Kingdom Woman: Embracing Your Purpose, Power, and Possibilities (2 page)

When a kingdom woman’s alarm sounds each morning, the devil tries to hit her snooze button. He’ll do whatever he can to try and stop her from getting up and taking on a new day.

Hell hath no fury like a kingdom woman disturbed. She won’t stop doing all she can for the kingdom until she makes the devil regret ever messing with her.

As the strong and eloquent Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “A woman is like a teabag. You never know how strong it is until it’s in hot water.”
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When the hot water comes, we often witness the explosion of strength and inner resolve that would put many men to shame. In childbirth alone, women frequently endure and experience more anguish and pain than scores of men sent out to war.

Women are often the unsung heroes behind any major victory, discovery, or moral campaign. Throughout history, when the men were away at battle, women held down the fort, assisted in creating and sending the supplies, ran the businesses, maintained the economy and community, and farmed—all while still managing their homes.

Women have always held a place of influence in culture, even if it hasn’t been publicly recognized—or legally allowed. The nineteenth-century author Virginia Woolf wrote succinctly, “I would venture to guess that [Anonymous,] who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman.”
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In fact, women have been equipped with such an innate capacity for influence that they can change the world for good or, unfortunately, for bad.

We are all too familiar with the negative influences. For example, Samson could defeat an entire army with the jaw of a donkey, but he became weak in
the arms of one woman. Solomon had wisdom, riches, and power, but he still bowed to the ungodly influence of his many wives. David killed a giant with all the bravery and bravado of a gladiator—with only one stone and a slingshot. Yet King David was taken down by just one look at a bathing beauty.

Feminine influence doesn’t solely come tied to sexuality, nor is it used only to gain a negative outcome. In fact, many women use their innate power to bring about good on behalf of those around them. Women in general mature faster than men, giving women an opportunity to make decisions in their earlier years that position them more securely in life and in the workplace. More women than men are graduating at all levels of college. And women’s earnings have increased 56 percent on average since 1963, but their male coworkers are earning less than working men in 1970.
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Not only are women influencing the workplace more than ever, but women are also often the impetus behind social change and transformation. The Center on Philanthropy found that women of the Baby Boomer generation and older, across nearly every economic bracket, give more—up to 89 percent more—to charity than men, thus raising the volume of their voices with regard to strategy, vision, and approach.
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Beyond that, women are gifted with a winsome ability to be disarmingly charming, even without using additional physical appeal. This alone can guide conversations their way, or influence major decisions in many realms, even unknowingly to those involved. Women also often embody additional spiritual depth and insight that captivate men because those qualities reflect something that men crave for themselves.

Our culture often displays a mirage that shows men having all the power, control, and influence. And men, in their most raw form, do seek to create, explore, build, exploit, achieve, and conquer, and then grab the glory for doing it all themselves. What is frequently missed: examining the motivation behind a man’s ambitions, which is often the influence of a woman.

From early on, a man depends upon a woman in many ways—from the womb to early childhood, to teachers and the influence of media that creates an ideal image of a woman. A man doesn’t buy a car just because he wants that fast-looking car. He will often buy a car to impress a woman, even if he won’t admit that’s why he did it.

Men often learn as early as junior high that the guys who play sports get the girls. The guys who drive nice cars, have money, or ooze charm get the girls. As they grow into men, those lessons stick with them as they aim for good jobs, a certain reputation, or success. All you have to do is listen to a song sung by a man to discover one of the biggest driving forces behind much of what men do. Here’s an example you can find playing on today’s radio stations, “’Cause what you don’t understand is I’d catch a grenade for ya.”
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Or from the soundtrack of the popular 1991 film
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,
a character of great gusto, power, and strength battles enemies in difficult and dangerous scenarios while the lyrics point to a woman being behind all his forays: “Everything I do, I do it for you.”
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Or take it back to my generation with lyrics from the hit song “When a Man Loves a Woman” by the one and only Percy Sledge: “He’ll trade the world for the good thing he has found.”
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Rarely does an epic movie ever finish without somehow uniting or reuniting a man with a woman. Battles have been fought over women, history has been shaped by women, policy has been influenced or decided by women, nations have been run by women. Even in athletics women have power and influence. As recently as the London Olympics in 2012, American women won more
gold
medals not just over the American men but over most nations’
total
medal counts as well (China won thirty-eight and Great Britain tied the American women with twenty-nine). In fact, the United States women won a total of fifty-eight medals, which is more than sixty-four countries’ total medal counts combined, not including China, Russia, and Great Britain.
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Sojourner Truth, one powerful woman, said, “If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again!”
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Eighteenth-century British essayist Samuel Johnson wrote at a time when women’s rights were greatly limited by law, “Nature has given women so much power that the law has wisely given them very little.”
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Thankfully, the legal rights and opportunities of women are no longer limited in America or many other countries as they were in the time of Virginia Woolf, Samuel Johnson, or Sojourner Truth, but the sentiment behind each of their statements remains true. Women are naturally gifted to influence and impact their world.

The First Woman

Women grace this planet with insight, sensitivity, and a spiritual beauty that has put them behind great accomplishments. The popular sayings ring true: The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world, and behind every great man is a greater woman. Or, in our case, behind every kingdom man is a kingdom woman. No one ever goes around saying, “Behind every great woman is a greater man.” That phrase wouldn’t fly. There are scores of single women who are successful, competent, and satisfied. And there are scores of married women whose husbands are clearly not kingdom men, yet those women remain every bit kingdom women themselves.

