Daughters, rise up!

"And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." Genesis 2:21-23

Women comprise over half of the world's population. So we are not really the minority, but, even in what we call the "modern" age, women are definitely still second class citizens.

There are an estimated 600 million women world wide that can not read or write. Over 500 million women world wide live in poverty, meaning 500 million women live on less than one US dollar a day. There are 15.65 million women world wide infected with HIV/AIDS. Over 7.8 million women have been raped in the United States, and one out every four women in the US will experience domestic violence. That means that if you are a parent of four girls one of them will experience domestic violence; if there are four women working in your office, one of them will experience domestic violence. Almost 60 million female fetuses were terminated because of sex-selected abortions (mostly in Asia).

In India and a lot of African countries women do not have a voice. I am fortunate enough to have been born on this side of globe where I, nor my unborn daughters, do not face the threat of "honor killings". I don't have to wear a Hijab, and my role is not to sit down and shut up.

Today I became aware of an incident that made me realize that even though I won't experience an honor killing and don't have to wear a Hijab, women in the United States are just as disrespected as other women around the world. That I have been reduced to the sum total of my body parts. It doesn't matter how smart I am or eloquent I speak some men still just see a big butt or big breasts or hips. So that makes it okay for them to put their hands on me, call me out me name or expect sexual favors from me.

So even though we are not poor where material wealth is concerned we have a poor self image. We may not be illiterate in the true sense of the word, but we can't read the signs that so clearly tell us when we're being played. We do not wear a Hijab, but instead we wear corporate suites and look up at a glass ceiling, realizing that we are just as trapped as our sisters around the world.

You know, this would be a good place to sound off on the men. Tell them that like Adam said in Genesis men and women are one, to hurt her is to hurt yourself. It would be a good time to remind men that Ephesians 5:25 says that husbands should love there wives as Christ loves the church, but this not a message for the men. This is a message for the women.

In the fourth chapter of Judges Deborah, the only female judge to rule Israel, says to Barak that God wants him to fight Jabin's army. Barak refuses to engage in conflict with Jabin's army unless the woman of God accompanies him. She agreed to go with him, but told him that Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, would be killed by a woman. The man didn't do his job so God allowed a woman to take his position. In verse 21 we see that Jael, a woman, kills Sisera.

We are in an era in the Kingdom of God where God is raising up women to places of prominence because the men of God refused to take on the assignment. There is a spirit of oppression that is ruling over women world wide that needs to be broken, and it will not be broken until the women of God in the United States rise up and take their positions, until we the nail into the temple of the enemy the way Jael nailed Sisera's head to the ground, women around the world will continue to be oppressed.

I attend Hope Group at my spiritual mother's, Virginia Herrmann, every Tuesday evening. Last Tuesday we were fortunate enough to have Missionary Geeta, who had just returned from a missionary trip to India, with us. She told us a story of a woman who attempted suicide because her husband would not allow her to accept Jesus as her Lord and Savior. I'm sitting there thinking how in the world would her husband know if she accepted Christ into her heart or not. I would have just repented, confessed my sins and been done with it, without even considering him. But the women there are so oppressed that they wouldn't even dare to accept Jesus Christ into their lives because of the stronghold that their husbands wield over them.

The world, as it always has, is watching this country. Women around the world are watching the women in this country. They are watching and waiting for us to rise up.

We are treated like second class citizens because we are allowing it. People only do to us what we allow them to do. We must demand respect for who we are in God. He has empowered us to exercise our authority in Him. He is ready for His daughters to rise up. He is looking for today's Deborah and Jael, but like Missionary Geeta said our unbelief is holding us back. For so long we have heard that we, as women, are not strong enough or smart enough or pretty enough that we have believed it. We have more faith in doubt than we have in God. We don't realize our value, which is increasing daily because the more time you spend with God the more of God is in you so the more valuable you are. Don't believe the lie that you ain't nothing and never will be anything.

We need to let go of our unbelief and walk by faith. When we do this God will elevate His daughters to their rightful positions, and the world will taste and see that the Lord is good.

Kendy aka Rebirth of Truth

True Worship

We recall a lot about King David. He was the boy who killed the giant, Goliath. The man who slept with Uriah's wife, Bathsheba. The one chosen by God to replace Saul, Israel's first king. In I Samuel 13, the prophet Samuel breaks the news to Saul that he has been rejected by God as Israel's king because of his disobedience. His replacement was chosen because he was "a man after His (God's) own heart (v. 14). He was a man that continuously sought after the heart of God. David was chosen as Saul's successor not because he had a heart like God's, but because he was after God's heart. He was chosen because of his worship.

