I feel like I want to explain myself. This was Jervae's idea. I just feel that this is a word that, in one form or another, has been coming forth in this ministry since the early 1980s, as she mentioned. It is a word God began to form in my own heart and spirit back in the 1970s and as it began to explode in my own spirit, it has just became part of my DNA. It is part of who I am, but I also believe that it is, with no credit to myself, that a very foundation piece of where the church is going.
And I think as the Lord began to bring it forth in pieces. There was a certain aspect of it that came forth in the 1980s. And it seemed during that time it was primarily an encouragement to women to see the significance of God's call on their lives. And that word "significance" was a word that was used frequently, because that was in the midst of the great awakening of God's Spirit in the hearts, in the minds, in the lives, of women and would encircle the globe.
You've heard me say that I feel that what we are a part of is an unprecedented move of God's Spirit. Never in history has there been recorded this kind of a worldwide awakening amongst women and we would have to ask ourselves why and why now. So some of what you will hear, some who have been in Aglow for many years, you will think I have heard this before. But I think God wants to breathe a fresh wind of His Spirit upon us. He wants to awaken and reawaken, and bring to a greater depth in our own understandings why it is He has chosen to awaken and restore women at this specific time in history.
Recently I was speaking with Sheryl Lindberg, the national President of Canada. She called me excitedly a week or two before I left for Nashville, and said that she had had one of those "a ha" moments. One of those times when the Holy Spirit just funnels light towards something you've known but all of sudden you have a new depth of under- standing in your spirit. Without going into the details of that conversation, she has been a part of a prayer group that has been having great revelation from the Lord about some very specific things in the earth...spirit-realm kinds of things. Great illumination has been coming and great intercession has come out of that understanding. And in the throws of our conversation, she said something to me in relation to how the enemy would work in the lives of men to bring a demasculization to men. How are we doing translators? Is that an okay word? To take away the sense of greatness in their manhood, the greatness of who God has called them to be in their homes, in their family, and in the earth. And at the same time how the enemy would come to exalt women in their own minds or in a way that would counter - now stay with me - the original plan and purpose of what God designed for male and female. It would counterfeit.
So we are saying; God is awakening women to the significance of His plans for their lives complete in the body of Christ for women. Are we saying we are unduly exalting women? No. That is why the enemy would come through a back door to undermine the plan of God which has always been His goal. To demasculinize or take away the strength of manhood, maleness as God intended it from the beginning. The beauty of all of it. And He would bring in feminism in a way that brings forth womanhood that looks like strength, but, in fact, is empty without power, without authority, without anointing and there is really no strength there at all. Like a clanging symbol. It is like strident voices that clamor to be heard, demand to have a place when, without the power and the wisdom and the purpose of God behind that, it will fall away to nothingness. Are you with me?
God's plan from the beginning, as set forth in the first three chapters of Genesis, is a plan that will be fulfilled; it is a principle that was set forth in the earth. Nothing can move this off center. There is no plan B; you have heard me say that. There is only plan A. Often you hear the term "the law of first mention." The very first thing that you see unfolding in the entire word of God is a structure God chose. This was all His idea and you begin to hear about the place of the man, and the place of the woman. God bringing the women out of the side of the man, and from the first three chapters of Genesis, He speaks about subduing the earth and taking dominion over it. He begins to describe what dominion will look like, and it is male and female. So He put something in place from the beginning that He will see fulfilled in the way He purposed it from the beginning. So when we speak about this incredible move of His Spirit to awaken women, to awaken womanhood as God purposed and designed it from the beginning, we can be very aware that it goes back to an original plan and purpose that was set in place from the beginning. He is preparing the way for the coming of His Son. And the awakening of women at this hour, this point of time in history, has to do ultimately and only with the fulfillment of His plan in the earth. Does that grab your heart? It is huge. May the Holy Spirit help us to see with the eyes of the Spirit and understand the greatness, the hugeness, of what He is about.
Have you struggled in your nations? Maybe your nation currently is alive and you are running to keep up with God and what He is doing. There are other nations that are in a period of time of struggling. I believe, again, it is the enemy trying to thwart God's plan. To discourage, to weary women. He will get us off kilter, off base, any way he can because of the significance of the call and the purpose of God on your life as a woman. And the purpose of that is to bring forth womanhood, and to bring forth manhood, or maleness, as He designed from the beginning. Because this, only, will be the strength of the church. It isn't wonderful programs; it isn't nifty new ideas that a church can bring forth to make it look like it has a lot of life and a lot of things happening. It is the strength of the original structure of the church. It is the strength, power, anointing and authority that comes with when men and women stand in their rightful place, receiving one another and allowing God to flow through them in the way He designed from the beginning. It is men and women being reconciled back to what God purposed from before time of the fall. That's what Aglow, that is one of the mandates, and it is part of what we are about.