God created man out of dust from the ground. At a basic level, the Creator picked up some dirt and threw Adam together. The Hebrew word for God forming man is
yatsa
r
,
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which means “to form, as a potter.” A pot usually has but one function.

Yet when God made a woman, He “made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man” (Genesis 2:22). He created her with His own hands. He took His time crafting and molding her into multifaceted brilliance. The
Hebrew word used for making woman is
banah
, meaning to “build, as a house, a temple, a city, an altar.”
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The complexity implied by the term
banah
is worth noting. God has given women a diverse makeup that enables them to carry out multiple functions well. Adam may be considered Human Prototype 1.0, while Eve was Human Prototype 2.0.

Of high importance, though, is that Eve was fashioned
laterally
with Adam’s rib. It was not a top-down formation of dominance or a bottom-up formation of subservience. Rather, Eve was an equally esteemed member of the human race.

After all, God spoke of the decision for their creation as one decision before we were ever even introduced to the process of their creation. The very first time we read about both Eve and Adam is when we read of the mandate of rulership given to both of them equally. We are introduced to both genders together, simultaneously. This comes in the first chapter of the Bible:

Both men and women have been created equally in the image of God. While within that equality lie distinct and different roles (we will look at that in chapter 10), there is no difference in equality of being, value, or dignity between the genders. Both bear the responsibility of honoring the image in which they have been made. A woman made in the image of God should never settle for being treated as anything less than an image-bearer of the one true King. As Abraham Lincoln said, “Nothing stamped with the Divine image and likeness was sent in the world to be trodden on.”
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Just as men, women were created to rule.

A Covenant for Dominion

When God created the heavens and the earth, He established an order. Although He is the Creator and the ultimate Ruler over His creation, He willingly
empowered humankind to rule within His prescribed order. In theology this is known as the Dominion Covenant. It is where God turned over to men and women the immediate, tangible rule over His creation within the boundaries and stipulations that He has set forth. The Dominion Covenant is in Genesis 1 where we just read, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and
let them rul
e
’
” (verse 26).

The Dominion Covenant is rarely taught or discussed. Yet it is no small thing. Fundamentally, it involves God’s willing removal of Himself over the direct management of what He has created on earth while releasing that management responsibility to humankind.

When we read that God created man in His own image, both male and female were created. The Dominion Covenant applies not only to men, but also to women. A kingdom woman is an essential part of God’s rule on earth. He has delegated this responsibility, empowering each of us to make decisions. These decisions come with blessings or consequences according to His boundaries and laws.

God has established a process whereby He honors our decisions—even if those decisions go against Him, or even if those decisions are not in the best interests of that which is being managed. God said, “Let
them
rule.”

While God retains absolute sovereign authority and ownership, He has delegated relative authority to humankind within the sphere of influence, or dominion, that each person has.

One of the reasons that this rule and management have been neglected to such a large degree is that many people are confused about why they are here on earth to begin with. This has happened because of a culture that has been flirting with hedonism for decades. A hedonistic worldview promotes the notion that someone’s personal destiny exists to advance his or her personal happiness.

In God’s economy, however, personal happiness is a derivative—a benefit—not the goal or driving force of destiny for a kingdom woman. Happiness is not
the
reason God created women. The reason He created women was to advance His kingdom and His glory.

Dominion in the Kingdom

God has invested His image in His men and women and placed them on display. A kingdom woman is to reflect Him and His kingdom in such a remarkable fashion that people want to know more about the kingdom she represents. She has been put here to reflect God’s image.

I noticed an example of this while my wife, Lois, and I spent time in New York City this year. Every time we go, we inevitably stop by Saks Fifth Avenue for an afternoon. Display windows line the sidewalk outside so passers-by can catch a glimpse of what is inside the “kingdom” of Saks. The owners invest major time and resources to display what their kingdom has to offer.

I wish that more people realized how much God’s kingdom has to offer. One reason so few people truly grasp the significance that comes from the Dominion Covenant is because they don’t know the true value of God’s kingdom. They don’t know exactly what they have been placed here to represent.

The body of Christ, in general, focuses more on the concept of the church than on the kingdom. So many lives don’t visibly demonstrate the significance God has given them. They don’t advertise God’s kingdom well.

One reason for that is the church has settled for buildings and programs instead of teaching men and women how to access the authority of the kingdom.

We’ve had church, but we haven’t experienced the kingdom. Without our churches functioning in a kingdom-minded manner, believers are not being discipled to
be
the kingdom church that Christ came to build. In fact, Jesus only mentioned
church
three times in His earthly ministry, and all three times are recorded in the kingdom-focused book of Matthew.
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The word
kingdom,
however, is found fifty-four times in the same book.
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We usually hear more about the church than the kingdom. We “plant churches” rather than promote the kingdom. Our seminaries teach our future leaders how to
do
church rather than how to
be
about the kingdom. Now, we can’t have church without the kingdom, and the kingdom carries out its agenda through the church. Yet without an open and accurate teaching on how to
live as kingdom men and women, we lack the direction to truly live out our destinies.