Sunday night with the gals

I had the privilege Sunday night of attending a Women's Leadership meeting at HPC. The main speaker was Vera (unable to spell last name) from the Hillsong church in Kiev. She and her husband pastor that church and are starting to do services in Moscow as well. They are a powerful, dynamic couple and it was amazing to receive from them.

She talked about women in leadership; about our role, our importance and the necessity of handling ourselves well. She taught from Numbers 27:1-11 (I recommend reading the story to understand the points). I cannot do the sermon justice, but these are her main points:

1. God called each of the 5 sisters by name because they all had a role to play.
2. being together gave them the courage to stand up and speak in front of authority.
3. they did not come together as a group with an attitude against something, but with an attitude for something.
4. these girls challenged injustice simply by asking questions.
5. if you come together for the cause of justice, God is on your side.
6. God approves not only the right course, but the right attitude and the right means.
7. these girls did not just restore justice for themselves; they passed it on for generations to come.

I think that so often we, as women, feel like we have to force something to happen. This is often due to our own brokenness. If we come from a place where we didn't have anyone to fight for us, we (by necessity) take on every battle by ourselves. Instead of learning to trust in God, we spend our time honing our skills for war. God created us as a helpmate for man. We are called to help men, not battle against them. Men are created to be warriors: strong, decisive, stategic. Why not add our grace, wisdom and compassion to that, and watch God move?

I am so grateful that I belong to a church that values peoples; their gifts, their strengths and their individuality. I'm grateful that my Lead Pastors operate as a team; not as competitors. I really don't know very much about men being men and women being women, but I'm glad God put me in a great place to learn. All glory to Him!