Wildflowers

This is the talk I gave for our first Women’s Day Conference in 2013 for Grow & Go. The Lord had shown me the women as Wildflowers, so that became the theme of the Day and the title of my talk.

 

WILDFLOWERS

 

When I was praying about today, I saw in my mind’s eye a gilt cage with a bird flying on the outside of it.  I believe the Lord says “this gilt cage is your idea of what I planned for you but I have other plans for you, other dreams for you. I have your best at heart.

Come and see, come and see, come taste and see that I am good.”

Some of you today are going to have your mind-sets changed. Gold is good but outside cage is better.

 

Wildflowers are not cultivated by man nor gardener, they are conceived and created and planted by our Heavenly Father. He looks after them and causes them to grow and multiply anywhere in the world, in fact, everywhere in the world, on any terrain in any conditions.

On rock, sand, wetlands, prairies, even on top of mountains.  Poor soil, rich soil, fields of wheat, meadows, and grass, even manicured lawns.

 

He has also created you and planted you right where you are.  He knows what you need in heat and cold, in drought and in flood.  He knows what you need in blazing relentless sun or in the chill of a winter frost.

 

He has given you strength not just to survive but flourish, and to bring joy and beauty nourishment, love and song to Him, to your home and family and to those who surround you.

 

Mankind cannot create new wildflowers.  We make hybrids from the originals. Sometimes when we make a hybrid, it looks more beautiful in our eyes but it may not be as strong or disease resistant.  We change the number of petals, the height, the scent…we think we know best.

 

It’s a bit like what the world has done with Woman.

 

When God created man in Genesis,  (He had already created earth, water and animals) He said it is good but it is not good for man to be alone.  So in Gen. 2:18 God said, I will make a helpmeet suitable for him.

Strong’s Concordance Definition of HELPMEET: surround, protect, aid, help, succour

Now in God’s infinite wisdom and creativity, what was that helpmeet?  WOMAN

 

When God created woman in Genesis, she was perfect. Uniquely & lovingly fashioned from the hand of God given to Adam.

 

Adam was made from the earth but we were taken from his side.  My opinion is that we are more refined rather like a metal cup compared to a china teacup.

Just for the record the word rib is only translated once in the whole of the bible as rib.  In other places the word is translated as an architectural term meaning something like double doors.  Also for record, we are the feminine side of man, he hasn’t one anymore.

God did not say, I will make an inferior being to help Adam?  Adam was made in God’s image and Eve is part of Adam so she is made in God’s image. When Eve was presented to Adam he exclaimed, “She is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh”. He recognised her as part of himself.

 

Man was made in the image of God and now the image of God was not added to but divided, there was not another creation.  Now the image of God was male and female, yet they were one.

 

TOGETHER they were given the mandate to take dominion of the earth.

Man & woman were meant to be together.  Not independent from each other, yet two separate beings with very different qualities, and different roles. The man is the head of the family and the woman is to submit to his leadership. He has the authority and accountability to God for his wife and family but that’s another sermon for another day!

 

God’s plan, from the beginning was a man and a woman to make a family, and that family becomes a nation and that nation will bless every family in the earth.  That nation is Israel.

 

Now as we know, things went wrong.  The serpent came into the Garden of Eden and began to sow doubt in Eve’s mind.  Did God say?   Did God say not to eat from tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil because you will surely die?  First he sowed doubt– now here comes the lie.  Surely not, He doesn’t really mean that, He just doesn’t want you to be like Him.

 

God told them to eat from all the trees in the garden including the Tree of Life, which represents experiencing the life of God, including immorality.

 

Tree of Knowledge of good and evil represents self-rule, thinking we know what is right, and an assumed independence from God in all areas of life.

 

“If you eat from this you will surely die”…was God’s warning that man’s self-rule is all inclusive, so means death of man’s spiritual, moral, social, relational and ultimately physical being.

We can see this today all round us.

 

Eve was already like God. They were made in His image. You may be feeling guilty now as daughters of Eve, but Eve was not to blame alone. It was Adam that God told and he had responsibility for his own actions.

Gen. 2:16: the Lord God commanded the man, “you are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil. When you eat of it you will surely die.” He took the fruit from Eve and ate it anyway.  He disobeyed God.

 

What happened next?

Now when they heard God they were afraid. Fear came into their relationship with God for the first time. They were afraid and hid. God called Adam where are you? Why are you hiding?

