By Eileen Slattery Berglund
There is something very exciting, and at times terrifying, that I don’t think we pay enough attention to. Simply put, God has made us, through Christ, extremely powerful people. Through Christ, through our identity being hidden in Him, through it no longer being we who live but Christ who lives in us, through the indwelling and empowering of the Holy Spirit, God has made us very powerful people. And let me take it a step further. God has made us very powerful women. I don’t stress that point to take anything away from the fact that he has also made men very powerful men, but sometimes, as women, we need to hear that. Sometimes we don’t even realize how much we need to hear that. All of us, men and women, need to acknowledge the truth of God’s word. If His word is true, and if we truly are hidden in Christ, and if we truly have been made righteous through Christ, and if the same Holy Spirit lives in us that raised Christ from the dead, then we are incredibly powerful people.
Personally, it took me quite a while to realize this. Once I did realize it, it sort of excited me and frightened me. I wasn’t really sure I wanted to step into that place of power and authority. I wasn’t sure I would know how to handle all that power. I knew there would be warfare. I knew there would be opposition. I knew I would make mistakes. And so, for me, at least initially, I was reluctant and afraid to walk in this power. The thing is, although we must acknowledge that fear does exist, we also must acknowledge that God hasn’t given us a spirit of fear. We will come up against it on a regular basis but God just wants us to trust Him. The solution is to hide ourselves in Christ. We can run into the strong tower, the name of the Lord and find our place of immunity where nothing can touch us, where we are covered in the shadow of His wing, where we are truly hidden in Christ. When we do that, the fear can’t touch us but the love can flood over us, the truth can flood over us, the strength can flood over us. We begin to see ourselves as equipped, as able, as being in a strong partnership yoked to the one true God. It is empowering, liberating, encouraging, and exciting! When I think of people in this world who are powerful, whether it is an amazing athlete, successful minister, incredible parent, or thriving business person, there are certain ones that stand out. The ones I want to be like are the ones who not only walk in power and authority but also have a gracefulness and graciousness about them. Another way to say it would be that they have a humility which balances and allows them to carry the power in a special way. When I see that, there is an irresistible draw, a beautiful attraction that flows forth from them. As Christians, I believe we see this same beautiful attraction and modeling in Jesus. He is who we want to focus our gaze on. He is who we want to be with. He is who we want to follow. We want to be His disciples, we want to be transformed into His likeness, we want to bear His image and His heart to the world around us. And He wants this for us too! He does not disqualify any of us based on race or gender or age or anything else. His transforming power and humility is available to “whosoever will” receive Him. There is absolutely no difference in how a man becomes a disciple of Jesus versus how a woman becomes a disciple of Jesus. So please, don’t let anyone limit your ability to be like Jesus and do the things He did. God’s heart is toward you and for you. This is clearly displayed throughout scripture in all three persons of the Godhead. We see God the Father creating both male and female in His image and speaking to and blessing both of them in the exact same way. We see Jesus taking on the sins of all mankind, both male and female equally, at the Cross and giving new eternal life through His resurrection. And we see Holy Spirit being poured out upon and also giving gifts to all the sons and daughters. Many may try to tell you otherwise, but I stand firm in saying that God’s heart toward women is the same as His heart toward men, and God’s mandate and equipping and empowering of women is the same as it is for men. He is our Lord and our job is to follow hard after Him and reveal His true nature to a lost and dying world. One day we will stand before Him and He will be so proud of us that we never gave up. He will be so happy that we didn’t let someone talk us out of who He made us to be. So go be you, and help someone else along the way. I’ll be cheering you on in full force!
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