Adam and Eve were created as a team working together as one. Sin corrupted it. God prophetically restored that team by killing an animal, with that blood sacrifice prophetically removing their sin. With the skins, He prophetically clothed them with His anointing. They were to operate as one in these holy provisions of God.
Jesus and the church were created in the counsel of God as a team. Sin corrupted it. Jesus shed His blood and took her sins away giving her His life within. He has provided His life and His righteousness and the same anointing of the Spirit that came upon Him to be upon her. They are to operate as a holy team, operating as one, through faith in the cleansing blood and by the anointing of the Holy Spirit of God.
Husband and wife are joined together as one. In the life that comes by the cleansing blood of Jesus, and in the anointing that comes by the empowering of the Holy Spirit upon them, they are to operate as one. They are to operate together as a team. The head and the body are connected as one. The head is not independent of the body. The body is not independent of the head. They are one. They are one to further the kingdom of God by preaching and demonstrating the gospel to every creature.
Each man is to operate in the blood and the anointing. Each woman is to operate in the blood and the anointing. In the kingdom, the authority is neither male nor female. The authority before God and before man is the cleansing blood and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. By the blood and the Holy Spirit each male and each female are to operate with God as a holy team to carry out His purpose with His power upon them.
Mary and Joseph were a team. Jesus and the women who ministered to Him were a team (Luke 8:3; 23:55—24:1-11, 22, 24-26). Mary coming to the men telling them of the empty tomb were a team. The 120 men and women in the upper room praying before the day of Pentecost were a team. Aquilla and Priscilla had a church in their home, and they were a team who corrected Apollos (Acts 18:26). Paul and Phoebe were a ministry team. Romans 16:1-2
A bishop and overseer of the church and his wife are to be a team. A deacon and his wife are to be a team. Man over woman came in by sin (Genesis 3:16). Man with woman came in by the Savior. In Jesus Christ, in the Spirit-anointed Messiah-Deliverer, there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, and neither male nor female: “for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” All are to be a team together in the Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 3:26-29
All scriptures in the New Testament concerning man-woman relationships need to be researched, interpreted and viewed with this understanding.
1 Corinthians 14:26-40. Here, Paul said “let your women.” He did not say “let women.” He is addressing a specific condition in the churches in Corinth. As is the custom today in that part of the world, men would sit on one side and women sit on the other side in the assembly. When questions would arise in the women, they would speak out in the assembly to ask their husbands, causing disruption and confusion. That is apparent in Paul saying “if they [your women] will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home.” As with the use of tongues and prophecy, Paul is correcting this disorder in the Corinthian churches. As is Paul’s customary way of teaching, he uses scripture as his authority to make such corrections. Not only are the women to be “under obedience,” but so is also the use of tongues and prophecy to be done “decently and in order.”
1 Timothy 2:8-15. We see here where “men” and “women” are praying together. Then he says let “the woman,” learn in silence with all subjection. Paul did not allow, “the woman,” the wife of a husband, to dominate over the husband. They are to work together as a team. One acting independently of the other can open the relationship to deception, just as it happened in the garden. Had Adam and Eve been working together as a team, they would not have fallen. Aquila and Priscilla are a good example of a husband/wife ministry team. Romans 16:1-5; Acts 18:1-3, 18, 26
Ephesians 5:1-2, 17-33. Paul’s keys for the husband/wife relationship are love and mutual submission to one another in the fear of God, giving place to the Holy
Spirit (vs. 2, 21). Just as Christ operates as one with the church, so is the husband and wife to operate as one. Again, Paul uses scripture as the authority for this unity. Genesis 2:24
Titus 2:1-5. Just as the husband is the head, and responsible for the godly management of the home, so is the wife the body, and equally responsible in the godly, nurturing management of the home. While the husband is out being the primary defender and bread-winner of the home, the wife is in the home with the position of bearing the children and being the daily teacher of good things to make the home run smoothly and successfully in a godly manner.
1 Peter 3:1-7. Peter presents the wife being in subjection to the husband, and the husband honoring the wife, “being heirs together of the grace of life.” This is so that their “prayers be not hindered.” Again, we see a husband/wife team in ministry. Even if the husband is not obeying the word, the wife, by having submissive trust in God with good behavior, by not being pushy, contentious or nagging, has the promise that the husband can be “won.” The goal is to become a unified team in the Lord. This is done by mutual submissive trust in God and loving service to each other.
