Women have been called to be warriors even before Adam and Eve fell into sin. Many Christians miss this truth, even though Eve was called an “Ezer,” (Hebrew word), which is the same term used to describe the Holy Spirit, our military ally. Ezer means to be strong, to rescue, and to be a military ally.
Adam and Eve were called to spiritual warfare while they were in their perfect, sinless state in the perfect, sinless Garden of Eden. A form of sin did exist in the Garden, not in the people, plants, animals, soil, or weather. This sin existed in Satan who had access to this perfect Garden.
Clearly God chose the title Ezer for the woman, because her mate, Adam, was her military ally. Both were spiritually fitted to battle Satan, because they had God’s sword, his word (his spoken word, since they did not have the written word.) God allowed Satan to go into the Garden, facing two fully equipped warriors. We know they both surrendered their swords (God’s word,) because they believed Satan’s lie, instead of God’s word (Genesis chapter 3.)
It is essential we women understand this core truth. We are called to fight spiritually, and we are not called to isolate from other warriors (women and men.) Women become confused about this truth for many reasons. For example, many Bible translations choose the term “helpmate,” which some dictionaries define as a “go-for, sub-par, a lesser worker.” Women need to differentiate this sub-par idea of a “helpmate” and the actual, intended phrase, which also describes the powerful, fighting Holy Spirit who is called our helper too. The Holy Spirit is not of less importance than God, nor sub-par to him. The Holy Spirit is equal in value and strength to the Lord, as women are to their mates, men.
Most Bible translations also split Ephesians 5:21 from verse 22 and add the verb “submit” after the noun “wife,” so the two verses read like this: “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives submit to your husbands as unto the Lord.” But the Greek says, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ, wives to your husbands as unto the Lord.” When this is read correctly, as one sentence, the mutuality of submission becomes clear. Both spouses must submit. But with this inaccurate split, some men (and entire churches) erroneously claim the husband has the final say on all decisions. But Christians need the Holy Spirit to have the final say on all decisions. A strong Christian couple (who are Bible translators) said that if they disagree on any serious decision, they pray, and fast if need be, until the Holy Spirit guides them to the correct decision. They do not want the wife to submit to sin.
This lines up with Biblical examples. For example, Ananias expected Sapphira to sin with him. Some pastors claim the wife who submits to her husband’s sinful demands will not be held accountable. Yet Peter confronted Sapphira as he had done her husband (Acts5:1-11) and the Holy Spirit struck her dead for her sin too. Furthermore,
Nabal sinfully refused David (OT anointed king) food, and Abigail did not submit to her husband’s sin, but she obeyed God and fed David (1Samuel, chapter 5.) God later struck unrighteous Nabal dead, and honored and elevated Abigail (1Sam.25:33, “May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day with my own hands.”) Jael did not agree with her Kenite husband’s unrighteous alliance with Jabin and Sisera, enemies of Israel (Judges 4:11.) As a warrior, Jael killed the murderous Jabin (Judges 4:9 &17-21.) God’s word honors Jael (Judges5:24, “Most blessed of women be Jael.”)
Biblically based couples work together in spiritual warfare, and the Bible gives many examples such as Priscella & Aquilla, (Romans16:3-5 and Acts 18:1-2); Isaiah and his lesser known wife, a prophetess (Isaiah8:3); and Deborah and Lappidoth, her lesser known husband (Judges4:4.)
The wise Christian man celebrates his wife’s strengths and nurtures them, even as she nurtures her husband’s. Of course these couples sin and sometimes fight each other (thus sinning.) We all sin this way. But we can be like the righteous in Proverbs24:16, “For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again.” And of course godly women willingly subject themselves to their husbands as unto the Lord. But this occurs in a partnership where they work together, each offering suggestions and cooperating. The wife is subject to her husband’s spiritual leadership and protection, not his dictatorship. She is his equal partner (1Peter3:7.)
So getting back to the woman’s role as warrior, we need to see ourselves as God does, esteemed, valuable and powerful. We are women on a mission to fight (spiritually) against Satan’s schemes in our loved ones’ lives and in our world.
