Women were vital to what God was accomplishing on the Earth 2,000 years ago. Jesus had a cultural norm to overturn, a curse since Genesis to reverse, and a new partnership to establish. Women were vital to the ministry of Jesus! He valued them when the Jews determined they were inferior, not allowed to learn, and whose voices didn’t hold up in a court of law.
Just look at Luke 8.
“After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.” –Luke 8:1–3
These particular women listed in Luke 8 supported the work Jesus set out to do. He trusted them and entrusted them with His mission. He didn’t want to do the work of the Kingdom of God without them!
Jesus Commissions Women
Jesus loved, valued, esteemed, and commissioned women. We see this with the woman at the well and with Mary at Jesus’ tomb. And His heart is still the same for women today. He is for them and is pouring out His Spirit on women all over the world. They are courageously carrying out His mandate to make disciples and help to release His Kingdom. And manmade votes and conventions and laws will not hold them back!
We need women today who will find other women who are ready and hungry, who know they have been made for more, and rally them to love Jesus and follow Him wherever He leads. We need a movement of women here in the United States and in the nations who will take Him seriously and go into all the world and preach the gospel.
Women, you don’t have a lesser Holy Spirit. You don’t walk with an inferior authority.
God’s love and value and calling on women may not be recognized by the “religious” of our day, but it is recognized by Jesus! He was the first liberator of women, and He’s doing it today all over the world!
We just need women in this hour who will raise their hands and surrender their availability to Jesus and go and preach the gospel together.
Your Greatest Adventure Awaits
I can guarantee two things: following Jesus is the greatest adventure of your life, and you will have deep friendships because your pursuits will be the same—that which is born in the heart of God.
As you read “Make Me Thy Fuel” by Amy Carmichael, let this be the prayer of your heart:
From prayer that asks that I may be
Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee,
From fearing when I should aspire,
From faltering when I should climb higher,
From silken self, O Captain, free
Thy soldier who would follow Thee.
From subtle love of softening things,
From easy choices, weakenings,
Not thus are spirits fortified,
Not this way went the Crucified;
From all that dims Thy Calvary,
O Lamb of God, deliver me.
Give me the love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay,
The hope no disappointments tire,
The passion that will burn like fire;
Let me not sink to be a clod;
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.
Join the Arise Movement
Women who are equipped to live boldly for the gospel are a key to unlocking movements of the gospel in the world’s spiritually darkest places. Through Arise, East-West helps women take action and follow the Holy Spirit to be bold and reach the lost. Understand your role in the Great Commission and be equipped to boldly bring the world an encounter with Jesus.
