What Drives You? Becoming A Proverbs 31 Woman | Pastor Kami Palmer | Faith Church

Well, mothers, and some of you, I get that Mother's

Day sometimes comes with some baggage. I'm always

talking about my parents. I understand that many

have a lot of woundedness coming from childhood.

And Mother's Day can be complicated. And I've

always been very thankful for the parents that

I've been given because I had such a wonderful

childhood. And I wish that every child, sometimes

I'm in the stores and I hear parents just yelling

at their kids. And I just want to take the kids

under my wing and comfort them. And so I understand

today that Mother's Day can be difficult, not

just for you as a son or a daughter, but moms.

Some of you here, you've walked through difficult

times with your kids. Some of you have always

wanted kids and never had the opportunity. When

we celebrate Mother's Day, I always say that

today, moms, all of you women, Whether you've

had a biological child or not, you are welcome

under the tent. I am a big believer in spiritual

mothering. I'm a big believer that you don't

have to give birth in a biological manner to

be a mother. that I know many of you have poured

out into other sons and daughters. And so please

make sure all of you make your way to the tent.

We want to celebrate you this morning. My hope

and my prayer today is that, ladies, you would

feel inspired, you would feel full of hope and

courage as you leave here today. And so with

that in mind... I'll be honest, Nick, who worked

so hard, and how many of you appreciated Nick's

countdown? I had to be sure to come in and watch

his countdown. Honestly, I was a bit hesitant

in the previous weeks to declare my sermon title

becoming a Proverbs 31 woman, because if all

of the people in here were just women, many of

the women would have a little bit of an issue

and baggage with Proverbs 31. For many women,

it is been a source of feeling like they've never

measured up, of failure, of trying to attain

something that feels unattainable. And so I was

hesitant to even put that up there. But this

is the Word of God. And I want us today, as we

look at this passage, I want us to look at it.

It's not just, oh, another Mother's Day Proverbs

31 message. No, we're going to look at a correct

interpretation of Proverbs 31. How many of you

would like a correct interpretation of Proverbs

31 and what that means for us, right? And so

today in this whole passage, our highlights,

our verse that we really want to look at is going

to be at the end in verse 30 that says, a woman

who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. She

shall be praised. What has happened with Proverbs

31 is that we've gotten sidetracked by everything

that this woman has done, and we miss really

the whole point. And so today I want us to get

this whole point. So we're going to take a little

bit of a journey through Proverbs 31. We're going

to discover a few attractions on the way. And

so we're going to start in first gear. Now how

many of you have driven a stick shift before?

Mom was having to re -familiarize herself with

it on the drive over because that is the Mustang.

My first car was a stick shift, and I'm forever

thankful that that was my first car so that I

could learn how to drive in that way. So today

we're going to just shift our way through this

sermon. And so here in first gear, I want us

to look at a couple of interesting facts about

Proverbs 31. And in Proverbs 31, This is a passage

that is not just a list of who this woman was.

This is actually a poem. Proverbs 31 is a poem.

And each line begins with a letter of the Hebrew

alphabet. And so what is happening throughout

this passage is that every time we have another

letter and another letter, it's a poem. And it's

a poem, and how many of you ever said a phrase

like, when we're talking about I'm going to totally

cover a topic from A to Z, we say that, right?

Meaning that we're going to cover a topic in

its entirety. Our takeaway from this poem is

in the same sense. Every Hebrew letter is the

beginning line. And so from A to Z, they are

covering what this woman consists of. And so,

first of all, it isn't just this list of everything

this woman is capable of. It is a poem that is

more than that. the telling of the fruit of what

we're going to discover is the real driving factor

of what drives this woman. And so we're going

to take a broad look at this woman, and I'm going

to be reading today out of New King James. And

I want us just to begin by reading through the

passage, and then we're going to dive into it.

So starting in verse 10, who can find a virtuous

wife? I want to take note there that a lot of

passages will say noble. Who can find a noble

wife? For her worth is far above rubies. The

heart of her husband safely trusts her, so he

will have no lack of gain. She does him good

and not evil all the days of her life. She seeks

wool and flax and willingly works with her hands.

She is like the merchant ships. She brings her

food from afar. She also rises while it is yet

night and provides food for her household and

a portion for her maidservants. She considers

a field and buys it. From her profits, she plants

a vineyard. She girds herself with strength and

strengthens her arms. She perceives that her

merchandise is good. and her lamp does not go

out by night. She stretches out her hands to

the distaff, and her hand holds the spindle.

