A Gracious Women Serves Others

The woman who is gracious takes every opportunity to do good to all people (Galatians 6:7-10). She knows that her labor is not in vain. God is good and we as His people ought to be doing good to others.

The gracious woman knows that what she does for the least she does for Jesus. Hospitality (opening up your home and life), feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, giving the thirsty water to drink, visiting widows, caring for uncared for children, and lovingly giving to the poor are all done in faith with a heart of compassion and Jesus is there at the center of it all.

A gracious woman looks out for the interests of others in her home, community, church, and workplace. She isn't looking out for #1 as our flesh is so prone toward and our world rewards. God delights in and looks with grace on those who look out for the interests of others. This woman looks at Jesus and lives out Philippians 2:1-4- Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship in the Spirit, if any affection or compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests , but also for the interest of others.

Every time I read through Philippians 2, I realize how unlike Jesus I am and how filled I am with me, myself, and I. I want to be like Jesus and I trust that He is working that out in me, but I must still evaluate, repent, and in faith live out what I am becoming because of Jesus. These are just a few questions I use to evaluate myself in this area:

Does my husband trust I have his best interest in mind? (Proverbs 31:11-12)

Am I known as a woman who reaches out to those in need ? (Proverbs 31:19-20)

Does it look like I'll be considered a widow indeed if the the Lord sees fit I experience old age and loss of my husband? (1Timothy 5:3-5)

Tenderness, love, compassion, looking out for others; this is the life a gracious woman leads. All she does is motivated by the grace of God given her and she always has the good of her family, friends, and strangers God has ordained for her to minister to in mind.

Oh Father, as I pursue becoming a gracious woman I am in great need of Your grace.

O Lord,
Thou knowest my great unfitness for service, my present deadness, my inability to do anything for thy glory, my distressing coldness of heart. I am weak, ignorant, unprofitable, and loathe and abhor myself. I am at a loss to know what thou wouldest have me do, for I feel amazingly deserted by thee, and sense thy presence so little; Thou makest me possess the sins of my youth, and the dreadful sin of my nature, so that I feel all sin, I cannot think or act but every motion is sin. Return again with showers of converting grace to a poor gospel-abusing sinner. Help my soul to breathe after holiness, after a constant devotedness to thee, after growth in grace more abundantly everyday. O Lord, I am lost in the pursuit of this blessedness, and am ready to sink because I fall short of my desire; help me to hold out a little longer, until the happy hour of deliverance comes, for I cannot lift my soul to thee if thou of thy goodness bring me not nigh. Help me to be diffident, watchful, tender, lest I offend my blessed friend in thought and behavior; I confide in thee and lean upon thee, and need thee at all times to assist and lead me. O that all my distresses and apprehensions might prove but Christ's school to make me fit for greater service by teaching me the great lesson of humility. ( Prayer taken from Valley of Vision)