In God’s Kingdom, women are free to move in His authority to bring about His will upon the earth.

Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part series.

I love the gift the Lord has given to the world in His creation called woman. I am so excited about what the Lord is doing in releasing women to fulfill all He has called them to be.

I am passionate to do my part in encouraging both men and women to reexamine all that we have been taught about women, and to align ourselves with what the Father says about His precious daughters.

It was a privilege for me to be able to serve the women of South Africa. It started in East London as I was the Keynote Speaker for the Women’s Aglow National Convention before going on to Johannesburg. It was so wonderful to hear of all the various ministries that the women of Aglow have brought into their communities. They serve in senior centers and orphanages, as well as serving those who are on their deathbeds of aids and other diseases. They support feeding programs and shelters for those in need. Wherever they go, they bring the love of Jesus in a relevant way to the glory of God.

I had a sense that the Lord had something special in mind for the Women’s Aglow gathering. Many of the women at the conference came from a background of physical and emotional abuse. There had been verbal slayings of their destinies as they had been told their whole lives that they were second-class citizens in the Kingdom of God.

Misinformed religious leaders and culture have taught for generations that women were only needed for certain roles, and that ministry was not one of those roles. They never were taught that they were royalty in God’s eyes. They have been silenced and held back for too long and the Lord says, “This is a time for freedom and release, let my daughters go.”

It is amazing to think of some of the great church leaders who had fallen into wrongful church doctrine in the midst of great revelation concerning other areas of ministry. Here is just one such man whom the Lord used, that was also deceived when it came to women:

“Men have broad and large chests, and small narrow hips, and more understanding than women, who have but small and narrow chests, and broad hips, to the end they should remain at home, sit still, keep house, and bear and bring up children.”— Martin Luther, Table Talk

“The word and works of God is quite clear, that women were made either to be wives or prostitutes.”— Martin Luther, Works 12.94

“Even though they grow weary and wear themselves out with child-bearing, it does not matter; let them go on bearing children till they die, that is what they are there for.”—Martin Luther, Works 20.84

This does not take away from all of the good that Martin Luther accomplished in life, but presents to all of us how powerful and longstanding this deception has been. We can find this view of women even today in almost every culture, context, and in every nation

Jesus Gives Freedom from the Curse
We can go all the way back to Genesis to see how sin created a pattern of oppression towards women.

Genesis 3:15-16

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

Although verse 15 speaks about the ultimate offspring of woman being Christ our Savior, women are very much are a target for Satan because He knows what it means to His demonic kingdom when women of God rise up in the authority the Lord has given them. Before sin opened the door for the assault on women, God’s plan has always been for male and female to partner together in co-ruling and stewarding the earthly realm.

Genesis 1:26-29
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

It has always been the Lord’s desire for “them” to partner with Him in completing who He is. “Them”, being man and woman, are to both fully represent His nature and His ways upon the earth.

Genesis 5:1-2
This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created.

God’s image is complete in man and woman. The ambassadors of His Kingdom are fully represented by man and woman. The transformation of our communities, regions and nations will only be realized by the released potential of both man and woman.

We need to see man and woman as different but equal in the eyes of the Lord.

Galatians 3:26-29
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Whenever God presents His way, the enemy presents a perverted version to bring confusion and dilute the efforts of His people. The liberal feminist movement is one of those tactics the enemy has used to pervert the freedom the Lord demands in His women. The way to look at the difference is in how that freedom is applied.

In God’s Kingdom, women are free to move in His authority to bring about His will upon the earth. In the feminist movement, women are demanding rights to enforce selfish desires in the guise of freedom. Abortion, rebellion, and self-serving ways follow the feminist trend. Unity, peace, life, and servant leadership, follow women who are free and empowered to be ambassadors for the Kingdom of God.

Robert Ricciardelli is a writer, speaker, talk show host, and a transformational life and business coach. You can find out more at www.convergingzone.com.

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