Influence…

What is a “woman of influence”? Who is she? Where is she? Just what does her life “look” like? You are either a woman of godly influence or a woman of ungodly influence. Is there a woman near you that is in need of a godly influence upon her life? Maybe she is someone that needs help with her children, to catch up her housekeeping, who longs for a submitted heart. Our walk and salvation is connected in a beautiful working pattern as we carry on every day of our lives. Our relationship with our husbands, the way we raise our children, the way we keep our homes, our dress, our speech, our actions, our deeds are just some of the many examples to a world full of women who are hungry for godly influence.

Oh! What a blessing this was to write, as when researching for this study I found beautiful meaning to the word influence. Meanings like, “to cast shade upon, to envelop in a haze of brilliancy, to overshadow.” I thought these to be such very lovely words, words that fully show the meaning of influence. This speaks loudly to me of what MY influence does to and for other women. My influence can overshadow, it can cast shade upon and it can envelop in a haze of brilliancy. To “envelop in a haze of brilliancy”—my life can surround another’s in a shadow or haze of light, OR my life can surround another’s with a shadow and can cast shade, or in reality, darkness upon another’s life. Wow! That speaks volumes to me and convicts the very soul of the “woman” in me. My God-given instinct is quickened, is made aware, is brought out to a fuller and deeper meaning of what my influence can do. Oh, praise the Lord for the light of His influence and for His words of light spoken to me about influence as I write.

I also found some words in that meaning that were distressing. Influence in the Greek means, “a token of control, authority, jurisdiction, liberty, power, right, strength.” Let us look at these for a moment and see where they fit in with our influence.

“Token of control” is that little piece of us that we use to wield in our daily lives. In relationships women often use this token of influence to undermine their husbands or to navigate around his will in their marriage. They can use it as a “quiet” authority, where it will erode and rot the marriage core. Our liberty, power, rights and strengths are found within submission to our husbands. It is God-given and can be a blessing when it is within the perimeters of the marriage fiber.

We also use this influence in our relationships with other sisters and daughters. I think of those little day-to-day things. They may seem small, but reflect a heart that is satisfied in living a simple life for Christ. I think of a few of those times when I may have been an influence—a smile to a grocery clerk who is frazzled by the lines of people yet to come after me, an encouraging word of hope to a tired mother working long hours with children in daycare, searching and grieving for a better way, or crying with a sister over tea who just needs a hug and an ear to listen. There have been many, many times when I have been both a good influence and sadly, times when I have not.

I pray that this writing on “Women of Influence” will bring you to a deeper place in understanding YOUR influence and what the lasting effects of it can be. I have wept at times as I studied for this writing and what the Lord has shown me with one tiny word that he so gently placed upon my heart: the word influence.

The following is an on-going study of women of the Bible and that of their influence. The influence they had on their husbands, their children, their sisters around them and the wide, far reaching influence they have on us even today. Generations will be touched by influence.

May we press forward to the prize and the high calling that we have in the ultimate influence, that of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

My Lord and Savior, O that we might bow to You and worship You. Help us as women who are called by Your name, to begin today to implement a NEW influence, that our light may shine and illuminate Your word, and not cause a shadow to pass or shade to be placed upon it by our words or actions. Praise Your name!

Eve - A Failed Helpmeet

Just imagine a beautiful garden home, a beautiful new body with fresh skin and a strong, intelligent, spiritual head of the home who adores you. Sound familiar? It should, this was Eve’s world. A world God created for Eve, placing her in a beautiful garden, with a beautiful new life and a wonderful husband, Adam.

I love the account of how God took a part of Adam to create Eve, a part of his very own body. How close and intimate is that picture in trying to show you how God created the woman for the man, not the man for the woman. Eve was not made from Adam’s heel, nor was she made from his head. She was made from his side, not to be above him and not to be below him, but certainly to be right beside him and to become part of him for her entire life. She was created beside him to be closer in love with him—being eye to eye, cheek to cheek, breath to breath and heart to heart! What a beautiful image this brings to my mind.

Eve was to be all these things. It was the duty and honorship she was to bestow upon her mate, Adam. She was to complete him as a helper, suitable and fit. God created the perfect example of a woman who was to become a great woman of influence, but sadly, Eve will be remembered as one of the worst role models for Christian women, ever. But we can learn much from her. We can watch as she makes grave mistakes. She can influence our lives to the highest point and help us not to go down the same dark path.

We find in Proverbs 12:4 that, “A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay or rot to his bones.” Eve was to be a crown, a sparking jewel of fine and precious stones to Adam, to bring him to his finest, thus bringing herself to her shining place of respect and duty. I have always likened the submitted life of a Christian wife to her husband as an example of a submitted life to Christ Jesus. When we come in humility to the Lord, we submit to Him and His authority. We are now lost to him, only to be completely now found. So it is with a Christian wife. The nation’s feminist society would tell us to go out and find ourselves, but little do they know (for they are deceived) that when we submit ourselves to our husbands, to his love and authority, we are already found, beautifully and wonderfully found. We then enter into our place, a sacred sphere of promise, provision and blessing. Blessings rain down from heaven when we are in the place that God has purposed for us. Eve got out of her place, her place of promise, and lost her blessings. She got out from under God’s perfect will and purpose for her life, straying from Adam’s leadership and safety and bringing herself into deception.

What happened to Eve? Could it be that she became increasingly bored and discontent with her role as “just” a wife? Maybe she strayed too far from home; maybe “things” became important and things she wanted and desired became so very important. Did she linger and stare too long? Perhaps the longer she looked the better the forbidden areas looked to her. Did she stop listening to God, the Father? Could it be she did not talk with her mate as often as she once had? Maybe she just needed to “get away” alone, and away she did, once too often. Do any of these thoughts sound familiar to YOU? Have you ever reaped dire consequences in your marriage? Have you “created” sin in your home-life, and has it caused your husband to stumble over it and fall? Is he bruised or just bleeding a little from time to time, due to hurt that you have inflicted? Is your influence on your husband a positive one? Do you make an impact on his growth in the Lord, or are you a hindrance? Do you have a serpent’s tongue, lashing to and fro with no consideration of having a meek and quiet spirit? Maybe now would be a good time to evaluate your heart, a good time to take inventory of your influence and how your husband sees you. Dear sisters, the potential is always there in the next breath for an apology and for healing. Our knees sometimes get stiff from not being bent by our bedsides. Today is the day to set yourself free from the forbidden fruit! It will leave a bitter aftertaste in your mouth, but with humility it can also leave you more sensitive to the “sweet” on the end of your tongue!

Let’s stop eating from the apple and throw away what is left on the core. It has become brown with rot. Let’s set our sights on becoming a woman of Godly influence and let it begin in our own homes, modeling the attributes of a wife set on the rock, Christ Jesus! Hallelujah!

Taken from "The Heartbeat of the Remnant"