply not only to the bore, but to the bored. When you find yourself wearied and uninterested, be honest enough to examine yourself calmly, and see if the reason is not because your vis-a-vis is not talking about anything which interests you especially. Should he turn the conversation upon your favorite occupation or pastime, or even upon your personal likes and dislikes (which, by the way, might be an infinite bore to him), would he not at once become entertaining?”

Marion Harland, The Secret of a Happy Home 1896

Listening to the other person is an important key to polite conversation. Nobody enjoys chatting with a boorish person who only is concerned with prattling on about themselves. Your heavenly Father is not interested in having a one-way conversation with you. Besides, if you are not listening during your prayer, you cannot possibly attain His wisdom for your requests. Conversing with our heavenly Father must always include listening. In her 1860 book, The Ladies’ Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness, Florence Hartley gives us instruction on the importance of listening while conversing.

“It seems paradoxical to observe that the art of listening well forms a part of the duty of conversation. To give up the whole of your attention to the person who addresses himself to you, is sometimes a heavy tax, but it is one which we must pay for the privileges of social life, and an early practice will render it an almost involuntary act of good breeding; whilst consideration for others will give this little sacrifice a merit and a charm.”

Florence Hartley, The Ladies’ Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness 1860

Genuine praise is another important aspect of good conversation. Marion Harland gives an excellent example of developing the habit of praising the one you are talking with.

“Ten girls whom I know formed a society for the repression of unkind criticism. The members themselves to try, as far as in them lay, to speak kindly of people when it was possible for them to do so, and when impossible to say nothing. At first it was hard, for self-conceit would intrude, and it is hard for one girl to praise another who dislikes her. Little by little the tiny seed of effort grew into a habit of kindly speech.”

Marion Harland, The Secret of a Happy Home 1896

This story is reminiscent of the hardness that can develop in our hearts and hinder us from praising our heavenly Father during prayer. The enemy of your soul will always point out why God is not worthy to be praised. A direct contradiction to the Scriptures! The psalmist tells us, “I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies.”

Just as Marion Harland reminds us that no true lady complains while conversing with others, neither should we bring our request to the Lord in a complaining manner.

“But if you do not feel this, for politeness’ sake refrain from making your listener supremely uncomfortable by your complaints. No true lady will so far forget her innate ladyhood as to be guilty of this rudeness.”

Marion Harland, The Secret of a Happy Home 1896

An extremely descriptive picture of the perils of complaining while praying are found in the book of Numbers. The Israelites were whining about not having meat and my oh my did they ever get their request granted! The Lord said, “The LORD heard you when you wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat it. You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it—because you have rejected the LORD, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’”

Polite conversation sometimes involves forgiveness. The person chatting with you may say something offensive and it is important for you to overlook the words that have wounded your heart. The Lord instructed us that prayer also involves forgiveness. In the book of Matthew, Jesus told us, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Our prayers will be hindered if we approach God and have unforgiveness towards others.

Dearest girlfriends, let us endeavor to develop polite conversation when we pray.

Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. … ~ Psalm 55:22 NLT 

by Victoria Robinson

Girlfriends, we all know that a mirror can either be our friend or enemy. If we are feeling good about the way we look then the mirror is our friend and if we do not like the way we look we tend to avoid looking in a mirror. However, even if we avoid gazing at our own faults, it is easy to walk around noticing the faults of others. Seeing a friend who looks bad in an ugly outfit is not nearly as painful as seeing ourself looking just as bad. Spiritually speaking, we do the same thing. The faults of others are so evident to us while we are blind to our own.

The surest way to know we have mastered overlooking our friend’s faults is to examine our first response. There is nothing wrong with us noticing sin in others and yet how we react is very telling of our own hearts. Is it, “Oh my!” or is it “I must pray for them.” Are we motivated by our love for them or just being critical? Another important response is, “Do I have that same sin in my heart?” The truth is, sometimes the reason we are critical of others is because we are plagued with the very same faults.