In none of this is the husband portrayed as “ruling over” the wife in a dominating sense (Genesis 3:16). What came in with sin was superseded with what Christ accomplished. Now all believers, male and female, are one in Christ working together as a team in the mutually submissive, loving, orderly anointing of the Spirit of the Lord. This is the overall message we see when we put these passages together about men and women.
Legalistically misconstruing these scriptures has greatly limited women in their ministry in the kingdom of God. In the anointing, women and men are equally free to speak and do what God calls them to speak and do in any setting. And, there is no place in the Word that forbids women to hold office in the operation of God’s kingdom. If she is married, that office is to be held together with her husband as a team, and vice versa. If she is single, she, as any single man, is to be teamed with God, the Holy Spirit, and other members of the body of Christ as God joins them together for accountability.
God’s “new thing” is that He pours His Spirit out upon “all flesh,” upon all people, male, female, young, old, rich and poor. He pours His Spirit out upon us to empower us to carry out His will in earth as it is in heaven with His supernatural power working with us all to His glory. Isaiah 43:19; Luke 1:35; Acts 3:17-21
As Jesus sent His disciples out two-by-two, so does He establish His teams today. First, it is the husband/wife team, and then it is those who He fits together to accomplish His work (Ephesians 2:21-22). In this, the principle of one putting a thousand to flight and two putting ten thousand to flight comes into operation. God’s power increases exponentially when two are in agreement. Deuteronomy 32:30
Paul was teamed up with others to carry out the ministry (Acts 11:25-26; 13:2-4; 16:1-5, 25-34). God puts teams together. The husband and wife and the home are the basic team unit for the kingdom of God and for all society. We need to know that it is God’s will for us to operate as a team in different capacities, so we are to pray accordingly.
The last chapter and the last verse of the Old Testament tells how God is making family unit teams with fathers and children. His prophesied work is to bring healing and restoration for the mess we make in our life and in our family. His work is to put us together as a team. This is God’s will and God’s way. Believe, pray, and yield your life to His goodness, love and power and allow Him to work in you and through you to establish God’s team in your life. Eagerly pursue His gifts and graces to bring about His full plan for your life and in the life of your family. You are God’s team to reach the world with Jesus by the power of His Spirit. Malachi 4; 1 Corinthians 12:31; 14:1
“Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So, guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.” Malachi 2:15 ESV
To have the anointing, to have the presence and power of the Lord reigning in your home, is to dwell in the secret place of the most High (Psalms 91:1-16). With God’s presence and power reigning, the promises and prosperity of God can be fulfilled in your lives personally, in your homes, in your churches, and in the society around you and your families. You are God’s Team reaching out to the world with Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit, all to the glory of God.
Handmaidens of the Lord—The Single Woman Ministry
A single man, a man who is not married, as a whole, is readily accepted in the church. That single man should be connected to others of like mind for the purpose of accountability. A single woman, a woman who is not married, on the other hand, is not as a whole, always so accepted by the church. Just like the single man ministry, the single woman ministry needs to be connected to others of like mind for the purpose of accountability. We need to see what the scriptures show concerning the issue of the single woman ministry.
With truths already established that there are to be men and women together in ministry as God’s team, I want to focus on the single woman ministry.
And on my servants and on my handmaidens, I will pour out in those
days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. Acts 2:18
“Handmaiden” in the Greek is a female slave (Strong’s Concordance G1399). “Prophesy” in the Greek is “to foretell events, divine, speak under inspiration, exercise the prophetic office” (Strong’s Concordance G4395).
In our present time, God pours His Spirit out on “all flesh” so that “your sons and your daughters shall prophesy” (G4395) (Acts 2:17). It is clearly stated that sons and daughters will speak forth by the inspiration of the Spirit in an equal way. The prophecy of Joel 2:28-30, quoted by Peter, does not favor one gender over the other. The emphasis is that by God’s Spirit they will speak. The authority of being able to speak is that it is by the Holy Spirit. Gender is not an issue.
This is foundational to understanding the place of women in the church today. We need to remove our “way man has taught us” glasses and put on our “way the Word teaches” glasses and see clearly what God has to say concerning a single woman ministry, and concerning the liberty that women have to speak in the world and in the church.
