Permission to be gloriously Woman

I've just watched another Trinny and Susannah special - the duo who specialise in taking women who have committed 'crimes against fashion' and teach them how to make the most of their body shape. This time they were attacking a westie Australian city (yay for westies!) - grabbing women of all ages and shapes for a makeover and parading them in a catwalk at the end of the day. It's great television! These are real people and its really happening to them. There are tears and tantrums of course. But here's the thing that really stands out - most of these women have had a rough life of some sort and have just given up caring, either trying to hide and fade into the background or becoming loud and brash with no sense of appropriateness. Most had low self esteem and just needed a confidence boost - which certainly happened because someone took the time to care and give them a new perspective on life, even it was only about wardrobe. Now there's one ministry I could love being a part of! (Do you think we could convince our churches to have a 'look good/feel good' department? Hmmm.)
Why does this happen to such a large proportion to the female population? Let me quote from John & Stasi Eldredge in their book 'Captivating':
"The story of the treatment of women down through the ages is not a noble history. It has noble moments in it to be sure, but taken as a whole, women have endured what seems to be a special hatred ever since we left Eden...(They go on to list the history of abuse from Creation to the present day. It is too graphic to repeat here.) Dear God - what is to account for the systemic, often brutal, nearly universal assault on femininity?...Why is it so diabolical?"
Ephesians 6:12 gives us the answer: For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.

"The assault on femininity cannot be understood apart from the spiritual forces of evil we are warned about in the Scriptures. This is not to say that men (and women) have no accountability in their treatment of women. Not at all. It is simply to say that no explanation for the assault upon Eve and her daughters is sufficient unless it opens our eyes to the Prince of Darkness and his special hatred of femininity."
They go on to propose that Satan chose to go after Eve not just because he might have considered her weaker therefore the easier target (and he is utterly ruthless so there may be some truth to that) but because he was insanely jealous of the beauty and glory the woman was created to be. Read Ezekiel 28:12-14 to see what I mean: Lucifer was originally a guardian angel of quite some standing, specifically in his dazzling beauty. "You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty...every precious stone adorned you..." In the end it was his ruin - pride entered his heart. Verse 17 "Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendour." We all know what happened after his unsuccessful take-over bid. As 'Captivating' continues: "Now his heart for revenge is to assault beauty. He destroys it in the natural world wherever he can...he wreaks destruction on the glory of God in the earth like a pyschopath committed to destroying great works of art.
But most especially, he hates Eve.
Because she is captivating, uniquely glorious, and he cannot be. She is the incarnation of the Beauty of God. More than anything else in all creation, she embodies the glory of God."

So you see through all the ages Satan continues to vent his fury against fallen women, and for the most part she has no protection unless a godly person stands in her defence. The occasional man stood and intervened for her in history, but on the whole she was treated as property and with disdain. Men have hated that they love and are drawn to her (that's Satans corruption of God's purposes for the love relationship). Eve also gave life; she was the 'reproducer', and that was another good reason for the 'Master of Death' villain to go after the one who brings life. Eve means 'lifegiver'. Satan is the lifetaker. So, two good reasons to hate you forever!

Why am I telling you this? Not to scare you, please. In fact, the very opposite. This shines a massive spotlight on something women do very well: guilt! Whatever bad things happen to us, most of us interpret it deep down as 'our fault'. That somehow we deserved it. If only we were prettier or smarter or done more; if only we weren't so demanding, or weren't so insufficient. Too much or too little. That's the message that gets drummed into us at every turn. No matter how absurd this is given the evidence of the circumstances in most cases: we still manage to take the blame.
"It changes things to realise that, no, it is because you are glorious that these things happened! You are a major threat to the kingdom of darkness. You are hated because of your beauty and power... He fears who you are; what you are; what you might become."
What's going on with a lot of women is attempts at covering up this pain. We don't feel worthy of pursuit, we don't feel irreplaceable, we don't believe we are beautiful, we feel alone and abandoned or rejected because of past failures, and so to deal with this there are multitudes of armour options: the 'do not disturb' sign on our personality, the 'back off' facebook message to the world, the 'desperately seeking somebody' approach nearing on promiscuity, or maybe even the 'strive for perfection' suzy persona. We try hard at outward beauty, or try hard to make ourselves useful (beware the 'rescuer' syndrome). Conversely we could be shrinking violets hiding in the corner in beige, or the increasingly popular 'keep so busy it doesn' hurt' option. Actually once your eyes are opened to the possibilities, its amazing how many coping facades are deployed out there. That's why watching Trinny & Susannah brings me to tears - not the awful grabbing of body parts the two partake in and their overuse of the word 'sexy' - its the brokenness of the lovely victims and how they have no idea of what's really ailing them.

