Satan Fears A Woman with Authority—Here’s How to Walk in Yours
Excerpted from God’s Heart for Women.
If the fall excluded women from ministry and from speaking to both men and women for God and if the fall excluded women from leadership and even leading men, would the Bible then record God using them that way?
No!
If God was against it, then we shouldn’t find any occasion in the Bible where God chose to use women that way.
So let me ask you a question.
Did God choose to use women after the fall in both natural and spiritual leadership and in being His minister? He did!
Even after the fall:
God still uses women to exercise authority and dominion in the earth and over the enemy.
God still uses women to speak for Him even to men.
God still uses women in leadership roles, even over men, in both the secular and religious realms.
In fact, the Bible praises many women who were in leadership over men. It records women in leadership with God’s blessings and at His command, with not even a hint that their gender should somehow disqualify them.
Let’s look at some of them:
1. Miriam
I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam (Micah 6:4 NIV).
Whoa! What?!
God said, “I sent Moses to lead you and Aaron to lead you and Miriam to lead you.”
Wait a minute. Didn’t God know Miriam was a woman? He did.
Didn’t God know this was after the fall? He did.
He knew all of that and yet He called her and used her as a leader over the nation of Israel. Were there men in that nation that she was to lead with Moses and Aaron? There were. God sent her there to be a leader over all the people, leading both men and women.
Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing (Exodus 15:20 NIV).
This verse calls Miriam a prophet. A prophet or prophetess does what? They speak for God to the people. So, she wasn’t just a natural leader over all of the people but she also spoke for God to all the people, leading both men and women spiritually too.
I don’t think it matters that it says in this verse that it was the women who sang and danced with her. The Bible does not say she only led women; no, she was included with Moses and Aaron as leaders of the nation.
In fact, Miriam got in trouble because she got a little too big for her britches, if you know what I mean by that, and tried to undermine Moses, her brother, because she didn’t like his choice of a wife.
Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the Lord heard this (Numbers 12:1-2 NIV).
Why would she say that and why would Aaron agree if God had not used her to speak on His behalf to the people? She wouldn’t be called a prophet or prophetess if God had not used her to speak for Him to the people, so what she said was true.
Let’s read on.
(Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.) At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them went out. Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward, he said, “Listen to my words: When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” (Numbers 12:3-8 NIV)
God never disputed that she was a leader. He never disputed that He used her to speak on His behalf to the people; He was just upset that she got too big for her britches, got into pride because of offense, and began to undermine Moses’ leadership. God obviously really liked Moses. He had called Moses, and He didn’t like one of His leaders undermining another.
Her competitiveness was disdainful to God. That would be like the associate pastor of our church rising up against my husband, the senior pastor, because of offense and trying to undermine his leadership to the people. Or worse yet, me doing that. That competitiveness is disdainful to God and nearly cost Miriam her life.
Despite the fact that Miriam was a woman and that this was after the fall, God called her to a leadership position not just over women but over men too, and God used her as a prophet to speak on His behalf to the people.
Do we see God calling and using other women in the Old Testament too? We do!
God’s Heart for Women
Rhonda Garver
2. Deborah
Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord’s commands. Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them (Judges 2:16-18 NIV).
These verses clearly state that the Lord was the one who raised up the judges, one of whom was Deborah.
Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time (Judges 4:4 NIV).
Wait! Stop right there. First, Deborah is called a prophet, and a prophet or prophetess is one who speaks for God to the people. Second, this verse clearly says she was leading the nation of Israel at that time. She was a leader of Israel as a judge. Third, we know God chose her to lead the nation of Israel as Judges 2, which we looked at earlier, clearly says that God chose the judges.
She was both a natural and spiritual leader in that nation over both men and women.
Well, wait a minute, didn’t God know she was a woman? He did.
Didn’t God know this was after the fall? He did.
The Bible clearly states that it is God Himself who raised up the judges. Deborah was a judge raised up by God Himself, who was leading the nation of Israel at that time, both men and women.
Wow! Let’s read on.
She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. She sent for Barak son of Abinoam [a man] from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor’” (Judges 4:5-6 NIV).
Deborah (a woman) delivered the word of the Lord to Barak (a man). Barak wasn’t just a man but he was a man who was a leader of other men. If he could gather an army of 10,000 and get them to follow him into war then he was a leader. Let’s read on.
“The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ...I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.”
Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”
“Certainly I will go with you,” said Deborah. “But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. There Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men went up under his command. Deborah also went up with him.
Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, and pitched his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.
When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, Sisera summoned from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River all his men and his nine hundred chariots fitted with iron.
Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him (Judges 4:7-14 NIV).
Deborah, a woman, was leading 10,001 men (Barak and the 10,000 men he called) by the inspiration and unction of the Holy Spirit, and they were following her, knowing she had heard from God, even though she was a woman and this was after the fall!
At Barak’s advance, the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.
Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, and all Sisera’s troops fell by the sword; not a man was left. Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.
Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.
“I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.
“Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say ‘No.’”
But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.
Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple—dead.
On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites. And the hand of the Israelites pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him (Judges 4:15-24 NIV).
That day, God wrought a great victory for Israel by speaking to the woman prophetess He had put in place and using her to lead 10,001 men to rout the army of the enemy. Then God used another woman, Jael, to kill the leader of the enemy army. God used not one, but two women to save the nation of Israel that day!