God has reached down into the earth and touched your life to bring forth from you His kingdom; to awaken you to your place in the earth, taking dominion, subduing the earth. But I believe, I guess where I was going when I mentioned Sheryl's and my conversation, we had an opportunity to chat with a man who is just steeped in research and the understanding of where God is taking the church in the days ahead. And when he got on the line with us, Sheryl said, "Well, talk, Jane." I'll talk to you later about that Sheryl. It was like "Okay, just jump off and start talking." And I began to share with him what God has put in this ministry related to the reconciliation of men and women, back to what God designed and purposed from before the time of the fall. And he said, "Jane", after I talked five minutes or so, "one of the pillars of strength, one of the pillars, the foundational pieces for where God is taking the church is exactly what you said."
As leaders, understand God has deposited that in this ministry. That is very significant and He wants you to have an understanding of what that means, because of the strength of what He is unfolding in the earth as we move forward into the fullness of what God has. You may recall that I have made this statement. I believe this awakening amongst women, the ultimate reconciliation between men and women, has to do with the church, the body of Christ, truly fulfilling her destiny. It can't happen any other way.
So when God created Adam in His image, He stood fully in the image of God. But when He took the woman from the side of man, now the image of God stood male and female, and it continues so today. It is not complete one without the other. Man, in one sense, was incomplete without the woman, and we need to come along side of him to walk in the way God designed and intended. This is not speaking of a marriage relationship. It is speaking about a gender relationship. It is gender reconciliation. You have heard me say that we celebrate all kinds of reconciliation, racial, national and denominational. Any kind of reconciliation, we celebrate God, but the place where the enemy will fight the hardest is at the foundational level because that is the structure, that is the design God chose. The male and the female, man and woman; that was the place He said He would begin to reveal Himself and make Himself known in the earth.
When the enemy came to the woman in the garden, it wasn't happenstance; He came because he was aware that God's unfolding purposes were taking place in the earth. He heard God speak forth to the man and the woman. He knew they were to walk in dominion. And so the one who had caused rebellion, sought to bring that rebellion to earth; to bring division, to come against the very plan and purpose of God. And the way he did it was to strike at the beginning in the core foundation of the way God intended to move in the earth. And he brought division between the man and the woman.
There is a certain measure of confusion between the genders. We struggle to understand each other. In our communications, there are misunderstandings. There are things that go on that can only be defined by spirit-realm activity. But God is bringing down and doing away with the kinds of things that have continued to keep us separate, because His plan is moving forward to be fulfilled in the earth.
You will be amazed in the days ahead at how God brings the body of Christ, the church of the living God together. And you, as women, need to be ready to step into that, and many of you already are. There are places God will ask you to serve alongside of men on committees, in church functions, in ministry realms, in all manner of things that express the image of God, male and female, in the way God designed and purposed. There will be times God may ask you to speak up, to bring a word of the Lord. Your heart may pound and you may think, "I can't say that." Maybe there is even a certain fear or reluctance to speak out or to seem like you are countering in any way what a man would bring. But that is part of the healing that needs to take place in us.
Now I am not talking about angry strident women that demand to be heard, I am talking about healthiness, wholeness. And in the years since Aglow has come forth, this is part of what God has been doing in your life personally, and in the corporate life of this ministry. Bringing forth wholeness so that we can step into those places of ministry and working alongside our brothers.
I was just looking at the book before I came to this meeting, and I glanced over some of the endorsements that had been written a few years ago, now for this book. And by the way, this currently is out of print, but while I have been here in the city, I have had opportunity to meet with a writer, and we are going to publish a condensed version with just the heart of this message, maybe no more than a hundred pages, in a little small book, kind of like The Prayer of Jabez. We call it a Jabez-size book. Just a small, little, almost a gift item, but something where it is very condensed, very direct, and very clearly stated. That should be out sometime this next year.
Frances Frangipane wrote something very beautiful. "A sacred torch is being carried by God's angels and in the heat of its fire spiritual purity and healing are emerging between pastors, denominations, cultures; it's reconciliation." But then he referred to this book and the message contained here and he said, "Jane is bringing this holy flame to the fallen relationships between men and women."
