Bible Widows

Widows in the Bible

Christianity Oasis provides this Widows Bible verse study looking at Christian Widows and traits of widows in the Bible. We'll look into that and how to become and remain a virtuous woman.



The Virtuous Woman
Step 25

Welcome to our Victorious Virtuous Woman voyage where we sail into the Bible and share deLIGHTful and insightful Bible Studies created to enLIGHTen you while making you aware of lurking lures and potent pitfalls around every turn. Don't be Scared. Be Prepared.

This SON-sational study is our Widows Bible verse study taking an in depth look into the Christian Widows in the Bible. The absolutely BE-YOU-tiful Bible widows and Christian widows Bible message within will truly bring the LIGHT of Truth to your Christian walk path and become your candle in the cold and oft times lonely darkness.


Welcome back!


Bible Widows Bible Verse Journey

Christian Widows in the Bible Adventure

Glad you're here to share this very important step today, because it addresses a very important group of women which we call widows. Unless you are a widow, being one may be the furthest thing from your mind, but most everyone knows someone who is a widow, and you may be able to learn something that will help them in this Step. We have a few other topics to cover before we begin talking about widowhood, so let's get down to business, shall we?

Now you know the fruits of the Spirit that make up the recipe for the perfect Bride. Each one of them is a virtue that you've always had inside of you, but sometimes the world gets in the way, and you can't see way back in the back of the cabinet, behind all the ingredients the world has given you that are hiding the really good ingredients.

This Step is a list of the ingredients that are included in the recipe that we've been gathering along the way in each Step of this program ... Plus some others. While you read through the recipe, take a little inventory of your cupboard and if you're running low on one of your ingredients, replenish it.


Bible Widows Bible Verse Lifestyle
Christian Widows in the Bible Laws

The Recipe
Ingredients:

trust
grace
joy
purity
confidence
faith
honor
peace
loveliness
sobriety
Truth
honesty
longsuffering
dependability
good works
love
generosity
gentleness
consistency
contentment
prayer
charity
goodness
reliability
integrity
praise
compassion
meekness
willingness
discretion
righteousness
forgiveness
temperance
creativity
cleanliness
Godliness
understanding
submissiveness
nurturing
obedience
hope
wisdom
reverence
preparedness
prudence
humility
strength
benevolence
responsibility
admonition
kindness
patience
sincerity
mercy
loyalty


Bible Widows Bible Verse Recipe
Christian Widows in the Bible Hope

Directions:

Mix all ingredients well with Fear of the Lord. Marinate. Simmer with patience and willingness.

Don't forget, in all of your endeavors to be virtuous, your cookbook is the Bible, and like any cookbook, you'll refer to it time and time again for the same recipes, and lots of new ones.

Let's Get Cookin'!

Now that you have the recipe, and you know where to get the ingredients ... The choice is up to you. Will you cook?

Recipe substitution tip: You can always replace egg on your face ... With Grace!

Make a List

Do you make a shopping list so that you don't forget things you need when you go to the grocery store? Why not make a list of virtues that you want to improve on! Write things down. When you write down something, even if you don't read it later, you remember it better. Get yourself a tiny little spiral notebook and write things in it whenever you think of them, so that later you can reflect on them and it will help you instill your goals in your mind.

Let me give you an example. Let's say you're on your way home from your Bible Study group one evening and it's after dark, and you notice how many homes still have their curtains open. You realize that nobody has any business looking into other folks homes, but it never dawned on you that keeping the curtains open is really like inviting anyone to observe. You know that you yourself forget many times to draw the drapes until past dark ...

Ahh, but you don't forget to turn the lamps on in the house. So, be sure to write it down, to draw the curtains before you turn on the lamps in the evening. Then nobody can see in, and you maintain the privacy of your own home. (Pssssst ... From then on you'll probably not glance into other homes either, though they should be more virtuous and close their curtains.) If the climate or season is hot, and you have no air conditioning, or if the weather is pleasant enough to have a window open, then you can put up some heavy sheers behind your curtains so that air can get in, but vision cannot.

Another Christian Widows example: Let's say you have a habit of saying, "Oh my God!" when something surprises you. You're not actually addressing God, and you suddenly realize how awful it sounds. You may wonder if you're using God's name in vain (which means without good reason) so you write it down that you will say, "Oh my goodness," or just, "Oh my," instead.

Anything that is a habit that you want to break, or a habit which you want to initiate ... Write it down.

A Sacrifice of Self

Don't forget that being virtuous is a sacrifice ... A gift ... To your Father. You must give it willingly. Not out of fear or obligation, but because you want to. Would you want a gift from someone if you knew that they really didn't want to give it? By being virtuous, you're setting an example for others to follow ... You're representing Jesus. It is a very selfless, very humble thing you're doing.


Bible Widows Bible Verse Explained
Christian Widows in the Bible Gifts

1 Peter 5:2-4

2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
3 Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock.
4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

The Widow's Walk

Now, you know that the Lord has much compassion on the widowed and the fatherless. Here are just a few examples:

Exodus 22:22

Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.


Psalms 68:5

A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in His holy habitation.


Psalms 146:9

The LORD preserveth the strangers; He relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked He turneth upside down.


Proverbs 15:25

The LORD will destroy the house of the proud: but He will establish the border of the widow.