Could God have “raised up” a male judge? He could have, but instead He chose Deborah. Could God have spoken directly to Barak? He could have, but He chose to use Deborah to speak for Him. Could God have used one of the men to slay Sisera, the enemy commander on the battlefield? He could have, but He chose to use Jael to kill him, thus winning the battle for Israel using yet another woman. All of this God did despite the fact that they were women and this was after the fall!
The entire next chapter in this book of the Bible is a song about the great victory God won using these two women and Barak. God put this song in the Bible to celebrate the great victory He used these two women to win. Nowhere in this portion of scripture is there even a hint that somehow their gender should have disqualified them from being used by God. God chose to use them.
Then Deborah and Barak broke into a duet to celebrate how God had used them and Jael to win this battle.
On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song: “When the princes in Israel take the lead, when the people willingly offer themselves—praise the Lord! Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers! I, even I, will sing to the Lord; I will praise the Lord, the God of Israel, in song.
“When you, Lord, went out from Seir, when you marched from the land of Edom, the earth shook, the heavens poured, the clouds poured down water. The mountains quaked before the Lord, the One of Sinai, before the Lord, the God of Israel.
“In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned, travelers took to winding paths. Villagers in Israel would not fight; they held back until I, Deborah, arose, until I arose, a mother in Israel. God chose new leaders when war came to the city gates, but not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel. My heart is with Israel’s princes, with the willing volunteers among the people. Praise the Lord!
“You who ride on white donkeys, sitting on your saddle blankets, and you who walk along the road, consider the voice of the singers at the watering places. They recite the victories of the Lord, the victories of his villagers in Israel.
“Then the people of the Lord went down to the city gates. ‘Wake up, wake up, Deborah! Wake up, wake up, break out in song! Arise, Barak! Take captive your captives, son of Abinoam’” (Judges 5:1-12 NIV).
They celebrated those who heard the call and heeded the words of Deborah spoken through Barak to join the fight.
The remnant of the nobles came down; the people of the Lord came down to me against the mighty. Some came from Ephraim, whose roots were in Amalek; Benjamin was with the people who followed you. From Makir captains came down, from Zebulun those who bear a commander’s staff. The princes of Issachar were with Deborah; yes, Issachar was with Barak, sent under his command into the valley (Judges 5:13-15 NIV).
Nobles came to follow her. Captains came to follow her. Those who bear a commander’s staff came to follow her. Princes came to follow her. But there were those who didn’t come.
In the districts of Reuben there was much searching of heart. Why did you stay among the sheep pens to hear the whistling for the flocks? In the districts of Reuben there was much searching of heart. Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan. And Dan, why did he linger by the ships? Asher remained on the coast and stayed in his coves. The people of Zebulun risked their very lives; so did Naphtali on the terraced fields.
Kings came, they fought, the kings of Canaan fought. At Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo, they took no plunder of silver. From the heavens the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera. The river Kishon swept them away, the age-old river, the river Kishon. March on, my soul; be strong! Then thundered the horses’ hooves—galloping, galloping go his mighty steeds. “Curse Meroz,” said the angel of the Lord. “Curse its people bitterly, because they did not come to help the Lord, to help the Lord against the mighty” (Judges 5:15-23 NIV).
Those who refused to come and help for whatever reason, whether because she was a woman or for whatever reason, these verses say they did not come to help the Lord. By not helping Deborah and Barak, they were not helping the Lord. The Lord was unhappy and said they were cursed because they did not follow this woman into battle. He took it personally that they didn’t follow Deborah, whom He had put in charge, and the Lord said they refused to help Him.
“Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, most blessed of tent-dwelling women. He asked for water, and she gave him milk; in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk. Her hand reached for the tent peg, her right hand for the workman’s hammer. She struck Sisera, she crushed his head, she shattered and pierced his temple. At her feet he sank, he fell; there he lay. At her feet he sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell—dead.
“Through the window peered Sisera’s mother; behind the lattice she cried out, ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why is the clatter of his chariots delayed?’ The wisest of her ladies answer her; indeed, she keeps saying to herself, ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoils: a woman or two for each man, colorful garments as plunder for Sisera, colorful garments embroidered, highly embroidered garments for my neck—all this as plunder?’
“So may all your enemies perish, Lord! But may all who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength.” Then the land had peace forty years (Judges 5:24-31 NIV).
Their nation then had peace for 40 years because two women, after the fall, followed God. One led an army of 10,001 men into battle at the command of the Lord and led a nation to victory! The other executed the final destruction of the enemy leader. Yay God!
Daughter of God, Be set Free from Tradition and Embrace Your Divine Destiny!
For centuries, religion, tradition, and even the devil himself have tried to suppress the role and potential of women. But what does God say about women in life and in the Church? Can women freely embrace God’s call on their lives? Are women esteemed in Scripture and in the eyes of God?
Rhonda Garver, minister and co-pastor of Cornerstone Word of Life Church, reveals the unique power, purpose, and value of women in God’s Kingdom, empowering you to boldly walk in God’s calling and embrace His divine blueprint for your life.
From the Gospels to the Epistles, witness how God liberates and equips women to follow His divine direction for their lives. The question is not where a woman’s place is, but where God is calling her to be!
With comprehensive and encouraging teachings, you’ll learn how:
God doesn’t distinguish between men and women in their ability to serve Him.
God created Adam and Eve as co-rulers since the beginning.
Women held significant positions of authority in the Old Testament.
Jesus was the strongest advocate for the value and worth of women.
God desires every woman to be free to serve Him and fulfill His purposes.
Cast aside the chains of religion and tradition and see women through God’s eyes. Boldly step into your God-given role, igniting a powerful movement ordained by God in this last-day harvest!
