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

God's Heart Beat

In the Bible a woman with an Alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume approached Jesus. She stood behind him at His feet crying. She poured the perfume from the jar on Jesus’ head. She washed His feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.

The Pharisees who were present questioned why Jesus would allow this sinful woman to touch Him. His disciples questioned why she would waste expensive perfume that was worth a year’s salary by pouring it on Jesus when they could have sold it and given the money to the pour.

The Pharisees didn’t understand this woman’s worship. Even Jesus’ own disciples didn’t understand this woman’s worship. CeCe Winans sings a song paying homage to this woman whom Jesus prophesied would be remembered wherever the Gospel is preached. The words of this song say “you did not feel what I felt when he wrapped His loving arms around me”. What Jesus made this sinful woman, a woman who had been ostracized by society, feel is what prompted her to worship Jesus in such an extravagant way.

I, too, like the disciples didn’t understand why this woman would worship Jesus in this way. I didn’t understand why the apostle John would lay on Jesus bosom. I didn’t understand why David would worship until he was out of clothes. I didn’t understand that reckless abandon. That all consuming feeling. I didn’t understand their worship until today.

I woke up and remembered a song that I had been trying to remember since Sunday when I first heard it. The words did something to me. They were like an electric shock to my system, but held such truth in them. I sang them in my head at first and then I began to whisper them. Then I got up and as I made my way to the bathroom I began to sing those words from my heart and from my soul, and my flesh submitted to those words. The words sung by Kari Jobe are not fancy. They are just true.

I want to sit at Your feet

Drink from the cup in Your hand

Lay back against You and breathe

Feel Your heart beat

This love is so deep

It’s more than I can stand

I want to melt in Your peace

It’s overwhelming

I kept singing those words over and over and over again, and I felt the presence of God in my bathroom. He was so real and tangible that I had no choice but to fall prostrate in His presence. No choice but to lay at His feet and as my tears flowed I saw myself as that sinful, ostracized woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears. My tears made a little puddle on the ground and I understood her worship. I understood that she was not trying to do anything extravagant or news worthy. It’s just hard to stand in the presence of God.

I kept singing those words that were becoming my truth. I want to sit at Your feet. Drink from the cup in Your hands. Lay back against You and breathe. Feel Your heart beat. Then I stopped and repeated that line. Lay back against You and breathe. I exhaled. Feel Your heart beat. I heard it. God’s heart beat.

God’s heart beat is the very pulse of all of creation. God’s heartbeat is what brought not just planet Earth into existence but everything that is known and unknown to man. The sun rotates to the rhythm of God’s heartbeat. The waves move to rhythm of God’s heart beat. The wind sings to the tune of God’s heart beat. Mountains shake, leaves fall, the rain dances, dogs bark, the moon shines to the beat of God’s heart. John laid against Jesus’ bosom and heard that heart beat. I heard that heart beat. I heard the pulse of creation and the Creator.

The beating of God’s heart that is in rhythm and in sync with all of creation did make me melt in His peace and it was overwhelming. I didn’t want to leave that place of total and complete peace. That place where I was completing in sync with God’s heart beat.

I want to sit at Your feet

Drink from the cup in Your hands.

Lay back against you and breathe.

Feel Your heart beat.

This love is so deep.

It’s more than I can stand.

I want to melt in your peace.

It’s overwhelming.

Rebirth of Truth

All Hail The Queen

Today, January 26, 2010, marks the 31st anniversary of the day the world was graced with the presence of royalty. For I am a joint heir with King Jesus in the Kingdom of God (Romans 8:17).

When I refer to myself as "queen" it is not because I am boastful or egotistical. It is not because I have an elevated opinion of myself. It is because I know who I am. Twenty-three years ago as an eight year old, second grader I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and God changed my name and and gave me a title. My name was changed from Kendy to Child of God, and as a child of God I am a queen.

In Genesis 1:28 God gave Adam and Eve the command to subdue the Earth and have dominion over it. The word subdue means to conquer and bring under subjection. Miriam Webster's dictionary defines the word dominion as a supreme authority; sovereignty. The function of a king is to conquer, bring under subjection and to have supreme authority or sovereignty.

From the very beginning God placed man in His royal family and gave him all the rights and privileges of a king, but then sin entered the Earth, changing man's perception of himself. Man's fall from grace relegated him to life of mediocrity. When sin entered the world it changed man's nature, mindset and perception. Sin blurs our view of things. I Corinthians 13:12 says that we see through a glass darkly, meaning our vision is impaired.

Sin impairs our vision of ourselves. So instead of seeing ourselves as the kings and queens that created us to be, we see ourselves as mediocre. Instead of taking dominion and subduing the Earth, the Earth has dominion over us and subdues us. We are subject to our jobs, our bills, our sickness, our pain, our addictions, our past, our abusers and our tormentors.

