Don't Be a Wimp

Our strong little surfer girl surfs in all kinds of temperatures!

While searching for an old post I came upon these notes of mine in 2014 from a Revive Our Hearts ministry article by Mary Kassian called "Don't Be a Wimpy Woman" and a similar article by Elisa Pulliam based on seven clauses in 2 Timothy 3:6-7.

For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women,        burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able  to arrive at a knowledge of the truth

Seven clauses, seven characteristics of a wimpy, weak woman.                     Seven habits that you will want to kick if you don't want to be one and if you want to become a woman of strength.

1.  She allows creeps to come into her life.

Now these aren’t just “creeps” as in creepy guys. They’re any type of small influence or tiny sin that slowly worms its way into your life. Mary Kassian points out that sin doesn’t advance by leaps and bounds, it advances by small creeps. It slowly creeps into your life with a small compromise here, a small bending of the Scriptures there.

A weak woman blindly allows these small creeps to come in. A wise woman knows that the BIG sins usually don’t mess up her life…it’s the dozens of small creeps that take her down the wrong path. 

Satan is a creep. He's the ultimate creep, and he will constantly and persistently try to gain ground in your life and worm his way in.

2.  She fails to guard her mind.

      The women referenced in 2 Timothy were captivated. They were brainwashed to 

      accept their captivity and to cooperate and to work with their captor and even to 

      grow fond of him, and they were unaware that they had been taken hostage. 

Your victory over sin will be won or lost in the battle of your mind. Entertaining that  first sinful thought that pops into your head is your first step in the wrong direction. If you spend your time filling your mind with lies and sinful content, you will become a very weak woman spiritually. A strong woman fights the battle in her mind and carefully guards what she puts into her head. In order to combat falsehood, we need to become intimately familiar with truth. We need the Word.

3.  She lets things pile up.

The passage says she is burdened with sins, and the verb is used here to describe like a wagon or heaping or accumulating one on top of another. So there is, like, baggage. More and more baggage, like unresolved issues, hurts, resentments, someone has wounded you, and you just can't let go of it, unconfessed sins.

Old and unresolved sins make you susceptible to new sins. To be blunt, sin makes you stupid. The more sin you hide and keep hidden in your past, the more vulnerable you are to new sins. A weak woman hides her sin and allows the devil to have a strong foothold in her life. A strong and wise woman listens to James 5:16a which says, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” 

4.  She makes bad choices.

If you’re stuck in sin, you will begin to shun wise counsel. You won’t be open to hearing godly counsel from your parents or friends. A weak woman makes bad choices and is easily led astray, she loses her ability to even see how unwise they are. Have you ever had a friend who made a really bad choice, even after you warned her against it?  We elevate our own opinion above that of our Christian friends, or we think that our parents are just so out of touch, so yesterday. And we listen to ungodly people, and we turn to popular wisdom for advice. That’s a sign of piled up sins and a weak spiritual backbone

5.  She is governed by her emotions.

Our culture says, “Follow your heart! Do what feels good.” That advice couldn’t be further from the truth. A weak woman allows her emotions and feelings to drive her mind and dictate her path in life.  She is unstable and overly emotional. 

Okay, she is like PMS days always. Various passions. Passions: deep desire and cravings and lusts and impulses.Now there are sexual undertones to this, but it is bigger than just sexuality. But there are those undertones there.

        So there's the desires of neediness and wanting attention and wanting to be loved. 

        We all have desires, and we all have legitimate desires and passions. But in the case         

        of a weak woman, her longings are just off a bit.

    

        Jesus will satisfy your every longing. For he satisfies the longing soul, and the             

        hungry soul he fills with good things. (Psalm 107:9)

        But there are sometimes when our longings are off. And we're going to illegitimate         

        means, or we're trying to fulfill those longings in ways that we ought not to, and 

        they will just get us more and more off course.  A weak woman is governed by her 

        emotions. She puts her brain in park; puts her emotions in drive; rationalizes her 

        behavior, excuses, and justifications—we've all done it. I've done it. It's the "I know,

        but . . ." syndrome.

6. She hides behind a religious mask.

Have you ever known a woman who attends church on a weekly basis, but then lives just like the world the rest of the week? That’s a sign of a weak woman. The Bible calls her a hearer of the Word but not a doer of the Word (James 1:22). She hears the truth in church, but doesn’t allow it to transform her life. She calls herself a “Christian” but does nothing to strengthen her relationship with Christ and grow in godliness.

7. She doesn’t view her sin nature as a problem.

The truth is, we’re ALL weak women because of our sin nature. The only reason we’re able to conquer sin is because Jesus conquered its power when He died on the cross. It’s only because of Christ living in us that we’re able to say no to sin and be victorious over it. A strong woman realizes where her strength comes from. A weak woman doesn’t understand the power of sin and tries to fight the battles in her own strength.

The Song

"When I am Weak"  The Response Band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv8lopZhNG0