John Dawson said, "I knew I was reading a classic." Now that is not to applaud the writing of the book, but what the recognition is this is a word from the Lord. It is for now, it is for His church, and it is for His people.
Dutch Sheets said "You have done the body of Christ an immeasurable service with this balanced, well-written book. You have taken what is often highly volatile and a divisive subject and, with incredible insight and accurate scholarship, you have cut through the religious fog and human traditions. This book will radically impact the body of Christ. I highly recommend it for men and women."
I don't say that to applaud the book, but I feel that for you, as the International Leadership serving in the nations of the world, this is a truth that you have to grasp in your spirit to understand even why Aglow exists. It is for the healing; we speak of the healing of the nations; it is for the healing of the female gender. But beyond that, God is restoring, renewing and healing. But He is always moving towards His ultimate intention, which is the fulfillment of His plan in the earth, and without the women, the structure God chose will remain in ashes on the ground.
Acts 3:21 says the heavens will retain, they will actually hold him back, Jesus; they will hold Jesus back until all things have been restored. What is it that will be restored? It is what I am speaking about; it is the church and the foundations of the church, it is the man and the woman. There is going to come an "a ha" moment to the church. It will come to pastors and men serving in male leadership. It needs to come to you so that you have the understanding of what God is doing and where this is going. The reason you exist as an Aglow is not just to hold nice meetings, but it is to see women come alive to the very purpose of God for their life.
I think of the scripture in Genesis 3, where the enemy has come in to disrupt the plan of God. He came to the woman first because he knew she had been called to be a help. God had already said man's aloneness was not good. His aloneness, his functioning alone, his isolation. He needed a help meet to come along side of him that he might come into the fuller plan and purpose of God. So God brought forth the woman. She was created for the man. She was created to stand in a face-to-face healthy relationship with him. Not cowering in fear. Not the kind of submission that takes away her personhood, her value, her significance. It is a healthy relationship God is after. There is a loving, serving and a caring for one another. It isn't the woman usurping the man's place, but it isn't the man dominating the woman. It is a healthy place where the heart, voice and purpose of God is seen and felt in the earth. So the enemy knew man's aloneness wasn't good, she was called to be a help. I'll attack the help God sent so he is still left in his aloneness and she is now crippled. It wasn't to get at the woman; it was to get at God, and His plan and His purpose.
You have heard this before but let it go in deeper. The woman was the first to expose the enemy, to call him who he really is. Are you aware that that is what you are doing in the nations? She said, he is the deceiver. He is the liar. He is the one who comes to rob, still and kill. No, she didn't say those words, but she called him the deceiver and God picked up on that and said now, forever, even to November 15, 2005, she will function in this way down through the ages; she will function this way until I return to the earth. She is My woman. She fills My heart. She hears My heart. She sees with My eyes; she hears with My ears. She will call you, she will nail you every time. She will call you who you are. She will expose you over and over and over again. There is a deceiver at work.
How is it the woman can say to the man, that is not the right direction to go. To the children, to their friends, something is wrong here. Something is not right. You begin to explore. You begin to move in that direction and God is leading you every step of the way until finally the activity of the enemy is exposed and the veil of darkness is removed.
God said I am putting enmity Satan; listen to me. I am putting enmity between you and the woman. Between your seed and her seed, and forever and ever and ever, she will be your enemy. One of reasons the enemy fears you, is because he knows the truth of what God spoke in the beginning, that, He, God Almighty, put enmity between you as a woman and, his enemy, Satan. And He is calling forth an army that exposes him in the earth. He is calling forth an army of women who, day and night, will stand against the darkness. Who will rise up against the darkness? Who says this can come in, this must go. You're gatekeepers in your nation; you are gatekeepers in your city. You are allowing what comes in and what goes out. God has given you divine authority to expose the enemy in your nations.
It is an awesome place He has called you. He has called you to a place of leadership. At this time in history, you are His woman. Do you know that? You are His woman. You are called of Him to make a difference in the earth.
There will come a seed out of the woman that will bring a death blow to your head, Satan. You have your activity. He nips at the heel, but he can never, never destroy you. We can stand and sing "It is well with my soul" when everything around us looks like it is dying. Everything around us hurts. Everything is in confusion, and we stand as a beacon of light in the earth. Say No. Darkness, you may try to hide, you may try to bring your deception, but I am here as a beacon of light to bring His light and to expose every deception, every lie, every deceiving spirit, and it will be exposed and the light will come to the earth. You are His woman. Aglow is His vessel. He is bringing forth light, light in the earth through you.
