Like Jesus, nearly all of us have been shaped, instructed and influenced by a woman: our mother. As we take time to honor our mothers this week, how many of us have considered the fact that God chose to place His most precious gift into the care and instruction of a woman? Many, men and women alike, are still uneasy and unsure about the role women have in ministry. There’s the echo of God’s words to Adam and Eve in the garden and the religious traditions that have been passed down through the ages that excluded the voice and influence of women for much of the church’s history.
God created women in His image. She carries His imprint in her person that reflects His glory and ways. There is a mystery in God’s creation of woman that He is unveiling afresh in our day. He is restoring her voice to His Bride.
In fact, Jesus began this restoration during His earthly ministry. He turned traditions on their head. Women were not simply the backdrop behind the stage of Jesus’ life they were key players in the unfolding of the Gospel:
All of these accounts contradict traditions that have excluded women from participating in ministry in God’s kingdom. There can be no father without a woman equally involved! To assume the mother has no authority to influence the growth and training of her child is contrary to nature. Yet that is exactly what religious tradition has done with much of the woman’s God-given place in the formation of society, beginning in the church.
Throughout most of the history of Israel and the Church the male attributes of fatherhood and manhood attributed maleness to God. The feminine has been excluded. In the Hebrew Old Testament, the Voice, the Glory and the Wisdom of God, are all feminine word forms. Genesis 1:27 asserts that both male and female were made in the image of God. The unique strengths innate to woman are found in Him.
I, Bonnie, still remember the day when frustrated at trying to figure out how to “do ministry” as a wife, mother and most of all woman in a day and age that did not encourage women in ministry I said to the Lord, “You just don’t understand. You were a man.” And all of the sudden I heard this question, “Have you ever thought about how like the nature of a woman the ministry of the Holy Spirit?” It was revelation for me. The similarities between the nature and work of the Holy Spirit to the strengths and characteristics of the woman are no coincidence. When we fully welcome the Holy Spirit we can fully welcome woman. And perhaps the converse is true. At the very least, by observing the Holy Spirit at work in the “community” of the Godhead, we can get a glimpse of God’s plan for woman.
Wherever the Spirit of God works, He breaks bondages and releases people into the liberty and light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One of the common signs of this new spiritual liberty is the re-emergence of the voice and power of women. As it was in the first coming from Anna in the temple to Mary at the garden tomb, as we draw closer to His second coming, some of God’s greatest instruments will be women. It is God’s destiny and desire to release women in their end- time calling and ministry. The Lord is going to use women as well as men as those who make up the great company proclaiming His word. I, Mahesh, grew up in Kenya where I learned a Swahili proverb, “The daughter of a lion is a lion.” We are living in an age where the Lion of Judah is releasing His daughters in power. The daughters of the Lion and they will roar and take the prey.
This article is excerpted from our book The Hidden Power of a Woman. If you are looking for your place, seeking your true identity, and desiring fulfillment in who God created you to be, we encourage you to get this book.
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