In short, we see that in God’s kingdom a woman has just as much liberty to speak, teach, preach, pray, get the sick healed, cast out demons and raise the dead as the man. It is not gender based, it is faith and Holy Spirit anointing based.
The way of God in His kingdom is that we all be a loving servant, submissive to God and to one another. There is no man who is to usurp domineering authority over other people with strife and contention, and neither is there any woman to usurp domineering authority over other people with strife and contention. The authority is love, faith (dependence on God) and obedience to the anointing of God. Acts 20:19-21, 28-32;
1 Timothy 2:11-15; 1 Timothy 6:3-5; 2 Timothy 2:23-26; 3 John 1: 9-10
The law of the kingdom is the liberty of love, faith and truth by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. A little yeast of self-righteous legalism or of proud, self-asserting domination is an enemy that will spread throughout the whole loaf, side tracking or binding the operation of the grace of God. Galatians 5:1-9
It was women who first brought the news of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ to the men. The men did not believe the women and were reproved by the Lord for their unbelief (Luke 24:1-26). Jesus told them they were being “unintelligent, sensual and dull” (Strong’s Concordance G453, G1021). He basically told them they were stupid for not believing the report the women had delivered to them. In another place it says He “upbraided” them (Mark 16:14). That means “to defame, that is to rail at, chide, taunt” (Strong’s Concordance G3679). God chose women to bring the message to the men of the resurrected Lord. Jesus got on to the men for not believing the women’s report.
When Paul wrote to Philemon, his greeting was also to Apphia, a woman, and Archippus (Philemon 1:2). He greeted Phebe, “our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea,” along with several other women when he wrote to the Roman church (Romans 16:1-16). He referred to “those women which labored with me in the gospel” (Philippians 4:2-3). Paul greeted Claudia right along with the men he greeted in his second letter to Timothy (2 Timothy 4:21). The women were part of the gospel ministry just as the men. John wrote to the “elect lady and her children” that they watch to keep the “doctrine of Christ” for a full reward. He brought greetings to them from the children of her “elect sister.” 2 John
In the Old Testament and in the transition from the age of the law to the age of the Spirit, the women had liberty to speak and to hold prophetic office. In this present time in the kingdom of God, women have liberty to speak and hold prophetic office. This is established by the plainly written Word of God and in the meaning of the word to “prophesy,” which applies to both men and women. Judges 4:4; Luke 2:36-38
All ministry of married men and women and of single men and women, is to be done in love, faith, truth and by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. All ministry is to be done by submission to God and to one another to serve and build each other up.
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus…There is
neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:26-28
The Lord has set single man and single woman ministries equally free to freely minister in the capacity that God leads them. God’s leadership will guide them to be accountable to Him and to other like-minded members of the body for the good of all and for God’s glory.
By the Word of God, the single woman is free to minister and hold office in the kingdom of God and in the church. Jesus Christ (the Spirit-anointed Messiah-Deliverer) paid the price to redeem all people to be freed and trained to go and reap the harvest by the power of the Holy Spirit until the end of the age. Any teaching not in line with the doctrine of Christ (the Spirit-anointed Messiah-Deliverer) is antichrist. It is a religious spirit and doctrine working against the purposes and power of God. 1 John 2:18-20;
1 John 4:1-6; 2 John 1: 1-13
Each person, male and female, is to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has set them free and by love serve one another. By that same love, every person, male and female, are to reach out to the world and preach the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit to bring all mankind, both male and female to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
This is the heart and mind of the Father seeking His little lost sheep, wandering in the darkness of the world being beaten by the devil. Men and women are to be liberated ambassadors, operating in the power of Jesus’ name and anointing, listening to the heart of the Father, reaching the world for Jesus. We will each give account to Him for what we have done with His abundant mercy and grace He has poured out upon us.
Shake the shackles off your mind and heart. Follow Jesus Christ and let no man, woman, doctrine or religious system dictate or deter you from fulfilling the holy call God has on your life. Jesus bought you unto Himself. Live to please Him alone with all submissiveness unto Him. “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10
It was after Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman that He told His disciples to lift up their eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest. He said to pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers to work and reap the harvest. John 4:35-38; Matthew 9:38
Handmaidens, daughters, servants of the Lord! rise up and take your place in Him and reach the world for Jesus! The harvest is truly plenteous, but the laborers are few!