She extends her hand to the poor. Yes, she reaches

out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid

of snow for her household, for all her household

is clothed with scarlet. She makes tapestry for

herself. Her clothing is fine linen and purple.

Her husband is known in the gates when he sits

among the elders of the land. She makes linen

garments and sells them and supplies sashes for

the merchants. Strength and honor are her clothing.

She shall rejoice in time to come. She opens

her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the

law of kindness. She watches over the ways of

her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Her children rise up and call her blessed, her

husband also, and he praises her. Many daughters

have done well, but you excel them all. Charm

is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman

who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Give

her the fruit of her hands and let her own works

Praise her in the gates. Do you know that Hebrew

men memorize this? And at Shabbat, they will

quote it to the wife, to the mother. So men,

get busy. Maybe you could write an updated version

to say to your wife. Darren, are you going to

do that? For the next men's breakfast, you can

all work on memorizing it together. Listen, we're

going to be looking, taking a bit of a broad

look at this woman. I'm not wanting to get into

the weeds of everything that she does. The truth

is, is that this is a woman of ancient times,

and her context is that Of her household. And

the household was not just your typical household.

But that was the means of provision. Agriculture.

Merchandise. This was a woman that was a business

woman. She looked after her household. But she

was a business woman. She strengthened her arms.

She was a wise woman. And for centuries. This

passage has been used to confine women to look

a certain way and to be a certain way. This is

the context for this woman. What is your context

today? Many of our moms, I think we have very

few, we have just a couple of maybe stay -at

-home moms. For the most part, our households

today, though, are dual working. There's not

a stay -at -home parent for the most part. And

so our context today for what a woman is doing

is very different from the context of this ancient

Hebrew woman. And so this passage isn't necessarily

about what she's giving herself to. So if you're

saying, well, I can't do all of that, that's

okay. You don't have to do all of that. You don't

have to go out and buy a spindle and start weaving

clothes for your family, unless you want to,

and then have at it. But for so long, women have

felt like it's confined them in their home, it's

confined their voice. And the truth is, is that

our homes don't look like this anymore. They're

not centers for agriculture and trade. It looks

different today. And so today what I want to

do is to, first of all, as we shift into second

gear, I want us to redeem the Proverbs 31 woman.

I want to redeem her name because if truth be

told, many of us hear Proverbs 31 woman and go,

I'm just being honest of what I hear women when

they come to me. This is the first verse in verse

10. Who can find a virtuous wife? Who can find

a noble wife? Do you know what this word noble

really means? What this word virtuous really

means? It's not this meek picture that we get

in our head. The truth is that whether your version

is reading virtuous, excellent, or noble, they

all mean the same thing. They mean capable. They

mean brave. They mean power. It means victory.

It means a valiant soldier. It is specifically

referring to military strength. That is what

noble means. That, I would say, is not a meek

woman. This is a woman of strength, of power.

In fact, in a couple of other places in this

passage, we see the same military connotations.

In verse 11, where it says that the husband lacks

nothing of value, that value that is referring

to is that of spoils. The spoils of warfare are

what the man has because of the woman and her

valiant strength and power. In verse 15, when

it says that she's providing food, it is talking

about food of prey. That word prey is in there.

That is that hunter. I know we got some women

in here that hunt. How many of you have taken

down some animals in here? Ladies? Yeah, Kristen

back there. I see your hand. Fish? Hey. I've

caught myself a fish. I don't know if it's in

the same manner of shooting a gun. It is? That's

only because you haven't hunted. You're saying,

yes, it is. Somebody take him out to hunt. He's

got to learn how to hunt so he can go on a loan

and win us $100 ,000. $500 ,000? Somebody take

that man out. Teach him how to hunt. Because

I've told him, don't come back until you have

the money. Verse 17 talks about girding herself

with strength. Do you know what girding is? Girding

is when a soldier, because you know they used

to wear longer clothing, and they would take

it and tie up their outfit and gird it so they

would have freedom of movement to fight. And

here we see this woman girding herself as a soldier

girds himself for movement in battle. All throughout

this passage, what we see is a woman of strength,

of power, that is fighting for her household,

that is fighting for her family. And can I say,

ladies, that we have an enemy, that he is after

your family. He is after to steal, kill, and

destroy your family. He's after your marriage.