Bible Widows Bible Verse Qualities
Christian Widows in the Bible Woe

For most people, even the mention of the word widow, invokes compassion in our hearts. In a moment, we're going to study some things that Paul says about widows, and in advance, I feel compelled to ask you to be open minded to the Truth about women who are alone. What happened to Eve when she was alone in the Garden of Eden? Also, take into consideration Eve's age at that time.

We don't know exactly how old she was, but she didn't have any children yet, and she was created to help Adam, who God placed in the Garden of Eden to tend it, which was probably at the very least, moderately strenuous, so it's a good guess that she was at the very least at an age where she was able bodied to tend the garden. Now, think about women throughout history and the women that you know today. Would you say that young women or older women are more likely to stray from their faith?

Okay, while you ponder on those things, let's look at something that may help you a little. Paul was alive somewhere around 4,000 years after Adam and Eve, and apparently young women then were still easily lured ... As Eve was.

The Truth is, painful childbirth and being under man's rule aren't the only things that women inherited from Eve. If you hide and watch, today, 2,000 years after Paul's time, women still have the same reputation. Why? Because it's the truth. It will help you to understand Paul better when he refers to Christian widows in the Bible if you consider a few things with an open mind.

You see, Paul wasn't a chauvinist. He wasn't a woman hater either. Paul had Spiritual insight. That intuition that women brag about having isn't true Spiritual intuition most of the time. Most of the time it's just self willed motivation, not guidance of the Holy Spirit. When you realize where a woman's characteristics actually stem from, you won't want to claim this so readily. What Paul had was Spiritual intuition.

Don't get me wrong here. I'm not saying that being a woman is a shameful existence by any means. I'm saying there are challenges that are beyond anyone's control, and that if you understand them better, it will make many of your actions, reactions and instincts much easier to understand and deal with as well. Okay, just to remind, we started by talking about women when they are alone. Now let's look and learn what Paul has to say about Christian widows in his first letter to Timothy.

1 Timothy 5:3-4

3 Honour widows that are widows indeed.
4 But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God.


Honorable Bible Widows Bible Verse
Christian Widows in the Bible Indeed

Honor Christian widows that are widows indeed. Or in other words ... In truth. Respect widows that live according to God's expectations. But if any widow have children or nephews (the term nephew at that time, meant grandchildren, but now is used for the son of one's sibling) at home, honor them to respect and to requite (repay) their parents (or grandparents): because that is good and acceptable in the sight of God.

Second Chance

1 Timothy 5:5-7

5 Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.
6 But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.
7 And these things give in charge, that they may be blameless.

Now she that is a widow indeed, and alone, trusts in God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.

But she that lives in pleasure is dead while she still lives.

So ... A woman who is happy to be a widow, is dead while she lives. What does this mean? It doesn't mean that you'll never live another joyful moment in your life. It doesn't mean that you should grieve every day for the rest of your life either. Even Jesus said, Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.

Matthew 8:19-22

19 And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
20 And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head.
21 And another of His disciples said unto Him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

The Lord doesn't want anyone to be sad, but to enjoy being a widow ... To be pleased about it ... That your soul-mate is gone ... That's what Paul was speaking of.

This doesn't count honorable widows that have walked the walk of faith.

1 Timothy 5:9-10

9 Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man.
10 Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the Saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.

But don't support the younger widows that seek a different walk other than the Christian walk.

1 Timothy 5:11-12

11 But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry;
12 Having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith.

They have cast off their first faith ... They abandon their first faith. What does that mean? It means that before women married, they served the Lord. They were holy, prayerful, pure. When they married, they served their husband and children and home. But when they became widowed, they didn't return to their first beliefs, their first faith, their first love, and instead they were more interested in worldly matters.


Bible Widows Bible Verse Tips
Christian Widows in the Bible Warning

1 Timothy 5:13

And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.

Paul describes what worldly women since creation until now have done and still do today when they are alone, single, widowed. Be sure to check out the Christian Walk Study entitled Busybody to gain more insight on that subject and what the Bible says concerning it. And now, you know the difference between a widow and a widow indeed. One turns to the world(ly), and the other turns back to the Lord.

Undoubtedly, there are many reading this Christian Widows in the Bible teaching right now who are experiencing that urge to defend your own actions, and at the same time, you know deep inside that you're guilty of this very thing. Dear woman, whoever you are, God's Grace is waiting for you to just sigh heavily and say ... I'm sorry Lord. I was wrong. Please forgive me.

Then you will feel Him lift up your chin, dry the tear from your eye, kiss your forehead, and tell you you're forgiven and that every moment is a new moment to begin afresh, serving Him indeed! It's a sacrifice. A gift, of selflessness. A second chance to serve the Lord with the kind of devotion you offered (or had the opportunity to) before you married.

Now, knowing woman's natural tendencies, Paul says: I wish that the younger women would marry, have kids, be housewives, don't give the enemy of their souls a chance to accuse them to God shamefully, because some have already been led away by the devil.

1 Timothy 5:14-15

14 I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
15 For some are already turned aside after Satan.

In addition, Paul, knowing that there are people that have been conditioned by the world to think that they are owed something warns that if any believer has a loved one who is a wandering widow, to take responsibility and assist them themselves, as he said several verses ago:


Bible Widows Bible Verse Summary
Christian Widows in the Bible Today

1 Timothy 5:3-4

3 Honour widows that are widows indeed.
4 But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God.

... So that the church can assist those who are widows indeed.

We're not through yet my friend, there are still some great things in the Steps ahead! Until we meet again, don't forget to praise your loving Father for His comforting and Generous Grace!


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