Ladies Bible Study Monday December 12th

by | Dec 12, 2011

Exodus 10:12b  “Take heed to yourselves that you go not up into the mount or touch the border of it”

Exodus 20:18   And all the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet and the mountain smoking:  and when the people saw it, they removed and stood afar off.

When they got a glimpse of God they stayed as far away as they could from the border  of the mount that God had told them to stay away from!

What borders has God set for you and told you to guard yourself and don’t even touch it?  Is there an addiction or maybe it’s a TV show or some books you enjoy but you know  that God has asked you to stay away from them?  Maybe there are boundaries God has told you to set and you haven’t quite taken it to the degree He has asked.

How are your boundaries where men are concerned?  Let’s face it ladies, it is much easier for us as women to maintain a level of purity between the sexes than it is for most men.  Either way it takes a conscious effort on your part to set boundaries.  Bill travels a lot and we have both chosen to protect our marriage by setting boundaries with the opposite sex.  Neither one of us will ride in a car or go out to eat or discuss personal things with the opposite sex, not even old friends.  We don’t carry on casual conversations online or on the phone with the opposite sex either.

Whether or not you are married, you can still set some boundaries especially when it comes to married men.  Always set boundaries to protect yourself of course, but if more people would set boundaries to simply protect marriage in general, it could save a lot of heartache!

Now, you may say, awe Janet you are being rather extreme don’t you think? No, this is the key to verse 18, the Israelites didn’t stand at the edge of the border or touch the border, they stood a long way off!  Better to set a standard and then stay as far away from temptation as you can than to see how close you can get to it without going over the line!

If you will just get a REAL glimpse of who God is by spending time in your Bible and reading material that will help your spiritual growth, making some Godly women friends to walk through life with, you will find it is much easier to do what He has asked you to do.  Let’s face it, it is a struggle to over come temptations and old habits if we try to do it on our own, but if we just spend more time with Him, He will overcome those things for us!

Quote: “God never consults your past to determine your future!”  – Mark Murdock

2 Comments

  1. Tonya

    You know Janet I see what you are saying to a certain extent. Yes there must be boundaries, but I don’t agree with you through this whole article. Personally it comes off as offensive somewhat. I’m sorry I don’t want to cause a stir but I’m telling you how I feel. I noticed you wrote another article similar to this one in which you broached this subject. It just seems to come across like hey I know my husband wrote this great book, but if you are a female married or not–don’t communicate with him, go find you some lady friends! For real it seems like you are saying “stay away” to females. I hate to break your conception of female friends. You may know alot of kind females that actually care about other females. But don’t assume that is how it is for other women. In my experience women are not very caring of other women. There is alot of jealousy and envy and trickiness in alot of women. In my experience men seem to care more and be alot more helpful. And I’m not saying there are not godly women. I’m not saying I am attractive, but if you are an attractive women it’s even harder to find true caring females. So as a result alot of women trust men more than females. I personally have learned a great deal more from men. I have had great conversations with men. You can learn alot from the opposite sex. Now as far as being a nun or a monk to hide yourself from all temptation, not very wise. As long as we are alive we will be tempted. It is up to the individual to turn to God for strength during temptation. But because you have addressed this twice, I a female will stop commenting to your husbands blog or trying to communicate with him as it is forbidden. I’m sorry I don’t want to be ugly but this is how I see it. Your restrictions seem too rigid. I can’t go through my life not communicating with opposite sex. Who knows if I’m totally wrong here then I am praying for God to show me. Otherwise I will continue to communicate with men. But not bill scott.

    • admin

      Thank you Tonya for your response! You are right about boundaries and how I feel, I feel very strongly that boundaries especially with married people are very important, if we don’t protect our marriages who will? Bill and I have chosen our boundaries so I am not worried about women who choose to comment on his blog, he has set some great boundaries and has no interest in looking for other women, so I don’t even have a clue who comments on any of his work, he will correct anyone on his own if he needs to. As for his book, believe it or not he is better known as a radio host and has been on stations all over the U.S. for over 20 years so this is not new to us, the book has nothing to do with any of our boundaries, we set our boundaries together because we have both seen the other side of not having boundaries.

      Now, the funny thing is that if you knew me, you would know that I am the most unlikely woman to have been called by God to write Bible studies for women. God doesn’t call the people that seem like they should be called He calls those that have to totally rely on Him. The reason I say this is; when I moved to TN 5 years ago I had such a lack of trust in women that if I even saw a women in the grocery store I would look at her and think, “yeah and just what are you really like, who did you stab in the back this week that trusted you?” My experience since I was just a little girl was that women were never to be trusted and they were mean, spiteful and never good friends. My best friends were always guys! My best friend is still a guy, he just happens to be my husband! Satan has done a great job of pitting women against each other and I have come to realize that part of his reason for doing it is because he is jealous of our beauty and also because he knows that if women could come together and be the godly women they are called to be then we wouldn’t have this issue of having to go to the opposite sex for emotional healing and friendship, we would accomplish so much more for Christ together vs. fighting each other all the time. You are right we can learn a lot from the opposite sex it just needs to be done with the boundaries that will protect any marriages involved, that is why Bill and I don’t carry on personal conversations with the opposite, we just feel it is too easy for emotional attachments to occur without any intent of going there and then you have an open door. Just don’t miss the fact that we can learn from women as well, the key is to find a friend that understands your frustration with women, that would probably include most women out there, and work together to have that close friendship that will move you toward a closer walk with Christ. Start by being the example of a true female friend to another woman, a friend that can be trusted and is truly kind and caring. You sound as though that is the type of woman you are, you have just experienced too much hurt from other women, just like 90% of the rest of us ladies out here. There’s a reason marriages are falling apart all over the U.S., part of that reason is a lack of protection and boundaries, Bill and I care too much about each other and our marriage to not protect each other.

      Trust me you can’t hide from temptation, it will beat your door down, but there is no reason to look for it. God has called us to lives that are above reproach and there are times that we need to be as concerned about how something looks as we are about what is taking place, that is why maybe some of our boundaries seem extreme to some people but we would rather choose to be as safe as possible when it comes to protecting our marriage. It is very wise to avoid temptation at all costs, why would you set yourself up for failure, we don’t’ have to live as monks or nuns but we should still be careful what situations we put ourselves in. It isn’t that we can never talk with the opposite sex we just need to guard what conversations we have with them, personal stuff needs to stay with our husbands or a godly friend of the same sex, it just protects us from getting emotionally attached to someone we have no business being emotionally attached to.

      I am finding one of the biggest things women are missing out on is having a close female friend to share things with. We have so much to offer each other as women of God and it isn’t just all spiritual, we have so much to share it is time that we all start taking our friendships as women back from Satan and enjoy each other. Please feel free to add me on Facebook if you would like, I would love to get to know you better!

      Oh, 1 other thing is that I wrote this Bible study over a year ago, I didn’t have time to post a new one yesterday morning so I had randomly picked one after praying and having my devotions yesterday morning.

      God bless,
      Janet Scott