He wants to steal, kill, and destroy your marriage.

And he will not play fair. It requires a woman

of strength. It requires a noble woman of military

might and power to say, no, not here. No, not

here. Not here. I draw a line in the sand, so

to speak. A woman of military strength, power,

victory, and bravery. I've sat across so many

women that would never even consider themselves

in that manner. And left in ourselves, maybe

not. But what did we learn last week? What is

in the sanctuary of his presence? Strength and

bravery, right? Strength and bravery. And so

what we're looking at today is a heroic poem.

What do we see all throughout? In fact, Darren

just read it out of... Moses. Miriam was singing.

It was a song of heroism of what God had done.

And so many times in battles of Israel, when

there was victory, what did they do? They began

to write poems and write songs of the great victory.

And so this is a poem. It is a heroic poem of

victory and might of women. It is a heroic poem

of how God regards the work of women. This is

the inspired word of God. This is how he views

women. Strength and power and bravery and might.

Some of us need to view ourselves the way God

has intended. And so more than portraying here

a to -do list for women, and you know me, I love

a good to -do list. Darren loves it when I give

him to -do lists. Usually he says, I love you.

I know when he says that, I'm like, mm -hmm.

More than portraying a to -do list of women.

This passage is revealing wisdom in action. Wisdom

in action. If we are just trying to copy this

woman's to -do list, most of us would never measure

up. You may be a great Martha Stewart, but to

be honest, Martha Stewart's got a great team

of people. But she pays a lot of money. Most

of us cannot measure up. to the to -do list of

the Proverbs 31 woman. What we need to get today

is the spirit and the motivation that drives

this woman. What drives you? There's a couple

of women in the Old Testament I was thinking

of that are like -mannered to the Proverbs 31

woman in this way. One is Ruth. In fact, the

word for noble woman in Proverbs 31 is used one

other time with a woman, and it was Ruth. And

you remember the story of Ruth, right? That she

married Naomi's sons. They died. And Naomi's

moving back home. And Ruth says, your people

are my people. I'm going to go where you go.

And she ends up gleaning in the field because

of their poverty, gleaning in the field to provide

for them. And because of how she treats her mother

-in -law, Boaz, the owner, he says to her, when

we find out that they are related, so he's the

kinsman redeemer, he can marry Ruth. And so when

Ruth approaches, his response to her is this.

My daughter, don't be afraid. I will do what

you ask. I will be your kinsman redeemer. All

the people of my town know that you are a woman

of noble character. Ruth carried the same spirit

of the Proverbs 31 woman. Listen, it was hard

work gleaning. This is a woman of strength, of

bravery. It could be dangerous work. In fact,

Boaz had extended his covering, his protection

over Ruth in the fields and said, make sure no

harm comes to her. It could be a dangerous work.

But Ruth carried a noble character. She rose

up with that brave and courageous spirit to take

care of her mother -in -law. I think of Deborah,

a prophetess that rose to become a judge of Israel,

the only woman judge that we read about in Israel.

She would sit under a palm tree, and all of Israel

would come to her for judgment. And when it came

time, because for 20 years they had been oppressed

by a wicked king, and when it came time to go

to battle, she told the head of the army, hey,

God says it's time to go and fight. And he's

like, yeah, I'm not. I'm not going, Deborah,

unless you go with me. And so Deborah had to

go with him as he led them in victory. And then

interestingly, in that account, it was another

woman jail that... dealt the final death blow

to the wicked king. Deborah carried the same

spirit of the Proverbs 31 woman. She was a woman

of courage, of valor, power, bravery, to fight

the battle of Israel, the enemy of Israel. And

no less can we do for our families, for our households.

As we move into third gear here today, I want

us, because here's why interpretation is so important

of the Bible. You can't just take a verse and

be like, oh, that's cool, and I want it to look

like this and believe this. So I think that's

what I'll believe about that verse. No, we got

to look at it in light of other things, right?

And one of that, those things is the... book

that you find it in. And so when we look at the

book of Proverbs overall, we see a couple of

interesting things. And one is that you cannot

read Proverbs 31 and not see the parallelism,

the correlation to Lady Wisdom of Proverbs chapter

Proverbs 8 · chapter mention

8. And so for a few moments here in third gear,

I want us to look at the Proverbs 31 woman and

how she correlates with the Proverbs 8 woman.