Adam said we were afraid because we are naked (uncovered/exposed).

The physical often represents the spiritual state in the Bible.

 

Adam said, “it was the woman you put here with me, she gave me the fruit and I ate it.”

The result of this was the relationship was broken between man and God and the relationship was broken between man and women.

 

Woman has a unique role in the earth from what we’ve seen up to now to be wife and mother, which is our privilege and our joy, but don’t forget the principle of the physical representing the spiritual. If woman can give birth in the physical she can also carry the things of God in her spirit and give birth to it in the earth.

 

I believe woman has another role in the spirit realm from what God says next in Gen. 3:13.

Then the Lord God said to the woman “what is this you have done?”

The woman said “the serpent deceived me and I ate.” I don’t believe she is shifting the blame here but stating a fact.

 

Eve was the first person on earth to recognize Satan for what he really is THE DECEIVER!!

 

So the Lord God said to the serpent “because you have done this, cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals. You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. Verse 15: and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between her offspring and yours; He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.

 

In it’s most specific sense Jesus Christ has trampled Satan’s head at the cross.  In it’s wider sense, the human race will eventually completely triumph over the evil one Romans. 16:20

The promise is that someday the seed of the woman will crush the serpent’s head and that woman, in particular, would play a part in undoing the effects of the fall. “Enmity between you and the woman.”

 

Definition of enmity: Hatred such as might be felt for an enemy, feeling of hostility, as between enemies.

 

The Serpent was cursed and the ground was cursed but the woman was not cursed. Read it for yourself when you get home.  Woman had a judgement from God of pain during childbirth.  But she was never cursed and Adam never cursed.

 

So you may be able to see why woman is under attack.  I don’t think it was by accident that the serpent went for Eve first. He knew if he destroyed man’s helpmeet (remembering that Helpmeet means to surround, protect, aid, help, and succour) that God fashioned so lovingly for him, that man would never achieve God’s desire for Him nor reach his destiny.

 

In biblical times women were kept under the thumb. They had no education, so they couldn’t read the word of God for themselves. This is general for women in biblical times but there are exceptions like Lydia, a businesswoman who dealt in fabric and fashion.  She followed Jesus and supported Him financially. Others were landowners but not many. The women that followed Jesus bankrolled his ministry.

In the Old Testament Deborah was the God appointed leader of Israel at the time of Judges. She was equivalent to our Prime Minister.

 

If a woman was widowed or didn’t have a son, she was in dire straits.  God was not happy with this culture of degrading women.  He spoke to women when their culture said it was not done. He spoke to the woman at well and she was Taboo. He rescued the woman about to be stoned for adultery. He loved Martha and Mary and frequently visited their home.

 

Mary was first to see Jesus after His resurrection and He said to her, “go and tell the men.” Mary was the very 1st evangelist.  But that is also another sermon 4 another day.

 

Lets look closer to our time:

In the 60’s there came a movement called Feminism.  It claimed to be the saviour of womankind.

It may have done some good, I don’t know?  But ultimately it elevated woman above all else and convinced women to put career above relationship, marriage, and family.

 

Marriage was not important any more, because it was preventing her reaching her fulfilment.  A woman should stand on her own two feet, separate from a man, independent of a man and independent from the family.

“We have rights!  The right to support ourselves and not depend on anyone.  The right to abort our babies because we are the focus of our life. The father of the baby has no right to object.  It has nothing to do with him. I can use men as sex toys and throw them away like they do women.”

 

God’s design and plan to represent Himself in the earth was undermined and family life began to crumble and marriage was destroyed.

 

The God given authority to men over their families was taken away and the family was now unprotected, now vulnerable to destruction it became easy pickings when their protector was removed.  Women and children, in particular, became targets for taking out the next generation in attempts to stop God’s plan succeeding.

 

Marriage is now seen as old fashioned, not necessary.  No vows to God, no covenant is made. A covenant is a promise between two people that cannot be broken.  It is for a lifetime. Two people making covenant, in Biblical times, killed a lamb and walked between the pieces to represent that covenant.  The shedding of blood always seals a covenant.  Marriage is a God initiated covenant.  Marriage is Holy in God’s eye, that’s why it’s called Holy Matrimony.  Today’s Romantic idea is all about the bride, all about, I’m a princess for the day; the bridegroom hardly gets a look in.

 

Promiscuity today leaves hundreds of thousands of children orphans worldwide because of Aids.

