I wanted to give a quick update after our first Where the Heart Heals support group for women. It was a precious time of sharing hearts, listening to voices who have been silenced by the enemy for years, and seeing the Lord’s heart to set them each free. The Lord had instructed me simply, “To Listen.”

I would tell you the hidden suffering of the Lord’s daughters is paramount. It causes me great heartbreak and many tears before the Lord. The tending and mending of hearts is necessary and has gone sorely overlooked in our churches. We need the gifts of the Spirit to know individual needs of every heart as we saw in the scriptures. There is a supernatural “knowing” that Christ reveals to a deep need hidden in one stuck in deep sorrow from years of any type of oppression. This gift I am pleading for daily that I may help others. First, I must see to the need. Often, only the Lord knows the root need.

Definition of Oppression:

1.

the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner.

2.

an act or instance of oppressing or subjecting to cruel or unjust impositions or restraints.

3.

the state of being oppressed.

4.

the feeling of being heavily burdened, mentally or physically, by troubles, adverse conditions, anxiety, etc.

 

The Lord is helping me to see the absolute need for stronger pastoral counseling. We have plenty of preachers but we are lacking in pastors. There is quite a difference and certainly many are called with both mantles. Yet, often we are relying on both from someone not ordained with both. I feel the Lord has shown me it’s due to our western organizational church mindset which is not honestly found in the scriptures. Therefore the needs go unattended. The pursuit of God’s heart for this type of pastor in our congregational care teams is crucial. Yet, we continue to look for only one gifting due to our normal traditions of man…when Christ and Paul clearly outline the need and use of multiple members gifted uniquely to meet the needs of the sheep. The Lord says to me often, “Where is the Shepherd’s heart?”

Forgive me for calling this to account, but are we willing to change our mindset in order to return to that which Christ died for and commissioned in the book of Acts and other NT books? I became angered at what I heard women going through behind closed doors.We are turning a blind eye at the oppression of women in the church today. Whether it is physical abuse, emotional or verbal abuse, or spiritual abuse negating a woman’s call by God…all oppose the heart of Christ. Our resting upon a few verses in the scriptures has lent to the injustice towards women that we speak against in other religions and world cultures. The enemy has been after the woman’s voice since Eve. You would be overwhelmed if I shared statistics with you of the genocide of girls in countries where girls are not wanted. They still desire a patriarchal society. This still exists today. But today, in our own american churches, we are also oppressing and silencing women.Oppression with legalism, inaccurate interpretations of scriptures,  and teachings that give an open door to safety for all manners of abuse. Much abuse is at the hand of church leadership. Yet, Christ made a way for His daughters to be restored to their rightful place on the cross. If all you see is redemption of mankind which is a beautiful work of Christ…..then you look with still a narrow view. An incomplete view at best. The teachings coming out of the pulpits lower standards for the treatment of women honored always by Christ Jesus. Submission is always as unto the Lord. Protection and honor is a requirement. This is included within a marriage covenant which is based on Christ, Himself. I could go into all the scriptures of how Christ views His bride…the way He loves her. I could take you to every woman, named and unnamed, in the scriptures as examples of His placing them in positions of influence in every manner of role with an equal inheritance to the sons. I can show you a shepherdess in Genesis, a Deaconness in the NT, the effects of a wife following her husband into sin with Ananias and Sapphira… but many will give all manners of excuses that cause a woman to surrender to less than Christ died for her to have.

There is more at stake here than one issue. All issues are bred from the same mentality. If you give to one area you are giving to them all whether you understand it or not. We are raising generations of boys and girls to see a different Christ in men than the same Christ that is in women. This teaching alone leads to a misunderstanding of authentic Christ like relationships between what Christ called brothers and sisters. It has fostered abuses and mistreatment towards His daughters.  Please understand that this influences how we handle women who come in need of help. We are to protect first the weaker vessel. Surely, we can agree to this in the Word.

I am of the opinion the Lord is coming to fight for His daughters in this season. Woe to the shepherds who have participated in any oppression towards them. Woe to those who have protected an abuser and left a woman alone to help herself. Woe to the leadership teams who have removed women from their God ordained roles. Woe to those who have chosen to remain silent as did Pilate assuming it would be viewed as innocent. For He is a God of recompense. May we rise and repent of our part in it. May He raise up more men to be advocates for women in this hour. Men who see the value and worth of every woman.  Men who are able to see the same Christ in women as the Christ who dwells also in men. They are one and the same. May pulpits begin to weep with conviction at what we have done to His daughters.

I am grateful for a God who always uses the weaker vessels….who lifts up the unlikely…..who chooses what man would otherwise not choose.

This is The Christ I serve…