Arise

Rise up my sisters. Not in anger, not in frustration, but clothed in grace, powerful and calm in our minds. Determined, steadfast and ready to enter into our inheritance as daughters of the king - warrior daughters.

I believe that a movement is developing, I believe that God has placed in the hearts of women and men a passion for all of us to be the people God created us to be - women and men, girls and boys. For many, many years I have had a heart for women and a desire to see oppression lifted and women arise, but until recently I have tried to dampen this down. I believed that the passion that burned within me was 'un-Christian'. It is only very recently that I have come to believe that it is God himself who has placed this passion there. And if God has placed it there, it is for a reason (and how can a God-breathed passion be 'un-Christian'?).

So let me tell you about this passion. I look at the girls and women around me and I see talented, gifted, clever, creative, brave, faithful women of God. I see immense potential to serve alongside our brothers in Christ. I also see women full of self-doubt, low in confidence, unsure, putting their gifts on hold. And these are the very same women who have hearts that shine with the light of Christ.

In Matthew 5:14-16 (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised ) Jesus says:

¹⁴ ‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Why would God have given women gifts if we were not supposed to use them, or only supposed to let a little of them be seen? 

Spiritual warfare is a reality. We are told in Ephesians 6 that we are indeed in a fight and we know that we have an enemy who would seek to stop the breaking in of God's kingdom today here on earth. If you were up against a powerful army, would it not be a huge advantage to you if you could diminish, wound and even kill over 50% of them - cutting the opposition in half? Of course it would! I believe that the church - God's people - across the world is weakened by sustained attack on women. Here in the West it leaves women quiet, afraid to get it wrong, afraid to let their gifts flourish, doubting themselves and insecure. I believe it is time for us to rise up with our brothers, armed with spiritual weapons, secure in our status as warrior daughters, ready to fight!

Let me give you an insight into the war that is waged against women and girls across the globe. 

·         39,000 baby girls die annually in China because parents don't give them the same medical care and attention that boys receive - and that is just in the first year of life.

·         In the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan, 5000 women and girls have been doused in kerosene and set alight by family members or in-laws - or been seared with acid - for perceived disobedience in the last nine years

·         Girls in India from one to five years of age are 50 percent more likely to die than boys of the same age. Parents are less likely to vaccinate girls and girls have to be sicker than boys to be taken to hospital

·         The US state Department has estimated that between 600,000 and 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year, 80% of them women and girls, mostly for sexual exploitation

('Half the Sky' by Kristof and Wudunn, 2010)

This has to stop! My sisters - your sisters - all over the world are under attack. It has to stop because even now the Kingdom of God is poised to break into the darkness and flood it with light.

I believe that the daughters of the King, rising up and standing with their brothers are an immense force for good. We will no longer turn our faces from the darkness and creep away in fear. We will no longer say we are inadequate and helpless. We will no longer cower. We carry swords made of the promises of God, we wear armour woven from our experiences of His grace. We have loud voices and strong bodies. We stand together with sisters and brothers, arms linked and we step out in trust of a King who has already declared us victorious.

I believe that we are called to arise sisters. To see - perhaps for the first time - the threat we really pose to the darkness we see around us. Because that is the huge irony of our oppression - that it confirms the enemy is afraid of us. I believe it is time for us to look in the mirror and at one another, and recognise the warriors we truly are. 

It is time dear sister, for our eyes to be opened to see ourselves as we are in the sight of God. Even today we can help one another on this journey by actively and frequently acknowledging, naming and affirming one another's gifts. It is time for groups of women to sit down together, each of them naming and celebrating the gifts they have been given - no false modesty, no self-doubt and no lack of confidence.

So what do we do? How do we arise? Where do we start? I recently heard of a saying that has stuck with me: 'Think big. Start small. Start now.'

I believe that we must gather. We are a body and the different parts must come together to make a whole. Together we will affirm each other, encourage each other, and stand with each other.
 
I believe we must be equipped. We need to learn who we really are. We need to throw off chains and the lies that bind us. We need to recognise our call to the mission of the King. We will pray, we will listen to our God, we will invite the Holy Spirit in, and we will praise our Lord and King, Jesus Christ.
 
I believe we must act. We must go out as a powerful force for good  - exercising compassion, kindness, and challenge, speaking out and standing up.

For now I leave you with our call to action:

"...make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!"

Romans 13: 11-14 (The Message)