Overlooking a friend’s faults does not mean we ignore the problem. The Word of God clearly tells us that we are help our friends when they are caught in sin. However, and here’s the painful part, we are to examine our own hearts and remove any sin we have. Then we will be able to see clearly to help our friend.

Dearest girlfriends, let us love and be patient with our friends when it comes to their faults while we examine our own hearts.

by Victoria Robinson

Girlfriends, whatever is a really big word! When someone agrees to do whatever, it includes everything or anything. That can encompass a whole lot of options! Mary, the mother of our Lord and savior once said of her son, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” This sums up what our life should be like at all times. Notice I said should be because unfortunately most of us do not always walk in obedience to our Lord.

When the prophet Jeremiah confronted the Israelites their response was, “The Lord himself will be our witness that we promise to do whatever he says, even if it isn’t what we want to do. We will obey the Lord so that all will go well for us.” What a wonderful attitude of their hearts! They were not just agreeing to be obedient, but to obey no matter what the Lord said. Matthew Henry wrote these words concerning their obedience.

Though it may seem evil to us, yet we will believe that if God command it it is certainly good, and we must not dispute it, but do it. Whatever God commands, whether it be easy or difficult, agreeable to our inclinations or contrary to them, whether it be cheap or costly, fashionable or unfashionable, whether we get or lose by it in our worldly interests, if it be our duty, we will do it.

Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary

Just like the Israelites, we need to have a heart of obedience so that all will go well for us. Hezekiah’s life was not only spared, but lengthened for fifteen years because he pleaded with the Lord and said, “Don’t forget that I have been faithful to you, Lord. I have obeyed you with all my heart, and I do whatever you say is right.” There is that limitless word again, whatever! Our trust in our Lord should be so complete that we always obey Him in whatever He says.

Dearest girlfriends, I pray we would do whatever He says and reap the subsequent rewards.

by Victoria Robinson

In the song This Is Your Life, by Switchfoot, the question is posed, “This is your life, are you who you want to be?” Sometimes in life we can develop a “victim” mentality. That is based on the thinking—my life is not my fault. Things have happened to me along the way and I have no choice in what I have become. I can’t help but think about what a certain young man all of seventeen would have said about that idea. At seventeen, this young man was terrorized by his brothers, threatened with death, sold into slavery, falsely accused of rape, imprisoned, and left to languish in prison by a friend who neglected to help him. This godly man named Joseph did not understand “playing the victim”. Instead, he knew this was HIS life and he took responsibility for his actions. Because Joseph chose to act godly, the difficulties during this period of his life were intermingled with favor from the Lord.

Even after God places Joseph in a prominent position and gives him power over his brothers, there is never ever a hint of unforgiveness in his heart. Instead, once again, he chooses to be a blessing to those who have cursed him. After experiencing seventeen years of a difficult life, Joseph was godly enough to say to his brothers, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.”

Girlfriends, this is YOUR life and you need to behave properly regardless of what others have done to you. Just as Joseph was richly rewarded for his godly actions, so we will experience our heavenly Father’s blessings when we act appropriately.

Dearest girlfriends, I pray our actions would consistently reflect our heavenly Father’s principles no matter what difficulties we are living through.

by Victoria Robinson

The strong leader and prophet Nehemiah, set a wonderful example of being slow to speak for us all to follow. After hearing the distressful news that his fellow Israelites were in trouble, he immediately prayed. Not so amazing since that is the usual action one would expect of a godly man. However, following this scenario is something quite interesting concerning prayer. When King Artaxerxes notices Nehemiah’s sadness and ask him what he wanted, Nehemiah does not just blurt out the overflow of pain in his heart. Instead, he pauses to pray before answering the king. We would do well to follow his example.

These two incidents are actually separated by three months. Nehemiah was a man with a strong conviction of the power of prayer and had prayed during this three-month period. One of his request was for God to grant him favor with King Artaxerxes. After praying for three months it would be easy to think he was “prayed up” and ready to speak up. Not this man who took prayer so seriously—he thought one more prayer was important enough to keep the king waiting.

Our Lord and Savior was an expert at not hurrying to blurt out the thoughts He held so tightly inside. When Pilate questioned Jesus where He was from, He did not immediately answer. When this was taking place, can’t you just imagine how uncomfortable the situation was as Jesus remained silent.