Last night I was speaking to the committee that has worked so hard to put together this conference, and the Lord just spoke that scripture in Hebrews 12. It is one you know, but let me just share it with you again. "See that you don't refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth." And His voice is still shaking the earth. His voice is speaking from heaven even in this hour in a profound way. "Yet once more I shake not only the earth but also heaven. That the things which cannot be shaken may remain, therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, there is nothing that comes to us that can shake the kingdom of God within us."
As we stood singing "It is well with my soul," I looked down at Rosemarie Clauson, who lost her husband just months ago; I looked at Glenda, who lives in this area. She is five blocks from where Katrina, the hurricane hit. I visited her home and the homes of others in this area. They lost everything. She can stand. Rosemarie can stand. Others of you I could name, so many in the room; Paula, who has fought through cancer this year, so many could stand and say, listen to my story, and yet we can stand and from the top of our lungs we can say, "It is well with my soul." Shake anything you want to shake, do whatever you want to do, kingdom of darkness hear me, heaven, earth and hell hear me, it is well with my soul. I have received an unshakeable something within me that will not be moved.
I have a son and a grandson who moved in with me this summer; a tough situation. When he arrived at my home, all he could do was sit and weep. A broken, broken man, depressed and burned out. He lost everything. I just began to speak a word here, a phrase there, a scripture here. I could literally see life being poured back into this man. I began to see shackles fall off. I began to speak to the lie that had been spoken over his life. I began to speak to every deceiving spirit that had come against him. I began to push back circumstances and darkness, and one day the Lord said, "You are bringing the atmosphere of the kingdom. You are bringing the atmosphere of the kingdom, because the kingdom is unshakable."
There is nothing that causes us to bow our knee or lose hope when the enemy comes in with his flood, his lies, his deceitfulness: health issues, all the stuff he tries to bring to shake what is within us. With God, there is a law of life within us that will not be moved. One day my son said to me, "Where do you get that strength?" It is not me. There is something alive in me; it is never dead; it never runs out of joy; it never gets so discouraged that I want to give up. You might think a fleeting thought "I am just going to sit down here, and sit in this rocking chair, and the next day you get up and you are ready to run again. There is something unshakable and alive within you, because there is a prophetic call and prophetic destiny upon your life, and upon the life of this ministry. You cannot give up. You cannot stop. God is moving us towards the goal because He has called you for this hour. Glory to God.
Ed Silvoso says, "God threatened Satan with the wrath of the woman in His final showdown." I don't know what you think, and I know we don't have a calendar, a time, a day, and a date, but if we are not living in the last days, I don't know. I think it will get worse. I think we are all being trained and raised up in a strength that is not our own. We know that we are nothing but frail flesh, but there is a strength that is coming within every one of us, and every one of you it is unmovable and unshakable. He is preparing us for the time in which we live and the days ahead.
To just draw this time to a close, you may have questions that run through your mind. Well, what does she really mean by this male-female reconciliation stuff? What does she want us to do? Just do what you are doing. Don't think you have to have a plan, or you have to have three steps that you are now going to do. That is the natural mind. It always wants to go, "Give me a piece of paper with directions on it." He has been unfolding this. He has been speaking it. He has been awakening our understanding. I have found myself being asked to serve in places where I don't like being the only woman. I struggle at times with my own feelings of - it doesn't feel comfortable - but as God continues to move us out, move you out, most of you are functioning in very dynamic ways alongside of pastors and leaders and ministers. But we are going to find what I would call, a tipping point. Do you know what I mean by that? Where something becomes so full, it just tips over into what it is supposed to be. God is building something. You don't have to figure it out with your mind, and you don't need a piece of paper that says do this; you need to follow the Spirit of the living God. That is one of the ways He has been strengthening us.
For those who want a rule book, He said you are going to learn to walk by the Spirit. There are times when He will give a formula or three steps, but usually what He does is unfold it as we walk. We aren't where we were ten years ago, or thirty years ago. God is doing something in His body that is lovely and powerful, and is taking us to the point where the church of the living God will display His glory as He purposed it from the beginning. And I will tell you this, I know one of the ways that we will recognize what it looks like is that men and women will be running alongside one another, expressing the word of the Lord, the glory of the Lord, the purpose of God, the image of God in a way that is healthy and lovely and powerful.