God did not create us to be subjects. He created us to be royalty! He created us to be rulers of our world. He gave us the power and the authority to frame our existence with our words. If God gave us the ability to speak our world into existence, why would we speak death over ourselves instead of life? Why would we speak poverty instead of riches? Why would we speak sickness instead of health? Yet this is what most of us do. We speak (command) death, poverty and sickness in our lives instead of life, riches and health; and it's all because we don't know who we are.

I pray that we, the children of God, would recognize who we are in Christ Jesus because the world is waiting for the manifestation of the Sons of God (Romans 8:19). The world is waiting for the Kingdom of God to take up its rightful position, waiting for its kings and queens to rule, reign and take dominion.

I am reminded of story, The Man in the Iron Mask. When we were born the devil recognized who we were before our parents did so he concealed our identity from us and from the world. Just like the man in the iron mask. Because our parents didn't know any better and their parents didn't know any better and the preacher didn't know any better the devil concealed our identity and then locked us in the prison of our fears - fear of being successful, fear of being beautiful, fear of being powerful.

God wants us to take off the mask, look in the mirror that is Jesus and see ourselves for who we really are. We are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, sons and daughters of the Most High God, kings and queens.

So I remind you that I call myself queen not because I am arrogant, proud, boastful or egotistical. I call myself a queen because that is who I am, and that's the truth.

Rebirth of Truth

Virtuous Woman Part II

People wonder where her secret lies.
It's not cuz she's cute or dresses real flyy.

She is a woman virtuously.
A virtuous woman is what I aspire to be.

Men themselves wonder what they see in her.
They try so much but they still can't touch
He who makes her free.

She is a woman virtuously.
A virtuous woman is what I aspire to be.

I say,
It's the way that she prays.
To Him her hands are raised.
She falls down on bended knees
And the enemy has to flee.

She is a woman virtuously.
A virtuous woman is what I aspire to be.

I say,
It's the wisdom on her lips
And not the sway of her hips.
She walks into a room just
As cool as she please.
She doesn't have to shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.

She is a woman virtuously.
A virtuous woman is what I aspire to be.

I say,
It's the determination in her strut
And the way that she cares so much.

She is a woman virtuously.
And like her a virtuous woman is what I aspire to be.

Kendy Ward

Copyright 2009

Basketball Jones

The NBA playoffs are in full swing. I understand the Cavs swept whoever they were playing in the 1st round. Back in the day I would have known who the Cavs played in the first round. I would have had the whole season and post season schedules memorized. I haven't been motivated to watch a basketball game in years. Those of you who've known me for a while know that I had a major basektball jones. You also know who I commonly refered to as my "babies' daddy". Yeah, Mr. Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway. Well, I walked into him (literally) here in Miami when he did his little 8 game run with the Heat. Seeing him reminded me of my jones, and inspired this. Enjoy.

Basketball Jones

I know you can remember that first time. That first time when the hair at the back of your neck stood up and your heart skipped a beat. Then another beat and your breath caught in your throat. You knew, you knew this had to be love.


I remember. I remember the first time I laid eyes on him. I was like eight years old. He was rocking that classic gold and purple. He was like mad tall with Hershey, caramel, porcelain shaded skin.


In the beginning I didn’t understand him well. There was a lot to learn about him because he could be complicated, yet it was the simple things about him that attracted me to him. There was a childlike quality to him. Something innocent and pure. Very pure and honest. Honest and free.

I think maybe that is what I liked about him the most. That he was born into a world with dishonesty, prejudice, racism and hate, but even though he lived amidst it he was able to free himself of those constraints. With him there were no color barriers, no social barriers, no gender barriers. With him everyone had equal right to the freedom he offered.

Through the years I kept my eyes on him and what had started off as puppy love grew up. I remember his rhythm. He was strong and agile, yet graceful, even beautiful in the way that he moved. The way that he carried himself. The way that he took possession of the space that he was in. He owned it. Electrified it. Brought it to life. And when he moved everyone moved right with him. Jumped with him. Soared with him. Flew with him.


He was exciting. His passion is what generated this excitement that emanated from him, and infected everyone that came into his immediate presence. He made my heart beat faster and set butterflies dancing in my stomach. He caused smiles to cross my face.

I remember holding him in my hands. Cradling him. Creating our own rhythm. When I was with him it was like I could do anything. I could be anyone. I could go anywhere. When I was with him I felt confident. I felt invincible. I felt powerful beyond measure. I felt beautiful.

I remember I used to have this fear of being ushered out of the back ground and into the fore ground. He never had any problem being in the foreground, and he pushed me out of my shell. He held my hand and let me have some of his shine. And I basked in it. I reveled in it. I loved it and I loved him.

