The Kingdom of God desperately needs women. Without the women of God functioning in their assignments and positions, the witness of God’s character and nature to the world will be woefully incomplete. Throughout all of history, women have faced an unprecedented oppression, stemming from the curse. The image of headship (a facet of God’s person-hood) which God created to be shown forth in men and women has been marred nearly beyond recognition (I’m writing more on that subject, will I’ll hopefully be posting soon). In it’s place, we’ve seen women stripped of their dignity and treated as property. Doubtless the enemy has tried to use this pattern of oppression to attempt to thwart the women of God throughout the ages – yet God is bigger. Despite the hurdles, we see throughout history and throughout the Bible women of God who helped turn the tide on many levels.
Now, women today are facing yet another battle. Not only are women still met with systemic oppression in many nations of the earth, but there is another line of attack seeking to undermine the women of God. And, it’s coming from the secular feminist movements.
They are predominately false movements built on lies, hatred, and anger – satan’s answer to the growing change in the tide. If he can attack women on both sides – oppression where he can, and deception-fulled, misdirected movements where he cannot – then he’s going to win (or so he thinks).
The church of America (and the world) needs the women of God right now. We need them to wage the fight against oppression, yes – but also to be anchored by and give voice to the truth, against the backdrop of outspoken and illegitimate movements. To fight, not for the world’s definition of equality, but for the Bible’s beautiful picture of our equal and respective responsibility in demonstrating God’s unique attributes.
Sadly, I’ve seen many, many Christian women get swept up into these false movements in response to wounds – either wounds they carry themselves, or that they have witnessed in others. This is how the enemy works, not just as it pertains to this issue. No matter what the subject may be, the enemy’s strategy is almost always the same. He traffics through pain, through hurt, and through injustice (whether real or perceived). His aim is always to leverage it in order to create a bitter root – and from that root to create a doctrine – and from that doctrine to create a movement – thus attacking the issue from both ends. And, so often, we’re willing to let him.
This pattern is happening in an unprecedented way in this generation across so many key issues – women’s rights not least among them. In the midst of this, God desires to raise up those from among the very ones who feel wronged, and give them a voice. A voice that stands in stark contrast to the noise around them. Grounded in truth. Fragranced by love. Calling to those who feel wounded or oppressed, and beckoning them to take their place in the Kingdom of God – to be set free by the truth, not by the demonic lies that play to our pain. That’s what I’m praying for.