Church Watch in Nigeria WHY WE WILL CONTINUE TO WRITE ABOUT WOMEN…. In the last couple of years, we have written a few articles relating to women that have generated quite a bit of dust. A lot are uncomfortable with the ‘undue’ emphasis we seem to be placing on the role of women - in the areas of submission to their husbands, and urging them to avoid leading/teaching roles in Church as stipulated in 1 Timothy 2:12, etc. Understandably, the response has been less than enthusiastic. In our generation, worldly perspectives of the gender roles have seriously undermined the biblical pattern ordained by God for His people. Men are now becoming more womanly. And women are becoming more manly. Ultimately, satan’s goal is to blur the gender distinction completely. And understanding of the times we live in will help us to go back to the ancient landmarks set by God. First, please permit us to be upfront about the nature of some of the things we write. We do not just sit down and think them up. By mercy, we have a calling and a mandate from the Lord to hear Him and to speak to His people in preparing them for the second coming of Jesus Christ. Just as He does for all those that have been called into this ministry, He gives the word, and we write in obedience and publish. The words we write is CLEARLY NOT for every Christian. The words of Jesus, “He that has an ear, let him hear” seems to indicate that not every Christian will hear the trumpet that the Lord will sound in the Last Days. Hearing, or not hearing, is an issue of personal choice. As part of this specific calling, we have been privileged to be shown some very clear things about the Church of the Last Days. Two are relevant for the purpose of this reflection. First, “The church will not become what she ought to be, until women become who they ought to be.” Second, a UNITED, godly home-front will be a fundamental requirement for the married people that the Lord will use in the Last Days. Home-fronts that are truly manifesting God’s order of a loving husband and a submissive wife; where the husband is king, and the wife is the king-maker. (There is a lot to say about this, but that is beyond the scope of our subject here today). In this end-time, God is focussing on women, and depending on them, because they have always been very critical in His plan of salvation of mankind. Right from the mysterious words in Genesis 3:15, ‘seed of the woman’. This is a mystery because, in the natural order of life, women do not have seeds. They take the seed from men to conceive. So, the ‘seed of the woman’ is an entirely divine and mysterious intervention of God in the normal order of events. This relates primarily to the person of Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the world (Galatians 3:16). In finer details, it offers an insight into the crucial role that women will play in God’s plan of salvation as the Holy Spirit overshadows them. That’s probably why Gabriel spoke first to Mary, not Joseph; why it was a woman that first anointed the body of Jesus for burial (Matthew 26:12), and why women were the first to see the risen Christ, etc. All these are highly significant. In the second coming of Jesus Christ, it will not be any different. God is turning to women AGAIN. Particularly, in preparing the Church for Christ’s return, God is raising a generation of godly women that will facilitate the divine agenda. Women that will position themselves, by grace, to be carriers of the divine presence that will transform their homes into the extension of God’s Kingdom on earth. For it is only the people that truly manifest the Kingdom (in their lives) that will usher in the coming Kingdom. Not those that pay lip service to it! For, generally speaking, the Church is failing in the duty of raising godly women in the mould that God desires. And so, what we write about is not on the front burner of the Church’s agenda. But women that have ears will hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church in these Last Days. Overcoming in the Last Days is open to all the children of God, but not all will choose to be thereby exercised. Some will choose to sleep with the Church. Please hear this, friends. In these days, God is raising a generation of believers, with special emphasis on women, that will return to the simple mystery of the cross of Christ, to bring back the riches of Christ to the Church/world. The mystery of living by dying. The mystery of reigning by serving. The mystery of ascending by descending. Etc. In its foolish romance with the world, the carnal Church of today has lost the essence of the mystery (and hence the power) of God. We now follow the models created by the world. Please let us illustrate something. If a husband is a husband indeed – providing leadership in the home, providing for his household, being a faithful priest at the family altar, etc, will any woman find it difficult to submit to such a man? No! Even an unbeliever will submit to such a man! And so, grace is not required by any woman in such a home – and none is supplied (so to speak). But let us apply higher principles of the Scriptures. Grace becomes involved and activated when a woman, for conscience towards God, suffers wrongly, and continues to submit even to the most undeserving of husbands (1 Peter 3:1-2). With such sacrifice God is well pleased. For it is in the place of our weakness (in obedience to God) that grace is supplied to do the will of God. And this is the grace that ‘draws’ and ‘locks’ God into our situation (2 Corinthians 12:9). The grace that oils us as we pass through the furnace of affliction to become vessels that reflect His glory. And it is this glory that transforms us and those around us (2 Corinthians 3:18). Similar to the glory that transformed Moses’ face (Exodus 34:29-35). The Bible does not teach the usurpation of authority, or ‘mini-rebellion’ against an erring husband as some teach today. Neither does it teach that submission should be extended to only loving husbands. Rather than break His established hierarchical order, God Himself deals decisively from heaven against erring husbands in several ways. Restricting access to the divine presence is just one example (1 Peter 3:7, Malachi 2:13-16). For God remains the eternal Defender of the weak and the defenceless. The foolish man that maltreats or refuses to love his wife destroys himself in the process, for “…He that loves his wife loves himself” (Ephesians 5:28). Conversely, he that ill-treats his wife ill- treats himself, he that hates his wife hates himself, he that punishes his wife punishes himself, etc. These are some of the in-built defence structures that God has built for the protection of our womenfolk. God’s eyes are ALWAYS on the godly woman (2 Chronicles 16:9). He DOES NOT abandon them to their fate. In building a godly home, it is clear that God depends more on the womenfolk than menfolk (Proverbs 14:1). It is not by accident that He spoke FIRST to women, before men, in laying down the principles of running a godly home (Ephesians 5:22-28, 1 Peter 3:1-7). Following the order of hierarchy, men should have been addressed first. There is no accident in the word of God, He is passing across a message to those that have an ear. Satan is manipulating the world to emasculate the male specie, and to exalt a female specie that is brash, loud, and beautiful. But till today, God places a premium value on women that are adorned with the ornament of a MEEK AND QUIET SPIRIT (1 Peter 3:4). In these Last Days, these are the women that will tap into His grace, radiate His glory, and cause His will to be done where He has planted them for His purpose. Through their submission, God will reign again in His Church. And His Church will do His will on earth as it is done in heaven, till Christ returns to take His saints home. This is one of the key ways the Lord is preparing the Church for the rapture. In a sketchy form, this is one of the several messages the Lord gave us for His Church relating to the end-time. As we said earlier, the message is NOT intended for everybody. Please evaluate it in the light of God’s word. If it jells with what God has been telling you as an individual, kindly share your perspective with us – for we all know in part. If some aspects are unclear, please request for clarifications. And if you think it is a false message, please feel free to express your disagreement AND THEN MOVE ON! Rather than raise dust that cause unnecessary distraction in this group, please use your wall to express your disagreement as loudly and for as long as you like. This is the dictate of decency, and a sign of Christian maturity. And it clears the deck for us to continue to do what we have been called by God to do – speak to a few people…. Thanks for reading and God bless. CAVEATS: This reflection is written from a particular perspective, it is NOT all- encompassing, and so does not cover all possible angles. For instance: 1. It does not encourage any woman
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 03:03:02 +0000
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