Here's the good news; a man did intervene in history, a man who was in fact God and by tricking Satan into thinking he had killed the Son of God, he destroyed forever the death grip Satan had on the planet. He released once again the created ones, man and woman, to fulfill their destiny and purpose and take back the planet in His Name. For women it means realising that you are passionately loved by the God of the Universe. He is waaaay greater than your enemy, has sought you out since the beginning of time, has come to heal your broken heart and restore your feminine soul. We can stop relying on our own resources, our self-redemptive plans, our controlling and our hiding. He only asks us to trust Him and rest in Him; He does the fighting for us! We will never be lonely again, never rejected, never abandoned, never used. His love is PERFECT and that means just what it says: there can be nothing wrong with it! He is perfectly good and therefore will never turn into anything else but our Hero and Champion. The rescuer of our souls, restorer of brokenness, lover of lovers, Captain of the Army of heaven.
Only by learning to rely on Him and Him alone will we be free from the enemy's assault. Too easy? Yes! Yes! And He's a lot gentler with the makeover than Trinny and Susannah, too.

The Brilliant Holy Spirit...

I don't normally do this but I'm gonna cheat on this post and link you to my other blog where I have published something that readers of this post will relate to...all about the Holy Spirit by Graham Cooke. This is essential reading for the prospective warrior...enjoy! http://brilliantlivingnz.blogspot.com/2011/04/brilliant-holy-spirit.html

See the Treasure

This post is made up from excerpts by Graham Cooke, who puts things so beautifully I could not reproduce the concept in my own words adequately:

"We are so much more beautiful than we know, and more powerful than we realise. Often when we are solely preoccupied with the present, we can lose sight of where we are going and who we are becoming. We get caught up with negatives, burdened by our sense of lack. At this point, we need someone to tell us who we are in Christ. We need people to remind us of our true identity. We need our companions to speak into our future destiny. Soemone needs to see the treasure and not just the earthen vessel...

When the Lord shows up in your life, He has a wonderful way of declaring to us how He already sees us. He knows both who we are now and who we will become. Who we are now is earthed in our personality. This is a mixture that is both positive and negative.

Personality is the integrated organisation of soul and body. It is the combination of psychological, intellectual, emotional, and physical attributes that have shaped our upbringing, training environment, and modeling into a learned behaviour that is both positive and negative.

Our positive personality contains the values that we have learned in life where we have become optimistic, trusting, willing to learn, and brave. We have developed capabilities that enable us to try, take risks, be open to challenge, and become self aware, uncritical, and open. We live by principles and values that empower us to be faithful, consistent, integrous, and worthy of trust.

Our negative personality is often shaped by disappointment, humiliation, betrayal, and the bitterness of life. We can find ourselves subject to discouragement and disillusion. We develop a victim mentality. We become cautious, pessimistic, and judgmental. We are fearful, hesitant, prone to deception, beleiving the worst, unworthy and entirely too self-concious. We have a fear of man, being wrong, and looking stupid. We take comfort in the familiar and avoid taking risks.

...Our true identity is made up of our personality and our persona. God loves to reveal our persona, how we are known in heaven. Persona is linked to the journey of our relationship with God."

(Excerpt from Graham Cooke's 'Alignment'. I encourage you to get his book series 'The Way of the Warrior' for yourself.)

God's Medicine - more from Charles Capp

These declarations are to be spoken by mouth three times a day until faith comes, then once a day to maintain faith. If circumstances grow worse, double the dosage. There are no harmful side effects.
For those afflicted by mental health issues:
"Father, because of Your Word I am an overcomer. I overcome the world, the flesh and the devil, by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony." (1 John 4:4, Rev 12:11)
"My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. I make a demand on my body to release the right chemicals. My body is in perfect chemical balance." (1 Cor 6:19)
"You have forgiven all my sins; You have healed all my diseases; You have redeemed my life from destruction; You have satisfied my mouth with good things so that my youth is renewed as the eagles." (Ps 103:2-5)
"Father, I resist the enemy in every form that he comes against me - I require my body to be strong and healthy, and I enforce it with Your Word. I reject the curse, and I enforce life in this mind and body." (James 4:7)
In Jesus name!