But because we are fighting, Satan will get angry with us and attack us. I have to dig more deeply into God’s word and avoid self pity and grumbling. I realize the attacks are to distract me from praying carefully, intelligently and correctly for my loved ones. The attacks try to distract me from carefully studying my Bible with the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
Complaining is a big way Satan tries to distract me. If I complain, then I don’t thank God and worship him. I endlessly rehearse my own small pain instead of bringing it to our beloved Lord. Instead I need to tell him how I hurt, maybe cry or grip my fists in anger or tremble in fear, so God can calm my emotions and ease my pain. That fellowship brings healing. Then I can overcome my pain instead of letting it overcome me. When I complain, I dwell on my problems, and they seem bigger than my amazing God. And if I only look at myself, I lack compassion for others who have much greater pain.
We may pray incorrectly. I have even done this by saying, “I rebuke you Satan,” or “I bind Satan by Jesus’ name.” This is not right. I need to say, “The LORD rebuke you Satan,” or “Jesus, you bind Satan in your name.” I do not have the power to bind Satan, but Jesus does. Or I pray in indefinite ways, like “Lord bless Mary (or some other person),” instead of the specific prayers that cover the actual problems my friend has. I may pray so briefly that I do not think of the ways God wants to bless or correct my friend. I do believe in brief prayers, but if I have committed to pray daily for my friend, then I need to pray specific prayers, and not daily, brief prayers.
Satan likes to interrupt me when I pray. Since I am a wife and mother, I do sometimes have to address whatever caused the interruption. But once I deal with the problem I can get right back to prayer. I have a right to tell my family I am praying so they don’t interrupt me (but the mailman and neighbors don’t know I’m praying so I have to answer their knock on my door.)
Another trick Satan uses is to let me get annoyed or even worried when problems begin to occur after I have committed to pray and fast. Satan comes when I am aggressively praying for my friends, digging into The Word, and sharing what I learn in Bible study with other women and my daughters. Satan often sends me trouble in small but frequent ways. Things may break in my home (like changing a light bulb and abruptly the good bulb falls out of my hand and breaks, or a jar slips out of my hand and breaks), or I may get odd cuts and scrapes in acts of odd clumsiness (I get tired and clumsy at times, but I mean very frequent acts of what seems like clumsiness, even though I am being careful and am not tired). Last month I noticed an up-tick in these annoying but frequent problems and God reminded me that I have been aggressive in pursuing His kingdom and helping other women. Thus I knew these were Satan’s attempts to stop me or at least weaken me. So I praised God instead and kept on praying, fasting, studying the Word and sharing as much as I could with others (and encouraging other women who were hurting.)
Satan can also use my strengths to thwart me. For example, I have noticed that the more I share with others and encourage them, the more insight I have about God’s word. I have even surprised myself by saying things about God’s word and our Christian walk that were wise and precisely what the other person needed. Where did I get that kind of insight when I am not a Bible scholar? God knew I was faithfully using what knowledge he had given me, and he gave me more so I could use it for his glory. I have to be very careful, because Satan can use this wisdom to tempt me to become proud. Yuck! I hate to even admit that Satan tosses that idea in my mind, but he does. And my ugly flesh wants to glory in itself as some kind of wise woman. NO! I am wise “in the Lord,” and any wisdom I have comes from him and is for his glory. So if my friend compliments me on my wisdom, I quickly point out that the Lord gave it to me. I like a phrase David used in this verse: 1Chronicles 14:11b, “God did it!’ David exclaimed, ‘He used me to burst through my enemies like a raging flood.” I can say, “Thank you. God used me to speak these words.” I don’t have to use false modesty and pretend I did not speak wisely, but I can acknowledge God used me to do so.
When I see myself as God sees me (a woman warrior for his glory), I live in that strength. I am less likely to fight with people when they use harsh or rude words. If I know these people are not saved, I rebuke my carnal nature, and instead I pray for that person’s conviction of sin, and for his (or her) salvation. My world view changes. When I think of myself as God’s warrior, I pray when I hear horrible news in the media. But I am weak, so I know I must limit how much tragic news I hear, especially since the journalists’ negative slant can be grieve or even anger me. I pray, but then I get on with other activities. Too much bad news, especially when presented in light of a journalist’s false view that the world is hopeless, can discourage me from my mission.
I want to write much more in future posts about our identity as God’s warriors, but I don’t want this post to get too long. I pray we have encouraged you to see yourselves as God’s warriors too. So let go of the lies that you are less-than, and trust the good news I shared today. Look up the verses I shared if they encourage you too.