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Jesus, Miracles & Women
Dignity & Dominion
for All
by Pastor John Hamel
“For ye are all the
children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have
been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew
nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor
female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26-28)
Many men and women
have been mistakenly led to believe that the Bible is a book emphasizing
only the dignity and dominion of men, ignoring the needs of women.
However, that could not be further from the truth. Everywhere the
Scripture refers to “man,” it is also referring to womb-man. The Holy
Spirit made that perfectly clear in our above Scripture text. Anyone
who cannot see that male and female are one in Christ Jesus simply does not
want to see it. They are completely out of the loop.
Yes, man is to be
the head of his own household. (1Corinthians 11:3; Ephesians 5:23)
But the husband and wife both have the same spiritual authority in
Christ. Jesus created men and women both to be joint-heirs together
with Him. (Romans 8:16,17; 1Peter 3:7) A woman does not need to go
through her husband to approach God. Every woman, married or single,
goes through Christ as her Mediator, the same as every man. (1Timothy
2:5) Women are just as important to Jesus as men are. Some men
just need to get over it!
No man before or
since Jesus has been as tenderhearted towards women as He is. He
always treats women with dignity, respect, elevating their status and
showing them the greatest consideration. When His disciples did not
do the same, He would lovingly jerk the slack right out of them. Any
woman whoever came to Jesus in need of a miracle got exactly what she
expected.
A Woman, Her Daughter & a Major Demon
Problem
“For a certain
woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came
and fell at his feet: The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician
by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of
her daughter. But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be
filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it
unto the dogs.” (Mark 7:25-27)
Jesus was not
calling this woman a dog as I’ve heard some preach. He was echoing
what He knew His disciples were sitting there thinking. They were
thinking, “It’s bad enough that she’s a woman, but she’s a Greek woman to
boot. He’s not really going to help her, is He? She’s a dog.”
Jesus was not only trying to help this woman get into faith with His
comment, He was teaching His “homeboys” a little lesson.
“And she answered
and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the
children's crumbs. And he said unto her, For this
saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.” (Mark 7:28,29)
She was saying, “I
just might be a dog, Jesus. But if I am, I’m Your dog. You made
me. That makes You my Master.” That is what she meant when she
called Him “Lord”.
Jesus
response? “Right on, Honey. You are absolutely right. And
my boys here, they are absolutely wrong.” You can be sure those
“boys” dropped their heads, breaking eye contact with even one
another.
Jesus was not moved
by this woman’s gender. Jesus was moved by her persistence, humility,
knowledge and faith. Jesus was also moved by the Gifts He had placed
within her before she was even born. He was determined that after
this encounter, those Gifts would come into fruition. Everyone is
gifted of God, male and female. (1Corinthians 12:11) Do you know
what your Gifts are? By going to our Faith Building Bible Study
Centre and clicking on "The Holy Spirit Today," you
can find out.
Several Women, Several Demons, Several
Problems
“And it came to
pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching
and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of
God: and the twelve were with him, And certain women, which had been healed
of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went
seven devils, And Joanna the wife of Chuza
Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of
their substance.” (Luke 8:1-3)
Jesus cast seven
demon spirits out of Mary Magdalene. She was apparently a very
influential woman with many influential friends. The Bible never says
that she was a prostitute, so we should not say that. The Bible
simply says she needed deliverance. Some of her friends were also in
need of deliverance and healing. Not because they were women, but
because they were human beings. Demon spirits seek embodiment in both
men and women. Jesus did not seem to have a problem setting all of
them free. That makes Jesus an equal opportunity Restorer! Jesus also had no problem
with these women joining His entourage. Any man who does is missing
out on God’s best for his life. Mary is not only mentioned more than
any other woman in the New Testament, but she was also the very first human
being commissioned by Jesus to preach His resurrection.
“Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni;
which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto
her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my
brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and
to my God, and your God.” (John 20:16,17)
I believe that Mary
was a gifted Evangelist.
I believe there are many gifted women Evangelists in the Earth. I do
not believe that single women should stand in the Office of the Pastor. However, I have
witnessed instances where God has allowed this temporarily, when the man
God has for the job refuses to obey Him. However, I do believe the
Bible is clear that women can stand in any of the other Offices, Teacher, Apostle and Prophet. The world needs
millions of liberator deliverers just like Mary to rise up and set captives
free.
