Order in the House!
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About this ebook
Order in the House profiles a group of women who gathered weekly to explore Scriptural principles of marriage and family structure. All brought differing situations and concerns to the table as together they searched for answers to life's pressing issues, and for ways to realign their family relationships in Christ. An interactive manual is included for women's groups desiring to engage in a similar focus.
Virginia Mendes
Career paths of Virginia Mendes have traveled through teaching, school administration and professional counseling...founded first upon Education study at the University of Maryland followed by graduate degrees from the University of Miami and Virginia's Liberty University. Her Christian walk began with childhood nurture in a devout Roman Catholic family. She and her siblings learned well the power of prayer, as well as the practical and eternal values of abiding in the principles of God. In the early 1980s Virginia felt need for a closer walk with God. Her search led to informal home meetings where she met others who guided and inspired her into a more Spirit-filled lifestyle. In Assembly of God and full Gospel churches since then, Virginia has helped lead a single parents' group, while also serving on prayer and healing ministry teams. Virginia has written this manual to share what she has learned, to guide other Christian women toward richer and more God-principled family life.
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Order in the House! - Virginia Mendes
ORDER IN THE HOUSE!
Establishing a properly functioning family through God’s Word
Virginia Guidera Mendes
Published by:
RPJ & COMPANY, INC.
Orlando, Florida
Web site: www.rpjandco.com
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author or publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. For information, please contact the publisher.
All emphasis with capital letters relating to God, biblical principles and pronouns is the author’s choice. Please note the publishing style of RPJ & Company traditionally follows standard usage in writing.
Copyright © 2012 by Virginia Guidera Mendes
ISBN-13: 978-1-937770-20-4
ISBN-10: 1-937770-20-6
Cover image: © Chlorophylle - Fotolia.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org).
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations from the King James Version of the Bible. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Smashwords Edition License Notes
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DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to my parents, Thomas and Doris Guidera,
who without preaching or writing a book about it, lived Ephesians 5:33
for seventy years.
Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband (KJV).
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Author’s Preface
Acknowledgments and Appreciation
Introduction to the Discipleship Group
The Continuum
My Beginning
The Weekly Gatherings
The Scriptural Principles
The Lines of Authority and Submission
Run-Around Sue
The Daily Walk
Origins of the Authority Line Principles
The Flesh and the Spirit
Working Out Salvation
Individuals in the Group
A New Generation
Current Resistance to Biblical Teachings on the Family
Twenty-First Century Seekers
Jody – A Single Christian
Kellie – Married to an Unbeliever
Sharonda – Raised in the Church
Conclusion
Interactive Section
Study These Scriptures for Application
Theresa’s Example of Marriage Clarifying Exercise
Retrospective Thinking: How would I have done things differently as a Christian wife?
About the Author
For Further Study
Author’s Preface
For eight revelation-filled years – 1984 to 1992 – I was mentored and taught the Word of God by a woman who was truly a New Testament apostle (see Ephesians 4:11-12). I was part of a discipleship group that met weekly at the home of this anointed teacher of the Word, Elsie. Her God-given assignment was to teach younger women the Biblical precepts of having a righteous, peaceful home. Elsie was ordained into this discipling and mentoring position by the laying on of hands by four different pastors. With that much confirmation, Elsie presented the Gospel to her assigned spiritual daughters with a confidence and surety that truly grounded us. Her confidence in her call kept us steady through many years of family life.
Due to her own family situations, the regular weekly meetings became sporadic after 1992. However, Elsie was always available for impromptu group meetings in her home, or one-on-one meetings, and phone counseling. For those of us in the discipleship group, these Biblical principles were mainly taught to us at one woman’s dining room table on Friday afternoons. Hence, the original title of this book was Fridays at Elsie’s.
