Male and Female: one flesh
I was walking down by the river, this morning and I sat down in my favourite spot to enjoy the peace and tranquillity. The birds were singing and although the day was overcast, I had a real sense that spring had come.
Suddenly I was aware of Holy Spirit in a purple coloured vapour sitting next to me. She appeared in a female form and wrapped me in Her arms covering me in a purple cloak. I started to weep, really weep and I realised that this was Mummy God, this was what I had been missing. Understanding came as I realised in a whole new way, that God is both male and female, both parts are equally important and one cannot function independently without the other.
To conceive a child, an egg is released in the female and then the male needs to fertilise the egg with his sperm. This egg is then deposited in the womb of the woman to create new life.
Without the woman, life cannot occur, without the man, life also cannot occur. Both sexes are needed to create life.
The woman is a mother and she nurtures her baby. This is the divine pattern, so too with our Lord God. Sometimes we need a Father, sometimes we need a Husband, but sometimes only the love and care of a Mother will do. The woman was created for man as his helper, you can read about this in Genesis.
In Genesis 1 v 27 – 28
‘So God created man in His own image,
In the image of God, He created him,
Male and female He created them.
God blessed them and said to them,
Be fruitful and increase in number,
Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over
The fish of the sea and the birds of the air
And over every living creature that moves on the ground.’
They have equal status.
In Genesis 2 v 18
The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone.
I will make a helper suitable for him’.
The other creatures could not be that helper, so God caused the man to fall asleep and then he took a rib from the man’s side. Side by side in equality. It is also in the vicinity of the heart. The female provides the emotional side of the man. Without her, he is unable to unlock these inner parts. She provides the way to communicate with his emotions. Women love to talk, why is that do you think? Is it that we were made that way?
The woman came out of the man, but every man has to come out of a woman. How clever of God. We are totally interdependent on one another to survive and reproduce. We can only be fruitful when both male and female take part.
I believe the same is true for every church, or ministry. In order for balance and the right amount of nurture, we need women involved in leadership too. We need fathers and mothers in order for our children to be nurtured and fed and to grow into mature believers.
In Genesis 2 v 24
‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.’
Maturity in a believer occurs when he or she leaves their spiritual parents and are joined with Jesus in ministry, bride and Bridegroom walking together through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Today, I understood for the first time the importance of nurture in the church. In Matthew 23 v 37 -39, Jesus was talking to the religious teachers and leaders of the day, these would all have been men. He said that He was longing to gather his children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wing, but they wouldn’t listen.
I believe it is time to release the women leaders to be the mothers they were always created to be. It is time for healing and reconciliation between the sexes, it is time to celebrate both male and female in equality. The godly pattern within marriage is male first and then female, but they are equal. They work together in unison as one flesh to sow and reap and to bring in the harvest.
PRAYER
Lord God, You are Father and Mother and Husband. You are a family, and each part of you points to the other. You love and cherish each part of you equally because you are One.
May You give each one of us revelation and understanding in this area, may we cherish one another and love one another as You Father love Jesus and Holy Spirit. Teach us to become a family after Your heavenly pattern. Amen.
Jesus prays for all believers to be one with Him as He is one with His Father, you can read this prayer in John 17 v 20 – 25.