Because I think it's going to help us in understanding

what drives and motivates us and what we're doing.

I'm going to read just a few verses of Proverbs

8, and then we're just going to do a comparison.

But it's talking about Lady Wisdom and who Lady

Wisdom is. She was not a god or goddess at all,

but she was there at the beginning of creation.

It says, the Lord brought me forth as the first

of his works before his deeds of old. I was formed

long ago at the very beginning when the world

came to be. I was constantly at his side. I was

filled with delight day after day, rejoicing

always in his presence, in his whole world, and

delighting in mankind. Now then, my children,

listen to me. Blessed are those who keep my ways

the ways of wisdom. Listen to my instruction

and be wise. Do not disregard it. Blessed are

those who listen to me, watching daily at my

doors, waiting at my doorway. For those who find

me find life and receive favor from the Lord.

But those who fail to find me harm themselves.

All who hate me love death. This is Lady Wisdom

of Proverbs 8. That's a portion of her description.

So she was there at the very beginning of the

creation. Now, I'm going to quickly, we're not

going to read the chapter for the sake of time,

but here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to

give you a list of traits that we see both in

Lady Wisdom and in our noble woman of Proverbs

31. She fears the Lord. In Proverbs 8, fears

the Lord, hating evil, pride, and arrogance.

31 is described as a woman who fears the Lord.

The trait of instruction and wisdom. Lady Wisdom

speaks what is noble, true, and right, and the

valiant woman of Proverbs 31 opens her mouth

with wisdom. To be treasured over jewels. Lady

Wisdom is incomparably superior to jewels, and

our noble woman is more precious than jewels,

given her rarity. The trait receives honor and

praise. Lady Wisdom possesses honor and our noble

woman is praised for her surpassing works. Possesses

strength. Lady Wisdom has strength and insight.

The noble woman clothes herself with strength.

Is industrious and active. Lady Wisdom is described

as a master workman. Our noble woman diligently

provides for others. Influences for the sake

of others. Proverbs 8, by her kings reign justly.

Noble woman cares for others and meets the needs

of the poor. And finally, enriches those who

find her. Lady Wisdom is accompanied by riches

and brings a blessing and favor. Our noble woman

does good all her days, ensures no lack of gain

and brings honor. Do you see how similar Lady

Wisdom and the Proverbs 31 woman are? There's

a correlation between the two. And it is important

that we get this. Because the truth is that Lady

Wisdom represents the entirety of creation. She

is a principle that undergirds entire creation.

She's a pillar that upholds it all. She was there

at creation as a companion to the creator. I

mean, just think about that for a while. To be

at the very beginning of creation, this wisdom

of the ancient of days. And then we have the

Proverbs 31 woman. And she doesn't represent

all of creation. But she represents her work.

She represents her limited local context. She

represents her local community. And her portrayal

is very descriptive of a woman's ordinary life.

Like Lady Wisdom, she seems perfect, doesn't

she? The perfect woman, the high standard. And

so it's no wonder that so many women feel exhausted

when they're told they have to be like her. Here's

what it sums up. As the worthy woman of Proverbs

31 nobly is living out her ordinary life, taking

kids to soccer, cooking meal after meal after

meal after meal after meal after meal after meal

after meal. Laundry after laundry after laundry

after laundry after laundry. You can fill in

the blank of your ordinary day. The beautiful

thing of this is that she mirrors the deep and

ancient wisdom that was there from the beginning

of time. You're not just an ordinary woman doing

the ordinary, ordinary, ordinary, ordinary. You're

a woman that is mirroring the ancient wisdom.

The very foundation, your roots, your life is

rooted in the creation narrative. The wisdom

that you are invited into is rooted at creation.

And your ordinary life is just really not that

ordinary. It's rooted in the wisdom. Of creation.

That should elevate your ordinary. That should

change how you do the ordinary. And I would like

to say I always feel victorious. And I feel the

power of the ancient one in my laundry. My family

would tell you that I probably don't. But to

know as I'm growing in the fullness of God. That

I am mirroring this ancient wisdom, lady wisdom.