David is first introduced to us in I Samuel 16:12, as he is brought before Samuel and anointed as king of Israel. In verses 14-23 of chapter 16 we see Saul being troubled by "an evil spirit". Someone advises Saul to find a person who can play the harp, someone who knows how to worship. David's reputation for worship proceeded him because another person said there is a boy, the son of Jesse, who plays the harp. So David played the harp for Saul and the evil spirit left Saul.

See, David did not merely play the harp for Saul. He worshiped God with the playing of his harp because he says in Psalms 34:1, "I will bless the Lord at all times...", which meant if he was watching his father's sheep, he was blessing the Lord. If he was killing a giant, he was blessing the Lord. If he was playing the harp for the king, he was blessing the Lord. In all that he did he blessed the Lord.

The word bless can be defined as "to honor in worship". David said in all I do I will honor God with my worship. The word worship as a noun means "the reverent love and devotion accorded to a deity; ardent devotion; adoration". As a verb it means to honor and love a deity; to regard with ardent or adoring esteem or devotion".

Last night I was at World Harvest Community Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where William McDowell (I Give Myself Away) shared something I have been feeling in my spirit for quite some time. Christians have forgotten how to worship. We have redefined what worship is and have given it a shallow meaning. McDowell said that we try to manipulate God with our worship, by saying God if I worship You then You must heal me, You must bless me, You must deliver me. That's not worship. He went on to say that we do not serve a cause and effect God - if I do this, then, God, You must to this. We can not make bargains with God. He doesn't need anything from us. If God heals you, it's because He's good. If He blesses you, it's because of His mercy, and not because of our worship.

Worship is more than a song. It's more than lifted hands. It's more than bended knees. It's about a bended spirit. It's a heart condition. Worship is innately embedded in us. It is a part of our DNA that lays dormant and needs to be activated by the inhabitation of the Holy Spirit in our bodies, God's temple. We were created to worship.

Our King sits on His throne, looking down on us, watching over us as the angles cry holy, holy, holy, recognizing His Deity and Majesty. As they cry holy, we should cry all hail King Jesus. He triumphantly entered into Jerusalem as it was proclaimed Hosanna. At His birth the Earth cried out in worship, and as the Earth recognizes that He is the object of its worship, our hearts, souls and flesh should recognize that He is the object of our worship.

Everything we do, everything that we are about, every breath we take, every beat of our hearts should be to bring praise and honor to our King. Our worship is not conditioned by our situations. Like David, we should bless the Lord at all times. I've been tested and I have been proven. It does not matter what is going on in my life, God is God. He is on the thrown so I must worship him. Not because of what He has done or what He will do, but because of who He is. King of kings. Lord of lords. Alpha and Omega. I am that I am. The one who created the Earth in six days, the one whose soul lives in me, the one who knows the vastness of the galaxies because He imagined it into existence. That's why I worship Him because He is my King and I just need to be in His presence, even if it is for the briefest of moments. The sons of Korah said in Psalm 84:10 better is one day in His presence than thousands else where.

As strongly as feel about the need for true, pure worship, is as strongly as I feel that today's Christian doesn't get it, but I hear God saying that He will elevate our worship to another level. He is putting a dissatisfaction in our hearts for anything other than Him. We will not be content with what we have been conditioned to accept as worship. He is looking for those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth and awaiting the birth of true worshipers. Those who will seek Him with all of their hearts. Those believers who understand what "giving themselves away" is all about and who truly will "surrender all". As sister Jody McCalla said last night, God is looking for those believers who will not come into the House of God to sing lies. If you say you give yourself away or you surrender all, God is expecting you to live out that truth. Those who really and truly want to sit at His feet and drink from the cup in His hand. Those who just want Him. Those who don't want to use Him because of what He can do for them or what He can give Him. Those who love God because He is God. True worshipers. Those believers who are after God's heart.

This is my testimony, my hearts cry, my anthem - "Here I am. Here I stand. My life is Your hands. Lord, I'm longing to see Your desire revealed in me. My life is not my own. To You I belong. I give myself, I give myself away."

Kendy Ward aka Rebirth of Truth