The Most Powerful Thing In the Universe

This post is largely dedicated to the work of Charles Capps, author of 'The Tongue - A Creative Force.
His theory is simple; "The words you speak will either put you over (create victory) or hold you in bondage."
It is not a foreign concept that words are the most powerful thing in the universe; for good or for evil. "Those that say they can and those that say they can't are both right." Some people have made a living going around teaching seminars on how to change your future by changing your words - the power of positive thinking and positive reinforcement, etc. They get away with it because they are somewhat right: God has weaved into the fabric of the universe, and thus our planet and humankind, that words have an effect both in the spiritual and physical world.
In fact, the universe was formed at God's command (Hebrews 11:3). He said 'Let there be light' and there was light! There has been light ever since, so we can conclude God's Word is just as powerful today as it was the day He spoke it. Not one bit of power has left God's Word.
Then He turned around and gave mankind the same power. In Genesis 1:26 we read "And God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule...'" By design, we have the same ability to create something out of nothing with our words. Creative power was in God's mouth. It is in your mouth also.
So, everything we say is basically operating as a declaration of reality. It is either creating or destroying. (There is a place for destroying - "The reason the Son of God came was to destroy the devil's work." (1 John 3:8) I love that! But otherwise, destroying is bad.)
This doesn't mean we live in denial about what is afflicting us or the reality of our life here on (contaminated) planet earth. But we have the chance to agree with what God says about us and about how things work, by speaking faith-filled, God-inspired words of life at every opportunity!
This requires some re-learning, self discipline, and 'not giving in to fear'. It takes a fair amount of determination and perseverance to change our language. It takes being conscious of what is coming out of our mouths - 'Was what I just said going to work as a blessing or as a curse?' and then making a correction if we have to. It means getting the Word of God (yes I mean the Bible) into our heart and mind so that we know what He said in the first place, and that it is right on the tip of our tongue when we need it.
Using God's Words is way safer than coming up with our own stuff, which for all we know has come from the wrong motives. The closer we get to God (the better we know Him) and the more our thoughts line up with His thoughts, the safer our own language will be, and it is God's intention that we grow into this creative side (which will incorporate our God-given personality and gifts.)
But I digress!
The purpose of this post is to point out that permission largely operates by our words.

The Art of Becoming

Most of this post is quoted from Graham Cooke, brilliant Christian author:

We are all engaged in the process of becoming who we are created to be. This is great! It is the core of our freedom - the right to make mistakes, learn, grow, and experience grace, goodness, and truth on the journey.
We are learning on a personal level how to be the best expression of who God made us to be in each situation. How we choose to show up in all our situations tells people who we really are.
We cannot control our circumstances...We do not get any say in the how or what of life's trials. However, we do get a say in how we will respond.
When you are betrayed, misunderstood, and threatened what do you manifest in that moment? This is part of embracing truth and light, and sometimes it means being willing to expose the uglier side of our habits and hypocrisy. The fantastic news is that once exposed, God's Light totally destroys the evidence of darkness in us. (see 1John 1:5-10)
With this in mind, let us take a closer look at four classic behaviours that do not reveal Christ in us! The first is when we insist on being right and making others wrong. We do not listen effectively because we are too intent on formulating our reply. We ride roughshod over other's opinions and ideas. We can use sarcasm and cynicism to quell what we see as opposition.
Secondly, there is the domination game - either dominating people or avoiding domination. Controlling others for our purpose can be from a belief that God gives us people so that we can succeed. We use people and often discard them when their use has been fulfilled. People are either our possession or our opposition. A dominating person does not relate to people as partners, but followers.
Conversely, avoiding domination means we do not display our truest identity. We moan and complain privately to others but do not confront in love the behaviour of another. We go along with people and circumstances even though we hate what is happening. This makes us a victim and weakens our identity and destiny.
Thirdly is the blame game - always trying to get ourselves off the hook. We delete, distort, and generalize as a way of life. We delete the memory of our own behaviour and we distort the words and deeds of others in order to solicit sympathy and enlist support. When we are questioned we generalize on our own behaviour but are specific about what we perceive has been done to us. When we excuse our own part in something and put the blame for the circumstances squarely on others, we are denying something fundamental in our relationship with God.
Fourthly, (as if we haven't exposed enough!), is when we justify our own bad behaviour by the negative behaviour of others. Reacting to people's behaviour, instead of responding to God's nature, means that we do not show what is true of Jesus in our spirit. We compound that error by drawing attention to what other people are not, in defense of our own behaviour.
Responding to God's nature is moving in the opposite spirit to the poor actions of other people. This is wrapped up superbly by Luke 6:27-38.(Read it in 'The Message' version to get a really good grasp of it).
And remember, Redemption redeems everything: past, present and future.