That's what Proverbs 31 is about. It's not about

her to -do list. It's the fact that she mirrors

lady wisdom. Unfortunately, Proverbs 31 has functioned

as a law, as a list of demands and to -dos. And

completely, it's wanted to put women into a particular

mold. That if you are a godly woman, this is

what it has to look like. And then we wonder

why women are resistant. I don't want to be put

in a mold. Instead, it's an invitation. An invitation

to women to step out. To seek wisdom about your

particular gifts, about your particular calling,

about the particular plans and purposes that

God's put in your life. It's an invitation to

step out and seek wisdom in these gifts and callings

and purposes and labor for the Lord. This should

give us hope. I love Abigail as one of my favorite

women of the Bible. I love Abigail. She was married

to such a foolish, foolish man. Such a foolish

man. And Abigail was a woman, it says, of good

understanding. And that's the same word they're

used for noble and wisdom. And when her husband

failed to cover and protect the family, that

nobleness of Abigail rose up and went out to

this anointed King David, this mighty soldier

who was about to wipe out her house. And she's

like, no, wait, no, wait. Here, here are the

provisions you need. Don't do it, David. Don't

shed blood, David. You're the king. Don't shed

blood. She was not a timid woman hiding out behind

her foolish husband. She stepped up with power

and bravery and might in a noble manner, and

she saved her household. And when her husband

died in his foolishness, she became the wife

of King David. I love Abigail because it's in

Abigail's ordinary life that she does extraordinary

things. And so as we are moving into fourth gear,

we're getting closer. I want to ask the question

to you, what drives you? What drives you? Our

text, a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be

praised. To fear the Lord is to honor the Lord,

is to revere the Lord. It is to worship the Lord.

And so if what is driving you is to look like

the Proverbs 31 woman, listen, that's not what

she got praised for, her list of dues. What she

got praised for was fearing the Lord, was her

worship of the Lord. You will never measure up.

to her task list. You will never measure up.

But that's okay because what we're called to

do is to fear the Lord. What we're called to

be as women is to worship the Lord. To worship

the Lord with your kids and talk with your kids

on the way to soccer. To worship the Lord and

talk with your kids as you're cooking dinner.

To worship the Lord and talk with your family

about his goodness while you're watching movies.

And they roll their eyes at you because you can

once again make spiritual application of the

storyline. Just be quiet and watch the movie.

This woman was not praised because of all she

had accomplished. She was praised because she

feared the Lord, because she worshiped the Lord.

In all of her doing, what drove her was worshiping

the Lord. What drives you? What drives you? All

throughout Proverbs, we see this theme. And at

the very beginning in chapter 1, it says, the

fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

It says in chapter 9, the fear of the Lord is

the beginning of wisdom. If what is driving you

is worship, is honoring the Lord in all that

you do, here's what you do. You open up your

life to the door of wisdom. When you open the

door to wisdom, then you will experience the

fruit of wisdom. The truth is, is that her list

of to -dos is the fruit of her fear of the Lord.

And we get so focused on copying her fruit. Listen,

you're an apple tree, and you're trying to copy

an orange tree. You've got to be fearing the

Lord, and then you just want to flourish as an

apple tree. You've got apples coming all out

of the place. You've got apples to give away.

generosity. You got apples to plant here and

here and here. And wherever you plant your apples,

they're going to grow up and they're going to

bear fruit and they're going to succeed. Why?

Because you quit trying to be like the orange

tree. You invited the wisdom that comes from

the fear of the Lord. And it doesn't matter what

you do and how you look like the person on Facebook

you keep stalking. Listen. You're created in

the image of God to be you. And as you are you

and you worship God being you, you will see the

fruit of Proverbs 31. And so we know what the

fruit of wisdom looked like for Proverbs 31 woman.

My question today for us is what would wisdom

look like? in your life today, if you were to

revere God in everything, if you were to worship

God in everything, what would wisdom look like

in your life? If you were to worship God in all

that you do, what would wisdom look like in your

life? What would this Hebrew poem be describing

your life? This morning, the team is going to

come. And as they're coming, I want to just finish

this off in fifth gear for you to cruise on out

of here. At the beginning of the book of Proverbs,

woman wisdom sounds out the invitation to the

simple man to enter her house. Come and enter

my house, she calls out. There's an invitation,

and I love that invitation because it's not wisdom

calling for all the super smart people to come

into her house. It's for the simple. It's for

the people that don't have much wisdom and knowledge

saying, come in. Lady Wisdom is calling you in

and wants to bestow wisdom to you. By the end

of Proverbs. What we have is what the picture

looks like when that simple man chooses to enter

into wisdom. Metaphorically, what we have is

taking wisdom on as the wife. God calls us to

choose wisdom to marry her. To become one with

wisdom. And that begins... With living life driven

by worship. With living life driven by serving

our God. And if there's one thing that I want

my kids to see in my life, whether they agree

with me or not, if they can say she's worshipped,

she's been consistent in everything, in worshipping

God, in fearing God, that's all I need. I know

I've failed in many areas as a mom, as a wife.

