Tiffany Haynes has done us the favor of sharing another guest blog for us.  I am so very thankful because girlsminister.com has been very busy going from mission week to summer camp to VBS to missions week and I haven’t had a chance to take a breath and process all that God has been doing. Thanks to Tiffany, we have a post this week!

If you haven’t met Tiffany, check out her other articles here.

Exposing God’s Word To Students

One of common understandings we know regarding the nature of girls v. boys is that girls typically mature faster than boys.  However, one thing we often fail to remember is that this truth is not only relevant from a physical and emotional standpoint, but also from a spiritual standpoint.

As we teach our girls, we need to remember that providing them with spiritual meat to chew on is muy Bueno (that’s “very good” in Spanish.  See, I did pay attention in college!).  As my friend, Gregg, states – we must tear muscle to build muscle.  We need to be giving our girls’ spiritual jaws a hefty workout by tossing God’s meaty Word their way.  Too often we get skittish of going “too deep” in our topics with them.  The bad part is, we’re so anxious about the deep waters that we over-compensate and then find ourselves (and our students) standing in the shallow end of the pool.

Like it says in Colossians 2:7 (NIV), we need to be “rooted and built up in Him.”  It’s important to expose girls to the depth of our Lord and Christ.  Oftentimes, we take a reverse approach and try to address a common issue by crafting scripture around the issue.  We work diligently at wrapping the message in a ritzy bow in order increase the appeal of our words instead of just allowing God’s Word to do the work for us (check out Nehemiah 8:3).

As leaders, our purpose is to expose our girls to God’s Word and then allow His Holy Spirit to equip.  In order to expose them more, consider teaching from an “expository” approach.  Expository is just a fancy word for going through a book of the Bible and describing, informing, and defining the author’s writings – and referencing other Scriptures to reinforce the context – to the reader.  This will definitely stretch your own spiritual muscles as you study and prepare for these types of messages (try using commentaries, concordances, and other credible study sources); but remember, it was never God’s intention that we play hop-scotch with His Word.

Deep Calleth Deep

Back in January I began doing a study on the book of Exodus.  I read nearly every day out of this 384 page book with insanely tiny print.  It’s July now and I’m only half way through it!  There’s much to chew on, but it has truly been the most breathtaking ride to study God’s Word in such intimate detail.  The parallelism between the Old Testament and the New Testament has simply rocked my face off and I pray leaders would help their students learn to study and known God’s Word with such depth.

We truly serve a God of details.  Did you know that the Ark in Exodus was made of “shittim wood” (also known as acacia)?  Funky word and can easily be glossed over, but it was said to be from a tree which many thought to be imperishable and could thrive in very dry conditions.  Furthermore, it’s interesting to find that when this tree is pierced, it actually oozes and produces a type of gum which is used in medicinal preparations.  Does this “piercing” remind you of anything?  Ah, yes, our Jesus who was pierced for us and whose blood flowed forth from His side.  Through His death, we experience healing.  What a phenomenally intricate reassurance to know how God chose the very wood the Ark would be comprised of in order to foreshadow what Christ would achieve for us thousands of years later.

Do our girls clearly understand the intensity of our Father?  How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  (Romans 10:14) As leaders involved in girls ministry, it’s so vital to ensure we don’t linger in the shallows too long, but teach our girls to immerse themselves in the rushing waters of Christ.
Good words Tiffany! What about you? How are you seeing God make His words jump off the pages and bring the spiritual nutrition you need to do what He’s called you to do?

How are you leading the girls that God places in your life to see God’s word as the meaty meal they need?

How are you helping them to excercise their spiritual jaws and really start chewing on God’s word?