More about being an Ezer
We need to recognize how well equipped we are for the spiritual battle, because the Lord is our strength and joy. In last week’s post, “Joy in spiritual Warfare,” I encouraged believers to find joy in the Lord, because this is part of our spiritual warfare. Although Spiritual warfare can be exhausting, we can take breaks and rest in the Lord. And we must not forget we inherited the amazing title, “Ezer,” from our many-generations-ago mother, Eve. As “Ezers,” (a Hebrew word in the Old Testament describing Eve) we are “military allies” (direct translation of Ezer) not just to the husbands some of us have, but also to our friends and family. Of course the military we are engaged in is the spiritual warfare against Satan’s cruel schemes.
Last week I shared my concern about the too-brief translation given for Eve as an Ezer in most Bibles. Many only translate Ezer as “helper” or “help mate,” even though the rest of the Old Testament uses Ezer as a strong rescuer or military ally. Feel free to read that post so you can see the Bible verses I included. If you still don’t believe me, please do a search in Hebrew for that title, “Ezer” and see for yourself how it is used as a military ally everywhere, except when Eve is mentioned. It is sad that this term is translated in such a brief and misleading way, because Eve was built to fight alongside Adam, and all gals (young girls to grown women) are still Ezers, fully capable of spiritually battling Satan, and fully capable of offering rescue and strong help to those she loves.
It is essential we understand the significant role women play as spiritual warriors and rescuers, without diminishing the role a woman can play in her domestic work, whether for a mate, if married, or for those she loves. Being a spiritual warrior does not stop a woman from fulfilling a domestic position, from a single gal who may be employed in a helping field of work, to a wife and mom who chooses to not work outside the home in a career. I chose this life, and I love it. But no one should force the life I chose on a gal who does not desire it. A woman who works as a faithful maid or careful data processor or a high powered lawyer, who loves Jesus and pursues justice for her clients, or a surgeon who wants her patients to get better, and every woman in between, can be an Ezer. We choose the life that is right for us. But we are still destroying Satan’s agenda and bringing in Jesus’ agenda, through spiritual warfare. Let’s look at some ways.
Using my life as only one example, when I was single, I worked as a writer and later as a teacher. I fought for the rights of women I worked with when we were sexually harassed. Later I fought for the rights of my students and their parents, not just educationally, but also for their safety. Many people would say I am gentle, and I am a willing nurturer. But at times I have had to fight, both verbally and legally even when I was insulted, and at times physically threatened. I knew the law and at times had to stand up for others, even when people criticized me and spoke ill of my character. Some people think a woman should be meek and mild, and they claim a godly woman should not fight (legally, ethically, and of course spiritually.) They say a woman should not speak up. But I did anyway. God protected me, and then some agencies and ungodly people who were doing bad things had to make good changes they hated making. But God prevailed.
Even a woman who never faces legal and ethical battles will still need to fight on an emotional and spiritual level, because Satan wants to crush people’s spirits, jobs, homes, families and everything else. We gals are built to fight, but I do not mean we argue, insult, demand luxuries for ourselves or do anything else fleshly in fighting. We are built to pray against Satan’s cruel schemes harming our loved ones.
Too often we don’t recognize things we do as spiritual battles. But we are fighting in many ways when we ask God to empower us, and he does, even in areas that seem mundane. Satan wants to harm people through depression, despair, loneliness, isolation, poverty, malnutrition, sickness, addiction, arguing and discord, lack of Bibles and lack of knowledge, and in many other ways. So we may be fighting Satan’s plan for depression and despair when we encourage our discouraged friends by speaking kind words and truth to them. We might visit a sick friend or someone in the nursing home. We may give money to a righteous charity that helps others. We may be kind and polite at a workplace where few believers exist and hostility is common. We might donate bibles, or teach others, do chores for others, not argue with a spiteful person, or serve in other ways.
Satan might want us to call ourselves “helpers,” instead of military allies, if thinking of ourselves as “only helpers,” means we stop taking initiative and neglect to recognize the power behind our actions. If Satan can blind us to the spiritual power we have, as we help and enable others, then he can trick us into not praying about our work and to stop savoring the way we get to love Jesus along with those we minister to. I am not talking about elevating ourselves over those we serve. That is pride, a hateful fruit of our sin nature. I am talking about rejoicing in our love for Christ and his empowering us to fight Satan as we serve others.
When some people look down on gals, as they serve others, these disdainers under-value us, the Daughters of The Holy King. Those disdainers neglect the power of the Holy Spirit and try to weaken us, often so we will serve their selfish whims. And this includes far more than just the wrong husbands who demand too much of their wives, claiming the wife is “his helper” to serve his selfish whims (instead of what he truly needs as a good husband would ask.) I have seen bad bosses, rude teachers and coworkers, and also people’s friends and family members disrespecting girls and women and demanding too much of them or prohibiting them from fully serving God. But God does not honor these disdainers. They bring shame upon themselves. Only when others respect a gal and honor her, do they allow her to be the Ezer God has called her to be.
