Resolution for Women: From Strength to Strength

As I studied this lesson the first thing that truly penetrated deep with me was the story Priscilla shared about her stepping onto the log, you know the one that looked so sturdy and strong on the outside when in fact it was totally rotten on the inside.   It got me to thinking about myself and how I must look to God on the inside and outside.    So I found these two pictures to illustrate it for you.

Look at how nice this apple looks  (all juicy looking and ready for you to take a bite, and you pick it up, wash it, and get ready to take that bite.

And when you do….ewwww…is then what you are saying because the inside looks like this….

It looked good enough to whet your appetite when in fact decay and deterioration had taken over its inside, and sooner or later this same thing is what happens to each of us, the pressures of our life will reveal the truth of what is on the inside.

We can put up fronts and “look” strong on the outside but our insides are ready to snap, to fall to pieces.

Something caused this apple not to be able to stand up to keeping it strong and juicy and ready to eat just like something inside us does the same and that something we learned about in this week’s lessons is our integrity.

The story of Daniel in the lions den is truly one of the most pure Christian inspirational stories of all times. His pure love for God put his integrity to the ultimate test!

We find the story in Daniel Chapter 6. We have all heard the story but I would like to stress some points within the story that stand out to me and will help us to understand what this lesson is trying to teach us.

The story took place during the rule of king Darius. King Darius liked Daniel a lot, and had placed him in a very high position within his kingdom.  Of course because of Daniel’s status it caused a great deal of jealousy among the individuals placed below him. So much so that they plotted against him.  Now these weren’t just everyday people they were high ranking officials.

When they got together they decided that they needed to find out something about his life that they could use against him to destroy him.

Does that sound familiar at all to the way people still act today. People are always trying to get the scoop on us and what they can find out in order to tell others….Instead of trying to work hard and handle their own lives, they find it is a lot faster to the top of the food chain to destroy those around them.

Kids are a good example of this! What is the first thing a small child will do to gain favor of their parents over their siblings? They run to mama and daddy and tattle on them for what the other one was doing!  ***I did that to my younger sister several times**** They are just trying to get to the top of the parents totem pole by trampling on the backs of anyone who stands in their way.

That is what the people were doing to Daniel. They examined his life with a fine tooth comb and could not find anything wrong.

Wow! Can you imagine! How wonderful that could be to know someone was looking into our life and not being able to find just “one” something that could destroy us.

The only thing they could figure out was that Daniel would pray three times a day like clock work in his home. Throughout his life he didn’t care who was in charge, what the rules were, he was going to worship the one and only true God!

It started from the first time they brought him captive to Babylon. He would not eat the food they presented and with the help of God was given the proper diet.

At the time, Daniel’s praying was no problem. But the people intended to make it a problem because they knew he wouldn’t give up his dedicated worship to God. That is a true testament in itself of his Integrity! He was known for doing the right thing without compromise. How about us?   Will we do the same?

So the people went to King Darius and asked him to make a decree for thirty days that no one would bow down and make a request from anyone except the King himself. The NLT version states it like this in verse 7: We are all in agreement—we administrators, officials, high officers, advisers, and governors—that the king should make a law that will be strictly enforced. Give orders that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human—except to you, Your Majesty—will be thrown into the den of lions.

Pretty straight forward huh?  They knew Daniel’s integrity would not allow him to stop doing what he would always do. That was to worship his God.

King Darius did agree to this unknowingly that they had plotted against his friend Daniel. He signed it in such a way that it couldn’t be undone. You see the people in that day believed that a king was like a God and could not make a mistake. So if a king signed a decree, it was irreversible!

So what do you suppose Daniel did?

• Of course he went right on doing what he always did.
• He didn’t try to hide it!
• He didn’t try to delay it for thirty days!
• He didn’t try to fake it by pretending not to!
• He just kept on keeping on!
• That’s Integrity!

He would be facing death if he were to bow down to his God, BUT he just kept on praying to Him. He didn’t change one thing about his normal routine.

What about us, are we committed that strongly to doing the right thing?

When we go into a public restaurant do we still pray before we eat, or are we afraid of the ridicule we might face?

When we have a non Christian over for dinner do we pray before eating or do we only do that with our Christian friends?

When we are behind closed doors do we worship the one and only true God or do we only do that on Sunday at Church?

Do we speak holy/churchy conversations around our church friends and need to wash our mouths out around our work friends?

These are only examples of how we might change what we are doing because we have formed our behaviors around society.

Integrity is doing the right thing no matter what the consequences!

Daniel knew that if he prayed as he always did, he was going to be thrown into the lions den. Was he afraid? I don’t know! But that showed a form of Integrity that can’t be matched anywhere, or anytime.

He decided that he would face death before he caved into the world and it’s rules of going against God!

Now we know how the story ended, but Daniel didn’t have the luxury of knowing!

I know that I would’ve probably caved like a sink hole! Each situation God allows us to experience that tests our ability to make the right choice makes us that much stronger in our relationship with Him and His Son Jesus.

Each experience we face makes doing the right thing a little easier! We can only do this with God’s help. By asking Jesus to be the Authority of our life, it will change us and make integrity a little more real everyday in our life.

Until maybe, just maybe, we will face the lions den as Daniel did and say, God I will follow you over them every time!!! I will NOT compromise integrity for a moment of fun. Remember as Christians we can still have fun but we don’t have to compromise what we know is right!  Let’s take this stand, and be free so we can be an example and an influence to those who are watching our lives so that we can draw them to a closer relationship with Christ.

Let’s pray:

God I pray for each woman who studied this lesson of integrity this week. You showed us many things about our lives that we need to give over to You in order for us to be strong over the evil influences that try to take hold in our lives and I pray You begin and continue to show each of us what those things are so we can place them at Your feet and rid them from our lives and so that we will be ready to sign this resolution to be a “woman of integrity” !  In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN!

Your assignment:

I would love to hear from each of you how God removed your hidden infested decay that was on your inside before you did this weeks’ study and how He brought it to the surface and revealed the truths to you and because of His teachings this week you are now “strong” and resolved to be a “woman of integrity”.

Now head on back to our Online Bible Study Facebook Group for the Daily Activity (Megan always has something great/fun for us!)  If you don’t belong to our OBS FB Group, and would like to, simply send us an email at: GirlfriendsCoffeeHour@gmail.com and we’ll be happy to send you the details you will need to get started!

…don’t forget to read what the men are up to over on Craig’s blog…

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