Called to Great Things
I'm posting this thing Joy Strang wrote mostly for my friend Annette, but if the shoe fits, wear it, Girlfriends!
Do you have a sense that God has called you to great things? Don't be surprised! You're not alone. Throughout the ages God has used women to help bring about His purposes on the earth.
In the turbulence of the mid-1600s in England, a revival movement began that released women to minister in unprecedented ways. George Fox, the founder of the Quakers, believed that because the Holy Spirit dwells in men and women alike, and since it is He who rightly interprets the Bible, both genders have the same capacity to speak for God.
As a result, early Quaker women traveled the world-sometimes leaving their children for months in the care of their husbands, extended family members or other Quakers-in order to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. They endured incredible hardship from persecution, often being jailed or even martyred. But their influence was powerfully felt, both within the church and beyond it into society, as they led the way in the abolition of slavery, the fight for women's suffrage and prison reform.
During the next 300 years God reiterated through other nascent revival movements that He could use women. Methodism, the Holiness movement, the Salvation Army and the Pentecostal outpouring each opened the door to women to step beyond the roles of family to impact the church and society.
How was this possible? History has shown that when a wave of revival sweeps in, those who wholeheartedly pursue God often are carried farther than they ever thought possible. As the Holy Spirit sovereignly moves among God's people, old religious forms lose their power. The evidence of His anointing on certain chosen vessels removes the traditional barriers created by gender, race and age.
Just as these women had a purpose and a call that impacted many for God, so you were created with a unique destiny that only you will be able to fulfill. Along the way you may have lost sight of that purpose. You may have bought into the view that there are limits on what you can do. Ultimately, what you believe rules you. If you believe your life purpose is simply to fill limited roles, you'll fill them and stop there--never knowing more was available to you.
God is opening the door for you, as a woman, to move into all that He is calling you to do. Won't you say yes to Him today?
Do you have a sense that God has called you to great things? Don't be surprised! You're not alone. Throughout the ages God has used women to help bring about His purposes on the earth.
In the turbulence of the mid-1600s in England, a revival movement began that released women to minister in unprecedented ways. George Fox, the founder of the Quakers, believed that because the Holy Spirit dwells in men and women alike, and since it is He who rightly interprets the Bible, both genders have the same capacity to speak for God.
As a result, early Quaker women traveled the world-sometimes leaving their children for months in the care of their husbands, extended family members or other Quakers-in order to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. They endured incredible hardship from persecution, often being jailed or even martyred. But their influence was powerfully felt, both within the church and beyond it into society, as they led the way in the abolition of slavery, the fight for women's suffrage and prison reform.
During the next 300 years God reiterated through other nascent revival movements that He could use women. Methodism, the Holiness movement, the Salvation Army and the Pentecostal outpouring each opened the door to women to step beyond the roles of family to impact the church and society.
How was this possible? History has shown that when a wave of revival sweeps in, those who wholeheartedly pursue God often are carried farther than they ever thought possible. As the Holy Spirit sovereignly moves among God's people, old religious forms lose their power. The evidence of His anointing on certain chosen vessels removes the traditional barriers created by gender, race and age.
Just as these women had a purpose and a call that impacted many for God, so you were created with a unique destiny that only you will be able to fulfill. Along the way you may have lost sight of that purpose. You may have bought into the view that there are limits on what you can do. Ultimately, what you believe rules you. If you believe your life purpose is simply to fill limited roles, you'll fill them and stop there--never knowing more was available to you.
God is opening the door for you, as a woman, to move into all that He is calling you to do. Won't you say yes to Him today?
Annette, don't take this as a prophetic word or anything, but wasn't it interesting?
posted by KathyH @ 9:26 PM
2 Comments:
At 6:25 PM ,
Michelle said...
Thank you. I have felt called to what I would call "great things", but wondered if it was just pride propelling me forward. Now I wonder if it was pride holding me back. It would seem the only cages in the world are the ones we weave ourselves. Thank you for helping me see that God can use even me.
At 8:41 PM ,
KathyH said...
Funny you should say that. I just finished listening to a recording of a program Beth Moore did on James Robison's TV show.
She said sometimes we don't do things out of pride. We don't want to take the risk of having to learn in front of other people. We want to be good at it immediately or we aren't willing to do it.
She quoted Paul saying "I came to you in weakness" but she said at least he CAME! She said if we're scared to be weak, that's pride.
She said God will part the waters if we're willing to go stand there and get our feet wet, and that the Promised Land, the place he has promised us, is on the other side of our fear.
It really spoke to me...
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