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Women in Ministry: As It Is In Heaven
Victoria Boyson
www.victoriaboyson.com
Dear Friends,
Never before has there been such a widespread attack against men! It seems no matter where they turn, they are inundated with demonic messages of perversion. One of the most underrated attacks against our society is the rampant plaque of the porn industry. And the enemy has especially targeted Christian men.
Literally changing who God meant for them to be, men are ensnared and trapped in the bondage to demonic spirits of perversion. Without even realizing it, these men are then tormented with lies about women who've become mere objects to them. At younger and younger ages, our young men are pulled into the pit of porn, which is literally teaching the next generation how to view and treat women.
This must stop! We must stop it! It's time to come out of the shadows and clutches of shame and fight for the next generation. If we do not fight against this spirit, we can expect its grip to tighten. Violence against our young women will increase until we stop this spirit. Men will never be able to value women as God intended until they are delivered from perversion's grip.
As a church, we must fight to deliver our men and boys and God is raising up an army in this hour to wage war against this demonic plague overwhelming us. We need deliverance! And we need to teach our young men and young women how GOD VALUES WOMEN!
Through Scripture and the power of God, we can be delivered from the chains of the enemy. God needs for the church to come together, work together and fulfill the great commission! For such a time as this God has called us to fight for freedom, for ourselves and for our sons and daughters.
Pray this with me: In Jesus' name I claim Joel 2:28: "I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams." I stand for the next generation and declare: THEY WILL KNOW TRUTH!
Father release an intense passion to know your Word amongst this generation. Save them from deception and bring them into yourself. Let them know You as You are!
We will be a spotless bride! We will become what our Father has dreamed we would be! In Jesus' name!
Victoria
(This is Chapter 6 from Victoria Boyson's popular book, God's Magnum Opus: The Value of a Woman)
"He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will
be released and prisoners will be freed" Isaiah 61:1 NLT.
It is unfortunate that some men who I greatly esteem do not have equal respect for me solely because I am a woman. Their regard for me is limited,
not by what I do or how I minister, but it would seem I am handicapped in their eyes simply because of my gender.
Jesus came to the earth to break the gender-bias that was held by the church during His day, yet it
seems, though many accepted His ministry, they ignore the example He set for them. Indeed, He realigned women with the kingdom of heaven, positioning us to receive the Spirit's outpouring for the last days.
Jesus' mind was engulfed by His heavenly perceptions, and He imparted all of His Father's concepts, beliefs and actions to humanity. He lived His life on earth as an example of the prayer He taught us to
pray to our Father. His life's breath was, "Your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven" Matthew 6:10 NLT.
It was Christ's passion to see the model of His
Father's kingdom become the way of life for His followers on the Earth. "As it is in heaven!" are just five little words that come down like a hammer on our past traditions and mindsets.
My grandma use to make us all pray the Lord's prayer together before family meals - it was very important to her. Yet, I do not think she had any real idea of the tremendous power of this amazing prayer. For simply and truly, Jesus was calling forth all of the riches of heaven, its wealth of love and acceptance, to come and be made manifest in humanity. His disciples ask Him to teach them how to pray, so He taught them to pray in accordance with His Father's will to be made manifest in their lives.
In an encounter I had with the Lord, He showed me His home in heaven. I have only seen heaven a few times, but in one particular encounter, I was so completely overpowered by the overwhelming feelings of the acceptance I felt in heaven. I literally did not realize how much oppressive rejection we live with everyday here on Earth. My mind and soul felt rejuvenated and restored by the penetrating sense of acceptance - it consumed me. I felt truly welcomed, understood, and celebrated. So, I can say with absolute certainty, something we should already realize, and that is
there is no gender bias in heaven!
As I came out of the encounter, my family could tangibly feel the acceptance of heaven. As I shared with them all I had seen, the essence of heaven's reception
filled our home.
The love that is expressed in heaven is truly unconditional and is what our heavenly Father wants for us here in this world - in this life. "As it is in heaven," that's what God wants for us and that is how He wants us to live - treating people with the respect and esteem of heaven. That is why Jesus was so passionate about heaven's kingdom possessing Earth's realm.
Truly, as Christ lived, He became a voice for anyone who was thought to be unacceptable or undervalued by earth's societal scale. Why? Because it was directly opposed to the Father's way in heaven and it stood in the way of the kingdom of God coming to earth!
One of the most prevalent attitudes Jesus fought hard against while on earth was the belief that women were inferior or second class. Jesus knew women and men equal and this belief put Him in direct conflict with the religious leaders of the day. "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate" Matthew 19:4-6 NIV.
