Living the Proverbs 31 Life – Proverbs 31:17

Proverbs 31:17 She girds herself with strength [spiritual, mental, and physical fitness for her God-given task] and makes her arms strong and firm.

To gird oneself is to prepre oneself for action. We’ve already spoken about how the Proverbs 31 Woman is not lazy (v.15), but industrious (v.13), and also of how she is extremely good to her husband and family (v. 11,12,14, and 15). To do these things require strength: spiritual, mental, and physical. We get our spiritual strength by staying in the Word and in prayer. We get our mental strength from our spiritual strength and from exercising our mental capacity. We also get our physical strength from our spiritual strength and by physical exercise and nutrition. From this flow, we see that our spirits feed us mentally and physically. However, I also want to point out that these three aspects of our being work together to contribute to our overall wholeness. It is important that we be well spiritually, mentally, and physically. Our spirits are indeed the most important contributor, but even it works better when our minds and bodies are well.

I think the Proverbs 31 Woman’s making her arms strong and firm is a reference to giving attention to one’s weakness. Women, by and large, are strong in the lower body and weak in the upper body. So, to make your arms strong and firm is to make sure that you strengthen your weakness. This, of course, is also a spiritual reference because only God can make our weaknesses strong. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. (See II Cor. 12:9.). Also, scripturally, the arm of the Lord is referred to as His strength. (See Isaiah 53:1.). Thus, when we strengthen our arms, we strengthen our weakness and we do so by taking on the arm of the Lord, which is His strength. As you can see, this is just a roundabout way of saying that we need the Lord. He is our strength.

So, again, prepare yourself for action in every realm of your being and especially, strengthen your weakness by depending upon God. We’ll talk more in future lessons on specific things you can do to develop spiritual, mental, and physical fitness. Until then, be blessed and I’ll see ya in the next article!

Patricia Samuels Ministries
Min. Patricia D. Samuels, MA is the founder of Patricia Samuels Ministries, Inc., an international ministry focusing upon the upbuilding of the Body of Christ, especially women in the Body of Christ.

Patricia Samuels Ministries stands behind the belief that everyone can live a wonderful, victorious life if they follow the principles found in the Word of God. The ministry’s motto is “Success…by The Book! Victorious Christian Living.” The ministry operates a ministry website where one can hear audio teachings, read articles, and pray prayer confessions (positive affirmations) to bring success into their life. The website is appropriately dubbed, “A Website For Those Who Want To Win In Life!…24/7 Ministry!” Log on today at http://www.patriciasamuels.org/. Anyone tired of losing in life and/or anyone seeking new strategies to win in life will benefit greatly from this ministry!