Acts 2:14-24
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
14 Then Peter stood up with
the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of
you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what
I say. 15 These
men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was
spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 “‘In the last days, God says,
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.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
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.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
22 “Men of Israel, listen
to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles,
wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you
yourselves know. 23 This
man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and
you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the
cross. 24 But
God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because
it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
Where, how, when are
women supposed to minister? There are
scriptures that tell us that women are to remain silent in church, where women
are to be submissive and the man is to be the spiritual leader. I have no trouble with those scriptures as
they were written by a man of God.
However, I do believe that you need to reflect on the context in which
they were written. We do not know all
that was going on in the churches where they were given these instructions, we
can only speculate. The scripture today
makes it clear that women do prophesy.
If they are to prophesy, they will have to be able to speak and
therefore will not be silent.
The man, was the first
creation of human flesh by God Himself. The
women, created to be the man’s helpmate, companion, and the one to have the
offspring. I don’t think that makes
woman any less God’s creation than the man.
I don’t think that it makes woman less loved by God either. If Adam would have been the leader and not
listened to Eve, the story could have been so much different. But wait, if Lucifer would not have been
boastful and proud, and gotten kicked out of Heaven we would have had a
different story too. The fact is, we are
all sinners, and we can all be saved if we call on the name of the Lord. I do believe men need to step up and do the
work that God has called them to do but I do not believe that woman should step
back and let the man take the reins if he is not acting in the Will of the
Father. Let me explain a little further
before you stop reading.
If you look back in scriptures
you will see that Deborah, a prophetess and a leader over Israel gave a command
from God to Barak but he was too afraid to go on his own. So, she had to go along with Barak, to
conquer the Canaanites. Because he would
not go without the prophetess, a woman was the one that conquered the Commander
of the Canaanite army, not Barak. He did
not listen to what God said through the woman and because of that he was not
given the honor of conquering the enemy.
Another woman was able to take the action that was needed. If the women would have stood by and not done
what God had called them to do, the outcome again, would have been very
different. You can read about it in Judges 4 and 5 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges%204%20&%205&version=NIV1984).
God may call the men
first to lead but when they do not lead, sometimes it is a woman that He
calls. Just as in the days of old, when
a woman is a leader, a prophetess, a true woman of God, men need to take note
and listen. Peter says in the end times
women will prophesy along with men.
I think that sometimes,
we as women, want to go ahead and place the leadership role on the man. Sometime it is much easier to be submissive
to what the man is saying than to really stop and listen to the Lord. Sometimes we can get so caught up in putting
the responsibility on someone else that we forget that we too have a
responsibility to listen to the Lord, to lead when others are not and to always
be led by the Father.
All of our sins were
hanging on the cross, all of us have fallen short of the Glory of God and we
should all lead others to Him. If He
listens to us, we need to listen to Him.
If He is telling us to be silent, then silent we should be but if the
words from our mouths comes from Him we need to use our lips to proclaim Him to
others. None of us should be placed in a
box because of our gender.
As you seek Him, remember
that it is His words that we need to pay attention to. If He is speaking we need to listen. If He asked you to lead don’t question His
motives as did Barak in Judges. Don’t
depend on male or female to guide you and protect you, know that God is the One
that directs. Sometimes He uses males
and sometimes He uses females. We need
to be open to His will and His way at all times.
Galatians 3:28
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
28 There is neither Jew nor
Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in
Christ Jesus.
(http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galations%203:28&version=NIV1984)
Seeking Him with all my
heart,
Sheila
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