At times a woman will work very hard, serving her family during a season when she truly needs to labor quietly in the background. She is being an Ezer to her loved ones, doing just what God has called her to do. But at other times, she may have a career outside her home and honor God that way, being an Ezer, helping her family financially and ministering to people in her career, as she prays and seeks God’s will. There is more than one job for an Ezer. God can and will direct gals in how they serve and protect their loved ones, but this only works if she earnestly prays and seeks God’s will.
If a gal pursues her own will, she will fulfill the lusts of the flesh and not act as an Ezer, (Gal.5:17 “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other.”) Surprisingly, a gal may give too much to fleshly people, and think she valiantly serves those people, but she actually fuels Satan’s schemes. Sacrificial giving to fleshly people’s unrighteous demands is wrong. The giver might exhaust herself, doing nothing good for herself, yet she is wrong when she fulfills an unrighteous person’s demands. She may feel selfless, since she is not meeting her own needs, but she is serving Satan, not God, even when she feels drained. I know, because I have done this for some people, and over time, God showed me I was making an idol of them, not serving Him. I had to repent and overcome this.
Instead, God has the best plans for our lives (Jer. 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”) But we must ask God for guidance. Many times, telling an unrighteous person, “No,” is a godly act, whether this person is a husband, brother, boss or friend. Yet when we act within God’s will, the service we perform, while bathed in prayer, is spiritual warfare. We are military allies, Ezers, to those we help, even if it seems as minor as caring for a baby, preparing a meal for the family, typing or computing data at a job or doing any other work.
When we earnestly pray and seek God’s will for our lives and then live out that life, we are prevailing for the Lord. When we truly surrender to God’s will, we are powerful. We don’t need to become arrogant. Truly submitting to God and understanding our highly esteemed and very powerful role as an Ezer will never make us arrogant or cause us to obsess on ourselves. Instead, we will feel valued, esteemed, loved by God, in love with Him, and aware of other’s needs, even while taking proper care of ourselves. We are not selfish when we get sufficient sleep, healthful food, exercise, rest and relaxation. We are not arrogant to walk with our heads held high, knowing God adores us, as we savor his love. We are not rebellious when we listen to God and do what he calls us to do, even when our critics claim otherwise, even critics who claim to be Christians.
We can have a high regard for ourselves, as Ezers, yet love others so deeply we are very in-tuned to their needs and strong enough to meet their true needs (not their demands and whims.) And our prayers can seem to move mountains. How? We can pray against our own flesh and then partner with God to tame it so we don’t indulge our sinful cravings. We can develop patience with difficult people and avoid arguing with them. Yes, we will fail at times, but we can learn to control ourselves to a point where arguments are not common. Now, please do not belittle yourself for snacking at times, enjoying some screen time, shopping or doing anything else as a treat. These are not sins of the flesh but gifts God wants us to enjoy at times. And even when you do slip into a sin, whether the occasional argument or any over indulgence, we are only human, and we can repent and go back to doing the right thing. This does not mean you stopped being an Ezer. We are fallen people. We still hold that title, just in human bodies that sometimes fall into sin. Until we die and go to heaven, we will not be perfect, (2Cor4:7 “Yet we who have this spiritual treasure are like common clay pots in order to show the supreme power belongs to God, not to us.”) We simply keep striving to do better and forgive ourselves when we fall.
Our prayers can go much deeper too. We can learn to listen to the Spirit and pray a spiritual covering over those we love. God can guide us to pray for someone’s needs they never even shared with us (but God showed us), or to pray for their protection, or even to prophesy over them and give them warnings and encouragements that only the Holy Spirit can reveal.
God has given women words of encouragement (sometimes specific Bible verses) that hurting people needed, and the speaker was surprised, not having known why God told her to share it. Many times we don’t see answers to our prayers, and Satan lies to us and says our prayers are not effective. But when we have fully surrendered to Christ, our prayers are effective, even when we don’t see results.
We Ezers have great power, just as any good military ally has. We use our power to help others, at times in mundane or domestic ways, and at times in more dramatic ways. What is essential is that we remember we are honorable as Ezers, powerful and deeply esteemed by God, even when the world does not esteem us.
I pray we have encouraged you to see how esteemed and powerful you are as an Ezer. Single or married, with or without children, Ezers (you) are called by God to empower others, and when you surrender your life to Christ, you are doing that right now. Right now you are a valuable warrior in Christ’s army. Our world needs you, and our Lord adores you. Thanks for joining us in this post.