Human trafficking is at an all time high. Woman has become a target and victim of violence worldwide. Children are also major targets in the sex trade along with women. Rape is on the increase and commonplace in some societies.

Domestic violence has increased everywhere. Violence and atrocities too horrible to mention, on Muslim women is increasing daily.

 

God chose the marriage relationship to represent His relationship with us.

“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife. And the two shall become one flesh.” Ephesians 5:32.  He is our Bridegroom, and we are His Bride.

The shedding of His son’s blood on the cross sealed his covenant to us.

Our covenant in marriage is sealed by the shedding of blood from the hymen in the consummation of the marriage.

 

He wants that intimate relationship with you whether you are married, single, divorced or widowed.  You are The Bride of Christ!

 

He wants an intimate relationship with us, which brings life.

As the husband pours himself into his wife resulting in life, a child; Jesus, your bridegroom will pour Himself into you by His Holy Spirit bringing forth spiritual life.

 

Those of us who know Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour are in this battle that God has called us to, with everything we’ve got.  We are warring for our marriages, our children, our communities, for our Nation.  We are interceding for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven… today.  We are daily dying to self, struggling to obey His word, and saying “your will Lord not mine.”

 

You may ask how do you do that?  We can’t in our own strength.  But we can because we know Jesus as our Bridegroom.  We can do all things in Christ when we have an intimate relationship with our Lord.

 

Jesus is our example of the perfect man.  How a man should be. Loving us unconditionally, he cherishes us beyond imagination.

 

Jesus is also our healer.  He has healed my broken heart, my broken dreams and my broken body.

He has filled all my empty places with His Holy Spirit and love.  He has given me strength and confidence where I was weak and lost.  He has cleansed me from all sin, wrongdoing and wrong thinking.  He will do the same for you.  There is no sin dark enough to keep Him from loving you and forgiving you.

 

He has wooed me as a lover, as the lover of my soul, and gained my love and trust, enabling me to let Him touch my pain and heal me.  I have the joy of a lost girl found by her loving father and devoted Bridegroom.  I know who I am and what my destiny is.  My fears have been divinely exchanged for faith.

 

This is the reason we are gathered here today, to tell you of my beloved, my Bridegroom.

 

To declare to you that He has restored every part of my womanhood.  He’s healed everywhere I hurt, and making me the woman of God, he fashioned me to be.

 

You are a “Wildflower” created by God to flourish here where He planted you, to bring colour and joy and singing to your meadow.  To nourish life and to love in His name, to bask in His sunlight and glorify Him will all your being.

TO CONNECT WITH HIS HEART AND TOUCH HIS WORLD.

Amen.

 

This is the prophetic word the Lord gave me for the women at the Day Conference.

 

WILDFLOWERS

 

The green fields have been here a long time.

They are sustenance for all, but the wildflowers in the field are planted by our Father to bring beauty and colour and joy.

 

The blue of the sky and the green of the fields are lacking without the colours of the wildflowers,

 

Cornflower, poppy, wild orchid, dandelion, marsh marigold, sweet pea, lupin bluebell, holly, foxglove, sunflower, nasturtium, gentian, geranium, buttercup, daisy, hollyhock.

 

Wildflowers gladden the heart and do your eyes good.

They bring a smile to the face and hope to the heart.

Remembrances of good times and promises of more to come.

 

Wildflowers bring laughter to the rain and songs to the birds,

happiness to the bees, making their work easy.

 

Once wildflowers are bloomed, all manner of life come to the meadow.

Butterflies, and bees, insects galore.

 

Mice and small mammals and birds eat the seeds later on.

 

They bring life to the meadow and sustain life within.

 

They love to sway in the breeze tossing their heads back to feel the warmth of the sun on their faces.

They preen themselves in His glory, knowing His love for them is pure.

 

He has no favourites.

They all are special and chosen.

Chosen specifically for their unique colour, fragrance and purpose.

 

He has made each one beautiful in her own right.

Beautiful in His eyes and warm in His heart, to bring joy and colour to His world.

 

The field is large, far as the eye can see, to fulfil God’s purpose in the earth,

To testify and bloom…to die to produce seed for others.

 

Oh those wildflowers, there is nothing to compare.

 

They glorify the Creator, His glory is amongst them,

They connect with His heart and touch His world.

 

So glorious yet so humble and grateful are we.