Contrary to what is often taught about the Lord's conduct toward women, He accepted women into His ministry and had many women disciples as well: Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary Salome, Martha, sister of Lazarus, Miriamne, sister of Phillip, Arsinoe,* Susanna, and Joanna (Luke 8:1-3). Jesus lived His life as an example of how we were to relate to each other as human beings. He broke taboos, rules and laws in His conduct toward the women He came in contact with - the Word records the many incidents in His life where He openly empowered women, which was against the oral law and customs of the times.
Jesus allowed women to travel with Him, they were a part of His inner circle and were His disciples - He related with women as His equals (Matthew 27:55-56; Luke 8:1-3; Luke 10:38-42; John 2:5; John 4:4-26). Jesus did not teach inequality between the genders, He taught us to honor others as more important than ourselves and, in doing, so we would discover that is what truly make us great, not our race or gender (Mark 10:43). Love was much more important to Him than law (John 13:34).
Jesus came to purify the attitudes of humanity and start a revolution of love.
His goal was and is to cleanse us from any attitude which did not further the advance of the kingdom of heaven in our lives. Bias against women comes in squarely against God's love and is in stark contrast to the acceptance of heaven. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that we allow the Lord to purge us of any ideology that limits the manifestation of heaven in us.
Beliefs that limit women's ability to exemplify spirituality are corrupt social practices that have been accepted and advanced by the church. This is just the opposite of what Christ worked for.
Indeed, Jesus wanted the church, His church, to lead the world in displaying the example He set and break down the barriers against women and anyone who suffered under the weight of rejection and abuse. We were given the assignment and responsibility to love with equality all God's children.
Jesus Launched Women into Ministry
In John 4:7-26, Jesus met a Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob and asked her for water. As she served Him, He revealed to her Who He was. He met the need of her heart,
delivering her of her shame and set her heart aflame with His love!
Knowing full-well she would share the great news of the Messiah, Jesus did not stop her from sharing it as He had done with others on all other
occasions (Matthew 12:16). In His knowing silence, He started the first woman's ministry and many Samaritans believed because of her testimony of Him.
His disciples were of course shocked, because, again, Jesus
broke the rules: He spoke to a woman publicly, taught her theology and, to make things worse in their eyes, she was a Samaritan.
According to Jewish teachings, He was not suppose to talk to a woman or a Samaritan
and He was definitely not suppose to teach her theology. But Jesus hated all those anti-heaven rules! So, He not only talked with her, He turned her into an evangelist! He super-charged her with the acceptance from
heaven, then stood back and watched while she brought a harvest of souls to Him.
What is interesting about the Samaritan woman Jesus chose is that she had previously been married five times. Her past was
uncovered, yet, she was unashamed in the eyes of the Beloved; she was washed cleaned from the contempt of society. Through His eyes, she saw herself only as the accepted of heaven and wanted the world to experience her joy!
I have heard so many Christians chastise divorcees with Malachi 2:16, "'For I hate divorce!' says the LORD, the God of Israel!" But the reason God hates divorce is because it is abhorrent treatment to the woman being divorced. For, "'To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,' says the LORD of Heaven's Armies" (NLT).
Understand that the women of this era were never allowed to divorce their husbands, for any reason. No, indeed, that was a "privilege" reserved only for the male sex, and use it they did. For any reason, a man could divorce his wife and keep her dowry, children and any possessions she had, leaving her destitute.
The Samaritan woman came to the well alone that day, and not while the other women of her village were getting water. No, she was a rejected woman who was divorced, who had been past from man to man. She was the utter explanation of Malachi 2:16; she'd been treated cruelly by the men in her life.
So, the women of her time were basically forced by society and by the law into marrying simply for survival. Then, for whatever reason the husband could cast her aside and her only hope then was to be picked up by another man. She was cast off and left to the mercy of men who did not value her except as an object of property to be owned and used. Sadly, wives could be treated horrendously by their husbands, beaten or killed and the law completely supported the man's actions.
The Father in heaven mourned for the plight of His daughters and asked, "Who will help My daughters? Who will be their voice? Who will offer them another way?"
Jesus.
And so He did.
Jesus was never tempted to live His life according to the world's standards, for His goal was to redeem mankind. He redeemed us through the cross, but also through the examples He showed us in His own life. He lived His life to reveal the mindset of heaven to earth. His hope was that we as His bride would eventually learn these principles as well and manifest them to through the way we treat each other.
We can't pick and choose which principles we'd like to live by. No, if we want to be His disciples and represent His kingdom, we must abide by the laws of heaven which are faith, hope and love: Faith to live a life that would transform the lives of others, Hope in the cross of Christ that separates light and darkness, and the Love of a very merciful Father who wants to draw us into Himself and make us His own.
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NEW Book by Victoria Boyson