I have related the principles that came from this discipleship/mentoring group to many individuals during the years we were meeting and since that time. I have seen incredible results from individuals who were willing to follow God and His Word regarding marriage, the family, and the line of authority principles – even in their workplace. But I have never sensed a right time to put it all down on paper until now. Elsie has finished her course and gone on to her glorious reward. Those of us who were taught and mentored by her are surely under a mandate from Our Lord to pass on the truths about a Christ-centered home, whether by word of mouth, by living example, by mentoring, or in my case, by writing a discourse of our times together.
This manual is written mainly for the Christian who is finding that relationships in his or her life are not working very well. These teachings are Bible based instructions on how to conduct human relationships – primarily in the home – spousal, parental, sibling. But, the Bible instructs us on all forms of human interactions – with friends, co-workers, neighbors. All are to be in order and all in the authority line that God intended.
Just as in any divine principle, these principles will work. Just as gravity works for the believer and the non-believer, practice of the Godly authority line will work because God invented it. However, after nearly 30 years of practicing and studying and speaking these principles, I have discovered that most non-believers do not accept, or are unable to accept Godly principles for their relationships. A Christian who has accepted Jesus as the Lord of his or her life and is filled with the Holy Spirit is well able to receive the help that God has provided in order to live out Godly, Biblical principles. Therefore, I address this study manual to believers in Christ.
I lovingly invite any readers who want to join in and know Christ as their own, who desire to belong to Him, and to know His truths, to bow their hearts and repeat these words aloud:
Father God, I am sorry for and repent of my sins. I ask Your forgiveness for all my sins of commission and omission. Wash me clean of them, Lord. I believe that You shed Your Blood and died for me. You died so that I could live. So, Jesus, I give You my life. Come Holy Spirit; fill me now with Your Love and Your Power to live life more abundantly. Amen.
If you read aloud from any version of the Bible, Romans 10:8-13, Psalm 91, and Ephesians 1:17-23, you will start to see your new position with Christ. The Word of God is alive and an activator in the human heart, so if you make a personal statement of those Bible verses you will find yourself embracing the Divine Truth that you hear.
Tell someone what you have done – that you are a born-again believer, filled with the Holy Spirit. Welcome, friend!
Acknowledgments and Appreciation
I would like to acknowledge the role played in Elsie’s study group by an anointed man of God. Although we never met him, I think of him as our spiritual grandfather. His name is Dr. Howard M. Ervin, Professor of Old Testament, Graduate School of Theology and Missions, at Oral Roberts University. He recently retired from that position after 40 years of service.
A few years before Dr. Ervin went to Oral Roberts University, he pastored a church where Elsie and her husband Bill attended. When Pastor Ervin received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, Elsie wanted what he had, but she did not know what it was or how to receive it. This story is related in the Elsie and Bill
section, but what she received from Pastor Ervin was the *Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
According to Elsie, Pastor Ervin said that she was the first one of his congregation to receive The Holy Spirit Baptism through his hands, and when she did, he responded, I never thought you would be the first to receive this blessing, Elsie!
Thank you Dr. Ervin. That quiet, unobtrusive saint in your congregation became a bold and a powerful Holy Spirit conduit to anyone willing to receive.
Eternal thanks to Elsie’s family. Bill, who is with the Lord now, was the prime example for us of a man of God taking his ordained role in the family as the head – even though his wife was the one that God used visibly. To the children and grandchildren of Elsie and Bill – thanks for being so generous with us. You let us borrow your Mom and Dad when we were in great need.
Special thanks to my own children. You were mavericks with me. You believed in the Biblical authority line in a Christian home, and you submitted to it. May the Lord richly bless your own homes because of your obedience, cooperation and faithfulness.
* The term Baptism of the Holy Spirit refers to a subsequent infilling of the Holy Spirit after one receives Christ. It is based on the scripture passages in Acts 2:1-4, Acts 11:16, Acts 19:1-6 and the Gospel of John 1:26. This infilling is frequently accompanied by an ability to pray in tongues. Churches in the United States became aware of - and some accepting of - this Holy Spirit infilling after the 1906 Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles. The Charismatic Catholic Renewal of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s brought the Baptism of the Holy Spirit into public awareness.