But if they can at least say, well, she tried

her best worshiping and fearing the Lord, then

we've accomplished our goal. So what drives us?

Today, ladies, I want us to shake off any feelings

of failure. Because I know what it is as a mom.

How many of you older ones wish, man, if I knew

now what I did when I was eight, I wish I could

go back and reparent again. Wouldn't that be

great? Knowing what we know now, but we can't.

But time and time again, I see women carrying

shame and regret. Listen, it's time to let that

stuff go. That's part of what the enemy uses

to steal, kill, and destroy. And then today,

let's say, you know what? I'm going to rise up

as a noble woman. I'm going to rise up in bravery.

I'm going to rise up in power and strength and

might as a noble woman. Because the truth is,

is I don't care how old your kids are. I don't

care if they're other people's kids. When Darren

said, how many of you are believing for a miracle?

I believe every one of us should have a hand

raised. I believe there are people that we're

believing and fighting for. I believe there are

situations that we are believing and fighting

for. And it requires us to rise up in nobleness.

It requires us to rise up, not in our own strength

and might, but in the power and the might and

the strength of the Lord, worshiping through

it, serving him through it. not backing down,

not when it gets tough, when it gets hard, when

you're exhausted, to not back down, but to rise

up. to rise up in nobleness and say i'm going

to worship even more i'm going to fear god even

more i'm going to revere god even more because

what i'm fighting for is worth fighting for my

households i'm fighting for my children my great

grandchildren my great great grandchildren i'm

fighting for it is not a one and done thing we're

believing for legacies we are fighting for legacies

Of this world. Why? Because we are women of God.

Because we are noble women of God who's called

us to something beyond ourselves. And he has

put inside of you the ability to tap in to the

ancient days, the ancient wisdom, and to rise

up in a way you've never thought you could. You

never thought you could. Listen, it's time to

do that. It's time to do that. There's no waiting

for something magical to happen. There's not

waiting for... to get a little easier and then

I will. It's when you are in the deepest pit.

It's when it feels like the bombs of the enemy

are just bombing you all around on every side.

That is when it is required for you to rise up

in nobleness. That's the time when it's time

for you to say, I will rise in the spirit of

the Proverbs 31 woman. And I'm going to, whatever

I do, I'm going to do it worshiping. I'm going

to do it serving. And I'm believing for the fruit

to be released. And so here's this morning what

I want us to do. In a moment, we're going to

go outside. Your kids can play. We've got gifts.

We've got Lotus drinks for you out under the

tent. But for the next five minutes here, I want

us to just whatever you feel like you are cannot

be your truth. I feel weak and I feel like I

have failed. cannot be your truth. It may be

your truth, but it can't be the truth you live

in. You've got to start saying, I'm living in

the truth of what God has said about me. And

God has given to me this lady wisdom. And I'm

going to stop making excuses. Well, God, it's

so hard. It is hard. But you have immeasurably

more. than what you could ask or believe available

to you. You have the courage and the bravery

available to you. And so this morning, I want

us to take our first step at being a woman of

valor. I want us to take our first step at being

a noble woman. Maybe you haven't felt that way.

Well, today is the day. And we're going to just

for a moment sing this song over our families.

We're going to sing it over our friends. We're

going to sing it over our city. And we're going

to rise up, not in our own style, our own abilities,

strength, and might, but we're going to rise

up by faith as God -fearing women, as worshiping

women. And we're going to say, as a noble woman,

as a brave woman, I'm going to release this into

the atmosphere of my household, of my city, of

my church. Amen? So will you stand with me this

morning and for the next five minutes or so,

let's just begin to do that. If you've got the

stuff, if you've been carrying the baggage, I

want you to let it go. Let it go. You can't keep

carrying that baggage and become the woman of

nobleness. You've got to let it go and look to

the one who empowers you, makes you strong.