Dr. Hagar wrote As Jesus Cared for Women and through that book he really flushed out some lies in my belief system. It was so refreshing to read the heart of a man who saw that Jesus didn’t look down on women. He loved them, restored them, elevated them, honored them, listened to them. Jesus didn’t try to put them in boxes. Jesus wanted them to be free.

He didn’t die so that they might be discounted and discredited as the weaker sex. He died to release them from the curse, from spending all their energy running after a man or from being ruled by one. He died so His women would be free to love Him, fully.

Have you ever considered how Jesus radically rocked the world in His treatment of women?

–The adulteress He forgave. But He looked down at the ground, instead of cruising her.

–The Samaritan woman He asked for water. He asked of her. That in itself was a gift, to interact with her as a capable equal rather than someone to be shunned. He offered her abundance instead of judgment.

–To the sinner who washed His feet with her hair, He defended her devotion in public and declared that what she had done for Him would be told for all eternity.

– To Martha, He first revealed that He was the Resurrection

–To Mary, He first appeared as the Risen Lord.

Is it possible that Jesus forgot that women were property? Forgot that the weaker sex was to stay behind a man?

Or did Jesus purposely turn the male order on its ear? Did Jesus clearly become the only man she was to stand behind? Her one true spiritual leader.

We have a Spiritual Leader. His name is Jesus. And He is really great at His job.

Of all the things a man can and should be, and all the things a woman can and should be, why put on labels and pressures that we were never meant to carry?

Perhaps this side of the cross, the woman and the man are to again co-rule as co-heirs. They are to stand side by side, arm in arm, under the banner, authority and love of Jesus Christ. Just as He said that the “two became one flesh and to let no man tear it apart,” this hope of oneness lies in the power of Christ working through each face of His image.  This union is about a God-created intimacy where both bring all they have to the table, male and female, and as one under Christ they live life and serve and further God’s kingdom.

Do you see that when we as man and woman both live in our original intent, with our definition and desire met in our maker, then there is a supernatural harmony in relationship? Instead of bossing or clawing, we are both restored to walk together in our journeys with God.

Excerpt taken from Unhindered, Chapter 40

Let’s Get Real Here:

What would change in your life if Jesus was your spiritual leader?  Does it change the way you think of yourself to see how Jesus valued women?

With our eyes set on glory, let’s take a look at God’s original design.

I had a haunting question about the point of male and female. I really wanted to know the purpose of a female. Was the purpose of a woman just to help the man? This is what I was taught, implicitly or explicitly. We are to have his kids, give him sex, clean his house, be his “helper.” And if that was really the sum total of God’s design then why did it feel like there was an untapped region in my heart? If God is for me, then why would God’s design hurt so much?

I wanted to know what was the original intent of the designer. What was God up to when He made the sexes?

How it is that the church never seemed to read Gal 3:28-29  which says:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

 Heirs? What promise? The cross reference of verse 29 takes you to Romans 8:

 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co‑heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

 What on earth does it mean to be co-heirs with Christ? To share in His glory?

As they say, inquiring minds want to know. And I needed to know desperately.

I inquired of the Lord. I begged Him to teach me, show me, reveal to me, help me figure out what He was up to. What was the original intent of the designer?

Please, tell me who I am. What were you thinking, when you thought of me?

What was I to do? All through the Scriptures the Lord tells us to seek Him, search for wisdom, ask for wisdom, look for understanding as if looking for treasure. Jesus said, “knock and it shall be opened to you, ask and it shall be given to you.” (Matthew 7:7-8) So it was no surprise that the Lord began speaking, in lots of places.

It began with the Silence of Adam by Larry Crabb. Then John Eldrige gave beautiful insight in his book Wild at Heart. The Lord used both of these books as pieces of my own puzzle. Eldrige ventured to say that there was more to us than we dared believe. It was water to my parched soul.

Then the Lord brought writings from Watchman Nee . They stirred up a spiritual hornet’s nest, buzzing around all that I had believed about myself and God.

In Romans 3:23 we read ”All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

God’s purpose for man was glory, but sin thwarted that purpose by causing man to miss God’s glory.

When we think of sin, we instinctively think of the judgment it brings; we invariably associate it with condemnation and hell.

Man’s thought is always of the punishment that will come to him if he sins,

But God’s thought is always of the Glory man will miss if he sins.

The result of sin is that we forfeit God’s glory.

The result of redemption is that we are qualified again for glory.

God’s purpose in redemption is

Glory.

Glory.

Glory.

Watchman Nee The Normal Christian Life page 104

Me? Glory? Are you kidding?

The Lord kept bringing truth to my soul. From the Word, from books, from leaders. Then came a pure gift of love. I read Waking the Dead by John Eldridge and prayed a simple prayer.

 God I want my heart back, my whole heart.

Excerpt taken from Unhindered, Chapter 38.

Let’s Get Real Here:

How’s your heart?  Do you want it back?