Proverbs 21 verses 9 and 19 (NKJV)
Proverbs 27 verses 15-16 (NKJV)
1 Peter 3 verse 3 and 4 (NKJV)
“Better to dwell in a corner of a housetop,
Than in a house shared with a contentious woman”.
“Better to dwell in the wilderness,
Than with a contentious and angry woman”.
“A continual dripping on a very rainy day
And a contentious woman are alike;”
“Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel — rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God”.
I was amazed as I searched the Bible to find that in the book of Proverbs alone, it talks about the contentious woman in 5 different places (Proverbs 19: 13, Proverbs 21: 9, Proverbs 21: 19, Proverbs 25: 24, Proverbs 27: 15).
Are you a contentious woman? Am I a contentious woman? Let’s examine the life of a contentious woman to see how we are doing.
A contentious woman is quarrelsome and prone to strife and argument. A contentious woman is one who nags constantly. A contentious woman always has something to complain about. A contentious woman has a disposition to contend about things. A contentious woman is prone to contest this and that. A contentious woman is given to disputes.
Do you get the picture? The bottom line is that the contentious woman is not a happy woman. She is not at peace. She is not happy with herself and she is not happy with others. This unfortunately puts everyone off her, especially those closest to her. When you and I become contentious, people just want to get so far away from us and have nothing to do with us. A contentious woman can lose her marriage, friendships, respect of colleagues, relationship with her children and other family members, all because of contention.
So where do we go from here if we can be honest to acknowledge and say we are contentious? We need to start off from the place of prayer. Go to our heavenly Father, repent, and ask him to grant us “a gentle and quiet spirit” that will replace that contentious and angry spirit. Pray for the grace to “open her mouth with wisdom”. Pray for “the law of kindness” on our tongue. Following this we begin to take steps to live like God wants us to live as wise women who build their homes. Steps like watching our words, our attitudes, our actions, making wise and godly decisions, picking our battles, showing respect to others, regularly searching our hearts, living in God’s Word and asking for the help of the Holy Spirit.
I pray against any contentious spirit operating in any of our lives this day and I command in Jesus mighty name they be expelled. I pray that Lord you will replace it with a gentle and quiet spirit in Jesus name. Amen.
God is on our side and as we co-operate with him through the power of the Holy Spirit and His Word, dear sister we will get there. Shalom to you.