Girlfriends, we tend to look more at our horizontal relationships than our more important vertical relationship—our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It would seem that Nehemiah being the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, a very intimate relationship, would have just blurted out his needs to this powerful man. Instead he trusted more in his vertical relationship with his all-powerful God. A great example to remind us of the power of prayer.

Dearest girlfriends, let us always consider the importance of prayer before we speak.

by Victoria Robinson

What can one do to overcome insurmountable obstacles and face going on in life? There comes a point when we must go on with life despite what we have been through. King David not only faced having to go on with life after the death of his child, but also had to live with the knowledge this precious child’s death was his fault. As soon as David’s child became ill, he fasted and pleaded with God to have mercy and heal his son. The Lord chose not to bring this about and one would think this king could not go on. Yet David knew this was not the end for him. He got up, washed, put on clean clothes and had food brought to him. Girlfriends, I do not know about you, but food is the last thing I want in times of grief.

It is interesting to note that following this tragic event, King David and his wife Bathsheba, who herself was not entirely blameless, gave birth to a son named Solomon. Solomon gives us this wisdom in the book if Ecclesiastes, “Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!” Here is what we can take from this—if you are reading this, you are alive and therefore have hope!

Dearest girlfriends, whatever problems you are facing, please take heart that you have ultimate hope through our Lord.

by Victoria Robinson

They say “Silence is golden.”, but one might say, “Silence is godly.” The apostle Peter wrote to ladies telling us, “Your godly lives will speak to them better than any words. They will be won over by watching your pure, godly behavior.” He was giving a godly admonition to us on how to handle an unbelieving husband, but this seems to be a truth we can use whenever our husbands or anyone for that matter does not believe the Word of God in any given area. For instance, if you have spoken the Word to someone and they have not accepted it as truth, you might need to keep quiet and allow the purity of your behavior to speak to them. Silence is Godly!

Dearest girlfriends, I pray we would take the apostle Peter’s words to heart and keep silent when we need to and allow God to bring conviction to those who are not receptive.

by Victoria Robinson

Having the knowledge that using the contraction “ain’t” is not correct grammar is of no use if you keep on using it. In the same way having spiritual knowledge without applying it to your life is of no use. In fact, it is shameful. The apostle James warns us that we are deceiving ourselves if we merely listen to the word.

One of the infamous cases of having knowledge and not using it is King Solomon who has been described as the wisest person ever. This mighty king’s downfall came when he did not do what he knew. He knew he was not to marry a foreign woman who would turn his heart towards other gods. Not only did he disobey God in marrying a foreign woman, he married multiple women and had many concubines. He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. Because he did not do what he knew, God told him his kingdom would be torn away from him and given to a subordinate.

“Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.” — Samuel Johnson

As King Solomon found, it is easier to attain knowledge than apply it to our lives. Girlfriends, most of us are guilty of knowing more statutes of God than we obey.

Dearest girlfriends, I pray we would take heed of the scriptural fact that “knowin’ ain’t doin'” and therefore put into practice the knowledge He has given us.

by Victoria Robinson

Okay girlfriends, I admit it, I am a wash-a-holic! Like all of us I shower everyday, sometimes more. I wash my hair at least once a day. But when it comes to hand washing that is where I really get into trouble. I am constantly washing my hands. Being that I love to cook means that I wash my hands over and over each day. I certainly could use a case of industrial strength hand lotion! Don’t worry girlfriends, I am in good spiritual standing according to the Word of God as it says, “Wash your hands, you sinners …” The truth is—this passage goes on to say, “… and purify your hearts …”

The prophet Isaiah said, “The Lord will wash the moral filth from the women …”. While this verse is speaking of the entire church, we women would do well to take it seriously. The apostle James tells us, “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent …”

If I was a spiritual wash-a-holic and washed my moral filth off as readily as washing my hands, my heavenly Father would be very pleased with me. Dearest girlfriends, let us repent of our sins and cleanse ourselves spiritually.