Yes, comparatively
speaking, the woman is the weaker vessel. But the Apostle Peter is
talking pound for pound here, not brain for brain. (1Peter 3:7) The
simple fact of the matter is, I am physically
stronger than my wife. Big deal. In some areas she has greater
brightness of mind and greater ability than I do. I am not going to
lose out on benefiting from her abilities by resisting her in those areas
like a dumb ox.
As for me, gender
bashing is not going to become a distraction. It will strip me of
power. Faith works by love. (Galatians
5:6) I believe that anyone who has a problem with women in Ministry
has a problem with Jesus and the Bible. How’s that?
Another Woman with a 12-Year Problem
“And a woman having
an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians,
neither could be healed of any, Came behind
him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of
blood stanched. And Jesus said, Who touched
me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the
multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest
thou, Who touched me? And Jesus said,
Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of
me. And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling,
and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people
for what cause she had touched him and how she was healed immediately.”
(Luke 8:43-47)
Talk about having
problems! This woman was ceremonially unclean, not allowed to come
out in public without shouting “unclean, unclean,” excommunicated from all
synagogue services, kicked out of the women’s court at the Temple, ripped
off of everything she owned in the world by the medical profession, twelve
years suffering with endless bleeding and all alone with the kind of
problem that nobody wants to even talk about.
But Jesus wanted to
talk about it. He said, “Woman, you did a good thing. You tapped into My power with your faith.
I sure wish everyone else around here would learn how to do it like you
just did it.” This woman was not afraid of man, God or Jesus. Jesus was pretty pleased with her.
Yet Another Dear Woman with an 18-Year Old
Problem
“And he was
teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.
And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit
of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise
lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and
said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.
And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and
glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with
indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath
day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to
work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day. The Lord then answered him, and
said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath
loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?
And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath
bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from
this bond on the sabbath day? And when he
had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people
rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.” (Luke
13:10-17)
This dear woman
suffered for eighteen years and no one lifted even a finger to help
her. Jesus came along and compassion flowed through Him for
her. She did not even ask for His help and the next thing she knew,
she was standing upright with her dignity restored. The
religious hypocrites did not like that because
Jesus healed her on the Sabbath. Jesus
did not care what day it was. He will not tolerate demons harassing women even on holy
days.
Jesus is not prejudiced, racially, religiously, socially
or sexually. People who are prejudiced in any way are not even close
to what Jesus wants them to be.
Jesus has a very
tender regard for the unique needs, problems, desires and Giftings of women.
That’s right, “Giftings.” I’ll
say it again. Jesus gives Gifts to women as well as to men. Spiritual Gifts
and Ministry Gifts. (Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17,18) To resist God’s Gifts because
they manifest through female vessels is definitely not the brightest thing
you will ever do! Personally, as a wise man, I’m running with Jesus in this
area, too.
That’s why I say,
“Women, if you are impressed that there is a call of God on your lives to
preach the Gospel, pray for the sick, cast out unclean spirits, speak
prophetically, etc., you best get crackin’.
“Just forget the naysayers. They specialize in speaking without
knowledge of God’s Word. They breathe in fear and ignorance and breathe out
false doctrine and hopelessness.
Some of them are inoculated to Satan and allergic to God. Anybody who calls themselves a Christian
but refuses to obey the Bible is just another holy actor. God’s not applauding, either.
“Besides, you
aren’t going to answer to the naysayers when
Christ returns. As a matter of fact,
they’ll be running from Him with their tails between their legs while
you’re facing Him with confidence, ready for your reward. So stand up like the women of God you are
and start plundering Hell to populate Heaven. Let’s git ‘er done! But
with humility, of course. There is a difference between boldness and arrogance. If a man won’t receive you as a Preacher,
don’t quit on God. Just move on and follow favor. (Psalm 5:12) God has called us to peace.”
Red
and yellow, black and white.
Male and female, get it right.
Jesus came for ALL the people of the world.
Be Blessed … John and Barbara Hamel
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