He challenged me to break out of the stereotypes. Step outside of the confining box that society had sentenced me to. He taught me to never give up. Even when it seemed like the clock had stopped and time had run out he never gave up. He would always pull some trick out of his hat that really made me believe that he was super human. He taught me that anything that I wanted I was gonna have to fight, and if I made up my mind to fight I better bring it cuz he always brought it.

He was all I thought about. All I talked about. All I dreamed about. He consumed me. Burned in me. I watched him and I became captivated by him. When he moved, he spoke and when he spoke he spoke volumes. Loud. His voice shook me. Encouraged me. Scolded me. Complimented me. Loved me unconditionally faults and all.

Then I grew up. He grew up. We grew up. His shorts got longer and his kicks got flyer. He shaved off his Afro, and sported the bald look. His favorite number switched form 32 to 23. He didn’t sport that classic purple and gold any more. Instead he wore that red and white. He moved from La La land to Chi-town. And I fell even more in love with him.

Then I don’t know what happened. Things just started to change. He started to change. I started to change. We started to change. There wasn’t no more sitting in front TV for hours on end. No more weekends, weekdays, weeknights spent together.

I was angry at him at first for changing. I felt like he had sold out. He sold out so more people would stand his corner and hoop and holla. He forgot about those days we spent on the hot asphalt when the folks around him were there because they loved him, and didn’t give a damn about how much money he could make them. After the anger subsided I knew that things between us would never and probably could never be the same.

Then you know what happened. The other day I literally ran into him. My eyes traveled up his six foot seven inch frame and I remembered. I remembered when I was fifteen years old I used to watch him push that rock and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I wondered if he could still make me fly. If he could still inspire the best in me.

Even, though, we went our separate ways, I now realize that he was still a part of me because the lessons he taught me transcended our estrangement. It transcended the years because love transcends everything.

I remember the days, the hours, the minutes, the seconds we spent together. I remember his rhythm. I remember the smell of his sweat, the feel of him, how his muscles flexed. I remember when I fell in love with basketball.

The Woman I Am

I was an only child until I was four years old, and for those four years I was ridiculously spoiled. I think the correct term is spoiled rotten. Pre-school was a rude awakening for me as I was not accustomed to being around other children and the concept of sharing was foreign to me.

I was in K-4 when my mother got a telephone call from my teacher. The subject of their discussion was my selfishness. Her complaint was that I didn't share. Of course, my mother was upset because "selfish" is not a word you want a teacher using to describe your child.

My mother took me home. She sat me down and read a story to me about a little girl who didn't share and she didn't have any friends because of this. My mother asked me if I liked the little girl in the story. I told her no. She asked me why. I told that I didn't like her because she was mean. She then told me that I was acting the same as that little girl and nobody liked me either because I was being mean. Well, I just started to cry because of the thought of nobody liking me was just too much for me. I was cured of my selfishness.

From that day until I graduated from high school no teacher ever had to call my parents for any reason. I was consistently on the honor roll through out elementary school, junior high school and senior high school. I was junior and senior class president. I was co-captain of the basketball team my junior year in high school. I started speaking publicly at 15 and my first speech topic was abstinence. It took a lot of courage, a lot of boldness and a lot of God to get up in front of a group of 200 of my peers and give a message they weren't trying to hear. I had to, though, because my mother taught me to always tell the truth even if it's a truth that doesn't want to be heard.

I have always been a leader. Never a follower. When I make up my mind about something heaven and earth can pass away but I shall not be moved. I am unreasonably stubborn when it comes to God. There is nothing and no one in this world that can separate me from Him. I met Him when I was eight years old, and despite everything I have put Him through He has never left me. I love Him without reason, without limits and without conditions. He is my absolute all in all. I am persistent, hardworking, intelligent and elegantly classy.

I am the woman I am because of the woman my mother is. She has prayed for me every single day of my life. She encourages me. She challenges me. She believes in me when I don't believe in me. She is the most powerful woman of God that I know. I have seen her pray and watched God answer. I remember one time this guy was "stalking" me. I told my mother that I was becoming quite disturbed by this man's behavior. He was scaring me. My mother prayed an unusual prayer. I had never heard anyone pray like this before. She said, "Now you see him. Now you don't. I release him to God in Jesus' name". He lived about three houses down from me so I would see him every day. After my mother prayed I never saw the man again. I don't know if he moved. I don't know what happened to him. All I know is that my mummy prayed for me and God answered.

When I was a teenager I thought she was too hard on me, and we never saw eye to eye. Now that I am older I am so grateful for the fact that she was hard me. Her strictness forced me to have standards. It forced me to never settle for anything or anyone beneath those standards. She has taught me how to pray, how to have faith, how to trust God, how to love a man and how to be a good mother. I love her so much. There are no words that can express what she means to me. I thank God that she is the woman she is because if she wasn't, I wouldn't be the woman I am. I love you Mummy!